Dissident poet speaks at college

Posted on Fri, Oct. 14, 2005


MIAMI
Dissident poet speaks at college
Cuba's best-known dissident writer spoke at Miami Dade College, where he
read from his poetry and called for dialogue to free political prisoners.
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@herald.com

Raúl Rivero is a poet who writes with the kind of sharp clarity that won
prizes and got him thrown in jail.
The former Cuban dissident writes with a subtle anguish that hints to the
years he spent ducking state security. He composes with love and a touch of
comedy.
It's his jokes he keeps having to explain.
He didn't really mean to say he was awaiting Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez's death. And that crack to a Spanish news agency about ''demonized''
Miami exiles? Out of context -- he meant Cubans here have been demonized by
Castro.
''In Cuba, you can't express yourself,'' Rivero said, speaking in Spanish,
at a news conference Thursday. ``You turn to humor.''
Rivero is an internationally acclaimed Cuban writer, jailed two years ago in
a sudden crackdown by the Cuban government because he dared defy the system.
Seventy-five government opponents, including 30 journalists, were given
decades-long sentences.

TOLD TO LEAVE ISLAND
Rivero was one of the lucky 14 who were later released. His November 2004
liberation came with a bit of a wink and a nod -- leave the country and
we'll leave you alone. He took off for Spain and published his most recent
book of poems, Corazón sin furia (Heart Without Fury). Rivero now works as a
columnist for Spain's El Mundo newspaper.
Miami Dade College's Florida Center for the Literary Arts invited Rivero for
his first public appearance in South Florida. He read his works to a captive
audience after two whirlwind days of stops on Calle Ocho, where he was
honored with a proclamation from the likes of City Manager Joe Arriola and
presented a pen by the Cuban American National Foundation's Jorge Mas
Santos.
In a meeting with the media before his presentation, Rivero gave long and
thoughtful answers peppered with witty one-liners.

UNITY IS `STUPID'
''I don't believe in unity; it's stupid,'' he said. ``In Cuba, there's
unity: 99.7 percent of the people vote for Fidel.''
Himself the beneficiary of negotiations with Castro -- the Spanish
government secured his release -- Rivero encouraged the use of dialogue to
free Cuban political prisoners.
''It would be selfish, stupid and miserable if I tell the governments to
slam the door to dialogue,'' he said. ``I respect the people who feel that
way, but for my own personal dignity, I cannot call for that door to be
closed.''
Rivero criticized the Latin American governments that ignore the Cuban
opposition, while the European Union works hard on their behalf.
''The first time I ever saw a computer with Internet was at an embassy,'' he
said. ``Czech.''

CRITICIZES NOSTALGIA
Other governments, ones much closer to Cuba's shores, turn their backs on
the Cuban opposition so they can curry favor with leftist anti-American
voters, he said. Many Latin Americans, he said, are still swept by the
nostalgia of a revolution that allows for breezy cigar-filled visits to
Havana where tourists can see happy workers and peaceful kids.
''That rented dream of theirs is our nightmare,'' he said. ``Those combative
anti-American groups go to Havana via American Airlines and have Plymouths
and Fords waiting for them at the airport. . . . That anti-Americanism comes
at the expense of the sacrifice, pain and bitterness of our country.''

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/12897203.htm