An Hour and a Half with Big Brother

An Hour and a Half with Big Brother / 14ymedio, Juan Carlos Fernandez
Posted on February 20, 2016

14ymedio, 18 February 2016 – For an hour and a half this Wednesday I
received a barrage of threats from State Security in Pinar del Rio. Like
a scene out of George Orwell, four agents devoted themselves to warning
me that I could be prosecuted for the crime described in Law 62 of the
Penal Code, which refers to “professional intrusion.” My work as a
journalist could send me to jail, promised these jealous keepers of the
occupational limits of every Cuban.

In a chair bolted to the floor in a small room, I listened to the
hackneyed intimidation that my work equipment would be confiscated the
next time they saw me on the street “reporting something.” The agents
said that both of the information projects I participate in are illegal:
the daily 14ymedio, and the magazine Convivencia (Coexistence). I didn’t
take advantage of the opportunity to suggest to them that they allow
freedom of the press and thus end the problem.

Not to mention, of course, the record of the police warning I refused to
sign. However, when I left there and later hugged my wife and a friend
who were waiting for me outside, I realized that I had no resentment
against the threatening agents, rather they inspired pity in me.

I got home, laid down for a minute on the living room couch to gather my
strength, and from the kitchen my wife shouted, “Juan! We’re out of
eggs, we have to find something to eat tonight!” The reality that State
Security could not deny, once again was knocking on my door.

Source: An Hour and a Half with Big Brother / 14ymedio, Juan Carlos
Fernandez | Translating Cuba –
translatingcuba.com/an-hour-and-a-half-with-big-brother-14ymedio-juan-carlos-fernandez/