The Miamerry-go-round
By Aurelio Pedroso
HAVANA – Some deserve respect, others a hearing, others reproach; others are to laugh at, others to be pitied. The riders on the anti-Castro merry-go-round in Miami deserve a place in the Guinness Book of Records as people who, forever in motion, can never reach a final destination.
Going around in circles for decades, the whirligig hasn’t stopped its engine, not even for routine maintenance.
Colorful horses, white swans, barbecue-colored piggies and comfortable benches designed like seashells for elderly people swirl daily before our eyes, to the sound of a melodious children’s tune. All this is done for the delight of the mentally infantile and the profit of the political industry created by Miami’s ultrarightists.
The star lately has been, unquestionably, the philologist, blogger, vice president of the International Press Association, etc., etc., Yoani Sánchez. I have lost track of the number of epithets and labels pinned on her (both good and bad). Many have appointed her as the Number One Dissident on the island, the most promising, enthusiastic and active fighter for a better nation.
I have not disapproved of some of Yoani’s well-written articles, but to imagine for one moment that we’re looking at a nascent leader who is capable of mobilizing crowds for change from Maisí Point to the Cape of San Antonio* is like thinking that the lady could be our first woman cosmonaut. Not because of the air miles she has accumulated lately but because of her cosmic adventure in another galaxy.
There is an incredible paradox in the mobilizing power that she and her invisible band have abroad and what they might muster on the streets of Havana. For whatever reason, nobody on the island knows Yoani Sánchez. The most we could expect is for her to bring together some of her relatives and a couple of acquaintances in a demonstration of national vindication.
The fact is that changes in Cuba come from the inside and are intended for domestic benefit, though they also may have beneficial consequences abroad. Yoani and others are already benefiting from some of those changes.
And allow me a digression: her ambivalent answers, which have earned her the animosity of some sectors in the right, are a result of the fact that now she faces a moveable national reality that has been praised by the great majority of governments. (This reminds me of an article by my colleague Manuel Alberto Ramy, in which he stressed the difference between shooting at a static target and a moving target.)
And that is, in my opinion, why she would fail if she tried to embark on a political career, either the proper way, by her own inspiration, or the wrong way, fueled by the ill-intentioned praise lavished on her by those outside Cuba who idolize her and bankroll her.
This carrousel, on which she occupies a prominent seat, has carried others on more or fewer turns. Some requirements are needed for the 360-degree tour.
The celebrated and inebriated Pánfilo was put aboard, bottle in hand, and for a while some notable artists sent him enough monetary contributions so he could keep the show going. Today, nobody remembers him, hires him or needs him.
Another one who climbed aboard and got off after a couple of turns was that poor woman whose son opted for death, clinging to ideas that were not on a blog. Why was she discarded by those who today venerate Yoani? One might suspect that it was because of her limited vocabulary, or because she didn’t go from ninth grade to philologist.
Reyna Luisa Tamayo, mother of the late Orlando Zapata, was not on the carrousel for long. Maybe the color of her skin limited the outpouring of the flattery, celebrations and receptions. Who remembers her? Who knows where and how she lives? Does anybody remember her complaints over the promises her sponsors failed to fulfill? She doesn’t qualify to go around the world in 180 days. She and her family, whom her promoters invited to leave the island, were worth just 90 miles and a couple of stories in the media. Then, oblivion.
The Miami anti-Castro machine and its operators manufacture "leaders," use them and even translate their words into almost 20 languages – a lot more than the most powerful media in the world. Then, as happens to everything artificial, the leaders are discarded. They suffer the fate of the famous Kleenex tissues, which are also sold in various languages.
(*) Translator’s Note: The two farthest points in Cuba: Maisí in Guantánamo province and San Antonio in Pinar del Río.
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