Amplification of My Son’s Schoolwork / Regina Coyula

Antonio Maceo Grajales

The mambises forces couldn’t recover from the uprising at Santa Rita. Insubordination and desertions were frequent. Dissatisfaction and fatigue had taken over the troops. The territories held by the Cubans were wastelands. General Martínez Campos took advantage of these circumstances and launched a successful offensive against the central territory. There were nonetheless numerous officers and soldiers who rejected the uprising, but the policy of Martínez Campos of reinserting those who presented themselves contributed to the undermining of unit morale, this together with the military harassment of the rebels.

The designation of Vicente García as President of the rebel republic caused widespread disgust. Máximo Gómez’ resignation as Secretary of War was accepted. It was December of 1877, a year that Gómez would call the most ill-fated for the Cuban revolution. Gómez proposed a cessation of hostilities under the pretext of consulting the people, using the opportunity to reorganize. Under these circumstances the negotiations began that would culminate in the Pact of Zanjón. In compliance with the naming of Vicente García as President, he formed up his unit for consultation; those who were in favor of peace should stay in their places, those in favor of war should drop out of the formation. Nobody moved. Only two among the leaders and officers voted differently than the troops. The chamber dissolved itself and named seven commissioners to adjust the peace terms that would be worked out on February 10, 1878.

These few lines cannot contain the contradictory feelings of those men who through so many years fighting for independence, at the end, didn’t get it. I wouldn’t dare to use the term zanjoneros as a synonym for traitors as has been done in recent political propaganda.

Antonio Maceo had achieved important victories against Spanish convoys in the eastern region during the month of January, and in that same month the Chamber of Camagüey promoted him to Major General. His unit having nothing to do with the uprising of Santa Rita, and with high morale, the Pact of Zanjón, ending the war, surprised him. Máximo Gómez visited him on February 18th to say goodbye and left him with the situation in Camagüey and the Center. On the 21st, Maceo asked Martínez Campos for a suspension of hostilities for four months to consult his leaders and to let the Spanish general understand the benefits of a peace without independence, and they agreed to meet on March 15th.

The Protest of Baraguá is one of the best known episodes of the Ten Years’ War, all Cuban children can repeat the verse of the corojo roto; but not many know what happened after the historic protest. That very same night in the rebel encampment, the continuation of hostilities was declared, with Vicente García as General-in-Chief and Maceo in command of Oriente. The attitude of the Spanish troops, who responded to rebel fire with cheers, sowed confusion in the unit. Meanwhile, Martínez Campos was preparing a formidable force with which to pounce on Oriente. The attitude of the Spanish troops was of absolute respect and chivalry. Isolated and bloody fighting broke out, but Maceo didn’t return to fight. The representatives who emigrated had surrendered, no help materialized from abroad, and the situation threatened to strangle the independentistas with the Spanish offensive on one side and the lack of resources on the other. It was necessary to salvage what was possible, and Maceo obeyed the decision of the Government to flee to Jamaica. It was his plan to reorganize the fight, but after his experience in Jamaica, he wrote from New York to the Government begging it to avoid useless sacrifices. The war officially ended barely two months following Baraguá.

Differently from Gómez and from Maceo, Vicente García demanded a quantity of gold from the Spanish authorities for his surrender and payment in the same manner for his ranch with 150 heads of horses. The decision to endow each province with its patriot turned him into the hero of Las Tunas. In real history, his worst indiscretions are treated with delicacy, being as he is one of the principals responsible for the regionalism and caudillismo that lost the war.

Other less-well known mambises, like Limbano Sánchez and Ramón Leocadio Bonachea didn’t accept the end of the war and continued fighting until later incorporating themselves into the Little War.

March 16 2011

A “Visit” to TeleSur / Fernando Dámaso

Some friends, knowing my interest in the news, repeatedly recommended that I watch TeleSur, a recap aired daily at night on Cuban Television’s Education Channel 2. They told me it was better than the National News (something not very hard to achieve), offering a lot of images, and that the commentators could be ignored by pressing the mute button. Compelled, but not convinced, knowing where the program comes from, I decided to make the sacrifice, turning myself into a TV viewer for several days.

I have to confess that the first thing I found shocking was the absurd slogan: Our North is the South. I think that the North is the North and the South is the South, just like the East is the East and the West is the West. These word games are just games with words and nothing more, but to continue the game, we could also say that we are so disoriented, that the North is wrong. Then there’s another slogan: A Look at the South. This look is quite narrow and manipulated, a function of an ideological position that, I consider, is not shared by all our neighbors to the South.

