The Cuban presenter Carlos Otero revealed in a recent podcast that the Cuban State Security called him only once and had him sign a document committing to inform if he heard any plans against Fidel Castro's life, specifically from foreigners he was associated with at that time.
The confession was made to the YouTuber Darwin Santana on the channel "El Mundo de Darwin," although he clarified that he had already revealed it earlier on the show "A Mano Limpia" with Oscar Haza, one of the first programs he participated in upon arriving in the United States.
“I was called only once and made to sign a paper stating that if I saw or heard about any project against Fidel Castro's life, I had to report it. About foreigners,” Otero recounted with complete ease.
The presenter admitted to signing the document without resistance, but made it clear that he would never have fulfilled that commitment.
“I sign it like this and I signed it without any problem. As long as they leave me alone. In fact, even if I had heard it, I wouldn’t have said anything either,” he stated.
Otero justified his stance by stating that Fidel Castro had deceived him for years, and concluded the anecdote with a phrase that summarizes the level of scrutiny he was under:
“They already knew. They have the copied booklet, they even knew the color of the underwear I was wearing,” he revealed.
The context of the signing of the document corresponds to a time when the dollar was illegal in Cuba, and Cubans who interacted with foreigners were automatically considered suspicious by the regime's intelligence apparatus.
"Fidel Castro deceived us. I grew up believing in the Cuban revolution. I thought I was living in paradise," Otero had said at the beginning of that same interview, summarizing in one sentence decades of manipulation and control over his life and career.
The State Security has a long documented history of monitoring and recruiting artists and intellectuals as informants, through interrogations, pressures, and the signing of "commitment" documents.
In the same interview, Otero recounted other episodes of control and coercion.
The cast of Sabadazo -the program that once had an 82% audience during the Special Period- was summoned to perform at the San Antonio de los Baños airbase for Raúl Castro and the military leadership, without being paid a cent.
“That was a must. I’m informing you that you have to do this. They would disappear you. Forget it, it won’t be shown on television anymore.”, Otero described about that summons.
He also reported that State Security intercepted him on the Malecón in a Cubanacán taxi to question him about his greeting to the dissident poet Raúl Rivero, who had just been released from prison.
Rivero was one of the 75 dissidents arrested during the Black Spring of 2003 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Otero left Cuba in 2007 through Canada, crossing the bridge to Buffalo, where he applied for political asylum.
After 15 years at América TeVé hosting the show TN3, he was dismissed from the channel in May 2022 and since then, he has been hosting "La hora de Carlos" on YouTube.
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