14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 31 August 2024 — In Cuba there is no more money, even for Martí. It is true that the cult of the man Cubans call ’the Apostle’ in his land always had something of alms, and there was no tribute – from the Civic Square to Martí Notebooks – that did not require passing the hat to the battered popular pocket. But Castroism, or this limbo without a label that came later, always has had its own imprint on misery.
No one forgets the famous 28 volumes of Complete Works with a prologue by Juan Marinello that, in some Cuban houses of worship, still accumulate dust. It was even said that there was a volume 29, the prophetic volume, censored for talking about Fidel, communism, computer science, reorganization and other futuristic subjects. Less memorable – for how little it lasted in bookstores – are the critical editions that, if we pay attention to what the professional martyrologist Marlene Vázquez says, will remain eternally incomplete.
With prose in the style of Martí, the imitation of Martí is always an apostolic parody – Vázquez says that “at the moment, the directors of the Center for Studies on Martí is looking for sources of financing for the printing of volumes 30, 31 and 32, now finished.” And he promises that, “as usual, those who contribute will be recognized on the credits page of the corresponding volume.”
It was even said that there was a volume 29, the prophetic volume, censored for talking about Fidel, communism, computer science, reorganization and other futuristic subjects
Vázquez does not say if he expects dollars, euros or the humble pesos with the face of the Apostle. He limits himself to reminding the Government of the propaganda service they could offer: “In the present, in the midst of the loss of values that we are experiencing, and willing to win it by ideas, that great work is very useful.” This sample of the art of seduction appeared in Cubadebate, but any Cuban knows that it won’t come to anything, much less so in dollars.
In the antipodes of the mendicant Center for Martí Studies is the Havana Historian’s Office. This is demonstrated by the resurrection, after years of lethargy, of Ediciones Boloña, one of the projects that the current deputy director, Perla Rosales, most quickly dismantled, after the death of Historian Eusebio Leal. Reinvented and with money, Bologna publishes in an expensive volume the classic, “La Habana. Apuntes históricos (Historical Notes),” by Emilio Roig.
The presentation was attended by Rosales and the entire general staff – the military metaphor is not exaggerated – of the Office. The “Notes” of Roig, the old republican historian whom Castroism did everything possible to forget, had not been published since the 1960s.
On the decline, the publication of Cuban books in exile also seems to be on a lethargic holiday – it happened in January, with almost no titles and very few that were outstanding. The bad streak broke with a book of drawings and notes, “Cartografía Personal (Personal Cartography),” by Jorge Pantoja. The artist, born in Havana, composes the book that every Cuban should be making: an anthology of his school notebooks, correspondence with his mother and doodles.
The publication of Cuban books in exile also seems to be on a lethargic holiday
Personal cartography is a return to Pantoja’s childhood brought to light, the chronicle of the birth of his imagination. It raises the tension between feeling and doctrine, the precocious and the unknown, the rigid and the adventurous. In the end, the trajectory described is the foundation of his own experience as a creator, which is found in those remote notes.
The return to mythology – one of his favorite themes – defines Roberto Méndez’s new book of poems, “Descenso de Alcestes” (The Descent of Alcistis), (Casa Vacía). With a whole arsenal of books in tow, Méndez now summons Hercules and Orpheus, who traveled to hell and returned, and Mozart, who faced death but did not return.
The ones who do not rest – the real cartoonist never does – are the cartoonists of Mazzantini.* The “magazine of bulls, goats and horns, genetic or hybridized” has had a lot of work since Nicolás Maduro refused to leave Miraflores on July 28. The cover of number 52 shows the dictator’s floating head in a dystopian museum of old tyrants. Puzzled, Maduro is Castro’s neighbor, who looks at him crosseyed.
The metamorphosis of the Grand Master Mason Mario Urquía Carreño into a major of the Ministry of the Interior, the stampede of leaders, the blunders of Cuban Television and the pranks of State Security complete the edition. And at the end, a quote from Manuel Marrero that could well be the government’s response to Marlene Vázquez’s request for money: “We never promise our people,” says the chubby prime minister, “what we know we won’t be able to give.”
*Translator’s note: Mazzantini was a bullfighter, considered “muy guapo,” which means he was very courageous, like the subversive cartoonists of the magazine.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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