"…Las leyes, lo sabemos, no llegan enseguida a ciertas comarcas recónditas del hombre que deben ser, primero, señoríos naturales de la educación. La prosa de los abogados y el afán de los legisladores es algodón de azúcar cuando trata de instalarse en una sociedad en la que hay una familia fracturada o dispersa. Y una escuela concebida para adoctrinar y fundada en el desprecio de la enseñanza pura".
"De modo que los decretos que le dieron protección contra el racismo a todos los cubanos, en 1959, la papelería enardecida que estableció en dos párrafos la igualdad de la ciudadanía, demuestra, medio siglo después que ha sido peor el remedio que la enfermedad".
"Un estudio realizado por un centro científico del país reveló que los negros cubanos viven en casas peores que las de los blancos, cobran salarios inferiores y reciben menos remesas del extranjero. Según esos expertos, entre un 30% y un 35% tienen ayudas del exterior, mientras que sólo un 5% o un 10% de la población negra puede acceder a las divisas. En los sectores más favorecidos de la economía, como el turismo y las empresas que manejan dólares o euros, las plazas laborales están cubiertas por un 80% de blancos y sólo el 5% de negros".
"Todo esto en una país de un poco más de 11 millones de habitantes en el que, según datos oficiales (que cambian según de donde salgan) el 60% son blancos, el 30% negros y el 10% mestizos. Esas cifras aberrantes, una grotesca colección de chistes racistas y debates dentro y fuera del territorio nacional, muestran que ese es un asunto que no se puede encarar con remiendos de urgencias, ni con las orejeras que usan los políticos para atravesar los bosques de marabú".
"Y están en ese camino. Una nota del periodista Guillermo Fariñas, dice esta semana que fuentes de la Corporación TRD (Tiendas de Recaudación de Divisas) Caribe, confirmaron que se ha orientado a los directivos de la empresa para que contraten a más negros y mestizos (…) Un mandato oportunista, discriminatorio y chapucero. Los matices los da la cultura, la tolerancia, el respeto, el apego a la libertad y el rechazo al totalitarismo. Hay un color cubano".
Raúl Rivero, El Mundo, España
1 de diciembre de 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Entre Negros y sin permiso de nadie II
Personalmente, no he tenido el placer de conocer a Sarduy. Lo conozco solo por referencias y por la Carta abierta al Dr Carlos Moore, cuando al unisono con Lisa Brock puso en la cuneta a Maya Angelou y Alex Hailey. Tremendo boludo, como dicen los che. Y del Che si sabe un mundo el Sr. Sarduy; que hasta poemas le escribe. Sarduy ha pasado los ultimos 30 anos paseando el mundo. Buscando lugares donde pulir un poco mas las botas Castristas.
Carlos por el contrario se ha dedicado a enseñar al mundo la verdad sobre los Gallegos que desgobiernan la Isla de Cuba. Claro que Patterson por guardar la forma no puede expresarse asi. Pero a mi, a mi no me conocen ni en mi casa y puedo decir lo que quiera.
Carlos es uno de mis compatriotas que mas respeto por su dedicacion y su sinceridad. Tiene la longevidad por que lo vio todo con sus propios ojos, conocio al Diablo antes de que fuera Diablo , en persona, al corto.
Soy un observador de los aconteceres, especialmente con lo concerniente a la situacion del Negro en Cuba. Sarduy, Godfried, Alberto Jones, Brock y otros podran decir lo que deseen. Pero otros que como yo no creen el milagro del Mesias Negrero de la Isla, no nos convencemos de sus tonos. Son mis compatriotas y estoy en desacuerdo con respecto a algunas cosas, algo dificiles de cambiar. Al final de la jornada, cuando las verdades se puedan decir y los otros no tengan que esconderse bajo el manto de el patriotismo falso, todo habria valido la pena. Cada cual hace su vida como le parece, defendiendo a unos y tirandole a otros. La verdad delCastrismo y los negros Cubanos no se puede ocultar. La respuesta esta hoy en Jesus Maria, y todos esos barrios marginales de la’bana.
Carlos por el contrario se ha dedicado a enseñar al mundo la verdad sobre los Gallegos que desgobiernan la Isla de Cuba. Claro que Patterson por guardar la forma no puede expresarse asi. Pero a mi, a mi no me conocen ni en mi casa y puedo decir lo que quiera.
Carlos es uno de mis compatriotas que mas respeto por su dedicacion y su sinceridad. Tiene la longevidad por que lo vio todo con sus propios ojos, conocio al Diablo antes de que fuera Diablo , en persona, al corto.
Soy un observador de los aconteceres, especialmente con lo concerniente a la situacion del Negro en Cuba. Sarduy, Godfried, Alberto Jones, Brock y otros podran decir lo que deseen. Pero otros que como yo no creen el milagro del Mesias Negrero de la Isla, no nos convencemos de sus tonos. Son mis compatriotas y estoy en desacuerdo con respecto a algunas cosas, algo dificiles de cambiar. Al final de la jornada, cuando las verdades se puedan decir y los otros no tengan que esconderse bajo el manto de el patriotismo falso, todo habria valido la pena. Cada cual hace su vida como le parece, defendiendo a unos y tirandole a otros. La verdad delCastrismo y los negros Cubanos no se puede ocultar. La respuesta esta hoy en Jesus Maria, y todos esos barrios marginales de la’bana.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Entre Negros y sin permiso de nadie
ENRIQUE PATTERSON: El 'apoliticismo' de los negros cubanos
Acasi siete meses de la muerte del pensador negro cubano Walterio Carbonell, uno de sus discípulos, Carlos Moore --que ya ha hecho escuela propia-- presentó en la recién concluida Feria del Libro de Miami su obra ''Pichón, Race and Revolution in Castro's Cuba (Autobiography)''. La publicación del ensayo de Carbonell ''Crítica: como surgió la cultura nacional'' (1961) inició el derrotero del poco conocido movimiento negro surgido bajo condiciones de la revolución castrista.
El libro de Moore nos introduce en el fresco de esos tiempos de cambio de régimen y el enfoque del nuevo orden ante el problema del racismo y la discriminación racial. Muchos intelectuales y activistas negros como Carbonell y Moore --identificados en aquel momento con la revolución-- no podían comprender ciertas actitudes y acciones como el desmantelamiento de las sociedades negras, únicas instituciones donde los negros podían discutir y proponer soluciones a sus problemas así como elaborar agendas políticas a nivel nacional. Moore y Carbonell estaban viviendo la ejecución calculada de un plan para --por primera vez en la historia del país-- quitarles a los negros la voz independiente y la capacidad de organización que, de mantenerse, podrían convertirse en impedimentos para el establecimiento de un régimen totalitario o en la base de un eventual proceso de democratización.
El libro de Moore nos hace comprender cómo los fundamentos de la no solución del problema racial por parte del régimen cubano actual se anidan en los propios orígenes del proyecto castrista, y en la concepción del mundo que al respecto Castro y sus acólitos comparten con las viejas elites cubanas: el considerar a los negros como insurgentes, participantes o ciudadanos subordinados que no deben tener voz propia ni participar en igualdad de condiciones en la lucha política.
Enfrentarse a esa concepción --confrontando personalmente a Castro-- llevó a Carlos Moore a una saga que va desde los campos de trabajo, la cárcel y un espectacular asilo en la embajada de Guinea en 1963 hasta una permanente persecución e intentos de secuestro por parte de los órganos cubanos de inteligencia alrededor del mundo.
Carbonell, acaso más crédulo, permaneció en el país con la esperanza de tratar de cambiar las cosas desde dentro; como resultado fue conducido a campos de trabajo forzado, a la cárcel y, finalmente, al manicomio, donde se le destruyó síquicamente.
A lo largo del poder revolucionario el castrismo estructuró un seguimiento puntual de los intelectuales negros, impidiendo su desarrollo y repitiendo, en cada generación, la política represiva que usaron para desarticular el movimiento inspirado por Carbonell y Moore en los primeros años de la revolución. Al mismo tiempo, en la propaganda gubernamental el castrismo se presentaba como el gran benefactor que había eliminado la discriminación racial, tratándoles de hacer creer a los negros del patio que --para ellos-- el castrismo era el mejor de los mundos posibles y, a los del exterior, que la eliminación del racismo y la discriminación racial sólo eran posibles en un régimen totalitario que suprimiera todas las libertades y derechos democráticos.
Semejante posición asume que la democracia es un régimen que sólo funciona para los blancos, mientras que el sistema social idóneo para los negros es uno que recree la esclavitud generalizada bajo el mando de un líder blanco e ilustrado. El castrismo silenció a los negros aún más que las viejas elites cubanas, reforzando la actitud de que los negros --en lugar de tener una voz propia-- deben buscarse ''abogados'' --blancos-- que hablen en su nombre.
Por eso no es de extrañar la defensa velada que de las desigualdades raciales existentes en Cuba hace el escritor itinerante Pedro Pérez Sarduy, invitado por el Centro de Investigaciones Cubanas de FIU, según reporta este periódico en su edición del viernes 21 de noviembre. Sarduy, al ser cuestionado sobre la escasa participación de los negros en el quehacer político en Cuba, expresó que ''a los negros no les interesa la política, sino el desarrollo de profesiones y carreras intelectuales mejor consideradas''. Su punto de vista refleja la visión del régimen. Los negros cubanos serían, entonces, los únicos seres humanos que no son ''animales políticos''. Eso explica, como se desprende de otra parte de sus declaraciones, que no se solidarice con Oscar Elías Bisset, que ha tenido el ''atrevimiento'' de confrontar al castrismo en sus áreas más sensibles: los derechos civiles y el monopolio del poder político.
La posición de Sarduy --que por extraña coincidencia aparece en Miami en el momento de la presentación del libro del Dr. Moore-- pareciera congruente con los rumores que, según fuentes del movimiento negro interno en Cuba, lo relacionan con la destrucción de Walterio Carbonell. A estas alturas es imposible saber cuánta verdad subyace en semejantes rumores y opiniones; pero sí podemos comparar dos modelos de intelectuales negros.
