WEBVTT

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Tell the truth.

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At least, tell your own truth.

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And then,
Accept whatever comes.

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They may tear your favorite page,
Or stone down your door,

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Or people
May gather around your body

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As if you were
A prodigy

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Or a corpse.

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Good evening.

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Today we will talk
about an important issue.

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The freedom to create,
to publish and to read.

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We know that in countries
where these freedoms are lacking,

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many others are also absent.

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Heberto Padilla, tell me,

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at the start of the Cuban Revolution,

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you were an enthusiastic participator.

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You were a journalist,

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but we get the impression that,
later on,

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cracks began to appear.

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How long
after the Cuban Revolution started

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were you disillusioned?

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The issue being discussed here

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{\\an8}VOICE OF FIDEL CASTRO
PRIME MINISTER OF CUBA, 1961

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revolves

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around the freedom

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for writers

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and artists

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to express themselves.

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What worries everyone

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is knowing if our Revolution

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has thwarted this freedom.

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Everyone agrees
and no one expresses doubts

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concerning the issue

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of formal freedom.

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The question becomes more subtle

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and truly becomes
the heart of the matter,

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when we start dealing

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with freedom

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of content.

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THE PADILLA AFFAIR

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Havana, April 27, 1971

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Renowned Cuban intellectuals have
been summoned by the State Security

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at their union\'s headquarters.

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The footage of what happened has remained
hidden for more than half a century.

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Until now.

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For several days

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there were conversations, rumors

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about comrade Heberto Padilla\'s
situation.

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VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNEAC
Cuban Writers and Artists Union

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We felt

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that it would be best to speak
directly to comrade Heberto Padilla.

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Meanwhile,

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he himself requested

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to the Revolutionary Government

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to be allowed
to explain his case in person.

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We considered that ideally,
this should take place

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at the headquarters
of the Writers and Artists Union.

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And now I would like to excuse

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comrade Nicolás Guillén
for not being here.

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He is the one who should be presiding
this meeting,

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but as you all know,
Nicolás has been seriously ill.

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That\'s why
he isn\'t here with us tonight.

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We asked him to stay home,

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and I am standing in for him.

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But comrade Nicolás is here with us.

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He is aware
of everything we are doing

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and everything that will be said.

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You have the floor.

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Thank you, Doctor.

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Comrades, last night,
more or less around 12:30 a.m.

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the leaders of the Revolution

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set me free.

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They have given me the opportunity

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to speak to my friends
and fellow writers

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on a number of issues I will refer to shortly.

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I want to make clear

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that this meeting,

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this conversation

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is taking place at my request.

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Yes, this meeting...

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As you all know,

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the Revolution has no need
to impose it on anyone.

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I wrote a letter,

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which I presented to the leaders
of our Revolutionary Government,

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because I think

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my experience could be

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of value,

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could be interesting and exemplary

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for many friends and comrades.

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You all know
that last March 20 I was arrested

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by our country\'s
State Security police.

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I was detained as a counter-revolutionary.

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As serious and impressive
as it may seem,

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this accusation was based

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on a number of attitudes,

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a number of positions,

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a number of activities,

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a number of criticisms... No, no.

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Criticisms,
a word I tried to get used to

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during my time with State Security.

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But it is not the adequate word
to describe my attitude.

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It was a series of slanders
and libels towards the Revolution,

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which today and tomorrow

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will always put me to shame
before this Revolution.

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I would like to find
words aggressive enough

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to precisely define my behavior.

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I would like to give endless thanks

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for the numerous occasions
my revolutionary friends came up to me

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to warn me
that my attitude was negative

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and it harmed the Revolution.

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Truthfully, I\'ll never forgive myself
for not listening.

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I never will.

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But I committed these mistakes.

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The mistakes I have been discussing

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with State Security
during this past month.

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I requested this meeting,

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and I\'ll never tire of repeating
that I\'m the one who requested it.

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I know that the most suspicious people

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are artists and writers,
and not just in Cuba,

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but all over the world.

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I\'ve come here to improvise,
not to read a written page,

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and these notes are meaningless.

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I have these notes for fear
that I\'ll forget something.

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If I\'m here to improvise,

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it is entirely due
to the Revolution\'s trust,

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thanks to all the conversations
we had during these last few days,

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that I\'m going to tell the truth.

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In 1966,
I came back from Europe to Cuba.

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This return marked the starting point
of my resentment.

