Osmel Ramirez Alvarez

I have been farming the land and been a member of a credit and service cooperative (CCS), for over five years now, based in my community, of Mayari, Holguin. This mode of production is the closest thing there is to a real cooperative here in Cuba.

More than ten people took part in the operation last November when I was arrested in my home, between agents from State Security, MININT’s Technical Investigations Department, police, crime investigators, an ambulance driver, intensive care doctor and inspector. They interrupted that peaceful afternoon in my home like vultures.

In Cuba, spending Christmas and new year’s eve with your family still continues to be a beautiful tradition. Even more so if you spend it eating roast pork, rice and beans, cassava with sauce, mixed salad and bitter orange peel dessert. But, not all families can pay for the great “luxury” that these simple delicacies have become.

After Raul Castro’s announcement in his latest speech in front of the National Assembly, him stepping down as president seems to be pretty much definite. Everything is pointing towards Miguel Diaz-Canel being named his successor, the First Vice-President who rose up to the highest ranks of Cuban politics thanks to the post-Fidel purge that took some of the system’s key figures out of the game.

On Thursday 14th, around midday, my father passed by one of Mayari’s pharmacies. He did it out of habit to see if, by chance, he would find any of the medicines we needed at home. He was surprised to see a big crowd, however, there wasn’t anything that he was looking for. “Intimates have come in,” the woman told him.

We are witnessing many examples of an absence and cracks or flaws in democracy, with a great deal of disappointment. The belief that you are enjoying the greatest dose of democracy there is very commonplace in capitalist societies as you are absorbed in economic freedom and have the right to vote.

Although it might not be apparent to the tourist, our society is very violent in many ways. It’s sad to admit it, but that’s our reality and we don’t get anywhere by minimizing it or denying it. If selling firearms was legal here, Cuba would be the Wild West.

It was and is many socialists’ serious mistake to believe that a truly fair society could be the result of an undemocratic political system. Socialism without democracy is a hoax because you can’t emancipate or bring justice to a people whose rights aren’t all respected.

The quotation “Ideas cannot be killed” is very well-known in Cuba whereby a Batista army officer stopped his angry colleagues who wanted to kill Fidel when he was captured after the failed attempt to take the Moncada barracks. It was the most convincing argument used by that enlightened sergeant, Sarria.

Before being arrested for writing independent journalism and for believing in democratic socialism, I was getting things ready to take part in a course/workshop in Lima, Peru. As soon as I got out of jail, it was a race against time.