by Alberto Reyes Pías
I Have Been Thinking About the Options We Have Left (II)
I do not believe there can be much doubt that Cuban society needs to break free and find a way out of the systemic crisis in which it has been living.
To achieve this, a change of government and political system is unavoidable, for the simple and evident reason that, in nearly seventy years, those who have governed us have not only failed to guarantee the population’s basic living conditions, but those conditions have progressively deteriorated to the point of becoming inhumane.
After so much time, what reason is there to believe that the same government, the same party, and the same political system will now be capable of leading the country out of this widespread crisis?
Even assuming that the embargo has played a role in this process, this government has been unable to manage its effects. Therefore, it is only logical that it should give way to others who might be capable of doing so. Playing the victim in the face of the embargo may rally international support for Cuba, but it does not put food on Cuban tables.
When, in the midst of this situation, the word dialogue is proposed, I understand dialogue to mean concrete answers regarding how and when a transition will take place—one that involves those currently governing leaving power and the establishment of conditions for free and pluralistic elections that would make possible a new socioeconomic model.
Because despite the desperate deprivation our country is experiencing, the government not only shows no signs of empathy for the suffering of the people, but also gives no indication of having any genuine political interest in bringing about change. On the contrary, it continues to repeat the same circular discourse: asking for trust in the Revolution, threatening anyone who speaks against the official narrative, and lamenting the “blockade” in a constant posture of victimhood.
Meanwhile, political pluralism remains prohibited, political prisoners continue to be denied, harassment and arrests of peaceful demonstrators continue to increase, and the possibility of free elections is still denied to us.
Faced with this reality, what options do we have?
Because what is not an option at this moment is silence. It is not an option to endure and resist indefinitely, to keep merely improvising ways to survive, or to keep “doing more with less.” It is not an option to suffer in silence, without protesting or complaining. It is not an option to lie and applaud at public events simply to please those in power.
And it is not an option to “understand.” The lack of electricity, water, medicines, food, fuel, and money in the banks is not something the people are expected to “understand”; it is something the government must solve. The relentless rise in prices, currency distortions, and the growing violence and insecurity are not things that people are expected to “understand”; they are problems that the government must solve.
Cuba may or may not receive external assistance to bring about change, but for those of us who live inside the country, what options do we have? What options are we being left with?
I see no other alternative than to speak the truth everywhere: within families, in schools, at workplaces, in churches, and on social media—but also in the streets, in every street, peacefully yet firmly. Perhaps the repeated cry of truth, raised again and again, may achieve the miracle of breaking this inertia, this illusion of a “heroic” people who, in reality, have long since grown weary and exhausted.