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A few months after my return,

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I took advantage
of the opportunity offered to me

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by the literary supplement
\"El Caimán Barbudo\"

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for the publication
of Lisandro Otero\'s novel,

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\"Urbino\'s Passion\",

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to ruthlessly and unjustly attack
an old friend,

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a true friend called Lisandro Otero.

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I said terrible things.

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And whom did I defend?

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I defended Guillermo Cabrera Infante.

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And who was Guillermo Cabrera Infante?

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We all know who he is.

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Good question, I like timelines.

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Very well,
let\'s talk about this book,

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the one that made you famous,

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\"Three Trapped Tigers\",
and as we said before,

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winner of the Joan Petit award.

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But it previously had another title.

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Yes, it was called
\"Sunrise in the Tropics\"

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Another Cuban novel aspired to win
the 1964 Joan Petit Award

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Lisandro Otero\'s
\"Urbino\'s Passion\".

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FIRST BALLOT

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Sunrise in the Tropics: 5 votes
Urbino\'s Passion: 1 vote

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Three generations speak
about \"Urbino\'s Passion\".

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El Caimán Barbudo organized
a survey

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concerning Lisandro Otero\'s novel,
\"Urbino\'s Passion\".

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Only Heberto Padilla\'s answer
differed from the rest.

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The first thing I did was defend
Guillermo Cabrera Infante,

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who is an agent,
a known enemy of the Revolution,

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a CIA agent,

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but I defended him
against Lisandro Otero.

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And why did I defend him,
on behalf of artistic value?

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I understood Otero\'s disappointment
for not winning the award,

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and also the Spanish jury\'s reasons
for not giving it to him.

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What extraordinary merits could
\"Three Trapped Tigers\"

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Cabrera Infante\'s novel,
bring to the table?

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\"Three Trapped Tigers\"
is one of the most brilliant,

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ingenious and profoundly Cuban novels
ever written.

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What remarkable and exceptional
contributions to literature

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could this book contain,
to make me take advantage

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of the opportunity I was given
to attack a dear old friend?

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I wasn\'t a professional critic.

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\"The Passion of Urbino\",
a pastiche of Carpentier and Durrell,

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written in overwrought prose,

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is an unforgivable jump into banality
from a 35 year-old writer.

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Heberto Padilla,
El Caimán Barbudo Nº 15, 1967

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Well,
I must be honest, my friends.

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I wanted to annoy Lisandro
because I was angry with him.

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But my annoyance with Lisandro
turned into a political problem,

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and my attitude had political
consequences

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that could be harmful
to the Revolution.

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CUBA IS BEHIND FIDEL

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The first year of the Revolution
was one of extraordinary freedom.

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There was a kind of elation in Cuba.

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INTELLECTUAL WORKERS FORM A MILITIA

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Furthermore,
I was given official posts

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from the very beginning,
in January 1959.

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I was named president
of the National Council of Culture.

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I also founded and edited
the magazine \"Lunes de Revolución\".

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But there was an incident.

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I produced

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and my brother Sabá Cabrera
directed

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a documentary short
about the night life in Havana.

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But instead of granting the film
permission to be screened,

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it was kidnapped
by the Institute of Cinema.

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The film was accused
of showing people having fun

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instead of holding guns
and guarding the Cuban coast.

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They staged several meetings
with intellectuals and Fidel Castro

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to find out why the film had caused
such an uproar.

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There was a lot of discussion

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{\\an8}VOICE OF FIDEL CASTRO
NATIONAL LIBRARY

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about the film.

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I haven\'t seen it.

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I\'d like to see the film.

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Was the film ill-treated?

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Actually, I think no other film
has received as many honors.

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No other film has been talked about
as much.

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Although we did not see the film,

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we have heeded the criteria
of a number of comrades

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who have seen it,

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including the president
of the Film Institute.

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ALFREDO GUEVARA
President, Cuban Film Institute

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We could argue
about the government\'s right

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to regulate,

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to check and oversee

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the films shown to the people.

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There have been wars
within the group

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of writers and artists.

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No doubt about it.

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Some have tested their weapons
against their comrades.

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No doubt about it.

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The wounded have spoken here.

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Fortunately no corpses came here,

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only the wounded.

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The film \"PM\" is banned

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for showing a biased picture
of the Havana night life.

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\"Lunes de Revolución\",
the magazine I edited,

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ceased to exist three months later.

