Feelings of Guilt / Miriam Celaya

Caesar and his fellow students on their first day of classes

These last few days a deep feeling of guilt keeps gnawing at me. Caesar, my oldest grandson, told me, in a strong tone of accusation, that I had lied to him. He said, and I quote, “Grandma, you lied to me, school is not at all as you said it would be”. The worst part of it is that he is right: I unwittingly shortchanged him when I set out to prepare him for his initiation into the world of school. Let me share this with you.

Cesar is 5, and he started preschool this year in a Sevillano Development school, municipality of Diez de Octubre in Havana. Members of the family around him had begun to prepare him during the summer months for this new phase of his life where whole days of play and cartoons at home in the company of his mother would soon become a thing of his past, as he would start to spend long hours sitting in a classroom, subjected to the discipline that learning and the socialization process would entail, surrounded by classmates of very diverse personalities. We had also all contributed to his complete school wardrobe and materials.

The school would be -we told him- a wonderful learning experience and he would learn new games, make new friends, the teacher would instruct him in very interesting things, and he would learn new songs which he would sing along with the other children. He would make clay figures and build houses, ships and rockets with the construction games in class. We wanted, with the best of intentions, for our kid to sail smoothly and devoid of trauma through this necessary rite of passage that is crucial in a life of a child. I, especially, have great influence on him and tell him many stories he always listens to, spellbound, of my own happy childhood and that of his father. I described the school in a world of color still alive in my imagination, immune to the destruction and sham of the system.

I didn’t lie to my grandson when I spoke to him about the school universe I discovered when I was four years old in September, 1963. Back then, my father worked at the sulfo-metals plant in Santa Lucia, Pinar del Rio, where I attended the first of my 11 elementary schools throughout most of Cuba. My preschool teacher, Nela, is truly an unforgettable character to this date. In that small town’s classroom there was a real piano played by the same teacher to accompany the many songs I still remember in all their details. There were balls, toys, puppets, modeling clay and coloring pencils. We learned with little effort, singing and playing, under the guidance of that sweet kind lady whom we all loved and respected.

I didn’t lie to Cesar when I told him about the school his father, my oldest son, attended. I was more excited than he was when he started school in September of 1984. We lived in Old Havana, my home town, and though his preschool classroom also had an old upright piano, the teacher was not able to play it (by then teachers did not know how to play) and there were not as many toys as in my classroom 20 years before, but at least there was the traditional modeling clay, construction games, and children learned through song. In addition, Hildita was a loving teacher whose small frame was full of tenderness and patience, and whose warmth and imagination replaced, to some extent, some of the material shortages at the school. I know my son remembers Hildita with the same appreciation and affection as I remember Nela.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the night before the start of school Cesar was not able to get to sleep at his regular time. He would recheck his backpack to see that nothing was missing, he would put on and take off his uniform until his mother had to put it away so it would not get dirty, and he would keep asking how long before morning would arrive. At 6:30 AM he was already up, nervous and excited, and earlier than 8 o’clock he was already at the school yard with many of other preschoolers who were as happy and proud as he was.

In the classroom, full of expectations

That was two months ago, and Cesar’s teacher has been in the classroom for a total of one week. They say that she “has personal problems”, “a diabetic sister in Camaguey”, or “an elderly mother”. This may all be true, but it does not excuse the school administrators for not having sought a substitute teacher. Instead, a teaching assistant tries to keep up appearances, putting the kids through one task and then another. It’s the only way to report officially that the school curriculum is being met, and that all children are getting an education in Cuba.

In the meantime, however, Cesar’s preschool is far from the expectations I planted. No games and songs, no modeling clay or toys. No one can say with certainty when the teacher will return, or how long she will be in class before once again she has personal problems that are more important than her job. Teachers are an endangered species in a country that has seen the destruction of a long educational tradition dating back to colonial times. The ethics of a profession, beautiful by its very nature, has been lost.

So my grandson Caesar no longer wants to go to school, and holds against me what he considers my lies. I explained to him that everything I told him before was true, so he has proposed a solution: “look, grandma, you’d better take me to your school and have your teacher teach me”. I thought about Nela, who by now is probably dead, since she was already no youngster in 1963. Her memory may have made clear the idea that surfaced: “I’d better teach you right here, at home”. It’s not as crazy as it sounds, because my first profession was teaching. So for a time now Cesar wastes his time at school Monday through Fridays, and on weekends I teach him the alphabet, numbers, we review the colors, draw, play with modeling clay, cut out geometric shapes and recite and sing my old preschool songs. We also have storytelling sessions so he will soon become interested in learning to read, and we put aside an afternoon to take relaxing walks. This way, I make sure that he’s learning, and at the same time, I will try to overcome my terrible feelings of guilt.

Note: All names and situations referred to in the text are strictly real.

Translated by Norma Whiting

November 2 2012

Concerts and Disconcertions / Miriam Celaya

From Estado de Sats website

Last Friday evening, October 19th, a new concert in support for Demanda Ciudadana por Otra Cuba (Citizen Demand for Another Cuba) was held in the usual venue for the Estado de SATS Project in Havana. This time, the young rappers of Ruta 11 and Estudiantes sin Semillas (Seedless Students) were in charge of the performance, which took place in that usual lively and peaceful place.

In addition to the enthusiasm and sincerity of these young amateurs and audience and their overall responsiveness, there were two distinctive notes: 1) The all too usual arrests of several people who had planned on attending, intercepted on the street, some of them first taken to a criminal investigation center in the municipality of Playa, and later confined to the dungeons of the stations at Santiago de Las Vegas (Boyeros Municipality) and Infanta and Manglar (Cerro) overnight; and 2) The panic that was unleashed by the mobilization of operative’s vehicles in the streets near the venue of the concert, where musicians and audience loudly chanted the chorus of the show’s final song: “Freedom , freedom, freedom! … “. Obviously, the wolf pack [the authorities] was afraid we would pour into the streets with such a dangerous clamor, so they rushed to cover the exits to block us. There are no words as subversive to the servile slave’s mind as that of FREEDOM.

