Amnesty International denounces: Women denied right to protest in Cuba

 

Document - Cuba: Further information: Women denied right to protest

Further information on UA: 256/11 Index: AMR 25/004/2011 Cuba Date: 1 September 2011

URGENT ACTION

WOMEN DENIED RIGHT TO PROTEST

A group of female relatives of prisoners of conscience in Cuba and their supporters were again prevented from organizing a peaceful protest on 28 August . They have been harassed and intimidated by state officials since mid-July for their peaceful activities.

The Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco), a group of female relatives of former prisoners of conscience and current political prisoners, and the Ladies in Support (Damas de Apoyo), have since mid-July faced arbitrary arrest and physical assault from members of the security forces and government supporters in the south-eastern city of Santiago de Cuba and surrounding towns.

On 28 August, 13 Damas gathered at the home of Aimée Garcés Leyva with the plan to go to the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba in order to attend mass, and afterward organize a peaceful protest around the cathedral. However, according to testimonies from some of the women, the house was surrounded early in the morning by police cars and female police officers. Testimonies say the Damas were ill-treated by the officers and forced into buses. As on previous Sundays, they were driven near to their hometowns in the province of Santiago de Cuba and released. The Damas also claims that police officers took computers, cell phones, photo cameras, memory flash drives, book notes and other external hard drives from the home of Aimée Garcés Leyva.

Two other Damas who were driving from Holguín to Santiago de Cuba on 27 August, complained to have been violently arrested in the municipality of Bayamo. They were brought back to Holguín where they spent a night in jail.

The Damas are planning to try to organize a silent protest on 4 September, and every subsequent Sunday, to call for the release of prisoners they believe to have been jailed for their dissident activities.

Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:

calling on the authorities to permit the Ladies in White and Ladies in Support to march peacefully on Sundays and attend religious services without unreasonable restrictions;
urging them to cease immediately the harassment and intimidation of the Ladies in White, Ladies in Support and any other citizens who seek to exercise peacefully their rights to freedom of expression and association.
asking them to thoroughly and independently investigate the accusations of ill-treatment by police officers on the Ladies in White and Ladies in Support and bring those responsible to justice respecting international standards.

P LEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 13 OCTOBER 2011 TO :

Head of State and Government

Raúl Castro Ruz

Presidente

La Habana, Cuba

Fax: +53 7 8333085 (via Foreign Ministry); +1 2127791697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)

Email: cuba@un.int (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)

Salutation: Su Excelencia/

Your Excellency

Interior Minister

General Abelardo Coloma Ibarra

Ministro del Interior y Prisiones

Ministerio del Interior, Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana, Cuba

Fax: +537 8556621, +1 2127791697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)

Email: correominint@mn.mn.co.cu

Salutation: Su Excelencia/

Your Excellency

And copies to

First Secretary, Cuban Communist Party of Santiago de Cuba

Lázaro Espósito

Primer Secretario del Partido Comunista de Santiago de Cuba

Avenida Garzón 51

Plaza de Martes

Santiago de Cuba

Provincia de Santiago de Cuba

Cuba

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the first update of UA 256/11. Further information: http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR25/003/2011/en

URGENT ACTION

WOMEN DENIED RIGHT TO PROTEST

Additional Information

In 2003, over several days, the Cuban authorities arrested 75 men and women for their peaceful expression of critical opinions of the government. They were subjected to summary trials and were sentenced to prison terms of up to 28 years. Amnesty International declared the 75 convicted dissidents to be prisoners of conscience, and the last of them was released in April 2011.


The Damas de Blanco organizes peaceful marches where they distribute flowers and call for the release of their relatives and friends. In 2005, the Damas de Blanco were awarded The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament.

The Damas de Apoyo emerged as a solidarity group who support and participate in activities organized by the Damas de Blanco.


There are now 35 Damas de Blanco and Apoyo from the eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Las Tunas, Granma and Guantánamo.


