Freedom of Speech Continues to be Outlawed in Cuba for Cubans... Not for Others

Yoani Sanchez Award-winning Cuban blogger

Freedom of Speech Continues to be Outlawed in Cuba for Cubans... Not for
Others
Posted: 07/25/2013 8:41 pm

Socialism or Death

The language of diplomacy, although distant and calculated, gives us a
glimpse of changing times. I remember that for years I could predict
every word foreign presidents would utter once they arrived in Cuba.
Never lacking, in the script of their speeches, was the phrase "the
unbreakable friendship between our peoples..." Nor was a commitment to
total harmony between the political projects of the visiting leader and
his counterpart on the Island. There was one path and fellow travelers
could not deviate an inch from it, and so they made it clear in their
statements. Those were times, seemingly, of complete agreement, no
nuances, no differences.

In recent years, however, the expressions of the official guests who
arrive have been transformed. We hear them say, "although there are
points that divide us, it's best to look for those that unite us." The
new expressions also include the declaration that "we represent a
diversity," and that "we come together in working together, maintaining
our plurality." Clearly, bilateral relations in the 21st century are no
longer conceived with a monochromatic and unanimous discourse. They
exhibit the variety that has become fashionable, although in practice
there is a strategy of exclusion and denial of diversity.

José Mujica, president of Uruguay, has added a new twist to the
discourse of presidents received at the Palace of the Revolution. He
stressed that "before, we had to recite the same catechism to come
together, and now despite our differences, we manage to be united."
Incredulous spectators on national television, we immediately asked
ourselves if the doctrine to which the Uruguayan dignitary referred to
was Marxism or Communism. According to today's evidence, two presidents
can shake hands, cooperate, pose together for a smiling photo, even
though they have dissimilar or opposing ideologies. A lesson in
maturity, no doubt. The problem -- the serious problem -- is that these
words are said and published in a nation where we, the citizens, can
have no other "catechism" than that of the party in power. A country
that systematically divides its population between the "revolutionaries"
and the "unpatriotic," based purely on ideological considerations. An
Island whose leaders stoke political hatreds among people without taking
responsibility for these seeds of intolerance they consciously sow,
water and fertilize.

This is Cuban diplomacy. Accept hearing from a foreign visitor what you
would never allow someone born on this island to say.

Source: "Freedom of Speech Continues to be Outlawed in Cuba for
Cubans... Not for Others | Yoani Sanchez" -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/freedom-of-speech-continu_b_3655442.html