Each concert, as well as the growing consensus the Demanda Ciudadana wins over across different social sectors, causes confusion among repression forces, and that evidently frightens the dictatorship. Is the system so fragile that it gets afraid in the face of what an esteemed Cuban intellectual termed “the vast minority”? Do the aging leaders feel so weak that they send out their bigwigs to try to boycott the budding spirit of freedom? It’s all in vain. That other Cuba is already underway.

October 22 2012

From Instigators to Pacifists / Miriam Celaya

Marco Leon Calarcá, FARC Spokesperson. Photo from AP, La Habana, 7 de septiembre de 2012.

Last Tuesday, September 4th, the Cuban media aired a video in which Rodrigo Londoño (alias Timochenko), Commander of the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) declared the armed group’s interest in participating in a peace and reconciliation dialogue, with the participation of all Colombians.

Mauricio Jaramillo, FARC commander, confirmed at a press conference held at Havana’s Palacio de Convenciones that the empirical meetings mediated by the Cuban government since February 23, 2012 at the Cuban capital had come to a close, and that a negotiation table with the government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos had begun.

Needless to say, the peace process in Colombia must be viewed very positively, since it could bring to a close the long decades of armed conflict in that country, at a high human and economic cost, with all the implications this has for the region.

Nevertheless, the time seems propitious for a pause, primarily addressed to Cubans on the island, who today get their  information as a fait accompli, with most of them having no clue of the nature of the process, the conflict, its evolution and the reasons their government, incapable of having a dialogue with its own people or of solving the acute internal problems, and lacking any political will to drive the necessary changes, turns out to be the mediator and guarantor of a dialogue between the Colombian narco-guerrillas and the president of that country.

Many Cubans are unaware that an armed FARC emerged decades ago inspired by the ideas of a Castro-style chimeric Latin-American Marxist revolution, that this army was trained, supported and financed by the Cuban government, and that, after the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe, it became focused on terrorism, a nest of kidnappers and extortionists, and an armed institution of Colombian drug trafficking,  spreading violence and insecurity in Colombia and the region, the remains of a failed strategy. From Marxists to leaders of the Colombian cartel.  From trafficking in communist ideology to trafficking in cocaine. Nothing short of that.

Those Cubans who wonder about the basis of the government mediation in the Colombian conflict probably ignore the close historical ties that link it with the narco-guerrillas, and that the so-called Colombian guerrilla is the last remaining shred of the exportation of the Cuban revolution in this hemisphere, launched by Fidel Castro in his golden years.

That is to say, Cuban mediation in the Colombia-FARC issue, far from being a novelty, is long-standing: the Cuban government is not mediator for prestige, but for its complicity and responsibility in the conflict. And though even now the function of the Cuban authorities in this case is quite different, and now the olive-green dome dresses as the dove of peace, we must not forget that it was the supporter of the violence in Colombia and many other Latin American nations in the past.

Throughout these years, Cuba has also been a safe haven for many narco-guerrillas who have been forced to leave their country before the onslaught of the Colombian constitutional army under President Álvaro Uribe, who had the crucial support of the U.S. government, and whose actions dealt crushing blows to the FARC, narrowing its parameters. Each whack delivered to FARC has also meant an effective blow against the influence of the Cuban revolution in Latin America.

It becomes clear that the Cuban government had sufficient means of communication with the FARC leaders to now act as a negotiator of the conflicting parties. Naturally, in the official media in charge of disinformation in Cuba, the government -historical ally of the narco-guerrillas -is mediator, while the U.S. government –collaborator of the constitutional government of Colombia- is interventionist. In Cuba, that same media has always presented the FARC, and not the governments of Colombia, as the legitimate representative of the aspirations to social justice of the Colombian people

Yesterday, instigators; today, peacemakers. The Cuban dictatorship’s imitative capacity seems endless. Many interests must hide behind this move by the cunning and long-lived revolutionary caste, but there’s no question that, when the last page of the history of the FARC is turned, another piece of the black history of the Castro revolution will be entombed, the one that encouraged violence and death in order to perpetuate the megalomania of a failed messiah, who today has definitely disappeared from the scene.

Translated by Norma Whiting

Originally appeared in Diario de Cuba, 10 September 2012

El Biogas… or an Epilogue to the “Energy Revolution” / Miriam Celaya

This beautiful example of a cow is, of course, not Cuban. Photo taken from a website

Someone said that necessity is the mother of invention, a phrase that could explain the proverbial fame of Cuban “inventors”, always having excess necessities. However, to establish itself as a source of well-being and progress, the invention process requires certain material resources and civil freedoms beyond imagination, intelligence or the desire to do something, otherwise it becomes a backwards move.

Thus, the noted Cuban inventiveness — at least for the last half-century – has manifested itself primarily in the philosophy of misery, where each invention is not based on creating something truly new and revolutionary (and here the term refers to the technical side) but on the repairing or patching up of old equipment previously invented or — as we usually say — in the discovery of warm water, which consists in changing what was a novelty in the XIX century and applying it as a good thing in our current everyday indigence. Examples abound, but the newspaper Granma (Wednesday, September 12, 2012, page 3) (Wednesday September 12, 2012, p. 3) recently presented to us one of the countless cases which, in addition, are offered as paradigms of efficiency in the official press.

“Biogas in a bag obtained in Pinar del Río”, is the headline of a half-page long article which informs us, in a tone full of optimism, that they have already been successful at packaging biogas in plastic bags in Pinar del Rio” something new, even if it’s just an “isolated” experience, but one that “could transcend into a greatly useful innovation.”

