Yenisel Rodriguez Perez: I graduated in socio-cultural studies and I like anthropology. I’m a member of the Haydee Santamaria Collective and the Critical Observatory, initiatives for critical thought and action. My daily actions are inspired by the aim of every individual and workplace participating in the design of their own social reality. I promote cooperative work and self-management solidarity. I belong to a generation that must reconstruct civic culture in Cuba, that’s why I am writing at this site.

Eating for Five Pesos

November 17, 2010 |  Print This Post  Email to a Friend

Yenisel Rodriguez

Waiting. Photo by Marco Petrovic

At the corner of my block there exists one of the few commissaries in Havana. It’s neither a State restaurant nor a private “paladar.”  It’s simply a commissary. In the Havana of the first half of the 20th century, commissaries were characteristically places where poor people could kill their hunger.

Two categories of these eateries existed: the Chinese ones, which historians say were filthy and had the worst food; and those of the Spanish, which had a better reputation; one wouldn’t find little beetles in the white rice and you wouldn’t get your elbows dirty from eating on a grimy tablecloth.

The commissary at the corner by my house seems more like the former, not only because of its poor hygienic conditions but also for the Asian eyes of the black women who serves the food. Despite the dirt and beetles, the commissary is a good thing for many of the local residents of the Santo Suarez neighborhood, especially because they can eat there for only five pesos (about 25 cents USD).

The plate of the day consists of:  White rice, beans, egg tortilla, root vegetablem piece of cake

A few days ago I went there famished, intent on ordering a double portion. I sat down at one of the tables and was surprised to find out how important it is to know a place from the inside.

Most of the customers were retirees, and at my table there were four other people besides me. Two old men seated there allowed themselves the luxury of ordering “soup for a peso” after having eaten the house plate of the day. The stalwart of the group, an immigrant from the east of the island, requested two pork fricassees for nine pesos each.  “I’ll wash these down with two bags of soya yogurt that I have back in the room,” he said with a certain degree of pride.

The two other diners (a young guy who was dressed like a campesino and a teenager) ordered two plates of spaghetti for five pesos each.  “In a private paladar this would cost twenty pesos,” said the one wearing the yarey (a straw-like farmer’s hat), while he struggled to dissolve the small pieces of “potato cheese” that adorned his dish.

I followed the example of the stalwart guy, and after 45 minutes of waiting I left for home with my double portion of cold fricasseed pig fat.  At the beginning I had thought about buying the specialty of the house, but I wasn’t hungry enough to eat a tortilla made out of synthetic eggs. When I got home I boiled a few plantains to finally fill me up.

I had never before been sensitized to poverty from the aesthetics of sentimentality and compassion; however something inside me became illuminated when I talked with my partners around the table. There were moments when it felt as if nothing were lacking.  What I discovered was that a poor person’s life goes beyond their poverty.

At the commissary on the corner by my house, I learned that there exist many ways of experiencing poverty, and at times I offered no resistance to recognizing my own.

The ‘Young Cuba’ blog

November 10, 2011 |  Print This Post  Email to a Friend

Fernando Ravsberg

Young Cubans. Photo: Raquel Perez

HAVANA TIMES, Nov. 10 — Harold Cardenas and Roberto Gonzalez are two young university professors from Matanzas Province.  Together they created La Joven Cuba (Young Cuba), one of the most interesting blogs in Cuba based on the number of visits, the youth who read it and its independent perspective.

A few days ago, taking advantage of their visiting Havana, they asked me for an interview.  I decided to offer them something of a swap: I would respond to their questions in exchange for them answering mine.  They accepted immediately.

Over coffee in the back of my house, Roberto told me that they started the blog “to show people online a more realistic Cuba, which is identified by what we see daily, beyond the black and white extremes.  We wanted to participate in the debate and give our opinions as youth.”

Harold noted, both inside and outside Cuba, that there were “lots of problems, but overcoming them is what gives meaning to what we do.  It’s what has reaffirmed us and also what has taught us the most.”

I ask for examples and they told me about “a journalist from a major Latin American media outlet who interviewed us for an article contrasting Yoani Sanchez’s vision with ours, but he was censured by his agency, eliminating everything we said.”

Roberto also pointed out that in Cuba itself “there was much resistance, but with every obstacle that was put in our way, we persevered and succeeded.   We didn’t let ourselves get shaken up by the pressure or the questioning.  We knew we were doing something correct and good.”

At the end of 2010, an article appeared in La Joven Cuba demanding an explanation from the government for the criminal deaths of dozens of patients at Havana’s psychiatric hospital and an account of the events that led to the dismissal of General Rogelio Acevedo, the head of civil aviation on the island.

“We wrote the piece and no one has responded to tell us that we shouldn’t have written it.  Nor are we too worried about it, we don’t have to make concessions to anyone for telling the truth,” said Harold as he finished his second cup of coffee.

He added, “Blogs are now an alternative to the official press,” and he explained that the range of topics that these touch on is much broader (which made me think that these could also be an alternative for my Cuban colleagues trying to evade the censorship of their editors).

Roberto explained that it’s not an easy road.  As well as incomprehension, they face very specific problems such as lack of time (everyone helping with La Joven Cuba is working or study) and they have to deal with a very sluggish network and antiquated computers.

To make matters worse, they only have Internet access through the university.  “As bloggers we can’t get online.  We might be able to as professors and researchers, but we would each have to have a computer and a telephone at home and our accounts would have to be approved by the Governing Board of the university.”

I was going to change the subject but Roberto interrupted me to say, “”Previously Cuba was connected to the Internet only by satellite, so I could understand why it was so slow, but now — for the last six months — we’ve been connected by an underwater cable but the connection is just as bad.”

When I asked them why most of the blogs in Cuba are political, Harold replied, “This demonstrates the need for people here to talk about politics, which is also seen in the large participation by Cubans on these blogs.”