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{\\an8}LAST ISSUE PUBLISHED (NOV, 1961)

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That\'s when I really became
disappointed in the Revolution.

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In 1968, when the well-known magazine
\"Primera Plana\"

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did a series of interviews

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to Latin-American writers living
in Europe,

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I expressed for the first time
my differences

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with Castro\'s Cuba.

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As a result I was expelled

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from the Union of Writers,
although I was the vice-president,

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and declared a traitor.

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I\'d like Cabrera Infante
not to be a counter-revolutionary.

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I wish that he had put his talent
at the service of the Revolution.

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But as José Martí used to say:

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\"Intelligence
is not man\'s greatest virtue.\"

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One thing I\'ve learned
with the comrades in State Security,

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who have asked me not to mention them,
they\'re not the issue here.

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I am here to talk about myself.

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I\'ve learned there\'s a difference

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between a man

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who serves the revolution

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and a man caught

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within the reach
of his nature and his vanity.

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If that little review
I first wrote was poisonous,

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the one I wrote afterwards

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was even worse than the first one.

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I should have been grateful
to the Revolution

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for having allowed me to travel,

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allowing me to manage one
of its endeavors,

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for allowing me to represent
one of its ministries

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in several European countries.

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But

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I defended a counter-revolutionary.

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From that moment on,
I was totally ostracized.

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I lost my job.

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I had but one political
and literary option

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to give my exclusion
a \"raison d\'être\".

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SENT OFF THE FIELD
Poems by Heberto Padilla

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A number of aspects

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allow us

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to reach the conclusion,

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with absolute certitude,

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that the news

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is bitterly true.

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Che Guevara\'s death confirmed

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UNITED STATES

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FRANCE

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ENGLAND

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ARMY OPENS FIRE ON STUDENTS

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BLOOD SHED

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The point
that must or must not be accepted,

00:18:41.750 --> 00:18:44.875
is whether the Socialist Bloc
can or cannot allow

00:18:47.833 --> 00:18:50.541
the development
of a political situation

00:18:50.958 --> 00:18:53.458
leading to the fragmentation

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of a Socialist country

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as is the case in Czechoslovakia.

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We feel this must not be allowed,

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and that the Socialist Bloc
has the right

00:19:06.291 --> 00:19:08.958
to prevent it one way or another.

00:19:16.250 --> 00:19:20.208
\"SENT OFF THE FIELD\",
by Heberto Padilla,

00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:24.708
wins the 1968 UNEAC award
for best poetry book.

00:19:24.916 --> 00:19:27.750
No newspaper published the news.

00:19:29.375 --> 00:19:30.791
NOTE FROM THE UNEAC

00:19:30.875 --> 00:19:33.708
The executive committee will include
a note to the book

00:19:33.833 --> 00:19:35.708
expressing their disagreement

00:19:35.833 --> 00:19:38.625
to an ideology opposed
to our Revolution

00:19:39.416 --> 00:19:41.625
My book \"Sent Off the Field\"
was awarded

00:19:41.791 --> 00:19:44.041
by the Cuban Union of Writers
and Artists.

00:19:44.791 --> 00:19:46.291
My book

00:19:47.333 --> 00:19:49.000
won unanimously.

00:19:49.708 --> 00:19:50.875
Five members,

00:19:51.791 --> 00:19:54.791
all first-degree writers,
gave their approval

00:19:55.958 --> 00:19:57.291
and backed the book.

00:19:58.625 --> 00:20:00.916
The Cuban Union
of Writers and Artists,

00:20:02.041 --> 00:20:04.041
the Union\'s executive committee,

00:20:04.625 --> 00:20:08.125
wrote a critical introduction
to the book.

00:20:08.291 --> 00:20:09.708
DO THESE BOOKS HELP?

00:20:09.833 --> 00:20:12.208
DO THEY HELP
OUR SLANDERED REVOLUTION

00:20:12.375 --> 00:20:14.833
HARMED AND BETRAYED
BY SUCH WORDS?

00:20:15.041 --> 00:20:17.458
What did I care
about a critical introduction

00:20:17.750 --> 00:20:21.375
if next to it was
a passionate defense of my work

00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:23.833
signed by the five jury members?

00:20:24.375 --> 00:20:27.375
A POET IN FULL CONTROL
OF HIS EXPRESSIVE GIFTS

00:20:27.708 --> 00:20:29.125
Only that mattered.

