| CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald Spanish literature loses Cuban writer, icon Guillermo
Cabrera Infante | 1929-2005 Guillermo Cabrera
Infante, a Cuban writer who earned praise for his books and won the most prestigious
prize in Spanish literature, died at age 75. By
Fabiola Santiago and Nancy San Martin, fsantiago@herald.com. Posted on Tue, Feb.
22, 2005. Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante, heralded as one
of the most original voices of contemporary Spanish letters, died Monday night
in a London hospital. He was 75. His effervescent novel Tres Tristes Tigres,
published in English as Three Trapped Tigers, captured the rum-soaked, salacious
Havana of the late 1950s and became a classic of Cuban literature. As most of
his writings, the novel bubbled with the witty Cuban speak of the streets and
a cast of eccentric characters. Although he wrote ''in Cuban'' instead of
the high-brow Spanish of many of his contemporaries, he earned high-brow praise,
winning in 1997 Spain's Cervantes prize, the most prestigious in Spanish literature. Cabrera
Infante died from septicemia resulting from a variety of health problems he had
developed in recent months, relatives told the Spanish news service EFE. He had
been admitted to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital last week after falling in his
London apartment and breaking his hip. The writer's wife, Miriam Gómez,
had said that her husband was being treated for pneumonia, in addition to the
broken hip. She also said he suffered from diabetes. He underwent a heart bypass
operation last August. Cabrera Infante also was known as an outspoken critic
of Fidel Castro's regime. He had actively opposed dictator Fulgencio Batista in
the 1950s, and after Castro took power in 1959, Cabrera Infante became a cultural
representative for the new government in Brussels from 1962 to 1965. By 1965,
his discontent with the totalitarian direction of the Castro government led to
a break over a highly critical interview. Cabrera Infante then sought refuge
in London, where he has lived the last four decades, authoring La Habana para
un infante difunto (published in English as Infante's Inferno) and Mea Cuba, among
other works. Born on April 22, 1929, in Gibara, a small town in eastern-most
Oriente province, Cabrera Infante moved with his family to Havana at the age of
12. In 1950, he began to study journalism, one of his grand passions along
with film. He went on to write film criticism under the pen name of G. Cain
for the magazine Carteles and served as editor of a cultural magazine Lunes de
Revolución. He was considered one of the best film critics of Latin
America and his collection of criticism, Un oficio del Siglo XX (A 20th Century
Job), reads like a novel. For a generation of Cuban-American writers, born
on the island but exiled as children and adolescents, his books were a window
into the Cuba they never knew. And for the same generation in Cuba, reading them
was an act of defiance. ''He was probably one of the three most important
Cuban writers of the 20th century, known for his sarcastic criticism of the Castro
regime,'' said Jaime Suchlicki, director of the University of Miami's Institute
for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. ''He represented so many things. He
was one of the first exile writers who really had international recognition with
a work that was not only very Cuban, but very Havana centered,'' said Uva de Aragón,
assistant director at the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. ''He
had a very personal style,'' she said. "He has influenced many writers, not
only in exile but in Cuba. That's a lot to say for a writer whose books were not
allowed to circulate in the country.'' "He immortalized an era [with
Tres Tristes Tigres] and a nightlife in Havana that is now gone and will remain
in his books. He was not a congenial man; he was a man who suffered a lot, who
had a lot of difficulties in coming to terms with the reality of exile. "But
more than that he was un habanero. Cuba was present in his work all the time.
