Antonio Guerrero has been unjustly imprisoned in U.S. prisons almost 14 years, for defending his homeland of Cuba from terrorism.
Yet, despite many years of being physically absent from Cuba, he offers astute observations and defense of Cuba’s revolution, as International
Worker’s Day approaches.
Dear Friends:
A couple of days ago a person who is known here came and brought me an article published in a newspaper of his town that talked about Cuba and specifically about the explorations by petroleum platforms on the coast of our island.
I glanced at the article and I noticed without reading much of it, what the double intention of it is, which is basically, continue the propaganda against the Revolution.
This person, who had read the article, begins to tell me that in Cuba there are many things that have to change. To back his claim he made reference to some “opinions” that the author of the article picked up “on the Cuban streets.”
That’s how I got wrapped up in a conversation with him about the works created by our people. But at a certain point I realized that my arguments about our education and free medical care, about our electoral system, about our process of current changes in the context of the complex world that we live in, nothing could change his mind to realize that it is one thing what a Miami Herald reporter says and another what the Cuban reality is.
In that precise instant I asked him: Have you ever gone to Cuba? Of course the answer was no.
I said to him frankly: Look, I have not lived the Cuban reality for more than 20 years, although I keep up-to-date about it. But I invite you to go to Cuba one day and compare it with what the newspaper tells you and what is truly the essence of our people.
I told him, I wish you could be there this May first. You would realize how many millions of men, women and children there are who love and will do what is necessary to defend the Revolution, in spite of its virtues and defects.
I looked at his eyes and said: Do you know why this government doesn’t permit free travel of all U.S. citizens to Cuba? And I answered him: Because they are afraid they will learn about the Cuban reality, they don’t want them to see with their own eyes what has been built in more than 50 years of socialism. They don’t want them to sense the security that the tourist experiences in our island, and the generosity and hospitality of our people.
That’s how the issue ended.
Long Live May 1st!
!Venceremos!
Five embraces
Tony Guerrero Rodriguez
April 27, 2012
FCI Marianna.