Uno, Carlos Moore, que nos deja libros definitivos sobre el tema y que ha estado en el vórtice de la lucha contra el racismo y la discriminación lo mismo en Cuba como en Estados Unidos, Francia, Africa, el Caribe y América del sur, junto a figuras del relieve de Maya Angelou, Malcolm X, Aimé Césaire. Y otro, Sarduy, que aún nos debe obras definitivas y aclaraciones de cuentas pendientes con Walterio.
Acasi siete meses de la muerte del pensador negro cubano Walterio Carbonell, uno de sus discípulos, Carlos Moore --que ya ha hecho escuela propia-- presentó en la recién concluida Feria del Libro de Miami su obra ''Pichón, Race and Revolution in Castro's Cuba (Autobiography)''. La publicación del ensayo de Carbonell ''Crítica: como surgió la cultura nacional'' (1961) inició el derrotero del poco conocido movimiento negro surgido bajo condiciones de la revolución castrista.
El libro de Moore nos introduce en el fresco de esos tiempos de cambio de régimen y el enfoque del nuevo orden ante el problema del racismo y la discriminación racial. Muchos intelectuales y activistas negros como Carbonell y Moore --identificados en aquel momento con la revolución-- no podían comprender ciertas actitudes y acciones como el desmantelamiento de las sociedades negras, únicas instituciones donde los negros podían discutir y proponer soluciones a sus problemas así como elaborar agendas políticas a nivel nacional. Moore y Carbonell estaban viviendo la ejecución calculada de un plan para --por primera vez en la historia del país-- quitarles a los negros la voz independiente y la capacidad de organización que, de mantenerse, podrían convertirse en impedimentos para el establecimiento de un régimen totalitario o en la base de un eventual proceso de democratización.
El libro de Moore nos hace comprender cómo los fundamentos de la no solución del problema racial por parte del régimen cubano actual se anidan en los propios orígenes del proyecto castrista, y en la concepción del mundo que al respecto Castro y sus acólitos comparten con las viejas elites cubanas: el considerar a los negros como insurgentes, participantes o ciudadanos subordinados que no deben tener voz propia ni participar en igualdad de condiciones en la lucha política.
Enfrentarse a esa concepción --confrontando personalmente a Castro-- llevó a Carlos Moore a una saga que va desde los campos de trabajo, la cárcel y un espectacular asilo en la embajada de Guinea en 1963 hasta una permanente persecución e intentos de secuestro por parte de los órganos cubanos de inteligencia alrededor del mundo.
Carbonell, acaso más crédulo, permaneció en el país con la esperanza de tratar de cambiar las cosas desde dentro; como resultado fue conducido a campos de trabajo forzado, a la cárcel y, finalmente, al manicomio, donde se le destruyó síquicamente.
A lo largo del poder revolucionario el castrismo estructuró un seguimiento puntual de los intelectuales negros, impidiendo su desarrollo y repitiendo, en cada generación, la política represiva que usaron para desarticular el movimiento inspirado por Carbonell y Moore en los primeros años de la revolución. Al mismo tiempo, en la propaganda gubernamental el castrismo se presentaba como el gran benefactor que había eliminado la discriminación racial, tratándoles de hacer creer a los negros del patio que --para ellos-- el castrismo era el mejor de los mundos posibles y, a los del exterior, que la eliminación del racismo y la discriminación racial sólo eran posibles en un régimen totalitario que suprimiera todas las libertades y derechos democráticos.
Semejante posición asume que la democracia es un régimen que sólo funciona para los blancos, mientras que el sistema social idóneo para los negros es uno que recree la esclavitud generalizada bajo el mando de un líder blanco e ilustrado. El castrismo silenció a los negros aún más que las viejas elites cubanas, reforzando la actitud de que los negros --en lugar de tener una voz propia-- deben buscarse ''abogados'' --blancos-- que hablen en su nombre.
Por eso no es de extrañar la defensa velada que de las desigualdades raciales existentes en Cuba hace el escritor itinerante Pedro Pérez Sarduy, invitado por el Centro de Investigaciones Cubanas de FIU, según reporta este periódico en su edición del viernes 21 de noviembre. Sarduy, al ser cuestionado sobre la escasa participación de los negros en el quehacer político en Cuba, expresó que ''a los negros no les interesa la política, sino el desarrollo de profesiones y carreras intelectuales mejor consideradas''. Su punto de vista refleja la visión del régimen. Los negros cubanos serían, entonces, los únicos seres humanos que no son ''animales políticos''. Eso explica, como se desprende de otra parte de sus declaraciones, que no se solidarice con Oscar Elías Bisset, que ha tenido el ''atrevimiento'' de confrontar al castrismo en sus áreas más sensibles: los derechos civiles y el monopolio del poder político.
La posición de Sarduy --que por extraña coincidencia aparece en Miami en el momento de la presentación del libro del Dr. Moore-- pareciera congruente con los rumores que, según fuentes del movimiento negro interno en Cuba, lo relacionan con la destrucción de Walterio Carbonell. A estas alturas es imposible saber cuánta verdad subyace en semejantes rumores y opiniones; pero sí podemos comparar dos modelos de intelectuales negros.
Uno, Carlos Moore, que nos deja libros definitivos sobre el tema y que ha estado en el vórtice de la lucha contra el racismo y la discriminación lo mismo en Cuba como en Estados Unidos, Francia, Africa, el Caribe y América del sur, junto a figuras del relieve de Maya Angelou, Malcolm X, Aimé Césaire. Y otro, Sarduy, que aún nos debe obras definitivas y aclaraciones de cuentas pendientes con Walterio.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Eliecer vs. Elian
Eliecer da muestras de una capacidad intelectual en formacion. Su naivete es relativa a su edad. Desafortunadamente esos son lo s hombres a los cuales Fidel siempre ha temido y silenciado en su afan de someter a todo un pueblo a su caprichoso y maniacal desgobierno. Eliecer alcanzo a decir todo lo que el pueblo de Cuba no ha podido decir. La desvinculacion total de sus lideres con la realidad cotidiana de los Cubanos, la preocupacion con los asuntos internacionales, para el detrimento de la calidad de vida del Cubano. El endiosamiento de los lideres que ya no se pueden equivocar, su palabra es ley y no se puede cuestionar, la guataqueria y aduloneria que mantiene a estos infelices en el poder, las tantas mentiras que constantemente le dicen al pueblo. Quedense con ELian el heroe de hoy es Eliecer.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Mi favorito " spin Doctor"
Carlos Montaner es mi favorito "spin Doctor". Creo no hay en los anales de la lengua Espanola alguien quien con la mayor facilidad convierte expresiones simples en verdaderas tesis. Pero eso no es lo mas importante, no es su derroche de sabiduria y erudiccion, lo importante es su abilidad de extraer el verdadero de significado de las frases de personajes claves en su jornada Odiseica de auto aclamacion.
El ultimo puntal en su auto eregido monumento a su legajo politico es el malabarismo con el que disecta las palabras del Gobernante Raul Castro cuando este en un discurso reciente exclama el fin del igualitarismo.
Para comenzar que es el igualitarismo? Quienes han sido Iguales y ahora por decreto Raulista dejaran de serlo? Cuales son los beneficios que el ser iguales nos otorga, que seran inmediatamente denegados por ser no iguales? Se refiere Raul a la igualdad social, economica, sexual, politica, racial, regional, educacional, vocacional, a cual igualdad se refiere si es que de verdad alguna vez la hubo?.
Montaner no se percata de los detalles y lucidamente va al grano. Nos avisa de que la igualdad a la cual Raul se refiere es a la igualdad que esta alineada con la politica de la economia mercado, basado por supuesto en la propieded privada " legitima" y Montaner se expande comentando "aunque de ahí se derive la existencia de clases sociales caracterizadas por diferentes niveles de vida". Claro, lo que Montaner no se atreve a expresar claramente es quienes son los que dejando de ser iguales obtendrian estas propiedades privadas? Y asi ocupar las clases sociales que corresponden a los amos y senores agudizando las diferencias en los niveles de vida que siempre han existido en mayor o menor escala. Quiza haya sido que Raul tenia otra cosa en mente cuando expreso sus palabras. Hablo de vagos especificamente de remuneracion a quien dedica mas esfuerzo y es capaz de producir mas. En el contexto del esfuerzo de liberar los techos de ingresos es Cuba, esas palabras corraboran la intencion. por favor Carlos calmate que sin Fidel o sin Raul los Liberales del Perico no volveran, las dinamicas son diferentes, y las demandas seran diferentes. Saludos
El ultimo puntal en su auto eregido monumento a su legajo politico es el malabarismo con el que disecta las palabras del Gobernante Raul Castro cuando este en un discurso reciente exclama el fin del igualitarismo.
Para comenzar que es el igualitarismo? Quienes han sido Iguales y ahora por decreto Raulista dejaran de serlo? Cuales son los beneficios que el ser iguales nos otorga, que seran inmediatamente denegados por ser no iguales? Se refiere Raul a la igualdad social, economica, sexual, politica, racial, regional, educacional, vocacional, a cual igualdad se refiere si es que de verdad alguna vez la hubo?.
Montaner no se percata de los detalles y lucidamente va al grano. Nos avisa de que la igualdad a la cual Raul se refiere es a la igualdad que esta alineada con la politica de la economia mercado, basado por supuesto en la propieded privada " legitima" y Montaner se expande comentando "aunque de ahí se derive la existencia de clases sociales caracterizadas por diferentes niveles de vida". Claro, lo que Montaner no se atreve a expresar claramente es quienes son los que dejando de ser iguales obtendrian estas propiedades privadas? Y asi ocupar las clases sociales que corresponden a los amos y senores agudizando las diferencias en los niveles de vida que siempre han existido en mayor o menor escala. Quiza haya sido que Raul tenia otra cosa en mente cuando expreso sus palabras. Hablo de vagos especificamente de remuneracion a quien dedica mas esfuerzo y es capaz de producir mas. En el contexto del esfuerzo de liberar los techos de ingresos es Cuba, esas palabras corraboran la intencion. por favor Carlos calmate que sin Fidel o sin Raul los Liberales del Perico no volveran, las dinamicas son diferentes, y las demandas seran diferentes. Saludos
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Carta abierta a Omar Lopez Montenegro
Hola Omar:
Espero estes bien, hace tiempo no te veo por ahi y no hemos podidos abrir la brecha que esperaba. Esperaba yo poder comunicarme con ud. de cubano a cubano, de Afrocubano a afrocubano de hermano a hermano. Le digo sin ofender que me ha sido mas facil comunicarme con Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo que con Ud.