It is known that biogas is highly flammable, so the editor is quick to reassure us: this is about –- the architect of the initiative stated — a safe process, because the biogas can be collected in the same plastic bags used at The Conchita Cannery for storing tomato pulp, which are “hermetically sealed, very resilient and able to withstand high temperatures.” He adds: “there is no need to compress the gas when using them, therefore, the process becomes much easier and efficient.” The process is that easy, since each device (bag) takes about 30 minutes to fill and “enough biogas is provided for food preparation for two days for a family of three.”

Though the use of biogas is not a recent discovery or anything of the sort, and we are familiar with numerous non-industrial applications in various regions of the globe, the report takes great pleasure in reporting the benefits of this fuel. Among them, the reporter reminds us that it is a renewable energy source, benefitting the environment by taking advantage of a gas that otherwise would end up in the atmosphere, increasing CO2 pollution, and helping families economize by reducing electricity consumption. The idea is to replace the consumption of electricity used in cooking food, because the latter is usually used “in most Cuban homes” thanks to that so-called energy revolution (remember?) promoted a few years ago by the unmentionable (remember him too?).

But, fundamentally, the article promotes the innovation of packaging biogas in plastic bags, a process so simple that it will allow the expansion the operations by excluding ducts to bring biogas from places where it’s collected to the kitchens of the homes, and, at the same time, this system avoids possible sanitary complications of such facilities.

To wrap it up, a small box appears that illustrates the indisputable benefits of the invention, generated by the creativity of an innovative Cuban to solve a local problem and that the official press presents as a palliative to the energy crisis that hundreds of thousands of Cuban homes are enduring, not to mention what awaits us. The Box reads:

It is estimated that one cubic meter of unburned biogas released into the atmosphere equals one ton of CO2.

In contrast, its usage will allow cooking three meals for five people, or generate the energy equivalent to 0.5 liters of diesel, 0.6 liters of kerosene, or 1.6 KW-hour of electricity. In order to accomplish this, the researched bibliography indicated that it’s just processing of one day’s worth of the excretions of three cows, four horses, nine pigs, ten sheep or one hundred thirty chickens.

Here, my friends, lays the crux of the equation… or, rather, the essence of Cuban innovation. It turns out that the invention is really economical, it only requires that the would-be consumer of biogas somehow find a way to get some plastic bags at his neighborhood cannery, which may not be so difficult if he knows some potential supplier who works there, if the manager is a friend of his –- in which case he could make use of State resources — or if he would accept selling them at a reasonable price, if in Cuba any price can qualify as such. That minor inconvenience solved, all he would have left is the tiny problem of availing himself of three cows, four horses, nine pigs, ten sheep or one hundred thirty chickens whose fecal matter would guarantee the cooking of three family meals, as long as the family consists of only five members.

In other words, poop would be the most expeditious route to food on the table. All that’s left is to pray, so no uninvited guest shows up who may alter the scrupulous planning of the family biogas bag. Though, on second thought, there is always the recourse of making a quick collection of raw material for this fuel with the voluntary contribution of family members and neighbors, taking into consideration the equally proverbial generosity of Cubans. I have only one concern, and that is the appearance of another innovator who will discover a way to make this resource more productive and effective with the use of some laxative…Good riddance!!

Translated by Norma Whiting

September 14 2012

Interfacings of a Mediation / Miriam Celaya

Timochenko, el alias del máximo jefe de las FARC. Un jefe de guerrillas que se dice emocionado por la paz
Photo: Timoshenko, the alias of the top leader of the FARC. A guerrilla leader speaking excitedly about peace.

Recently, the official media made public the Cuban government’s mediation in the dialogue process between the Colombian narco-trafficking guerrillas known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government of that nation.

It would really be desirable that, at last, a dialogue process restored peace in Colombia after decades of guerrilla violence and organized drug trafficking from a guerrilla army that transitioned from Marxism to the control of the cocaine cartel. I suppose that some day a book will have to be written about the strange mutations of Marxism in the postmodern era.

At any rate, it is not coincidental that the Cuban government, unable to talk with Cuban civil society, has undergone a year of secret meetings as an intermediary of the FARC, an armed force it trained, supported, and supplied with weapons over the years, since that time when F. Castro was a champion of American freedom and sought to export his communist revolution throughout the region. The Cuban government’s share of the responsibility in the decades of violence that Colombia has endured brands it a creditor of that nation’s peace.

This mediation has most likely not been very spontaneous. For sure, it is not the way out once conceived by the guerrilla sponsors, but it is also certain that the Cuban leadership will have redirected its interests in this matter … as in all cases. There is some secret official agenda, no doubt about that.

It is clear that the weakening of FARC, thanks to actions initiated and developed under President Alvaro Uribe, with the support of the U.S. government, has forced it to appeal to talks with the government of Juan Manuel Santos, even when actions against the narco-guerrillas have remained strong, and devastating blows have been scored in sympathy with the President’s clear statement that “There will be no ceasefire of any kind, and we won’t have anything until we arrive at a final agreement, let’s make that very clear…”

Thus, although the Cuban media aired a video showing the FARC Central Control Commander boasting: “we said we were going to win and we will win”, the truth is that they are being defeated by the Colombian regular army and police. In the face of this, it is possible that, in the short or medium term, the expansion of the last Castro bastion in this hemisphere will disappear, and with it, another one of the messianic hallucinations of F. Castro will have ended and be deemed a failure. In a few years, the last shreds of the communist revolution that the Orate of Birán dreamed up will be gone, and Colombia will have overcome the last traces of so much violence.

It won’t be so in Cuba, where Cubans who aspire to democratic changes lack the political will of the government to negotiate and establish an end to the national crisis. As for the rest, it is clear that the olive green command is not interested in talking with pacifists but with narco-traffickers. Things of my country.

Translated by Norma Whiting

September 7 2012

Among Conspiracies and Euphemisms… / Miriam Celaya

Fumigating the streets with petroleum vapors. Picture taken from Cubanet

This week, the official press published a lengthy press release that stated that the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) considered what they referred to as “the outbreak of intestinal infection caused by water pollution” had ended. It lasted for two months in eastern Cuba, leaving three dead and fewer than 500 patients, according to official data. Judging by the media, the cholera came and left the island without further damage. Indeed, it seems that — gone or not — what could have been an epidemic of devastating dimensions in a country where the lack of hygiene is widespread has been relatively controlled.

