The Cuban "Missive" Crisis

 As some of my Cuban friends began to regain some access to the internet yesterday, the recurring theme I heard from several was how greatly troubled/appalled they are by seeing Youtube video footage of security forces beating protesters with sticks. These perpetrators had responded to a televised call from President Diaz-Canel for revolutionaries to take to the streets and confront the demonstrators (a page from the playbook of former President Trump, who would encourage his followers to beat protestors at his campaign rallies). The horrific scenes on Youtube are reminiscent of the 1963 confrontations between Bull Connor's security forces in Alabama and the unarmed followers of Martin Luther King's Civil Rights movement. 

There are important differences as well—King was unwavering in his determination to prove that his movement was aimed at reforming the system from within; he was not calling for a coup d'etat or overthrow of the government. He was calling for the nation to live up to the stated values of its system. While there are no doubt many people on the streets in Cuba who share this determination, who are not marching for regime change but are shouting for Cuba's government to live up to the stated ideals of the revolution and meet the desperate needs of its people,  that is not the dominant narrative we are hearing on social media and the press here. As soon as word got out on Sunday that people were demonstrating in Havana and other cities, the Miami Herald posted its story with the headline "‘Freedom!’ Thousands of Cubans take to the streets to demand the end of dictatorship." When some other news sources wrote that the unprecedented Cuban protests were motivated by the desperation of rising COVID cases and lack of medicines and food, Cuban American leaders such as Senator Marco Rubio blasted that narrative, as did popular blogger Yoani Sanchez, claiming that the demonstrations had nothing to do with demands for better food distribution or health care; this was an uprising to take down the 62-year-old socialist "dictatorship." 

The unfortunate and tragic consequence is that the security forces confronted the crowds without asking which of the protesters were there pleading for the government to do its job, and which of them was there to stage a coup. The sticks were indiscriminate in who got beat, in who got arrested, in who has disappeared. I share my friends' grief and outrage at innocent people suffering such abuse of power. I do NOT believe that history will absolve Diaz-Canel for his shameful call to turn Cubans against one another. 

I also feel a great deal of outrage at those in our country, in our press, in the social media, who must share some measure of responsibility for bringing the violence to the streets. I have many friends here who have long been clamoring for the downfall of the socialist system, who were cheering on the protestors to bring down the house. When I read them avowing that the demonstrators were only engaging in "a peaceful protest" while brandishing the "Abajo la dictadura" signs ("down with the dictatorship"), I can't believe they didn't expect the horrific response. Appalling as the violence was, history shows this is what governments do when they feel threatened. 

Our own government has been guilty of horrendous crimes against its own people when it has felt threatened: we are now approaching the 100th anniversary of the Blair Mountain massacre, when coal miners attempting to form a labor union in West Virginia were confronted not only by the violent security forces of the coal company, but by federal troops and bomber planes, and up to 100 people were brutally murdered. Not long ago we had the 50th anniversary of the FBI's middle-of-the-night massacre of Fred Hampton and other Black Panther members asleep in his home. And in our more recent history, we had our January 6 moment, when ex-President Trump's backers attempted to overthrow the results of the election and were met with the force of the Capitol police and (eventually) the National Guard. 

So, moving forward, I appeal to all my friends on social media who are truly concerned for the well-being of Cubans, who do not want to see any more innocent people brutalized, beaten, or imprisoned, STOP calling for a coup! STOP framing the narrative in terms of a war-cry. STOP lobbying for US military intervention. Allow the people to legitimately engage in peaceful protests that can produce dialogue and possibilities for change (like they had been doing over the past couple of years, on issues like lgbtq rights and artistic expression).  Give them space to demand the government do its job without you insisting that what they are really doing is an insurrection. If you want them to have liberty, then give them the freedom to bitterly complain at the incoherence and injustice and work within the system to address the concerns. But if you keep labeling it as a movement of sedition to overthrow the government, then you will have to bear some responsibility for continued violence and the potential victims of war.