El interes de esta apertura se lo puedo explicar facilmente. Yo sali de Cuba cuando el Mariel, joven y sin mucha experiencia con respecto a muchas cosas, en particular la historia de Cuba. Sabia que no me caia bien la dirigencia en Cuba, su palabreria sutil que quitaba mas que lo que daba. Eso y la persecucion a la que fui sometido desde los catorce anos, por manifestarme abiertamente de una forma indiscreta en contra del gobierno Cubano me predispusieron en contra de el gobierno a una edad temprana.
Cuando llegue a los EEUU, estudie y fui llegando a conocer mas y mas de nuestra historia. No me entere de los profundos asuntos raciales hasta que conoci algunos Afroamericanos que estaban mas al tanto en cuestiones y materia raciale. Ellos son mucho mas sofisticados que nuestros compatriotas en percivir y identificar los perfiles discriminatorios y racistas en la sociedad en que viven. O por lo menos mas abiertos al discutirlo, admitirlo y confrontarlo. Me dispuse a aprender acerca de mi pasado como Cubano, ademas de lo obvio, como por ejemplo el hecho de que hay una dirigencia hereditaria casi en su totalidad de descendencia Europea.
Alina Heilg, Carlos Moore y otros en sus trabajos me mostraron unos capitulos de nuestra historia que no son divulgados o no fueron divulgados durante my preparacion escolar en Cuba. Saber y acceptar que las fuerzas opuestas de ambos lados del Estrecho de la Florida son descendientes de Europeos, dejo en claro lo dificil de nuestra situacion. Hice esfuerzos por conocer y poder trabajar con otros Afrodescendientes y choque con la misma sospecha y distancia con la que ud opera. Francamente, cuando me entere de que la CANF lo habia elegido a ud como ofical a sueldo supuse, lo que probablemente supusieron miles de Cubanos, que todo era una farsa, un lavado de cara para una organizacion del exilio. Aunque no dejo de reconocer que ya hoy, esa organizacion esta cambiando.
Era dificil conocer de su historial, solo le conocia por entrevistas, en "You tube" pero le respeto. Por su humildad, su sinceridad y su simplicidad. Otros Afrocubanos se esfuerzan demasiado en demostrar su erudiccion y en vez de mantener una postura cordial y consistente, reaccionan solo cuando les ponen el proverbial fosforo en el trasero.
Muchos otros miembros de la inteligencia Afrocubana en el exilio estan mas interesado en entrar y salir de Cuba armados de nuevos y brillosos juguetes, como los marineros mercantes de los 70s y 80s, que en expresar las realidades raciales de Cuba.
Basicamente, estos indviduos estan dedicados a sus agendas personales o regionalistas. Dada su prominencia estos individuos continuan ofuscando la realidad y dificultando el debate tabu de nuestra realidad aun cuando cuentan con una audiencia con la cual debian intercambiar e informar con integridad, fortaleza de caracter y sinceridad esta realidad en que viven sus compatriotas todos, ya tengan apellidos Ingleses, Franceses o Espanoles.
Hace 10 anos me invite a una Conferencia Afrolatina en Nueva York, donde hice una proclama reiniciando el Partido Independiente de Color, dirigido una vez por Evaristo Estenoz. Alli me di cuenta que la mentira de la harmonia racial y la justicia social Cubana se extiende por todo el mundo.
Me uni a AfroamericaXXI con el deseo de avanzar los intereses de los Afrolatinos en toda la America. Con AmericaXXI trabaje por un tiempo en DC. Deje esa conneccion, decepcionado por la corrupcion y deseo de protagonismo. Me preocupa que la gente indigena y Afrodescendiente en LatinoAmerica ve a Cuba como ejemplo de reforma social y su condicion les impide ver lo injusto de nuestra realidad.
De ahi comenze el proceso de formar la Asociacion Afrocubana de Guanajay, lo que las autoridades nacionales no permitieron. Pero senti orgullo al saber que mucha gente en mi pueblo natal estaba afirmando su procedencia y con ello sus derechos. Cuando el tiempo permite me dedico a musar ( estoy haciendo una mestria en trabajo social), siempre con el deseo de abrir los ojos a todo aquel que desee saber. Y sin descontar los logros que aunque son pocos nos han ayudado, seria hipocrita no juzgarlos.
Como siempre, la idea de la situacion del Afrocubano ha sido subyugada a la unidad nacional, la defensa de la nacion etc, etc, siempre tabu, siempre oculta. Yo busco trabajar con negros como yo que se sientan ofendidos por las actuales condiciones de los negros Cubanos en Cuba.
Aqui, como una minoria, es mucho mas dificil, por que tambien se utiliza el problema del negro como un asunto que esta maniatado a la liberacion de Cuba. Cuando en realidad me he convencido que el asunto de la libertad de Cuba no podra llegar hasta que se resuelvan las preocupaciones inquietudes y las condiciones del negro en Cuba, donde un negro pueda ser Cubano y negro al mismo tiempo sin que las razones obvias fenotipicas les obligen a ejercer una lealtad u otra fuera de la que dicten sus propias conciencias. Hay por ahi muchos buenos compatriotas nuestros que deben unirse, Quintero, Colas, Patterson entre otros. Se sienten con el deseo de ver a una Cuba Libre sin desestimar por un momento, sin dejar de observar cuidadosamente por un momento la historica tendencia de nuestros compatriotas de tez clara de siempre cojer el sarten por el mango y el mango tambien, en cuando a cuestiones de raza, economia y poder politico se refiere. Y es por esta razon amigo mio la cual le he procurado. Gracias por su atencion y su tiempo y que Dios le bendiga.
Espero estes bien, hace tiempo no te veo por ahi y no hemos podidos abrir la brecha que esperaba. Esperaba yo poder comunicarme con ud. de cubano a cubano, de Afrocubano a afrocubano de hermano a hermano. Le digo sin ofender que me ha sido mas facil comunicarme con Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo que con Ud.
El interes de esta apertura se lo puedo explicar facilmente. Yo sali de Cuba cuando el Mariel, joven y sin mucha experiencia con respecto a muchas cosas, en particular la historia de Cuba. Sabia que no me caia bien la dirigencia en Cuba, su palabreria sutil que quitaba mas que lo que daba. Eso y la persecucion a la que fui sometido desde los catorce anos, por manifestarme abiertamente de una forma indiscreta en contra del gobierno Cubano me predispusieron en contra de el gobierno a una edad temprana.
Cuando llegue a los EEUU, estudie y fui llegando a conocer mas y mas de nuestra historia. No me entere de los profundos asuntos raciales hasta que conoci algunos Afroamericanos que estaban mas al tanto en cuestiones y materia raciale. Ellos son mucho mas sofisticados que nuestros compatriotas en percivir y identificar los perfiles discriminatorios y racistas en la sociedad en que viven. O por lo menos mas abiertos al discutirlo, admitirlo y confrontarlo. Me dispuse a aprender acerca de mi pasado como Cubano, ademas de lo obvio, como por ejemplo el hecho de que hay una dirigencia hereditaria casi en su totalidad de descendencia Europea.
Alina Heilg, Carlos Moore y otros en sus trabajos me mostraron unos capitulos de nuestra historia que no son divulgados o no fueron divulgados durante my preparacion escolar en Cuba. Saber y acceptar que las fuerzas opuestas de ambos lados del Estrecho de la Florida son descendientes de Europeos, dejo en claro lo dificil de nuestra situacion. Hice esfuerzos por conocer y poder trabajar con otros Afrodescendientes y choque con la misma sospecha y distancia con la que ud opera. Francamente, cuando me entere de que la CANF lo habia elegido a ud como ofical a sueldo supuse, lo que probablemente supusieron miles de Cubanos, que todo era una farsa, un lavado de cara para una organizacion del exilio. Aunque no dejo de reconocer que ya hoy, esa organizacion esta cambiando.
Era dificil conocer de su historial, solo le conocia por entrevistas, en "You tube" pero le respeto. Por su humildad, su sinceridad y su simplicidad. Otros Afrocubanos se esfuerzan demasiado en demostrar su erudiccion y en vez de mantener una postura cordial y consistente, reaccionan solo cuando les ponen el proverbial fosforo en el trasero.
Muchos otros miembros de la inteligencia Afrocubana en el exilio estan mas interesado en entrar y salir de Cuba armados de nuevos y brillosos juguetes, como los marineros mercantes de los 70s y 80s, que en expresar las realidades raciales de Cuba.
Basicamente, estos indviduos estan dedicados a sus agendas personales o regionalistas. Dada su prominencia estos individuos continuan ofuscando la realidad y dificultando el debate tabu de nuestra realidad aun cuando cuentan con una audiencia con la cual debian intercambiar e informar con integridad, fortaleza de caracter y sinceridad esta realidad en que viven sus compatriotas todos, ya tengan apellidos Ingleses, Franceses o Espanoles.
Hace 10 anos me invite a una Conferencia Afrolatina en Nueva York, donde hice una proclama reiniciando el Partido Independiente de Color, dirigido una vez por Evaristo Estenoz. Alli me di cuenta que la mentira de la harmonia racial y la justicia social Cubana se extiende por todo el mundo.
Me uni a AfroamericaXXI con el deseo de avanzar los intereses de los Afrolatinos en toda la America. Con AmericaXXI trabaje por un tiempo en DC. Deje esa conneccion, decepcionado por la corrupcion y deseo de protagonismo. Me preocupa que la gente indigena y Afrodescendiente en LatinoAmerica ve a Cuba como ejemplo de reforma social y su condicion les impide ver lo injusto de nuestra realidad.