00:20:29.333 --> 00:20:32.791
That and the vote of confidence
from the British critic Cohen,

00:20:33.291 --> 00:20:35.333
who said that the book

00:20:35.833 --> 00:20:39.500
would have won an award
in any Western country.

00:20:41.125 --> 00:20:43.666
I benefitted

00:20:44.166 --> 00:20:46.083
of the international situation

00:20:46.750 --> 00:20:49.958
and gained importance on two fronts,

00:20:50.416 --> 00:20:54.208
an intellectual importance

00:20:54.833 --> 00:20:56.375
as well as a political one.

00:20:56.541 --> 00:21:00.208
Intellectual because a group
of first-class writers and critics

00:21:00.375 --> 00:21:04.375
had granted me a national award
in a revolutionary country,

00:21:04.625 --> 00:21:08.000
and political because
the book represented

00:21:08.333 --> 00:21:11.916
what I believed to be a triumph
in the face of Revolution.

00:21:14.416 --> 00:21:16.125
My ideas had triumphed.

00:21:16.750 --> 00:21:19.083
I thought
that with \"Sent Off the Field\"

00:21:19.250 --> 00:21:23.000
my political position had triumphed.

00:21:23.875 --> 00:21:27.250
I typically considered myself
untouchable.

00:21:27.916 --> 00:21:32.083
The book was immediately published
in France by Du Seuil Publishers.

00:21:32.583 --> 00:21:35.875
They translated the 50-odd poems
in less than a month,

00:21:36.333 --> 00:21:37.541
at full speed,

00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:41.458
and added an insidious sentence
on the cover:

00:21:41.833 --> 00:21:44.375
\"Can one be a poet in Cuba?\"

00:21:44.750 --> 00:21:47.333
Meaning you could not be
a poet in Cuba.

00:21:53.375 --> 00:21:55.791
CUBA.
DOES THE REVOLUTION NEED POETS?

00:21:55.916 --> 00:21:57.833
Texts by UNEAC and Julio Cortázar

00:21:58.666 --> 00:22:01.041
THE PADILLA AFFAIR

00:22:02.041 --> 00:22:04.041
Thanks to the UNEAC warning note,

00:22:04.208 --> 00:22:06.875
reading poetry is no longer
a spontaneous act

00:22:07.041 --> 00:22:10.083
as we begin to look for
hidden meanings in these texts.

00:22:10.458 --> 00:22:11.750
Julio Cortázar

00:22:12.916 --> 00:22:13.958
intervened

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.041
in what a newspaper called the defense

00:22:19.166 --> 00:22:21.916
against the attack
of the Cuban Writers\' Union.

00:22:22.833 --> 00:22:23.666
Cortázar

00:22:24.541 --> 00:22:26.416
in a way tried to stop

00:22:27.125 --> 00:22:29.000
the campaign against Cuba

00:22:30.875 --> 00:22:31.958
to go any further.

00:22:32.458 --> 00:22:35.416
\"Neither a martyr nor a traitor,\"
Julio said.

00:22:37.375 --> 00:22:40.083
He also recognized

00:22:40.541 --> 00:22:43.333
that my poems
were pessimistic and bitter,

00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:47.916
the product
of a man straddling two eras.

00:22:52.125 --> 00:22:52.958
And

00:22:54.750 --> 00:22:56.291
I accepted these positions.

00:23:00.291 --> 00:23:01.250
Moreover,

00:23:01.875 --> 00:23:03.083
and what is worse,

00:23:04.125 --> 00:23:05.791
I took them

00:23:06.833 --> 00:23:07.916
to a terrain

00:23:08.833 --> 00:23:10.875
I should never have taken them.

00:23:11.833 --> 00:23:15.250
A terrain where they didn\'t belong,

00:23:16.083 --> 00:23:17.916
the terrain of poetry.

00:23:21.166 --> 00:23:22.875
I have thought about this.

00:23:23.458 --> 00:23:27.833
I\'ve reflected about the reasons
that made me mix poetry and my views,

00:23:28.541 --> 00:23:31.458
Similar positions
had never been taken,

00:23:32.166 --> 00:23:34.333
Cuban poetry,
since the start of the Revolution,

00:23:34.875 --> 00:23:38.125
the very same poetry
I dabbled in briefly,

00:23:38.458 --> 00:23:42.208
as State Security acknowledged
during our conversations,

00:23:42.666 --> 00:23:45.125
was enthusiastically revolutionary.