When they present images of protests, demonstrations, and so on, they never occur in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua (the main supporters of TeleSur), but rather in the remaining countries. The same thing happens when students go on hunger strikes, demanding respect for their human rights, or the indigenous throw themselves into the streets and plazas. However, the officials acts and events of the above mentioned counties are presented as propaganda without the least shame. In short, like here, they show images only from one side of the coin.

With regards to the comments of the presenters and guests, although my friends recommend muting them by pressing the little button, I decided on the self-sacrifice of listening to some. Following the approved script to the letter, using the most stereotypical phrases of Third World slang repeated for endless years now, trying to convince us of how good we of the South are and how bad those of the North are, an anachronistic scheme in black and white. The guests, undoubtedly well-chosen, answer everything with the same ideological line when analyzing events and situations. I will not refer to the stellar section, the so-called Dossier, because it is repulsive with his theatrical and pedantic presenter, with his pirate patch, maps, retracting pointer and military salute on retiring, who cannot hide whom he really serves.

On offering of news of the developed world (the North according to the program outline), they only show protests, demonstrations, strikes, violent acts, political and economic crises and so on, as if they want to convince the viewers that these are the only things that happen in those countries and that there are no political, economic, social, artistic, scientific or other achievements. They try, now, to hide the other side of the coin.

I must add that, in the case of my country, this program, that is already censored as it is produced, is censored again here, cutting out anything that might be upsetting for national consumption. A simple example: In the section dedicated to sports they eliminate the references to baseball and professional boxing, prohibited information in these parts, although the first is the national sport par excellence and the second enjoys great popularity. In short, after sacrificing several days watching TeleSur, I’m convinced that I don’t have a masochistic spirit and, just as I eliminated the national news from my schedule some years ago, I will not include TeleSur. I will continue to nourish myself on news from other channels, where they do not want to influence either my thinking or my opinions.

March 18 2011

My Comments in La Joven Cuba / Regina Coyula

Recently visiting a blog that is administered from the University of Matanzas, I was interested in the experience because although we view reality from different angles, with respectful language and arguments, we could build much needed space for debate, that debate much-needed in Cuban society. As my readers know, I almost always write short and light pieces, but the boys of Matanzas make me change my tone at times, and extend myself a little more, so I thought I would begin to put these interventions here. Someone asked me why I would advertise a blog that would not do the same for me. Good point, I said, but the difference is very important to me, I can talk about them without having to undertake any consultation. These comments appear under the name LML (La Mala Letra) in LJC (Young Cuba).

To Roberto Peralo and other forum members:

I read with close attention the post “Freedom of the Press: A Utopia,” and although I’m coming to this late, there are some things I would like to say. I conceive of Freedom of the Press as Freedom of the Reader to choose how and with what to report, understanding that the press media will always reflect the views of position of its owner or author. As Cubans we do not have these options.

The article is long and confuses Freedom of the Press with the intent to undermine order within the country with the help of a foreign government. I wonder if Peralo sincerely believes that the Ladies in White march for money from the Empire, if he has a figure that covers the scorn to which these women have been subjected. I would also like to know if he is one of those who affirms that in order to be a critic of the government one must be paid and have no ethics.

I have come to this forum knowing that we do not think alike but, sharing a common concern, we cannot try to convince each other without establishing spaces for understanding, which now are virtual, but which should become spaces in real life. I would like to think that his opinion about Cuban media is as sharp as that which he lays out in the article about foreign media. The evils of the world should not serve as a consolation to us, because we will always find someone worse.

March 19 2011

A Frowned-Upon Character / Fernando Dámaso

In my country a moneylender was called “the brakeman,” due to the high interest charged on borrowed money, which multiplied if the loan is not repaid without the agreed-upon time frame. Also, in extreme cases, physical violence was brought to bear on the defaulters. He was a person frowned-upon by decent citizens, who tried not to have need of his services.

When the State became the brakeman of the citizens, the situation became more complicated and terrible because of the legal helplessness they find themselves in, tied hand and foot. Let’s look at an example, among many, that illustrates this reality.