De ahi comenze el proceso de formar la Asociacion Afrocubana de Guanajay, lo que las autoridades nacionales no permitieron. Pero senti orgullo al saber que mucha gente en mi pueblo natal estaba afirmando su procedencia y con ello sus derechos. Cuando el tiempo permite me dedico a musar ( estoy haciendo una mestria en trabajo social), siempre con el deseo de abrir los ojos a todo aquel que desee saber. Y sin descontar los logros que aunque son pocos nos han ayudado, seria hipocrita no juzgarlos.
Como siempre, la idea de la situacion del Afrocubano ha sido subyugada a la unidad nacional, la defensa de la nacion etc, etc, siempre tabu, siempre oculta. Yo busco trabajar con negros como yo que se sientan ofendidos por las actuales condiciones de los negros Cubanos en Cuba.
Aqui, como una minoria, es mucho mas dificil, por que tambien se utiliza el problema del negro como un asunto que esta maniatado a la liberacion de Cuba. Cuando en realidad me he convencido que el asunto de la libertad de Cuba no podra llegar hasta que se resuelvan las preocupaciones inquietudes y las condiciones del negro en Cuba, donde un negro pueda ser Cubano y negro al mismo tiempo sin que las razones obvias fenotipicas les obligen a ejercer una lealtad u otra fuera de la que dicten sus propias conciencias. Hay por ahi muchos buenos compatriotas nuestros que deben unirse, Quintero, Colas, Patterson entre otros. Se sienten con el deseo de ver a una Cuba Libre sin desestimar por un momento, sin dejar de observar cuidadosamente por un momento la historica tendencia de nuestros compatriotas de tez clara de siempre cojer el sarten por el mango y el mango tambien, en cuando a cuestiones de raza, economia y poder politico se refiere. Y es por esta razon amigo mio la cual le he procurado. Gracias por su atencion y su tiempo y que Dios le bendiga.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
The begining of the problems
Hillary has a problem accepting her loss in the Democratic primaries. Her tone and her word charged of a strong feeling of being left out. There are already versions of conspiracies, Soros the Leader of the Democratic Party being the culprit & mastermind of Hillary's demise. I have read some of Hillary's papers back in graduate school, very insightful very powerful words, my perception is that she would have made one good president, presumably better than her husband.
However, is not her turn and it may never be, Obama has already began to campaign for the 2012 elections. The immediate problem for Obama is how to handle Hillary. A VP post may be seen as a sign of weakness on his part, having capitulated to the Clinton clan in their efforts to bamboozle themselves back into the white house. However, some think that in light of the effort that she put into her campaign, the numbers of popular votes gotten and the slight effect in the so called swing states: Texas, Pa and Ohio, has earned her the right to be the VP.
The way Hillary handle her lossing campaing all the way to the end, makes her a liability for Obama. Is almost certain that a win by Obama, without Hillary is a pipe dream which will have to muster all the political courage left in America to become a reality.
By far America is still a place where races matters, often too much, specially in politics at all levels.
The unfortunate thing is that this race was between a Black man and a woman, two classes of people whom have been denied for many years access to the road to the White House. Perhaps in fear that the incumbent, if a member one of these classes of people, may change the name of the White House to the Pink House or the Multicolored House.
Both had a heck of burden on their shoulders. Obama as the first Black President would have to not only restore the confidence of Black people in their government, in themselves and in their ability to overcome great obstacles. Hillary would have to move forward the cause of discrimination based on sex, which exists the world over. Not matter how much they've declared their candidacies to be efforts to confront the evils now threatening the American way of life, which it may well be, their underpinnings are naturally tied to who they are intrinsically, a black man and a woman in American national politics.
However, is not her turn and it may never be, Obama has already began to campaign for the 2012 elections. The immediate problem for Obama is how to handle Hillary. A VP post may be seen as a sign of weakness on his part, having capitulated to the Clinton clan in their efforts to bamboozle themselves back into the white house. However, some think that in light of the effort that she put into her campaign, the numbers of popular votes gotten and the slight effect in the so called swing states: Texas, Pa and Ohio, has earned her the right to be the VP.
The way Hillary handle her lossing campaing all the way to the end, makes her a liability for Obama. Is almost certain that a win by Obama, without Hillary is a pipe dream which will have to muster all the political courage left in America to become a reality.
By far America is still a place where races matters, often too much, specially in politics at all levels.
The unfortunate thing is that this race was between a Black man and a woman, two classes of people whom have been denied for many years access to the road to the White House. Perhaps in fear that the incumbent, if a member one of these classes of people, may change the name of the White House to the Pink House or the Multicolored House.
Both had a heck of burden on their shoulders. Obama as the first Black President would have to not only restore the confidence of Black people in their government, in themselves and in their ability to overcome great obstacles. Hillary would have to move forward the cause of discrimination based on sex, which exists the world over. Not matter how much they've declared their candidacies to be efforts to confront the evils now threatening the American way of life, which it may well be, their underpinnings are naturally tied to who they are intrinsically, a black man and a woman in American national politics.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
A policy that benefits Cuba
I. Analyzing the Problem
Does what affect whom.
The US policy of travel restriction to Cuba and the limiting of remittances affects primarily Afro Cubans and poor white Cubans. Cuba is a small nation, of roughly 11 million people; there are close to 2.2 million people in exile. The average monthly wage of a Cuban worker is about 200 Pesos, which is equivalent to 16 dollars (Perez-Lopez 1995). For many Cubans possessing dollars is the only opportunity to purchase food and appliances and daily use items outside the allowance of the rationing card. The rationing card is an instrument used by the Cuban government to allocate food, clothing, and any household items of necessity. Each Cuban household has one rationing card assigned to them and is the only way to access goods legitimately for Cubans with no access to dollars. The general scarcity existing in Cuba does not guarantee food or household items, it ensures only that people will have equal access as long as good and food stuff are available. The Cuban government sells foods and items of first necessity in special stores where the exchanges are made in US dollars. The limitation to $300 per year of the remittance to relatives in Cuba affect the Afro Cubans and poor whites Cubans the most since they have the least connections abroad. The limiting of travel restricts the amount of dollars coming into the island, and the ability to obtain dollars by Afro Cubans through the illegal sale of crafts and Cuban art, as well as cigars and rums. This being the primary source of income for many Afro Cubans living in the big cities, prostitution and tips as secondary sources of income.
During most of the emigration that has occurred in Cuba, the primary emigrants were the descendants of the European colonizers. Having family abroad is the key to “remesas” or remittances, the assistance in cash and foodstuff and daily use items sent to Cuba by relatives through Canada and Spain, and these are primarily concentrated in the hands of Cubans of European descendants. The major waves of emigration from Cuba to Spain, US, Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Canada and other parts of the globe were consistently composed of Cubans of European descendants, rich elites, whose properties the Revolution confiscated.
The CIA World Book classifies the population as: mulatto 51%, white 37%, black 11%, Chinese 1% (World Book, 2005). In Cuba the population is not just black and white, the mixed race people have a category of their own. From 1965 to 1973 on what was called Flight to Freedom, there were two flights daily to the US filled with emigrants. In a poll done by Institute of Public Opinion Research IPOR) interviewing 1622 Cuban Americans in Florida, 93.5% of the total considered themselves as whites (IPOR, 2004). It is believed that insisting in these divisions actually dilutes the cause of Afro Cubans, by inserting a buffer definition between descendant of African slaves and the descendants of European colonizers. In reality, the population is 67% of African and European mixed descent, the mulatto or mixed race is but a idiosyncrasy of the Spanish colonial rule aimed at developing a classist society where the Spaniards ruled everyone else.
During the Mariel Boatlift, for the first time many Afro Cubans had the opportunity to migrate to the US. According to a study, Afro Cubans wait for the lottery process to emigrate to the US, instead of being claimed by relative as many white Cubans do. The lottery is part of an agreement to allow 20 000 Cubans yearly in the US. However, 83 % of the people using the lottery are white Cubans (Aguirre, 1999).
The government with massive propaganda had always discouraged the exodus of Afro Cubans, instilling fears of racist Whites in US by exaggerating the racial tensions existing in this country. The Cuban leaders always pointed at how much better off Afro Cubans were under the protection of the Cuban Revolution, how much more educated and healthy they were compared to African Americans.
The gap once existing between Afro Cubans and White Cubans in regards to education, employment came under attack during the Revolution initial period. Afro Cubans reaped the benefits of education and health and housing, these efforts have forever merged the future of the Afro Cubans to the Revolution. While these advances were real, more Afro Cubans doctors graduated than ever before, more Afro Cubans were employed than ever before; the leadership of the country now and then is retained by the White Cuban minority. According to Blue “the question arises of whether Afro-Cubans have sustained the gains they achieved in the revolution's first 30 years” (Blue, 2007).
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the USSR, the Cuban government opened doors to investments and tourist ventures with capitalists. The new policies benefited largely the Europeans descendants. Those Cubans of European ancestry had inherited the larger houses of their relatives; this extra space was critical to open up restaurants and eateries inside their homes. It also allowed them to rent space within their homes to tourists, actually competing with the state’s hotels and accommodations. These activities brought hard currency to the white Cubans and the opportunities remained closed to the majority of Afro Cubans.
II. Many sides to this coin
This policy issue is viewed by differently by different groups.
Americans Anti-embargo
The Cuban Embargo is a policy of the US aimed at the Cuban Government, and is seen by many Cuban observers as facilitating the entrenching of the Cuban leaders in an anti-American position. Philip Peters of the Lexington Institute defines five points in examining the policy
1. Any credible Us Policy towards Cuba must place human rights at the forefront to stay true to American Values.
2. American policy finds no support among Cubans, not even the dissidents.
3. Denying Cuba of hard currency also denies America’s influence in Cuba.
4. US have little to loose by experimenting with different approaches.
5. The policy violates the rights of American citizens to trade and travel (Peters, 2000).
Cuban American Florida Leadership
The White Cuban exiled elite in South Florida see the embargo as the only way to force the Cuban government to compensate them for their property confiscated. Sweeny of the Heritage Foundation writes in an article “ The United States would truly abandon the Cuban people by relaxing or lifting the trade embargo against that reprehensible dictatorship. Instead, the U.S. government must reject all pressures to ease the embargo until the objectives for which it was imposed are initiated” (Sweeny, 1995). The rich white Cubans elite of South Florida are the main supporters of the embargo. The Cuban American legislators are the sole source of anti-Castro legislation and have opposed for years any abrogation of the embargo.