Roberto immediately interjected to explain that if used correctly, “Technology would facilitate the circulation of information, intermediate structures would disappear and the government would receive information directly from people.”

He gave the example of Hugo Chavez, who “has done a good job at managing technology and succeeded at direct communication with the people.”  Roberto dreams that one day everyone in Cuba will be connected so they can voice their opinions “in a public place and with total transparency.”

Harold believes the connectivity constraints are in large part due to the “US economic blockade, but there also problems of interpretation on what the Internet is about and how positive this connection is between Cubans.”

He commented, “It’s crazy to deny people the technology” because it will reach Cuba in any case.  “What we should ask ourselves is whether we’re preparing for that moment and if we’ve educated the public on how to use it,” he added.

Finally, they explained that their blog is called La Joven Cuba (Young Cuba) because, “We are heirs to the tradition of Mella and Guiteras and their struggles for social rights within Cuban socialism, not the Sovietized model that we were connected to at one point.”

Although people may not agree with some of the articles in La Joven Cuba, we must recognize that it is an essential blog given its youthfulness, its irreverence, the authenticity, its independence of thought and the courage to express it.  It’s a sprouting bud of what the country could be.

La Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba

November 10, 2011 |  Print This Post  Email to a Friend

Photo Feature by Dariela Aquique

Casa de la Trova, Santiago de Cuba

HAVANA TIMES, Nov. 10 — Santiago de Cuba is the mother of a peculiar musical style known as “Trova”.  From exquisitely conceived and crafted lyrics to the most improvised refrains behind the taut wire stings, the male and female musicians accompanied by a guitar made famous internationally the repertoire of traditional Cuban trova and Santiago trova as the most distinctive of its sound.

The Casa de la Trova is the place where this renowned style can always be found. Foreign musicians, curious visitors or excursionists who visit the city are a common fixture. Listening to an arpeggio of chords and the singing of classic songs of traditional folk music —they sip a Mojito, a Cuba Libre or a foamy beer to appease the eastern Cuban heat.

Having their roots in this club are native bards of the region as illustrious as Jose (Pepe) Sanchez, the great Sindo Garay, the unique Hierrezuelo Brothers and the Matamoros Brothers, and the famed Francisco Repilado (better known as “Compay Segundo” of Buena Vista Social Club fame). They and many others seem to be right here in this club at the corner of Heredia and St. Felix.

At first it was a tiny cafe there on Heredia Street, between a cafeteria and the La luz de Oriente nightclub, which became La Casa del Estudiante after the revolution in 1959. The then greasy spoon — with a bar, a few tables and a jukebox — was the meeting place for roaming minstrels who sang trova music, and because of that it took the name “La Trovita.”

Casa de la trova, Santiago de Cuba.

Back in the late 80’s it was decided to expand the place by combining it with the old cafeteria and back rooms on the upper floor to make the facility a single-use building, the current “Casa de la Trova” of Santiago de Cuba.

Great personalities from all over the world have come to visit the birthplace of traditional trova. But none of these visits have had more of an impact than the surprise arrival on one Sunday afternoon in June 2000. People began running around all over the place telling others who they had run into:

“Paul McCartney is at the Casa de Trova,” they announced to everyone.

The former member of the Beatles, who had never visited Cuba, requested authorization from the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana to land his private plane in Santiago.

Once he landed, he visited the Santiago’s Morro Castle and then asked to be taken to the Casa de Trova. Sitting there on a bare stool he hummed along to the troubadours, signed autographs and talked about how he had always admired this kind of music, which the Beatles borrowed in some of their musical arrangements.

He left his personal gratitude to the troubadours, and that sheet of paper is preserved in a glass case hanging on one of the walls of the club along with many other signature and graffiti.

Click on the thumbnails below to view all the photos in this gallery

Regina Cano: I have lived my entire life in Havana, Cuba – the island from which I’ve still never left, and which I love. I was born on September 9, and my parents chose my name out of superstition, but my mother raised me outside the religion professed by her family. I studied accounting and finance at the University of Havana, a profession that I’m not engaged in for the time being, and that I substituted for doing crafts, some ceramics, and studying a little English and about painting. Ah! – concerning my picture: I identify with Rastafarian principles, but I am not one of them. I wear this cap from time to time, but I assure you I just didn’t have a better picture.

Painful News

November 10, 2011 |  Print This Post  Email to a Friend

Regina Cano

Foto: Caridad

The falling of a 13-year-old girl from the fourth floor of her school building has shocked everyone who has heard the story (though I think relatively few people have).

The girl was in intensive care for five days, but tragically she died.

On Sunday September 18 in east Havana’s Alamar neighborhood, an eighth grade teacher called on some of her students to create a mural in her classroom.

The 22-year-old teacher had just graduated this past July, but she was still living in a dorm here in Havana since she’s originally from Santiago de Cuba.

The school year began in September and each school was given the task of cleaning up and making repairs over the vacation period. However, in this room was a broken window that was also missing a few blinds.

During the previous school year, some students had gone out the window onto a foot-wide ledge outside the classroom – something for which they were punished.

The day of the incident, the teacher went downstairs at some point to make a phone call during which time the girl who died went out onto the ledge with a girlfriend. The friend came back in and apparently the girl fell afterwards.

According to someone close to the events, the little girl who died was from a dysfunctional family, which is common in Cuba. She had also made previous attempts on her life, though I don’t know if that fact was associated with the tragedy.

On the other hand, the teacher is someone who shows signs of deep insecurity, according to that same person who explained to me what happened. The instructor is the eldest daughter of a low-income family; she came to study and work in Havana apparently because of the need for teachers in our city, which obviously meant more opportunities for her than staying in Santiago de Cuba.

A friend told me that she herself used to conduct “personality tests” on teachers to establish their level of responsibility. So who failed in this case to analyze all the features and capabilities required for teaching, which includes not only being able to acquire and transmit knowledge?