If you, by chance, are invited to travel abroad by a family member or friend, they will have to pay the government, in freely convertible money (CUC) or hard currency, 250 CUC (hard currency) for the Letter of Invitation. You will have pay 55 CUC for your passport; 150 CUC as a Travel Tax (the well-known Permission to Leave or “White Card”); take out Travel Insurance, for 2.50 CUC for every day abroad, without the right to cancel it if you cut short your trip.

In addition, after thirty days established in your travel permit, if you want to stay longer, you have to pay to corresponding Cuban Consulate 2.50 CUC (equivalent in foreign currency). At the airport there is a 25 CUC TAX to leave. On returning, they weigh all your luggage and everything you brought and you pay whatever exceeds the authorized weight in National Money (Cuban pesos), as well as the value of anything you acquired, also in National Money, based on an inspection of the same by Customs.

If you are one of the citizens who enjoys a PRE (Permanent Residence in the Exterior) or simply an emigrant, the situation is complicated: to leave, in addition to what every citizen has to pay, you must pay 400 CUC for a medical check-up, independently of what you have to have and pay for from the Consulate of the receiving country. When you renew your passport abroad, this costs 450 CUC (or equivalent in hard currency) to the Cuban Consulate, and when you visit your own country, just like all other citizens on returning, you have to pay more than 100 CUC (hard currency) as Medical Insurance, even though you already have medical insurance where you live.

If you add all these expenses, as required by the State to travel or return, the character of the moneylender, in comparison, seems like pitiful little angel. What would be just for the State to do, instead of bleeding its citizens and creating an ordeal for them, would be to worry about giving them facilities and treating them respectfully. Unfortunately it is not that way, and those who travel and return, or who live abroad and come to visit, are seen only as an easy source for obtaining financial resources.

March 17 2011

Let Justice Be Done / Yamil Domínguez

Written by: Wilfredo Vallín Almeida

The case opened one afternoon, when two women, one, the wife and the other who turned out to be the sister, of the Cuban living in Florida detained for many months for the crime of trafficking in persons, came to see me in my house.

The crime is one of individuals who, for payment, devote themselves to carrying people at time in good boats and other times not so good, to the United States or other places.

In the Cuban Penal Code it can be read in article 348.1:

He who penetrates the national territory utilizing a boat or airplane or other method of transport with the purpose of effecting the illegal exit of people, incurs a penalty of imprisonment of ten to twenty years.

Based on this, initially it seemed to me one of those cases that we of the Cuban Legal Association are accustomed to rejecting, being that the sanction applied conformed to that established by law and the correct process followed by the authorities.

This, however, was the case the ladies who came to see me presented, according to whom their relative had been (and was being) subjected to a grave injustice.

I listened to my interlocutors and asked them, if they had it, to show me the sentence which they did immediately. As I read I began to change my first impression and by the end I was convinced that what had happened to Yamil Domínguez Ramos was not clear at all.

In an article under the title “It is proved that…” I presented my complete conviction that against this young man, born in Cuba but a United States citizen, nothing had been proved and I decided to help his family. this began a true legal and civic struggle of Cuban civil society in support of a compatriot who needed it.

Soon the blog Notorious Injustice appeared, where the family published everything the family believed would shed light on the truth of this case and of the arbitrariness with which it had been handled from the procedural and ethical viewpoint.

As if all that were not enough, and when it seemed that all hope was lost, Yamil resorted to a desperate course only undertaken when one is completely convinced of the his reasons: a hunger strike that lasted more than one hundred days… and that led him to be hospitalized with his life at risk.

So many people showed their concern for and solidarity with this young victim of process that was… a notorious injustice.

Ina culminating moment of this story, the first vice minister of justice issued a letter which pointed out the irregularities of the proceedings against Yamil Dominguez, saying that the events presented by the trial court did not demonstrate the young prisoner’s guilt.

We recognized this gesture of the first vice minister in a publication entitled, “Honor to Whom Honor is Due.”

Nevertheless, Yamil had to go to a second hunger strike before the blind intransigence that would not admit that he was innocent of what he had been illegally been charged with WITHOUT PROOF THAT…

I had a chance to visit him in prison twice. In both cases I could not help but be reminded on entering the Combinado del Este prison of that famous phrase from Dante: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here…”

But another phrase also came to mind, this time from the Master: “We all carry in our hearts a hope that never dies.”

Just now I arrived home and my wife greeted me with a radiant smile, telling me she had just heard from Yamil… from his house, with his family… already free.

