Macrobiotics in Cuba? Only for El Comandante
Posted: 05/ 6/11 07:09 PM ET
Every day the information is more easily filtered from the closed
official archives to those alternative networks where the news networks
run without brakes. It escapes in floods -- and not only in WikiLeaks --
these well-kept secrets and jealously guarded data. This avalanche of
revelations has us believing that in Cuba we are living in a time of
liberalization but not in the experimental style for the Spanish at the
end of the seventies.
Ours, rather, is well fed on these previously hidden details of our
national history, drawing on passages silenced by the press. One of the
most shocking revelations of recent times occurred in January 2010 and
was associated with the death-by starvation and cold of at least 26
patients in the Havana psychiatric hospital. Around 300 photos taken
during their autopsies escaped the controls and passed into the hands of
citizens, showing the state of deterioration and maltreatment they'd
been exposed to in life.
We never knew for sure who took this sequence of images in the Institute
of Legal Medicine, nor how, in a few weeks, thousands of citizens viewed
those emaciated corpses, with their contusions and neglect. Only after
we had entered through forbidden paths, did the television make a brief
announcement about the deaths.
A restless camera had also filmed, two years earlier, the discussion
between a university student in computer science and the president of
the parliament. Mr. Ricardo Alarcon could only reply to the young man's
incisive questions with certain unfortunate phrases, a nervous wringing
of the hands, and some slogans.
The resulting video spread like wildfire and that high cheekboned face,
with the firmly stated questions, became a kind of popular leader for
daring to say publicly what so many remain silent about. In addition to
evidence of social discontent, the spread of those recorded minutes
corroborated something very important: the efficacy of the clandestine
channels of communication to divulge the forbidden. And we saw an
effective way to jump over the censorship.
After that incident, the flood of information intensified, the network
to spontaneously spread the news strengthened, and state monopoly on
information seemed to yield before the force of citizens. So that our
liberalization didn't come, as in the Spanish case, in the form of
bikinis or risqué films, but it has arrived in the little bellies of USB
flash memories and in the thin surfaces of CDs and DVDs.
The latest example of the inability to keep something far from prying
eyes has been the publication of the Fidel Castro's macrobiotic diet.
Designed and supervised by a leading institution specializing in
nutrition, the select menu passed to the public arena in all its details.
The list includes everything from seaweed brought from Japan to brown
rice harvested with zero pesticides or fertilizers. In a country where
the greatest question people ask every day is "what will I eat today?"
this discovery came as a bucket of cold water.
Beyond the outrageous cost of such an exclusive diet, what has most
upset those on the Island is that such excesses are committed under the
mask of discourse or militant austerity and discipline. On the other
hand, it has unleashed a veritable witch hunt, on the part of those in
charge of information security at the scientific center, to determine
those responsible for the leak of the Maximum Leader's menu. Analyzing
what happened is like watching a bag full of water begin to be punctured
by small holes, until it is entirely emptied.
The leaks can destroy a system that has relied too long on secrecy. The
Palace whispers can no longer be contained, the corruption scandals, the
ousted officials, all pass within hours to the public realm. It is not
as if 11 million Cubans believe that the Commander in Chief eats the
same that each of them receive on the ration market quota, but the
enormous difference between what is on their plates and that of another
has left them bewildered.
In a country strangled by the financial crisis, the dual currency and
low productivity, docking a ship laden with macrobiotic products
arriving from Italy, in order to keep one man alive, leads to a lot of
talk. It's like a leap into the abyss, as most Cubans have no idea what
organic farming, pesticide-free vegetables, much less first press olive
oil are. The schizophrenic duality between what is said from the dais
and what happens behind the doors of senior officials is overwhelming.
It is also a relief, however, to know that nothing remains hidden behind
the curtains, and that we will not have to wait decades for the
declassification of the what is hidden today. Each day the time gap
between what happens and when we learn about it is shorter, every week
that passes it is harder to hide information.
Perhaps right now a white-bearded old man is lifting a spoon of natural
couscous to his mouth, taking as well a small portion of
delicately-flavored sushi. He thinks he is alone but an eager crowd
looks on. Each ounce that he lifts to his mouth is known in advance,
every detail he has hidden in the past will also be known.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/fidel-castro-macrobiotic_b_858397.html
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