The Rushed Agenda of the 23rd Pastors for Peace Caravan

The Rushed Agenda of the 23rd Pastors for Peace Caravan / Mario Barroso
Translating Cuba

Yesterday the XXIII Pastors for Peace Caravan left Cuba. I had no
contact with them, I did not lead it, I followed only from a distance
the activities they planned, but this year, unlike the previous one,
they went to the villages closest to my homeland Taguayabón such as
Caibarién, Remedios, Camajuaní and Vueltas. We almost ran into each
other, although at Taguayabón in particular they only looked fleetingly
through the windows of their buses.

I, who wrote last year that we'd never had them in this area, much less
their humanitarian aid, cannot now write the same, at least about them,
but their help remained as distant as ever.

It is likely that in passing through these villages it seemed to them
that at least here there is no need to share their containers and in any
event they share the task of distribution with the Cuban authorities or
institutions who approve of them.

If only they knew that prior to their arrival in these parts there was a
veritable manhunt, where all the poor and marginalized whose proportion
is sadly increasing every day were caught and arrested in a rude and
blatant operation until the caravan had passed, thus ensuring that these
occasional visitors didn't get the bad impression that can be seen daily.

The authorities took no account nor were they the least concerned that
this caused a scandal, especially in a population as concentrated as
that of Vueltas, in which it was particularly noticeable. A real human
clean-up was undertaken so that the foreign visitors would see only
immaculateness.

What brought them to my area was not the only difference I found in the
23rd Caravan versus the 22nd. This time, for example, the absence of
Ellen Bernstein was notable; on previous occasions she led it as a
substitute for Lucius, and I was not only surprised by her physical
absence, but also the total silence of the mainstream media about her
person in contrast to her previous treatment as a heroine, which she was
granted last year as leader of the caravan.

It was also extremely notable how the number of those in the caravan was
reduced to less than half of those who came last year. This is because,
even with all the prophylactic measures taken to counter this by the
Cuban authorities, it is increasingly difficult to find sensible people
who are not aware that they're being taken for a ride, that they're
being fooled, except for the young and inexperienced, which made up a
considerable number of the total people in the caravan.

They take advantage of this opportunity to have a "revolutionary"
adventure, while they find a cheap way to spend a few days of holiday
treated like kings, enjoying this or that political act, with some of
the benefits that the system prevailing in Cuba grants to them which
they deny to most of its own people.

I find the civility the group boasts of contradictory as they are able
to get over a hundred tons of humanitarian aid after touring many cities
and crossing the Canada-US border and the US-Mexico border, in such a
submissive way that they are led like sheep through the Cuban territory.

They don't have the grace to behave courageously before a democratic
government that finally allows them to pass without major difficulties,
to come to pay homage to an authoritarian regime that denies most of the
rights that they advocate for the Cuban people.

I did not expect to see them in my area, I must admit that those who led
them surprised me this time, but it was very clear to me that the
government controlled them totally as, however much I looked I couldn't
find a single onle of them at the St Saviour of the World church where
one of the most important and renowned Cuban political activists'
funeral was held, nor at the Columbus Cemetery for his massively
attended burial.

Oswaldo Paya's death was undoubtedly the biggest event held in the
island during the stay of the XXIII Caravan. The caravan that
undoubtedly, if they have internet access which most of the people of
Cuba lack, they must have known that this brilliant man undertook his
activism inspired by the social doctrine of the Church, the same one
which they say their own Pastors for Peace support.

That was why I could not but help tweeting on my my account @ maritovoz
and at least had to say: I was hoping Caravan 23 #PastoresPorLaPaz
present in Cuba would go to Mass for #OPS but their civic courage left
them when they crossed the border.

August 2 2012

http://translatingcuba.com/the-rushed-agenda-of-the-23rd-pastors-for-peace-caravan-mario-barroso/