MIAMI, United States. — More than a hundred Cuban artists, intellectuals and activists rejected the statement released last week by the island’s regime, which was backed by the cultural ruling party.
The answer, published on the digital portal The touchhighlights that “Cuba is a country involved in a multiple crisis, aggravated by natural events and external sanctions, but fundamentally caused by the exhaustion of the prevailing economic and political model.”
The text reminds those who signed the official statement that it summarized the context that the Island is going through today, marked by human rights violations, by the increase in political prisoners and by an unprecedented mass exodus.
“The information of what happens is visible to whoever wants to see it. Including the testimonies of popular protests that bring together various claims, ranging from mismanagement by the authorities to the human desire for freedom. This information is no longer the exclusive property of the official media or institutions. The official data itself reveals government investment priorities and the negative impact of economic policy decisions on the living conditions of the population”.
The statement published in The touch points out that “those responsible for these decisions remain in their posts” and that “the lack of political will is evident for a population that demands urgent responses from officials in the face of the growing impoverishment of life.”
The text also questions that officials, artists and academics speak out in favor of state policies that directly affect the island’s population.
“Against that population —its urgencies and needs— officials, artists and academics speak out today. They do it with an elitist language, which prioritizes a state agenda over the demands of ordinary people. In a document that denies the humanist values of national history and culture. An intellectually mediocre text, politically reactionary and socially insensitive. Writers who were repressed justify the repression. Historians and jurists disguise the power of the bureaucracy and abandon the real people. Researchers who focus their books and articles on the analysis of popular subjects, racial dynamics or social exclusion, today criminalize the demands and rights of social groups that yesterday they exposed in congresses and academic spaces, either in the country or in the world. Foreign”.
The response of those who oppose the regime also warns that those who signed the official declaration “have chosen to support the repression exerted against their people.”
“Suffice it to say that they had no alternative. There always is. It is always possible to choose. At least not subscribe to the lie that protects abuse and choose, without heroism, silence. But those who have signed this have chosen to support the repression against their people. We, on the other hand, denounce it.”
The official statement, titled Message from Cuban educators, journalists, writers, artists and scientists to their colleagues from other countries was seen as an attempt by the island’s authorities to show an image of unity after the massive protests that followed the passing of the Hurricane Ian in western Cuba.
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