However, what the MINSAP’s note does not include is the intensification of a real epidemic that is gaining ground: dengue fever. The press has not made any statement about the proportions of the current dengue epidemic hitting most of the country. In the capital, an anti-vector campaign remains in place, managed directly by the military, including mobilization of medical personnel and paramedics who work seven days a week with extended hours.

Even with all these measures, there has been no progress in controlling the dengue. One element that undermines the population’s perception of the risk is precisely the lack of information. At the same time, the rainy season this year has been severe, even before the most recent rainfall throughout the Island brought on by Tropical Storm Isaac, which added to the poor state of water networks, the proliferation of vacant lots, the accumulation of trash, and the schools, closed for summer vacation, and not properly inspected by those in charge, has all led to the increased outbreaks of the mosquito that transmits the disease.

An example: just in the area around to the Van Troi polyclinic (at the corner of Carlos III and Hospital, Centro Habana), four to five new cases of dengue fever are reported every day. There are three quarantine hospitals in the capital dedicated to the admission of the more delicate cases, while those who get the classical, less severe case of dengue fever, are treated at home by doctors in their health area, a system that reduces hospital load, but increases the risk of infection at the community level.

Meanwhile, the dengue appears to be another state secret. The authorities are more interested in maintaining the flow of foreign tourists to the Island than in safeguarding the health of the population. Maybe one day this situation will reverse itself, but, meanwhile, ordinary Cubans are footing the bill.

Translator: Norma Whiting

August 31 2012

The Solidarity that Unites Us / Miriam Celaya

Lately, the Cuban dictatorship has stepped up the persecution and harassment of internal dissidents and of activists of peaceful projects who lay claim to rights that belong to all of us.

Arrests, searches and mobs that are egged on against those Cubans devoted to civil resistance have become daily events throughout the Island. As an additional way to harass and extinguish the claims, members of the police force have been confiscating digital media belonging to the activists (computers, memory drives, cell phones, printers, etc.) in a desperate attempt to stop the dissemination of the Human Right Covenants and the collection of signatures for Citizen Demand for Another Cuba.

At this dangerous time, the voices raised in our support are the solidarity that demonstrates the good will of many Cubans in and out of Cuba, in an effort to build a better Cuba for everyone. I want to personally give thanks for the feeling of unity that comes from afar through Cubans whom we feel very close to, the promoters of the Appeal for a Better and Possible Cuba, a document which I have also signed. I append a copy of its context below which was sent to me and which encourages me to continue in this struggle.

In the Defense of the Promoters of Citizen Demands

In keeping with the feelings of a large number of signatories of the Appeal for a Better and Possible Cuba — many of whom had previously signed the other Citizen Demand for Another Cuba, calling for ratification of international human rights covenants — denounce the brutal aggression against the rights that allow Cuban citizens to express their views and make political demands. Since last Thursday, August 16th, the Cuban government has launched its repressive force against the promoters of the Citizen Demand, attacking DiosbelSuárez, Idalberto Acuña and Santiago Cardoso with pepper spray and beatings in the Havana county of Marianao. The three were handing out copies of the document, and were later arrested. Other violent and repressive acts are currently being reported.

We call on all decent people of Cuban or of any other nationality to mobilize immediately in order to denounce, in every possible forum, these repressive actions, and to also protect these brave peace activists.

Marlene Azor
Juan Antonio Blanco
Manuel Castro
Armando Chaguaceda
Haroldo Dilla
Ariel Hidalgo
Oscar Peña

Promoters of The Appeal for a Better and Possible Cuba.

Translated by Norma Whiting

August 24 2012

Not Different, Accomplices! / Miriam Celaya

A new pool of repressors in an image taken from the site of Juventud Rebelde
One of the most noticeable features of “Cubanness” is our ancestral tendency to derive patterns from subjectivities. We like to imagine ideal things, automatically assuming they are palpable realities. If what we imagine coincides with our wishes, then you can count on the legend overflowing beyond what is rationally allowed: a new “truth” would have been born, based solely and exclusively in our childish expectations.

Thus, among the more recent legends that are being constructed in the imagination of dissenters is the alleged difference of positions between the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) and the Political Police regarding opponents, independent journalists and alternative civil society activists. Some essential points on which such estimate is based – whose truth or falseness this writer does not claim or deny, therefore, I beg the readers to read with care where there are quotation marks – are as follows:

  1. The job of the PNR is to care for public order and prevent crimes, while the Political Police aim to eliminate all political opposition to the government.
  2. The Political Police enjoy political patronage which the PNR does not have, such as salary benefits, more favorable working conditions, resort vacations, rich and varied fleet, personal care products and clothing, footwear, etc., inserted in what they call “quality of life” of its agents.
  3. The Political Police are often dismissive or despotic towards agents of the PNR, which are subordinated to it, though, by current law, this should be exactly the opposite: Political Police agents should be subordinate to the PNR.
  4. The agents of the PNR are as exploited and humble as any other Cuban, and go into its employ only in search of better wages, so they tend to distance themselves from the repressive practices of the Political Police.

I will limit myself to these elements, though there are other brush strokes with which the very picturesque populace decorates this theme. I confess that I too am tempted to yield to the illusion of this PNR-dissidence affair. Bottom line is that an agent of the PNR has never addressed me in a disrespectful manner, even the time when, not long ago, by order of the Political Police, my friend Eugenio Leal and I were driven in a patrol car, with the sole aim to get us away from the activity in a public park in the capital. I remember that on that occasion the officers of the PNR seemed downright upset, but not with Eugenio and me. I don’t know, maybe they were just self-conscious and here I am, thinking that they are turned off at having to punish us. We often hope for a wink of approval to help us get over the nightmare. This democratic spirit can make us extremely romantic.

