Two Letters: Two Positions

Two Letters: Two Positions / Fernando Dámaso
Fernando Damaso, Translator: @hachhe

Recently I read two letters that caught my attention. The first, written
by Rafael Hernández, a pro-government political scientist based in Cuba,
under the title "Letter to a young man who leaves," trying to undo this
massive trend, arguing the supposed benefits of the existing system in
the country, offering them as some splendid options faced with a cruel
world, ruthless and full of injustice, as is the capitalist. In aid of
this he waves (it couldn't be otherwise) the worn flags and slogans of a
failed experiment on the path to extinction, in which most Cubans no
longer believe,that left only ruins and misery and a divided nation,
physically (the older men here and the younger scattered all around the
world) and emotionally (with divided families by absurd hatreds).

The second one, written by the young Iván López Monreal, based in
Bulgaria, under the title "Letter from a young man who left,"
respectfully with solid arguments dismantles one by one the ones used by
the government official. Without unnecessary offenses,in a measured
tone, the young Cuban exposes his contradictory feelings before leaving,
and how leaving the country was a logical course given the impossibility
of realizing a healthy life project; the sorrow faced with the failure
of his parents who had believed and devoted their best efforts to the
experiment, and his actual situation: free and master of his fate.

It would be suitable that many citizens may have free access to those
two documents, in which two different visions: one static and stuck in
the past, and one in movement with his feet in the present, address in a
civilized manner, in a controversial dialog, rich in contributions that
show about the reasons of both sides.

After reading both letters, it appears as a logical conclusion that the
present socialism, still updated, has nothing more, neither material nor
spiritual, to offer to the Cuban people than repeating to the point of
boredom the rhetoric of the so-called glorious past, with conveniently
manipulated facts and figures in the name of a noisy patriotism, far
from the true patriotism based on the love and respect for the land
where one comes to life, and but for so many absurdities, where one
should spend it and also in the end have some rest.

Archive photo

Translated by @Hachhe

September 2 2012

http://translatingcuba.com/two-letters-two-positions-fernando-dmaso/