Interviews with Roberto de Miranda

The government is terrified of this kind of cutting-edge technology. That’s why we’re called traitors and why we’re constantly being denounced, because thanks to international solidarity efforts most of our activists have resources like phones and computers. And that hurts them to no end. Why don’t we have Internet access in Cuba? Because what happened in Libya and all the uprisings that are taking place all around the world have one common denominator: the Internet.

Cutting-edge technology is a menace to the Cuban government. We should mention the work being done by bloggers, who share our struggle with every corner of the world. I want to make a special mention of Yoani [Sánchez], Claudia [Cadelo], and a group of young bloggers who are doing very dignified work for the opposition, for the world, so that the world can get to know our reality.

What they do is something unbelievable. And this is why the Cuban government is so afraid of the Internet and why they try to control access to it. In Cuba only party officials have Internet access. Doctors may have Internet access, but it is very restricted and it’s limited to looking up information. They cannot visit other websites from around the world.

This is very important. Why is there so much hatred of the Internet? They have such hatred of the Internet, such fear of the Internet, because the day the Cuban people get access to the Internet, it will be a matter of hours until the rule of the Cuban government is over.

Roberto de Miranda is a former teacher, educational freedom advocate, and prisoner of conscience in Cuba.

Born in the province of Camaguey in 1946, Miranda worked as a mathematics teacher in the 1980s. He was fired from his teaching position by school administrators for his refusal to participate in public political acts and for refusing to pass students who did not earn passing grades. He then co-founded and became the first president of the College of Teachers of Cuba (Colegio de Pedagogos de Cuba), a non-governmental organization that seeks “the de-ideologization of education in Cuba and denounces violations against students and professors who do not share the political ideals of the system.”

Miranda also founded the Félix Varela Independent Library in July 2000 and supported the Varela Project, a nonviolent citizens’ legislative initiative for democratic reforms in Cuba.

In 2003, Miranda was arrested, tried and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment under Article 91 of the Cuban Penal Code, which penalizes “an act with the objective of causing detrimental suffering to the independence of the Cuban state or to the integrity of its territory, in the interest of a foreign state.”

While in prison, Miranda was given the 2003 Pedro Luis Boitel Freedom Award, which is given annually to a Cuban who has displayed courage in nonviolent resistence to the Cuban government. Bulgarian Prime Minister Philip Dimitrov said during the ceremony, “Roberto de Miranda has been dedicated for many years to the promotion of free thought and has made important progress. The Castro regime abhors these types of people because they represent an independent civil society, which is one of the largest threats facing the government.”

Miranda was released from prison in 2010 and immigrated to the United States where he lives in Miami. He continues his work on behalf of freedom and democracy in Cuba.