Gerardo, as simple as that, without surnames, as we learned to call him while risking his life for everyone; how he stops at a corner of La Güinera to talk; as he speaks to you now, while you ask him to tell you his opinion about the Family Code project:
“My opinion: it is a very modern code, a code of which, as I have said at other times, we Cubans can feel proud, very inclusive and with which we aspire to achieve a more inclusive society, in which more and more is respected. the right of all people, as Martí dreamed: with everyone and for the good of all.
“There is an already strong campaign against this process that is being carried out, because they are the same people. We recently said in an activity that if a project to “regulate little birds in colors” was being discussed, a campaign would already be running opposing the “regulation of little birds in colors”, because any project that comes out of our people, of our Revolution , there will always be a media campaign against it with the aim of dividing, creating mistrust, despair, confusion and, obviously, on a subject that is still controversial, such as this code, because they are trying to confuse and divide our town.
“Whatever it is, whatever it is, they are going to oppose it because it is a way of showing themselves against the Revolution, but in terms of content, in essence, they cannot justify an opposition.”
Well…democracy
“Recently, we were in the Los Pocitos neighborhood with the President of the Spanish Communist Party, who has also been a deputy, and he told us: in my tenure as a deputy, we get used to the fact that there are practically no debates in Parliament, because we know that We are going to vote for what the spokesperson for who represents us has asked us, so it was very unpleasant for me to stop to speak, to explain a point, and that very few people were attending, because the parliamentarians do not care because they know that, in short, they will vote as their party has asked them to.
“However, they carry out an immense campaign against Cuba when a law is voted unanimously in Parliament, and they are unaware of the fact that this law has been discussed in committees of the Parliament itself, in the neighborhoods, as in this case. What greater exercise of democracy do you want than what you are doing now with the Family Code? Discussing neighborhood by neighborhood, people contributing, giving opinions… That the big press, of course, does not know, because they want then choose the bit in which it is finally approved unanimously and show that there has been no process experienced, but it is quite the opposite.
«He pointed that out to us and he is very right. How many times have we already discussed this project or aspects of this project? Things have been changed, it has been removed, it has been perfected and will continue to be done. So, when we talk about democracy, what is the real democracy, the one that you are going to vote for later, based on the interests of those who paid for your campaign to be a deputy or this one that we have, that we are going to have a Code that is being built by the whole town?
What no one tells you…
“Cubans are aware that we have many problems, we should also be aware that all citizens of the world have many problems that have been exacerbated by this pandemic that has affected globally. For example, we talk about inflation. You go to see the news and in the United States they are complaining about inflation, and in other places the same… Any of our problems exists and, in many cases, more exacerbated in other places. Sure, sometimes we see ours as if it were fundamental, because really human beings have that as a nature: there is no bigger problem than the one I have.
“Unfortunately, in this process of recognizing, of complaining about our problems, we do not recognize what we do have guaranteed or the problems that we do not have and that others do have. So, an important aspect to keep in mind when we complain about things is to think a little more about what we do have and what we do have to take care of; because the fact that my sofa has a loose spring and is a little uncomfortable does not mean that I am going to throw it away and then I do not know where I am going to sit, because nobody tells you that. From outside the propaganda tells you that this is bad here and that the government must be overthrown, but nobody tells you what comes next.
«From Miami they tell you “we want to help the Cubans”. Well, why don’t they start by helping those who live under the bridges and in the trailers on Calle 8 and have twenty problems and throw them out on the street when they can’t pay? Why don’t they start by helping those over there?
Habit is stronger than love?
«We are used to having free healthcare, we are used to having free education, we are used to the fact that no one is going to throw me out of my house if I cannot pay rent, etc. So, we take all that for granted and we focus on things we don’t have, but we have to make a general assessment of what achievements we have achieved. These are really difficult times, we have many challenges ahead, but we must see the glass as half full and not half empty.
Gerardo leaves us his message of hope in good Cuban. So you know that you are in front of Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, the Hero of the Republic of Cuba, the national coordinator of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR); but he does not have heroic poses, he looks at you with the eyes of a companion and one takes the liberty of talking about love, because deep down, only that will save us from the sterile habit: love for Cuba.
