A woman walks in front of a graffiti that reads ¡Viva Fidel !, in Havana this July 26.YAMIL LAGE / AFP
The most important date of the revolutionary imaginary in Cuba this year had a low profile. There was neither a central act in Havana nor great speeches to celebrate the assault on the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953, the action that marked the beginning of Fidel Castro's armed struggle against the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship. The event, which for six decades has been celebrated in style, this time was conditioned by the pandemic and the echo of the massive protests that shook the country on July 11 and 12, an unprecedented event that both the authorities and the society still try to digest. Obviously, the serious epidemiological situation - for the second day in a row the 8,000 infections were exceeded - influenced the failure to promote concentrations,Although this did not prevent the organization on July 17 of a great act of reaffirmation in front of the US embassy with thousands of people, which was attended by the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, Raúl Castro and the main leaders of the country.
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Early in the morning, this July 26, television offered images of Díaz-Canel participating in volunteer work with a group of young people on an agricultural farm, and then the president used his Twitter account to send a message in a conciliatory tone: “Congratulations, all Cubans. Thank you, dear friends of the world! It's already 26! I reiterate my call for peace, work, unity and all together to move forward! ”. The trials against the protesters continue, but little by little it has become known that some of those convicted of their participation in the protests have been released with precautionary measures, as is the case of the photographer Anyelo Troya, one of the makers of the video clip.
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, sentenced to one year in jail by a municipal court. His family reported that he was released on Saturday and that he will await the appeal of the sentence in a second instance court under house arrest.
Both the police violence seen these days in numerous videos posted on social networks, as well as the trials, have caused a real shakeup in society, and there are many voices demanding the release of all peaceful protesters.
The shock is especially evident and sonorous in the art world.
The singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés said from Spain: "It is irresponsible and absurd to blame and repress a people who have sacrificed themselves and given everything for decades to support a regime that in the end what it does is imprison it."
Milanés showed his confidence in young people, thinking that they are the ones who "with the help of all Cubans, should and will be the engine of change."
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His daughter Haydee, also a singer, affirmed in Havana that “the Cuban people have expressed themselves and have peacefully taken to the streets with their demands.
The Government has the obligation to listen to them ”, and in the same sense popular musicians who usually had a low profile, or did not talk about politics, such as the legendary Van Van orchestra, expressed themselves.
"The Van Van de Cuba exist thanks to our Cuban people, therefore, we will always support the people
,
whoever they are, whatever they think, defend the ideology they defend, always with the utmost respect," said Samuel Formell, director of the band.
“We support the thousands of Cubans who demand their rights, we must be heard.
Let's say no to violence and abuse.
Let's call for peace in our streets ”.
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A respected family of four jazz players, the López-Nussa, released a joint statement: “Starting from the ethical principles of our family, based on the concepts of freedom, equality and fraternity, instilled from the cradle by our parents and grandparents, we condemn today , July 14, 2021, any act of violence exercised against our people who are currently going through a deep and regrettable crisis. Violence only generates violence ”. Real institutions in Cuba, such as Chucho Valdés or the composer Leo Brouwer, also condemned what happened. "What pain, what sadness that the abuse of power is reached! ... I never imagined that the forces of order in Cuba would attack ordinary and peaceful people like we Cubans are," Brouwer wrote. Lázaro Saavedra, National Prize for Plastic Arts, went further:“There is no justification, no justification! For this excessive use of force with civilians and even less with the intervention of special troops. State violence is abusive in these images. I do not exhibit more in any state institution in this country ”.
Other artists fully aligned themselves with the government, holding the United States responsible for suffocating Cubans to try to provoke an uprising and manipulate the events. "In case anyone had doubts about the definitely subversive work through social networks and digital platforms, and in the aggrandizement of figures that represent the interests of our people, and the media manipulation that from there they try to do with the sectors poorer, "said Israel Rojas, of the Buena Fe duo." The Revolution is not a perfect process, it is a perfectible process, which leads, deserves and requires deep revolutionary criticism, but from there to believe that it is a pedestrian process that deserves die, with me that they do not count for that. I am here to continue having the right to build a better, independent and sovereign country, "he said.For the troubadour Ray Fernández, "young people have to realize that this is one more trick, what they want is to destabilize us, create chaos, intervene and screw up the peace." This is how it is.
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