--- 16 July 2011 ---
The main idea is to try to create a free space for discussion and debate…
… where you can see all of the diversity in thinking in Cuban society.
Unfortunately, for a long time a very vertical thinking has been maintained…
… a thinking that makes it seem all Cubans think along the same lines…
… which is false, and I think that is becoming increasingly obvious.
All these types of spaces help us to display different types of thinking, and at the same time to have a dialog between them.
No, really, there are not many, there are almost none…
… because one of the things that has happened in Cuba is that since the beginning of the Revolution they said:
“Within the Revolution everything, against the Revolution nothing.”
And this concept of Revolution has been extremely variable, always in line with the government’s interest.
And that has made it very difficult for a substantial difference from the official line to really exist.
No, this is the sixth time we have done that…
… but last year we did one in a semi-official space that was much larger.
The first one this year we did on March 5th…
…and it was with a hiphop artist and another friend who has a a project called “Cuban Talent.”
Well, on one occasion they called me to talk…
… really I can’t say there was some kind a furious attack or anything like that, there wasn’t.
We talked about some opinions on which we disagree…
… some scratches, but fine, I hope they will come to understand that these spaces are needed.
Yes, the idea is to try to make the space become bigger…
… and especially to involve people, intellectuals who belong to, who maintain the official government line…
… and people can also come from all kinds of thinking and expand the space as a forum for debate.
Well I don’t know all the artists who will be there in the afternoon…
…I’m sorry, but I wasn’t the one who organized the afternoon panel.
There have been other friends who know perfectly well who they were.
I don’t know exactly… the afternoon panel is going to be about art and society.
Well I think the role of the United States will be huge…
... especially because there is a very large Cuban community in Miami…
… that right now is injecting a lot of money into the country, fundamentally so that people can live a little better.
I think they are going to have, all the Cubans in the diaspora are going to have, a very important role…
… and especially the community in Miami.
The American government I believe should support the exchange between Cubans in some way…
… which does not mean that they should always accept the conditions set by the Cuban government…
… which I consider totally illogical.
But I do think they should promote the ever-growing exchange among Cubans.
Well look, the problem of the issue of relations between governments is…
…at times, a little complicated because there are a lot of factors that may escape our knowledge.
I do believe that in the aspect of… between Cubans, between Cubans in the U.S. and we here in Cuba…
… that is those who live on one side and those who live on the other, there needs to be more communication…
… a flow of information, of exchange.
Because I believe that really, the more Cubans come here, or the Europeans come here, or the Spanish or Canadians…
… I believe that the real change is in the Cubans, and Cubans should be the ones holding the reins of that change.
So I think this is what should be primarily encouraged and promoted.
In the other aspects, well, they may have different views about the matter…
…but I really think that those aspects aren’t essentials that are going to cause a transformation in Cuban society.
I think that the transformation comes more between us Cubas.
Look, I have no exact knowledge of how they handle these funds…
… and I can’t say specifically if one way or another in which these funds are spent has been correct or not.
What I can comment on is that for the people within Cuban civil society trying to make a change…
…it’s extremely difficult to do this because they have no resources. Resources don't exist.
The government has a complete monopoly over the press, radio, television…
… so to try to reach the rest of Cubans, to exchange viewpoints and opinions, it makes it very very complicated.
On the other hand, if the government also has a monopoly of being the only employer…
… this makes the task of civil society even more difficult.
Then there is the contentious issue, because it is very contentious, around the management of the funds…
… but I think that in some way, I don’t know exactly what would be the most appropriate…
… but I do believe that Cuban society had to have to opportunity to develop its own media.
I think that perhaps some variant in which Cubans themselves can generate their own resources would be best.
Well I think that changes are already underway and will continue.
I think the time is over, I think that people, most Cubans, want the country to take another path.
That is, we have seen that up to now the government has not come up with a solution to our serious problems…
… like, for example, emigration, all the problems of demographics we talk about…
… the economic problems. Then people simply want another kind of reality.
Another kind of future.