Time has two unique conditions, is irreversible and unstoppable. Time is perfect as it is capable of putting everything in its place.
For over 50 years Cubans have suffered a cruel and ruthless dictatorship. Those who have experienced it know that hate and human misery are limitless. But if something has helped prolong our pain for so long it is the travel and immigration policy regime imposed on us.
Not being able to travel freely and know reality beyond our island has been, more than punishment, a crime and our dead who were trying to reach freedom are examples of what I write.
Today I remember the defection of José Ariel Contreras, the best pitcher in the country at the time. The national press wore itself out with vituperative epithets against the strong brown man and the miserable fanatics who preferred playing ball over the dictatorship. Contreras was banned and vilified. We, the faithful, who admire the sport of balls and strikes, wished Contreras well in the best baseball in the world.
I do not think Jose Ariel defected for political reasons, he just wanted to better himself and he succeeded. Victory in the Major Leagues, although personally I expected more from this pitcher.
Ten years after his departure from Cuba, Contreras connectedhis media Home Run: He returned to his homeland to see his ailing mother.
They questioned him on your team Pinar del Rio Cuba or the team for abandoning him today enjoy a baseball game or the pleasure of walking through Central Park in the Cuban capital, the fans that were faithful and others who were not, now hail him dearly.
I would like to see the regime spokesmen write a few lines about this idol of Sandino. It doesn’t matter if they write for or against, just that they write.
Once again, time shows me that, in a dictatorship, the idols can become villains overnight and he villains into heros, although I can’t stop wondering how an ideology can be capable of so much misery and deceit.
From now on, the new immigration and travel law can be a double-edged sword for Havana. Cubans who travel abroad will come to know a very different reality from that they have lived all their lives, they will know that the lie has short legs and Contreras’s mates would notice, if they are the least bit smart, that in capitalism the limit is the human being.
February 2 2013
