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Carta de Cuba, la escritura de la libertad |
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February 1, 2006 ¨WAILING WALL¨ CASTRO STYLE Havana – Heavy machinery and crews of workers are laboring day and night in front of the United States’ Interests Office in the Cuban capital, building a mysterious piece of work that Fidel Castro did not care to identify. However, local people and international observers assume that it might be some kind of structure or wall in order to hide the neon lights which can now be seen at the interests’ office façade, carrying out international news and allegoric slogans on human rights. The free diffusion of information and ideas is considered a sin in the island, where any material coming from abroad is highly censored. That is why this action has particularly enraged Castro, since it makes self-evident that the Cuban ruler, who presents himself as a champion of the ¨battle of ideas¨, in reality is afraid of any confrontation in that field and is hastening to raise a curtain of sorts for hiding ideas not authorized by the regime. Many speculate that the new structure, more than a setting for an ideological battle, will become a symbolic wailing wall, Castro style. INFURIATED SOLDIERS Santiago de Cuba – Tenths of soldiers belonging to an armored tank group located in this city, were sanctioned for protesting on account of the infamous living conditions which they were forced to endure by the regime. Manuela Echemendía, mother of the young soldier Manuel Pérez Echemendía, commented to the independent press that her son and other twelve recruits, were sanctioned to six months without pass, and were warned that they would be taken to a court martial, for their protest, which was sent in a letter to the unit’s command, exposing the lack of food, clothes and equipment they were suffering. ¨They only give them a piece of hard bread, foreakfast, with sweetened coffee water, as well as rice and beans, every day, for dinner…My son has lost more than 20 pounds since he is in the obligatory military service¨, said Mrs. Echemendía. CHINESE COMMUNITY CELEBRATES Havana – Five hundred students of Chinese martial arts and traditional dances gathered at Prado Boulevard, in Havana, one of the main arteries in the old part of town, to celebrate the arrival of the ¨Lunar New Year¨, the most important feast in this ancient culture’s tradition. On this occasion, the Lunar New Year is under the regency of the Dog, eleventh zodiac sign from the Chinese calendar, and the celebration went beyond the Zanja Street area, which is the customary living area of Chinese families in the Cuban capital. At present, there are 257 natural descendants from China living in Cuba, mixed with a population of some 30 thousand people integrated by their more close relatives. At the beginning of the 60s, some 20 thousand families of Chinese background abandoned the island, after the regime confiscated their businesses, basically grocery stores, warehouses and farm lands. The Chinese peasants largely supplied the market with - vegetables and salads, which have from then on disappeared from the Cuban household. DIPLOMAT SAYS "CHANGE HAST JUST BEGUN" Havana – Michael Parmly, the North American diplomat in charge of the US Interests Office in Cuba, seemed convinced that ¨the change in this country has begun¨, but he then added that the Cuban people will be who will finally determine ¨the how and when¨. In an interview given to the EFE agency, Parmly denied that the flashing of political messages from the American mission in Havana has the purpose of ¨provoking¨, as it has been denounced by the island authorities. ¨It is not a provocation, but the beginning of a dialogue¨ -he said- and he explained that it is the continuation of a policy undertaken several years ago, with the objective of reaching the people. In response to the emission of messages from the interests’ office, the island government has begun works in front of the building in order to produce ¨a surprise¨, in Fidel Castro’s words. POLITICAL PRISONER TRANSFERRED Camagüey – René Montes de Oca Martija, General Secretary of the Cuban Pro-Human Rights Party, affiliated to the Andrei Sajarov Foundation, was transferred to the ¨Cerámica Roja¨ prison. Camagüey. His wife, Esther Germán Valdés, was able to know where his husband was, through a phone call that he did to a friend’s house in Boyeros, the capital municipality where they live. Montes de Oca was considered disappeared by his relatives, after he was taken from the military hospital Carlos J. Finlay, on last January 20th, with other arrested opponents, which were confined in the Nieves Morejón jail, in Sancti Spíritus. TRYING TO RECOVER FOREIGN CURRENCY Havana – The Cuban government is trying to recuperate the losses caused by the actual restrictions for traveling to the island, and is thus working in the rehabilitation of old historical buildings to become ¨love hotels¨ of sorts, with specialized services, in order to collect more for staying in them. Old Havana as well as Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Santiago de Cuba will be some of the cities which will count with this new modality of hotels-museums. Besides, the ¨San Cristobal¨ tourist agency, operating all over the island, is preparing an offer for such ¨lover tourists¨, in case they would like to celebrate their wedding in some of the Old Havana churches. PORK LARD DISAPPEARS Morón – For more than 25 days, the state butcher’s shops in this city have been deprived of pig lard, and only in the black market there can be found any remedy to such situation. In September, 2005, a regional government’s disposition prohibited private owners to sell any pork meat, which they were doing in several selling stands in the city. People never agreed with such measure. In the first place, because the amount of butcher’s shops is lower than the selling stands, forcing them to make long lines, and also because they lose the advantage of negotiating price discounts with the private salesmen, something the state does not approve. WATER LOSS Morón – This city’s inhabitants have been enduring, for years, from a frequent shortage of drinking water, due to the constant breakages suffered by the municipal aqueduct pumping plant. To this you can add that a considerable percentage of the water pumped ends escaping away, as a consequence of the existing leakages in the water nets, with total disregard by the water and sewage authorities who do not control the hydraulic or sanitary problems in homes and social and productive facilities. Myths and Realities about Castro and Cuba
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