00:23:45.750 --> 00:23:47.166
An exemplary poetry

00:23:47.333 --> 00:23:50.583
befitting the youthful process
of our Revolution.

00:23:51.958 --> 00:23:53.083
But I inaugurated...

00:23:54.333 --> 00:23:57.416
And that is a sad reality,

00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:02.041
I was the one
who inaugurated resentment,

00:24:02.500 --> 00:24:05.250
bitterness and pessimism,

00:24:05.958 --> 00:24:10.541
elements synonymous
to counter-revolution in literature.

00:24:11.166 --> 00:24:13.375
You know I\'m speaking
about \"Sent Off\".

00:24:13.958 --> 00:24:15.708
I\'ve always defended it.

00:24:17.041 --> 00:24:20.250
But this deserves a deep reflection.

00:24:21.666 --> 00:24:24.041
Let us consider \"Sent Off the Field\".

00:24:24.291 --> 00:24:29.291
On reading it, do you really think
it is a revolutionary book?

00:24:30.208 --> 00:24:32.083
What defines this book?

00:24:32.375 --> 00:24:35.250
Where does its essential
characteristic come from?

00:24:36.208 --> 00:24:38.958
Its essential characteristic,

00:24:39.083 --> 00:24:42.666
under the guise of a lack of cohesion
due to historical problems,

00:24:42.833 --> 00:24:45.333
in itself a form of colonialism,

00:24:45.500 --> 00:24:47.708
as Fidel Castro said
in his last speeches,

00:24:47.875 --> 00:24:51.250
is a way of importing
foreign states of mind,

00:24:51.500 --> 00:24:53.500
foreign historical experiences

00:24:53.750 --> 00:24:58.041
into a Revolution that feels
no historical disappointment.

00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:00.458
But not me, I started my book

00:25:00.541 --> 00:25:04.250
as an old,
ill livered philosopher might,

00:25:04.583 --> 00:25:07.041
with a poem called \"In Difficult Times\".

00:25:10.333 --> 00:25:15.458
They asked this man for his time
To be added to the times of History.

00:25:17.500 --> 00:25:20.583
They asked him for his hands,
Since in a difficult age

00:25:20.750 --> 00:25:23.833
There´s nothing better
Than a pair of good hands.

00:25:25.375 --> 00:25:29.041
They asked him for his eyes,
Which sometimes had tears,

00:25:29.083 --> 00:25:32.958
To look on the bright side,
Especially on the bright side of life

00:25:33.083 --> 00:25:35.791
Since horror requests an amazed eye.

00:25:36.458 --> 00:25:40.041
They asked him for his lips,
His dry cracked lips, to affirm,

00:25:40.166 --> 00:25:43.625
To build with each affirmation
a dream, (the-tall-dream).

00:25:46.125 --> 00:25:49.000
They asked him for his tough
and muscular legs,

00:25:49.125 --> 00:25:50.833
(his old restless legs),

00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:54.250
For in difficult times
What is better than a pair of legs

00:25:54.416 --> 00:25:56.833
For the construction or the trench?

00:25:58.583 --> 00:26:01.708
They asked him for the forest
That fed his boyhood

00:26:01.875 --> 00:26:03.750
And his obedient tree.

00:26:04.750 --> 00:26:07.833
They asked him for his breast,
His heart, his shoulders.

00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:10.291
They said
That it was strictly necessary.

00:26:11.375 --> 00:26:15.166
They explained afterwards
That all this gifts would be useless

00:26:15.333 --> 00:26:17.875
Unless he surrendered his tongue

00:26:18.041 --> 00:26:21.333
For nothing is more useful
To ward off hatred and lies.

00:26:22.875 --> 00:26:26.750
And finally they asked him
To please start walking,

00:26:26.916 --> 00:26:29.416
For in difficult times,

00:26:29.583 --> 00:26:32.458
This is undoubtedly
the decisive proof.

00:26:34.291 --> 00:26:38.083
\"In Difficult Times\"
Sent Off the Field, 1968

00:26:38.875 --> 00:26:42.458
—I felt very frustrated and spiteful
as months went by

00:26:43.666 --> 00:26:47.875
and the scandal brought me
no personal benefits.

00:26:48.666 --> 00:26:52.666
That was when I wrote to Fidel Castro
and I got a job at the University.

00:26:53.250 --> 00:26:56.833
In 1969,
due to the positions I had taken,

00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:00.625
I had no work
and wrote a letter to Fidel.