And who forgot to cover the hole in the window (if only with some pieces of wood diagonally across it to discourage the habit of climbing out onto the ledge)? It’s not the first time that school buildings of this same “Giron” design have had students walking out onto their ledges or hiding on them.

So people! Faced with the need to make up for the shortage of teachers, we are training anyone who comes along, perhaps without appreciating the full limits of their abilities. Instead, this selection must involve a careful and thorough analysis of the details concerning the individual.

The absence of certain assessments could well lead to us regretting the consequences, such as in this case.

In Cuba the Passing of the Torch Is Assured

October 25, 2011 |  Print This Post  Email to a Friend

Yusimi Rodriguez

Photo: Elio Delgado

HAVANA TIMES, October 25 — On Friday I took my niece to school, where everyone was set to go on their first camping trips as “Pioneer Explorers.” Like with all Pioneer activities, this began with the singing of the national anthem by students and teachers alike.

And like with almost all Pioneer activities, the children proceeded to chant revolutionary slogans, with each scout troop rattling off a different one – energetically and with emotion. And as if that weren’t enough of a show of energy and emotion, the principal or a teacher would instruct them to repeat their rallying cries.

Seeing my niece and her classmate’s thrill and excitement over the camping trip, it was easy for me to return to my childhood days with a sense of nostalgia.

I too had gotten dressed in my blue pants, a sweater and a hat that made me feel like a true explorer. I too had my little friends and buddies with whom I shared the excitement of the unknown. I too chanted slogans – in fact the very same ones.

Foto: Elio Delgado

That was something I found amazing. Years have passed and fashions have change, but not the slogans. The situation in the country had changed: first there was the process of the “rectification of errors” in the eighties, after was the fall of the socialist camp and the subsequent “Special Period” during the nineties.

Now with our system being “updated,” they tell us that our socialist model will eliminate the mistakes of the past (which apparently survived the process of the rectification of errors.).

Errors we were always warned about by the eternal leader of the Cuban Revolution, according to fragments of his old speeches published over the past several months by Granma newspaper.

And today small private businesses are no longer vestiges of the bourgeoisie but the possible salvation of the economy. Yet we keep repeating the same slogans.

Pioneers between six and eleven years of age don’t yet know too much about who Ernesto “Che” Guevara was, but they all clearly “want to be like him.” At that age they’ve barely experienced life; they don’t know the history of the country, let alone that of the world.

Their parents are still the ones who decide what clothes and shoes they’ll wear; they don’t understand what socialism or capitalism is, but they shout out loud that they’re willing to defend our system with their lives if necessary; and they will dance “like good communists,” according to one of the pioneers slogans, though they haven’t a glue about what communism is.

The highlight of my nostalgia came with the slogan “If you want to ride a donkey, in the US there’s a donkey president.” I wanted to scream, “I chanted that same slogan on this same playground” (though I won’t say how many years ago that was).

Photo: Elio Delgado

The important thing is that the occupant of the White House has changed several times through presidential elections since the first time I shouted that slogan, but it remains there, unwavering.

The US president is an ass, though most Pioneers don’t know his name. It’s not that I identify with Mr. Obama; I actually think a real donkey would be more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize.

I wonder if they really were Pioneers, the creators of these slogans that have stayed on the hit parade over all these years.

What remained clear to me on Friday is that the generation that succeeded us has taken up the torch. Perhaps many things will change, and plenty more to come, but there will always be slogans to shout, and of course there will always be those who shout them.

Cuba Blockade on Today’s UN Agenda

October 25, 2011 |  Print This Post  Email to a Friend

by Circles Robinson

Havana’s capitolio building. Photo: Ihosvanny

HAVANA TIMES, Oct. 25 — Cuba is on the UN agenda on Tuesday but it has nothing to do with sanctions on the Caribbean island nation.

Instead it is the half-century United States economic blockade on Cuba that will obtain approval or rejection from the world body.

For twenty consecutive years the Cuban government has asked the UN General Assembly to condemn the US blockade that has severely damaged its economy.

Exactly a year ago the vote was 187-2 with three abstentions, with the US being told to end its blockade, although there are no enforcement teeth in the resolution.

The one country that supported the US stranglehold on Cuba was Israel, with the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau abstaining.

Many of the countries that supported Cuba’s resolution against the blockade – including its European allies – have their differences with the island’s form of government but do not think the hostile US policy is fair.