So congratulations to Yamil, Inés María, Aya, Marleny and to the bloggers, to Julio Alfredo and all who made possible that, in the end, justice was done.

March 14 2011

Only One Face on the Coin / Rebeca Monzo

On my planet, if something has been very efficient and consistent, information about it is manipulated all the time, bringing us only one aspect of it. But ultimately by introducing another news source, Telesur, the population has been very impressed by the new format, which departs enough from that which we are accustomed to, leaving us dazzled by it.

New scenes, new presentations, elegance in its commentators, more images, in short, everything that has hooked viewers. But if you look closely, you’ll see it is more of the same. The information provided is biased, the speakers seem to take sides in news content, and voice-overs are substituted for reporters on site, who are rarely heard, as these are replaced in the studio.

Also its slogan gives us a lot to think about. Our North is the South. No friend, north is north and south is south. Or is it that you also want me to change the cardinal positions? Have they perhaps that lost their compass? In short, you may walk around the thing.

Another small matter that bothers me is that presentations of the sports section, with regards to baseball they never talk about it at all. However, about football, which is also a professional sport but with no tradition on our planet, they give a great deal of information. Amen to the comments of the gentleman newscaster who looks like a pirate in a modern suit, who presents the major part of this news and when he salutes he does it military-style. I respect that the majority of people who say they enjoy it, but as far as I’m concerned, I’d like to see both sides of the coin.

March 17 2011

From TV to the Web: The Pathway of Revolutions / Regina Coyula

Regina Coyula, 17 March 2011 — Half a century ago, Fidel Castro made a Revolution that was known throughout the world thanks to the technology of his time. From the television studios he opined, harangued, called a general strike, lashed out at his enemies and consolidated his power with popular support. If the reach of his words was greater, it was thanks to television.

In the world today, any citizen, thanks to Web 2.0, can opine, harangue her enemies and call for a general strike. Her message achieves a reach on electromagnetic waves never dreamed of. All of it from her bedroom. All she needs is an idea and a connection.

The Cuban government reacted late to the virtual space everyone was latching onto, where contents add or subtract readers without media manipulation being able to influence it. Reacted late and badly. They directed their communicators to open personal spaces that became variations of the written press, where the obligation to comply with a directive is often seen.

These recent television efforts from the series “Cuba’s Reasons,” are trying to condition national public opinion to find that the “unauthorized” use of modern information technology involves an unhealthy social order, with the strings being pulled by forces from the north. They seem to be efforts hastily completed in the heat of the events of the Arab world.

These serials also justify the need to rein in the wild colt of the Internet, justify the limitations that will be placed on the fast fiber optic cable, justify the punishment imposed on violators of the telecommunications law. So many resources to not allow openings for dissent. They do not even want to coexist with a peaceful opposition that will be allowed no right to reply, let alone to enter the debate. That’s not the reaction of a secure government that enjoys the sincere support of its citizens.

March 17 2011

At the Feet of the Virgin / Francis Sánchez

Photos: Francis Sánchez.

The image of Mary, mother of Christ, which today makes a pilgrimage through the entire country announcing the message of the God’s love for man, came to the province of Ciego de Avila this Sunday, March 13, when it entered the town of Cunagua.

With the national tour of the Patroness of Cuba, the Cuban church celebrated the 400th anniversary of the discovery, in the Bay of Nipe, of the blessed image of the Virgin of Charity which has been venerated ever since in El Cobre.

So she returns to Cunagua, she who is also known as Virgin Mambisa, because of what happened here in 1952, then to mark the anniversary of the Republic. So this time, at the entrance of the village, a woman’s voice through the speakers recalled that event, citing the chronicles that were published over half a century ago:

“Procession circled the center at eight at night praying the rosary, confessions until two in the morning and a Communion Mass with 201 communicants. It had been in central Camaguey the most enthusiasm, generosity and charity. “

Now, perhaps with no less enthusiasm and hope, the streets of the town in the north of Ciego de Avila province are filled again with devotion. From very early in the day excited residents gathered on both sides of the road.

The first Catholic communities from the rest of the province arrived in a convoy of cars, trucks and buses, and soon after the image of Our Lady arrived, escorted spontaneously by people all around her riding bicycles. Monsignor Mario Mestril, bishop of the diocese, said a few words to the crowd before the procession to the local temple where he was to celebrate Holy Mass in a warm atmosphere.

