{"id":42446,"date":"2015-02-19T14:44:52","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T19:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oncubamagazine.com\/?p=42446"},"modified":"2015-02-19T14:44:52","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T19:44:52","slug":"the-forbidden-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/styles-trends\/technologies-of-communication-and-media\/the-forbidden-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"The forbidden culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some years ago, the International Press Center Director \u201creprimanded\u201d me because, in a news report, I had revealed that the baseball documentary Fuera de liga (\u201cOut of Our League\u201d) had been censored on orders from the Ideological Department of the Communist Party.<\/p>\n

The documentary was banned for five years for committing the sin of interviewing a number of \u201cdeserters\u201d then playing in the Major Leagues. The director, Ian Padron, announced this week that he is leaving Cuba because he\u2019s \u201ctired\u201d of having to deal with these absurdities.<\/p>\n

The news saddens me but it doesn\u2019t surprise me. For years, I\u2019ve watched the country lose many young talents because of the intransigence of certain power sectors, where ideological extremism combines with ignorance.<\/p>\n

Through social networks, I have also just found out that writer Wendy Guerra was excluded from Cuba Book Fair activities, despite the fact her literary works have made her an internationally renowned figure of Cuban culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome Latin American writers are surprised they don\u2019t invite me to take part in literary debate panels in my own country, when I\u2019ve sat next to them in other parts of the world,\u201d Wendy tells us over coffee.<\/p>\n

Her books enjoy so much success abroad she has been translated into 13 languages, but Cuba still refuses to publish her novels Todos se van (\u201cEveryone Leaves\u201d), Nunca fui Primera Dama (\u201cI\u2019ve Never Been First Lady\u201d) and Negra (\u201cBlack Woman\u201d), the story of Celia Sanchez and her experiences with racism.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Raquel P\u00e9rez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wendy recalls that one of the first people to censor her was the blogger Iroel Sanchez, back when he was the Chair of the Cuban Book Institute. She adds that \u201ccensorship is a reaction against the initiatives of Raul Castro, who is now demanding a more critical take on society.\u201d<\/p>\n

She believes it is not merely a political problem, that the lack of culture among officials responsible for defining what is permitted and what is not is a significant factor. \u201cThey should be sent to study contemporary art, and not only at a Party school,\u201d she tells us.<\/p>\n

In Cuba, the press and culture are controlled by the Ideological Department of the Communist Party Central Committee, which is headed by an army colonel. This entity has the \u201cright to veto\u201d any cultural or journalistic production in the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the result of what they taught us at Cuban schools,\u201d the writer says, adding that \u201cnow, we should send these officials who keep watch over culture to study so they can interact with those of us who are producing cultural products with a bit more wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her view, there is \u201cmuch misunderstanding\u201d, a tremendous lack of information in Cuba, where officials always suspect you\u2019re lying to them. We\u2019re no longer living in the hardline days, when you could be put in jail for saying something, but the fact is that you don\u2019t really know why they refuse to understand what you\u2019re saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuban writer Wendy Guerra has won the Brugera Award, El Pais\u2019 Critics Award and the Carbet des Lyceens. The French government granted her the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres distinction. She is also a member of Bogota 29, a group composed of important Latin American writers. Photo: Raquel Perez<\/p>\n

In the meantime, \u201cI maintain a kind of adulterous relationship with my country. I stay in the shadows, because I can\u2019t live in the full light of day. I\u2019ve never been threatened but, if I were a bit neurotic, I would say they threatened me with silence and that, despite that, I continue to hear voices in that silence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe I should complain because I wasn\u2019t invited to the Book Fair. My response is to continue writing. The greatest thing that happened to Lezama Lima was shutting himself up to write, at a time when very few people visited him, because visiting him meant a State Security interrogation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t leave Cuba because my family and my friends are my country. What\u2019s more, I don\u2019t want to have a long marriage with capitalism \u2013 I don\u2019t think it would work. I don\u2019t like seeing a 50-year-old woman be evicted from her home because she can\u2019t pay the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCuba is my problem because it is my country, because I didn\u2019t spend my childhood in Madrid or Paris \u2013 my pain and my grief isn\u2019t there. [In those cities] I can\u2019t knock at a neighbor\u2019s to ask for salt or get them to go with me to the doctor. Dying in Cuba will be a dignified end for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some years ago, the International Press Center Director \u201creprimanded\u201d me because, in a news report, I had revealed that the baseball documentary Fuera de liga (\u201cOut of Our League\u201d) had been censored on orders from the Ideological Department of the Communist Party. The documentary was banned for five years for committing the sin of interviewing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3105,"featured_media":42447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13930],"tags":[4535],"ppma_author":[33749,7025],"class_list":["post-42446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technologies-of-communication-and-media","tag-wendy-guerra-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe forbidden culture | OnCubaNews English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/styles-trends\/technologies-of-communication-and-media\/the-forbidden-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The forbidden culture | OnCubaNews English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some years ago, the International Press Center Director \u201creprimanded\u201d me because, in a news report, I had revealed that the baseball documentary Fuera de liga (\u201cOut of Our League\u201d) had been censored on orders from the Ideological Department of the Communist Party. 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