El 27 de junio, Estenoz fue fusilado a quemarropa(*) junto con 50 hombres cerca de Alto Songo. Se informó que su muerte “llena de júbilo a los corazones cubanos”.(1) Su cuerpo, cubierto de moscas, fue exhibido en Santiago de Cuba. antes de ser enterrado en una fosa común; la mayoría de los periódicos mostró la foto, en un recuadro, con titulares alborozados.181 Durante los días siguientes, muchos más independientes fueron muertos por resistirse presuntamente a sus arrestos, como se alegó con frecuencia. Entre ellos estuvieron dirigentes menores, como Ramón Miranda, René Savaigne y Germán Luna.(2)
El golpe final contra la protesta armada fue propinado el 18 de julio, el día en que Ivonnet se rindió en las cercanías de El Caney. Fue capturado y muerto “mientras trataba de escapar”. Su cadáver fue trasladado triunfalmente a Santiago de Cuba por el capitán Ortiz.(3) Según la autopsia, Ivonnet llevaba tres días sin comer. Como con Estenoz, su cadáver fue expuesto al público y luego enterrado en una fosa común, aunque su familia había hecho arreglos para brindar una tumba a sus restos. Obviamente, las autoridades cubanas querían no sólo que Evaristo Estenoz y Pedro Ivonnet estuviesen muertos, deseaban también evitar que surgiesen símbolos como lápidas mortuorias que pudiesen revivir en los negros y mulatos el recuerdo de los dos dirigentes de color.
Con la muerte de ambos, la revuelta de los independientes se acercó a su fin. El 15 de julio se restablecieron las garantías constitucionales. A finales de ese mes, la mayoría de los dirigentes y de los seguidores, aún prófugos, se habían rendido “tratando de entregarse al capitán Pérez, pues ellos sabían que él realmente los entregaría”.(4) Ahora con 894 reclusos acusados de rebelión, la cárcel de Santiago de Cuba sobrepasaba ampliamente su capacidad. Fue necesario colocar hamacas adicionales en las celdas y en los corredores, y las condiciones sanitarias se deterioraron. El 7 de agosto fueron trasladados a La Habana 500 prisioneros en un tren especial, custodiados por 150 soldados, para ser juzgados por conspirar contra la república.(5)
Las fuerzas armadas del gobierno evacuaron gradualmente Oriente. De un estimado de 8 000 soldados, guardias rurales y voluntarios en el momento culminante de la represión a mediados de junio, el número total de fuerzas había disminuido hasta menos de 4 000 hombres a mediados de julio. Los primeros en volver fueron los voluntarios del oeste del país, quienes empezaron a regresar a casa después de la muerte de Estenoz. El ejército y la infantería de marina norteamericana lo hicieron a continuación. El 27 de julio, Monteagudo, los oficiales y los soldados recibieron un gran banquete de homenaje en el Parque Martí, en La Habana.(6)
Evidentemente, el balance exacto de la masacre racista de 1912 nunca será conocido. Las cifras oficiales cubanas informaron que el número de muertos era más de 2 000. Los ciudadanos norteamericanos residentes en Oriente lo estimaron de 5 000 a 6000. Guillermo Lara, un independiente que estuvo junto a Estenoz, habló de 5 000 muertos.(7) Estos informes contrastaban con la cifra oficial de 16 muertos en las fuerzas armadas, entre los que estaban incluidos ocho negros y mulatos asesinados por sus compañeros blancos y otras víctimas de disparos escapados.(8)
Es también imposible hacer una evaluación exacta de las destrucciones en Oriente, porque muchos daños atribuidos a los independientes fueron exagerados o inventados por los periodistas y los funcionarios del gobierno como parte de la propaganda contra los negros. Los daños que los propietarios extranjeros informaron a los cónsules, fueron aumentados con frecuencia con la esperanza de obtener compensaciones monetarias. Además, las destrucciones no las causaron solamente los independientes. Los 8 000 soldados y voluntarios que operaron en Oriente durante el clímax de la represión, dejaron sus huellas en la provincia. Requisaron a los campesinos caballos y bueyes, alimentos en las tiendas y armas a los extranjeros. Sin autorización, convirtieron las iglesias en barracas y en fortificaciones. También se vengaron de los rebeldes, quemando y saqueando sus propiedades, e incendiando los bohíos para matar a los familiares que estaban dentro de ellos. Bandas de delincuentes se aprovecharon del desorden para saquear las fincas abandonadas. En realidad, los cónsules de Francia e Inglaterra en Santiago de Cuba temían más a los voluntarios y a los pillos que a los rebeldes. Pocas propiedades extranjeras valiosas y pocos edificios oficiales sufrieron daños graves: principalmente los centrales de propiedad española Esperanza y Confluente, en las cercanías de Guantánamo; el cafetal Olimpio, propiedad de franceses; algunas casas que pertenecían a la Spanish-American Iron Company; tres estaciones de ferrocarril; algunos archivos judiciales de los municipios y, además, las pérdidas por los incendios en La Maya. La mayoría de las víctimas de la devastación eran campesinos pobres, por lo general negros, y pequeños comerciantes rurales, a menudo de origen francés o español, quienes fueron requisados por los dos bandos para obtener alimentos, armas, municiones, dinero y caballos.(9)
Ese balance indica que si una “guerra racista” tuvo lugar en Oriente en 1912, ésta fue bien distinta al conflicto que denunciaron los periódicos cubanos. En contradicción con lo informado por la prensa, el 20 de mayo de 1912 los independientes no iniciaron un alzamiento de los negros contra los blancos, sino una protesta armada para obligar a que su partido fuese legalizado de nuevo. Sin embargo, la reacción violenta que provocaron estuvo cerca de ser una guerra racista. Durante dos meses, miles de blancos de toda la Isla dieron rienda suelta a su racismo. En Oriente, las fuerzas armadas y las de voluntarios -integradas mayormente por blancos- cazaron y masacraron de manera indiscriminada a los participantes en la protesta de los independientes y a los campesinos pacíficos de origen africano.
Que tal explosión de racismo pudiera ocurrir bajo la guía de veteranos del Ejército Libertador y en la provincia que fue la cuna del movimiento independentista cubano, desprestigió el mito de la igualdad racial en la Cuba capitalista. Además, procura las bases para una reflexión concluyente sobre la importancia de la raza y de la cultura en la formación del nacionalismo cubano.

African Culture in Cuba through Drums

October 17, 2011 |  Print This Post  Email to a Friend

Photo Feature by Elio Delgado

Tambores Arará

HAVANA TIMES, Oct. 17 — The Havana-based museums “Casa de Africa” and “Casa Nacional de la Musica” have organized an exhibition of musical instruments and ritual objects associated with a history of African cultures established in Cuba.  These exhibits are being opened on the occasion of the commemoration of 130th anniversary of the birth of Cuban ethno-musicologist Fernando Ortiz Fernandez.

The items on display were studied by Ortiz, especially the musical instruments since he was closely involved with them when he wrote his monumental work Los instrumentos de la musica afrocubana (Afro-Cuban Musical Instruments), published in five volumes between 1952 and 1954.

All of the objects have a common origin: collections created since the early twentieth century in the Museo Luis Montane museum at the University of Havana and the Museo Nacional.

In the early 1960’s, with the creation of the Instituto de Etnologia y Folclore, these collections were merged and enriched with new pieces collected during field work.

In 1985 the decision was made to divide the collection; musical instruments went to the Museo Nacional de la Musica and the ritual objects went to the Casa de Africa.

