Cuban priest Alberto Reyes: "Marxist doctrine can only lead to a failed human being."

The Cuban priest Alberto Reyes Pías published another installment of his series "I've been thinking…" this Friday on Facebook, which is entirely dedicated to reflecting on the dehumanization that, in his view, Marxism inflicts on the societies that endure it.

In the text, the parish priest of Esmeralda, Camagüey, starts from a philosophical premise: unlike other creatures, humans have a superior capacity to love, care for, and connect with others, but this condition is not genetic; it "must be learned, practiced, and cultivated."

From that foundation, Reyes draws a direct line to politics: "A society is more or less successful to the extent that it promotes or hinders the humanity of individuals. From this perspective, Marxist doctrine can only lead to a failed human being."

The priest precisely describes the mechanisms used by Marxist regimes to destroy that humanity.

The first is the trap of discourse: "Those who adhere to Marxism seek power by speaking of freedom and democracy, and once they attain power, they suppress freedom and democracy and initiate a growing process of social enslavement."

It then lists the specific tools of that slavery: preventing free elections - "It's them, only them. Them and theirs" - criminalizing and harassing any dissenting voice "with threats, with prison, with exile, even with death," and eliminating freedom of the press, expression, and political association.

Reyes also points out the monopoly over education and the media as a tool of indoctrination, designed for "people to normalize their slavery, view their oppressors with benevolence, and even defend them, convincing themselves that everything that goes wrong is always due to an 'external enemy'."

Regarding religious persecution, the priest is emphatic: "They banish God and persecute religion, because faith is the best antidote against mental oppression and the ultimate remedy against fear."

The attack on the family occupies another central paragraph: "They attack the family, disunite it, fragment it, separate it, because a human being without family is a broken being, and what is broken is easier to manipulate."

Reyes also describes the gap between rulers and the ruled: "They live in opulence, sometimes discreetly, other times openly, while keeping the population in precariousness, in a daily and overwhelming struggle for survival, turning people's lives into a continuous chain of needs that are never resolved."

The last mechanism it denounces is systemic corruption: "They corrupt the mechanisms of justice, they corrupt the military framework, they corrupt all those who allow them to maintain power and control," a corruption defined as "that mix of fear, indoctrination, and privileges that destroys humanity."

The post is accompanied by an artistic image depicting Cuba as an iron cage bound with locks, from which human hands emerge grasping the bars, with the Castillo del Morro in the background.

Reyes, who has been interrogated by State Security and faced a public repudiation in his parish in November 2021, continues his activism through this series that he has been publishing since around 2020.

"In the end, society is sick, sick with dehumanization, and there comes a moment when it either rebels and saves itself, or it sinks into bestiality and regression," concludes the priest.