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FROM
CUBA
Christmas chronicle
Rafael Ferro Salas
PINAR DEL RIO, December (www.cubanet.org)
- Christmastime was celebrated in Cuba until
1966. But things changed after that year.
To mention Christmas became a crime, and
to celebrate it was suicide. The authorities
had banned its commemoration.
Following Pope John Paul II's 1998 visit
to Cuba, the celebration of Christmas was
passed by decree. Everything remained there,
simply a decree. Those identified with the
Cuban government system did not accept or
bring into practice that which was announced.
In the case of the population at large,
few families can celebrate a Christmas as
God commands, with everything or nearly
everything within hand's reach and on the
table.
The shop windows are filled with good things
in December, but they're windows of stores
where only dollars, which almost nobody
has, are accepted (now the convertible Cuban
peso).
A group made up of members of various peaceful
dissident organizations in Pinar del Río
decided to carry out the commemoration.
For many days, they saved what they could
to celebrate the Yuletide feast. The political
police was put into operation to prevent
the event.
Some of the organizers of the activity
were summoned to the offices of the State
Security and there they were told they could
not carry out the commemoration. They were
also told that the activity would serve
as a pretext by the participants to project
themselves politically against the regime.
The prohibition warning was as straightforward
as this.
It deserves to be said that in spite of
the threats and detentions, the opposition
members carried out the activity. This journalist
was invited and attended. Someone asked
him to write a chronicle about this.
Now I offer to the readers the fulfilment
of the request of my brothers in common
cause. None of us knows what measures the
authorities will mete out for our disrespect.
We'll try to keep you informed.
At the close of this writing there's only
one thing left for me to ask of God: Glad
tidings to all Cubans inside and outside
of the island!
Versión
original en español
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