Twenty five years later, the exhibition that is taking place is the first step in a joint project between the two institutions to further the study and dissemination of this important cultural heritage of the Cuban nation.

El conjunto Biankomeko

The Biankomeko set

The Biankomeko set is linked to ceremonies that take place in Abakua societies, which emerged in the Carabali-originating councils of the 1830s in areas adjacent to ports in the provinces of Havana and Matanzas. These societies have remained active up into the present.

The Biankomeko consists of four drums.  The largest is called “Bonko Enchemilla” and the remaining three are called “Enkomos” (identified individually as “Obia-Apa,” “Kuchi Yerema” and “Biancome”), which make up parts of the “Un Ekon” and the “Un Erikundi” collections.

The drums make up a set that was confiscated by the police in 1902 and became part of the Museo Montane of the University of Havana the following year.  Shortly after, they went into the private collection of Fernando Ortiz, who in 1930 commissioned a craftsman to restore them for presentation at a conference.  In 1955 Ortiz donated them to the Museo Nacional.

Conjunto de Güiro

The Güiro collection

The Güiro (“Agbe” or “Chequere”) were present since the 19th century in Santeria rituals to accompany chants and dances in funeral ceremonies and those of initiations, gifts, cleansing and commemorations.

Originally appearing in the areas of Havana and Matanzas, later these were taken to the center and east of the island in the first few decades of the twentieth century. This instrument has remained in use and has extended into popular music.

For a long time, the set of instruments consisted of three “guiros” (gourds) and the metal part of a hoe; later a conga drum was added the 1930’s and another one years later. Each member of the set has its own name: “Mula” is the larger one; “Dos golpes,” the medium-sized one; and “Cachimbo Omele” and “Un golpe” are the smallest ones.

The three instruments constitute a set, though there are no references as to their original source.  They were part of the private collection of Fernando Ortiz, who donated them to the Museo Nacional in 1954.

Click on the thumbnails below to view all the photos in this gallery

Hablemos Press journalist who wrote about the possible intravenous bacterial infection of Laura Pollan arrested

Havana, October 17, 2011- Six agents from Cuban State Security arrested independent journalist Carlos Rios Otero at his home at 5:30 pm on Friday the 14th.

Rios Otero, who is a member of Independent Press Agency Hablemos Press, had published an article the day before detailing the critical condition of Lady in White Laura Pollan and other cases of Ladies in White who became ill after being injected during acts of repression.

According to the journalist, the agents took him to the Aguilera police station in Lawton, Havana, where he was constantly threatened until after midnight.

His arrest took place two hours before the announcement of Laura Pollan’s death, at the same time when it became evident that many of the cell phones of peaceful opposition members had been cut off.

At the home of the journalist at Correa #163, Santos Suarez, a patrol car appeared with two uniformed police officers and two plainclothes agents of State Security. Another two agents in civilian clothes arrived on motorcycles. One said to Rios: “Carlos, we need to talk.”

In his articles for Hablemos Press, one on September 12th “IPK Denounces Medical Power,” and on October 28th, “Lethal Vaccinations against the Cuban Dissidence,” Rios explored the possible relationship between the grave illness of Laura Pollan and the puncture inflicted on her at the last attack she suffered.

He cited previous instances, such as the other Ladies in White who had been injected and then suffered dizzy spells, blurry vision, fever, loss of equilibrium, diarrhea, nausea, cramps, irregular menstrual cycles with heavy bleeding, and other symptoms attributable to bacterial infection or reactions to toxic substances.

Rios said: “They placed me in the back seat between two plainclothes agents and with the two motorcycles leading a caravan that appeared to me as if I were the president of the republic. In the Aguilera station at a section they call “The Pit,” they interrogated me and the four agents threatened me regarding signs that had appeared in the streets with the word “NO.” I belong to the “NO” campaign. They threatened me with prison for the signs, calling it a “crime of propaganda for the enemy,” but I refused to sign an “admission.” They interrogated me about my friends and about a repair done on my house - remember that Dr. Darsi Ferrer was imprisoned on the pretext of the materials used in the repair of his house. They avoided talking about my articles dealing with the health of Laura Pollan and the puncture she suffered on her forearm during the last act of repression carried out by them and their paramilitary “Rapid Response Brigades.” After releasing me around midnight, one said, ‘Laura has died.’”

Carlos Rios believes that the sudden interest in him has nothing to do with the signs on the streets, but with the death of Laura Pollan while he writes of how the government’s “battle of ideas” includes suspicious injections.

According to family members, Lady in White and photo journalist for Hablemos Press, Sandra Guerra, was “sequestered by State Security agents on Saturday morning when she was traveling to Havana to attend the funeral for Pollan.”

Damas de Blanco de Cuba mantendrán cruzada por presos tras muerte de Laura Pollán

Por Por Rigoberto Díaz | AFP –

Hace 2 horas 2 minutos

Las opositoras Damas de Blanco marcharon este domingo en La Habana en homenaje a su fallecida líder, Laura Pollán, por primera vez acompañadas por hombres, y enviaron un mensaje al gobierno de Cuba: seguirán reclamando en la calle la libertad de todos los presos políticos.

“El mensaje de las Damas de Blanco al gobierno es que vamos a continuar”, declaró a los periodistas la nueva líder del grupo, Berta Soler, al iniciar la caminata por la Quinta Avenida de La Habana, luego de asistir a misa en la Iglesia de Santa Rita, como hacen cada domingo desde hace ocho años.

