A Writer With More Talent Than Fear

A Writer With More Talent Than Fear / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on February 2, 2015
Literature has its decorum, as do those who live by it. José Martí

Nelton Pérez is a Cuban writer who recently won the Alejo Carpentier
prize, which is the highest literary award for writers on a national
scale, and also the best financially-endowed prize, comparable only to
the Casa de las Américas International Prize.

His winning novel "Infidente", deals with José Martí's stay at the El
Abra estate, on the Isle of Pines, following his release from political
prison, when Sr. Sardá, a friend of his father's, invited him to recover
his good health there, while he awaited his deportation to Spain.

Taking as his starting point the limited historical information about
Martí's stay on the island, Nelton recreates, imagines, supposes — and
he does it so well that the reader ends up believing that the letters
written by the young Martí are real. Once when he visited me in prison,
I had the privilege of him bringing me the manuscript.

I admire Nelton for his talent and quiet perseverance. He hasn't lobbied
or asked for concessions of any kind in order to achieve what properly
belongs to him based on his genius. In fact, he has passed several
years, as patient as a priest, waiting for the Cuban Book Institute
(I.C.L) to publish his excellent volume of stories, "Apuntes de Josué
1994" ("Notes of Josué 1994″),which contains some subject matter
uncomfortable for the government, i.e. the stampede of the boat people*
during the year referenced in the title, from which one can appreciate
the pain of the Cuban people–above all that of the young people
desperate to try their luck on the Straits of Florida, to achieve their
dream of getting to Miami.

Every year, Nelton calls Rogelio Riverón, who acts as the boss and
devotes some minutes to excuses, which I assume are meant to be a joke;
including that one of the characters mentions my name and the title of
one of my books, and that the censors won't accept it.

I remember that it was Riverón who assembled that anthology with the
prizewinners in the Carpentier and Cortázar competitions, leaving out
Jorge Luis Arzolla and me; I presume that Riverón was obeying precise
orders from the then-President of the Cuban Institute of Books (ICL),
the Taliban Iroel Sánchez. But it is best that history take cares of
placing everyone in the position they have earned, whether by honesty or
dishonesty.

Nelton Pérez once again demonstrates — by means of his own talent — that
he is a great writer, and this creative greatness is comparable only to
how great a human being he is. In particular, I can assure you that he
was the only writer who has visited me in prison, and I was the one who
always had my apartment full of friends and colleagues.

On many occasions, Nelton has set out on a journey over land and sea
from the city of Gerona, just to see me during visiting hours and
exchange a warm embrace. Nelton has never embarked upon a political
speech to me. He is not interested in why I might find myself
imprisoned, because, being a friend, a brother more than anything, he
only knows that one of his family is jailed.

But as if that weren't a good enough reason, Nelson knows I am innocent.
He was always at my side. When a bond was imposed to ensure that I would
not travel to the Festival of the Word in Puerto Rico in 2009, he went
to the bank to deposit the sum in question, and then, when he found me
in prison, when he wanted to pay it, he read in the official documents
that the requirement had in fact been imposed by the State Security,
which didn't even have the modesty to hide its desperate hand, on
account of my rebellious attitude toward the dictatorship.

Nelton suffers my imprisonment as much as or more than I do. He is the
most honest person, with the finest feelings, of anyone I know. He is
himself a prize, as friend, husband and father, who, unlike others, did
not keep his distance for fear of reprisals for not accepting the
pressures applied by the Culture functionaries and the State Security
officials.

This prize will not be the last we will hear of Nelton Pérez, because
his talent includes also writing poetry, songs, and directing a literary
workshop in his town, thus providing help to the newest writers.

Brother Nelton, when I learned of your prize, I don't recall having been
so emotional when I won it myself in 2001 for my book, "The Children
Nobody Wanted."

Sending my happiness to you with an embrace.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

January 2015. Jaimanitas Border Patrol Prison Unit, Havana.

*Translator's note: 36,000 Cubans launched themselves in makeshift boats
in the summer of that year, to try to get to the United States.

Translated by GH

16 January 2015

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