00:27:01.958 --> 00:27:04.250
He answered me almost immediately.

00:27:04.416 --> 00:27:07.791
I had written I had no job
and that I wanted to work,

00:27:08.708 --> 00:27:09.916
And right away

00:27:10.958 --> 00:27:12.666
Fidel answered me

00:27:16.208 --> 00:27:18.583
through the Dean
of the Havana University.

00:27:19.708 --> 00:27:21.916
I was given a job at the University,

00:27:22.750 --> 00:27:25.416
which fitted my skills
and my wishes.

00:27:26.250 --> 00:27:28.750
I was given a job
at the Havana University,

00:27:29.333 --> 00:27:31.291
but that didn\'t stop me

00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:34.875
from voicing my position.

00:27:36.750 --> 00:27:38.833
You\'ll remember my poetry reading.

00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:41.666
What did I call it? \"Provocations\".

00:27:42.916 --> 00:27:44.958
Because \"provocations\" was the term

00:27:45.083 --> 00:27:48.416
used by the magazine \"Verde Olivo\"
to define my attitude.

00:27:49.041 --> 00:27:51.375
And the name
I had given to my new book.

00:27:52.083 --> 00:27:54.083
As worthy of respect as may be

00:27:53.833 --> 00:27:57.500
{\\an8}VOICE OF FIDEL CASTRO
NATIONAL LIBRARY, 1961

00:27:56.666 --> 00:28:01.250
the personal opinion of an enemy
of the Revolution,

00:28:01.791 --> 00:28:04.208
it cannot compare

00:28:05.375 --> 00:28:07.541
to the rights

00:28:08.291 --> 00:28:11.833
and reasons of a Revolution.

00:28:13.041 --> 00:28:14.500
Even more so

00:28:14.916 --> 00:28:17.458
when a Revolution forms part
of a process

00:28:18.250 --> 00:28:19.583
within history.

00:28:19.916 --> 00:28:23.458
A revolution is not,
nor can it ever be,

00:28:23.875 --> 00:28:27.541
born from the capricious will
of any individual.

00:28:30.333 --> 00:28:32.375
A revolution

00:28:34.083 --> 00:28:36.875
can only be born

00:28:37.500 --> 00:28:39.041
from the need

00:28:40.083 --> 00:28:41.291
and will

00:28:42.458 --> 00:28:43.750
of a people.

00:28:44.750 --> 00:28:46.666
When faced with the rights

00:28:47.416 --> 00:28:48.958
of a people,

00:28:50.125 --> 00:28:52.166
the rights of the enemy

00:28:52.583 --> 00:28:53.875
of this people

00:28:54.916 --> 00:28:56.125
do not count.

00:28:56.833 --> 00:29:00.875
—When I arrived in Havana,
I was the first South American diplomat

00:29:01.375 --> 00:29:04.541
to set foot in the city
after six and a half years of embargo.

00:29:05.041 --> 00:29:08.458
The presence, at that time,

00:29:08.750 --> 00:29:15.083
{\\an8}JORGE EDWARDS
CHILEAN GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE TO CUBA

00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:11.541
a difficult time for the Revolution,

00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:15.083
the presence of a diplomat
and writer already contained

00:29:15.250 --> 00:29:17.750
the seed of a possible conflict.

00:29:18.291 --> 00:29:22.333
And, in a way,
this explains the problem

00:29:23.041 --> 00:29:25.541
that my stay in Havana opened up.

00:29:25.750 --> 00:29:28.166
A problem
with a group of Cuban writers,

00:29:28.916 --> 00:29:32.291
friends of mine
I had met before 1968.

00:29:33.375 --> 00:29:35.958
The problem was that this group,

00:29:37.500 --> 00:29:39.666
for a series of reasons,

00:29:39.875 --> 00:29:42.833
had become marginalized
from the official groups.

00:29:43.375 --> 00:29:47.083
And from their somewhat distant
position,

00:29:47.291 --> 00:29:50.125
they had started criticizing

00:29:50.708 --> 00:29:52.833
certain aspects of the Revolution.

00:29:53.625 --> 00:29:56.750
Fidel told me about the problem.

00:29:57.125 --> 00:30:01.875
{\\an8}THE WRITERS AND FIDEL CASTRO:
THE END OF THE ROMANCE

00:29:57.125 --> 00:30:01.875
He told me he was upset
about my meeting with writers

00:30:02.125 --> 00:30:04.875
he considered
counter-revolutionary agents.

