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The cultural apparatus of the Cuban regime presented this Saturday in Havana the volume Return to Words to intellectuals, a compilation that advocates for the discourse of 1961 by the dictator Fidel Castro (1926-2016) as the foundation of cultural policy, while the real debates on censorship and freedom of expression remain suppressed on the Island.
The event took place in the Sábado del Libro space of the Cuban Book Institute, on Calle de Madera, in the Historic Center of Old Havana. The essayist Enrique Ubieta presented the volume, compiled by the historian Elier Ramírez Cañedo and published by Editorial Ciencias Sociales.
The official presenter Michel Torres Corona, director of the Nuevo Milenio Editorial Group, described the work as "a book that brings together essays and texts of great value for understanding the discourse that became the central axis of Cuban cultural policy," reviewed on its Facebook page by the Instituto Cubano del Libro.
The volume includes analyses from 14 Cuban intellectuals, among them Armando Hart (1930-2017), Roberto Fernández Retamar (1930-2019), Ana Cairo (1949-2019), Graziella Pogolotti, and Miguel Barnet.
In the preface, Ramírez revisits Isabel Monal's thesis that "Palabras a los intelectuales" was "more than a starting point, a destination," linking it as a foundational legacy of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac), established in the same year of 1961.
Ubieta stated at the end of the event that "the debate on Words to Intellectuals remains open, and the spaces for discussion are still available to engage in these topics and propose new analyses, always useful in areas as relevant as cultural policy and its expressions."
The presentation is part of the official celebration for the 65th anniversary of the speech delivered by Castro on June 16, 23, and 30, 1961, at the José Martí National Library, where he established the principle "Within the Revolution, everything; against the Revolution, nothing."
The commemoration also marks the Year of the Centenary of the Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, whose birth anniversary is celebrated on August 13.
Last week, the Uneac inaugurated the exhibition Soldier of Ideas featuring posters dedicated to Castro, during an event attended by leaders of the Communist Party.
However, the official celebration contrasts with a documented reality. The Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (Iclep) recorded 1,188 violations of freedom of expression in Cuba during 2025, an increase of 54.7% compared to the previous year.
Cuba ranks 160 out of 180 countries in the 2026 Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, making it the second worst in the Americas, only behind Nicaragua. According to Prisoners Defenders, the Island recorded 1,281 political prisoners in May.
Among those imprisoned are young creators like Ernesto Ricardo Medina and Kamil Zayas Pérez, from the audiovisual project El4tico, detained since February 6 in Holguín on charges that could result in up to nine years in prison for precisely exercising the freedom of expression that the 1961 discourse proclaimed to protect.
The analyst José Manuel González Rubines pointed out this week that, far from any openness, the Cuban state "penalizes all forms of expression, digital or physical."
The director of Iclep, Normando Hernández, summarized it accurately: "The dictatorship does not reform its repressive practices: it perfects them."
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