The Damas de Blanco and Damas de Apoyo have repeatedly suffered harassment and intimidation during their peaceful activities. In central Havana on 18 August 2011, 49 Damas were prevented from carrying out a protest in support of their members in Santiago de Cuba and other eastern provinces. Government supporters physically forced them to return to their homes. On 14 August only three of 22 Damas who travelled to Santiago de Cuba managed to enter the Cathedral for mass. Five of them were arrested before mass began, and taken to various police stations in the city and held for several hours. The 14 other Damas were stopped at a police checkpoint 11 km outside the city and forced off the bus they were travelling in by women police officers. Nine of them, including Belkis Cantillo Ramírez, the wife of former prisoner of conscience José Daniel Ferrer García, were kicked and slapped as they were pushed into police cars and returned to their homes.

On 21 August, 11 Damas gathered at the home of Aimée Garcés Leyva in the town of Palma Soriano. Some 100 people, including police and government supporters, surrounded the house for several hours. When the women tried to leave, police pushed them and pulled their hair before forcing them into buses. They were driven a few kilometres, then taken in police cars and dropped near their hometowns in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Holguín. 

Name: Damas de Blanco and Damas de Apoyo
Gender m/f: f

Further information on UA: 256/11 Index: AMR 25/004/2011 Issue Date: 1 September 2011

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/004/2011/en/2559286a-0a6d-43d8-b38d-23bf0fb81ab4/amr250042011en.html

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas: Better Yet, Let's unite together for our rights

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas

A proposal by Representative David Rivera of the United States Congress that would prohibit Cuban political refugees to travel to Cuba until five years after their arrival to that country has generated great debate. To defend all of the rights of Cubans and among those, the right to enter and leave their own country freely is not a matter of political position; it is the vocation, determination and reason of being of our Movement. For this we reject the proposal by this congress.

But I do not deny that Mr. Rivera is addressing a real problem and a situation that justly deserves an analysis, a debate and conducted for the good of the Cuban people, of which the exile is an inseparable part. But also with respect to the North American society, that with a great sentiment of solidarity, has received and continues to receive many Cubans. We cannot forget that these Cubans that have arrived through various channels of refugee programs , through the lottery, family reunification, risking their lives at sea or “staying” for some occasion, look for a new life of freedom and opportunities that are denied to them in their own country.

Without trying to be a judge, because I am a part of this society, I call on the reflection of the responsibility of everyone in this situation.

The political refugees are Cubans who emigrate because they are persecuted here in their own country and this should not deprive them of the right to return to see their family and the country that they had to leave because of this persecution. Is the punishment that the communist regime imposes on them not punishment enough, that they should also be punished with the denial of seeing their loved ones even if it is only for a few days and under surveillance? All Cubans who emigrate should have the same rights.

That which is not a right, but an attempt against that right, is to obtain political refugee status from lies and deceit, whether from here or when arriving in another county or also from goodwill but sometimes ignorance of those who are granting this status. The defense is permitted and is legitimate for everyone looking for a new life in a new land, but not at the cost of falsifying or faking the condition of political persecution or inventing oneself or fabricating oneself a history of dissidence so as to later reappear or return in a real carnival in an exhibition of opportunism.

I say this in defense of the sacred cause of the fight for liberty for Cuba that is being embodied and discredited by some. I say this in vindication of thousands of true fighters for human rights that suffer persecution in Cuba, jail and even giving their lives generously for the cause. I say this in defense of those that with pain must abandon their country on account of the harassment of their families, for having dedicated themselves with authenticity to the cause of liberty and for other circumstances, as in Cuba many are persecuted and not only the dissidents.

The politically persecuted that solicit it should continue to be welcomed as political refugees by the United States and other countries. We remember that many Cubans cannot come to Cuban because the government of Cuba denies them this right. Otherwise, I urge that people not use dangerous paths or those that risk lives to emigrate.

We demand the end to the persecution that ultimately occurs at the societal level, by means of totalitarianism that oppresses all Cubans. For this reason, any Cuban trying to escape or looking for liberty and a new life. It would be cruel to deny them this opportunity. For this reason, the Cubans that are already outside of Cuba or that have arrived in the United States or any other country, should not be deported.

