Friday, March 5, 2010

All these years, where has Canada been?

The immolation for the freedom of Cuba by the prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata reveals, once again, the intrinsic evil of the Castro dictatorship. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children have encountered their deaths at the hands of the regime’s repressive apparatus throughout 5 decades of communist nightmare. Several generations of Cubans have never enjoyed the most basic rights and freedoms. Nevertheless, the utter contempt toward human life by the Castro brothers has not been able to silence the voices of those who, like Orlando, prefer the physical death to the spiritual death.

The world must know that the expressions of affliction by Raúl Castro are false. In fact, the only thing that he may laments is that the tragic outcome of Orlando’s hunger strike arrived while he hosted Brazilian president Lula. So he had no choice but to face the entourage of journalists that normally accompany democratically elected presidents during foreign trips. Equally ridiculous was the image of this power usurper, mingling and shaking hands with legitimate presidents at the Summit of the Grupo de Rio, held in Mexico. By representing Cuba, Castro mocked not only the entire Cuban nation, but also the good spirit and seriousness of a summit that is pleased to welcome a satrap as one of theirs.

What Cubans want, and the world must unequivocally support, is freedom. To what extent are condolences and demands of change by Canada’s head of foreign affairs of any practical use for the oppressed Cuban people? Actually, they do not serve much when our trade, investments, tourism and political ties are one of the main factors allowing the continuation of this prolonged tragedy. The rationale behind the principled stand against the military junta in Burma versus the complicity toward the Castro brothers tyranny in the heart of the Americas, points to a twisted sense of independence associated with the decision to oppose the American policy of embargo.

A false nationalism expressed in an anti-American foreign policy, undermined the good character of Canada when it decided to accept the Cuban revolution in the first place. Today, 51 years later, Cuba’s civil society and members of the opposition movement find it hard to look up to Canada as a friend. Admittedly, the reason why many Canadians enjoy vacationing on the island of Cuba is because “ there are no Americans down there”.

It’s high time for Canada to fulfill the protagonist role it is supposed to play. Our government and the politicians who represent to us, are in the obligation to ally themselves with the people of Cuba and to take distance from the oppressive dictatorship. What’s the point in having so many “experts” in Latin American studies and publicly funded institutions focused on hemispheric affairs, when our parliamentarians are not able to publicly mention the names (let alone expressing solidarity) of so many prisoners of conscience? At this very hour, brave men and women write pages of honour that inspire not only fellow Cubans, but also the best of humankind.

How much cynicism enclosed in associations such as Canada-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group! Will it be possible that those members of the Canadian parliament do not understand that, in their anti-Yankee paroxysm, they are calling themselves “friends” of a Cuba that cannot choose its representatives? They have to understand at once that their actions don’t make them friends, but enemies of Cuba. Because it is pure hallucination and self-deception to believe that a bunch of criminals who usurped power 51 years ago, could ever represent the aspirations of 11 million Cubans stranded in Cuba and over a million who managed to make it into exile.

The day will come in which, in a free Cuba, future generations will know of the dignity of the Czechs and the solidarity of the Poles when it was needed the most. In an event without precedents in recent parliamentary history, 90 Polish legislators, affiliated to the two main political parties, put their differences aside to adopt, symbolically, 90 Cuban political prisoners. Those are indeed the friends of Cuba and their gesture will not be forgotten.

Over a century ago, Cuban national hero José Martí, as Orlando Zapata now, gave his life for Cuba’s freedom at the age of 42. He very well expressed:
“There are men who live contented though they live without decorum. Others suffer as if in agony when they see around them people living without decorum. There must be a certain amount of decorum in the world, just as there must be a certain amount of light. When there are many men without decorum, there are always others who themselves possess the decorum of many men. These are the ones who rebel with terrible strength against those who rob nations of their liberty, which is to rob men of their decorum. Embodied in those men are thousands of men, a whole people, human dignity.”

Our eternal gratitude goes today to the men and women who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Cuba.

