Deprived of the Right to Take to the Streets, on March 8 Cuban Women Will Wear a Black Ribbon on Their Hands

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Yoani-Sánchez

Feminist groups have begun to wear a black ribbon tied to the wrist to symbolize their rejection of male violence. (YoSíTeCreo)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 8 March 2023 — Gladys lives in Caibarién, a small coastal city in the center of Cuba. Two months ago, her son left with other young people on a rustic raft to try to reach the United States. She since then she has heard nothing from them. A teacher by profession and retired a decade ago, the woman spends her hours checking social networks and calling the family of the other disappeared rafters to find out if they have any news. This March 8, International Women’s Day, will be longer than usual for her: without celebrations or laughter.

“There, that’s where they killed her,” says a resident of Camalote, in the province of Camagüey, when someone inquires about 17-year-old Leidy Bacallao Santana. On February 3, the young woman sought refuge at the police station in the face of threats from her ex-boyfriend, but he chased her and ended up killing her with a machete in front of the uniformed officers. Since the beginning of the year, 16 Cuban women have died in sexist attacks in a country where official propaganda refuses to recognize the femicides that leave so many families in mourning. From the Government, the only stories narrated are those of happy woman, fulfilled and grateful for the system.

Wearing her white coat, Danurys leaves every morning for her job at a doctor’s office. She graduated just a few months ago and dreams of later doing a specialty in pediatrics. This week she has not had anything for breakfast despite the fact that the salaries in the Public Health sector are among the highest in the country. The devaluation of the Cuban peso and the rise in the price of basic products, together with the chronic shortages and the productive inefficiency of the country, mean that a piece of bread, a glass of milk or a sip of coffee have become unaffordable for the pockets of many.

The young woman from Galena does not want to pack her bags and leave, as more than 350,000 Cubans did last year, but she does not know how much longer she will be able to cope with material hardships and low salaries. She doesn’t even plan to have children in the coming years: “Giving birth here, no, that’s clear to me,” she concludes categorically.

One hundred years ago, the grandmothers of Gladys, Leidy and Danurys took to the Cuban streets demanding their right to vote, they celebrated having achieved the first Divorce Law on the Island after decades of demands, and they fought for labor inclusion and salary dignity. During the first half of the 20th century, the feminist movement on the Island achieved important reforms in the Civil Code and significant demands regarding marriage, maternity, study and work. They were not easy conquests. Many of them spent their tears and their energies at rallies, conferences and public protests, but significantly paved the way.

This year, a group of Cuban feminists decided to deliver a letter to Parliament requesting permission for a peaceful demonstration. The National Assembly did not accept the letter and some of these women were subsequently harassed and detained. The repression has forced them to launch another initiative: to wear a black ribbon on their hands during this day as a sign of mourning, against femicides and in favor of a Comprehensive Law that protects women from sexist violence. A “virtual march” is being organized on social networks to replace the physical demonstration vetoed by the ruling party. Gladys, Danurys and Leidy’s relatives will have to settle for showing their indignation on the internet. At the moment their demands are only allowed in the digital space, but one day they will recover the streets. Almost there.

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Editor’s Note: This text was originally published by Deutsche Welle ‘s Latin America page .

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

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Cubans: Sponsor or Death, We Will Leave!

Posted on January 30, 2023 by Yoani-Sánchez

This Island contains millions of lost souls eager to escape who cannot count on a sponsor. (Coast Guard)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 30 January 2023 — It was the early morning of January 23 when the raft, with 28 people on board, capsized on the north coast of the province of Matanzas, Cuba. At least five rafters died and another 12 are still missing. The tragedy, which once again puts the families of this Island in mourning, occurred barely two weeks after the start of a new immigration program conceived by the United States to stop the flood of Cubans that has been arriving at its southern border.

“I need a sponsor, whatever the cost,” a neighbor who has plenty of gray hair and lacks resources told me, looking at me without blinking. Trapped in the elevator of this concrete block, the man felt safe enough to launch his request my way: “Someone to get me out of here and I will pay with work, whatever it takes.” In his apartment in a building that was built with a Soviet subsidy in the 1980s, his wife, his two daughters and three grandchildren hope that his efforts will bear fruit as soon as possible.