Otherwise, and with respect, we remember those who support or promote the law proposed by Mr. Rivera, some exiled, possibly with the best intentions, supported the designation of the status of politically persecuted to all Cubans that came to other places or claimed that the path of exile was the only legitimate one in the face of the oppression in Cuba.

But we also call attention to the inconsistency of those that drive this falsely harmonious cultural exchange between the ideological and political apartheid and the denial of the rights that exist in Cuba and the inconsistency of those only speak to promote tourism and business travel as supposed methods of achieving change. This current can turn into an element of ‘change-fraud,’ which is change without rights, a method that is imposed already in Cuba and from the outside against the right to rights for the Cuban people.

Because of this it is necessary to remember that:

This issue that we are discussing today has originated from, is manipulated and exported, and now and always exploited by the totalitarian regime against its own Cuban people who are the only victims.

To explain further: It is a problem created by the regime that denies freedom and the rights to its citizens and has converted life into a prison. A regime that manipulated the problem like a regulated safety valve, with all of the resources of totalitarianism, the disadvantages of Cubans, the culture of fear and deftly handled and no less cruel, the desire of Cubans to find a new life. A regime that in this way has exported Cuba’s drama and which is unfolding in a Cuban exile that longs for his country, maintains its Cuban roots and that heartbreakingly suffers along with Cubans here; the worst punishment that can be imposed on a Cuban is to separate him from his family and his land. Thus the coming together and communication between family members becomes a vital necessity.

A regime that ruthlessly exploits this situation and, while continuing to deny the right of free entry and exit to Cubans, imposes on the exiled a tax to see their palm trees and pay a ransom to kiss, hug and help their family and friends within Cuba, those who the regime treats as hostages.

Let’s not allow this contradiction to be artificially moved to the heart of the people. Let’s reflect and debate these subjects and get to the bottom of these contradictions between government and people: the totalitarian regime denies all Cubans freedom and many others their rights including, the right to freely enter and leave their own country.

God wants us to find the adequate behavior for a just solution and not for erosion that will eventually divert us, divide us and face Cuban against Cuban.

Our suggestion is; 

A solidarity campaign for the rights of Cubans to freely leave Cuba without restrictions or time limits, without goods and property being confiscated, without being identified or discriminated against, without permission or invitations or letters of release, for the right of all Cubans to freely enter Cuba without being extorted, without time limits, without asking permission and with all the civil rights and with respect for Cuba and all of the rights for all Cubans living within and outside of Cuba. 

Let us run this campaign so that the people believe, so that the world believes. 


Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas
Coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement

Havana, Cuba, August 21, 2011

Original Spanish: http://www.oswaldopaya.org/es/2011/08/28/abc-oswaldo-paya-mejor-unirnos-por-los-derechos/

CUBA: Amnesty International calls for an end to intimidation against the Ladies in White

Cuba’s ‘Ladies in White’ targeted with arbitrary arrest and intimidation

22 August 2011

The Cuban authorities must end their intimidation of a group of women campaigning for the release of political prisoners, Amnesty International said after 19 of the group’s members were re-arrested yesterday.

The latest detentions took place yesterday in and near the south-eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, where the women were due to march silently and pray for the end of political imprisonment.

Over the last month, the “Ladies in White” (Damas de Blanco) and their supporters have repeatedly faced arbitrary arrest and physical attacks as they staged protests in several towns in the region.

“The ongoing harassment of these courageous women has to stop. The Cuban authorities must allow them to march peacefully and to attend religious services as they wish,” said Javier Zuñiga, Special Advisor at Amnesty International.

The latest arrests took place as “Ladies in White” gathered in several locations to make their way to a planned march at the Cathedral in Santiago de Cuba.

Eleven of the “Ladies in White” gathered yesterday morning at the home of a supporter in the town of Palma Soriano. A crowd of some 100 people, including police, officials and government supporters, surrounded the house for several hours.

When the women attempted to leave, police pushed them and pulled their hair before forcing them into buses. They were driven a few kilometres away where they were transferred to police cars and dropped near their hometowns in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Holguín.

Police also surrounded the house of Tania Montoya Vázquez, another “Lady in White” from Palma Soriano for several hours yesterday, preventing her and two fellow protesters from leaving.

