Translator: Unstated, Yoani Sánchez
In the long list of the words forbidden in my childhood, there were two
in particular that were censored: "Christmas" and "Human Rights." The
first I heard from time to time, in a whisper, from the lips of a
grandmother who had known the trees with garlands, the traditional
nougat candy and turkey. But the other, the second, was muttered
disparagingly to allude to someone who — it was said — was involved in
counterrevolutionary acts, enemies. And so I grew up, oblivious to the
festivities of the last week of the year, and believing that evil lurked
in that statement adopted by the United Nations. My compartmentalized
vocabulary ended up conditioning me to a civic attitude full of fears
and led me to fall into line with so many prohibitions.
This December the stores display twinkling lights and trees loaded with
ornaments. A Santa Claus with hardly any belly smiles in the window of
an important commercial center in the city. People run into each other
and delight in every syllable of expressions such as "Merry Christmas";
"I'm shopping for Christmas"; "drop by to celebrate Christmas." The
reduced vocabulary of my childhood has given back a word, a term cursed
for decades. But my next door neighbor still says, "Careful, don't get
too close, they're 'human rights people'." At some repudiation rally —
across the country — someone might now scream, "Down with human rights!"
and the political police stationed on the corner confirm on their
radios, "Yes, here comes a little group of 'Human Righters'." And
there's always a friend who asks us to whisper, "because if you're going
to mention such 'things' it's better to turn the music up."
A fake snow falls on the red Christmas hats, but a huge downpour
dissolves it; the rain of intolerance, the big fat drops of the arrests,
the gales created on this Island when someone dares to barely pronounce
the phrase "human rights."
Translator's note: These photos from Havana are of the greeting in
fireworks for Human Rights Day from a flotilla of Cuba exiles, who
remained in international waters as they showed their support for Cubans
on the island working for freedom and democracy.
December 10 2011
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