From our Bureau of Troublesome Priests
Outspoken Cuban priest Alberto Reyes has once again posted a blistering denunciation of the island’s dictatorship in which he details all the rights the government has taken away from the people over the past 65 years while calling on citizens not to lose hope. If you are a praying person, please pray for Padre Alberto. Below is the full text of his Facebook post, loosely translated from CiberCuba:
I’ve been thinking about the root of some ‘no’s. . . .by Alberto Reyes Pías
Many years ago, this people grew tired of Batista’s dictatorship, and a large majority supported the revolutionary movements that fought against tyranny. Many people risked their property, status, and even their lives; many worked in secrecy, many lost family members, many died. Why? What gave them strength and courage? What made them defy the dangers? Hope, the sun that rises in the soul while it is still night.
Those who planned to take over this island fostered hope, and in a thousand ways conveyed to the people that their support and sacrifices would lead to victory. And when it did, they offered this people a prepared illusion, making them believe that only they knew the way to the desired freedom, while buying time to chain the one thing that could truly take power from them: hope.
That’s why they established a ‘no’ where the people expected and needed a ‘yes.’ The ‘no’s to what they could not and still cannot allow.
No to alternative political parties, because political parties are not just groups of people with different thoughts, but a group of people who come together to dream of a different country, to generate a new vision of reality, and from that vision, encourage one another to find the means to make it possible. And this dream, this vision, needs hope in its soul.
No to free elections. They invite you to vote, but prevent you from choosing, because the right to choose sends the message that it is possible to think differently, and that points towards change, for choosing is a way of living hope.
No to freedom of expression, because they cannot allow citizens’ voices to reach the sleeping, deceived, or frightened masses. They cannot admit being questioned by those who offer a different option, because if the people begin to believe in that different option, nothing will stop hope from being born in them. And awakened hope reveals the lies and strengthens the decision that something can be done.
No to peaceful demonstrations, because sometimes we think hope is just a personal and private matter, but when that hope is shared, proclaimed, and taken to the streets, it is discovered to be the hope of an entire people, and that makes us believe in the change we once imagined impossible.
No to amnesty for political prisoners, because imprisoning those who think differently is the best warning of what can happen to those who give voice to their hope.
No to the advancement of private enterprise, because private initiative means autonomy, empowerment, independence from the State. Private initiative is called freedom, and freedom nourishes hope.
The days of idyllic infatuations, of lulling promises, and energetic songs predicting glorious futures are long gone. Now we know each other, and we have looked each other in the eye. Now we know that it was all manipulation and lies.
It’s no longer worth pretending. All that remains is a heavy hand and continuous threats. All that’s left is to try to convince people that hope is useless, and that dreaming of a different tomorrow serves no purpose.
And yet, in the heart of this people, each new day, amid precariousness and tyranny, a voice deep within is reborn and resonates: ‘I exist’ — says hope — and one day, one day, we will manage to turn the night into a freedom that becomes a light-filled noon.”