Five other “Ladies in White” who live in the city of Santiago were arrested before they could reach the Cathedral and were held in police stations for several hours. It is believed that they have all been released.

Beginning on 17 July, groups of the “Ladies in White” have gathered on Sundays to stage silent protests and attend mass in Santiago de Cuba and several nearby towns.

The “Ladies in White” and the “Ladies in Support” (Damas de Apoyo) are a nationwide network of activists in Cuba that have recently escalated their peaceful protests in eastern provinces. In Havana and elsewhere, they have repeatedly suffered harassment from Cuban authorities for their peaceful protests.

In central Havana on 18 August 2011, 49 “Ladies in White” and their supporters were prevented from carrying out a protest in support of their members in Santiago de Cuba and other eastern provinces.

In 2003, Cuban authorities rounded up 75 of the group’s relatives for their involvement in peaceful criticism of the government.

The 75 dissidents were subjected to summary trials and sentenced to prison terms of up to 28 years. Amnesty International considered them all to be prisoners of conscience, and the last of them were finally released in May 2011.

The “Ladies in White” and “Ladies in Support” continue to peacefully protest for the release of others who they believe have been imprisoned due to their dissident activities.

“It is unacceptable for the government under Raúl Castro’s leadership to perpetuate a climate of fear and repression to silence ordinary Cubans when they dare to speak out,” said Javier Zuñiga.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/cuba%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98ladies-white%E2%80%99-targeted-arbitrary-arrest-and-intimidation-2011-08-22

Silent Vigil For Victims of Terror Attacks in Norway to be held in Miami

Today marks one week since the people of Norway were attacked by a home grown terrorist that set off a massive bomb in downtown Oslo and went on a shooting spree on the nearby island of Utøya that caused the deaths of at least 77 and the injuring of many more Norwegians. Today in Norway they began to bury their dead.



Tomorrow in Miami [ at 2:00 pm Saturday, July 30] we will hold a  silent vigil for the victims of  the Norwegian terror attacks at the Torch of Friendship located at 301 North Biscayne Boulevard Miami, Florida. We ask that you bring a red or white rose in memory of the victims of these heinous attacks.

The month of July is a difficult one for Cubans and Argentinians because of terror attacks that took place on July 13 and July 18, 1994 respectively claiming scores of victims. The first the "13 de Marzo" tugboat sinking was an act of state terrorism and the second the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center.



Mohandas Gandhi spoke a profound truth when he observed that "Terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong but of the weak." In addition to being weak it is also a profoundly evil act that needs to be denounced wherever it takes place.

Global Voices on Defending The Ladies in White who were recently brutally attacked

The Ladies in White shout slogans. Image by Flickr user Globovisión (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Cuba: Defending “Las Damas” 

Cuban bloggers continue to update their posts about the most recent attack on Las Damas de Blanco (The Ladies in White), in which members of the group were reportedly “attacked and brutally beaten…by agents of Castro State Security upon exiting a church sanctuary.”

The Coalition of Cuban-American Women has issued a press release denouncing the attack, which even includes an audio clip [es] of one of the Ladies, Tania Montoya Vázquez, relating her experience. El Cafe Cubano has republished the Coalition's statement in a show of solidarity.

Babalu comments on the “recording by opposition leader Tania Montoya Vazquez, who called in to Hablalo Sin Miedo while a violent attack against the Ladies in White was taking place yesterday”, saying:

You can hear the desperation and fear in her voice. Even if you do not speak or understand Spanish, the tone of her voice and the screams in the background give a chilling account of the brutality of the Castro dictatorship.

The incident has caused an outcry from other factions as well; see The International Federation of Liberal Youth's statement, here:

Belkis Cantillo Ramirez was shot in the arm, while others were brutally beaten with batons, stones and other objects. In the midst of the violence, Tania Montoya and Rodaisa Corrioso were arrested by the authorities. Aside from these two brave women, thirteen members of this organization, including Belkis Cantillo Ramirez, are receiving medical care at a local hospital.
The International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) condemns these attacks in the strongest terms. Las Damas de Blanco is a strictly peaceful movement. To respond to such non-violent resistance with such brutal repression colours the Castro regime as tyrannical at best. If these attacks were not sanctioned by the authorities, then an investigation must be immediately initiated and given far-reaching jurisdiction.