My neighbor, who until recently was a member of the Communist Party, now wants to find a way to “get his people out as soon as possible.” The possible escape route is the humanitarian parole program that the United States announced at the beginning of this year to benefit migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti. With this measure, Washington intends to welcome 30,000 nationals of these countries every month, and reject those who try to enter its territory illegally.

But the path is not easy. To process the humanitarian permit, the beneficiary must have a “sponsor” in the United States, who has to assume responsibility for their financial situation and show the income that allows them to start the process. Although in recent years Cuban emigration has been very diverse, from different social classes and racial origins, it is evident that white and professional exiles now have better chances of having a parole approved for their relatives on the Island.

If the raft heading toward the Straits of Florida or the crossing through Central America is brutal and potentially deadly, the new permit is based on economic requirements that filter and leave out the poorest, less urban groups and Afro-descendants. This is a road for those who can have someone on that side who can show their face and their wallet. But this Island contains millions of souls in torment who cannot count on a sponsor.

The tension has ended up exploding. Those who continue to assemble the raft to face the sea are those who have no other option. Unlike my neighbor, a retired cameraman from official television, who launches his proposals to everyone who he sees and probably has a relative in Florida who will finance part of his getaway, the rafters of this minute are the ones who do not fit into one category or the other. They don’t want to stay, but no legal and pocket-friendly program allows them to leave.

In the early morning of January 23rd: 28 people with no possibility of being “sponsored,” and with no hope of having a better life in Cuba, throw themselves into the sea. The waves have swallowed the dreams of a good part of those Cubans.

Editor’s Note: This text was originally published in Deutsche Welle in Spanish.

Artificial Intelligence Has Serious Proposals to Develop the Cuban Economy

Posted on January 4, 2023 by Yoani-Sánchez

ChatGPT has the good nature, the pragmatism to put reality before ideology and knowledge that are so scarce among the leaders of the Communist Party. (EFE)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 2 January 2022 — One of the diversions that I have given myself for the new year has been interacting with the ChatGPT developed in 2022 by the OpenAI company, and which is promoted as “specialized in dialogue.” On the first day of 2023, I greeted the “entity,” who responded to me with kindness, restraint and in almost perfect Spanish. I immediately questioned it about urgent issues on the Island and its suggestions for the Cuban economy seemed to me more accurate than everything said by Cuba’s Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil since he has been in office.

With a ponderous tone, which warns that it does not issue its opinion and avoids predicting future situations, the algorithm behind the chatbot detailed some measures that could help our country get out of its economic quagmire. The resulting list is not very different from what is heard in lines or in conversations between friends when the crisis we are going through and its possible solutions is discussed, but it is quite distant from the official discourse.

If the need for foreign investment, the promotion of agriculture and the obligation to stabilize the currency are points of contact between the responses of this artificial intelligence and what is discussed in the Cuban streets and with the phrases that Cuban leaders constantly repeat, ChatGPT distances itself completely from the latter, because it does not stop at proposals that never come to fruition and rhetorical fireworks. Far from triumphalism and polarization, it warns of the urgency of increasing the educational level of the people and also of promoting political changes “necessary to implement broader economic reforms.”

Without slogans, without calls to sacrifice or partisan slogans, the phrases of the friendly bot also arrive equipped with the warning that any reform of this type also requires “a long-term commitment.” In the field of political openings, it was much more forceful: greater transparency and accountability are needed on the part of the authorities, more citizen participation, respect for freedom of expression and the press, in addition to stopping the violation of human rights human rights on the island o its tracks.

And to finish off the lively exchange, the artificial intelligence said goodbye: “Have a good day and, if you need anything else from me, I’ll be here,” a courtesy far removed from the insults that would spring from the throat of any Cuban official if a citizen would dare to pose such questions. ChatGPT has the good nature, the pragmatism to put reality before ideology and knowledge that is so scarce among the leaders of the Communist Party of this country.

Latin America and the Eternal Political Pendulum of the Caudillos

Posted on January 2, 2023 by Yoani-Sánchez

Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel and the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, during a military parade in Mexico City’s Zócalo in September 2021. (José Méndez/EFE)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 1 January 2023 — Some call it the political pendulum, others classify it as the necessary ideological fluctuations imposed by history and there is no shortage of those who compare it with a cachumbambé (or seesaw) that sinks some party leaders in Latin America today while elevating others. The academic definitions or the labels coined by the headlines of the press matter little: the ideological oscillations between the governments of the continent are becoming, in all the essentials, less and less differentiated.

