The State Security harassment extends beyond the usual suspects and now reaches the members of The worst generation a group that brings together writers, artists and intellectuals of a very diverse ideological persuasion, most of them young, who demand a space for common dialogue that has been denied them three times.
“The worst generation It is a book, an anthology that for about two years had been going around in my head,” he wrote in a statement on Facebook Alejandro Mainegra, one of its members. The objective was to bring together those new authors who express themselves critically about the present and future of Cuba.
The volume was going to be edited by Adriana Normand and would have a prologue by Matanzas intellectual Alina Bárbara López Hernández. “We wanted some voice with more experience, who was a kind of mentor for them, someone who they looked up to, and I have to say that the prologue to that book is a gem,” Mainegra said.
As the project did not have the support of the official editorial circuit, they decided to compose it independently and present it to the group through a meeting, on October 15 at La Madriguera, a center sponsored by the Hermanos Saíz Association.
“Today, more than ever, we go to bed with lies, we get up with lies, we live (even unintentionally) with lies, we swim in lies”
The institution canceled the presentation and led to a controversy over creative freedom that ended up reaffirming the group’s identity. They decided to coordinate a new panel in the Estudio 50 space, which was prohibited due to the intervention of State Security, and finally an attempt was made at the Loyola Center, directed by the Jesuit priests of Havana. There it was also canceled due to pressure from official Rober Noa, from the Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party.
After these cancellations, the young Alexei Padilla Herrera denounced that State Security had mobilized its agents to impose on the Internet a narrative of rejection of The Worst Generation in all areas: by the cultural officialdom in La Madriguera, by independent organizers in Estudio 50 and by the Catholic Church in the Loyola Center .
“Today, more than ever, we go to bed with lies, we get up with lies, we live (even unintentionally) with lies, we swim in lies,” said the young man.
Several members of the group have also indicated that State Security is now focusing on personal harassment, disrepute, and police citations. This Tuesday, Alina Bárbara López Hernández received a phone call from a person who identified himself as a counterintelligence colonel, asking her to speak at the Cuban Association of Artisan Artists, in Matanzas.
The teacher refused to attend and He denounced the fact in his networks, adding that “the other step would be an official subpoena and I would go to my lawyer at that point.” As López Hernández predicted, two State Security officers delivered the police citation document to him at his house in Matanzas.
“In Cuba a perverse logic has been enthroned that puts pressure on people for whom there are no reasons to prosecute and who are threatened and coerced for political reasons”
He did not attend either and, immediately afterwards, explained his reasons: “In Cuba a perverse logic has been enthroned that puts pressure on people whom there are no reasons to prosecute and who are threatened and coerced for political reasons. I will not lend myself to it. I think it’s necessary to close that scheme,” he said.
López Hernández added that the role of the counterintelligence agencies is to investigate and, once “the plot of the crime is assembled”, send it to the Prosecutor’s Office to formalize the accusation. In addition, he urged the agents to show how he had committed the crime.
“Because what you want, that I do not exercise my freedom of thought, expression and assembly, is unacceptable to me, as it should be to any citizen and intellectual,” he said. Since the broadcast of her message, the teacher has received multiple messages of support.
Although the composition of The Worst Generation is variable and some of its members have been forced into exile, Adriana Fonte, Hamed Toledo, Lisbeth Moya, Julio Llópiz-Casal, Manuel de la Cruz can be considered its members – in addition to those already mentioned. , Darcy Bo, Ray Veiro, Jairo Aróstegui, Mauricio Mendoza, Mel Herrera, Ricardo Acostarana and Ulises Padrón Suárez.
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