Who Understands Cubans?

By Francisco Acevedo

HAVANA TIMES – For those unfamiliar with the reality of Cuba, it must have seemed strange to hear talk of a dictatorship while witnessing a parade like the one held this past May 1st.

If a population feels oppressed and yearns for freedom, the worst thing it can do is publicly pay homage to its leaders for all the world to see.

Probably several of those who marched past the Plaza de la Revolución were also on the streets during the July 11, 2021 protests, the height of incoherence that has characterized this society over the past 60 years.

Lying, repeating, and applauding are rampant among a population besieged by disaster from all sides yet docile in the face of their oppressors’ calls. No one with a shred of common sense can make sense of this.

You have to live or have lived in this country to understand the state of fear that dominates Cubans. And I would say it’s almost gratuitous now, because failing to attend the march doesn’t even trigger major reprisals, though this by no means downplays the countless coercive methods used on workers and students.

No state worker has yet been able to tell me of any explicit coercion; it’s simply that fear has been embedded in their veins. And to “avoid trouble,” they get up early and put on the worst possible display of a people supposedly yearning for freedom.

Private business owners were also present, supposedly for the same reason: the legal framework surrounding them is so flimsy that they feel at the mercy of the State.

Several areas of Havana were “pardoned” from blackouts this past week, but many people attended the march despite having suffered them, and fully aware that their misfortune would return as soon as they left the Plaza.

The same healthcare workers who tell you there are no medicines or laboratory reagents when you arrive at the hospital walked the streets projecting an image of support for those who have them working in such deplorable conditions.

All the transportation not normally seen on Havana’s avenues throughout the month was surrounding the Plaza on May 1st—there was enough fuel for that. All the buses that are supposedly broken and can’t provide daily service in the capital were parked nearby to transport marchers, along with all other rented or repurposed vehicles, acquired in exchange for just a bit of fuel.

For example, in the few remaining boarding schools, students arrived home around 10 p.m. during their last break because there was no transportation available to pick them up. Their transportation for entrance exams, which will likely determine their professional future, is also uncertain.

It’s the usual distribution of priorities by this government, which saves fuel to crack down on the first person who shouts “Patria y Vida!” But what’s even more shameful is the conga lines of people singing and dancing through the night, as if there were something to celebrate in a country where not even a daily bread roll is guaranteed.

This time there wasn’t even the usual food support that accompanies these events, likely because it was just for a two-hour parade, they must have thought. Nor were the dozens of agricultural fairs of the past held, although a few did take place.

By May 2, all of Cuba had returned to its usual misery. But the circus had been staged, and the world sees that what’s lacking isn’t anything material—but shame. As much as it pains me to say it, in the end it must be said that everyone gets what they deserve.

One can understand those who live with privilege, and the foreigners who join in the pantomime thinking it’s real. But the chronically impoverished have no justification for allowing themselves to be used like that.

I don’t even want to talk about the children and teenagers, who are also part of the spectacle with the approval, and sometimes complicity, of their parents. I still find it inconceivable. These are the same parents who complain that their salaries aren’t enough to live decently, that they can’t provide snacks for their children or afford a decent vacation. So, it’s no wonder no one understands them and the change they supposedly yearn for keeps slipping further away.

Those who right now are sacrificing their personal freedom to remain true to their principles must feel betrayed by the very people for whom they are losing the best years of their lives in prisons across the country.

On that note, this past April 29, Cuba’s most well-known dissident, Jose Daniel Ferrer, was sent back to prison. He had spent only a few months at home without ceasing his protests after being granted a general amnesty requested by the Vatican.

The body of Pope Francis wasn’t even cold before the dictatorship rolled back that deathbed concession. It wasn’t a normal arrest, it was a full-scale operation at his home, where even his five-year-old son was taken, along with whatever else authorities wanted to confiscate.

No real justification was needed, but Ferrer gave them one as soon as he stepped into his house, declaring that he would not respond to official summonses and preferred to remain imprisoned.

During his brief time in freedom, he dedicated much of his energy to distributing food in his neighborhood despite constant threats. I’m sure very few people will now stand up for the man who fed them or defend his doctor wife who treated them free of charge.

This is what a regime of terror enforces. And once again, I insist, anyone who hasn’t lived here will never be able to understand how human beings can be so ungrateful. But the rules of decency and dignity don’t apply in a dictatorship like this one.

Read more from Cuba here on Havana Times.