Cuban priest Alberto Reyes to the government: "We live in a system that has corrupted everything."

The Cuban priest Alberto Reyes, from the diocese of Camagüey, accused the Castro regime of having corrupted everything: education, the judicial system, student and workers' institutions, fraternity, honesty...

Known for his openly rebellious stance against the dictatorship, Father Reyes described on his Facebook profile the current situation of the people, submerged in poverty and pitted against each other. And while those at the "bottom" spy on and betray each other, the power takes advantage of these struggles.

In his publication, Reyes questions what reasons there are to continue like this, what is gained by being submissive to avoid problems, and what sense there is in supporting what is rotten.

Next, CiberCuba shares the complete text of the publication.

I've been thinking... (LXXI) by Alberto Reyes Pías

I have been thinking about why we need a system change.

What do the repetitive blackouts, the anguish to find and keep food, the shortages of all kinds, the dependence on external aid to survive mean? What does the precariousness of the present and the absence of a future signify, and living in fear, insecurity, and often necessary illegality? What does the escape of our children, the danger of peacefully manifesting, and the omnipresent threat of prison mean?

It means that our lives do not belong to us, it means the impossibility of choosing the paths we want to walk, the lack of self-determination. It means that we do not have a real life, but a mandatory theatrical act, a music imposed to the beat of which we are forced to dance by those who have taken over the mechanisms of social control.

We do not own our lives, nor our everyday deaths, nor the fruits of our efforts, nor the outcome of our sacrifices, because nothing makes our lives truly different. We are slaves, insignificant pawns, pieces in a game that does not benefit us.

What reasons do we have to continue like this?

We have been plunged into misery and, as if this control were not enough, we have been filled with reasons to confront and divide ourselves, we have been set against each other, we have been taught to fight against those we should unite with: neighbors, school and work colleagues, even our own family. We are slaves who spy on each other, denounce each other, suppress each other, while those in power profit from our struggles.

We live in a system that has corrupted everything: fraternity, truth, honesty, education, the judicial system, student and labor institutions... a system that has destroyed joy, transparency, trust among us. We live in a system that has corrupted many, and has put them at the service of evil, and has conquered them to silence the voices of freedom that they also need.

What reasons do we have to continue like this? What gains does our submission bring? What sense does it make to keep striving for 'having no problems' at the cost of destroying each other? What sense does it make to support and sustain what is rotten?

What we need is not more electricity, or for the stores to be stocked with food, or for medicines to return to the pharmacies, or for the destroyed roads to be fixed...

We need to rebuild ourselves as a nation, regain ownership of our lives and the freedom that allows us to build the present and the future through our own efforts. We need to learn to progress thinking as 'us', and teach the new generations to love the beautiful, the noble, the true, the just, in such a way that the wounded heart of this nation can heal and recover what is now lost.