REFLECTIONS


For those who continue to believe in Castro and his 38 year revolution, I recommend the eye-opening views of the reality inside Cuba that are being provided by the survivors. These accounts are emanating from Cuba lately in the form of letters and articles, and are being published around the world. They reflect frustration, disenchantment, sadness, despair and the lack of hope.

Candido, in a letter from Cuba published in France, reflects on Castro's slogan "Motherland or Death! We'll Win!" "In fact, the 'Motherland' belongs to all Cubans, neither government nor president can suppress or modify her. 'Death,' started in 1959 with unjust executions; the deaths that resulted from internal wars to maintain an intolerable regime; thousands of deaths in international adventures - unfortunately most of them young people. The Florida Straits became the suicide route for those desperately searching for a better life and freedom. They died devoured by sharks in an attempt to obtain what was suppressed in their motherland.

"'We'll Win!' is the lesson. Fidel and his brother Raul have won via infamy and betrayal. They enjoy a whole island and command the most beautiful of natural places. They are owners of everything they wish, everything including the immorality of owning men, women, and children. And to add to the cruelty, these men and women have been converted into robots that guard their owners' lives with their own.

"How far have the manipulative powers of these brothers reached? How is it possible that even ravaged under the most precarious and insurmountable economic hardships there are people still working for - not for the defense of socialism - but for the accomplishments of the revolution? What accomplishments can be lauded in a country where hunger prevails and we are humiliated by foreign visitors with privileges denied to us; where because of the lack of medicines people die; where buildings are collapsing and killing the tenants for lack of repairs; where because of the lack of gas people are victims of fires caused by improvised cooking contraptions?"

Juan Carlos Chavez describes who can make it in Castro's regime: "If you feel the need to be a thug or an informer, or something of that sort, you'll have possibilities in Cuba that you can't find in any other place on the planet. When I was 10 years old I participated in one of the vilest acts committed by this dictatorship. I threw egg yolks at the cars and shouted insults at the people leaving Cuba from the port of Mariel. But we were the ones deserving to be called 'scum' and 'worms'. Getting ready to enter the university I remember some students denying their faith in God so they would be allowed in the medical school.

"When I was working 'voluntarily' in the fields I saw (Castro) stepping out of a Jeep. He was a senile old man with feminine hands, enjoying the adulation of the school professors while flirting with an attractive brunette . . . He told us one of his tales . . . When he left, I realized that the whole country was wasting irreplaceable time following this silly man. The Cuban reality is a wall where all of the dreams of your youth keep crashing over and over again. Invariably, all young Cubans feel disgust, indifference and frustration. I became part of that crowd of alienated youth that roams our streets aimlessly with one idea in mind: escape. Run away from this society that annuls you as an individual and uses you as one more instrument, denying even the most elemental right to scream the truth for all to hear.

"The frustration born of so many years of lies added to the conviction of the inviability of the system, made me put all my hopes in a raft. But we couldn't see the end of our escape. The truck that was transporting the raft broke down hardly a mile from the coast. We were detained and taken to a nearby jail."

After being released from jail, Juan Carlos decided to take a more active role in the eventual liberation of his country, no matter the risks. He became a member of the dissident organization (yet to be approved by the regime) called "Reflection.”


Agustín Blázquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton

Producer/Director of documentary COVERING CUBA

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