Tempering News, Absorbing Shocks

Tempering News, Absorbing Shocks / Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado
Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado, Translator: Boston College CASA

The case of Angel Carromero Barrios rapidly lost relevance because of
the "atmospheric pressure" of the State. Like a tropical meteorological
event, its great intensity dissipated in the mediating and officializing
Cuban waters. Many know that in Cuba the State is the owner, the
editorialist, journalist, reporter, photographer, and censor of all
daily newspapers and journals that exist in the country, which pretty
much means that we only have one newspaper in the whole archipelago.

The news of the sentence against Carromero Barrios, whose judgement
became conclusive on October 5, was published on the night of October 15
in the news, and at dawn the next day (October 16th), the people were
surprised with the flexibilization of the law on immigration and travel.
For a dictatorship that had stepped on immigration, emigration and
travel rights–among other rights–of its citizenry, it was only logical
that the latter news trumped the first in the consciousness of the Cuban
people and the world.

Just like the date of the oral and public trial of Carromero–which was
programmed for a weekend (Friday), two days before the elections in
Venezuela–the master manipulators of this country's information, without
freedom of press, didn't wait even 24 hours to dictate a law-decree
which took about two years to come up with. Why didn't they wait a few
days? Let's remember that they similarly took advantage of the beginning
of the war with Iraq to begin the wave of arrests in March of 2003;
despite this, the world saw, repudiated and denounced this abominable
official strategy. Even if this results in speculation, there is a
chance that the new immigration/travel law was devised with this purpose
in mind–in the period understood between accident and sanction–but for
others, it was much more important to wait.

Anyway, they spend so many years in power repeating the same — or
similar — course of action, that most of the world guesses the move
before it is made. It is true that they are astute and have several
master's degree in the selection of time, place and the opportune moment
— it is a 50-year-old specialization — but they are not good poker
players. The feeble and recently debuted migratory modification does not
vindicate the Cuban diaspora as part of our people, their rights
violated for decades.

Nevertheless, once more they stimulate the rich foreign investors to
obtain real estate here, encourage investors generally and tourist
visitors from the United States particularly, to focus their binoculars
and bring part of their capital to our soil. It is very likely that the
fateful economic situation of Cuban totalitarianism, and the claims of
continuity on the dynastic throne will make them hurry and commit
errors. In their economic hardships and customary refusals to "call a
spade a spade" in order to really resolve the country's problems, they
expose the effort to show anew image of the Cuban government in the face
of the closeness of the elections in the United States, probably to
lobby for a possible redesign of the politics of that government towards
ours. With the pretext they are trying to break the blockade, they take
years blocking the legitimate exercise of the rights of their citizens,
which is the same as flogging us because others hit them and they also
punish us for the same reason.

The "political tricks" propaganda, of making anorexic changes to
draconian laws, will have no credit or real impact on most of the
population,as long as they do not restore the rights that they have
violated and postponed, respecting the fundamental liberties of all
Cubans — from within and without Cuba — and democratize this society.
Such dirty tricks are bluffs that trick no one, and give less light.
Until now the proposed reforms are condemned to failure because of the
abusive and prolonged rigor of their own laws. They will have no
success, because many think that it has to do with the classic maneuver
of stalling for time.

It seems that they have bet on the United States' economic serum to
resolve the national disasters in which they have sunk us, like the
obligatory transfusion in the veins of the ruling class and its
prosperous family and stalwarts; not in those of the whole nation. I do
not know if the highest Cuban authorities really want to reestablish
relations with the US.; rather it seems that they want to normalize the
efforts to protect their interests and above all to guarantee their
continuity. Once more "they uncorked" an oblique tactical move– a crab
move — to fool the people of their own backyard and "enchant" the hungry
fish of other latitudes. But they don't catch big fish with small hooks,
much less, with worthless and petty baits.

Translated by: Boston College Cuban-American Student Association (BC CASA)

October 18 2012

http://translatingcuba.com/tempering-news-absorbing-shocks-rosa-maria-rodriguez-torrado/