At the time of offering peace, the bishop made an exception in view of the significance of this day and didn’t skip, as is customary for Lent, inviting the community to exchange greetings. So I had the opportunity to wish the peace of Christ to those who were around me, including that large gentleman with the tight expression flanking me, who perhaps did not understand what it was and who, in response to my sincere attention, subsequently withdrew. Two days earlier, the most recent time I had been in contact, for just a second, with strangers, I had been robbed of my phone while boarding a bus, in an operation so professional that I was left in shock. For me, therefore, it was also a simple experience of overcoming fear, a cure or therapy of love for survivors that the Christian faith has always carried forward.

We share a day overflowing with signs. Faith in Christ the King is alive and, through the intercession of Mary, 400 years after the happy discovery on the waters of the Bay of Nipe, she walks the streets of Cuba.

March 17 2011

The Province of Mayabeque / Miguel Iturria Savón

In 1977, on applying the political-administrative division that increased the provinces of the country to fourteen, the capital was divided into two: Havana City, with 15 municipalities, and Havana, with 19 — two of which came from Pinar del Rio — and which was then subtracted from to create Artemis and Mariel. Thirty-three years later, instead of returning to the old six provinces and adjust the bureaucratic octopus to the socioeconomic involution of the island, someone decided to multiply again.

The national territory is the same, but as of January 2011 we have 15 instead of 14 provinces, plus the Isle of Youth, as special municipality. The increase is due to the division into two provinces of Havana: Artemis and Mayabeque. The City of Havana returns to Havana, a reduced Havana and its two twin daughters, the first of which we have added three municipalities of Pinar del Rio: Bahia Honda, Candelaria and San Cristobal.

Since almost nobody understands the reason for the bureaucratic and political realignment that increases the number of functionaries and changes people’s hometowns and local boundaries, the official press reports alleged massive adherents, speaks of “geographical consistency,” “material consensus,” the “strong agricultural economy,” theexpectations of improvements in transport and supplies and “identity in motion.” In the case of Mayabeque, it is centered around the river basin which gives it its aboriginal name, whose waters flow through seven towns, from Catalina de Guines to the Gulf of Batabano.

Mayabeque province’s is made up of 11 municipalities with San Jose de las Lajas at the head, which borders the capital as do Bejucal, Jaruco and Santa Cruz del Norte, and Madruga, Quivican Batabano, Melena del Sur, Guines, San Nicholas and Nueva Paz.

The urban centers of each municipality are based in rural and local culture, some with urban pretensions. They are people-islands, surrounded by plains looking into and within Havana as a reference point. They barely have buildable contacts among themselves and lack an articulated system of transport system, although several are crossed by the main road, the national highway or rail links. The greatest economic and cultural role was that of Guines, connected to the capital by rail since 1938, and now relegated San Jose de las Lajas.

Due to its proximity to the main city, San José de las Lajas benefited from industries and agricultural research. It is a small city with only seventy-four thousand inhabitants, without colonial buildings or neoclassical architecture. It differs from Guines and other towns of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the absence of central park with a church, town hall, theater, etc. It is crossed by the Central Road and the train to Havana — Guines, in crisis for decades.

Except for the fiesta in Bejucel Village — el Parrandas de Bejucal — the Feast of Santa Barbara in Guines, the Mollete Melena del Sur, and the songs repentist poets celebrating the river and the livestock and agricultural traditions of the Havana-Matanzas plane, in the province of Mayabecque the cultural identity awaits the future, as do expectations for development and the dreams of the majority of its overwhelmed people.

Imagine the uprooting of thousands of people on that first of January 2011 as they learned that they are no longer in Havana.

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February 27 2011

Call to Sign the Modification of the Electoral Law / Silvio Benítez Márquez

In late January of this year, 2011, we launched an initiative to modify the Cuban Electoral Law, in particular Article 171 that limits the parameters voters may consider to determine for which candidate to cast their vote, as well as four more articles to make the principal modification coherent.

At the suggestion of many citizens who have become aware of the initiative and after having collected and introduced the proposed corrections, we invite all Cubans interested in supporting this idea, to sign it, with the aim of channeling it as a formal proposal to the relevant institutions .

The signature collection process began on March 14 and runs through September 30 of this year. Those interested will accompany their signatures with their full names, municipality of residence and identity card number.