The statement goes on to demand that “Tania Montoya and Rodaisa Corrioso must be immediately and unconditionally released”, while Babalu writes another post with “more graphic details” (including photos), saying:

A quick review this morning of the websites run by some prominent ‘Cuba Experts' finds no mention whatsoever of this brutal and violent attack on these defenseless yet courageous women. The narrative put forth by these ‘experts' mirrors the narrative put forth by the Castro regime…they are not about to shine the light of truth on the atrocities…

Uncommon Sense also weighs in, making the point that:

To its credit, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Santiago de Cuba confirmed the report, and denounced the attack.

This has proven to be an interesting observation, considering Babalu's take on a USA Today editorial suggesting that:

Post-Castro Cuba will need someone trusted by all segments of society to help shepherd this nation into a new era, without bloodshed or upheaval. Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, archbishop of Havana, is that man. The son of a sugar mill worker, Ortega is uniquely equipped to fill any power vacuum.

Babalu strongly disagrees:

In a colossal display of sheer ignorance and contemptuous arrogance, Pinsky nominates for president one of the most corrupted and compromised individuals in Cuba today while ignoring venerable leaders such as Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, who unlike Ortega, has not compromised his principles or allowed himself to be used as a political tool by the dictatorship.

El Cafe Cubano supports this view, saying:

This past Sunday in ‘Santiago de Cuba, a city in the Eastern province of Cuba, women pro democracy activists were savagely beaten and verbally attacked in the streets by Cuban State Security agents after they attended mass in the Basilica of El Cobre, a Catholic shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Charity, where they prayed for the freedom of all Cuban political prisoners and for the freedom of Cuba.'

The Catholic Church silent and looking the other way…

No doubt, the Cuban diaspora will continue to follow developments and provide cyber support for The Ladies in White.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “Las Damas de Blanco gritan consignas”, is by Globovisión, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0) Creative Commons License. Visit Globovisión's flickr photostream.

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco


However Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia about 10 hours ago on twitter said @jdanielferrer Ladies in White in Santiago de  #Cuba grateful for Archbishop Dionisio Garcia words calling aggression against women unworthy.

In Solidarity: Official Statement From Rotilla Organizers

Havana, Cuba. July 20th, 2011

Official Statement of the Directive Council of the Rotilla Festival

Purpose: Denunciation of the Kidnapping of Rotilla Festival


Rotilla Festival, founded in the year 1998, is the only event of its kind in Cuba. It is brought together every year in the month of august, and during three consecutive days it promotes and exposes the great majority of the demonstrations of the Cuban artistic vanguard. It is of a non-lucrative character, completely free and open to the public.


Originally it began as a movement promoting electronic music exclusively, since 2008 it incorporated in its artistic program musical bands of the most varied formats, but always under the principle of promoting the alternative within the arts.


In the same way, since its beginnings the festival has been administered INDEPENDENTLY by its founders, and practically without any collaboration of the Cuban authorities (state-government). That has been our policy and our position, we wanted to grow by ourselves, develop ourselves and
generate an authentic movement aimed specially at the youth with their true expectations and demands very much in mind.


In our last edition (2010), already because of the artistic proposals, because of the national and international press coverage, because of its long trajectory and the renown it has acquired world-wide, the festival obtained a record attendance of 20,000 people, thus placing itself as the longest running and most attended by youth event in the island. The great quantity of film material gathered in all this time legitimizes this claim.


Today, in 2011, Rotilla Festival faces its biggest challenge. The Cuban Government, personified by vice-president Esteban Lazo, together with the Ministry of Culture, personified by vice minister Fernando Rojas, aim to hijack the event from the hands of its organizers and founders, and produce it through government institutions, seizing and plagiarizing our name, our scheduled days and our convocation, distorting the very concept of the event, bringing to the "festival" bands that modify the
format that we ourselves, the festival's legitimate owners, had established. At the same time, the institutions questioned have offered the participating artists of this "event" monetary remuneration, in that way deteriorating the social relationship established historically (on a non lucrative basis) among the original organizers and the artists, and thus securing the performance of the latter.


