Marion Lloyd. of The Boston Globe.
Tampa Tribune, May 24, 2001.
SAN JUAN Y MARTINEZ, Cuba - Dozens of independent libraries have opened in
Cuba in the past three years.
On a recent afternoon, a car with U.S. diplomatic plates pulled into this
tiny tobacco town, dumped a package at the door of a well-known dissident, then
sped off into the Cuban countryside.
It might have been a scene from a Cold War spy novel.
But this time, the weapons aimed at one of the world's last communist
regimes couldn't have seemed more innocuous - a copy of "The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer'' and a set of how-to texts on raising children.
The books were destined for the Martin Luther King Jr. library, one of
dozens of independent libraries that have opened in Cuba in the past three
years.
A burgeoning movement to establish the libraries and stock them with books
has its roots in a remark Cuban President Fidel Castro made in February 1998
during an international book fair, at which he said, "There are no banned
books in Cuba, just no money to buy them.'' Two Cuban academics took those words
at face value and began soliciting book donations from throughout Latin America
and the United States.
TODAY, THE FOUNDERS SAY, there are more than 80 such libraries operating on
the island, with new ones opening weekly. Most are little more than a bookshelf
in the back room of somebody's home. But the libraries' contents - ranging from
detective novels to hard-line anticommunist treatises - and the long list of
dissidents involved in the movement have made the Cuban government distinctly
uncomfortable.
"It's hard not to have the feeling that these people are conspiring
with a superpower that has been plotting against Cuba for more than 40 years,''
said Eliades Acosta, the director of the state-run National Library, alluding to
the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. He noted that one of the biggest advocates of
the campaign is the Miami-based Center for Study of a National Option, which is
fighting for an end to Castro's communist regime.
Supporters of the library movement say they do not have political motives.
Instead, they say they are trying to supplement the collections of state-run
libraries, where texts critical of communism are almost nonexistent. New books
also are hard to come by since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which
cost Cuba its main supplier of textbooks and paper.
"Many of the independent librarians were political opponents, but this
has nothing to do with the project,'' said Gisela Delgado, a law student who
runs an independent library in her second-floor Havana apartment. "This is
not a political project; it's a cultural project, to help people learn about
their culture and the rest of the world.''
Nevertheless, the movement has attracted attention - always a risky
proposition - from the government.
In the past year, police have detained several independent librarians, and
supporters say at least a dozen more have been harassed. In December, political
activist Julia Cecilia Delgado was sentenced to one year in jail for "disrespect,''
which supporters say is punishment for opening a library in her Havana home.
CUBAN OFFICIALS SAY there is no connection between the arrests and the
independent libraries. But they are keenly aware of the movement's potential to
attract unwanted international attention.
"We're in the presence of a carefully disguised campaign, which has a
big appeal in the world today under the guise of free access to information,''
Acosta said. He alleged the movement is based on a false premise, that certain
books are unavailable at state libraries.
"I challenge you to find a book on [the independent libraries'] shelves
that I don't stock,'' he said.
Critics note the fact that a book is listed in the catalog at the National
Library does not mean it is available to the public. A Cuban student who
requested a copy last month of a novel by exiled writer Guillermo Cabrera
Infante said he was refused on grounds the book was "counterrevolutionary.''
Acosta blames a lack of money for the absence of certain books, saying that with
limited funds he chooses to stock those texts that "contribute to upholding
the moral fabric of the Cuban state.''
The library benefited from a visit in January by Massachusetts state Rep.
Jarrett Barrios, a Cuban-American who directed the donation of 4,000 children's
books and medical texts. Barrios said he wasn't aware of the independent
libraries before his trip, but said that by going through official channels he
was ensuring the books would reach the widest audience.
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