*Silvio Benítez Márquez
Promotor of the Voices of the Neighborhood Project

March 16 2011

For How Long? / Rebeca Monzo

A friend who lives outside my world called to ask the question we’ve all been asking almost daily: How long do you think this is going to last? I answered: Unfortunately, this is like church marriages: ’till death do us part.

What could I wish for more than for the end to arrive right now. I don’t have a lot of time left and I have lost lots, perhaps the most important time in the life of any human being. But I try not get my hopes high up. As a nation we have allowed many things to be taken from us, among them, the most important ones: our dignity and our civility. There is induced fear that has driven most to accept without public argument the unfair and extreme measures imposed on us. This, together with the daily hardships to which we are subjected due to the lack of money, food, etc., has prevented people from thinking that by the simple fact of doing nothing against, but also nothing in favor, it would likely be enough

The censorship imposed and to which we are all subjected isn’t enough; most people self-censor themselves creating a sort of civic paralysis that corrodes us inside. We are sucked into our daily hardships. If we add to this the lack of communications with the outside world, the lack of short wave radios, the extremely expensive international phone service, the almost impossible access to the Internet, we are basically isolated. On the other hand, the information we get about the earthquake in Japan and its consequences, the brutal repression of the Libyan dictator against protesters, etcetera, etcetera, we feel selfish for thinking about our day-to-day. Even so, we keep asking the same question: for how long.

Translated by Jay Stgo

March 18 2011

Gadaffi in Castro’s Rearview Mirror / Iván García

Dictators are a unique family no matter how you label them. They can be populist, authoritarian, fascist, totalitarian or Marxist. And almost always the sum of all these classifications.

Most autocrats enter through the back door in societies that are not working, crippled by corruption and serious economic crisis. They can promise work, bread, butter and living space, as well as auto austerity for all German families. This was the case of Adolf Hitler, the greatest and finest example of a paranoid tyrant.

The Jackal of Uganda, Idi Amin used to eat human flesh. Stalin felt a compulsion to kill human beings by the millions. In Haiti, Duvalier Jr. collected Ferrari cars, while his private army slaughtered opponents with machetes. Now the disgraceful Haitian dictator wants to return to politics. Such things happen.

In Argentina, for the military dictatorship it was a hobby to throw people alive from helicopters. Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Franco in Spain or Ceausescu in Romania, as if they were vampires, were fond of human blood.

In Cuba, Fidel Castro did not pull the trigger as hastily as his rivals from other places, but with his capital blunders, he destroyed the continent’s second economy, like breeding dwarf cows to produce large quantities of milk. Not counting that he brought the island and the world to the brink of nuclear war in 1962 nor his subsequent war games in Africa.

But the champion of the dictators is the Libyan Muammar el Gadaffi. He is the classic perverse and eccentric character. Everyone knows his hobbies. The same one who planted a tent in Manhattan, accompanied by 200 virgin bodyguards, sent a message by radio to his agents in Europe to blow up a civilian airliner full of passengers in mid-flight.

It’s disgusting to have relations with sinister people. I am ashamed that my country is anxious to defend Gadaffi. I do not understand how Castro condemns terrorists like Luis Posada Carriles, and defends the corrupt, murdering and peripatetic Libyan sitting on a balcony with his trusty green book.

There is no justification for being friends with such characters. Tyrants tend to behave as a clan. They defend each other. When Castro looks in the rearview mirror he sees with distress that the Bedouin could have his days numbered. Perhaps out of sheer survival instinct he defends him. Chavez and other apprentice caudillos should also condemn him.

Western democracies deserve their share of the blame. After the madman of Tripoli decided to save millions in Swiss and European banks and put aside the C-4 and terror, the heads of modern and civilised states raced to flatter him and give him a chance.

A part of the ills afflicting the planet today is attributable to the lukewarm and indecisive Democrats. For a while now Gadaffi should have been sitting on the bench of an international tribunal. Now they are paying the consequences.

Translated by: Araby

March 16 2011

To Do Nothing / Miriam Celaya

Pursuant to the uprisings that have taken place in countries of North Africa and the Persian Gulf, many views seem to converge in Cuba. The recurring question, “why don’t Cubans rebel?” leaps out in every conversation with journalists or foreign friends, while among many Cubans living outside the Island a cyber-rebellion seems to have become the most promising hope. Few manage to explain how the formula applied in that region would not work for Cuba, simplifying the whole phenomenon in an equation as basic as it is fictitious: dictatorial government + social networks + popular discontent = mass uprising; all of which would imply, by itself, freedom and the miraculous advent of democracy.

