OPINION | The awakening of Cuba

Editor’s note: David Bittan ObadÍa is a lawyer, writer, analyst on political and international issues, columnist for the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal, and a contributor to other media. As a lecturer, he participated in the World Jewish Congress and was president of the Jewish community of Venezuela. His Twitter account is @davidbittano. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author alone. You can read more articles like this at cnne.com/opinion.

(CNN Spanish) – These days, Cuba attracts the world’s attention; An unprecedented mobilization was born in San Antonio de los Baños and in minutes spread through several cities of the national territory, definitely becoming what, for many, and I include myself, is a national rebellion, unlike the revolt of 1994 – known as the historic “Maleconazo” -, centered in Havana.

Today, despite the limited access to the internet and how expensive this service is in Cuba, social networks, which did not exist before, are collaborating with the awakening of a people suffered, mistreated and, from my point of view, forgotten by the world. The scarce technology that Cubans have access to becomes a mobilization platform. The end of any dictatorship begins with a rebellion.

The most interesting thing at this moment is that the people who protested are those born under the dictatorship; Freedom in Cuba is something tattooed in the DNA of Cubans, which gives hope and envisions that Cuba will not last forever.

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The Cuban regime has strongly influenced the democracies of Nicaragua and Venezuela. The latter is at unthinkable levels of poverty.

This movement, which appears to be spontaneous, is no longer so; there is a unified message, a platform marked by ideas that penetrate the people. The most important thing is that the culture of rebellion, corroded and dormant by time, and limited by the psychological and physical repression exerted by the dictatorship, has ceased to take effect and the people came out to demonstrate without fear, there are flashes of hope.

In all this, credit must be given to the San Isidro Movement – made up of artists and intellectuals -, to independent journalists, to the Patriotic Union of Cuba, to the many prisoners and martyrs who have stayed along the way and, above all, to all that Cuban exile, made up of extraordinary – and very valuable – people, who, from their spaces, have never abandoned their struggle, nor their

values ​​and they will not rest until they can see their Cuban land finally free.

Cubans demand not only freedom, which is the primary goal; they also aspire to have access to basic services. The people need to get medicines and have health centers, but, above all, they hope to be able to satisfy their hunger. The Cuban regime no longer has the capacity to move that country forward. The Cuban government responds with its traditional tools: repression, lies and censorship. He has said that the protests were fomented from the US and blamed the embargo on the situation on the island.

Cubans cannot fight alone; the disproportion of means is known. To promote better times, we must put pressure on the world, on the Americans as well, on multilateral entities, we must achieve that the will of a people who is tired of their oppressors prevail.

“Cycle over Niagara” is simply poetry; liberating Cuba, hungry, from within, fighting against a system of repression and an army of henchmen and torturers, is an illusion.

We must continue supporting the noble Cuban people with all possible tools, in order to pave the way after the dictatorship. For all this and more: I am Cuba too!