00:30:05.166 --> 00:30:08.708
They\'ll say they were my private
and personal criticisms,

00:30:08.916 --> 00:30:10.250
my opinions.

00:30:10.791 --> 00:30:13.208
I don\'t feel this is important.

00:30:14.375 --> 00:30:19.458
I mean that if I wanted
to be a revolutionary writer,

00:30:19.875 --> 00:30:21.416
a critical writer,

00:30:21.958 --> 00:30:25.375
the private opinions
I shared with friends

00:30:25.916 --> 00:30:31.125
should have the same moral weight
as those I shared in public.

00:30:31.875 --> 00:30:35.083
I could not allow myself
to maintain a duplicity,

00:30:36.041 --> 00:30:40.625
behaving like a perfect
revolutionary militant in public

00:30:41.208 --> 00:30:44.333
while privately manifesting
my hostility,

00:30:45.250 --> 00:30:48.375
acting like an objective
counter-revolutionary.

00:30:49.083 --> 00:30:51.625
Unfortunately, at that time,
Revolution

00:30:52.166 --> 00:30:55.833
did not admit criticism,
no critical comment was tolerated.

00:30:56.333 --> 00:30:58.791
The Revolution had tried,

00:30:59.291 --> 00:31:01.041
up to the year 1968,

00:31:01.958 --> 00:31:05.125
to give much freedom
to creators and artists.

00:31:05.625 --> 00:31:07.958
But in the year 1970,

00:31:08.416 --> 00:31:10.458
due to the economic crisis,

00:31:11.666 --> 00:31:16.958
the Revolution had lost its tolerance
towards writers and poets.

00:31:17.458 --> 00:31:18.500
I think

00:31:18.958 --> 00:31:21.666
that revolutions, at critical times,

00:31:21.833 --> 00:31:24.541
when under attack
from the outside world,

00:31:24.750 --> 00:31:26.375
tend to develop

00:31:27.083 --> 00:31:29.541
security and surveillance systems

00:31:29.708 --> 00:31:31.541
which are necessary.

00:31:31.958 --> 00:31:34.083
In the case of the Cuban Revolution,

00:31:34.375 --> 00:31:38.208
they proved to be more than necessary.

00:31:38.583 --> 00:31:40.416
In this book I mention

00:31:40.666 --> 00:31:44.166
that there had been attempts
to assassinate Fidel Castro

00:31:44.625 --> 00:31:46.666
when the security problem started.

00:31:46.833 --> 00:31:48.541
Recently in the United States,

00:31:48.708 --> 00:31:52.458
several media have recognized
that these attempts existed.

00:31:52.625 --> 00:31:56.416
But I also think
that this preoccupation with security

00:31:56.708 --> 00:31:58.916
can become an obsession.

00:31:59.416 --> 00:32:01.125
I think that\'s the problem.

00:32:01.750 --> 00:32:06.500
This first step,
this legitimate concern for security,

00:32:07.083 --> 00:32:09.875
for surveillance turns
into an obsession

00:32:10.416 --> 00:32:13.416
that dominates
the entire life of the country.

00:32:13.541 --> 00:32:17.791
The obsession of the police force
must be avoided at all cost.

00:32:18.291 --> 00:32:22.083
I think that the writers\' voice
is there to avoid it,

00:32:22.208 --> 00:32:23.958
to stop it from happening.

00:32:24.416 --> 00:32:27.625
The heart of the conflict
with the writers,

00:32:28.083 --> 00:32:32.041
embodied for the outside world
by Heberto Padilla\'s imprisonment,

00:32:32.166 --> 00:32:33.666
can be found

00:32:34.166 --> 00:32:38.083
in the Cuban Government\'s intolerance
to criticism.

00:32:38.458 --> 00:32:41.041
The night
before Jorge Edwards\' departure,

00:32:41.166 --> 00:32:43.958
I knew this would be the
excuse for my arrest (...)

00:32:44.083 --> 00:32:48.041
At seven the next morning,
State Security burst through my door.

