Yoani and the Script (Updated- below)

(The issue is so important, and Yoani's courage so moving that I have taken the liberty of loosely translating her last two entries which detail her summons and visit to the Police Station. I am indebted to Val for the last paragraph of today's entry.)

Round One
December 2, 2008 Written by Yoani Sanchez in Generación Y

I swear I haven’t driven through a red light, haven’t bought cheese on the black market for at least two months, haven’t left any store without paying. I don’t particularly recall breaking laws these days, not even having passed myself off as a foreigner to use the internet in some hotel.

Not withstanding, Reinaldo and I have been summoned to appear at the police station on 21 and C in Vedado tomorrow morning. I ask myself whether I should take my toothbrush or whether it is only a terse reprimand I will receive.

I share the official document [See earlier post for image] I received today from a sweaty official who climbed fourteen floors of stairs- since I haven’t had an elevator in a month.
At nine AM I’ll know what it’s about…expect my report after two.

Wednesday’s Reprimand
December 3, 2008 Written by Yoani Sanchez in Generación Y

Nine AM and a bored-looking official looks at the summons we have presented at the door of the station on 21 and C. He leaves us seated on some benches, waiting about forty minutes which Reinaldo and I spend discussing matters that get lost in everyday life. At quarter to ten, they take my husband, asking first whether he has a cell phone. Ten minutes later, they return him and take me up to the second floor.

The encounter is brief, the tone energized. There are three of us in the office, and the one with the singer’s voice introduces himself as Agent Roque. At my side, the younger one watches and says his name is Camilo. They announce that they are with the Interior Ministry. They are not interested in listening. There is a script on the table and nothing will distract them. They are professionals of intimidation.

The subject I expected: we are approaching the date of the blogger meetup we have been organizing, with neither secrecy nor publicity, for the past six months and which they proclaim must be cancelled. About a half hour later, when we were away from uniforms and photos of leaders on the walls, we tried to reconstruct what was said.

We want to advise you that you have transgressed the limits of tolerance in your closeness and contact with elements of the counterrevolution. This disqualifies you totally to conduct dialogue with Cuban authorities.

We, for our part, will take all measures and will lodge the pertinent charges and take the necessary actions. This event- in these moments which the nation is living, recuperating from two hurricanes- will not be permitted.

By this time Roque is finished speaking. He winds up screaming, and I seize the opportunity to ask him for it all in writing. Being a blogger who presents her name and face has led me to believe that others are willing to place their identity next to what they say. The man has lost the rhythm of the script- he was unprepared for my librarian’s quirks. He stops reading what was written and yells more forcefully that “they don’t have to give me anything.”

Before they excuse me from the place with a "retire citizen," I get the chance to tell then that they cannot sign their name to what they have told me, because they do not have the courage to do so. The word "Cowards" bursts from me through laughter. I go down the stairs and hear the sound of chairs being rearranged back into place. Wednesday has ended early."

Update (Val): Folks, It's important to note that the words written above arent the only display of courage by Yoani. The act of blogging itself and specifically these posts, is also an incredible valiant act. Yoani has no internet access in her home, so she didnt just leave that government office where she and her husband and family had been threatened and intimidated, and go home and sit at her computer at home to write. She went directly to a public location in Cuba where there is internet access - a tourist hotel, a tourist net cafe or the United States Interests Section in Havana - and accessed the very controlled and very monitored internet in Cuba and blogged the event. There is no doubt she is constantly monitored, given her writing critical of the regime, and no doubt that she was certainly followed upon leaving the government office yesterday. So, she didnt just stick it to the government goons in person, but also through her writing and the very act of blogging as well.

I am in awe of her courage.

Posted by rsnlk at December 3, 2008 11:27 PM

Comments

Posted by: Henry Louis Gomez at December 3, 2008 11:30 PM

Posted by: jachapin at December 4, 2008 12:53 AM

Posted by: joaquin at December 4, 2008 07:44 AM

Posted by: Val Prieto at December 4, 2008 09:54 AM

Posted by: Henry Agueros at December 4, 2008 11:57 AM

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