The Faces of Those Who Repress Us [PHOTOS]

After what happened last Friday--my kidnapping and beating by plainclothes State Security agents--I decided to bring to light a series of pictures of people who watch and harass me.

My relationship with the movies has always been from the seats in the shadow of a room where you can hear the sound of an old projector. It kept on like this until I started to live in my own movie, a type of thriller of the pursuers and the pursued, where it is up to me to escape and hide. The reason for this sudden change from spectator to protagonist has been this blog, located in this wide space--so little touched by celluloid--that is the Internet. I woke up two years ago with the desire to write the true script of my days, and not the rosy comedy they show in the official newspapers. I went, then, from watching movies to inhabiting one.

I have my doubts whether some day I'll see the curtain come down and be able to leave the movie theater alive. The long film that we have been living for decades in Cuba does not seem to be close to the point where the credits are shown and the screen goes blank. However, the spectators are no longer interested in the interminable filmstrip shown by the authorized projectionists. Rather, they seem captivated by the vision of those who create a blog, a blank page where they record the questions, the frustrations and the joys of citizens.

Believing myself Kubrick or Tarantino, I have begun to post a testimony of these creatures who watch and harass us. Beings from the shadows who, like vampires, feed on our human happiness and inoculate us with terror through punches, threats and blackmail. Individuals trained in coercion who could not foresee their conversion into hunters who are hunted, faces trapped on camera, mobile phones, or in the curious retina of a citizen. Accustomed to gathering evidence for this dossier about each of us kept in some drawer, in some office, now they are surprised that we make an inventory of their gestures, their eyes, a meticulous record of their abuses.

Here is a series of photos taken earlier this year near my house.

Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.

 

Follow Yoani Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yoanisanchez

Comments

[randyjet]

There is no excuse for what the Cuban government goons did. Having said that, I DO have to say that we need to keep things in persepective. I am an old civil rights, and anti-Vietnam war activist and I DO remember what the US government did to US. It was FAR worse than just a beating and there are MANY DEAD from their activities and repression. That does NOT include the hundreds of thousands who were murdered by the US and its US puppets in Latin America.

I also remember that it was the Cuban exiles who were supporting the segregationists in the South and fought against freedom for us in the USA. They were perfectly happy to deny their American opponents THEIR freedoms and supported dictatorships throughout Latin America. For them to pretend that they are for freedom is ABSURD. So I can fully understand black folks of my age having nice things to say about Castro since HE was FOR civil rights, while his opponents were AGAINST freedom. Given the violent nature of Castros opponents who used murder as their chosen tool to make political points, I have to agree with the use of force against them. They fully got what they deserved. The SAME does NOT apply ih this case! What was done to her was WRONG and there is no excuse for such measures and a one party state.

[Philclock]

Just finished a history channel review of the Roman Emperor Caligula and his arbitrary use of absolute power for personal and narcissistic reasons, guess you'd like him and his kangaroo courts, too.

Like Fidel, both I'm sure are just misunderstood. Particularly if you got in their way.

[SigmundF]

Reading your comment I think, why I have different memories about the first times of cubans exile in USA???....­. What I remember is signs everywhere that announced "No blacks, No cubans, No dogs".... what I remember is segregation on cubans, I remember white people selling theirs homes and moving from what is today known as Little Havana to avoid to live together the new arrived immigrants­..... I do not remember any cuban exile making common cause with segregatio­nist...... it was impossible just because we were also victims of this dark times. Exile cubans were not the cause of the violence in our country. Castro took the power with violence, kept the power with violence and still keep the power with violence..­.. we were the victims, ten of thousands of our parents, siblings, sons and friends were killed, incarcerated for decades, 20% of Cubas population were pushed to exile. What we just did was to defend us of this murderous regimen. Castro is a professional of the crime and the persuasion, that's why he could convince people like you that he was for the civil rights when in the reality he is the bigger racist our country has produced..­... to day 99% of Cuba's penal population are blacks, the thugs of Castro's repressive institutions uses to call the black people "the enemy". Today Cuba is controled by a white elite who principal opposites are black people.
Mississippi 1950??? .....no dear friend Cuba 1999.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CrDqFIacLk

[ghee99]

having been to cuba, that is true

as an american, the cubans i talked to, always were looking over their shoulder, and afraid of being seen talking to me

until we were somewhere private they never completely relaxed

i couldnt imagine living like that

fidel, you can take your free health care,
i'll take my freedom

besides we'll have healthcare AND freedom,
you, mr castro, just have a (justifiably) paranoid populace, many who hate you, but are afraid to say so, and all who fear you

live in fear?
no thanks...

[winningticket]

Many Americans like to live in fear. Fear sells in the USA.

