Murders Rain
According to Pong, this cartoon shows the Castro brothers’ sea of victims. Cries of “murders” rain down on the brothers.
Intact Regime
Pong assures that while Fidel and Raúl are alive, their regime will remain intact, and any apparent changes will be nothing but gimmicks.
Commander in Chief
The revolutionary slogan 'Comandante en Jefe, Ordene' means ‘Commander in Chief, give us your orders.’ In Spanish, the word ordene means to give orders, but Pong added a mark on the top of the ‘n, and changed the word to ordeñe, which means to milk a cow.
From Blood and Oil
The colors of the 26th of July Movement--the revolutionary organization led by Fidel Castro that in 1959 overthrew the Fulgencio Batista government -- are red and black. Here Pong asigns the red to Fidel, “from the blood of his victims,” and the black to Chávez “from the oil.”
The "good" Revolutionary
When asked about this cartoon, Pong explained that the so called 'good revolutionary' must denounce mid-level officials for any wrongdoings, but nobody ever pointed a finger at Fidel or the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. This behavior is what Pong calls ‘revolutionary discretion.’
Self Criticism
In 1986, Castro’s regime initiated an "error rectification” campaign, which sought to undo free-market reforms made in the early 1980s. According to Pong, all the public relations efforts were disingenuous because all criticism was rerouted to mid-level officials, while the core of the government avoided any responsibility.
Political cartoonist Alfredo Pong
Alfredo Pong escaped Cuba for Vancouver, Canada in 1991, where he began to draw his first political cartoons.
By 1994 he had been hired by the newspaper El Nuevo Herald in Miami, where he continued cartooning for several years. Then in 1998 he connected with the online publication La Nueva Cuba.
These days his work is published on websites in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela, and his personal blog can be accessed at cubahumor.com.
Reporters Without Borders has deemed Cuba “one of the world’s 10 most repressive countries, as regards online free expression.” Pong, who has admitted that he suffers an incurable case of “Castrophobia,” is among many exiled journalists who continue to fight for a free Cuba.
Read an interview with Alfredo Pong and other persecuted cartoonists in Sampsonia Way.