This elite, white and republican, funds the coffers of republican political candidates and are suspected in delivering the presidency to Mr. Bush in 2000 by aiding John Sweeny (R.N.Y.) in stopping the recount of ballots in Miami-Dade County, which if allowed to proceed would have delivered the victory to Al Gore (Randall, 2000). When President Bush, in 2003, failed to live up to the commitment to the Cuban American community in South Florida, they send him a letter saying: “ if Bush did not make “substantial progress” toward meeting the demands of the Cuban-American community, we fear the historic and intense support from Cuban-American voters for Republican federal candidates, including yourself, will be jeopardized” (Benen, 2003). This letter exemplifies the inmense power and clout the White Cuban American elite has and how it is capable of dictating foreign policy in the US.
Cuban Leaders in Cuba.
The Cuban leaders, in public, see the embargo as an expensive burden, as a criminal act against the sovereignity of Cuba imposse by a powerful neighbor. The costs of importing food and clothing and oil from Europe, China, and other parts of the world are much greater if access to the US markets were available. In 1996 the cost of maritime for each ship by trip adds $ 215,800 from Europe and $ 516,700 from Asia, the additional expenditure compared to a similar operation from the United States. After the Torricelli Act, that prohibits ships having touched Cuban ports from entering the US for six months, the shippers began adding additional freight charges( Revist Envio, 1996)
In private, many Cubans in the island believe that the Cuban regime needs the embargo. This idea is also expressed in the US, Thomas Donohue, President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who has traveled to Cuba and met with Castro, says: "When it comes to the Cuban economy, Castro has a perfect excuse - it's the embargo's fault. In fact, Castro needs the embargo as a scapegoat for the abysmally poor Cuban economy. Lifting the embargo on Cuba would not only remove Castro's excuse for economic failure, but would also help the Cuban people by providing more economic opportunity and freedom” (Winzig, 2000).
In private the Cuban leadership is probably hoping the embargo continues, after all the embargo promoted USSR assistance to Cuba according to many commentators to an amount in excess of 6 billions dollars. This subsidy however was not used to rebuild the aging Cuban infrastructure but to support foreign wars and movements of liberations throughout the world. The embargo in Cuba has sustained the island in a permanent state of war with the US, aiding Castro in maintaining his hard line and excusing not only the failure of his economic policies, but also the isolation experienced by the Cuban people for the last 40 years. While the Cuban government blames the US for its problems, it maintains a tight fist on news from abroad, Internet access and unrestricted travel and many prohibitions such as the right to form unions, to own property or to openly disagree with the government policies.
Ordinary Cubans in Cuba
In public and in private, ordinary Cubans opposed the embargo, and resented the clockwork-like events, which have truncated any efforts by US president to end the Embargo. The series of events coincide roughly with moves towards normalization. During the Nixon administration, Cubans forces have been involved in foreign wars in the capacity of support personnel or trainers. Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, Chile, and Venezuela all had Cuban presence in their struggle of leftist movements and indigenous uprisings. In Africa, Cuban presence in Congo-Brazzaville and the Kinshasa event is well known. The Cubans were ion Angola, Algeria and Mozambique and during the later part of the 70s there were 20, 000 Cuban regulars Army soldiers in Angola. The overture to China from president Nixon and the ping-pong diplomacy did not extend to Cuba. Nixon focused on Viet Nam and officially ended attempts to overthrow Castro. President Ford had the will to open the doors for Cuba; the escalation of the War in Angola and open support of the Puerto Rican nationalist movement by the Cuban leadership stopped his efforts. Travel to Cuba was possible for the first time since the first wave of Cubans moved out of the island during the early and mid 60s. Carter made some serious attempts to normalize relations with Cuba; Carter opened an office of interest in Havana and Cuba reciprocated and opened a similar office in DC. By 1978, the Cubans troops in Ethiopia and Somalia ended this overture. In 1980, the Mariel Freedom Flotilla with 125 000 Cubans landing in Florida stopped any good will from Carter to open up to Cuba.
For the next eight years Reagan maintained a hyper vigilance of the Cubans and the Cuban involvement in the wars of Nicaragua and El Salvador did nothing to change his perception of Fidel, as a megalomaniac bent in etching his name in the history book as a messiah. It was in Granada, during the US invasion that Cubans troops and American troops faced each other in combat. During the Bush administration, the policies established by Reagan continue and the Torricelli Act was enacted. The 34, 000 Cubans landing in Gauntanamo Base in 1994 besieged President Clinton from the beginning. The Brothers to the rescue planes downing by Cuban Migs and the Elian Gonzales’ debacle thwarted any efforts of the Clinton Administration and the Helms Burton Law was passed.
From the perspective of the ordinary Cuban people, every time an American president seeks to normalize relations with Cuba, Fidel Castro immediately provokes a situation that precludes any further commitment of the US President. In the Cuban community’s opinion, there is no one in the world more interested in maintaining the status quo, the Embargo, than Fidel Castro himself. His standing stature among the Third world population, the leadership of the Non-Aligned countries provided Castro with a platform, resolving his problems with the US, will have colluded with his own personal agenda. Among ordinary Cubans in sotto voce the relentless pursuit of this policy by the United States, is a way of punishing the nation and the government for having had the audacity of installing missiles with nuclear capabilities within 90 mils of the US. The embargo and the calamity that it brings to Cuba is a heads up to the Hugo Chavez and any other leaders of Latin America who dares to challenge the US and their Sphere of influence in this hemisphere. To subscribe to the Manifest Destiny or not is the options open to leaders in Latin America, it seems a conundrum that Castro exists because the Embargo and without Castro there will not be Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, a Rafael Correa in Ecuador, an Evo Morales in Bolivia , and a Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, nor a Sub Comandante Marcos in Mexico. The very attitudes the Americans were trying to avoid in what they called their backyard, namely Latin America, has multiplied and seems to be moving forward.
III Assessing options
What values are at issue?
This regulation, which in fact limits the freedom of Americans to travel, to do business, to import goods and services and live where they choose is unconstitutional. To circumvent this inconvenience the legislation was enacted under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917(Us Code). It is important to understand that the embargo and the leanings of the Revolution towards the USSR appear to come in increments. As the Cuban regime became more dependent in the Soviet Union the more astringent, the embargo became. The result of the embargo has always been a negative situation for Cuban people. It has succeeded in making the Cuban people poorer and left them facing greater challenges. Even the Cuban dissidents speak of abrogation of the embargo, as a way to deny the regime the excuses to repress its people. Osvaldo Paya, head of the Movimiento Cristiano de Liberacion, and winner of the Sakharov Peace Prize explained that is it up to the Cuban people and not US foreign policy to dictate the course of the nation (Paya, 2002). Further, he commented that the embargo has, as a policy, been wrong and has not worked the way Americans intended. The values of choice, freedom, and independence so dear to Americans are denied to Cubans through the embargo. While US continues to isolate the Cuban nation, it posit itself as the moral cop of the world, removing and imposing governments all throughout the world, often times by force. The values so clear and so dear to Americans and Western Europeans are easily denied to other people.
What might be done?
Presidential candidate Barack Obama said in one of his speeches in South Florida that he will retain the embargo, but will lift all the travel restrictions and eliminate limits on remittances (Wides-Munoz, 2007), The US law as it stand will not lift the embargo until both Castro’s brothers are completely out of leadership roles in the nation.
By allowing American the freedom to travel to Cuba, the US will enable the democratic ideas to travel freely with people to the island. It will enable the opportunity for many people to reach their potential educationally and professionally, by exchanging with colleagues in an environment free from fear. In addition, that could be a start, in undoing 45 years of a decidedly onerous treatment of a smaller, poorer nation. Re-establishing diplomatic relations at embassy level will be a way to open up means to work on the problems brought about by nationalization of the industries and the payment due for confiscating the property of many individuals now residing outside and inside Cuba .
The total lifting of the Embargo is the only rational choice, the only moral choice the only humane choice, for the Cuban families now separated by ideological walls.
What is the anticipated outcome of this option?
The manipulation of fear by the Cuban regime will not longer be an issue for the Cuban people. The people will be able to express themselves and begin living a normal life without double speak or simulating adherence to communists principles to get ahead and reap benefits. The nations of Cuba and the US can go on and establish a friendly course that will conclude once and for all the militarization of the island and the expenditure of many resources now dedicated to the defense of a nation expectant of a US invasion. Cuban families can be reunited without the great expenses that the process now entails, and be able to visit each other when they please as everyone else in the world could.
Cuba is now purchasing 500 million dollars of US agricultural products; this amount could double if the restrictions were not in place. Cuba is a producer of pharmaceuticals, which can definitively cheapen the drugs and vaccines used in the US by purchasing from Cuba, By allowing Cuba access to financial resources the country with its wealth of trained and educated personnel could march into the XXI and join the brotherhood of nations. With a 0.6% illiteracy rate in the nation, Cuba presents a formidable work force and untapped talent, now forced to linger in a planned economy.
The recent changes enacted in Cuba after the retirement of Fidel Castro are inspiring events that should be met with in kind effort by the US authorities. Raul Castro, while subservient to his older brother’s whimsical and unpredictable temper is considered a pragmatic and a capable organizer. The measures recently enacted respond to a increasing clamor of the population, mostly born during the revolutionary process, for more openness, more freedoms and less government control of the day to day economic activities of the population.
IV Supporting and evaluating policy choice
Embargo or Trade embargo as it is known is defined as a government order imposing a trade barrier, any regulation or policy that restricts international trade. This concept probably dates back to medieval time sieges that armies laid to fortified and walled city-states to win by attrition. Thirty years after its creation the United States declared the Trade Embargo of 1807 against Britain and France, and has used embargoes as a tool of foreign policy ever since. Whether is a grain embargo against the Soviet Union for the invasion of Afghanistan or the embargo against Libya, or against Saddam Hussein, invariably the poorest people of said nation are affected negatively the most. According to the Report on the Impact of the UN Sanctions against Libya “is worth noting that the Health and Human Welfare sector has been the most affected by these sanctions” (1996 Report by Libyan Delegation to UN Secretary General). In this report, which covers from 1993 to 1996, the combined losses are about 50 billion dollars for a nation that can hardly afford that amount for that time.
In Iraq, while the numbers of infantile death (given at 500, 000) has not been proved, Garfield states based on comparative data from other countries, that in five or six years Iraq would have returned to its pre-Gulf War level of around forty deaths per thousand births of children under five. Instead, we can observe not just an increase, but also a sustained increase. This is remarkable”(Garfield, 1999).
· Does the policy still make sense?
The Embargo, after 46 years, is equally responsible for the deteriorating conditions of the economic, and psychosocial of the people of Cuba. One troublesome and critical aspect of this confrontation between US and Cuba shows up in a grim statistic. Cuban people commit suicide more often and are more successful than anywhere in the world. According to Tamayo, Cuba’s suicide rates “ have clearly swung with history: From 2.2 per 100,000 in 1907, soon after Cuba won independence from Spain, it rose to 13.1 in 1957, in the thick of Castro's guerrilla war against President Fulgencio Batista.
With hopes riding on the fledgling Castro revolution, suicides plummeted in the 1960s and averaged 8 to 10 per 100,000 people, but after 1970-harvest failure, the rate rose, peaking at 23.2 in 1982 -- two years after the crisis unleashed by the Mariel boatlift. That figure made Cuba fourth in the world at the time, behind Hungary, Denmark, and Austria”. Cuban suicide rates like the health of the Comandante en Jefe became state secrets and the deaths due to suicide were classified as other (Tamayo, 1998). The sheer struggles a Cuban family has to endure to obtain the basic needs on an everyday basis, is akin to a nation under siege. When the Iraqis, or Libyans or South Africans made it known to the world what kinds of hardships they had to endure because of the embargo imposed upon them, the Cubans understood, they had endured and still do an embargo of monumental consequences longer than anyone else.
Does what affect whom.
The US policy of travel restriction to Cuba and the limiting of remittances affects primarily Afro Cubans and poor white Cubans. Cuba is a small nation, of roughly 11 million people; there are close to 2.2 million people in exile. The average monthly wage of a Cuban worker is about 200 Pesos, which is equivalent to 16 dollars (Perez-Lopez 1995). For many Cubans possessing dollars is the only opportunity to purchase food and appliances and daily use items outside the allowance of the rationing card. The rationing card is an instrument used by the Cuban government to allocate food, clothing, and any household items of necessity. Each Cuban household has one rationing card assigned to them and is the only way to access goods legitimately for Cubans with no access to dollars. The general scarcity existing in Cuba does not guarantee food or household items, it ensures only that people will have equal access as long as good and food stuff are available. The Cuban government sells foods and items of first necessity in special stores where the exchanges are made in US dollars. The limitation to $300 per year of the remittance to relatives in Cuba affect the Afro Cubans and poor whites Cubans the most since they have the least connections abroad. The limiting of travel restricts the amount of dollars coming into the island, and the ability to obtain dollars by Afro Cubans through the illegal sale of crafts and Cuban art, as well as cigars and rums. This being the primary source of income for many Afro Cubans living in the big cities, prostitution and tips as secondary sources of income.
During most of the emigration that has occurred in Cuba, the primary emigrants were the descendants of the European colonizers. Having family abroad is the key to “remesas” or remittances, the assistance in cash and foodstuff and daily use items sent to Cuba by relatives through Canada and Spain, and these are primarily concentrated in the hands of Cubans of European descendants. The major waves of emigration from Cuba to Spain, US, Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Canada and other parts of the globe were consistently composed of Cubans of European descendants, rich elites, whose properties the Revolution confiscated.
The CIA World Book classifies the population as: mulatto 51%, white 37%, black 11%, Chinese 1% (World Book, 2005). In Cuba the population is not just black and white, the mixed race people have a category of their own. From 1965 to 1973 on what was called Flight to Freedom, there were two flights daily to the US filled with emigrants. In a poll done by Institute of Public Opinion Research IPOR) interviewing 1622 Cuban Americans in Florida, 93.5% of the total considered themselves as whites (IPOR, 2004). It is believed that insisting in these divisions actually dilutes the cause of Afro Cubans, by inserting a buffer definition between descendant of African slaves and the descendants of European colonizers. In reality, the population is 67% of African and European mixed descent, the mulatto or mixed race is but a idiosyncrasy of the Spanish colonial rule aimed at developing a classist society where the Spaniards ruled everyone else.
During the Mariel Boatlift, for the first time many Afro Cubans had the opportunity to migrate to the US. According to a study, Afro Cubans wait for the lottery process to emigrate to the US, instead of being claimed by relative as many white Cubans do. The lottery is part of an agreement to allow 20 000 Cubans yearly in the US. However, 83 % of the people using the lottery are white Cubans (Aguirre, 1999).
The government with massive propaganda had always discouraged the exodus of Afro Cubans, instilling fears of racist Whites in US by exaggerating the racial tensions existing in this country. The Cuban leaders always pointed at how much better off Afro Cubans were under the protection of the Cuban Revolution, how much more educated and healthy they were compared to African Americans.
The gap once existing between Afro Cubans and White Cubans in regards to education, employment came under attack during the Revolution initial period. Afro Cubans reaped the benefits of education and health and housing, these efforts have forever merged the future of the Afro Cubans to the Revolution. While these advances were real, more Afro Cubans doctors graduated than ever before, more Afro Cubans were employed than ever before; the leadership of the country now and then is retained by the White Cuban minority. According to Blue “the question arises of whether Afro-Cubans have sustained the gains they achieved in the revolution's first 30 years” (Blue, 2007).
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the USSR, the Cuban government opened doors to investments and tourist ventures with capitalists. The new policies benefited largely the Europeans descendants. Those Cubans of European ancestry had inherited the larger houses of their relatives; this extra space was critical to open up restaurants and eateries inside their homes. It also allowed them to rent space within their homes to tourists, actually competing with the state’s hotels and accommodations. These activities brought hard currency to the white Cubans and the opportunities remained closed to the majority of Afro Cubans.
II. Many sides to this coin
This policy issue is viewed by differently by different groups.
Americans Anti-embargo
The Cuban Embargo is a policy of the US aimed at the Cuban Government, and is seen by many Cuban observers as facilitating the entrenching of the Cuban leaders in an anti-American position. Philip Peters of the Lexington Institute defines five points in examining the policy
1. Any credible Us Policy towards Cuba must place human rights at the forefront to stay true to American Values.
2. American policy finds no support among Cubans, not even the dissidents.
3. Denying Cuba of hard currency also denies America’s influence in Cuba.
4. US have little to loose by experimenting with different approaches.
5. The policy violates the rights of American citizens to trade and travel (Peters, 2000).
Cuban American Florida Leadership
The White Cuban exiled elite in South Florida see the embargo as the only way to force the Cuban government to compensate them for their property confiscated. Sweeny of the Heritage Foundation writes in an article “ The United States would truly abandon the Cuban people by relaxing or lifting the trade embargo against that reprehensible dictatorship. Instead, the U.S. government must reject all pressures to ease the embargo until the objectives for which it was imposed are initiated” (Sweeny, 1995). The rich white Cubans elite of South Florida are the main supporters of the embargo. The Cuban American legislators are the sole source of anti-Castro legislation and have opposed for years any abrogation of the embargo.
This elite, white and republican, funds the coffers of republican political candidates and are suspected in delivering the presidency to Mr. Bush in 2000 by aiding John Sweeny (R.N.Y.) in stopping the recount of ballots in Miami-Dade County, which if allowed to proceed would have delivered the victory to Al Gore (Randall, 2000). When President Bush, in 2003, failed to live up to the commitment to the Cuban American community in South Florida, they send him a letter saying: “ if Bush did not make “substantial progress” toward meeting the demands of the Cuban-American community, we fear the historic and intense support from Cuban-American voters for Republican federal candidates, including yourself, will be jeopardized” (Benen, 2003). This letter exemplifies the inmense power and clout the White Cuban American elite has and how it is capable of dictating foreign policy in the US.
Cuban Leaders in Cuba.
The Cuban leaders, in public, see the embargo as an expensive burden, as a criminal act against the sovereignity of Cuba imposse by a powerful neighbor. The costs of importing food and clothing and oil from Europe, China, and other parts of the world are much greater if access to the US markets were available. In 1996 the cost of maritime for each ship by trip adds $ 215,800 from Europe and $ 516,700 from Asia, the additional expenditure compared to a similar operation from the United States. After the Torricelli Act, that prohibits ships having touched Cuban ports from entering the US for six months, the shippers began adding additional freight charges( Revist Envio, 1996)
In private, many Cubans in the island believe that the Cuban regime needs the embargo. This idea is also expressed in the US, Thomas Donohue, President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who has traveled to Cuba and met with Castro, says: "When it comes to the Cuban economy, Castro has a perfect excuse - it's the embargo's fault. In fact, Castro needs the embargo as a scapegoat for the abysmally poor Cuban economy. Lifting the embargo on Cuba would not only remove Castro's excuse for economic failure, but would also help the Cuban people by providing more economic opportunity and freedom” (Winzig, 2000).
In private the Cuban leadership is probably hoping the embargo continues, after all the embargo promoted USSR assistance to Cuba according to many commentators to an amount in excess of 6 billions dollars. This subsidy however was not used to rebuild the aging Cuban infrastructure but to support foreign wars and movements of liberations throughout the world. The embargo in Cuba has sustained the island in a permanent state of war with the US, aiding Castro in maintaining his hard line and excusing not only the failure of his economic policies, but also the isolation experienced by the Cuban people for the last 40 years. While the Cuban government blames the US for its problems, it maintains a tight fist on news from abroad, Internet access and unrestricted travel and many prohibitions such as the right to form unions, to own property or to openly disagree with the government policies.