When Gabriel Boric came to power in Chile, Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución rubbed its hands. The Cuban authoritarian regime believed that in the South American president it would have a faithful follower who would accept its policies and silence its human rights violations. This has not been the case and, over the months, the new president has been turning towards pragmatism and more moderate positions. Although from the Moneda Palace a clear voice condemning the repression in Cuba is not heard, nor is complicit applause is not heard and the accusatory finger he raises at the excesses of the autocrat Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua is clearly seen.

The disaster of Pedro Castillo in Peru also calls into question the theory of ideological oscillation in the region. With a campaign that presented him as a humble teacher who was going to rescue the poorest social classes from oblivion, the Puña native ended up surrounding himself with a cabinet that had little to do with his initial left-wing discourse or with his proletarian demands. Caught between his ineptitude and the complexities of governing such a diverse nation, he preferred to flee forward and embark on the ridicule of a failed coup.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is another of these. A declared critic of the press, a promoter of various conspiracy theories or falsehoods that he tries to validate in his soporific “mornings,” the Mexican leader moves according to convenience between a discourse that borders on populist clichés and opportunism. Although in international forums he stands side by side with Pedro Castillo, the recently sentenced Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, or the unpresentable Miguel Díaz-Canel, towards the interior of his country he plays with a confusing rhetoric that is said and unsaid every day. It’s like a pendulum, coming and going as it pleases.

Nor is El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele, chameleon of chameleons, spared either. The one who presents himself as a “tweeter in chief” also breaks into Congress with armed soldiers. He can be hypnotic in his speeches, modern in his use of social networks and even innovative in his proposals to fight organized crime, but in the end he is nothing more than the grotesque and well-known Latin American caudillo who believes that citizens should be treated as small children and punished as if we were still in diapers.

Faced with so much political decadence, the shameful Nicolás Maduro can always remain as an extreme example. Clumsy, incapable and ridiculous, the Venezuelan caudillo helps us understand that it is not about ideological colors or a dilemma between liberalism versus socialism. Our region is sick with autocrats or apprentice dictators. Decades after the publication of The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez, The Recourse to the Method by Alejo Carpentier or I, the Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos, Latin America continues to be a region of caricature leaders, of leaders who produce more fear or laughter than admiration.

Could 2023 Be a Better Year for Cuba?

Posted on December 30, 2022 by Auto Post

The lines, although nothing new, have been a focus of attention this year, including those formed to buy dollars in a Cadeca (currency exchange) in Centro Habana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 29 December 2022 — To end this year, and together with several journalist colleagues, we prepared a list of the people and projects that had set the tone in Cuba during 2022 . The list of names was also a journey through the most important moments of these twelve months and a painful review of the crisis and tragedies that have hit the Island. Curiously, among the faces and events chosen there were more deceased than living people; more catastrophes than achievements.

Why is the balance of this year so gloomy in a country that is not at war nor has suffered a cataclysm of great proportions? The answer to that question lies in the persistence of the error, in the stubborn continuity of maintaining a model that has had six decades to prove its inability to deal with reality. This has been the year in which the long lines to buy food multiplied everywhere, in which families had to say goodbye to almost a quarter of a million migrants, and in which the hopes of that spark that caused the protests of 11 July 2021 vanished.

In 2022, we Cubans saw the Saratoga Hotel in Havana explode, taking 47 lives with it; the Supertankers base in the city of Matanzas burned for days, which also claimed another 17 souls, and we also attended the silent funeral of tens or hundreds of rafters who shipwrecked in the Florida Straits or Cuban migrants who died in the Darien jungle. A deadly year that, about to end, has not even brought the publication of the results of the expert and official investigation of its greatest misfortunes.

From that impulse to change things, which unleashed the largest popular demonstrations in Cuban history, there has been a time of fear and silence. It is a rare week that we do not have to say goodbye to some independent journalist colleague, surrounded by threats and the dangers of practicing the profession outside the narrow official limits. It has also been months of seeing the inflexibility of a power that has sentenced several of the July 11th [11J] participants to sentences of more than 20 years in prison.

