Death Threats in Cuba

Lynn Cruz

HAVANA TIMES – I recently received a message from the afterlife, and I’m going to use this opportunity to make some guesses about its hidden meaning, given the fact it was sent by an unknown sender.

I didn’t send a direct reply, as these signs come from a greater power, who clearly feels threatened by what I write, otherwise they wouldn’t spare me the time of day, especially when there are more serious problems in a country that is falling into ruin and with clearer signs of a strange neoliberal/State capitalism underway. Compared to this, I’m just an insignificant censored actress, who also happens to write columns on this website nearly every week.

I’m going to fill you in a little on what happened, trying to speak the same language of this entity who calls themself my enemy, death threat included. Luckily for me, life means nothing if I can’t speak my mind. I’m really bad at pretending.

Maybe this is why I have had so many problems as an actress, within such toxic spaces like the dictatorship-like dynamics in some theater groups, where I ended up becoming a dissident just because I made my displeasure known when I didn’t like something or wasn’t convinced. But, the world of theater works like our country. It might have also been the case that the writer in me was fighting to get out, but I didn’t realize. I have also committed the sin of being naive many a time too.

I began writing with Havana Times because Circles Robinson, its editor, expressed in a statement on the site that HT doesn’t receive funding from any US foundation, as he doesn’t agree with this country’s foreign policy.

Of course, when it comes to standing up to the Cuban government, it doesn’t help whether you are being paid by the US government or not, but it was what appealed to me the most, as I was used to listening and reading all the insults critics threw their way because they received “enemy” money.

This threat, via Facebook messenger this time, is the second visible action, after being banned from entering the San Antonio de los Banos International Film and TV School in 2018, where I worked as an actress for 16 years. All of this has happened since I began writing for Havana Times.

Over time, I’ve realized that where money comes from is indeed important. I have moved towards people who defend their independence with art, (I continue to work as an actress, in spite of being censored) or on this news website, as I believe that it is important to understand just how important free media and art is, so politicians don’t go believing they rule everything.

If there’s one thing that makes Havana Times stand out, it’s its impartiality. There is a saying that goes: “Politicians lie to cover up the truth, and actors lie to find the truth.” Dying to find your authenticity is a worthy cause, and I don’t aim to save anyone other than myself with my death, as I once read in a poem: “I don’t want to be a boat that longs for the sea, and is afraid at the same time.” I want a transparent dialogue for our country.

I am extremely proud to talk about the education I have received in Cuban schools. I learned about ethics, philosophy, and the best thing about this is that I received this education from an illiterate man like my father, who became literate with the Revolution, and passed down all his handbook Communism values to me. He made me understand the importance of studying at university, especially as a woman, and he even battled with himself to put his machismo in check so he could be a better revolutionary. But, even though my father still loves the Revolution, who he owes his life to, he has always put his children first.

That said, what my History classes never taught me was to associate a revolutionary with a henchman. This DM in my Messenger account seems to have been written by one of Al Capone’s hitmen. So I have no doubt that the people who are threatening me with death in such a miserable way, are afraid of their own. However, I’m not afraid because it would be worth it, in my case. If I die, I won’t be forgotten or hated.

You can’t give human beings all the tools they need to be good people, to then deny them the opportunity to improve themselves and society. The only thing I hope to do is to uphold the concept that Cuban philosopher Jorge Manach defined as the most beautiful definition of freedom, which comes from our Apostle, Jose Marti: “Freedom is the right of every man to be honest, to think and to speak without hypocrisy.”