The Grand Chess Master Lázaro Bruzón posted a video on his Instagram account this Wednesday, in which he firmly responded to those who have been trying to silence him for years and reiterated his commitment to continue denouncing the political situation in Cuba.
"I am not going to remain silent; I will not stop talking about Cuba. They have spent eight years trying every possible personal attack against me, and I have nothing to hide. They will not silence me, plain and simple," declared the chess player, who has been based in the United States since July 2018.
Bruzón directed his words especially to the "ciberclarias" and "cibercombatientes"—terms used to refer to the digital defenders of the Cuban regime—and accused them of resorting to personal attacks precisely because they lack arguments: "Since the truth crushes them, they want to attack the messenger."
The chess player also rejected the argument that Cubans in exile do not have the right to criticize the regime for not having done so within the island.
"You tell me that I didn't speak out in Cuba because you wished they had imprisoned me. That’s not a valid opinion," he replied, adding that living under a dictatorship justifies previous silence, but remaining silent once free would be "the greatest shame."
His message was clear: "No Cuban should feel complexed because they didn't speak out in Cuba, in prison. The point is that being in a free country, you should exercise your judgment, your freedom of expression, and denounce what is happening in your country."
Bruzón also questioned the legitimacy of the regime to speak on behalf of the nation: "Neither Canel, nor the party, nor Fidel, nor Raúl, nor anyone. Those people are no more Cuban than us; on the contrary, they are the destroyers of the Cuban nation."
The video closed with a rallying cry: "Down with the dictatorship, freedom for all political prisoners, and may my cyber warriors continue to suffer. Until that falls, I, just another Cuban, will keep denouncing what is happening in Cuba."
The statement comes amidst a surge of public declarations from the chess player during the second half of 2026. In early October, Bruzón stated that imprisoning young people for posting videos or singing protest songs amounts to "justifying cruelty."
At the end of September, he described Cuba as a "dictatorship without alternation" and stated that the country has "the worst" in economic and social matters.
In September, she also reported that her mother was harassed in a store in Las Tunas by individuals who blamed her for her son's political views, to whom she responded: "Las Tunas, a leader in informants and troublemakers."
In April, the chess player had already warned that every Cuban who leaves the island can become an "enemy" of the regime, even if they had previously been loyal or had officially represented the country.
Bruzón, six-time national champion of Cuba and International Grandmaster since the age of 17, has been competing under the American flag since July 2020 following FIDE's approval, and he has repeatedly stated that he will not return to the island until it is “free and democratic.”
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