The Cuban priest Alberto Reyes, from the diocese of Camagüey, called on the Cuban people not to settle for the country's situation improving slightly, but to strive for a definitive change as a way out of the crisis.
Father Reyes, a strong critic of the Castro regime, shared a text on his Facebook wall denouncing that Cubans lead a miserable existence due to scarcity and high prices, but they continue to endure despite knowing that the system does not work.
The religious leader explained that the regime's strategy is to make things improve punctually (such as electricity, water...) to prevent people from taking to the streets to demand their rights, and urged citizens not to settle for breadcrumbs and to be able to demand everything rather than 'something'.
Next, CiberCuba shares the full text of the publication:
I have been thinking... (LXXIV) by Alberto Reyes Pías
I have been thinking about something called 'intermittent reinforcement.'
We lead a miserable existence. From dawn, the life of Cubans is a race of obstacles to solve the basics, and a race enveloped in the discomfort caused by scarcity, lack of resources, skyrocketing prices, heat you can't escape from, and, of course, the perpetual tension due to power cuts.
We complain about: sleepless nights, the infamous sweat that soaks our children's beds, the medications that do not arrive, the lack of freedom… But we continue to endure, we keep 'fighting', questioning ourselves time and time again why we remain this way if the system does not work, without realizing that, from time to time, there are things that 'work', and when that happens, our hope clings to those specific changes, and we let them feed the illusion of a real change.
They massacre us with power outages, leaving us without electricity the entire eternal and sweltering night, tensions rise, people get 'rebellious,' but for now, the blackouts 'ease off,' and power comes back earlier, giving us a break to sleep and rest... and the tension dissipates.
The water is missing, and we despair, and suddenly our women close the streets and things get 'heated up', until, suddenly, the water is restored, the crisis is solved, and everything calms down.
And when there is an uncontrollable outburst, when the pressure cooker that is Cuba overflows, an escape immediately appears, whether it be Mariel, rafters, or Nicaragua.
They control us at the rhythm of intermittent reinforcement. When a switch is damaged, and we keep flipping it over and over again until we are convinced that we cannot turn on the light, we take the trouble to change it as soon as possible. However, when it is just a poor connection, and we know that by giving it enough tries, at some point the faulty wire will make a 'click' and we will manage to turn on the light, then the switch can stay there for years. The best thing would be to change it at once, so that, when activating it, the light would come on every time, but that is more laborious, and as we occasionally receive the 'reinforcement' of being able to turn on the light, we prefer to persist even if we live precariously.
When in the pursuit of a dream, a human being does not achieve what they truly want, but now and then achieves something that is satisfactory, they can fall into the trap of 'a hair from the wolf,' and may end up settling for a hair when in reality, their dream is the whole wolf.
We need to convince ourselves that we do not want things to 'improve', but to change, and change permanently. We need to convince ourselves that we do not have to settle for crumbs, or have to do 'more with less', or engage in 'creative resistance'.
When we realize that what we need is not to make the 'false contact' work but to change the switch, then, only then, we will be able to demand everything and not just 'something,' we will be able to leave behind the overwhelming rut of our daily lives to conquer the broad and clean avenue of freedom, the one that brings progress, well-being, and peace.
What do you think?
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