Interviewer:
Why Cuba yes and Yankees no?
Maria:
The truth is that Cuba is a country & a people that has set a worldwide example with its resistance. It has been under siege by the Yankees for more than 60 years, with an economic blockade that is the reason its people are in the conditions they are in today. And the truth is that it is a worldwide example for the peoples of the world of what dignity, respect, and sovereignty look like.
Interviewer:
Thank you, Maria. I’m going to respond to you, but I think there’s a lot more that needs to be said.
Man in background:
I see a lot of people on the left parroting the stupidity from Rafal that the Cuban people is resisting by choice. And excuse me for being so direct, but if you celebrate socialism, you’re celebrating my misery. There you are claiming that Cuba is a historic example of sovereignty, resistance, and freedom. No, sir. What the hell are you talking about? All of this comes from a small little circle of people who needed a fairy tale to sell as the official narrative. So they made up that story about the revolutionary Cuban — we’ll get into that later. I’m telling you, neither the Communist Party nor the leadership represent the real interests of the people. Anyway, that’s my opinion. The opinion of someone who lives here and can’t find that joy of being Cuban anywhere. Because a government that was rotten from the start ended up taking everything from us. Our drive, our courage, our land, our hope, our ability to think — all of it in the name of socialism. The same socialism I see you defending so enthusiastically. So you can understand why I’m confused when I see you there, so pale, so hydrated, so well-fed, talking about realities you don’t actually know. Stop repeating that nonsense, man. Because then the rest of the world thinks it’s true that we’re happy here with the misery and the repression.
Interviewer:
I’m going to tell you that you’ve been in prison for 263 days for doing exactly that.
Man in background:
The most honest thing I can tell you today is that neither Trump, nor Miguel, nor Putin, nor the extraterrestrials give a damn about us. We’re the ones who end up having to resist. Between the extreme sanctions, the ones from inside, the debts, the corruption, and all the other joys of politics, they’re killing us slowly. They’ve turned the island into a concentration camp with an escape route to the sea. Possibly the slowest genocide in history. So what resistance are you talking about? Knowing how to go hungry? Lying awake at night wondering what the hell your kid is going to eat tomorrow? Resistance in my ass, which I don’t have. What we are is forced into survival, daily humiliation, and a slow death. Someone once told me something very clear: socialism in Cuba was never the goal. It was just the tool the dictatorship chose, because that’s what it is, another tool of control. If you like “moral resistance” so much, come spend a month here with no electricity, no decent food, and afraid to open your mouth. Then we’ll see how long your armchair romanticism lasts. Resisting is not putting up with garbage for the sake of an ideology. It’s getting up one day and saying enough, even if it costs you your life. Until that happens, keep your historic example, because here we don’t resist, we agonize. Period.
Interviewer:
It’s very easy to criticize liberal capitalism from the freedoms that it gives you. But when people criticize the system here in Cuba the same way you do in your country, they get locked up. Camil and Ernesto are in prison, and this isn’t the only case. They’re just two of the more than 1,400 political prisoners. Your beloved socialism has turned our island into one of the countries with the most political prisoners per capita. But of course, socialism will keep being judged by its intentions instead of its results. Dear leftist, let me tell you something: slogans don’t feed a family. Capitalism, saving, and hard work, that’s the only way.