Believe me, I too would like to think that the hangmen of State “security” (insecurity?) are “the bad guys” and the boys of the PNR are “the good guys” but I have great reservations in that respect. After all, there are more issues that link the two forces of repression to one another than any alleged sympathies or consideration of the PNR to police dissent. In any case, the dungeons of the PNR units are the barricades of the Cuban democrats, and numerous are the clubs wielded by those in blue uniforms that have beaten more than a few nonconformists, and they too have been a direct part of or accessories to other abuses, such as “citations,” arrests and detentions.

I don’t think it fit to, nor do I claim a “moral approval” between the police of the PNR and any member of the opposition and independent civil society. The PNR have been quick to handcuff us and drive us off in their patrol cars, they are the same ones that routinely extort the self-employed, the prostitutes, and any of the millions of Cubans who are forced into crime to survive. The PNR is rotten with corruption to its core. Its agents, trained in violence, threats and intimidation, are the ones who close off the streets so the repudiation rallies can take place, the ones that protect its members while leaving opponents in the most profound helplessness. They are, in short, a part of the government machinery stifling the freedom aspirations of Cubans. Make no mistake; both the PNR and the Political Police are an essential part of the dictatorship, though the latter may be only the last wretched link in the chain.

As for me, I will believe in the legend of the “good guys” PNR on that the imaginary day when the blue agents will refuse to follow orders from the Political Police to beat up the peaceful opposition, or when they will simply quit, en masse, an institution whose only reason for existence is to repress and extort. In Cuban conditions, where survival depends on thievery, to be a cop necessarily means to harass the people, which is why one cannot be cop and a good guy at the same time.

And I hope some fool does not tell me that these are a “bunch of country folk” trying to make it in the capital and other cities in Cuba, that they are “too young” or a bunch of “ignorant poor babies” without clear awareness of what they are doing and that they just “follow orders”. It doesn’t sit right with me. Most of the country folk I know are hard workers, honest and with a sense of honor, incapable of abusing other Cubans. A sense of dignity is not exclusive to any age group, nor does ignorance exonerate anyone of their civic responsibility. Perhaps someday the PNR will have to answer for their actions in the same way that State Security will. By then, we will see how many of these “good” policemen will be able to show a record truly free of crime.

Translated by Norma Whiting

August 13 2012

Campaign "For Another Cuba": A Commitment to Change / Miriam Celaya

Logo created by Garrincha for the campaign

Several weeks ago the document “Citizen Demand for another Cuba” was released, signed by hundreds of Cubans on the island and the diaspora, demanding that the government put into practice immediately the legal and political guarantees endorsed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, through the ratification of the signing of the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, which were signed by the Cuban authorities on February 28, 2008 in New York, and so far have been a dead letter for all Cubans.

This demand was delivered to the headquarters of the National Assembly as written evidence of our attachment to our rights under the Constitution of Cuba and the definitive will to fight for changes that will permit a democratic transition on the island.

Corresponding to the Citizen Demand, a campaign at the national level has recently been launched to collect the signatures of Cuban citizens who consider it their right to join this civic claim. This is a legal action recognized by the Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — to which, in its development, Cuba was a promoter and a signatory — and by the Covenants themselves. It is urgent that Cubans understand that the changes we dream of can only be obtained by ourselves.

We know that the government is not going to respond this time to our just demands. We know that the forces of repression are going to increase their harassment of the civic activist of this campaign; but — regardless of the number of the signatures and the official action — this is, above all, a moral action that cannot be postponed. This is an action that calls for the presence of all dignified Cubans, regardless of their ideology, their political sympathies or their religious creed. It is about recovering our citizenship, saving ourselves from the shame.

In the coming months, the campaign “the other Cuba” will be developed through cultural and civic initiatives: concerts, performances, pamphlets and much more. We hope that all Cubans with a democratic vocation will support us in this and help us to spread both the activities of the campaign as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in particular its related Covenants. Every Cuban needs to be fully aware of their rights and the practice of them. Who knows if we may be brewing a plebiscite in favor of freedom and democracy in Cuba!

August 6 2012

Tribute to Oswaldo Payá / Miriam Celaya

Yesterday afternoon a piece of hope for Cuba died. Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas was the fatal victim of an auto accident in circumstances still not clarified. Cuba is dying while continuing to lose its best children, emptying the vital fountains due to unrestrained emigration, galloping corruption, the larceny of such a prolonged dictatorship that has sucked the sap out of four generations, and loses like this one: the death of a Cuban of great worth that fills us with grief.

I did not share all of Payá’s points of view, I was even critical at times of some of his proposals. I would be again; but I always respected the man who created them, his will, his spirit and his dedication. I admired above all his courage and his faith in a better Cuba, the dream to which he dedicated so much energy and so many sacrificed over many years, longer than some deserve who now shrug their shoulders and look away.

Not all the leaders of the opposition have had the merit of confronting absolute power without flinching, without abandoning the fight, without giving in. So today is particularly tragic. In a few hours a Havana perish will hold a wake for the body of a man whose principal weapon was his faith in God and love for Cuba, I bow my head before his death.

I see people walking the streets without even known that an essential Cuban has died; surely the administrators of the terror, cowardly and selfish, will be celebrating a feast in their barracks. But to feel resentment at this time would profane the memory of this fighter for peace. It is consoling to know that Payá had already transcended in life; so death will not be enough to silence him.

I would have wanted us to be able to count on him in the democratic future that we will have some day, no longer so far off, because we need leaders of his stature in a nation that is left bereft of values. Hopefully there are many like him, hopefully they won’t have died. Here is a farewell and a small tribute that I would have preferred never to offer. So that death does not triumph, we offer thanks to Oswaldo Payá for his life, and may God welcome him at his right hand, as befits the righteous men.

