Burn Your Neighbor’s Beard

Burn Your Neighbor's Beard / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on April 25, 2014

The hypocritical "conversation" that Nicolas Maduro held with the
opposition indicates the political temperature of what is happening in
Venezuela.

Against his will, the dictator sat down at the table of dialogue.
Although he does not want to recognize it, he did it at the demand of
his Cuban advisors, and of Raul Castro himself, who in frequent phone
calls from the Island, advises him not to give up, or show weakness or
that he is desperate because of social pressure.

It is true that in Cuba Raul Castro is far from recognizing his
political adversaries; further away still is the possibility of a
dialogue between both sides. Many more Cubans will have to die before —
at some point — we throw ourselves into the streets in order to demand
what belongs to us by right and that they have stolen from us for more
than half a century.

Circumstances, dictators and tyrannies are different, but on perceiving
that the process imposed by the deceased Hugo Chavez is extinguished,
and in spite of the power and abuses they make a disillusioned people
suffer, they have also make them pay for their rebellion with more than
40 lives.

In order to avoid guarimbas (street clashes) in Cuba, the Castros have
maintained their iron command, which has cost many lives of those who
have opposed them. Here, if one breathes at a different rhythm than that
stipulated by the leadership, the political police open a file and begin
their constant persecution, waiting for you to breathe deeply to "bring
you" your shares of anguish.

No fire is needed in the archipelago; the smoke of a lit match barely
suffices to sound the alarm. Nevertheless, we keep dreaming of
our guarimbas.

Angel Santiesteban-Prats

Lawton prison settlement. April 2014.

To sign the petition for Amnesty International to declare dissident
Cuban Angel Santesteban a prisoner of conscience, follow the link.
https://secure.avaaz.org/es/petition/Para_que_Amnistia_Internacional_declare_prisionero_de_conciencia_al_disidente_cubano_Angel_Santiesteban/?fbss

Translated by mlk.

25 April 2014

Source: Burn Your Neighbor's Beard / Angel Santiesteban | Translating
Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/burn-your-neighbors-beard-angel-santiesteban/