Ordinary Cubans in Cuba
In public and in private, ordinary Cubans opposed the embargo, and resented the clockwork-like events, which have truncated any efforts by US president to end the Embargo. The series of events coincide roughly with moves towards normalization. During the Nixon administration, Cubans forces have been involved in foreign wars in the capacity of support personnel or trainers. Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, Chile, and Venezuela all had Cuban presence in their struggle of leftist movements and indigenous uprisings. In Africa, Cuban presence in Congo-Brazzaville and the Kinshasa event is well known. The Cubans were ion Angola, Algeria and Mozambique and during the later part of the 70s there were 20, 000 Cuban regulars Army soldiers in Angola. The overture to China from president Nixon and the ping-pong diplomacy did not extend to Cuba. Nixon focused on Viet Nam and officially ended attempts to overthrow Castro. President Ford had the will to open the doors for Cuba; the escalation of the War in Angola and open support of the Puerto Rican nationalist movement by the Cuban leadership stopped his efforts. Travel to Cuba was possible for the first time since the first wave of Cubans moved out of the island during the early and mid 60s. Carter made some serious attempts to normalize relations with Cuba; Carter opened an office of interest in Havana and Cuba reciprocated and opened a similar office in DC. By 1978, the Cubans troops in Ethiopia and Somalia ended this overture. In 1980, the Mariel Freedom Flotilla with 125 000 Cubans landing in Florida stopped any good will from Carter to open up to Cuba.
For the next eight years Reagan maintained a hyper vigilance of the Cubans and the Cuban involvement in the wars of Nicaragua and El Salvador did nothing to change his perception of Fidel, as a megalomaniac bent in etching his name in the history book as a messiah. It was in Granada, during the US invasion that Cubans troops and American troops faced each other in combat. During the Bush administration, the policies established by Reagan continue and the Torricelli Act was enacted. The 34, 000 Cubans landing in Gauntanamo Base in 1994 besieged President Clinton from the beginning. The Brothers to the rescue planes downing by Cuban Migs and the Elian Gonzales’ debacle thwarted any efforts of the Clinton Administration and the Helms Burton Law was passed.
From the perspective of the ordinary Cuban people, every time an American president seeks to normalize relations with Cuba, Fidel Castro immediately provokes a situation that precludes any further commitment of the US President. In the Cuban community’s opinion, there is no one in the world more interested in maintaining the status quo, the Embargo, than Fidel Castro himself. His standing stature among the Third world population, the leadership of the Non-Aligned countries provided Castro with a platform, resolving his problems with the US, will have colluded with his own personal agenda. Among ordinary Cubans in sotto voce the relentless pursuit of this policy by the United States, is a way of punishing the nation and the government for having had the audacity of installing missiles with nuclear capabilities within 90 mils of the US. The embargo and the calamity that it brings to Cuba is a heads up to the Hugo Chavez and any other leaders of Latin America who dares to challenge the US and their Sphere of influence in this hemisphere. To subscribe to the Manifest Destiny or not is the options open to leaders in Latin America, it seems a conundrum that Castro exists because the Embargo and without Castro there will not be Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, a Rafael Correa in Ecuador, an Evo Morales in Bolivia , and a Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, nor a Sub Comandante Marcos in Mexico. The very attitudes the Americans were trying to avoid in what they called their backyard, namely Latin America, has multiplied and seems to be moving forward.
III Assessing options
What values are at issue?
This regulation, which in fact limits the freedom of Americans to travel, to do business, to import goods and services and live where they choose is unconstitutional. To circumvent this inconvenience the legislation was enacted under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917(Us Code). It is important to understand that the embargo and the leanings of the Revolution towards the USSR appear to come in increments. As the Cuban regime became more dependent in the Soviet Union the more astringent, the embargo became. The result of the embargo has always been a negative situation for Cuban people. It has succeeded in making the Cuban people poorer and left them facing greater challenges. Even the Cuban dissidents speak of abrogation of the embargo, as a way to deny the regime the excuses to repress its people. Osvaldo Paya, head of the Movimiento Cristiano de Liberacion, and winner of the Sakharov Peace Prize explained that is it up to the Cuban people and not US foreign policy to dictate the course of the nation (Paya, 2002). Further, he commented that the embargo has, as a policy, been wrong and has not worked the way Americans intended. The values of choice, freedom, and independence so dear to Americans are denied to Cubans through the embargo. While US continues to isolate the Cuban nation, it posit itself as the moral cop of the world, removing and imposing governments all throughout the world, often times by force. The values so clear and so dear to Americans and Western Europeans are easily denied to other people.
What might be done?
Presidential candidate Barack Obama said in one of his speeches in South Florida that he will retain the embargo, but will lift all the travel restrictions and eliminate limits on remittances (Wides-Munoz, 2007), The US law as it stand will not lift the embargo until both Castro’s brothers are completely out of leadership roles in the nation.
By allowing American the freedom to travel to Cuba, the US will enable the democratic ideas to travel freely with people to the island. It will enable the opportunity for many people to reach their potential educationally and professionally, by exchanging with colleagues in an environment free from fear. In addition, that could be a start, in undoing 45 years of a decidedly onerous treatment of a smaller, poorer nation. Re-establishing diplomatic relations at embassy level will be a way to open up means to work on the problems brought about by nationalization of the industries and the payment due for confiscating the property of many individuals now residing outside and inside Cuba .
The total lifting of the Embargo is the only rational choice, the only moral choice the only humane choice, for the Cuban families now separated by ideological walls.
What is the anticipated outcome of this option?
The manipulation of fear by the Cuban regime will not longer be an issue for the Cuban people. The people will be able to express themselves and begin living a normal life without double speak or simulating adherence to communists principles to get ahead and reap benefits. The nations of Cuba and the US can go on and establish a friendly course that will conclude once and for all the militarization of the island and the expenditure of many resources now dedicated to the defense of a nation expectant of a US invasion. Cuban families can be reunited without the great expenses that the process now entails, and be able to visit each other when they please as everyone else in the world could.
Cuba is now purchasing 500 million dollars of US agricultural products; this amount could double if the restrictions were not in place. Cuba is a producer of pharmaceuticals, which can definitively cheapen the drugs and vaccines used in the US by purchasing from Cuba, By allowing Cuba access to financial resources the country with its wealth of trained and educated personnel could march into the XXI and join the brotherhood of nations. With a 0.6% illiteracy rate in the nation, Cuba presents a formidable work force and untapped talent, now forced to linger in a planned economy.
The recent changes enacted in Cuba after the retirement of Fidel Castro are inspiring events that should be met with in kind effort by the US authorities. Raul Castro, while subservient to his older brother’s whimsical and unpredictable temper is considered a pragmatic and a capable organizer. The measures recently enacted respond to a increasing clamor of the population, mostly born during the revolutionary process, for more openness, more freedoms and less government control of the day to day economic activities of the population.
IV Supporting and evaluating policy choice
Embargo or Trade embargo as it is known is defined as a government order imposing a trade barrier, any regulation or policy that restricts international trade. This concept probably dates back to medieval time sieges that armies laid to fortified and walled city-states to win by attrition. Thirty years after its creation the United States declared the Trade Embargo of 1807 against Britain and France, and has used embargoes as a tool of foreign policy ever since. Whether is a grain embargo against the Soviet Union for the invasion of Afghanistan or the embargo against Libya, or against Saddam Hussein, invariably the poorest people of said nation are affected negatively the most. According to the Report on the Impact of the UN Sanctions against Libya “is worth noting that the Health and Human Welfare sector has been the most affected by these sanctions” (1996 Report by Libyan Delegation to UN Secretary General). In this report, which covers from 1993 to 1996, the combined losses are about 50 billion dollars for a nation that can hardly afford that amount for that time.
In Iraq, while the numbers of infantile death (given at 500, 000) has not been proved, Garfield states based on comparative data from other countries, that in five or six years Iraq would have returned to its pre-Gulf War level of around forty deaths per thousand births of children under five. Instead, we can observe not just an increase, but also a sustained increase. This is remarkable”(Garfield, 1999).
· Does the policy still make sense?
The Embargo, after 46 years, is equally responsible for the deteriorating conditions of the economic, and psychosocial of the people of Cuba. One troublesome and critical aspect of this confrontation between US and Cuba shows up in a grim statistic. Cuban people commit suicide more often and are more successful than anywhere in the world. According to Tamayo, Cuba’s suicide rates “ have clearly swung with history: From 2.2 per 100,000 in 1907, soon after Cuba won independence from Spain, it rose to 13.1 in 1957, in the thick of Castro's guerrilla war against President Fulgencio Batista.
With hopes riding on the fledgling Castro revolution, suicides plummeted in the 1960s and averaged 8 to 10 per 100,000 people, but after 1970-harvest failure, the rate rose, peaking at 23.2 in 1982 -- two years after the crisis unleashed by the Mariel boatlift. That figure made Cuba fourth in the world at the time, behind Hungary, Denmark, and Austria”. Cuban suicide rates like the health of the Comandante en Jefe became state secrets and the deaths due to suicide were classified as other (Tamayo, 1998). The sheer struggles a Cuban family has to endure to obtain the basic needs on an everyday basis, is akin to a nation under siege. When the Iraqis, or Libyans or South Africans made it known to the world what kinds of hardships they had to endure because of the embargo imposed upon them, the Cubans understood, they had endured and still do an embargo of monumental consequences longer than anyone else.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
La mala memoria corta del Cubano
Por que va Espaňa a contravenir sus propios intereses?. Leyendo a Osvaldo Paya hoy en la Revista Encuentro en la Red me parecio se sintio casi obligado a decir algo sobre lo que ocurre entre el oportunista de Moratinos, Canciller del gobierno de Zapatero y el Gobierno de Cuba y el berrinche que esto causa a muchos Cubanos por el tenor de estas audiencias. Es necesario decir algo, me imagino, penso Osvaldo, Lastimosamente peco de ingenuo cuando asevero que las naciones que mantienen relaciones “ politicas, economicas y culturales con otras, deben ser consequentes en sus relaciones con los valores y principios de la democracia y de los derechos humanos? En la historia que podemos hoy leer toda relacion entre naciones fue concevida en tramas, ventajas y desventajas e intereses. Los mas nefastos regimens de la tierra siempre tuvieron padrinos y quien los apoyaran.