July 23 2012

Reply to SPD Bulletin / Miriam Celaya

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me he was surprised to find “my collaboration” in the digital newsletter Socialismo Participativo y Democrático (SPD) (Participatory and Democratic Socialism). Since he likes to play tricks, I thought it was another one of his pranks, but he swore over and over that he was telling the truth. In addition, he said that there was even a note specifying that I had authorized its publication. Since this was a strange lie, I decided to investigate the matter when I had sufficient internet connection time for it, which became possible a week ago.

Indeed, my friend was right: in this SPD newsletter number 100, dated June 1st, 2012, an article “And Yet, What Would Be” appears, claiming I was its author, that I wrote it for Diario de Cuba in May, the site where it had been published. Shortly after that, I reproduced the article in my blog (Sin EVAsión), where apparently it was taken from by the publishers of the SPD Bulletin, who did not bother to cite the source, though I was careful to specify in my blog that the work had been published originally in Diario de Cuba, where I often collaborate.

Now I must pause. I am not opposed at all to any site that deems it appropriate to quote from any article published in the web or other media, and this includes the SPD Bulletin, but it would make elementary ethical sense to cite the original source where it’s been taken from. In fact, I feel honored when someone cites my work. However, since this time it’s about a website whose ideology I don’t agree with, and since I’m not ready to keep silent in the presence of lies concerning me, I feel it’s my duty to clarify this issue. I’ve never been a contributor to the SPD Bulletin, its directors never asked me to publish my work, and I am not moved by the Bolshevik militancy of the site, where one often finds criticism of private ownership, capital and prosperity, elements which, on the other hand, I advocate.

I consider the final note particularly disrespectful. It states “This article appears in the SPD, with the consent of the author”. Both the comma and the untrue note are unnecessary: No one asked my authorization, nor did I consent, directly or indirectly. Therefore, the managers of the SPD Bulletin are lying, unless there is a strange misunderstanding among them, since this writer was not consulted about this matter. Even worse, as a consequence of this “oversight”, in occasional informal conversations the fallacy is being circulated that “Miriam Celaya is collaborating with the SPD web”. I sternly deny it. Is it a socialist trait to arbitrarily make use of that which does not belong to them? In any case, at this point, lying should not be an option for a group composed primarily of highly experienced former government officials, with old curricula and a long history. It is not prudent, and it does not serve their cause.

Lastly, if I feel compelled to challenge the statement in the SPD Bulletin, it’s not because of hostility, but because of a strict observance of the truth. I refuse to lie and to encourage, through my silence, the lies of others; on the other hand, would be disloyal to the administrators of another very serious and responsible site, Diario de Cuba, who honor me by the publication of original articles I send them from time to time, or when they are courteous enough to cite the source when they reproduce some part of my blog. I suppose the subtle difference between the two must be apparent. Finally, I would be grateful to the militants of the SPD Bulletin if they would retract the final note that smeared with a lie not only my humble article –which, to tell the truth, is not a journalistic gem- but their own bulletin. By the way, they might clarify that it was originally published in Diario de Cuba. If this request seems wrong to them, there is always the option of retracting the old web article, which, when all is said and done, adds nothing to the socialism which its theoretical publishers (and not this disloyal and irreverent blogger) are trying to recycle. And everyone in peace.

Translated by: Norma Whiting

July 16 2012

Mounting Cholera? / Miriam Celaya

Photo taken from Cubadebate

A few days from the announced celebration of that mournful date, July 26th, in the province of Guantánamo, rumors continue to be increasingly stronger that there are several cases of cholera in eastern Cuba, plus it is even being said that there have been several deaths due to the disease. Since the situation was reported in the independent press, the official press is maintaining its usual silence on matters that may damage the image of the system and affect foreign tourism on the Island. The presence of the disease in Cuban territory is not officially confirmed or denied, nor is its impact and potential expansion, except for a brief report in the media on Tuesday. The lack of information and misinformation, though they might seem the same, are not, and are also a kind of permanent epidemic among us.

Earlier today, just in case, I turned on my TV to listen to the morning news, but reports from eastern Cuba were only about street activities to entertain children during vacation, that is, the news they were showing were of kids in parks before the cameras, doing the same thing that they do every day in neighborhoods without any group organizing them: riding home-made scooters, running and playing. There was also news about the awards received by the “paintings” by the Communist Party leadership and other government officials in the region, now graduates and employers, and that a company received special recognition for having met the economic indicators: more diplomas, kisses and smiles. Nothing about cholera.

Meanwhile, some who became aware of the rumor continue to worry, and there are signs that evidence that something is fishy. A neighbor told me that bus transportation to the eastern region had been curtailed, and she was told that her ticket to travel to Santiago de Cuba in late July would be canceled, though they did not give explanations about the causes of such termination. A doctor friend, who knows my aversion to boiled water, called me to warn me emphatically that I should not drink water directly from the faucet “for anything in the world”, as I usually do, while, on television, commercial spots are being aired warning of the need to wash hands frequently, “rub your palms thoroughly with soap and water, rub between your fingers and under nails …” as if your lives depended on it. Do you think our lives really depend on washing our hands?

And, as often happens among us, the rumor is growing in exponential proportion to the lack of official information about the case, and some say that there are cholera cases in Havana, in tandem with our ever-popular and endemic dengue fever, which is alarming in a particularly dirty city, with thousands of leaks in its outdated water and sewage systems, its plethora of landfills and slums, where over two million people live, amid the wettest summer on record in the last decade.

It would not be surprising, however, that this new exaggeration, greatly publicized by one or another “enemy of the Cuban people” at the service of foreign interests, might be confirmed in the course of the next few weeks if things get out of control. After all, there are thousands of Cuban doctors who have traveled to Haiti to assist the campaign against the cholera epidemic in that country, who have returned to Cuba, reinstating themselves in family and social life without even going through the isolation of quarantine. Under such circumstances, one could say that cholera took its time in making its presence known in Cuba. For now, many of us have begun to take extreme hygienic measures, while some others shrug their shoulders carelessly and in disbelief: what’s not announced, won’t really happen, at least, not unless we are the ones to die in the process.

