Cuban kids don鈥檛 care about grandpa鈥檚 revolution 鈥� they want jobs
| Mexico City and Havana
B谩rbara Farrat Guill茅n was hosting what she had expected to be an uneventful family gathering for her son Jonathan鈥檚 birthday last summer. But the young man happened to turn 17 on July 11, the day that聽historic protests erupted unexpectedly across Cuba 鈥� and the family is still dealing with the aftershocks.
The teen stepped out to look for his father, who had been surprised by the demonstrations on his way home. Six months later, Jonathan is still languishing in detention, suffering beatings, his mother says, and charged with inciting public disorder and attacking the authorities.
Scores of others have already been tried, and sentenced to as much as 30 years in jail on charges of sedition, for protesting peacefully against the government鈥檚 economic failings.
Why We Wrote This
Cuba鈥檚 young people are no longer moved by their government鈥檚 revolutionary rhetoric. Harsh punishment of peaceful demonstrators is likely to backfire.
The harsh punishments meted out by the courts have crushed any hope that President Miguel D铆az-Canel 鈥� Cuba鈥檚 first non-Castro leader since the revolution 鈥� might usher in greater civil liberties. They also risk backfiring, suggests Manuel de la Cruz Pascual, a young writer and independent journalist in Havana.
鈥淲hat D铆az-Canel is doing with his policies of repression and these mass trials of protesters is generating and empowering more dissidents,鈥� he says.
Sebastian Arcos, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University in Miami, agrees that in the long term the trials are unlikely to intimidate the young Cubans at the forefront of last July鈥檚 demonstrations.
鈥淭hey want people to be very afraid ... but it鈥檚 a different world鈥� from Fidel Castro鈥檚 Cuba, says Mr. Arcos, a former Cuban political prisoner. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a chance they鈥檙e too late.鈥�
Young people鈥檚 greater access to the internet, fewer personal ties to Mr. Castro鈥檚 revolution, and the sense that they have very little to lose are shifting the way they look at their government. July 11, suggests Mr. de la Cruz, marked a 鈥渂ig awakening.鈥�
Revolution鈥檚 fading appeal
The countrywide July 11聽protests, broadcast on social media, attracted many young people who blasted the streets with reggaeton beats.
They were motivated partly by economic grievances; inflation hit 70% last year, according to government figures, and the average monthly wage is the equivalent of $163. But protesters were also openly 鈥渄emanding freedom and the resignation of the government,鈥� recalls Mr. Arcos. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a total breakdown of the regime鈥檚 rules.鈥�
That may explain the government鈥檚 heavy-handed reaction, which has drawn criticism from the European Union, the United States, and international human rights organizations. Over 1,350 people are in jail or under house arrest for their roles in the July 11 protests, according to Laritza Diversent, director of Cubalex, a U.S.-based legal aid group tracking the detentions.
Some families have been assigned lawyers by the government, but Yudinela Caridad Castro Perez, whose son Rowland is facing a 23-year prison sentence for having joined the protests, does not expect much of his attorney. 鈥淚t鈥檚 decorative, an attempt to legitimize these trials when the government is judge and jury,鈥� she scoffs.
Economic uncertainty drew many of the demonstrators, believes Ms. Diversent. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 plan your life. Not teens, not their parents, not their grandparents can navigate a path toward a dignified life. The economic conditions are horrendous,鈥� she says.
And that mood won鈥檛 change, she predicts, 鈥渋f there is no change in policies. The majority of protesters come from poverty. This won鈥檛 be resolved by ideology.鈥�
Not that the government鈥檚 communist ideology has much appeal to young Cubans anymore, 60 years after Mr. Castro鈥檚 guerrillas overthrew a military dictatorship.
The revolution 鈥渋s something that happened so long ago, and it鈥檚 a word that鈥檚 just completely overused in Cuba,鈥� says Emily Telly, who is in her early 30s, unemployed, and living in Havana. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel any connection to the revolution; it doesn鈥檛 make any sense anymore, especially to us鈥� younger people.
鈥淎ll of these measures are done to intimidate us,鈥� she says of the trials, 鈥渂ut they are going too far. The government isn鈥檛 even following the constitution. But Cubans today, we don鈥檛 have much to lose.鈥�
鈥淎ll we want is change鈥�
The government crackdown has sown seeds of dissent across older generations, too.
鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult for a mother to see her son behind bars for something that in any other country in the world 鈥� a peaceful protest 鈥� is considered normal,鈥� says Teresa Rodr铆guez Sim贸n, three of whose children were detained in the days following last summer鈥檚 protest, accused of ties to foreign powers.
鈥淎ll we鈥檙e asking of the comandante聽[President D铆az-Canel] is to analyze this situation, reflect on what happened and why,鈥� she says. 鈥淟ook at what pushed so many people and so many youth to protest.鈥�
Jonathan鈥檚 mother, meanwhile, has become a political activist for the first time in her life, marching in public with other 鈥淟adies in White鈥� 鈥� an opposition movement founded by female relatives of jailed and 鈥渄isappeared鈥� dissidents.聽聽
鈥淭here are mothers like me who aren鈥檛 keeping quiet, who won鈥檛 let it drop that our children are in prison,鈥� she says. Though afraid for her son, 鈥渢he fear I have right now is not so much a fear of the government because they always do the same thing,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚 won鈥檛 let that scare me anymore.
鈥淲e no longer want the revolution they鈥檙e selling us,鈥� she says. 鈥淎ll we want is change.鈥�
For Mr. de la Cruz, the writer, Mr. D铆az-Canel鈥檚 invocation of revolutionary values is a smokescreen. 鈥淭he president鈥檚 actions against the protesters have nothing to do with this utopian revolution, with the values of conserving the revolution, not only as an idea but as a social project,鈥� he argues. 鈥淗e鈥檚 simply hiding behind these trials trying to hold onto power.鈥�
And the president can expect more challenges in the future, Mr. de la Cruz expects.
鈥淭he political and economic conditions on the island have not changed,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd with more government surveillance and no way to escape, the conditions have been created for another protest in the same vein as July.鈥�
