Antonio Rodiles, promoter of Estado de SATS and the citizen demand For Another Cuba, has been brought up on charges. The charges are not relevant, they could have been anything. As an emerging figure of civil society who, in a very short time, has managed to structure two outstanding citizen projects, Rodiles has become a very uncomfortable element for the government.
In the Taino (government) Studios they will be preparing a Special Program to air on the Roundtable program after the prime time news. Thanks to the magic of cutting and editing, we will meet a new Rodiles ready to board a transport to attend a meeting with U.S. politicians visiting the country. Thanks to this same technological wizardry, we will see him sitting next to an official from the United States Interests Section at an Estado de SATS even about Cuban-U.S. cultural relations. And thanks to the magic of controlling the media, and in particular the internet, they will present these images as THE proof that Rodiles follows a script written in Washington, and so, by the way, they will also implicate civil society activists.
My neighbor Tomas, my beloved uncle Gerardo, the sister of my friend Rebeca, and my close friend Josefa all belong to the group who will believe the message of this libel. But they underestimate a population whose educational level is around the 12th grade. There will be an abundance of people who will logically ask themselves why Rodiles is being judged for one of these offenses against authority, and not for espionage, collaboration with the enemy, or some other shadowy charge; and they will conclude as I do that it is because they would be too much, because the suggested conspiracy does not exist.
The aim of the documentary will be met with some of the viewers; but unlike other times, everyone has a relative, partner, or an acquaintance at the gym who has on their flashdrive, along with the latest Batman movie, the new season of Big Bang Theory or the final game of the World Series, the recordings of Estado de SATS and objectives of citizen demand for the signing of the UN Covenants.
I frequently remember the phrase of Lincoln (I quote from memory), that you can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
November 16 2012