At the time of this post, I found out that at least 6 deaths have been attributed to the dengue fever in Havana, and there are several cholera cases.

Translated by Norma Whiting

July 9 2012

Competition in the Realm of Incompetence / Miriam Celaya

Castillo de Jagua State Restaurant, though centrally located on 23rd and G Streets in the capital, remains empty.

I heard on good authority that the government is “studying” how to allow state-owned restaurants and other eating establishments to become mini-cooperatives in the hands of their own workers, to make them productive and rotate the food, which — due to poor quality of the ingredients, the deplorable condition of the premises or a combination of these and other factors — accumulates in the warehouses of these entities. Operations for the inspection process in the gastronomic industry have been unleashed in the capital, specifically in premises belonging to the Provincial Enterprise of Luxury Restaurants — a mouthful to describe the unfortunate culinary slums that were formerly Havana’s pride(!) — and they have revealed that the value of stored ingredients, products not being rotated for lack of customers, is several million dollars, not counting the numerous violations and detected corruption cases that are inherent to the system. This is how the system of renting those venues to restaurant co-ops by the year 2013 is being analyzed by (competent?) authorities.

It is a well-known secret that, while state restaurants and cafes remain completely lacking in customers, many of the so-called “paladares“, [eating places] in private hands are the choice of Cubans and foreigners. Some of the paladares usually have long lines from the time they open until closing which demonstrates the better quality, working conditions, service, etc., of private versus state performance.

The implementation of co-operatives is still good news. In any case, for a long time, the offering of services in general should have enjoyed autonomy. In fact, this turning of pages to what is officially and euphemistically being termed “other forms of employment” is the tacit acknowledgment of the failure of nationalization and the need to privatize as the only way to turn profitable these and other places of the domestic economy. The bad news is that, most likely, the process will be fraught with obstacles and excessive controls that will slow down the results, and that state restaurant employees should be patient; such an old government moves with difficulty and is slow to learn.

So the addition of these state establishments in the autonomous culinary chain adds a new component to the already established competition among the private ones, and a potential increment in the demand for foodstuffs that the government will not be able to satisfy. It is expected that the new measure (reform?) is accompanied by greater economic freedom for food producers, i.e. the private-sector farmer, given the proverbial incompetence of the state agricultural production. In the end, the government will be forced to give up obstacles to producers and to establish a more flexible marketing system for foodstuffs. Competition, a natural result of the market, will expose the incompetence of the socialist system that currently the Reformist General insists on “renewing”, which is to say that apparently the only way to “upgrade” socialism is to return to the production and market ways of capitalism… or what the voice of the people is saying: “all that swimming and swimming to end up dying on shore!”

Translated by Norma Whiting

July 2 2012

Not Guidelines, Civic Rights / Miriam Celaya

Carretillas en La Habana. Fotografía tomada de un sitio de Internet
Carts in Havana. Photograph taken from a website

They say God can write straight with crooked lines. I would say that, in Cuba’s case, we should sign God up for a crash course in calligraphy. We have had a half-century of crooked lines and nothing indicates that they will straighten out. Adding to the confusion, the more talk there is in the official press about “clarity and transparency,” the more muddled the waters become. Still, some wonder naively when they will apply all the guidelines of the Sixth Congress of the CCP, as if they constituted a kind of spell that might turn the chaos and poverty into order and prosperity. Fourteen months after the quasi-secret meeting of the Druids, we continue to move ahead into the abyss envisioned by the boy promoted to captain of the rickety vessel, whose DNA, by the grace of some coincidence, matches his predecessor’s,

So here we have a “reformist president” whose innovations have only managed to further thin the social climate and emphasize the life of those supposedly benefitting by the reforms, such as the people. Among the better known reforms of the new octogenarian occupying the olive green throne, for example, is the liberalization of the sale of agricultural products by street vendors, known as the elegant term of “street cart operators”, duly certified licensed to carry out their duty. The sellers were to increase the variety of produce offered to the starving city dwellers, which they in fact have done, and, in turn, result in lowering prices that would enable ordinary people to raise their nose half a centimeter over the level of insolvency that is choking them.

But the latter has not happened for many reasons (or better yet, for lack of reasons) among them, the high taxes implied obstacle, and the countless fines whose minimum amount is 500 pesos of the so-called “national currency” (CUP) applied by a diligent team of state inspectors for any minor infractions or suspected infractions, such as, for instance, keeping the cart on one spot for too long (not defining how long), for not being able to give an explanation as to the origin of the cart or even the source of the wheels of the aforesaid device used by the operator. As a result of these and other obstacles the “signal” of prosperity sent out by the elusive president has only meant less buying power for the people and a larger number of corrupt individuals… I mean, “inspectors”.

The most sarcastic thing is that many foreign friends who visit us perceive the proliferation of vendors and small businesses as a sign of prosperity and not as the screen hiding the battle that takes place behind the scenes: the proto-entrepreneurs struggling to survive and advance, and the authorities intent in preventing prosperity and the revival of a truly independent middle class. The cat and mouse, now licensed to keep up the appearance of legality of some, and of good intentions of the others. Behold, the government has achieved a new source of income: legitimizing the potential crime and charging for the inevitable violations. It’s twisted and perverse, but its brilliance cannot be denied.

The opening of private ownership kiosks has also brought about another problem it was supposed to solve. The absence of wholesale markets and the instability of the supply of any product in the retail market have resulted in an incredible imbalance in some of their prices. To mention just one example, in recent weeks, purchasing a cloth to clean floors has become an unattainable dream for more modest budgets.

The product, already priced at an altered 0.90 CUC (equivalent to 21.6 pesos CUP) suddenly disappeared from the stands at the stores selling only in dollar currency (TRD). Right now, they can only be found at 40 pesos CUP among licensed and unlicensed street vendors, that is, twice their official price.

