The most persecuted woman in Cuba

By Aníbal Malvar

From the Spanish daily Público

MADRID – Ferociously persecuted by Castroism and deprived of all freedom, Yoani Sánchez is making a world tour to denounce the terrible status of her life under Raúl’s and Fidel’s yoke.

Those who are persecuted by totalitarian regimes have always been fond of making world tours to claim that they have no freedom, that they lack economic resources and are imprisoned inside their own borders. The world tour won’t give you back your freedom but it sure makes you feel better.

Although Yoani Sánchez enjoys no freedom, she has planted plenty of suspicions about the alleged Castroite plot to murder the oppositionist Oswaldo Payá by slamming his car against a tree in Granma province, famous the world over for the revolutionary ferocity of its vegetation.

The criminal nature of the tragedy was confirmed when Cuba’s totalitarian regime forbade that tree to testify before the judge in the trial held against Angel Carromero, leader of Spain’s Popular Party and the cautious driver of the car that was treed.

If I, for instance, had attributed the recent death of writer José Luis Sampedro to a poisoning plotted by [Spanish Prime Minister] Mariano Rajoy to silence the libertarian writer, I would most surely be writing this from jail, because in Spain there is freedom.

In Cuba, however, there is so little freedom that you’re not jailed when you accuse the rulers of murder. They don’t even fine you, the fascist bastards. It is a highly intolerant regime.

About Yoani’s tour, I have been greatly moved by a photograph that shows her embracing Hermann Tertsch, another journalist hounded by communist totalitarianism. As everyone knows, Tertsch was savagely beaten at the Toni Two piano bar by a Trotskyite goon sent by El Gran Wyoming. [1]

Although the violent goon confessed that he had pummeled the renowned Tertsch because the journalist had, while drunk, harassed a lady, nobody believes that story. Everyone knows that Tertsch was at the bar investigating the presence of terrorists disguised as transvestites, singing around the piano.

I myself, compelled by a rash desire to defend freedom, went to the Toni Two a couple of days later and verified that, yes, the bar shelters terrorists disguised as transvestites, wearing wigs and sequin dresses and singing show tunes. Less brave than Tertsch, I left the premises before El Gran Wyoming could sic his goons on me.

Never before had it left a half-full shot of whiskey on the counter. The pursuit of journalism forces us to make unimaginable sacrifices.

Aside from Hermann, Yoani has also been photographed with the emancipator of Iraq, [former Spanish Prime Minister] José María Aznar, and that bulwark of freedom named Esperanza Aguirre [president of Spain’s Popular Party], who fancied Yoani so much that she almost had her nationalized as a Spaniard.

After her tour ends, the brave Yoani will return to Cuba to continue being persecuted, since the kidnappers of her freedom granted her an international passport that no one would ever dump in the garbage.

There, she will return to her daily impecuniousness and resume sending 400 Tweets a month, which is sure to drive Raúl and Fidel batty, because in Cuba there is no freedom of expression. That hobby costs Yoani about $6,000 a month, inasmuch as she has to send the Tweets via SMS, because there’s no Internet.

Just so you can have an idea of the money involved, think of half of what [Luis] Bárcenas slipped under the table every month to some leaders of the Popular Party. In other words, a bundle of euros – in both Spain and Cuba. Yoani deserves credit for saving so much money from the communist pittance she earns. [2]

Like so many other effing left-wingers, I have been disenchanted by Castroism for many years now. But something weird happens to me, Doc: Every time I hear an anti-Castroite speak, my face turns into Che Guevara’s, I light a cigar and sing “The Song of the Chosen One.” [3]

Is this serious or is it just one of my delusions?

Aníbal Malvar is a Spanish journalist and writer. For more information, access http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aníbal_Malvar In Twitter, @anibalmalvar

Translator’s Notes:

[1] El Gran Wyoming is the stage name of Spanish comedian and TV host José Miguel Monzón Navarro. The bar fight, in December 2009, was the subject of Monzon’s jokes on the air afterward.

[2] Luis Bárcenas, former treasurer for Spain’s Popular Party, has been accused of diverting party funds to leaders of the PP. The case is ongoing in Madrid.

[3] Title of song by Cuban trouvador Silvio Rodríguez dedicated to Abel Santamaría, a rebel leader killed in prison after the failed raid on the Moncada army barracks in 1953.