Dama de Blanco Berta Soler

Dama de Blanco Sara Marta Fonseca

“Que sepa bien el gobierno cubano que estamos fuertes y que vamos a continuar esta lucha pacífica por la libertad de los presos políticos, pero también por los derechos humanos”, añadió Soler, de 48 años, subrayando que la “lucha comenzó en 2003 y va a continuar con Laura físicamente o no”.
Encabezadas por el esposo de Pollán, el ex preso político Héctor Maseda, que portaba un cartel que decía “Laura Pollán  !Presente!”, unas 60 Damas marcharon este domingo, acompañadas por primera vez por unos 40 hombres, lo que elevó a un centenar la cifra de opositores que caminó por la Quinta Avenida.
Este hecho convirtió esta caminata en la mayor que hayan realizado las Damas en la capital cubana desde que el grupo fue creado, en 2003, tras el arresto y condena de 75 opositores, ya todos liberados. Los últimos 52 de los 75 fueron excarcelados tras un inédito diálogo entre el presidente Raúl Castro y el cardenal Jaime Ortega, instalado en mayo de 2010. Otros 23 habían sido liberados antes por motivos de salud. “Somos opositores y estamos aquí apoyando a las Damas”, dijo uno de los hombres, que prefirió no revelar su identidad, a la AFP.
Pollán falleció el viernes a los 63 años a causa de un paro cardiorrespiratorio en un hospital de La Habana, donde había ingresado una semana antes con insuficiencia respiratoria, agravada por su diabetes e hipertensión. Cumpliendo su última voluntad, sus restos fueron cremados tras ser velados durante unas dos horas por su familia, contó su marido.
Las Damas de Blanco, ex presos políticos y otros opositores continuaban este domingo reunidos en casa de Pollán, en el barrio de Centro Habana, en un “funeral” simbólico que iniciaron el sábado y que se extenderá hasta el lunes, sin presencia policial visible, según Soler.
Durante la misa en Santa Rita, el párroco José Félix, también secretario de la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Cuba, ofreció sus condolencias a la familia y amigos de Pollán, y pidió a Dios acoger su “cuerpo glorioso” en su reino.
A las expresiones de dolor y admiración por la fallecida activista, del exilio de Miami -bastión anticastrista- y de la Iglesia Católica de Cuba, se sumaron los gobiernos de Estados Unidos, España y Francia.
Aunque recibieron numerosos acosos y actos de repudio, las Damas de Blanco se convirtieron en el único grupo opositor tolerado por el Gobierno en las calles cubanas. Las autoridades comunistas las consideran “punta de lanza” y “mercenarias” pagadas por Washington en su política de subversión hacia la isla.
El encarcelamiento y condena de los 75 disidentes en 2003, incluido Maseda, impulsó a Pollán y otras mujeres a formar las Damas de Blanco, galardonadas con el Premio Sajarov-2005 del Parlamento Europeo y en abril pasado con el Premio a Defensores de los Derechos Humanos del Departamento de Estado norteamericano.
Tras la excarcelación de los presos políticos y la salida hacia España de muchas de las Damas en compañía de sus esposos liberados, el grupo mantuvo su actividad por otros presos y fue engrosado por damas “acompañantes”, esposas de esos reos o simpatizantes.
Según activistas de derechos humanos, queda medio centenar de presos políticos en las cárceles de Cuba, tras la excarcelación de 130 (incluidos los últimos 52 del grupo de 75 disidentes presos en 2003) como fruto de la negociación entre el Gobierno y la Iglesia.

El adiós de la Dama de Cuba*

La Habana, octubre de 2011, (PD) La Dama de Blanco Laura Pollan, de 63 años, falleció el 14 de octubre en el hospital Calixto García en La Habana, luego de una semana de agonía en la sala de terapia intensiva de este centro hospitalario capitalino.

Pollán luego de varios diagnósticos dudosos que involucraron de forma infructuosa la experticia del Instituto Pedro Kouri (IPK) en relación con la detección de los agentes infecciosos que terminaron por hacer colapsar su sistema inmunológico, sufrió un paro cardiaco que no logró superar, informo Berta Soler, portavoz de la organización. 

Sobre las verdaderas causas de la muerte de Laura Pollán, existe un mayoritario y creciente consenso sobre que habría sido asesinada por voluntad y orden de los más altos niveles de dirección del régimen militar. Héctor Maseda nos dice, “Tengo grandes sospechas, pero no tengo las pruebas. Sólo he alertado y he sospechado, tan pronto las tenga (y entre cielo y tierra nada queda completamente oculto) los acusaré”.

Por su parte, el también ex prisionero de conciencia Ángel Moya Acosta, expresó: “Primeramente, responsabilizar al régimen cubano con el asesinato de Laura Pollán. De esto, no nos cabe la menor duda. Existen elementos que demuestran que el gobierno cubano, a través de su brazo político represivo, el Departamento Seguridad del Estado, asesinó a Laura Pollán. Queda demostrado por el control aparatoso desplegado en el hospital en el momento de la muerte de Laura. Que trataron de impedir que Héctor Maseda montara en el carro fúnebre cuando trasladaban su cuerpo hasta la funeraria. Laura Pollán para la oposición y fundamentalmente para nosotros los ex presos excarcelados, así como para el resto del presidio político cubano, por el cual luchó tanto y tan bien, representa el paradigma de coraje, amor, entrega y entereza que no nos abandonará nunca. La pérdida es irreparable, sentida y pienso que hará y castigará más al régimen militar comunista con su muerte, que con el ejemplo extraordinario que nos deja de su vida”.

Su cadáver fue velado por dos horas en la funeraria La Nacional en Infanta y Bejumeda, Centro Habana. Su cadáver fue cremado. Esto fue preludiado por una serie de incidencias que apuntan de forma inequívoca a acciones operativas más o menos o muy poco encubiertas de la policía Seguridad del Estado. Primero, se creó un clima de confusión sobre la funeraria donde se realizaría el velatorio. La actitud firme de Héctor Maseda, Ángel Moya y de forma muy especial, Berta Soler portavoz del grupo Damas de Blanco, garantizaron que en estas condiciones extraordinarias Laura Pollán Toledo tuviera el adiós y el homenaje póstumo que la mezquindad del régimen militar combinada con otras humanas pequeñeces, trataron hasta el final de escamotearle.

