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