But the regime has also suffered a significant deterioration in its international image, its ability to intimidate and its power to silence the citizenry. Criticism grows on all sides, discontent springs up and the diatribe – which no longer stops at rebuking the bureaucrats or local administrators – is directed like a precise arrow towards the highest levels of the Government. The year 2022 has also been the one of citizen awakening and the galloping loss of credibility of the Cuban Communist Party.

But a democratic change needs much more than accumulated disappointments and repeated failures. Rebellious and young people are needed to promote an opening. In the coming months, the migration will take a part of those much-needed citizens through Central America, in a social escape valve that will postpone the necessary transition on this Island. As hope we have the political attrition and the disputes “up there,” the possible death of some powerful nonagenarians and the regeneration capacity that every society has. For the coming year we have hope, can we count on something else?

___________________

Editor’s Note: This text was originally published by Deutsche Welle‘s Latin America page .

I Will Continue Living Here in Cuba, Despite the Dictatorship

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Auto Post

Dawn in Cuba, a country submerged in an economic crisis and an unprecedented migratory exodus. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 18 December 2022 — Those December days are approaching when we all take stock, set new goals and forecast what is going to happen. The year 2023 arrives on an Island plunged into a deep crisis, with an uncertain outlook. In the absence of certainties, I want to venture on this list (very particular, subjective and absolutely determined by my circumstances) my personal and national toeholds, what I think will happen next year:

I am going to continue living here in Cuba, in the country where I was born. I am stubborn (very stubborn) and one day my ashes will be scattered on this earth, under a guava tree.

Every morning, from Monday to Friday, I will try to record and broadcast my Cafecito informativo podcast, a modest contribution to the Cuban information ecosystem.

I will dedicate my best hours to the newspaper 14ymedio, an informational space that will be nine years old next May and that has built a reputation for being serious, constant and with people in the information field. There is still a lot to achieve, but we will achieve it with work, work and work.

I am not going to allow the political police to prevent me from enjoying the sunrises, the smell of the romerillo daisies and the waves breaking in Caleta de San Lázaro. That’s mine too.

I will try to read more, although bringing in books and printed material is still so complicated on this Island, but I am a “rare” philologist who enjoys audiobooks and reading volumes in digital format. In the absence of paper, kilobytes come in handy.
I am going to spend less time on social networks, especially on Facebook, because I have several professional projects that demand a lot of time. However, I always keep an eye on everything that is published from inside the Island be it a complaint, news or a report.

But the most important thing is that I will continue to be a happy person. My happiness does not depend on the political or economic model in which I live. I am happy because I breathe

I will plant new plants. Gardening and the urban garden are the particular forms that I have chosen so that this authoritarian system does not destroy my most sensitive side. I will watch my tomatoes grow, I will water my pumpkins, I will eat the lettuce and chard sprouts growing on my balcony while I observe the dysfunctional Ministry of Agriculture which — erected right in front of my terrace — fails to harvest hardly anything.

I will continue without saying a word to State Security. If you call me, you know, I’ll repeat what I’ve said so much: “I don’t talk to the political police.” I don’t care if they are named after the guerrilla Ernesto, the disappeared Camilo or the Pharaoh Ramses . I have nothing to tell you. Silent strike is what it takes in those cases and they already know it.

I will look more into the eyes of my dogs and my cats. In those infinite pupils there is a lot of wisdom.

My complaint about authoritarianism, the new ways of totalitarianism and the faces of generals that become managers will continue.

But the most important thing is that I will continue to be a happy person. My happiness does not depend on the political or economic model in which I live. I am happy because I breathe, because I am alive, because I understand that each breath is a miracle for me and I owe it to all those who preceded me. I am happy despite the dictatorship and living in a failed country. I am happy because that is also a form of rebellion.

With that being said, I wish you all a happy 2023. It may not be the year we are all waiting for, but it is the year we have achieved.

Thank You, Dear Pablo, for the Musical Legacy and Honesty

Posted on November 22, 2022 by Yoani-Sánchez

Pablo Milanés and his daughter Haydée sing a duet. (File, Archive)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 22 November 2022 — Three decades ago, when the dial of any radio in Cuba was turned, it was very unlikely not to stumble across, on various stations, the warm voice of Pablo Milanés. It was the time when the Nueva Trova phenomenon was at its peak on the island, and the singer-songwriter was starring in concerts, interviews, television programs, and even musical themes in support of a political process to which he gave not only his best chords but also his artistic prestige. Shortly after, something broke forever in that relationship and this November 22, when the artist died at the age of 79 in Madrid, he had long since become an open critic of the Havana regime.

