The Cuban writer Jacobo Machover criticized the election of the pro-government poet Nancy Morejón as honorary president of the Poetry Market, an important literary event held annually in Paris since 1983. Through a review of the history of support for the regime that has characterized To Morejón, the professor also argues that it is a “delusional” decision, which will undermine the reputation of the event.
Held from June 7 to 12 in the Saint-Sulpice square in the French capital, the Poetry Market will be inaugurated by Morejón, whom the Official site of the event she characterizes as a “translator of French and French-speaking poetry”, as well as winner of various distinctions, some of them awarded by French institutions.
In an open letter to the organizers, Machover points out that Morejón is aligned with “the prevailing dictatorial regime in Cuba” and is part of its “cultural authorities.” In addition, she is the director of the magazine Unionthe organ of the “very pro-government” Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac), which “only admits to its ranks intellectuals close to power and from which all dissidents or critics are mercilessly excluded,” it denounces.
As part of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, Morejón has been a signatory of several documents of adhesion to the regime
As part of Uneac, Morejón has been a signatory of several documents of adhesion to the regime, the most recent of them, recalls Machover, is the Message from Cuban educators, journalists, writers, artists and scientists to their colleagues in other countriessigned in October 2022, and in which the poet’s signature appears in sixth place.
In that text – supported among others by the “official biographer of Fidel Castro and the Venezuelan Hugo Chávez”, the Spanish-French journalist Ignacio Ramonet – he expressed his full support for the Government, in addition to alleging the non-existence of repression by the authorities , a situation qualified as “distortion of our reality”.
Machover reflects on the “truth about Cuba” defended by the Uneac message, and denounces that the signatories hide the existence of “more than a thousand political prisoners detained as a result of or outside the peaceful demonstrations that took place on the 11th and July 12, 2021 throughout the country.
“Among the people imprisoned and sentenced to insane sentences are several brave artists, writers and poets, who refuse to abide by the obligation of all, intellectuals or ordinary people, to devote themselves to permanently praising the regime,” adds the professor, who points out Morejón’s “custom” of giving his name to this type of document, which justifies “the worst government crimes.”
Another of the letters that the poet signed twenty years ago, Machover affirms, was the one that justified the arrest and sentencing of 75 dissidents, several of them writers, during the so-called Black Spring of 2003. Among them was the poet Raúl Rivero, who whom Machover has translated and published in French. In addition, the document destined for the “peoples of the world” validated the execution of three young people who had tried to escape from Cuba by kidnapping the “lanchita” from the Havana town of Regla.
Another of the letters that the poet signed twenty years ago, Machover affirms, was the one that justified the arrest and sentencing of 75 dissidents, several of them writers, during the so-called Black Spring
One day after the protests of July 11, 2021, the Ministry of Culture made several intellectuals appear on Cuban Television to insult the protesters. Morejón then said: “These events of yesterday, unacceptable, condemnable in every sense, are part of an old pandemic as terrible as this one that plagues us (covid-19): that of the empire.”
The writer points out that Morejón “is nothing more than an accomplice and propagandist for the Castro regime, which has prevailed for more than 64 years,” and his honorary presidency in the Poetry Market insults “freedom of expression throughout the world” that defend the event.
“I demand that this error be corrected and that the honorary title that has been improperly attributed to the poet Nancy Morejón be withdrawn. This act would contribute to the freedom of Cuba and, of course, of its poetry and literature, which constitute the common heritage of all writers and poets throughout the world,” concludes Machover.
The Poetry Market, created in 1983 by the publisher Jean-Michel Place and the critic Arlette Albert-Birot, brings together poets, publishers and publications from all over the world every spring in Paris. It is currently organized by c/i/r/c/e, a French association dedicated to literary, critical and artistic studies. In addition to attending the inauguration, Morejón has planned two presentationson June 7 and 10, on Caribbean poetry,
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