It would be enough to look, for the second time, at the proposal in order to identify some shortcomings. Let’s say that the squalor of our social networks throws the equation out of balance. In that case, to achieve results we would have to multiply the components by the civic will of the Cuban people. Obviously, the math does not relate to human societies.

The opportunity for freedom released in the Maghreb, on the other hand, has become, for many Cuban exiles, the source that powers the new apple of discord when the most radical positions are put in the spotlight, spurring anger and insults that prevent rationalization of the facts. Once again, the proverbial inability of the Creoles to disagree without offending one another is evident: one of the main causes of our eternal failures. Those who consider improbable the success of an immediate uprising in Cuba, organized via Facebook or Twitter, are classified as “pessimistic”, and even as “Castro agents”. Those labeled as “optimists” are the ones who believe strongly in the end of the dictatorship, delivered through the powerful magic of bytes.

What is undeniable, however, is that a significant sector of Cubans of all parties agrees on the imperative need for change in our country. The debate should be directed at this elemental consensus.

Why not in Cuba?

It is a fact that — beyond technology, the effectiveness or failure of its scope, and our desire to get rid of a dictatorship that spans over half a century — people drive the changes, so that we cannot bet on a plot while ignoring the actors. History does not respond to coincidences, nor do transitions take place outside the realities of the scenarios they roam. The events that cause radical sociopolitical transformations tend to not have the spontaneity that is sometimes attributed to them either. Revolutions are preceded by multiple factors in which social actors of change are cardinal pieces. The history, culture, traditions, the idiosyncrasies of the people are elements that play major roles in the processes of transformation, so that events cannot be moved tritely from one region to another hoping that they will have the same effect.

About the controversial announcement launched at the meager Cuban social networks for a “peaceful” uprising in the Island, played out mostly by young people who would congregate at a particular point in the capital on February 21st, much has been speculated. When this article sees the light of day, that date will have passed, and the uprising –- should it have taken place — will also be a thing of the past. The cyber-debates that have preceded the events, however, will be valid for a longer period because they have been useful in having us face the possibility, not immediate, but very logical, of a process of change in Cuba, to measure the real potential of those transformations, and to ask ourselves how and to what extent we would be able to turn them into reality.

My position on the edict in question has been skeptical, which some have labeled as “pessimistic” or having lack of drive. It is neither one nor the other. I just happen to prefer battles where there are better chances for success. If, in response to the much discussed call to the uprising, the miracle of a concentration of at least 200 individuals in Cuba (of course, not including in that number the political police and the inevitable “indignant people”) should take place, I would be the first to acknowledge my error. However, I don’t believe in immediate nor improvised acts to solve the secular evils of Cuba. The damage the nation has suffered has been so colossal that an emergency freedom would be insufficient to strengthen the civil rights. The most risky and uncertain thing on the Island today would be a revolt –- a peaceful one, ideally — which would be followed by…what? an intervention? an interim governing junta? made up of whom? negotiations with the army? Once again, we are facing an imagined situation whose course nobody seems to know. The proposals for an uprising have not come hand-in-hand with that other additional, but necessary, plan for social order to follow the uprising, once the overthrow of the regime is achieved. It does not seem serious to me.

But my lack of faith — dictated by common sense and knowledge of my daily life here — has not prevented me from continuing to meditate on the subject, so, trying to find a balance between the extreme positions, it occurs to me to ask the question in reverse. The point would not be, then, to clarify why there has not been an uprising in Cuba. For me, it is a fact that, if all the conditions for the rebellion existed, it would not be necessary to even go to the social networks: it would be sufficient for each young person or each discontented Cuban to personally convene their most trusted friends and family to share their dissatisfaction with the status quo and orchestrate, together, a demonstration banging their saucepans as a sign of protest. Why not do it? After all, human societies have staged uprisings throughout time, with or without technology. In this case, a better question could perhaps be if it would be necessary to gather the few Cubans with access to some social network for a demonstration in a country where –- it’s no big secret — the regime controls both the army and the enforcement entities, and maintains a monopoly over the media so, consequently, the event could unleash a wave of violence that would not benefit anyone.

