Alberto Reyes: "Neither dictatorships nor tyrannies will be able to promote the life, liberty, and happiness of the peoples."

Cuban priest Alberto Reyes, from the diocese of Camagüey, shared on social media one of his usual reflections on the intense deterioration in which Cuba is mired. Paradoxically, he did this by using ideas put forward by Fidel Castro in "History Will Absolve Me," which today would depict the tyranny and point a path for the Cuban people.

"Fidel relies on multiple authors who have condemned dictatorships and tyrannies and who defend the right to fight against them. We have already seen some of these authors, but he relies on many others," said Reyes on his Facebook wall.

Father Reyes, a strong critic of the Castro regime, points out the inconsistency between the ideas Fidel once defended and what he did once he came to power.

When he was a young revolutionary, he "portrayed" himself as a follower of prominent figures in philosophy, literature, and religion, who validated the right of oppressed peoples to shake off bad rulers. Eventually, he himself became a dictator who imposed a brutal tyranny in his country.

Next, CiberCuba shares the full text of the publication:

"I have been thinking… (LXXIX) by Alberto Reyes Pías"

I have been thinking about the need for coherence between speaking and doing II

In 'History Will Absolve Me', Fidel relies on multiple authors who have condemned dictatorships and tyrannies and who defend the right to fight against them. We have already seen some of these authors, but he draws on many others.

He quotes Martin Luther, who 'proclaimed that when a government degenerates into a tyrant, violating the laws, the subjects are freed from the duty of obedience'. And Melanchthon, a disciple of Luther, 'supports the right of resistance when governments become tyrants'.

It discusses the text 'Vindiciae contra tyrannos', where 'it is openly proclaimed that resistance to governments is legitimate when they oppress the people.'

He mentions Juan Milton, who in 1649 writes that 'political power resides in the people, who can appoint and depose kings, and have the right to remove tyrants.'

Quote Juan Locke, who states that 'when the natural rights of man are violated, the people have the right and the duty to suppress or change the government.'

Criticism of Jonathan Boucher calls him 'reactionary' because he claims that 'the right to revolution is a condemnable doctrine, derived from Lucifer, the father of rebellions.'

On the contrary, it praises the Declaration of Independence of the United States because it 'enshrined this right' - the right to rebel - in a 'beautiful paragraph' that states: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; (…) that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.'

And adds that 'the famous French Declaration of the Rights of Man bequeathed to future generations this principle: 'When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is for them the most sacred of rights and the most imperative of duties.'

Thus, Fidel condemns both dictatorships and tyrannies with conviction. And what is a dictatorship? What is a tyranny?

The dictionary says that a dictatorship 'is the form of government that is concentrated in the hands of a single person or a group of people aligned with an ideology or movement, who possess absolute power and control the three branches of government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.'

The dictionary states that a tyranny is "a form of government in which power is concentrated in a single person or group, and is exercised arbitrarily and unjustly, without respecting the rights of citizens, and using force to maintain power."

Yes, neither dictatorships nor tyrannies will ever be able to promote the life, liberty, and happiness of the people. Therefore, there is no doubt that Fidel advocates so fervently for the end of both, dictatorships and tyrannies.