(Open letter from Cuban blogger Claudia Cadelo de Nevi to Cuba's vice minister of culture. Scroll down for translation.)
Fernando Rojas:
Me dirijo a usted con la intención de aconsejar. Digamos que con mis 26 años he decidido hoy servirle por unos instantes de madre o de conciencia, como se quiera interpretar. Así es que le escribo a Fernando Rojas el hombre y no el Viceministro de Cultura, aquel al que quizás más de una vez -durante la infancia- su madre le dijo: “Fernandito, a las niñas no se les da.”
Dicen –y usted sabe lo que pesa en la Habana esa tercera persona del plural- que durante la tristemente célebre reunión que tuvo usted con los artistas del grupo performático OmniZonaFranca, una de las justificaciones sostenidas para desterrar el Festival Poesía Sin Fin de las instituciones cubanas era que los muchachos se reunían con la blogger Yoani Sánchez. Las resoluciones y leyes que su ministerio se ha adjudicado para limitar la entrada de ciudadanos a sus establecimientos y actividades me son desconocidas, pero no es de leyes de lo que quiero hablar, porque en las aguas de la ley, Rojas, hace mucho tiempo que su ministerio no se baña.
Lo que me preocupa es su amenaza “Si Yoani Sánchez viene, yo mismo le doy con un palo”. Graves palabras, Fernando, para un hombre. Pero aun más graves para un Viceministro que –según comentarios de pasillos - aspira a quitar el prefijo vice de su cargo. Sin embargo esto no es un regaño, es más bien un llamado a la cordura, a la civilidad, a la inteligencia. Le recuerdo que para esos menesteres el gobierno cuenta con los paramilitares, las brigadas de respuesta rápida y en última instancia la CIM (Contrainteligencia Militar); no me parece aconsejable que un funcionario se tome esas tareas por su cuenta, y menos que las anuncie con antelación, pueden llegar a oídos inadecuados y filtrarse por Internet.
Diría que un ambiente de terror sobre su persona no conviene, a fin de cuentas todos saben que Yoani Sánchez es una escritora y usted el Viceministro de Cultura, la imagen del palazo resulta lamentable y desacertada.
Por otra parte puedo estarme yo equivocando y su vice no sea más que una coartada, entonces pertenecería usted a una de las organizaciones antes mencionadas que se ocupan de golpear civiles. En ese caso probablemente su pecado sea la indiscreción, porque después de amenazar públicamente con atentar contra la integridad física de una ciudadana, costará creer, Fernando, que usted no es más que un funcionario del Ministerio de Cultura.
Atentamente,
Claudia Cadelo De Nevi
This is an open letter by Cuban blogger Claudia Cadelo de Nevi to Cuba's vice minister of culture. Here's a translation:Fernando Rojas:
I am writing to you with the intent to offer advice. Let us say that from my 26 years, I have decided today to serve for a few moments as your mother, or your conscience, however you would like to interpret it. So I write this to Fernando Rojas, the man, and not the Vice Minister of Culture, to whom, perhaps, more than once in your childhood, your mother said, "Fernandito, to the girls, it is not done."
They say--and you know what weight is given to the third person plural in Havana--that during the infamous meeting that you had with the artists of the performance group, OmniZonaFranca, one of the justifications offered for banishing the Festival of Poetry Without End from Cuban institutions, was that the boys were meeting with the blogger Yoani Sanchez. The resolutions and laws that your ministry has promulgated to limit the entry of citizens to establishments and activities are not known to me, but it is not about the laws that I wish to speak, because in the waters of the law, Rojas, your ministry has not bathed for a very long time.
What worries me is your threat, "If Yoani Sanchez comes, I myself will meet her with a stick." Serious words, Fernando, for a man. But even more serious for a Vice Minister who--according to comments from the "cultured" corridors--aspires to lose the prefix "vice". However, this is not a reprimand, rather it is a call to sanity, civility, intelligence. I remember that, for these duties, the government has the paramilitaries, the rapid response brigades, and as a last resort, the CIM (Military Counterintelligence); it does not seem advisable to me that a staff member take these tasks on himself, much less announce it in advance as, leaked through the Internet, it might reach inappropriate ears. Considering that everyone knows Yoani Sanchez is a writer and you are the Vice Minister of Culture, I would say that an atmosphere of terror doesn't agree with you, and that the image of your delivering a beating is regrettable and unfortunate.
On the other hand, I could be mistaken and your vice may be nothing more than an alibi, in which case you would belong to one of the above mentioned organizations whose job it is to beat civilians. In that case your sin would probably be the indiscretion, because after publicly threatening to attack the physical integrity of a citizen, it is hard to believe, Fernando, that you are only an official in the Ministry of Culture.
Sincerely,
Claudia Cadelo De Nevi
