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Background

Mohammed is an outgoing and passionate man who fights for his belief that the Cuban government must change to improve the lives of its citizens. Without the freedom of information, freedom from poverty, and freedom of opportunity, the people will always be bound in a state of overwhelming imbalance of power. The focus of change drives Mohammed’s entire life, past, present and future. He is a man of the people, a man from the streets, living in his state of poverty, but with a voice he hopes one day will enact the change and the revolution he feels the people of Cuban desperately need.

The best moment in his life, Mohammed believes, is yet to come: to see his country be free.

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The Past

Mohammed is a Muslim living in Havana. He has done everything to educate himself in a world without opportunity. He spends his time studying books and learning various languages. He is fluent in Farsi, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish and English. As a part of his past, his focus on education led him to feel very constrained and trapped. He learned of other people, other cultures with free access to the internet, with freedom from oppressive authority figures, and freedom from an extreme separation of wealth so they could improve their economic standings with a view of admiration.

His past studies led him to a path of full fidelity to what he sees as the only way to happiness: freedom. Mohammed began to see difficulties in his own nation and people that before he felt blind and unable to see. He described recognizing that many Cuban people “are like the chicken. They constantly turn their head from one way to the other, constantly changing their belief depending on who is around them.” He described the “chicken” weakness not only because of fear of those in power, but also an unwillingness to stay true to personal beliefs of freedom. He has rejected this practice of passiveness and divulging in the few available technologies that, he feels, curb the appetite of the youth away from real change and real freedom.

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The Future

All ideas, both present and future, are concentrated on making lasting change to improve his quality of life for himself, his family, his friends and his people. Mohammed strongly believes that change is possible and he will always be fighting for that change to improve the quality of life for all Cubans in poverty. His hope and focus on improvement, he believes, will eventually cure the “chicken” issue of Cubans being too fearful to enact progress. As others see him openly sharing ideas of revolution, not through bloody means, but through the power of information and freedom of speech, sharing ideas, knowledge, and economic possibilities, he hopes the spark of freedom will spread.

He is still unique in his views, many others in his neighborhood shy away from his bold ideas of revolution. He strives for more access to information, as he believes the internet and truth of information will give him and his people the power to break free from their impoverished and fear bound state. “The only way the Cuban people will break free is if the will to change comes within. It is not outside our country that our problems stem from, it is from within. Our human rights fight is right here.”

His Perspective

“You need only look to the pharmacy lines to see the dire situation my people face every day.” Early morning lines develop quickly at nearly every pharmacy which hold very limited medicines that run out completely after only a small fraction of those in the long lines, spanning around the block, receive needed medication. He feels his eyes are open and being honest with himself in all situations, he regards it as his moral duty to fight for the change needed for the people in Havana and throughout the entire country.

Mohammed’s perspective shows the difficulty of his situation, the Goliath he faces with odds becoming increasingly against him. Yet his hope and confidence of a better world, propels him to continue to spread the word of revolution to those who will listen, lighting a small spark that may one day change a nation. He hopes the billboard seen near Revolutionary Square in Havana could one day become a reality, where his people can “understand love, but not hate.” He has extreme love to his people and hopes for the peaceful revolution to real freedom.

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