He represented a voice of dissent that was respected worldwide. He took the essence
of the country, its language, its humor and made it into a monumental artistic
work.'' In Cuba, news of his death began to spread late Monday and was met
with deep sorrow. ''It's an enormous loss for the Cuban culture and our identity
as a nation,'' dissident journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, 64, said in a telephone
interview from Havana. "His cubanía was always present.'' Espinosa,
who was among 75 government opponents jailed during an island-wide crackdown in
2003 and was released from prison in November for health reasons, said Cabrera
Infante's literature ''was well-followed'' there and his books circulate clandestinely
even though they are banned. ''His grandeur as a writer broke all barriers,
even those placed by the government,'' he said. Poet Raúl Rivero,
also one of the recently released intellectuals, said: "It's a great loss,
he leaves a great void.'' This report was supplemented
with Herald wire services. Cubans face water cutbacks Posted
on Tue, Feb. 22, 2005. HAVANA - (AP) -- Cuba urged its citizens Monday
to cut back on water use, announcing that new measures will be necessary to fight
a long-lasting dry spell. Last year, the island received only 69 percent
of average rainfall, making 2004 the worst year for rain since 1901, according
to Granma, the Communist Party newspaper. In January, the island received
half its average rainfall for that month, the newspaper said. Of 235 reservoirs
across the island, 114 contain less than 25 percent of their capacity. Eastern
provinces are the most severely affected. Memorial recalls Castro's victims A
dramatic three-day memorial to victims of Fidel Castro's regime ends at 4:30 p.m
today. A cross represents each of the 10,300 known victims of Castro's regime. By
Robert L. Steinback, rsteinback@herald.com. Posted on Sun, Feb. 20, 2005. Juan
Carlos Massuet went to Tamiami Park on Saturday to walk in a somber field of 10,300
white Styrofoam crosses -- each one bearing the name of someone who died at the
hands of Fidel Castro's regime -- and to recall the life of one very special fallen
friend. An American friend. ''He worked for the CIA and went underground
in Cuba,'' Massuet, 69, said of William Patten, a man he knew in the early 1960s.
"Seven times he infiltrated Cuba.'' Patten once had donated blood to
him after Massuet, then a private pilot in Camaguey, Cuba, was injured in a crash-landing.
But during his last mission inside Cuba, Patten was caught and executed, Massuet
said. The T-shirt Massuet wore Saturday bore Patten's picture, and the words
"Llevo tu sangre dentro de mí. Fidel lo fusiló.'' I carry
your blood inside me. Fidel shot him. Such were the memories stirred by
a temporary memorial that will stand near the Miami-Dade County Fair grounds until
4:30 p.m. today. The crosses, lined up in perfect lateral and diagonal rows in
the fashion of Arlington National Cemetery, were erected by Memorial Cubano, a
group dedicated to maintaining the memory of Castro's victims since he seized
power in 1959. ''Most of these crosses, their families have never been able
to pray or put a flower'' at a grave site, said Eileen Goudi, director of Mar
Por Cuba, an exile human rights group that helped arranged the weekend memorial,
which began Friday. In the center of the rows of mock three-foot-high headstones
stood a large cross nearly 20 feet high -- the Cross of the Unknown Decedent --
representing victims whose time and manner of death are not entirely clear. A
series of speakers Saturday evening shared personal remembrances of those who
did not survive Castro's revolution, with about 1,500 people who stood among the
crosses, most holding candles, some standing in the distance to be next to a special
individual's marker. But even those who had not lost an immediate family
member came to pay homage among the crosses. ''For me,'' said Marta Tamargo,
who gave birth to her son Leopoldo in Havana just as Castro was consolidating
power, "they all are relatives.'' Cuban dissident groups differ
on post-Castro strategy Cuban dissidents have competing
views about how to spur change on the communist-ruled island. By
Nancy San Martin. nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Sat, Feb. 19, 2005. Differing
views on Cuba's future among Havana dissidents are becoming more apparent with
ongoing efforts by prominent activists to reinvigorate a movement crippled by
a government crackdown in 2003. Oswaldo Payá and Martha Beatriz Roque
agree that Cuban leader Fidel Castro must release his 46-year grip on the island
and that the future should be decided by the Cuban people. But differences
between Payá's Committee for National Dialogue and Roque's Assembly to
Promote Civil Society have become more clear in recent days as both groups gear
up for upcoming events meant to search for a consensus. The core of their
disagreement: whether officials of the current communist government should have
any say in the future of a post-Castro Cuba. ''We want nothing to do with
the government,'' said Roque, whose group is planning a gathering May 20 and has
invited notable figures like former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and former
Czech President Vaclav Havel. ''There is already a spontaneous social transition
occuring in Cuba. It just lacks focus and direction,'' Roque, 59, said in a telephone
interview from Havana. "This gathering will help provide guidance, but without
the government.'' ''We can't include them because the government doesn't
listen,'' added Roque, who was among 75 activists arrested during the 2003 crackdown.
