Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado, Translator: Unstated
Since I was little I've heard countless times the use of the word fear
associated with, among other things, the Cuban government. Sometimes, it
comes from foreign propaganda to stigmatize the historic leaders still
at the helm of Cuba, and their resistance to introducing the changes
society needs, in the face of modernity and the systemic crisis that
shakes all of us in the archipelago.
It seems to me that the manifestation or leaking of terribly fearful
things by the Cuban high command is a recurring method they have used
for years to justify the excessive levels of control, repression and
coercion. Also to explain to their followers why they dismantled Cuba's
existing democratic structures when they came to power, and why Cuba
remains a mobilized and militarized society even today. Their own
leaders and relatives may have felt the weight of this total control
that restricts, paralyzes and submerges us into helplessness. If we talk
about fear, it is the only visible and permanent thing planted by the
governing class in Cuban society, ever since the beginning of this
process on January 1, 1959.
Actually there is a history of aggression and U.S. plans for Cuba —
equally as long as the staying power of the old-fashioned Cuban leaders
— to defeat the perpetual government. But these have been produced at
different times in history since 1959, and it hasn't stopped its
founding, going forward, doing and growing. I want to emphasize that I
am not convinced by the ancient and abused idea of "the government's
fear" before the "belligerent attitude" of the American neighbor; rather
it seems to me a "manipulative political crutch" to ensure that nothing
changes, to maintain the morale of the entire political military
structure and to convince the real power of what must be preserved in
such practices.
In short, I suspect that this enemy is a convenient excuse that provides
pretexts to the Cuban government hardliners who have spent half a
century in mutual verbal assault and defense. I feel that behind such
stubbornness manipulation hides. The malevolent fairy of the Cuban
government always waved her wand so that nothing would change, to freeze
the image of a Cuba that never was. She launched the spell of the
oppressor well, "to avoid greater evils," and "to safeguard the
homeland," when in reality all they wanted was to stay in power without
regard for the suffering they caused and the sociopolitical and economic
disaster they have brought us. Now that they are exhausted by failure
and old age, they want us to take the pill of forgetfulness and nod to
these wolves as if we were sheep.
It is painful to see how they impose on us this trashy political novel
riddled with partiality and pirated revolutionary melodrama, how they
have hijacked the country and frozen its dreams. This is something that
must be faced with "resigned courage," while we focus on what needs to
be our first and foremost objective: The democratization of Cuba and the
reconciliation of the Cuban nation.
April 20 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment