Witnessing His Oppressor: A Cuban Poet Confronts His Past on State TV

Cuban poet Ariel Maceo Téllez recently relived one of the most harrowing experiences of his recent past, not within the confines of a police station or an interrogation room, but from the screen of state television.

In an official broadcast, Maceo recognized the very State Security officer who had interrogated, humiliated, and threatened him in 2021 for daring to write and think independently.

"I was interrogated by this Lieutenant Colonel of State Security," Maceo revealed in a detailed thread on X, where he identified the oppressor, known as Juan Carlos, though that might not be his real name, and vividly recounted the events of October 13th.

According to his account, he was transported under a disproportionate operation to a "safe house" in Siboney, a location he describes as a common site for illegal interrogations and covert recordings of dissidents, journalists, and activists.

"They had a whole armed operation, as if I were an international criminal," Maceo recalled. The poet detailed the contemptuous treatment he received from the beginning. "He told me I played in the minor leagues, that nobody knew me, that they had no file on me because I was a nobody," he wrote, before sarcastically recalling the question that incited the officer's anger: "So, can I leave?"

For hours, Maceo claims he endured pressure, insults, and veiled threats. The interrogation included accusations of mercenary activities, alleged ties to independent media, and even suggestions of CIA payments.

"Are you a fool working for free?" the oppressor allegedly taunted, as per Maceo's account. This, he asserts, was all aimed at extracting coerced statements that could later be manipulated on official television.

The tension peaked when the officer transitioned from belittling him to asserting complete control over his life. "We know what you eat, who you meet with, we know everything about your family, we follow you everywhere. Anything can happen to you on the street," the poet recalled.

In exchange for lifting his travel ban, they demanded he sign a document renouncing his literature and political activism. His response was a firm no.

"He laughed at me in a way you can't imagine. He ended by telling me to keep suffering, that they had me under control and would forget about me," Maceo wrote. Five years later, seeing him on television being honored as a regime official reopened wounds that never healed. "He surely can't sleep, knowing that justice is slow, but it arrives," he concluded.

The testimony adds to a long history of documented repression against Ariel Maceo Téllez. In October 2021, he was summoned multiple times by State Security, interrogated, and placed under restrictions without any legal process. "They made it clear that the revolution is above our human rights," he denounced then. The travel ban kept him apart from his wife for over two years, one of the violations that most deeply impacted his personal life.

A poet, photographer, and independent journalist, Maceo had four books unpublished in Cuba due to his critical stance and coordinated the group Demongéles, a platform for independent artists excluded from official institutions.

In 2022, he was summoned again for interrogations and filed complaints with Cuban courts over the injustices he faced, receiving no response.

Finally, in August 2023, he managed to leave the island for Mexico. "The dictatorship didn't like that I wrote poetry," he asserted then, still fearing being stopped again at the airport.

Today, from exile, his story not only targets a specific oppressor but a system that—as he himself has stated—"feeds on fear and silence," continuing to pursue those who dare to write, create, and denounce.