In a recent interview, Cuban actor and activist Yunior Garcia Aguilera shares his theater experiences, opposition role, and essential reforms for a potential transition in Cuba. Exiled in Madrid after regime threats, he stresses the need for rule of law, public order, and market freedom. Garcia admits past mistakes due to lack of political preparation and urges sharing concrete projects for the country's future.
Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Cuban actor, playwright, and activist, became a visible voice of the 27N movement in 2020 and founded the Archipielago platform, from which he called for the Civic March for Change in November 2021. After weeks of surveillance and threats from State Security, he managed to leave Cuba and settle in Madrid, where he continues defending human rights and using art as a tool for memory and resistance.
In the interview with Julio Antonio Fernandez Estrada for El Toque, Garcia reflects on obstacles in Cuban theater since the Revolution. He mentions the persecution of figures like Virgilio Piñera, who faced Fidel Castro saying 'I am afraid,' and the censorship of plays like The Seven Against Thebes in 1968. Theater, he says, inherits a 'burden of fear and censorship' due to its confrontational power, where actors and audience coincide in a magical space.
Garcia recounts how Diaz-Canel attended his plays in Holguin: a comedy, All Men Are the Same, and a political one, Blood, featuring a Lady in White on stage. He admits his initial naivety in believing in reforms and dialogue, leading to a political role without preparation. 'They crushed me. They defeated me, and I acknowledge it,' he states, noting that defeats also build character.
On his leadership in Archipielago, he recognizes mistakes like suspending embassy contacts out of fear of television criticism, calling it a 'political absurdity.' In Cuba, experienced political leaders are lacking; influencers and opinion leaders predominate. For a transition, he proposes five pillars: a rule-of-law state with maximum freedoms, public order to combat rising crime, market freedom by eliminating inefficient socialist state enterprises, state guarantees for universal health, education, and culture, and healing the nation deteriorated by violence and social decomposition.
'Changing the model, with democracy, rule of law, and free market, will improve the country, even with the most mediocre leaders,' he asserts. He urges preparing concrete projects, like solving the energy crisis, and publicizing them to dispel fears of post-regime chaos. In exile, he feels like a 'chronic Cuban,' grateful to Spain for saving his life, but missing sensations from his Holguin neighborhood. He recalls meeting Carlos Alberto Montaner, who chose euthanasia without seeing Cuba's freedom.