CUBA
Former Cuban officials resurface, enrage artists
Cuban officials who purged cultural circles in the 1960s and '70s have
reappeared in public, causing outrage among the island's intellectuals
and artists.
BY WILFREDO CANCIO ISLA
wcancio@ElNuevoHerald.com
Recent public appearances by three former Cuban officials linked to
harsh political purges in the cultural sector during the 1960s and '70s
has aroused the ire of some of the island's intellectuals and artists.
The unusually public criticisms posted on the Internet include comments
by three winners of Cuba's top literary prize, the National Literature
Award, and several other well-known authors and artists.
The intellectuals demand an urgent response from the government in view
of the ''political error'' represented by the reappearance of the former
officials, most of them now in their 80s and not seen in public for many
years.
The controversy arose after an appearance by Luis Pavón Tamayo, former
chairman of the National Culture Council, on a Cuban television program
Jan. 7.
Pavón was in charge of the harsh cultural policy that alienated and
censured hundreds of Cuban writers and artists in the early 1970s.
The TV program -- devoted to Pavón as part of a series on Cubans who
have influenced the nation's culture -- exalted him, displaying medals
that he won and showing photos of him with high-ranking government
officials.
UNDESERVED PRAISE
''There he was, dressed in white, the great arbiter of important
artists,'' wrote Havana author and National Literature Award winner
Antón Arrufat in a letter posted on the Internet. ``He was the man who
hounded them and expelled them from their jobs, the man who . . . took
away their wages and jobs, condemned them to ostracism and social
vilification.''
Arrufat, himself a victim of government sanctions in the 60s and 70s,
suggested that the state-controlled Union of Artists and Writers of
Cuba, known as UNEAC, ask the government's Institute of Radio and
Television for a public apology for the program.
''Television and its responsible officials . . . have taken a
premeditated and disdainful step against the suffering of those
protagonists of Cuban culture who were thrown into contempt and
sentenced to ostracism during a period whose wounds have still not been
healed,'' wrote Havana novelist and essayist Reynaldo González, another
national prize winner.
Also signing messages of support for Arrufat posted on the Internet were
authors and artists Miguel Barnet, Desiderio Navarro, Arturo Arango,
Enrique Pineda Barnet, Jorge Angel Pérez, Ena Lucía Portela, Senel Paz,
and Sigfredo Ariel.
TV APPEARANCE
Besides Pavón's appearance, a Cuban TV program on Dec. 13, 2006,
included an appearance by Jorge Serguera, a former prosecutor in the
trials that sent dozens of Fidel Castro opponents before firing squads
in the early 1960s and later head of the Cuban Institute of Radio
Broadcasting.
In November, another Cuban television program interviewed Armando
Quesada, a subordinate of Pavón's who in the 1960s was in charge of
watching over the ideological purity of Cuba's theatrical world.
RESIGNATION
The controversy arose a few weeks after the resignation of Carlos Martí
as president of UNEAC, apparently for personal reasons.
UNEAC members in Havana said that among the candidates for Martí's post
are the current director of the National Library, Elíades Acosta,
considered to be a ''hard-liner''; Omar González, president of the
national film institute; and Fernando Rojas, president of the National
Council of Culture Centers.
To see the Spanish-language commentaries, click on:
http://www.cubaencuentro.com/es/revista-encuentro
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/16431724.htm
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