[ghee99]

well, even if thats true...
living in fear in the USA is an option

in Cuba, where the threats, from the government are real,
living in fear is not an option
its just the way things are

say something bad about bush or obama in public in the USA,
nothing will happen to you

say something bad about castro in cuba,
its very possible that the police will come and arrest you
it is also possible that you might be jailed or killed.

so, i would say thats a pretty big difference.

also, if you really dont like America, you have the option of just leaving
not so in cuba

once again, a pretty big difference.

if you want to compare the USA to any number of other countries and make the case that they are better, or have more freedom...­. then depending on the country, you might have a case
...but please, comparing the level of freedom, and the level of fear that the populace live in in the USA to cuba
not even close.

[Philclock]

Not with a mafia-like government. At least not today.

[fightorleave2]

ghee99, I wonder what your definition of living in freedom is because America is certainly not the land of the free and the home of the brave. I'm not even sure it ever was, but you keep on believing what you have to. America is dead, and I'm not sure for how long it's been that way. For example, the idea that the living will govern themselves is non-existent and we are not free of the 5% or so who run this country with an iron fist. There is no freedom in America except to keep your mouth shut and fer chrissakes don't ever let your conscience get in the way of making a buck. That is the only America I know. I'm sorry to have to be the one to break it to you.

[ghee99]

well, i am free to do any kind of work i want, i can buy any kind of car, i can talk to anyone, i am allowed to go on the internet, i can read any book, magazine i want, i can travel anywhere in the world, anytime.

i can criticize my government, associate with whomever i want, i am not held a prisoner, unable to leave our borders, i can worship anywhere, with any religion, or have no religion at all. i can eat any food that i could ever possibly imagine, start a business, or work for someone else of my choosing. i dont need a "permission to travel permit" to go to other parts of my own country, i am permitted television with as many channels as i want, as opposed to just the 4 allowed by my government.

i can fight to change the government, i can protest, i can say the leader is a dictator, or that i don't like him, in public and private.

quite frankly, the list of freedoms is virtually endless in the USA

all the freedoms listed above (and many more) do not exist, or are extremely limited in cuba.

a great country, great people, shackled by a corrupt dictator, who won't allow dissent, freedom of speech, of association, of travel, and keeps his populace prisoners on what he thinks of as "his" island.

truly an evil man, and anyone who thinks otherwise, is a victim to his propaganda.

[ghee99]

on a side note, if you are letting the top 5% that you mention stop you from doing anything, that is just a self-imposed limitation. Just because there are those that are more powerful, or wealthier than me, has never stopped me from doing anything that i have ever wanted to do.

Are there policies, and politicians that i disagree with?
of course,
and i fight against them with all my might,

.... but having a problems with some things in America is hardly the same as saying we have no freedoms, we might not be perfect, but personal freedom is certainly not something we lack.

[TopTigerette]

Where in the world could you have more freedom than here? You must be living in a fantasy to think you are not free. You have to work, you have to take responsibility -- that's part of being free. You can't just lie around and get taken care of by other people, but you have all the freedom in the world to associate, speak, travel, work at any job you can find, etc.

[billhodges]

You obviously live in a different America than I do because I am free to do most anything legally and morally right without fear of intimidation or reprisals. There is no country in the world with freedoms equal to ours.

Maybe you should step back and look a bit harder at all you have here before you trash it.

It is not perfect but then nothing ever is, but we should be thankful of our freedoms and not ever let the government grow so strong that it can totally control our daily lives.

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong
enough to take everything you have." Thomas Jefferson

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
George Washington

[billhodges]

Isn't this the same Cuba where the members of the Congressional Black Caucus was bragging about the wonderful system Castro had set up for his people, and Michael Moore claims the health care is better than in the US?

We actually have people in this country that would willingly turn our country into a mirror image of Cuba if they could do it.

Some even believe there are forces at work in the government now that are moving u to Socialism which is the first step to Communism.

[randyjet]

You obviously did NOT see the movie Sicko. Moore did NOT say that Cuban health care was better than the US. In fact the film made the point that the US is just ONE notch above that of Cuba in health care rankings. The POINT was that ALL Cubans have access to health care that is ALMOST as good as the US. I can see why you are a Republican since you are too stupid to understand that and what Moore actually said.

[nabbey2]

Funny, having spent well over 2 years in Cuba over the past 8, I have never felt that anyone was uptight about what they said. On the contrary, Cubans quite LOUDLY say anything they please. And I only experienced one occassion in which there was a problem with a Cuban and me being together..­. when we tried to rent a room in a private home when we were travelling around the country...­. in the end they let us both stay, but we had to sleep in seperate rooms!!