The news that 128 people were sentenced to almost 2,000 years in prison for the protests of July 11 at the corner of Toyo and La Güinera, in Havana, has generated almost 170 comments in the official Cubadebatewhere one signed with his full name stands out: that of Silvio Rodríguez Domínguez, contrary to penalties.
The troubadour is one of the few and most belligerent with the sentences, which he considers unfair and counterproductive for “Cuba’s enemies.”
“If they committed the acts of violence of which they are accused, I agree that they be tried and that the corresponding penalties be applied. But as far as I know they did not kill anyone. Sentences of 15, 20 and 30 years for public disorder? It doesn’t seem fair to me,” says the singer-songwriter.
Rodríguez also emphasizes the lack of data offered by the summary of the sentence in the official media, and adds: “The ages of those convicted are not clarified either. With this, the enemies of Cuba are harvesting. Let us not allow it, being transparent and rectifying what needs to be rectified”.
“The ages of those convicted are not clarified either. With this, Cuba’s enemies are harvesting. Let’s not allow it, being transparent and rectifying what needs to be rectified”
The writer and journalist Giordan Rodríguez Milanés, close to the ruling party although expelled in 2017 from the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac) and a regular with Silvio Rodríguez on his blog, Second date, also intervenes to respond to a user who replies to the troubadour. The commentator reproaches the artist for his position and asks him to put himself in the place of the people “damaged” in the July 11 protests, to which Rodríguez Milanés replies that such severe sentences do not correspond to the educational objective that he has any criminal sanction.
The number of readers who speak out in favor of sentences and convictions is overwhelming, and some even say that at least 500 people should have been tried based on the number of people seen there through social networks, a version which contradicts the official one according to which those who protested on July 11 were few.
There are also those who think that the sanctions should have been even higher. “The court was very benevolent, the least penalty should be 25 years,” says a user. However, the most widespread criticism among those who express slight disagreement is the number of years to which the defendants were sentenced.
“I do not understand that a person who commits a murder serves less years of sanction,” says a user. Another, more annoying and that uses “indignant” as a username, says: “Well, the murderers will have to give a sentence of at least 60 years. By God, it’s incredible.”
“I have read the comments carefully, as far as I could. How much hatred, how much fanaticism without measures on the part of the forum members. Remember that these young people have families”
Exceptionally, some commentators call for reflection. “I have read the comments carefully, as far as I could. How much hatred, how much fanaticism without measures on the part of the forum members. Remember that these young people have families, some left children, mothers, now alone, trying to move on. They broke the law, a sentence is correct, but 30 years seems exaggerated”.
The exemplary nature of the arrests at the time and the subsequent convictions that the opposition, the independent press and human rights organizations have denounced can be seen on the street. The insistence with which the authorities have inoculated this idea is reflected in some comments in Cubadebate.
“I only hope that these criminals do not have the privileges of sentence reduction for good behavior. These characters must serve all the years of the sentence that the Court imposed on them and without the privileges of pavilions and limited visits, so that they truly feel it and whoever imagines doing it again, think very well,” warns one. “Am I reading correctly, 20 years in prison for going out into the street, for throwing stones, for shouting? I imagine it is a lesson so that no one dares to do anything against the Revolution,” says another critic.
Many users also attribute the US to being the invisible hand behind the protests, along the lines of the ruling party: “It is correct that these more severe sanctions have been applied against those criminals and others emboldened and paid by a foreign power to come to try to destroy what has cost so much in our country,” says one. “That is the price they pay for being manipulated from Miami,” says another.
“Am I reading correctly, 20 years in prison for going out into the street, for throwing stones, for yelling? I imagine it is a lesson so that no one dares to do anything against the Revolution”
Comparisons with other judicial systems have not been lacking either. Some users have warned of what can happen in the US if you attack a police officer and others extol the island’s system against Europeans, taking the opportunity to include an allusion, in keeping with the times, to Ukraine. “Cuba is a country that gives lessons in restraint, solidarity, respect for human rights and its political system is a thousand times more democratic than the Spanish or British or German or French regime, all of them sending weapons to the Ukrainian Nazis.”
Although among the multitude of hateful comments there are some that invite hope. “I am perplexed by what people here are saying. Although the violent acts that occurred on July 11 are inexcusable, one would have to ask if they are all manipulated by imperialism or are simply people of low social status who live in a society in crisis and they express their discontent according to their standard of living. It is very easy to say that they come from ‘vulnerable neighborhoods’ or that they are paid by imperialism, but one should look inside and see the root causes of this”.
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