Traditionally there existed a dialogue with the authorities, where they pressured us so that a certain group did not perform, and in exchange they would cooperate to allow the festival to happen. Thus it was established a modus vivendi, of coexistence. It has never being easy informing an artist that he cannot perform because the Ministry of Culture rejects him; but that, is the traditional folklore that we live in Cuba regarding art; everyone knows it. However, this time…the so-called institutions have gone too far. They have informed us informally, by way of Noel Soca, government official who heads the Commission of Recreation and Culture in the new province of Mayabeque, that we no longer had any involvement in the subject, that the festival would be run by the Ministry of Culture and the Institute of Music in the arranged days, as young people would attend any way.


The board of directors of Festival Rotilla headed to the Ministry of Culture, knowing that a meeting was being carried through with the purpose and name "Rotilla", in the offices of Fernando Rojas, vice
minister of Culture. From this meeting we were politely expelled; we had not been invited.

Censorship (already traditional), is one thing, and something very different is the theft, plagiarism, and hijacking of the work that has reached such high levels of attention at even international levels, and that counts with the congratulations of thousands of young Cuban people that have attended for years.


The organizing team of Rotilla Festival wants to clearly and categorically assert, that on this year 2011, the Rotilla Festival is cancelled, due to the ethical violence that has been manifested by the highest
authorities of Cuban culture.


We, organizers and authors of the Rotilla Festival, and I myself, its director and founder, DENOUNCE the theft, plagiarism, and kidnapping that this attitude represents for all the young people of this earth
that we today represent. We denounce the excessive and stubborn censorship that is being exerted against any cultural activity that DOES NOT originate in the so-called institutions. We denounce the harassment
to which we are constantly being put through. We denounce the surveillance and the subtle or direct threats to which we are subject daily.


"A country is not governed as one governs a barracks" said Jose Marti to the general Maximo Gomez on the occasion of the small war. We believe a country should foster pluralist thought, its society should be the owner and true sovereign of its nation, and above all, the owner of the good work constructed with the effort of many years and with its very own sweat.


The theft of one's own work, conceived as a life project, is the most immoral and deplorable act that the government of a nation could be involved in. It violates all the principles of revolutionary ethics,
whose concept is written in each corner of every neighborhood across the whole country.


We warn our leaders that this type of behavior attacks even the base of the social contract that is in place in Cuban society. It attacks the principle of respect that a populace (nation) must have for their
government. We believe this even contradicts some of the same points that have just been released by the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, ignoring some of the principles that were set forth;
leaving the children of Cuba wandering aimlessly without hope or direction.


To reconstruct the nation, it is evidently necessary that we all participate, and that participation can only be generated with the confidence and the respect between the government and its people. Such
acts will plant in us, today’s youth, distrust to build and create on our own land, because there is no guarantee that neither our creations nor our investments in time, human resources, and material resources will be respected.


We made it clear to our institutional counterpart that we will initiate the corresponding legal proceedings against them, because this act not only violates all known ethical and moral concepts, but also a set of laws on copyright and ownership of intellectual property that, we expect, are still in force in the Cuban nation.


It is time that each of us demand the rights that correspond to us as citizens, and that these rights mark our relationship with institutions. It is time to bring order to the folly (stupidity) and arbitrariness.

We want to do our exercise in our land, invest and earn doing what we do, our personal business, our party, and our festival. That right, which we demand, but do not have, is just and necessary.

The Rotilla Festival team invites anyone who identifies with or adheres to our cause to disseminate this speech by any means at their disposal. This way we can build today, the solidarity of tomorrow.

We hope that this statement is received with the same respect that we intended to print it. It is our intention to discuss reform, to grow and succeed, to build a nation for all where everyone has their own space to grow as confident and capable individuals.

Let there be no doubt that we will continue demanding the right to carry out our festival in the coming years, it is our legitimate right.

