The priest Alberto Reyes Pías, parish priest of Esmeralda, Camagüey, published another installment of his weekly column this Friday on Facebook, in which he calls on Cubans to resist through free expression and everyday dissent, using the central metaphor of a priest ringing the bells of his church during the religious persecution even though no one attended the temple.
Under the title "The Need to Ring the Bells," Reyes describes Cuba as "a country stuck" and argues that the logical and wise course of action would be "to put an end to this tragedy, call for a national dialogue, and initiate a peaceful transition to real democracy."
The priest goes beyond the diagnosis and provides a devastating analysis of the nature of power on the Island: “Those who govern us not only do not want to relinquish power, but they also do not know how to stop; they do not know how to escape the trap they themselves have created. Trapped in the inertia of control and power, they do not know how to conclude the work and exit the stage.”
In his harshest analysis, he accuses the regime of having "chosen the worst option": "They have chosen death, civilian immolation, silent genocide, to crush this people into nothingness, in a kind of: 'I will not survive, but you will not either, or at least I will destroy everything I can, while I have the strength, power, and means.'"
The priest lists the concrete consequences of this destructive logic: the suffocation of personal progress, the creation of "an army of inspectors" instead of fostering a free economy, the harassment and prosecution of any critical voice, and the production of laws without real solutions for the people.
In the face of that reality, speaking truthfully becomes an act of political resistance and expressing what one truly thinks.
“Every time we express ourselves on social media, every time we voice what we truly feel and desire in our homes, in our neighborhoods, or anywhere else, we are ringing the bells of our freedom,” he emphasized.
The reflection comes just six days after Reyes directed a message to military personnel and state agents with the warning that "a people cannot be chained forever."
The metaphor of the bells has a direct precedent in the priest's journey. In May 2024, Reyes announced that he would ring the bells of his church 30 times each night during the power outages as a protest against the energy crisis.
The regime's pressures on Reyes have been constant. Last January, State Security summoned him along with priest Castor José Álvarez Devesa in Camagüey. Reyes described the summons as an "intimidation" aimed at issuing them a warning statement for their public criticisms.
None of these pressures have silenced his weekly column, which in this edition concludes with a message for those who still hesitate: “Those who are afraid, those who have decided to play along with this lie, may not dare to take the step towards freedom, but they will hear the bells.”
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