Adapting ourselves to the Island’s reality, as many Cubans have suggested already, it would be more effective to appeal to the effectiveness of the resistance through the non-demonstration. A regular reader of the blog I manage (SinEVAsión) called to this through a phrase sui generis: in Cuba “what has to be done is to do nothing”; that is, to not do CDR guard duty, to not attend meetings, to not attend rendering of accounts, the elections, the official marches, etc. etc. What would be the cost of this passive rebellion? None, if we follow the law; minimum, compared with the signal we would be broadcasting to other Cubans, to the government, and to the world.

To this “doing-nothing” we could add an almost infinite list of uprisings of the most varied nature and nuances. Let’s take, for example, that the young people who are willing to “demonstrate” in this manner would choose not to attend official concerts set up on the university steps or on the “protestdrome” or would not to attend, during their vacation, the so-called University Labor Brigades; or, if they simply dress in black clothing on February 23rd in memory of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a dignified Cuban who, by dying in prison as the result of a hunger strike in defense of his rights –- and ours — triggered the dignity of many, and unleashed a whole series of events that forced the government to initiate the process of freeing the political prisoners. It would be an effective way to put our usual inaction at the service of freedom and rights; making use of what, up to now, has been a hindrance. What would someone in those circumstances be charged with?

The so-called “double standard” of Cubans attending a CDR meeting or marching while secretly preparing a floating contraption with which they will cast themselves onto the uncertain and dangerous waters of the Florida Straits, or those who just pretend to approve of the system and comply with the rules of the game imposed by the regime to maintain their meager wages or some ridiculous perk, is one of the most efficient weapons the government uses to maintain subjected the people’s will. Wouldn’t it be better to be consistent with our feelings of dissatisfaction and attack the evil at its own roots?

The Internet, the social networks, the new technology as a whole are undoubtedly a powerful tool. This is an assertion so real you could say that in recent years none of the battles for human rights on the Island would have been possible without the use of these technologies. They have allowed us to project ourselves into the world, break the impunity of the government and its repressive forces, and place in the public eye many of the hitherto hidden stains of the dictatorship. However, technology alone can’t bring democracy and rights. Before it can, it’s necessary to instill in people the will power to change.

Perhaps a good call would be one that will have us break the historical curse, once and for all, to have the tendency of becoming “the last” instead of wanting to always seem like “the first” in everything. Yesterday, we were the last ones to shake off the colonial yoke and — after many ups and downs and good, but truncated intentions — we seem destined to be the last to get rid of a dictatorship that lingers until the absurd. We may also try a call to definitively banish from us the messianic spirit that overruns us, the apathy, the resentments that gnaw at us, the passions that divide us, the distrust that they have sown in us, the inability to discern a future without chiefs, the cowardice. When these calls get here, from anywhere and by any means, count me in.

Translated by Norma Whiting

(Article originally published in Issue 6 of Voices digital magazine, February 25th, 2011)

March 14, 2011

Me and the Soap Opera / Claudia Cadelo

Photo: Claudio Fuentes Madan

When a state decides to aim all its weapons at a citizen there is little he can do about it. Without access to the mass media, in a country with low Internet connectivity, with arbitrary laws against freedom of expression and with the impunity to defame, distort, lie and lay waste on national television to those who think differently, the possible victims’ options are limited.

On Monday it fell to Dagoberto Valdés, director of Coexistence magazine and also one of the brilliant minds of our battered civil society. Who’s next? No one knows. Only when we see our faces discredited in trashy images on the program “Cuba’s Reasons,” will we learn whether or not we are actors in this drama.

I live on a confused island. There is nothing better than misinformation to sow confusion. So last week I was a bit upset: between the commentators on my blog who accuse me of being State Security, and State Security who accuses me of being a “rabid counterrevolutionary” — the exact words said in an interrogation of a friend — and the uncertainty of seeing myself on television, I was about to lose my cool. A luxury, of course, that I can’t afford because I have to take this, as the refrain says, “like a good sport.”

The era of the Serpas and Fontes is over for me. I don’t care who is and who isn’t State Security. I don’t care one whit what they put on TV. It makes no never mind to me if I’m sitting on the grass of G Street, or panic-stricken in a repudiation rally. I’ve hung up my gloves, I’ve said enough, this is as far as I go. I continue free in my blog, writing to be happy, to be grounded, and to dream of a new Cuba because, in any event, they’re already in retreat.