MATRAKA PRODUCTIONS - ROTILLA FESTIVAL

English  translation taken from Roots of Hope blog

En Solidaridad: DECLARACIÓN OFICIAL DEL CONSEJO DIRECTIVO DEL FESTIVAL ROTILLA

La Habana, Cuba. 20 de Julio de 2011

DECLARACIÓN OFICIAL DEL CONSEJO DIRECTIVO DEL FESTIVAL ROTILLA.

Motivo: Denuncia del Secuestro del Festival Rotilla.

Rotilla Festival, fundado en el año 1998, es el único evento de su tipo en Cuba. Se realiza cada año en el mes de agosto, y durante tres días consecutivos promueve y expone la gran mayoría de las manifestaciones de la vanguardia artística cubana. Es de carácter no lucrativo, totalmente gratuito y abierto a todos los públicos.

Al principio comenzó siendo un movimiento promotor exclusivamente de la música electrónica, a partir del 2008 incorporó a su programa artístico bandas musicales de los más variados formatos, pero siempre bajo el principio de promover lo alternativo dentro de las artes. Igualmente el festival desde su nacimiento ha sido administrado de manera INDEPENDIENTE por sus fundadores, y sin prácticamente ninguna colaboración de las autoridades cubanas (estado-gobierno). Esa ha sido nuestra política y nuestra posición, queríamos crecer desde nosotros mismos, desarrollarnos y generar un movimiento auténtico dirigido especialmente hacia los jóvenes teniendo muy en cuenta sus verdaderas expectativas y exigencias.

En la ultima edición (2010), ya por las propuestas artísticas, por el eco de prensa tanto nacional como internacional, por la larga trayectoria y el renombre adquirido mundialmente, el festival obtuvo el récord en asistencia de 20 000 personas, colocándose así como el evento mas largo en tiempo y de mayor asistencia juvenil dentro la isla. La gran cantidad de materiales fílmicos acopiados en todo este tiempo así lo legitiman.

Hoy, en el 2011, Rotilla Festival enfrenta su mayor oprobio.

El Gobierno Cubano, en la persona del vicepresidente Estaban Lazo, junto al Ministerio de Cultura, en la persona del viceministro Fernando Rojas, pretenden secuestrar el evento de las manos de sus organizadores y fundadores, y realizarlo desde las instituciones estatales, arrebatando y plagiando para esto nuestro nombre, nuestros días señalados y nuestra convocatoria, violentando el concepto propio del evento, llevando al “festival“ bandas que modifican el formato que nosotros, sus legítimos dueños, habíamos establecido. Por otra parte, las instituciones en cuestión han ofrecido remuneraciones económicas a los artistas participantes en este “evento“ para de este modo deteriorar la relación social establecida históricamente (sin basamento lucrativo) entre los organizadores originales y los artistas, asegurando así la presentación de estos últimos.

Tradicionalmente había existido un dialogo con las autoridades, donde estas presionaban para que no se presentara determinado grupo y en cambio cooperaban para que se realizara el festival, se había establecido así un modus vivendi, de coexistencia. Nunca ha sido algo cómodo informar a un artista que no puede presentarse, pues el Ministerio de Cultura lo rechaza. Pero ese, es el folklore tradicional que en cuanto al arte se vive en Cuba. Eso es por todos conocido.

Sin embargo, en esta ocasión… han ido demasiado lejos las llamadas instituciones.
Nos han comunicado informalmente, a través de Noel Soca, funcionario que dirige la Comisión de Recreación y Cultura en la nueva provincia de Mayabeque, que no teníamos mas nada que ver con ello, que el festival sería realizado por el Ministerio de Cultura y el Instituto de la Música en los días señalados, pues los jóvenes iban a asistir de cualquier manera. La directiva del Festival Rotilla acudió al Ministerio de Cultura sabiendo que se estaba realizando una reunión con motivo y nombre “Rotilla“, en las oficinas de Fernando Rojas, viceministro de cultura. De ella fuimos cortésmente expulsados, no habíamos sido convidados.

