Eliécer Ávila

“I opened my eyes and realized that the parades, the banners, the slogans…, that all this was just an optical illusion, which obviously charmed young hearts and people with energy, but it actually never really converted in Cuba in a concrete, economic, moral state of well-being for the people."

“I had a relationship with a very intelligent girl who worked at a radio station. And there, I also discovered, how the Communist party manipulated and dictated the editorial policy of all the Cuban media. And with this person and all the conversations we had, I realized that all those people who work there, had to spend all the day reading false news and transmitting encouragement, while deep down in their hearts, they knew that many of this news are false, and that they didn’t agree with that. I believe that there were several things of this nature, which in a certain way guided me towards the path and the mission that I believe to be having at this moment."

"There were two clearly defined positions: my classmates, students and all the general people who could see the video, who expressed me their solidarity, with hugs, congratulations, and shows of affection. And on the other hand, there were the leaders: the directors of the University, the rector, the dean, the [Communist] Party secretary, several officials of the Central Committee of the government party in Cuba. They had several conversations with me in a tone which sometimes tried to convince me that I was wrong, and sometimes, when I was insisting in my ideas, they tried to intimidate me: 'you are going to have many problems, you don’t know what we are able to do with the counterrevolutionaries... '. That's how the things went. Until that blockade towards me took place inside the Cuban territory, when I was not allowed to live, study or work in Havana, I had to be almost obligatorily in the countryside."

"I believe that Cuba is at a historical juncture. I have the impression that this is the last year that we are going to see the country exactly the way it has been during the last half century. I think that almost obligatorily, at the end of this year or at the beginning of the other, we will see deeper changes. Because it has already become not only necessary, but also unsustainable, even for the Communists themselves in the country. I think the time for ideas has passed. Today, we are in a moment of survival on the part of the people, and on the part of the government in an instinct of preservation of the privileges that they had reached during all that time. And this struggle is reflected in the growing public debate that is taking place in Cuba. More and more people say what they think, more and more people participate in what is happening.”