Restriction of Movement / Luis Felipe Rojas

Photo: Luis Felipe Rojas

I am sure that any Cuban would give a fortune to find out the name of the general from the Ministry of the Interior who gives orders to sign the Exit Permits, or the “White Cards,” as these documents which determine whether Cuban citizens can leave their country are popularly known. I would give more than what I have to know the exact names and inclinations of those who restrict movement for hundreds of Cubans within the national territory.

Since I have fruitlessly looked over those paragraphs within the Penal Code and the Constitution which prohibit me from entering Caimanera, Banes, or Placetas, I turn to my readers. If any of you have information about this, you are more than welcome to let me know through this blog. The absence of Guillermo Farinas in Strasbourg and of Yoani Sanchez in Sweden were reported with all the force of the media and communication sector of the digital era. I dream of the day when permits for entering any town will just be an obsolete ruse.

Why can’t Roberto Bartelemi Cobas and Yoandris Montoya Aviles visit Banes, home of the poet Gaston Baquero and the musician Juan Blanco? Who impedes Marta Diaz Rondon from going from Banes to Santa Clara (the city of Marta Abreu)? Under which decree should the son of Raudel Avila Losada, of Palma Soriano, present a safe-conduct in order to spend the night in the house of Caridad Caballero Batista in Holguin? These are only some routes of internal prohibition.

The process of deporting Eastern natives living in Havana back to their hometowns has been more than denounced. However, each week the security check points send back those who go from Contramaestre to Jobabo in Las Tunas, or from Moa to Banes in Holguin. But does this happen to all Cubans? No, it only happens to some dissidents who are singled out by their high levels of civil disobedience. Sometimes we are shocked as we read accounts of deportations described on major media outlets, yet we don’t have the time to look at all the gags which take place nearby us, in the most obvious of places.

January 13 2011