Author: Osmel Ramirez

In Cuba, the word “counter-revolutionary” means the same thing as “heresy”. For nearly six decades now, people who haven’t supported or fought against the political system that the Fidelista revolution imposed have been labeled “counter-revolutionaries”. It means being a “worm”, “enemy of the people”, “mercenary serving Imperialism” or “stateless”.

At 3:30 in the afternoon of this Friday, June 22, I was released. I was imprisoned for three days in a cell at the Mayari police station. According to what they told me in front of my family and then alone, I would have no more peace. I will be detained every time I write an article.

It took them seven months to decide to intervene and it’s clear that they’ve only done this because other complaints have been made, demanding them to act; recently, there was a petition signed by many farmers who said their credits had been stolen.

In Cuba, the pre-established calendar year doesn’t coincide with the farming year. There are two well-defined planting seasons, which aren’t determined by human whim but by Nature itself: spring and the cold season.

The title of this article chimes in with a campaign which has been repeated time and time again at Cuban health centers for many years now. Of course, I didn’t add the question mark at the end with the clear intention of changing its meaning.

Right now, many farmers are unhappy and skeptical. However they are literally afraid to speak out because “the corrupt” appear to be much stronger and they need their signatures for everything.

Tuesday April 10th marked five months since my friend Jose Antonio Herrera and I had all of our digital communication and work devices seized. On that grey afternoon, on November 10th, they came and took everything they wanted to.

On April 19th, the new National Assembly of People’s Power will hold its first plenary session and will finally approve the National Nomination Committee’s proposal for its own president and the new president of the State Council too.

I had patiently been waiting for March 8th to write about women’s valor. That which many people don’t appreciate or pretend not to see but which is there, always spontaneously showing its vital presence.