It turns out that the guidelines also announced a crusade against corruption and illegal activity, which means they are seeking to wipe out the people of Cuba completely. Because, who doesn’t constantly violate the law in this country, starting with the government itself? What common Cuban can survive, if not on the fringes of the law? Raise your hand if you haven’t bought anything on the black market –groceries, medicine, cleaning or office products or anything else, even a place to live, a car, an airplane ticket…

Stand up if any of you has not bribed an official in any capacity to get some benefit, from a ETECSA telephone line to the promise of a job, college registration, dentures or surgery? Who has not rented movies in underground places or played the numbers in a similarly underground place? And in Cuba, even boarding a bus through the back door is a crime. So it’s not unusual that lately the official press has been reporting an avalanche of violations being detected by the Comptroller of the Republic, except that these purges, rather than marking the end of impunity, are uncovering the uncontrollable and irreversible corruption of the system from top to bottom

There still seems to be a long stretch to cancel the dual currency, another promise of the April 2011 conclave of Communists, and for the implementation of the much-publicized -and expected- emigration reforms, always being postponed or in a “study” phase (of which our leaders are a bit slow on the uptake). Many other delayed promises have been bulking up the lack of credibility in the government, suggesting that there will be no real changes as long as they are proposed by the government. In short, it is obvious that all the eternal dictators are seeking is to gain time… and we’re giving it to them. In reality, we don’t need guidelines but rights, and those are not included in the depressing package of government measures.

Translated by Norma Whiting

June 11 2012

Internet, is it worth it or not? / Miriam Celaya

In the last couple of days, a friend e-mailed me several interesting articles that generally revolve around the issue of Internet use and its role in social movements. Since that topic interests me and is part of me in many ways, I wanted to share with the readers some considerations.

The internet, blogs, social networks and citizen journalism are part of a phenomenon of our times, when the flight of information, technology, and communication invades every aspect of daily life, more directly in countries with greater access thereto. About the events in North Africa during the so-called Arab spring, there are many who have overstated the importance of the digital media as a release vehicle in the overthrow of dictatorial regimes. There have also been critics who have claimed it’s been used fraudulently by “outside interests” and may not reflect the aspirations of the masses involved, which determined that the rebellions took place as an epidemic. Is the internet or are the civic forces the current triggers of the processes for change? Are the two mutually exclusive or complementary? Clearly, when it comes to measuring the impact of a factor in social processes, opinions often reach opposite extremes.

However, in the case of Cuba, a country with a very minimal level of connectivity, what is the significance of social networks, blogs and Internet use in general? None and much. Can the new technologies help chart a course and determine democratic changes in Cuba? No and yes.

The contradiction is only apparent. Regarding the first question, and given the negligible level of access to networks available to the Cuban people, it would seem that they are equally invalid in the face of changes we need to promote in Cuba. However, it can be said that the relevance of the emergence of an alternative blogosphere and the sudden proliferation of social networks, despite the difficulties of connection and backward technology-including limited and primitive cell phone service- are practically the only possible challenge to the monopoly of the press and media information and dissemination on the part of the government.

The lack of freedom of expression, press and of association has led to a wave of online expressions of independent thought with relative success. Additionally, these venues for online freedom (indirect, impersonal, or whatever you want to call it) have been the precursors of other types of meetings which are becoming permanent: personal and direct links between different players and civil society groups that are creating democracy bubbles in the midst of a society suffocated by the apathy derived from the accumulation of scarcities and frustrations. A sign of their importance lies precisely in the contradiction between our low connectivity and the growing interest stemming from awareness of the networks and their usage.

This brings us to the second question: it is clear that the internet places a very useful tool in our hands. Just five years ago, most of those of us who are bloggers today could not even imagine the level of response that we would get –not only from our readers, but also from official zealous censors and from our repressive government- or the commitment that we were assuming with the introduction of our respective blogs. The harassment of the alternative networks and blogs by the authorities and the creation of an official blogosphere with the express mission to counteract the effects of independent bloggers demonstrate that internet use is not so harmless for the dictatorship. On the other hand, in a very short time, the networks have allowed us to establish ties and build bridges with Cubans everywhere, to get closer, thus overcoming mutual mistrust; to do away with audiences and authorities, and to find, on our own, the necessary preconditions for reconstruction of a civil society, virtually extinct from decades of totalitarianism. The willpower for change in some social sectors became clearly visible only by the grace of internet use.

Nevertheless, the use of new information technologies and communications does not in itself imply the key to success in the pursuit of democracy. This tool cannot replace human qualities, and its use does not, in any case, represent an end, but barely a means to have access to the full exercise of freedom in an indefinite future.

The web will not have the ability to mobilize where there is no determination to make changes, so the use of the internet and social networks is not condition enough to achieve democracy, but its use does not lessen its importance as a democratizing tool. Having greater access would not constitute a definitive solution, but it would represent a path to seek solutions needed to foster information among Cubans; to facilitate encounters, the exchange of ideas and views and promote something that has undoubtedly allowed a growing number of free thinkers overcome virtual limits set by bytes, and to find ourselves face to face when discussing our proposals and strengthening our hopes. We have started to jump out of the networks and have continued to grow in and out of them.

Perhaps this is a necessary phase for us: using the networks not only as an information tool and free flow of ideas, but to reproduce hope. And that is why the internet and the networks are also possibly the most subversive event that has been taking place in Cuba in recent times. Nothing is as dangerous for a decrepit dictatorship as hope reborn in a zombie population. While it is true that freedom will not return to Cuba only by the hand of the internet, we will definitely not be able to talk about a democratic transition in Cuba in the future without mentioning the role played by independent digital journalism, by the blogs, and by the social networks.

Translated By Norma Whiting

(Article originally published in the Journal of Cuba on May 28th, 2012)
Published on SINevasion June 4 2012