HAVANA TIMES – In March 2020, I traveled to Matanzas to attend the Book Fair in that city. A couple of days after my return to Havana, after a week at the event, it was learned that the first person with COVID-19 had entered Cuba and the tremendous adventure we know would begin. But before the tragedy and epidemic that kept us on edge for so long, on the Paseo de Narvaez, right next to the San Juan River, during the presentation of her book “En tiempos de blogosfera”, I met Alina Bárbara Lopez Hernandez.
That afternoon, I went to the signing of her books at the Ediciones Matanzas stand to meet her. My curiosity was piqued by an event that took place at the Havana Book Fair, where Alina’s books that were supposed to be presented never arrived at La Cabaña —supposedly because they were missing the cover— and the author reported it on social media. At that moment, I learned, I must honestly say, about Alina’s existence and also about the online magazine La Joven Cuba.
Though in my ignorance I was not familiar with her work, Alina had an important body of work and many followers in her province and beyond. The day of the presentation, I almost didn’t get one of the copies, but I did manage to get one, and not only did I get it signed by her, but I also got a photo with her. It was the beginning of a great admiration and also a friendly relationship that we have maintained, without much interaction, but one that has endured over time.
In four years, a lot has happened, perhaps too much. We have experienced intense moments ranging from lockdown, illness, scarcity, economic restructuring, inflation, the near-total lack of medicine, the November 27, 2020 protest, the July 11, 2021 protests, the prisoners, the increase in persecution and repression, harassment of activists and dissidents, the rise in femicides, reports on social media, and many other events.
But these have also been four years of defining moments. I firmly believe that during this time, the Cuban state has finally taken off its mask and shown its true face. It is the face of someone who neither respects nor values its citizens; moreover, who doesn’t care if they get sick, if they can’t be cured, if they eat, or if they die. It is a state that has turned its back on the people it should serve and is walking in some parallel universe that only exists in its official rhetoric full of false positivity, empty hope, and ridiculous slogans.
One of the most recent episodes of harassment of the citizenry by the Cuban state through the State Security Organs and the police occurred with Alina Bárbara Lopez on April 18, 2024. I imagi