Cuban writer Leonardo Padura received the Liber 2026 Prize for the most outstanding Latin American author last Wednesday in Barcelona, and took the opportunity to sharply describe the reality currently facing the population of the island.
"It is a daily hell for most people," stated the novelist in an interview with the agency EFE before receiving the award at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.
Padura contrasted present-day Cuba with the one he found in 2016, during the rapprochement between Havana and Washington under President Barack Obama, and stated that they seem like "two different countries."
He recalled that moment was marked by the hope that "many things could change," although he believed the Cuban government "did not take advantage of it as it should have."
Later, as he summarized, came Donald Trump's first term, the pandemic, an administration under Joe Biden that "changed nothing," and Trump's return to the White House "with a very aggressive policy."
Padura also questioned the results of the U.S. sanctions against Cuba.
"Does that U.S. policy aim to change the Cuban regime? Because it hasn't succeeded, and what has happened is that it causes suffering for the Cubans," he asserted.
In his view, "they are punishing the Cuban government, but the Cuban government remains, and it is the people of Cuba who are suffering."
The writer acknowledged that his economic situation is more favorable than that of many Cubans, but he asserted that he is not exempt from everyday issues such as blackouts and water shortages.
He reported that he recently had to travel by car with six jerrycans to obtain drinking water for his home in Havana.
He and his wife, Lucía López Coll, have even resorted to humor to cope with the situation.
"Can you imagine Vargas Llosa doing this, carrying water like a black man, with that English gentleman demeanor he had?" Padura commented.
Beyond the joke, the novelist warned of the psychological impact of living constantly in deprivation.
"Poverty has become somatic; people have accepted it, trying to survive," he stated.
Padura also perceives "a lot of discontent and dissatisfaction" in Cuban society, although he believes that this unrest has not yet manifested in organized movements capable of articulating a political response.
The writer stated that even meeting basic needs has become a daily challenge for Cubans. In his view, finding solutions to problems such as water shortages, power outages, or scarcity seems to rely on "a divine miracle," and he lamented that the population has to live permanently under such levels of stress and deprivation.
This transformation of Cuban society will also be evident in his upcoming novel featuring Mario Conde, set in 2025. The character will turn 70 and must locate a woman who received an inheritance from Spain.
The writer had already explained that the contrast between this work and Decent People, set in the optimism of 2016, reflects a Cuba that seems to have become another country over the years.
Padura is the first Cuban writer to receive the Liber Award, awarded by the Federation of Guilds of Publishers of Spain in recognition of his international career and the diversity of genres and styles in his work.
"That I receive the Premio Liber today is very gratifying because all honorary awards hold a very special value; they are given by people who believe that your work deserves recognition," Padura expressed after receiving the award.
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