She was released late last year for health reasons. Payá, who this
week again called for widespread participation in his National Dialogue, said
change must involve all Cubans, including those with power. ''Ours is a
dialogue without borders,'' said Payá, who led a signature-drive for a
referendum on democratic reforms that was dismissed by the government. He said
the National Dialogue will soon make formal proposals for everything from revamping
the justice system to ecological concerns. ''What we are trying to do is
find common ground,'' Payá, 52, said on the phone. "We can't exclude
people who have government jobs just because they might think differently.'' ''If
we want change, we must include them,'' he said. "Otherwise, it won't happen.'' Both
activists have been publicly scorned by Castro and praised by exiles and foreign
governments, including the United States. But some of the differences on
the island have been carried over into the exile community. Vladimiro Roca,
another prominent dissident, said differences of opinions are good. He supports
Payá's efforts, he said, but also plans to attend Roque's May 20 event. ''No
opposition project really competes with the other because they all act against
the government,'' said Roca, who heads his own dissident group, All United. ''We
don't know which plan will actually spur change,'' said Roca, 62, the son of the
late Cuban Communist Party leader Blas Roca. "The more plans are on
the table, the better.'' Wives of Cuban dissidents demand amnesty Vanessa
Arrington, Associated Press. Posted on Fri, Feb. 18, 2005. HAVANA
- In a rare display of public dissent, the wives of several Cuban dissidents -
wearing pictures of their husbands on their shirts - marched to Revolution Plaza
on Friday to demand amnesty for all political prisoners. The women delivered
a letter with their demands to state offices behind the plaza's monument to independence
hero Jose Marti. Loyda Valdes, whose husband Alfredo Felipe Fuentes is serving
a 26-year sentence, said "the apathy of Cuban authorities" had "practically
forced" her to be there. Authorities jailed Fuentes and 74 other government
opponents after a major crackdown on dissent in the spring of 2003. The dissidents
were accused of working with U.S. diplomats to undermine Cuba's socialist system,
charges Washington and the activists denied. Fourteen of those arrested have since
been released for health reasons. The women marched 45 minutes through Havana
to reach the plaza before delivering the letter, which bore the signatures of
more than 1,000 friends and relatives. Laura Pollan expressed both hope
and pessimism about the government's reaction. "I think they're going
to listen, that they're going to read the letter," said Pollan, whose husband
Hector Maseda was sentenced to 20 years in prison. "But ... this is
an unpredictable government," she said. "It's possible that we're here
and then tomorrow they send our husbands home. Or, they'll simply keep them stashed
away, and there they will be for 20 years." Creating a fast pass
into the labor force South Florida immigration officials
announce steps to prevent newly released Mariel detainees from becoming homeless.
By Alfonso Chardy. achardy@herald.com. Posted
on Sun, Feb. 20, 2005. Bracing for an influx of newly released Mariel
detainees, federal immigration officials in Miami plan to cut the time it takes
them to obtain work permits from the customary three months to as little as one
day -- and to waive the usual $175 processing fee in some cases. ''We don't
want people to become public charges,'' said Ana Santiago, the regional communications
director for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The new plans come
after disclosures earlier this week that at least four newly released Mariel detainees
had wound up homeless in New Orleans soon after being freed in Louisiana and other
southern states. Santiago said similar plans will be in place elsewhere in the
Southeast. Nearly 200 detainees have been released since a Jan. 12 U.S.
Supreme Court ruling that expanded prohibitions against indefinite detention of
foreign nationals who have been convicted of crimes in the United States and have
served their sentences, but cannot be deported. About 750 Mariel detainees
and nearly 175 non-Cuban detainees are covered by the Supreme Court order, and
will be released over the next several months. Federal officials expect
most of the released Mariel detainees will turn up in South Florida. At
least 94 of the Mariel detainees are held in Florida facilities, including about
20 in the Miami area, they said. As detainee releases began, immigrant advocates
criticized federal authorities for freeing detainees without work permits. Federal
immigration officials said they expect immigrant advocates who championed the
detainee releases to help the former inmates. The Mariel boatlift began
in April 1980, when thousands of Cubans gathered at the Peruvian embassy in Havana,
demanding asylum. Cuban President Fidel Castro eventually allowed U.S. exiles
to pick up their families at the port of Mariel, but he also used the occasion
to send some of Cuba's criminals to the United States. | 
