Cubans Throughout the World

Upon arriving in this corner of France and reuniting with my family, whom I had not seen for seven years, I had the great pleasure of receiving a visit from the son of a very dear friend, whom I had first seen when he was born. Later on, as you might imagine, the subject of the far-off homeland came up, as well as the problems and frustrations that come with abandoning, almost against your will, the place where you were born. This is his case.

This Cuban is not resigned to remaining in forced exile. Life has played him some dirty tricks, so he is undocumented here. They cannot repatriate him, as he would like, because Cuban authorities repeatedly refuse him entry. The last time he was in Cuba, he remained in prison for four months for refusing to leave the country.

This man, who is still young, has two names and a head, so he never stops thinking about the misery to which his homeland is subjected. He has dedicated his free time — which unfortunately is all that he can do since he does not have papers and can work only sporadically — to investigating Cuban issues in-depth.

I was truly impressed when he showed me photos, articles and a wealth of details, to which we Cubans on the island do not have access, regarding the strange accident in which Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero were killed.

For this reason I am uploading the video that my friend provided for your consideration.

Site manager’s note: This video is not subtitled but here is a summary of the contents: The person speaking, a friend of Rebeca’s, is Israel Alejandro Cabezas González. He has put together the evidence he shows in the video, with regards to the death of Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero in a car crash. He believes that the photo of the car — driven by the Spaniard Carromero — was “fixed,” that is altered, and as a point of comparison he offers a photo that appeared in the Spanish press. He says that the official report of the crash was prepared to match the “fixed” photos.

Using Google maps he shows where the crash occurred, and the little collection of houses located 2 km before the crash. He believes that the “operation” was planned there and that the “supposed ambulances” were already waiting there.

The farmer speaking in he video says he was biking from the nearby town to the rice fields where he works, the entrance to which is directly across from the crash site. While he was biking a car passed him and he saw the dust cloud, based on which Alejandro estimates he’s about 1 km (half a mile) from the crash. By the time of the crash he was just meters away and arrived there in 2 to 3 minutes. He said people were already there taking each of the 4 men out of the car.

The person speaking in English is Jan Modig, the Swede who was in the car. He says, “The second memory I have is that I found myself in some sort of ambulance,” which means it wasn’t an ambulance… it was ‘sort of an ambulance’. Alejandro also says the foreigners were saying “why did you do this to us?” and he believes it was a huge premeditated operation to kill them.

He says they took “the Swede” and Carromero (the Spaniard who was driving) away separately and they didn’t know what happened to Oswaldo Paya. Paya was sitting where he received the direct impact from the crash, but that he served as a sort of ‘airbag’ for Harold Cepero who ultimately also died. Alejandro says that since they were being hit from behind everyone was wearing their seatbelts [the official version is that they were not] and that Harold was alive after the crash; he had a very small fracture of the femur.

When they arrived at the hospital — Alejandro goes on  to say — State Security kicked the regular doctors out of the hospital and brought in “G2″ military doctors, and that he hopes Cepero’s body was not cremated because he did not die of natural causes.

Alejandro’s personal version of what happened was that somebody who was G2 (State Security) infiltrated Carromero and Modig’s visit and told G2 where they were going. G2 followed them from Havana and also there were more G2 agents waiting for them in the collection of houses, where everything was prepared, including the ambulances and doctors.

Translated and video summary by Unstated and BW and Chabeli

January 4 2013

 

Paternalisms

Photo : A. Betancourt Monzo

Paternalism. Social doctrine in which the relationship of the employer and his employees is similar to the ones existing between family members. That’s the entry for this word on the Larousse dictionary.

Lately the national TV news, the same one I try to avoid if at all possible because I can not relax when I see it for more than two minutes, is covering the Party assemblies that are happening all over the island. I turned on the TV trying to find something interesting to watch and because I couldn’t find anything, I briefly watched the coverage of one of these assemblies. This one in particular was happening in the Santa Clara province. One of the participants said very seriously, that if the cows gave milk every day it was because they ate every day. Because I had turned the TV on when the assembly was already in session for a while I couldn’t appreciate if it was a joke or not. At this point one of the members at the table, fat neck and a guayabera shirt, said, putting a lot of emphasis on his statement, that we have to put an end to the paternalism.

And I asked to myself: Who imposed the paternalism as a system in our country? Whom did they ask for permission for to apply it?

This is the grocery store where you are enrolled to be a customer.

This is the ration card that you have to use to purchase.

This is the quota of food you are allowed to buy.

This is the medical center that you have to go when you need attention.

This is the doctor assigned to you.

This is the doctor’s office where you have to go as a patient.

This is the daycare your son has to go to.

This is the school assigned to him.

This is the teacher that will teach him.

These are the college careers that you can choose from.

This is the career that your son must study.

And on, and on, the list could be interminable. Without counting the many years that toys and clothing were assigned to you depending which group’s turn it was to buy and depending also at which store your coupons were assigned.

Translated by Adrian Rodriguez

June 20 2011

 

Bitten by Underdevelopment

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The very first time I sat at front of a PC, around six years ago, I thought that it was the end for me. It doesn’t matter how many times Alfredo, my son, told me, “It won’t break so easily,” I was so afraid every time I touched any key thinking that all of a sudden everything will be dark and a catastrophe will happen.

I am not a brave person, neither am I a coward, but a very cautious person indeed. The problem is that on my planet, when something breaks, it is for ever and ever, there’s no way to fix it, it is broken for life, moreover when involves equipment of such scarce technology.

Finally, with practice and perseverance I’ve been learning a little bit, enough to communicate with the outside world (where my family and friends are) and, even making a blog!

I am telling you all this, because recently someone gave me a cell phone as a gift and immediately I got a crash course on how to use it. This is the reason why I beg you to forgive me, due to the fact as you’ve probably already noticed, I just met this helpful little blue bird, which on countless occasions helped to save the physical integrity of my fellow colleagues who share with me my planet.

I hope you forgive my rookie skills twittering. I promise to work hard not to make any more mistakes, and avoid one more time being bitten by underdevelopment.

Translated by: Adrian Rodriguez

June 13 2011