Where Is Claudia Cadelo?

Alfredo Fernandez

HAVANA TIMES — “Those who love me and those hate me won’t forgive my being distracted,” reads a line from an old song by Silvio Rodriguez. It turns out that yesterday — for the first time — I visited Claudia Cadelo’s blog Octavo Cerco. I had previously read some of her work through a multimedia platform of the Voces Cubana that came into my hands.

There, Claudia Cadelo seemed to me to be a brave, interesting and above all very intelligent woman. Octavo Cerco was, or rather is, an exquisitely designed blog, a real blog of someone living on an island without Internet, something like a desperate cry from the depths of a cave.

Yesterday, when taking my turn on the internet in the Swedish embassy, I couldn’t wait any longer and went to enjoy the Octavo Cerco, this time without the need for a link as the only way to access it in Cuba.

To my great surprise the post was dated August 18, 2011, with Claudia apologizing to her readers for the absence that began at that time and that was due only to a very personal need to complete her second short story (which is great).

The truth is that after that time Claudia never began posting again, and has obviously not uploaded any photos or videos to her blog.

So I asked myself, where did this vital energy of Claudia Cadelo go? I still remember her the day of the premiere of the documentary Revolution (about the career of the rap duo Los Aldeanos), insulting the State Security guy Hugo and his cronies, when in an arbitrary and dictatorial act they prevented her from entering the Chaplin Cinema.

Unfortunately none of those reasons which I imagine led Claudia to put aside her fears and launch her blog have disappeared.

So, I guess she did this because Cuba is the only nation in the Western Hemisphere without free Internet access, or because it happens that there are no free elections here, or perhaps because one cannot travel freely. I suspect that if it was because of that and much more, then Claudia has no right to stop blogging.

I hope this message gets to Claudia Cadelo wherever she is. Claudia, it’s true that one needs the energy of a marathon runner to go forward in a struggle that sometimes seems like it has no end, but also remember that the longest journey begins with one step, and in your case you have already taken several.

Start walking again Claudia, at the same time start writing in your excellent blog.

Remember the line from Silvio.