The father José Conrado Rodríguez Alegre, parish priest of Trinidad (Sancti Spíritus) and one of the most critical Catholic voices against the Cuban regime, summarized this Thursday in an interview with Tania Costa the mood of the Cuban people with a phrase he has been hearing for decades: "Cousin, it's better to die than to live like this."
The 75-year-old priest, with half a century of priesthood, gave this testimony in the context of the protests that erupted in several neighborhoods of Havana on May 13 and 14, driven by power outages lasting up to 22-24 hours daily, in what is considered the largest wave of demonstrations since July 11, 2021.
Father Conrado stated that for approximately 25 years, there has been "a silent and unanimous agreement" in Cuba regarding the need for change, and that this demand "has deepened and grown stronger over time."
"Right now, this is the cry in the hearts of Cubans: we cannot continue like this, this has to change," declared the priest.
However, he pointed out that this outcry "is not in the heart of the regime," which continues to talk about resisting and projecting goals for 2020 and 2030 with the same old rhetoric.
"They have no future, but they don't want to acknowledge it. They continue to speak in the same language as 60, 50, 40 years ago," he proclaimed.
Father Conrado also identified a qualitative change in popular consciousness: "People have a desire to live differently. They have realized that it's not just food that is lacking; freedom is also missing."
He described that process of becoming aware as "unstoppable" and pointed out that more and more Cubans are recognizing that they must actively participate in the change, a sentiment that, in colloquial terms, can be summed up in one phrase: "it can't go on like this anymore."
To explain why the popular action has taken time to materialize, the priest turned to another popular saying: "Everyone wants there to be a wake, but no one wants to provide the body."
He clarified that this phrase is not a criticism of the people, but rather a description of the real risk that citizens face: "People know that they can throw you in jail for 5, 10, 15, or 20 years. You know, for expressing yourself. Not because you take a barracks."
The most revealing moment of the excerpt came when Father Conrado recalled a phrase his cousin told him about 25 years ago after he shared his troubles: "Cousin, to live like this is better off dead."
"I've heard that phrase from a lot of people," the priest asserted, adding, "This is the situation that the people of Cuba are facing right now. To live like this, no, no, no, one cannot live like this."
Father Conrado met with Mike Hammer, head of the U.S. Embassy mission in Cuba, just two days before the protests, on May 12 at the Church of San Francisco de Paula in Trinidad.
The protests surrounding the interview spread across neighborhoods such as San Miguel del Padrón, Luyano, 10 de Octubre, Santos Suárez, Nuevo Vedado, Marianao, and Playa, featuring pot banging and street blockades in response to an electrical deficit that reached a historic high of 2,113 MW on May 13.
Parallely, the United States Department of State offered 100 million dollars in humanitarian aid for Cuba, to be channeled through the Catholic Church, an offer that Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla initially rejected before softening his stance on May 14.
Father Conrado concluded his reflection by pointing towards what lies ahead: "The action that arises from this awareness," leaving in the air the warning that the despair of the Cuban people has reached a point where it now surpasses fear.
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