La Espaňa de Franco resolvio por sus propias razones mantener las relaciones con el regimen de La Habana, debia decir el regimen de Oriente, y durante muchos anos fue la valvula de escape y modo de comunicacion con el mundo Occidental. Aunque ahora no se sabe a ciencia cierta si fue Franco o si fue Fidel quien quizo mantener las relaciones con Espaňa.
La Carta de Espaňa fue la primera fuente de informacion extranjera que lei que no fuese imprimida en alguna parte del imperio sovietico. Claro las leia e inmediatamente despues las recortaba para poder enrollar los tupamaros del dia.
La Espaňa de Moratinos, la de Franco o la de Maria Cristina o Alfonso XIII, han codiciado su glorioso pasado y lo que perdieron cuando dejaron de ser un imperio.
Ahora cuando en Cumbre tras Cumbre Espaňa, busca reintegrarse en la vida economica de las naciones de Sur y Centro America, casi como una reconquista. Como si la verguenza de 400 anos de crueldad e infamia se les borrara de la mente a los descendientes de las victimas.
Es especialmente vergonzoso en Cuba donde el Gobierno paria les ha dado entrada para dominar la industria del turismo. Esto al parecer tiene a los Espanoles tan preocupados por que un nuevo gobierno en Cuba sin los Comunistas al mando podria intervenir todas las propiedades y negocios Espaňolas en la Isla catalogandoles de hacer negocios con el enemigo o haber conspirado con los comunistas para esclavisar al pueblo Cubano que es en estos momentos exactamente lo que esta pasando.
A todas vistas los Espaňoles quieren quedarse con sus pedazos de Cuba Comunismo o no, ya le echamos de casa una vez, le echaremos una vez mas.
La Espaňa de Franco resolvio por sus propias razones mantener las relaciones con el regimen de La Habana, debia decir el regimen de Oriente, y durante muchos anos fue la valvula de escape y modo de comunicacion con el mundo Occidental. Aunque ahora no se sabe a ciencia cierta si fue Franco o si fue Fidel quien quizo mantener las relaciones con Espaňa.
La Carta de Espaňa fue la primera fuente de informacion extranjera que lei que no fuese imprimida en alguna parte del imperio sovietico. Claro las leia e inmediatamente despues las recortaba para poder enrollar los tupamaros del dia.
La Espaňa de Moratinos, la de Franco o la de Maria Cristina o Alfonso XIII, han codiciado su glorioso pasado y lo que perdieron cuando dejaron de ser un imperio.
Ahora cuando en Cumbre tras Cumbre Espaňa, busca reintegrarse en la vida economica de las naciones de Sur y Centro America, casi como una reconquista. Como si la verguenza de 400 anos de crueldad e infamia se les borrara de la mente a los descendientes de las victimas.
Es especialmente vergonzoso en Cuba donde el Gobierno paria les ha dado entrada para dominar la industria del turismo. Esto al parecer tiene a los Espanoles tan preocupados por que un nuevo gobierno en Cuba sin los Comunistas al mando podria intervenir todas las propiedades y negocios Espaňolas en la Isla catalogandoles de hacer negocios con el enemigo o haber conspirado con los comunistas para esclavisar al pueblo Cubano que es en estos momentos exactamente lo que esta pasando.
A todas vistas los Espaňoles quieren quedarse con sus pedazos de Cuba Comunismo o no, ya le echamos de casa una vez, le echaremos una vez mas.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Cuban Characters
There is in Cuba a number of people that were able to transcend time and space just by the virtue of being themselves. By far the most famous was " El Caballero de Paris", a self styled vagabond moving through the streets of Old Havana like a spectrum in exile from the nether lands. He never panhandled or beg for anything according to those who knew him. His matted hair and dirty clothes were part of his personna. His life shrouded in mistery added flavor to the Havana of old. A statue I am told was erected in his likeness to make his existance an eternal memory.
There were others, my favorite was CHORI. A few yeras ago I heard about Chori's identity, apparently he was known. His deal, as we would say in America was rather simple. All over the city of Havana he would print his name, eye level, in white chalk and in the type of print that we all learned in workshop in High School. CHORI, every bus stop every corner in the city, just like a Nike sign.
I had the opportunity to personally meet two of these character, I met " Dorsalito" , he would have won many a Mr. America titles, his named after the muscle latissimus dorsi, which in his case was overdeveloped, not just the dorsi, but the deltoid and trapezius were also overdeveloped giving Dorsalito a vague resemblance to a butterfly with the wings spread. A tall and built AfroCuban Dorsalito made his way in the beaches of Havana, where everyone recognized him, walking , arms to his side like he was carrying a 13 inches TV under his arms.
I also had the opportunity to meet "EL Patinador de la Muerte", This fellow travelled all of Cuba in skates. I met him in the Guanajay Park one afternoon, in his way to Cienfuegos. Is told in Havana that this fellow really had some cojones and was a daredevil in Skates. Others less kind have him begging by attaching himself to moving cars.
Also I met Tanquecito.http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y99/feb99/16a10.htm This fellow I saw use a 55 gallons metal barrel like a toy, bouncing it, throwing it to make it stop or wobble at his whim, a total genious with his toy barrels.
There were others, my favorite was CHORI. A few yeras ago I heard about Chori's identity, apparently he was known. His deal, as we would say in America was rather simple. All over the city of Havana he would print his name, eye level, in white chalk and in the type of print that we all learned in workshop in High School. CHORI, every bus stop every corner in the city, just like a Nike sign.
I had the opportunity to personally meet two of these character, I met " Dorsalito" , he would have won many a Mr. America titles, his named after the muscle latissimus dorsi, which in his case was overdeveloped, not just the dorsi, but the deltoid and trapezius were also overdeveloped giving Dorsalito a vague resemblance to a butterfly with the wings spread. A tall and built AfroCuban Dorsalito made his way in the beaches of Havana, where everyone recognized him, walking , arms to his side like he was carrying a 13 inches TV under his arms.
I also had the opportunity to meet "EL Patinador de la Muerte", This fellow travelled all of Cuba in skates. I met him in the Guanajay Park one afternoon, in his way to Cienfuegos. Is told in Havana that this fellow really had some cojones and was a daredevil in Skates. Others less kind have him begging by attaching himself to moving cars.
Also I met Tanquecito.http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y99/feb99/16a10.htm This fellow I saw use a 55 gallons metal barrel like a toy, bouncing it, throwing it to make it stop or wobble at his whim, a total genious with his toy barrels.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
the great Mimic
The effect of the April 2nd, 2007 tsunami in the Solomon Island uncovered sunken ships that dated back from WWII. Among these ships were one similar to the one navigated by the late President Kennedy while a young Lieutenant in the Pacific theater of the war. As a collateral of these news and the public fascination with JFK, some old photographs resurfaced in the news media. An old photograph showed a replica of the PT 9 boat similar to the one sailed by Kennedy. This replica was being drawn in a float along a Parade on an unidentified American street.
This picture seemed all too familiar to me, and I recalled the fanfare surrounding the yacht Granma, today housed in a museum in Old Havana. This yacht had brought to Cuba from Mexico a young Castro and 81 of his followers in December of 1956. It occurred to me that the idea of transforming an old boat into a shrine was not original.
Another old American historical item; the Liberty Bell, traveled the American countryside from 1855 to 1915, attempting to foster national unity. In 1947, Fidel Castro a student at Havana University traveled to the eastern part of the country with other opposition leaders to obtain, on loan, the bell that had ushered with its tolls the Cuban Independence War in 1868. In the decade of the 60s, a cruel creation: UMAP imitated the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. In these Cuban camps, unemployed, antisocial elements, homosexuals and others considered in need of rehabilitation worked in the fields from sun up to sun down. The inscription on the entrance of these camps: “ Work will make you free”, taken right out of one of the darkest hour of mankind. The entrance to the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz I, in Poland also read: “Arbeit Macht Frei” the German version of the same phrase. Long before that the great mimic had already used another Spanish version of condemned Nazi leader. The phrase History will absolve me, used at the end of his defense in the trial for the armed assault on the Moncada Garrison is similar to the phrase used by Adolf Hitler during his trial for the Beer Hall Putsch in Germany on 1923. Like the fuehrer Castro occupied all the leadership positions as to eliminate any doubt or question regarding his total control.
This picture seemed all too familiar to me, and I recalled the fanfare surrounding the yacht Granma, today housed in a museum in Old Havana. This yacht had brought to Cuba from Mexico a young Castro and 81 of his followers in December of 1956. It occurred to me that the idea of transforming an old boat into a shrine was not original.
Another old American historical item; the Liberty Bell, traveled the American countryside from 1855 to 1915, attempting to foster national unity. In 1947, Fidel Castro a student at Havana University traveled to the eastern part of the country with other opposition leaders to obtain, on loan, the bell that had ushered with its tolls the Cuban Independence War in 1868. In the decade of the 60s, a cruel creation: UMAP imitated the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. In these Cuban camps, unemployed, antisocial elements, homosexuals and others considered in need of rehabilitation worked in the fields from sun up to sun down. The inscription on the entrance of these camps: “ Work will make you free”, taken right out of one of the darkest hour of mankind. The entrance to the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz I, in Poland also read: “Arbeit Macht Frei” the German version of the same phrase. Long before that the great mimic had already used another Spanish version of condemned Nazi leader. The phrase History will absolve me, used at the end of his defense in the trial for the armed assault on the Moncada Garrison is similar to the phrase used by Adolf Hitler during his trial for the Beer Hall Putsch in Germany on 1923. Like the fuehrer Castro occupied all the leadership positions as to eliminate any doubt or question regarding his total control.
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