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Cuban intellectual Alina Bárbara López Hernández reacted to the recent student sit-in at the University of Havana with a critical message towards the regime, warning that those in power often ignore the lessons of history.
"Power does not understand the lessons of history, but history, like a patient teacher, ensures that we do not forget what we have been and what we are becoming again," wrote the scholar in a post on social media referring to the protest led by students this Monday at the University of Havana.
López Hernández connected the actions of university students to other moments of student mobilization, such as the Student Directory movement of March 13 against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, the French May of 1968, and the protests by students in Cuba against the increase in internet fees that took place last year.
In her reflection, the intellectual defended the historical importance of the participation of university youth in processes of social change and recalled that Cuban universities have traditionally been spaces for debate and political mobilization.
It also noted that the recent student protest occurs in a context characterized by a deep economic and social crisis in the country, alongside growing citizen discontent.
In his text, López Hernández also recalled that student protests have marked key moments in political history, both in Cuba and in other countries.
In that regard, he mentioned the so-called French May of 1968 and the historical role of the Cuban student movement during various stages of the 20th century.
The academic emphasized that the recent university mobilization is occurring in a context that is particularly complex for the country, marked by an increasingly deepening economic crisis and a sustained deterioration in the living conditions of the population.
In her analysis, she noted that the authorities have attempted to contain discontent through pressure, surveillance, and mechanisms of political control within universities, institutions that have been regarded as key spaces for ideological formation in the country for decades.
Nevertheless, he maintained that historical processes show that no power structure is permanent and that societies change when citizens take an active role in defending their rights and transforming their political and social reality.
According to his analysis, no political system is permanent, and historical processes demonstrate that societies can transform when people actively participate in political and civic life.
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