Refiere el ex prisionero de conciencia Héctor Maseda que usaron tres ambulancias, pero que en sólo una (nadie sabía cuál) iba el cadáver de Pollán. En un principio, se trató de impedir a Maseda, detectar e incluso abordar el vehículo en que viajaba el cadáver, cosa esta que al final hizo. Se trató de limitar la afluencia de personas dispuestas a dar el último adiós a Laura y se propalaron falsas informaciones sobre cuál sería la funeraria en que sería velada. Esto, entre otras incidencias incluyó interrupciones momentáneas de teléfonos móviles y resultó en una prueba rebasada por las incipientes redes sociales en que periodistas, blogueros, opositores y sociedad civil se dieron la mano, entre muchos contratiempos, de forma fraternal, solidaria y en definitiva, exitosa.

En la funeraria de Infanta y Benjumeda donde tuvo lugar el velorio, unidos en el dolor y la esperanza se reunieron Damas de Blanco y de apoyo, viejos líderes políticos, veteranos de la prensa independiente, blogueros y una casi masiva presencia de activistas y opositores de a pie. Fue un gratificante aliento de mujeres y jóvenes representantes de una nueva hornada de activistas anónimos para los medios, de los que se pronuncian en las calles y nutren las filas de un presidio político que sólo terminará su ominosa presencia con la exitosa y soñada transición a la democracia.

Se encontraron entre muchos, Sara Marta Fonseca, Lucas Garve, Elizardo Sánchez, Carlos Ríos, Oswaldo Payá, Ignacio Estrada, Juan Carlos Linares, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Wendy Iriepa, Oscar Elías Biscet, Aleaga Pesant, Antonio Rodiles, Iria Castañeda, Reinaldo Escobar, Ángel Moya, Yoani Sánchez, Eusebio Morales, Orlando Luís Pardo, Ernesto Herrera, Fernando Sánchez, Berta Soler, junto a un exitoso y triunfante etcétera de imprescindibles para este momento de la historia cubana, en que Cuba necesita de todos sus buenos hijos sin distinciones arbitrarias. Casi más de doscientos esforzados dolientes hicieron vibrar con su patriotismo las paredes de la funeraria. Quedará en la memoria de muchos, las guardias de honor, los rezos o la emoción con que esa madrugada se entonó el himno nacional. El sentimiento que se elevó más allá de los cauces formales, afirmó la convicción en el decir, que morir por la patria si es vivir, en el imaginario y la memoria agradecida de la gente.

Mientras el dolor se corporizaba en la funeraria de Infanta y Benjumeda, se conoció que de forma simultánea, en la zona oriental José Daniel Ferrer García era cercado en su domicilio por paramilitares y miembros de la policía Seguridad del Estado, que le impedían salir a la calle y viajar a la capital para rendir postrer tributo a Laura Pollán. Mientras, su esposa también Dama de Blanco, permanecía arrestada. Arcelio Rafael Molina, miembro de la Unión Patriótica de Cuba, que preside Ferrer García, trajo desde la zona oriental de la Isla su mensaje en que expresó: “Se precisarán en un futuro las causalidades que determinaron la muerte de Laura Pollán. No puede precisarse hasta qué punto las violencias que sufrió, conllevaron el final trágico de pérdida para Cuba y la oposición interna que es y ha sido su muerte”.

Según denunció por vía telefónica el ex prisionero de conciencia Pedro Arguelles Morán, fueron también cercados en sus domicilios en la provincia Ciego de Ávila e impedidos de viajar a la capital, Roberto Valdivia y el propio Arguelles, fuente de esta información. En el extremo occidental de la Isla en Pinar del Río, Eduardo Díaz Fleites y en el otro extremo, en la oriental provincia Holguín, Marta Díaz Rondón.

Uno de los pocos o quizás el único activista que consiguió pasar a través del cerco policial y llegó a la capital para rendir tributo a Laura Pollán, fue el psicólogo y disidente Guillermo Fariñas, laureado con el premio Sajarov. Al llegar, manifestó que un fortísimo operativo policial impidió a numerosos activistas de la zona central del país, cercados en sus casas, asistir a las exequias fúnebres de Laura Pollán.

Quizás algún día el régimen militar cubano encuentre valor para permitir a los disidentes, opositores y pueblo en general manifestarse de forma pacífica en las calles a favor o en contra del gobierno, como se hace en el resto del mundo. Así lo pidió recientemente la excelentísima embajadora de la Gran Bretaña en Cuba, Sra. Dianna Melrose. Esto que no constituye pérdida alguna de control sobre el orden público, justificaría la permanencia de un régimen como el cubano en el concierto de las naciones civilizadas, en que de forma inexplicable aún se le cuenta. Pero esto es algo que aún está por ver.

Durante tres días (15, 16 y 17-10-11) un libro de condolencias por la muerte de Laura Pollan Toledo estará expuesto en la calle Neptuno No 963 entre Hospital y Aramburu, Centro Habana, donde residía. Desde horas tempranas de la mañana del sábado 15, la afluencia de firmantes ha sido ininterrumpida.

El domingo 16, Damas de Blanco de apoyo y un grupo variopinto de opositores, disidentes y miembros de la sociedad civil asistieron a la misa ofrecida en sufragio de Laura Pollán en la iglesia Santa Rita de La Habana, escenario primado de sus ya épicas caminatas al frente de las valientes mujeres de blanco. Luego de la emotiva ceremonia religiosa, Berta Soler explicó que de manera excepcional en esta ocasión, los hombres desfilarían junto a las Damas de Blanco. Así se hizo para rendir tributo y homenaje a Laura Pollán Toledo que desde el amor y el servicio público, traspuso los límites de la mortalidad y hoy ha devenido en la Dama de Cuba. Se une en el altar de la libertad a Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Juan Wilfredo Soto García, Adrián Leiva, José Luís Boitel y otros muchos que la han precedido en el camino azaroso que recorre Cuba hacia el inevitable reencuentro con la libertad y la democracia.
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Under the Totalitarian Rule of Kitsch

October 17, 2011 |  Print This Post  Email to a Friend

Dariela Aquique

Fiesta de 10 años.

