Dialogue between the color blind and the cynics

Dialogue between the color blind and the cynics / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on April 21, 2015

Angel Santiesteban, 20 April 2015 — If it's said that a dialogue
occurred between two governments that have been opposed for more than a
half-century, that they came to the negotiation table, one should first
expect that both sides accepted the "errors" in their respective
diplomacies, as occurred last March in Washington with the talks about
human rights. But thinking this, knowing that the representatives of
Cuba's totalitarian government sat in one of the chairs at that table,
is an enormous ingenuity or, simply, stupidity.

When the Cuban delegation returned to the Island, they appeared on
television, supposedly to inform the population about what was
discussed. They showed once again that you shouldn't expect either
democratic progress or human rights. They used their media time to
criminalize the attitude of President Obama's government, talking about
U.S. spying and drones, and mentioning the resolutions presented in
rejection of the U.S. action.

For his part, Chancelor Bruno Rodriguez, according to the presented
medium, spoke of "the calamities on the world level, like hunger,
preventable illness and illiteracy," furthermore reaffirming the words
of his "president," Raul Castro, that "Cuba is not ready to falter nor
cede its ideological points of view."

At the height of cynicism he affirmed that "Cuba complies with the
Declaration of Human Rights" and that it has signed the "most important
conventions in this matter." He also affirmed "Cuba's prestige in
sitting on the United Nations Human Rights Council." And as if this were
a public display of someone demented, demonstrating his total
incoherence, he continued, "Proof of Cuba's goodwill was its acceptance
of 80 percent of the suggestions in the Human Rights Assembly in Geneva."

How can a country that admits that it violates 80 percent of the Human
Rights Convention assert that it enjoys "prestige on an international
level?" I imagine it's the opposite, that it "enjoys" in a negative way.
But if neither they themselves understand, how could I?

In the end, according to what they demonstrated in Washington, both
delegations squandered the contributors' money, something that Cubans
are used to doing, without even having the right to criticize officially
in this regard.

Since December 17, when they made the secret conversations public
between Obama and Castro, we raised our voices to affirm that they
failed, and that they won't achieve what Cuban civil society needs.

Castro is trying to gain time so Cuba will be taken off the list of
terrorist nations, so that later the North American Congress will
withdraw the embargo, although inevitably, already, there are reports of
increased tourism, which Obama announced. It's now reported that some
million more tourists will help the asphyxiating and wasted Cuban
economy, money that the dictatorship will know how to use later to
repress those who oppose the social, economic and political model of the
Castro clan.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

Border Control Prison. Havana. April 2015

Translated by Regina Anavy

Source: Dialogue between the color blind and the cynics / Angel
Santiesteban | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/dialogue-between-the-color-blind-and-the-cynics-angel-santiesteban/