Given that the danger and threat posed by the US was no less back then than it is today, Marti intensely called for unity. However, by no means did he assume the need for a unity that implied homogeneity of thought or the strict observance of the will of a single leader.
In addition, parents take advantage of the visit to the zoo to offer their children a lesson in hygiene and Puritanism, and encourage the kids to shout offensive things to the animals when they pick their noses or masturbate in their miserable surroundings.
There is no better evidence of the precarious health of this society than the oppressive reproductions of Fidel’s face on every corner, or the immortalized quotations by him and the rest of the commandants. There is hardly one thoroughfare in this city that is not overwhelmed with hulking posters that represent them at different stages of their lives.
In the first few days of the coup d’état against Zelaya, I heard the word “constitution” bandied about in the media more times than I had ever in my life. Prompted by this, I wrote a few words about how unusual this was for the Cuban people; perhaps the situation is similar with Australians, I don’t know.
Perhaps by chance, El Loco (the lunatic) and his stooges showed up walking down the street. El Loco lives very close to my house; in fact, I practically saw him born, grow up, and take one step after another along the road to delinquency.
On a recent Saturday morning I was once again overwhelmed by Leibniz’s “New Essays Concerning Human Understanding.” I was sitting there astonished with how obscure and muddled the great philosophers can be – or perhaps their translations – when my grandmother came in all worked up and flustered about what she had just seen.
I have to acknowledge that my first impression was of calm and certain joy at the brevity and certainty of his words. They filled me with enthusiasm, especially if I compare them with some of the last July 26 speeches given by Fidel – the country falling to pieces and he dedicating his speech to recounting the evils of imperialism. That really drove me crazy.
Hopefully they’ll receive electricity soon, but meanwhile I try to make them see the positives of their situation. I warned them that their evening gatherings of the whole family under the intimate glow of a kerosene lamp are the type of things that will disappear, especially with the arrival of TV.
Like on few other occasions, I presently agree with the Cuban mass media with regard to a certain political question. However, I’m beginning to feel a bit strange when I hear Cuban journalists speak with such emphasis on “respect for the constitutional order.”
Trivial, it was an incident of no importance; much worse things happen in the world. Yet the matter is that this humiliation of personal integrity is constant, wherever you go. The result is a feeling of defenseless in the face of the machinery, which I swear doesn’t generate anything good for this country.