“Kitsch (origin: 1920s, German) art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality…”

At every step in the life Cubans are beaten over the head with officialized kitsch, from posters with the faces and names of the “Five Heroes” forming a star or the crappy neighborhood decorations for the annual CDR festivities.

Or the cheesy adjectives used by the media to apotheosize some agricultural collective for having surpassed their potato production plan.  Or the tight-lipped and well-coached speeches of athletes in front of the cameras when they receive a medal.  Or the fiftyish decor of schools, hospitals and restaurants here.

The Czech writer Milan Kundera, in his excellent novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, gives a masterful description in one of his chapters: “(it) is a world in which shit is denied and everyone behaves as if it didn’t exist.  This ideal aesthetic is called kitsch.”

My attention is captured by how this is adopted in everyday life.  Each day to the next is crammed with vicissitudes where it becomes a major struggle to put something to eat on the table, where transportation is a chaotic, yet everyone seems to ignore these harsh realities.

Curiously, we’re divided into two groups:

1 – The proletarian family, whose budgets are based on negligible wages that are insufficient to cover the basic needs of a household.  Nonetheless they squirrel away pocket change for years so they can celebrate a lavish wedding or birthday parties for their daughters when they turn 10 and 15.

2 – Families that make up the nascent Cuban middle class (or “the new rich”), those living on remittances from relatives living abroad, or professionals returning from missions in Africa or Venezuela, all with guaranteed lifetime salaries in convertible currency and containers of goods and latest-technology home appliances obtained on their trips.  Plus we need to add the families of high-level political or military officials.

For this latter general group, celebrations don’t imply sacrificing to afford the high costs of suits and gown rentals, photographs, “memento videos,” hall rentals, decorations, MCs, light shows, buffets or drinks.

For the first group however, these culminating events can mean long days of hunger, literally speaking, and years wearing the same pair of shoes.

However, neither of the two sides will miss the opportunity to be center of comments by neighbors, with expressions like: “Girl, did they do it up!” or “Man, they went all out!”

Under the sweltering Caribbean heat, girls will sit imprisoned under huge fabric dresses that only make us see them sweat.  They’ll pose for a countless number of slides and keep changing outfits as long as the family’s “bankroll” holds out.  These ridiculous ceremonies include choreographies and toasts that cost what’s equivalent to the amount needed to repair their houses.  Yet these galas supported by many parents who give in to the irrevocable decision to throw a quinceañera (“sweet fifteen”) birthday party.

Imitating the Cuban bourgeois prior to 1959 or copying the rich and famous lifestyles seen on Latin American soaps and TV series, Cubans place their bets on kitsch.

But this goes for not only those of us from the island.  Large numbers of people from all over the world and in all societies are involved in this; kitsch is a phenomenon of all humankind.

Still, regarding all of this, I also agreed with Kundera when he said:

 “(… ) In a society where there exist various political currents and their influences are limited or they negate each other, we can more or less escape the inquisition of kitsch.  The individual can preserve their particularities and the artist can create unexpected works.  But where a single political movement has all the power, we suddenly find ourselves under the rule of totalitarian kitsch.”

Laura se fue, Laura no está…

Por los mismos días en que Laura Pollán agonizaba en terapia intensiva, en la televisión retransmitían un esquemático serial donde se injuriaba a la líder de las Damas de Blanco. Entre los signos más notables de la falta de grandeza del gobierno cubano está su incapacidad para respetar al adversario político, incluso cuando éste se está muriendo. Un sistema que se regodea tanto en el ritual funerario de los suyos, se comporta desconsiderado a la hora de tratar los difuntos de los otros. Esa ausencia de compasión lo llevó a desplegar anoche un burdo operativo policial dentro y fuera del hospital Calixto García, a cambiar el cuerpo de Laura varias veces de ambulancia para que no supiéramos hacia qué morgue lo llevaban y finalmente a no sacar, siquiera, una breve nota necrológica en la prensa nacional. Si honrar honra, en este caso denigrar denigra. Han perdido una última oportunidad de aparentar –al menos– que son piadosos.

¿Cómo se sienten ahora todas esas mujeres llevadas a gritar y a insultar frente a la puerta de Neptuno 963? ¿Qué estarán pensando en este mismo momento los miembros de la tropa de choque que zarandeó y golpeó a Laura el 24 de septiembre pasado? ¿Algún remordimiento entre los oficiales de la Seguridad del Estado que dirigieron tantos mítines de repudio contra una señora pacífica que pasaba de los sesenta? ¿Cuál de ellos va a tener al menos la humildad de musitar una condolencia, de aventurar un pésame? Lamentablemente, para todas esas preguntas la respuesta sigue siendo el infinito rencor ideológico del que no sabe rendir tributo al contrincante. Laura se les fue –se nos fue– y perdieron la oportunidad de reparar tantas infamias. Creyeron que por colgarle epítetos degradantes, impedirle salir de su casa, acusarla de “apátrida”, iban a evitar que la gente se acercara y la quisiera. Pero en la madrugada pasada, una funeraria repleta de amigos y conocidos negaba el efecto de tal satanización.

Laura se fue y ahora todos los actos de odio que hicieron contra ella resuenan más grotescos. Laura se fue y nos dejó un país desperezándose de un totalitarismo vetusto que no sabe decir siquiera “lo siento”. Laura se fue, para tristeza de su familia, de sus Damas de Blanco y de cada gladiolo que ha crecido y crecerá sobre esta Isla larga y estrecha. Laura se fue, Laura no está y no hay un solo uniforme verdeolivo que parezca limpio frente al blanco resplandor de su indumentaria.