Jailed for crying out his hunger

An unemployed drunkard shot to fame last month in Cuba when a video of him storming a TV
report to demand food began circulating on the Web. His outburst got him a prison sentence,
making him a symbol of Cuban poverty and repression.
uan Carlos, nicknamed !"nfilo #dimwit in Cuban slang$, never e%pected his impromptu
interruption of a report on Cuban hip&hop to make such an impact. 'ut after his tirade was posted
on (ouTube #presumably by one of the video reporters, although it is not known who is behind
the initial upload$ his life was never going to be the same again.
)We are hungry* What we really need is +ama #Cuban slang for food$*, he repeated over and
over for the camera. His words resonated with thousands of Cuban Web users, spreading like
wildfire on the blogosphere. They also landed him in +ail for two years, after authorities branded
him a )danger) to society.
Cubans at home and abroad have rallied for his liberation, though a petition on the website Jama
y Libertad #food and freedom$. -o far, however, !"nfilo remains behind bars.
Only drunkards dare tell the truth in Cuba
Cuban freedom activist (oani -anche. wrote a post about !"nfilo/s story on her blog,
Generacin Y.
He could have been an alcoholic lying on a street corner sleeping off his inebriation, like so
many others in this city, but he wanted to make his voice heard. He +umped in front of a camera
and cried for food which, along with yearning for change, has become a national obsession in
Cuba. His spontaneity, and the emphasis he gave to asking for )grub) has turned the brief video
of uan Carlos, alias !"nfilo or /0imwit/, into a )superhit) on the alternative information
networks. 1 don/t remember other visual material that has gone viral so 2uickly in our society,
not even the video of Elicer !vila versus "icardo #larcn from last year. !"nfilo realised, a
few days after the video began circulating, that his outburst had given him away. His words
were like a red circle around his head, a lighted announcement at the entrance to his house, or a
finger pointed at his life. The magnifying glass of power, which hangs over us all, focused on
him and begins to highlight his weak spots. 1t surfaced that he had no +ob, had been prosecuted
for theft and probably bought rum on the black market & small )crimes) that we Cubans commit
every day to survive or escape. 'ecause he took off his mask and spoke sincerely in front of the
microphone, he began feeling the scalpel of repression slashing through his e%istence.
31 wasn/t surprised at the news that they found !"nfilo to be a criminal and charged him with
)pre&criminal dangerousness), for which he was given two years in prison. The +udicial process
must have sobered him up faster than a bucket of cold water and an e%tremely strong coffee.
Although there is still the possibility of appealing this decision before the court, he/s unlikely to
get off without punishment because it is lesson aimed not only at him. 1f they don/t condemn
him, who will prevent the corner alcoholics and the neighborhood drunks, from standing in front
of a camera and starting to shout for everything we lack4 5ood* 5uture* 5reedom*)