The death of Milanés closes a cultural stage on the island, although troubadours of his generation are still active, in the style of Silvio Rodríguez. He puts an end to an era because, unlike the latter, the author of hymns like Yolanda and Yo no te pido [I don’t ask you] had not only captivated his public musically but had also managed to gain a foothold in the hearts of the audience. His reputation as a good man, without hatred and in solidarity with young talents, earned him much appreciation on and off the Island. Added to this was his honesty, a personal quality that made him publicly acknowledge his distance from the ideological model that he had once helped to praise with his songs.

In July 2021, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets asking for a change in the system and a democratic opening, Milanés was emphatic in his support for the citizens and in his repudiation of the ruling party. “It is irresponsible and absurd to blame and repress a people thathave sacrificed and given everything for decades to sustain a regime that, in the end, imprisons them,” he lamented on his Facebook account. The artist took the opportunity to recall that he had been denouncing “the injustices and errors in the politics and government” of Cuba for a long time. Those words have been repeated and remembered in the last hours, after learning of his death, as a worthy epitaph to the composer of El breve espacio en que no estás [In the brief space where you are not].

Cuban officialdom has been cautious up to now in its condolences. A few brief farewell messages have come from the accounts of cultural institutions and some party leaders, but the brief and distant tone of these obituaries is noticeable. Milanés is not a comfortable dead man for a regime accustomed to extolling only those who applaud it with enthusiasm. The troubadour had become a difficult being for them, something that became clear during his last concert in Havana in June of this year. On that occasion, the authorities wanted to confine the artist in a small room which they were going to fill with acolytes from the Plaza of the Revolution, but the indignation of his followers forced them to change the script and move the presentation to the larger Ciudad Deportiva. And yes, indeed, the place was packed with political police to prevent the public from chanting “Freedom!” or other protest slogans.

During that show, many felt that they were probably attending, for the last time, that Milanés would sing in their country. With the greatness that characterized him, he did not want to get sentimental or emphasize a possible farewell, but his age and his fragile health levitated over the thousands of attendees.

Social networks have been filled with messages of respect and affection for everything that he gave to people throughout his life. Along with an impressive musical legacy, his main testament is summed up in having been consistent, a consistency that frightens official propaganda but that his audience recognizes. Thank you for the songs and for the sincerity, dear Pablo.

Editor’s Note: This text was originally published by Deutsche Welle‘s Latin America page.

Cuban Independent Journalism in the Face of the Uncertain Future of Twitter

Posted on November 20, 2022 by Yoani-Sánchez

It is not known what will happen to Twitter but it is easy to predict what will happen to the thousands of Cuban users if its fluttering stops: we will be more gagged. (EFE)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 20 November 2022 — The winds of uncertainty are blowing over Twitter: massive layoffs, an attempt to charge for account verification, and inflammatory statements by its new owner, Elon Musk, have fueled doubts about the future of this social network. In Cuba, questions are also growing about a tool that is vital for activism and independent journalism.

The crisis that the blue bird is going through comes at a very sensitive moment for the Island. There are only a few days left before a new Penal Code comes into force that will further restrict freedom of expression and the exercise of the press. By the time this new legal code is in force, the need to denounce repressive excesses will multiply and Twitter’s 280-character postings is the main channel for these demands to reach the largest number of international organizations, media outlets, and associations that watch over human rights.

To the extent that the social network seems to be about to become a thing of the past, the scope of these complaints will diminish and the visibility of civil society actors on the Island will also decrease. In addition, the insecurity surrounding the San Francisco company emboldens the Cuban regime, which in recent months has suffered several virtual defeats with the cancellation of its official accounts that spread ideological propaganda and attacks against dissidents.

Twitter has always been a thorn in the side of Castroism, which saw from the beginning the threat posed by a technology that offered citizens the ability to publish immediately, even without the need for internet, as it was used widely on the Island through mobile phone text-only messages. After a time of reticence against this social network, the regime ended up opening its own accounts assigned to institutions and party leaders, but it has never been able to hide its displeasure towards the tool. It has always had a dislike for this restless bird.

