The Cuban priest Alberto Reyes Pías, pastor of Esmeralda in Camagüey, responded this Tuesday with a powerful phrase when asked if Donald Trump's words at the UN — "freedom will come to Cuba" — were a reason for hope: "My hope is not Donald Trump, it is Jesus Christ."
The statement is part of an interview with Tania Costa broadcast live after Trump referred to Cuba as an "absolutely failed state" at the 81st General Assembly of the UN and asserted that "communism will never come to America, but freedom will come to Cuba."
Father Reyes Pías does not reject external assistance, but he puts it into perspective clearly. "Everything we can receive in terms of help from outside Cuba is very welcome."
At the same time, he expressed a desire that carries the implicit distrust accumulated over decades of unfulfilled promises. "Hopefully, and I truly hope that Donald Trump's words mean something more than just words."
However, the priest anchors his hope in a conviction that transcends international politics: the unsustainability of the Cuban system by its very nature.
To illustrate this, he referred to a historically significant example. "The Roman Empire was the Roman Empire and it came to an end. Today, the Roman Empire is history. And this system in Cuba has to end, it has to end because it is unsustainable, because human beings need freedom, they need it."
The parish priest adds that no community can remain subjugated indefinitely. "You might keep a community subdued for 10 years, 20 years, 70 years, but there comes a point when it can no longer be tolerated."
The priest Reyes Pías is one of the most active voices of the Cuban Catholic Church in political and social matters. He publishes the weekly column "I've Been Thinking"; his most recent contribution, published on September 19, conveyed the message that "no evil is eternal." He has been cited and threatened by State Security on several occasions and has been the target of repudiation acts.
It is important to remember that Trump's speech at the UN generated an immediate reaction from the Cuban regime. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla described the statements as "falsehoods" and "slanders", while the Cuban delegation left the room during that part of the speech.
The priest concludes his reflection by invoking a phrase from the dissident Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, founder of the Christian Liberation Movement and proponent of the Varela Project, who died in 2012 under circumstances that his family and opposition sectors attribute to the regime: "The night will not be eternal."
The phrase is also the title of Payá's posthumous book, published in 2018, which gathers his thoughts on peaceful resistance and liberation in Cuba. By quoting it, Reyes Pías connects his message with that tradition of faith in change that the dissident embodied.
"Whatever happens, whether they do something or not, I believe we cannot lose hope that the night is never eternal," concluded the priest.
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