The change that has taken place in thousands of people has been so profound and rapid that, in other circumstances, it would have taken several decades.
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 11 July 2024 — Three years have passed since the historic protests that shook the Cuban streets on 11 July 2021, but it seems like more time has passed. The change that has taken place in thousands of people on this island has been so profound and rapid that, in other circumstances, several decades would have been needed to achieve a similar effect. If the transformation experienced by the protesters, their families and, especially, those imprisoned for that day has been rapid and significant, a metamorphosis has also taken place among the ranks of the repressors.
Angela was 76 years old on 11J and, when she heard the first echoes of the demonstrations, she wanted to go out with a stick and confront the young people who were shouting their discontent in the streets of the city of Camagüey. A member of the Communist Party, a staunch follower of every official campaign that shaped her life – from volunteer work to missions abroad – she felt absolute contempt for those “ungrateful kids” who wanted to “overthrow the Revolution.”
Now, 36 months later, she curses angrily every time there is a blackout, has raised the tone of her criticism of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, asked to leave the ranks of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and is packing her suitcase to go to Spain through the Law of Democratic Memory, after dusting off an Asturian grandfather.
Yuri was one of those who carried out attacks near the Havana Capitol. Years as an informant for State Security in the Jesús María neighborhood made him close to those agents of the political police who always carry pseudonyms like Ernesto, Camilo or Alejandro. That day, one of them warned him that “los gusanos” — the worms — wanted to “take over the headquarters of the National Assembly and overthrow the Government.”
At 23 and with his long sessions at the gym, it was “a cakewalk,” he would later boast when telling how