Nelson Taylor Sol
March 3, 2010

¿Todo este tiempo, dónde ha estado Canadá?

El sacrificio del prisionero de conciencia Orlando Zapata por la libertad de Cuba nos muestra, una vez más, la maldad intrínseca de la dictadura castrista. Cientos de miles de hombres, mujeres y niños han encontrado la muerte a través de estas 5 décadas de pesadilla comunista. Varias generaciones de cubanos jamás han experimentado la libertad de expresión. Sin embargo, el desprecio por la vida humana de los hermanos Castro, no ha podido acallar las voces de aquellos que, como Orlando, prefieren la muerte física a la muerte espiritual.

El mundo debe saber que las expresiones de aflicción de Raúl Castro son falsas. De hecho, lo único que lamenta el general sin batallas, es que el trágico desenlace de Orlando haya llegado en momentos en que, abordado por periodistas brasileños, servía de anfitrión al presidente Lula. Igualmente ridícula era la imagen del heredero en jefe, vestido de civil y mezclado entre presidentes democráticamente electos en la Cumbre del Grupo de Río, celebrada en México. De este modo pisoteba no solo el nombre de Cuba, sino también la razón de ser de una cumbre que se complace en recibir a un sátrapa como uno de los suyos.

Lo que los cubanos desean, y el mundo debe tenerlo bien claro, es libertad. ¿De qué sirven declaraciones de pesar y las demandas de cambio provenientes de las cancillerías del mundo libre? No sirven de mucho cuando en la práctica siguen negociando con la dictadura y condenando el “embargo” estadounidense. En honor a los caídos y los que están por caer, es hora de poner a un lado el antiamericanismo intestino que socava el buen carácter de pueblos libres.

Ha llegado la hora de que Canadá cumpla el rol protagonista que debe cumplir. Nuestro gobierno y los políticos que nos representan, están en la obligación de aliarse al pueblo de Cuba y tomar distancia de la dictadura que lo oprime. ¿De qué sirven tantos “expertos” en asuntos iberoamericanos e instituciones de estudios latinoamericanos financiadas por los contribuyentes canadienses, cuando nuestros parlamentarios no son capaces de pronunciarse públicamente por siquiera uno de los tantos prisioneros de conciencia, que ahora mismo escriben páginas de decoro en las cárceles cubanas? ¡Cuánto cinismo encierran asociaciones tales como Grupo Parlamentario de Amistad Canada-Cuba! ¿Será posible que esos miembors electos del parlamento canadiense no entiendan que, en su paroxismo antiyanqui, están llamandose a si mismos “amigos” de una Cuba que no puede elegir a sus representantes? Entiendan de una vez y por todas que ustedes no son amigos, sino enemigos de Cuba.

El día llegará en que, en una Cuba libre, futuras generaciones sabrán de la dignidad de los checos y la solidaridad de los polacos cuando más se les necesitaba. En un hecho sin precedentes en ningún parlamento del mundo, 90 legisladores polacos afiliados a los dos principales partidos políticos se unieron para adoptar, simbólicamente, a 90 prisioneros políticos cubanos. Esos sí son nuestros amigos, y su gesto no lo olvidaremos.

Tal y como dijera José Martí, quien como Orlando Zapata entregó su vida por la libertad de Cuba a los 42 años de edad, “hay hombres que viven contentos aunque vivan sin decoro. Hay otros que padecen como en agonía cuando ven que los hombres viven sin decoro a su alrededor. En el mundo ha de haber cierta cantidad de decoro, como ha de haber cierta cantidad de luz. Cuando hay muchos hombres sin decoro hay siempre otros que tienen en sí el decoro de muchos hombres. Esos son los que se rebelan con fuerza terrible contra los que les roban a los pueblos su libertad, que es robarles a los hombres su decoro. En esos hombres van miles de hombres, va un pueblo entero, va la dignidad humana.”

Vaya hoy nuestra gratititud eterna a los hombres que han sacrificado sus vidas por la libertad de Cuba.

Nelson Taylor
28 de febrero, 2010