Reinaldo Escobar, Translator: Unstated
I already know that eternity has no end, or even beginning, but let's be
dialectic and apply the theory of relativity to the concept. If, from
the time one begins to have a notion that the country where one was born
has a leader who maintains power until retirement and we run out of
projects, that, in terms of finite human life, is an eternity.
So I felt a fleeting crisis of optimism to hear Raul Castro announce
that as of now the senior government and party positions would be
limited to a maximum of ten years, or, and it's the same thing, two
five-year terms with only one reelection allowed.
Everyone I tried to infect with my enthusiasm looked at me with pity or
indignation. And I was upset with myself when I remembered that the
previous assembly of the fourth Party Congress in 1991, which gave us
permission to say whatever we liked, and it occurred to me to propose
the same thing now that it would be approved. Was I ahead of my time, as
befits a great visionary? Or perhaps this was a belated measure that
should have been applied 20 years ago?
Had it happened that way, the then First Secretary would have begun
counting his term from that time and in 2001 the second would have
become the first, so it's precisely this year that Raul Castro would
have finished his second term, assuming his assured reelection in 2006!
Do we have to wait until 2021 to know the name that will be chanted and
acclaimed by the delegates to the Eighth Party Congress of the Cuban
Communist Party? Or will a hole in time open and we will jump, without
prior notice, to another dimension?
20 April 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment