By Miguel Fernandez Martinez, Cuban independent journalist.
HAVANA, March 14, 1997.- When, in the early days of the Cuban revolution, many newspapers in existence were nationalized, as part of the process of appropriation undertaken against the owners of the mass media, and with the appearance of a completely official press which was put at the service of the governing elite, nobody ever imagined that some day, these sunny and sad streets would be walked, pen in hand, by some Cuban who could call himself an independent journalist.
Undoubtely, that was unthinkable. To contradict a totalitarian regime is an act of madness. Perhaps therein lies the logic which the government is brandishing now, which decides to repress the conscience of journalists who are determined to shake off their backs and open their mouths which have been muzzled for many years.
To undertake journalism in Cuba, more than a profession, is an attitude towards life and society. There are two sides which are perfectly distinct: those who turn news into a triumphant castle, bordering the most outrageous yellow journalism, and those who search for the root of the problems which are bringing so much desperation to millions of men who don't trust in the future, for so many beatings and broken promises.
Vargas Llosa published abroad recently an article which describes the real situation of the independent press within Cuba. Reporters Without Borders has been tireless in denouncing it throughout the world.
But there's no one like us to narrate this humanized version of Orwell's most popular novel. Nobody can imagine that acts of repudiation take place in modern times. The uncontrolled screams of a mob which is being led are as sharp as a beating or a prolonged prison term. Young professionals who are forced to abandon their homes for their well-grounded fears of the power of a cudgel. (garrote)
It is almost a scene from Dante's, which for many times has found a world mute and silent to our pain. This March 14 is also a time of celebration for those of us who decided to shake off immobilism and disinformation.
The legacy of the greatest Cuban journalist of all time, Jose Marti, reaches us wrapped in the spirit of Patria newspaper. Patria, that trench of ideas which today turns into our bulwark.
The Cuban press is much more than an ideological viewpoint. It is the supreme act of saying the truth to those who need to listen. That is why the Day of the Cuban Journalist is also our celebration.
Shakespeare defined the goal: "To be or not to be, that is the question". And we have no other alternative. While the powerful stubbornly continue with the repression, we will have no other option than continue informing the truth.