1 00:00:00,303 --> 00:00:04,087 --- 16 July 2011 --- 2 00:00:04,764 --> 00:00:09,943 The main idea is to try to create a free space for discussion and debate… 3 00:00:09,943 --> 00:00:15,749 … where you can see all of the diversity in thinking in Cuban society. 4 00:00:15,749 --> 00:00:22,022 Unfortunately, for a long time a very vertical thinking has been maintained… 5 00:00:22,022 --> 00:00:28,259 … a thinking that makes it seem all Cubans think along the same lines… 6 00:00:28,259 --> 00:00:32,996 … which is false, and I think that is becoming increasingly obvious. 7 00:00:32,996 --> 00:00:40,942 All these types of spaces help us to display different types of thinking, and at the same time to have a dialog between them. 8 00:00:42,511 --> 00:00:47,438 No, really, there are not many, there are almost none… 9 00:00:47,438 --> 00:00:55,658 … because one of the things that has happened in Cuba is that since the beginning of the Revolution they said: 10 00:00:55,658 --> 00:00:59,860 “Within the Revolution everything, against the Revolution nothing.” 11 00:00:59,860 --> 00:01:06,066 And this concept of Revolution has been extremely variable, always in line with the government’s interest. 12 00:01:06,066 --> 00:01:13,766 And that has made it very difficult for a substantial difference from the official line to really exist. 13 00:01:14,689 --> 00:01:17,926 No, this is the sixth time we have done that… 14 00:01:17,926 --> 00:01:23,054 … but last year we did one in a semi-official space that was much larger. 15 00:01:23,685 --> 00:01:27,921 The first one this year we did on March 5th… 16 00:01:27,921 --> 00:01:34,889 …and it was with a hiphop artist and another friend who has a a project called “Cuban Talent.” 17 00:01:35,766 --> 00:01:38,569 Well, on one occasion they called me to talk… 18 00:01:38,569 --> 00:01:45,140 … really I can’t say there was some kind a furious attack or anything like that, there wasn’t. 19 00:01:45,140 --> 00:01:48,742 We talked about some opinions on which we disagree… 20 00:01:48,742 --> 00:01:54,997 … some scratches, but fine, I hope they will come to understand that these spaces are needed. 21 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,909 Yes, the idea is to try to make the space become bigger… 22 00:01:58,909 --> 00:02:06,727 … and especially to involve people, intellectuals who belong to, who maintain the official government line… 23 00:02:06,727 --> 00:02:13,635 … and people can also come from all kinds of thinking and expand the space as a forum for debate. 24 00:02:14,327 --> 00:02:18,252 Well I don’t know all the artists who will be there in the afternoon… 25 00:02:18,252 --> 00:02:21,141 …I’m sorry, but I wasn’t the one who organized the afternoon panel. 26 00:02:21,141 --> 00:02:25,310 There have been other friends who know perfectly well who they were. 27 00:02:25,310 --> 00:02:30,669 I don’t know exactly… the afternoon panel is going to be about art and society. 28 00:02:31,685 --> 00:02:34,988 Well I think the role of the United States will be huge… 29 00:02:34,988 --> 00:02:40,659 ... especially because there is a very large Cuban community in Miami… 30 00:02:40,659 --> 00:02:46,836 … that right now is injecting a lot of money into the country, fundamentally so that people can live a little better. 31 00:02:46,836 --> 00:02:51,672 I think they are going to have, all the Cubans in the diaspora are going to have, a very important role… 32 00:02:51,672 --> 00:02:55,599 … and especially the community in Miami. 33 00:02:55,599 --> 00:03:02,082 The American government I believe should support the exchange between Cubans in some way… 34 00:03:02,082 --> 00:03:09,359 … which does not mean that they should always accept the conditions set by the Cuban government… 35 00:03:09,359 --> 00:03:11,774 … which I consider totally illogical. 36 00:03:11,774 --> 00:03:17,181 But I do think they should promote the ever-growing exchange among Cubans. 37 00:03:17,796 --> 00:03:22,130 Well look, the problem of the issue of relations between governments is… 38 00:03:22,130 --> 00:03:28,167 …at times, a little complicated because there are a lot of factors that may escape our knowledge. 39 00:03:28,167 --> 00:03:37,803 I do believe that in the aspect of… between Cubans, between Cubans in the U.S. and we here in Cuba… 40 00:03:37,803 --> 00:03:46,186 … that is those who live on one side and those who live on the other, there needs to be more communication… 41 00:03:46,186 --> 00:03:48,647 … a flow of information, of exchange. 42 00:03:48,647 --> 00:03:55,984 Because I believe that really, the more Cubans come here, or the Europeans come here, or the Spanish or Canadians… 43 00:03:55,984 --> 00:04:02,347 … I believe that the real change is in the Cubans, and Cubans should be the ones holding the reins of that change. 44 00:04:02,347 --> 00:04:08,152 So I think this is what should be primarily encouraged and promoted. 45 00:04:08,152 --> 00:04:12,912 In the other aspects, well, they may have different views about the matter… 46 00:04:12,912 --> 00:04:21,328 …but I really think that those aspects aren’t essentials that are going to cause a transformation in Cuban society. 47 00:04:21,328 --> 00:04:24,371 I think that the transformation comes more between us Cubas. 48 00:04:25,371 --> 00:04:29,970 Look, I have no exact knowledge of how they handle these funds… 49 00:04:29,970 --> 00:04:38,361 … and I can’t say specifically if one way or another in which these funds are spent has been correct or not. 50 00:04:38,361 --> 00:04:44,793 What I can comment on is that for the people within Cuban civil society trying to make a change… 51 00:04:44,793 --> 00:04:49,622 …it’s extremely difficult to do this because they have no resources. Resources don't exist. 52 00:04:49,622 --> 00:04:57,130 The government has a complete monopoly over the press, radio, television… 53 00:04:57,130 --> 00:05:05,372 … so to try to reach the rest of Cubans, to exchange viewpoints and opinions, it makes it very very complicated. 54 00:05:05,372 --> 00:05:11,194 On the other hand, if the government also has a monopoly of being the only employer… 55 00:05:11,194 --> 00:05:15,549 … this makes the task of civil society even more difficult. 56 00:05:15,549 --> 00:05:21,621 Then there is the contentious issue, because it is very contentious, around the management of the funds… 57 00:05:21,621 --> 00:05:29,296 … but I think that in some way, I don’t know exactly what would be the most appropriate… 58 00:05:29,296 --> 00:05:36,269 … but I do believe that Cuban society had to have to opportunity to develop its own media. 59 00:05:36,269 --> 00:05:41,852 I think that perhaps some variant in which Cubans themselves can generate their own resources would be best. 60 00:05:42,776 --> 00:05:49,382 Well I think that changes are already underway and will continue. 61 00:05:49,382 --> 00:06:01,813 I think the time is over, I think that people, most Cubans, want the country to take another path. 62 00:06:01,813 --> 00:06:07,386 That is, we have seen that up to now the government has not come up with a solution to our serious problems… 63 00:06:07,386 --> 00:06:11,751 … like, for example, emigration, all the problems of demographics we talk about… 64 00:06:11,751 --> 00:06:17,944 … the economic problems. Then people simply want another kind of reality. 65 00:06:17,944 --> 00:06:20,157 Another kind of future.