Now, spokesmen for the regime rush to pluck the wounded bird, boasting that they always foresaw its fall from grace. The instability that has gripped this microblogging service sounds like music to their authoritarian ears and they are already fantasizing about the company’s closing and the end of the loudspeaker that it has represented for the opposition and independent Cuban media. Unable to impose their narrative online, they are anxiously waiting for the voices of Cuban citizens to stop being heard.

Twitter has a great responsibility towards those of us who live on this Island. For us, to keep “twittering” about our reality is not a matter of trends, entertainment, puerile conversations or the desire to kill boredom. A tweet can make the difference between being on one side or the other of prison bars, it is capable of stopping a repressive act, and revealing the coercive practices of the political police. In our case, it is not a channel to display our morning cup of coffee or our feet sunbathing in front of a pool, but a very important layer of the protective shield that we need so much.

It is not known what will happen to Twitter, but it is easy to predict what will happen to the thousands of Cuban users of that network if its fluttering stops: we will be more gagged and surrounded by greater dangers.

Cubans Have Lost Their Smiles

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Auto Post

That laughter on the lips or the cackles set off by anything at all have disappeared from Cuban streets. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 21 October 2022 — We are a dozen people waiting in line. The woman in front of me has her lips pursed as if she is avoiding saying anything. The young man in flip-flops and jeans turns his head from side to side from time to time, while next to him a teenager does not take her eyes off her phone and frowns. The man at the end of the line has released some insults for the delay and even the store’s guard can’t stop complaining. No one smiles, no face even hints at a gesture of joy or complacency.

For years I had to explain to my foreign students who came to learn Spanish on the island that the laughter of Cubans should not be interpreted as synonymous with happiness. “Even at funerals, and despite the sadness of the death of someone close, people will make their jokes and can burst out laughing,” I described. But the stereotype that people in this country felt content and lucky to live under the prevailing political system was as difficult to eradicate as lice in elementary school classrooms.

So, I drew on more data. I spoke to them about the repression, the domestic conflicts fueled by the housing deficit, the high divorce rate, the drama of the suicides about which the ruling party jealously guards the numbers, and the dream most shared by Cubans, that of emigrating to any other place in order to leave this Island. However, my explanations that a thousand and one dramas could hide behind those smiles tourists saw in the streets did not achieve any effect. The cliché of national contentment was stronger than any argument or statistic.

But even the most widespread and enduring clichés may one day run into the reality that proves them false. That laughter on the lips or the cackles set off by anything at all have disappeared from Cuban streets. The faces of sorrow and annoyance are seen on all sides and, instead of those jocular and hilarious phrases of yesteryear, now emerge complaints, insults and offenses. It gives the impression that a conflict is always about to break out with fists or that anyone might jump down another’s throat at the slightest difference of opinion or friction.

A French friend who worked in Cuba for a foreign firm for many years returned a few days ago after more than five years in Europe. “What has happened to the people?” he asked me. “No one laughs,” he added when he saw that I didn’t understand him. He concluded with a phrase that made me realize that we all have long, serious faces 24 hours a day: “All the faces I see are sad, even the children don’t smile.” We don’t even use that mask that we put on so many times to exorcise pain or dissatisfaction. We have stopped even wanting to pretend that we are happy.

After that conversation I walked down the Avenida de los Presidentes in El Vedado, turned onto Calle 23, continued to L, approached Infanta and quickened my pace towards Belascoaín. Not a single laugh the entire way.

Havana Already Stinks of Rot

Posted on October 1, 2022 by Yoani-Sánchez

Ruined food and garbage have been piling up for almost 100 hours since the widespread blackout began in Cuba. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 1 October 2022 — The Internet continues to be cut off in a large part of Havana after the protests yesterday afternoon and evening. To the cry of Freedom! and Turn On The power! People came out in the Playa municipality and other areas of the Cuban capital.

We are still without electricity, and it will soon be 100 hours without power. Our building smells rotten, from the food that was spoiled without refrigeration, from the garbage that older people on the highest floors cannot go down to throw away, and from the system itself that stinks like a corpse even though it continues to resist burial.

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