The Summit from my TV
La Habana/A clever strategy on the part of the Cuban government, with regards to the participation of the official civil society at the meeting associated with the Summit of the Americas, has been to present a delegation full of projects and good results from which they can look down on the newcomers from alternative civil society.
Cuban Television’s coverage – where the word ‘coverage’ is more akin to ‘cover up’ – identifies the official delegation, however, with objectives anchored in the era of the Cold War. They arrived in Panama with a fierce spirit and clear directions to not recognize independent civil society and to silence as much as possible its participation in the forum.
I don’t know if, after so much reading of the newspaper Granma, my granmar is so sharp that where others read patriotic indignation, I see lack of arguments; where they see maneuvers against Cuba, I interpret an intention to boycott the event. Once more I had to hear how shamelessly the representatives of the most rancid ruling party dominate the nation, and believe they have the right to deprive it of those who don’t think like them, but rather have free will; and they also deprive me as I don’t feel represented by any of their institutions.
A special mention of the incident at the statue of José Martí. We Cubans should definitely make our devotion to Martí a private matter and not a political wildcard, a moratorium should be established on the public use of Martí so as to be able to put him in his proper place. But aside from the buffeting this giant of a Cuban has been subjected to, I feel ashamed for others. A friend country hosts an event with global resonance and “our true civil society” choses every way possible to express their outrage through violence and rabble-rousing.
Statements by some of the delegates of this civil society make it clear that they prefer dialogue with the “enemy of the North that despises us,” over that with their next door neighbors in Cuba
Statements by some of the delegates of this civil society make it clear that they prefer dialog with “the enemy from the North that despises us,” over that with their next door neighbors in Cuba, with whom they may have profound differences with whom they share a territory and an identity card.
I do not know how international public opinion will treat these painful events, but within our dis-informed country the result has been a success. To my neighbor Tomás, Cubans not included in the official delegation are nothing more than terrorists and mercenaries. Both repeat a lie until it becomes a truth for the purposes of propaganda, and great has been the use of both adjectives in the last three days. Nor do I believe that this escalation of insults will be the prelude to a kind of cultural revolution of the young Talibans, as a friend fearfully expressed to me. The Government doesn’t need experiments with more surprises than certainties.
On writing these notes I don’t have the least idea how things are going indoors, but the image of the official Cuban delegation – and this is an impression formed exclusively by watching television – is one that even the most moderate international observers could confirm, with this presence in Panama of Cubans of a different nature, the lack of democracy in our country.