Even Leaders Lose Faith in Cuba’s Defense Committees

and many now live in the United States

Cienfuegos is left without the traditional CDR anniversary stew and with blackouts.

By Julio Cesar Contreras (14ymedio)

HAVANA TIMES – That a resounding and long downpour would fall this Friday on Cienfuegos was the hope of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) to mask the discouragement in the neighborhoods of the city during the anniversary of the organization. However, neither luck nor hurricane Helene favored the officials; the festivities begin on the 28th, and by afternoon, the sun was shining brightly.

“We have to recognize people’s apathy when it comes to the CDRs. Most of the time we are forced to fill out reports with invented data, because on many blocks we don’t even have leaders at the base level now,” admits a CDR official who tells 14ymedio that it was impossible for them to carry out an activity even on Argüelles Street, where they have their provincial headquarters.

The official, on condition of anonymity, confirmed the suspicions of many Cubans: “The organization has been dying for years. We no longer have the power to call for attendance, to collect food or to ask for voluntary blood donations, which were two fundamental objectives. Not to mention the CDR guard, which disappeared years ago.”

At least in Cienfuegos yesterday, it was enough to approach the neighborhoods to confirm that the residents did not give importance to the date and most preferred to stay at home. “Here the only thing we are waiting for is that they put the power back on, because we are now having five hours of blackout. So how can they convince us to have a party and contribute to a stew, when no one has anything to eat or knows what to cook?” Arelis asked, sitting on the sidewalk in front of her house.

“The president of the CDR this year did not dare ask for anything to make the stew, because it is very clear that no one is going to donate the little they have to celebrate the hunger and misery that exists,” the woman explains. After renouncing the militancy of the Communist Party, Arelis explains that she has disassociated herself from everything related to the work of the CDR, because “people cannot be convinced to commit to something that only demands sacrifice without anything in return.”

“A few years ago I still was going into the street every time they announced a meeting. One day my daughter asked me why I was doing it, and I told her that it was for her, that she was at university and I didn’t want her to have a bad mark on her record. That day she told me that she was sick of being watched at school and that we didn’t have to play along with the snitches. Since then I’m not going to any call for anything,” she says.

While years ago on the eve of September 28 the streets were filled with Cuban flags hanging from windows and large cauldrons arranged for the collective stew, today the silence and reluctance highlight the discredit of the organization. “Not even the leaders believe in the CDRs, and they are paid to keep them going,” says Marcos, who claims to be one of the many harmed by the “surveillance disguised as concern” that is typical of the committees.

The comecandela [assholes] who made my life miserable now live in the United States, and I’m still here, in my little house on Reina Street. The CDRs have done a lot of damage. All kinds of scoundrels disguised as revolutionaries belonged to their ranks. Now that the ship is sinking no one wants to be connected to them, but at the time they organized acts of repudiation and were consecrated activists,” he asserts.

The 65th anniversary of the CDRs does not seem to interest the people of Cienfuegos, who, before even considering attending a party, must ensure their daily survival. In neighborhoods with houses in poor condition, destroyed streets and people plunged into poverty, there is no reason to celebrate. “Until recently, on the anniversary you could hear music from Villuendas Park to Martí Park. You could smell stew from the Tulipán neighborhood to the Malecón. Many things have changed,” regrets Arelis, who for years was president of the CDR on her block.

Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.

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