The father José Conrado Rodríguez Alegre, parish priest of the San Francisco de Paula Church in Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus, described in an interview with Tania Costa the tension that Cuba experiences between the widespread desire for change and the paralyzing fear of repression, with a phrase he had previously stated in conferences in Cienfuegos: "Everyone wants a wake, but no one wants to carry the dead."
The priest, 75 years old and with half a century of priesthood, made these statements amidst the protests that erupted this Wednesday in various municipalities of Havana, due to power outages lasting up to 20 and 22 hours daily, publicly acknowledged by the Minister of Energy, Vicente de la O Levy, who confirmed that the regime has run out of fuel to provide electric service.
Father Conrado clarified that the phrase is not a reproach to the Cuban people: "Essentially, the people want changes. The people are working towards making those changes happen. But for quite some time, people were hesitant to act due to the risks involved and the consequences they faced."
That risk has a specific name: "People know that you can be sentenced to 5, 10, 15, 20 years in prison. For expressing yourself. Not because you take a barracks," he said, alluding to the assault on the Moncada barracks led by Fidel and Raúl Castro in July 1953.
However, the priest observes that this paralysis is being overcome by despair. He quoted a phrase he first heard from a cousin of his about 25 years ago and which he now hears repeated by "a lot of people": "To live like this, it’s better to die."
"This is the situation that the people of Cuba are facing right now. To live like this, no, no, no, it’s simply not possible," he stated.
This awareness, according to Father Conrado, is translating into direct action: citizens who dare to bang pots in the streets or tell members of the Communist Party: "You are a bunch of murderers, you are our enemies, not our friends; you are serving a regime that is oppressing us, that is harming us."
The priest frames this process as a profound and irreversible change. "People are yearning to live differently. They have realized that it's not just food they lack, but also freedom. And I believe that is something that is, shall we say, unbeatable."
Regarding the regime, Father Conrado was blunt. "They have no future, but they don't want to acknowledge it. They continue to speak the same language they did 60, 50, 40 years ago, but the world has changed, Cuba has changed."
The priest's history of bravery supports his words. On May 12, Mike Hammer met for the second time with Father Conrado, who traveled specifically from Trinidad to share his concerns about the situation in Cuba. In January, a previous visit by the head of the U.S. Mission in Cuba to the Trinidad parish was met by the regime with an act of repudiation.
When asked if he fears being detained upon returning to Cuba, the father responded with calmness: "On the 22nd (of May 2026), in fact. And I say this calmly, because if they want to arrest me at the airport... the only thing I carry when I travel is medicine."
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