Una cosa es la censura (ya tradicional), otra muy diferente es el robo, el plagio y el secuestro de una obra que ha alcanzado muy altos niveles de atención a nivel incluso internacional, y que cuenta con las congratulaciones de miles de jóvenes cubanos que allí han asistido por años. El equipo organizador de Rotilla Festival, quiere dejar muy claro y de manera categórica, que este año 2011, se cancela el Festival Rotilla, por la violencia ética que han manifestado las máximas autoridades de la cultura cubana.

Nosotros, realizadores y autores de Rotilla Festival, y en mi nombre propio, su director y fundador, DENUNCIAMOS el robo, el plagio y el secuestro que esta actitud significa para todos los jóvenes de esta tierra que hoy representamos. Denunciamos la excesiva y terca censura que se esta ejerciendo contra cualquier actividad cultural que NO provenga de las llamadas instituciones. Denunciamos el acoso a que estamos siendo sometidos de manera constante, a la vigilancia y las amenazas sutiles o directas de las que somos objeto cotidianamente.

“Un país no se dirige como se dirige un campamento!“ Dijo en ocasión de la guerra chiquita José Martí al generalísimo Máximo Gómez. Y es que en un país debe primar un pensamiento plural, su sociedad debe ser dueña y soberana verdadera de la nación, y por encima de todo, dueña de la buena obra construida con el esfuerzo de los años y el sudor de la propia frente.

El robo de una obra propia, que se concibe como proyecto de vida, es el acto más inmoral y deplorable en que se puede ver involucrado el estado-gobierno de una nación. Rompe con todos los principios de la ética revolucionaria, cuyo concepto esta escrito en cada esquina de cada barrio de todo el país.

Queremos advertir a nuestros líderes, que este tipo de actos, atacan incluso la base del contrato social vigente en la sociedad cubana. Arremeten contra el principio de respeto que un pueblo debe tener por su gobierno. Consideramos que incluso, contradice los mismos lineamientos que se acaban de lanzar con razón del VI Congreso del Partido Comunista de Cuba, ignorando algunos de los principios que allí quedaron plasmados; dejándonos a los hijos de Cuba sin norte de guía y sin esperanzas.

Para reconstruir la nación, es evidentemente necesario que participemos todos. Y esa participación solo se puede generar con la confianza y el respeto entre el estado–gobierno y la base de la sociedad, sus gentes. Este tipo de actos sembrarán entre nosotros, hoy los más jóvenes, la desconfianza a construir y crear en nuestro suelo, pues no existe garantía de hecho ni derecho de que serán respetadas nuestra creación o nuestra inversión en tiempo y recursos humanos y materiales.

Dejamos claro a nuestra contraparte institucional que iniciaremos los procesos legales correspondientes en su contra, pues este acto no es solo violatorio de todos los conceptos de ética y moral conocidos, sino también de un conjunto de leyes sobre derecho de autor y propiedad intelectual que esperamos, estén aún vigentes en la nación cubana.

Es hora que cada uno de nosotros exijamos los derechos que nos corresponden como ciudadanos, y que estos marquen nuestra relación con las instituciones. Es tiempo de poner orden a la insensatez y la arbitrariedad.

Queremos hacer nuestro ejercicio en nuestra tierra, invertir y ganar haciendo lo que hacemos, nuestro negocio personal, nuestra fiesta, nuestro festival, ese derecho, sí que lo exigimos, por que no lo tenemos. Es justo y necesario.

El equipo de Rotilla Festival invita a todo aquel que se identifique o adhiera a esta causa que se haga eco de este discurso y que lo difunda por cualesquiera de los medios a su alcance. Así edificaremos hoy la solidaridad del mañana. Esperamos que este comunicado sea recibido con el mismo respeto que hemos querido imprimirle, pues es nuestra intención dialogar para reformar, para crecer y salir adelante, para construir una nación para todos donde todos tengan a salvo su propio espacio y crezcan como individuos capaces y seguros de sí.

Que no quepa duda que vamos a continuar reclamando el derecho a realizar nuestro festival en los próximos años, es nuestro legítimo derecho.


MATRAKA PRODUCCIONES • ROTILLA FESTIVAL