00:32:48.125 --> 00:32:51.958
POET HEBERTO PADILLA DETAINED
March 22, 1971

00:32:52.208 --> 00:32:56.250
CASTRO TAKES RESPONSIBILITY
March 29, 1971

00:32:57.625 --> 00:33:00.041
REVOLUTION OR NOTHING

00:33:00.625 --> 00:33:04.208
Many well-known figures lament
the Cuban poet\'s arrest

00:33:04.416 --> 00:33:07.708
Poet Heberto Padilla carries out
a self-criticism in jail

00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.916
Poet Heberto Padilla
set free in Havana

00:33:13.291 --> 00:33:15.750
COLLECTIVE PURGATORY

00:33:19.083 --> 00:33:23.166
Those of us in Barcelona had a meeting
at my place,

00:33:20.291 --> 00:33:24.625
{\\an8}VOICE OF MARIO VARGAS LLOSA

00:33:23.375 --> 00:33:26.125
with Juan Goytisolo
and Luis Goytisolo,

00:33:26.916 --> 00:33:28.500
José María Castellet

00:33:29.041 --> 00:33:32.083
and the German writer
Hans Magnus Enzensberger,

00:33:32.666 --> 00:33:34.625
who often came to Barcelona,

00:33:35.041 --> 00:33:39.208
in order to write a letter
against Padilla\'s arrest.

00:33:39.666 --> 00:33:42.750
The letter was signed
by many intellectuals.

00:33:43.083 --> 00:33:47.041
Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza said it needed
Gabriel García Márquez\' name.

00:33:47.458 --> 00:33:50.125
We all said we had to ask him first,

00:33:50.583 --> 00:33:51.791
but we couldn\'t

00:33:52.750 --> 00:33:56.708
because we didn\'t know
where he was at the time.

00:33:57.208 --> 00:34:01.958
That\'s when he decided
to add García Márquez\' name.

00:34:03.416 --> 00:34:07.000
—This is a natural reaction
for writers from the capitalist world.

00:34:07.458 --> 00:34:12.083
I hope that they now understand
the generosity of the Revolution,

00:34:13.708 --> 00:34:17.500
on seeing me here,
talking freely with all of you.

00:34:18.250 --> 00:34:20.083
for if these were not my own opinions,

00:34:20.250 --> 00:34:23.541
I would demand
that I have the courage

00:34:24.041 --> 00:34:28.541
to state right now my true beliefs,

00:34:29.083 --> 00:34:31.458
even if it meant
returning to jail tomorrow.

00:34:32.791 --> 00:34:35.333
If I don\'t say it,
it means that I don\'t feel it.

00:34:35.666 --> 00:34:38.583
Accordingly, the comrades
who have taken up my cause

00:34:38.916 --> 00:34:42.000
should rectify and recognize

00:34:42.666 --> 00:34:47.541
that the Cuban Revolution is superior
to the man they have defended,

00:34:48.083 --> 00:34:50.250
and that the Cuban Revolution is fair.

00:34:50.833 --> 00:34:53.458
I believe this far more
than all this international fuss,

00:34:53.750 --> 00:34:56.541
although I am personally grateful
to my colleagues,

00:34:56.791 --> 00:34:59.041
but they live in other worlds

00:35:00.083 --> 00:35:03.500
and have a completely different
outlook on the Cuban situation.

00:35:08.500 --> 00:35:09.666
The intellectual

00:35:11.083 --> 00:35:12.833
has a double aspect.

00:35:12.875 --> 00:35:19.041
{\\an8}JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
SIGNEE OF THE LETTER OF SUPPORT TO HEBERTO PADILLA

00:35:13.791 --> 00:35:17.125
On the one hand,
he has determined job to do,

00:35:17.916 --> 00:35:19.958
and he cannot avoid doing it.

00:35:20.250 --> 00:35:21.708
He must do his job.

00:35:22.083 --> 00:35:25.291
Because he cannot discover
his contradictions in thin air,

00:35:25.833 --> 00:35:28.375
but only by practicing his profession.

00:35:28.750 --> 00:35:32.000
That is to say
he must carry out his job

00:35:32.541 --> 00:35:36.625
and commit himself
to the manifestation

00:35:37.166 --> 00:35:39.541
of society\'s contradictions.

00:35:39.833 --> 00:35:42.708
One is not possible
without the other.

00:35:43.958 --> 00:35:46.250
A writer has political commitment.

00:35:46.416 --> 00:35:49.375
As such, how far do you take
your commitment?

00:35:49.750 --> 00:35:53.416
This reminds me of a Latin-American
comedian who said

00:35:50.041 --> 00:35:56.708
{\\an8}JULIO CORTÁZAR
SIGNEE OF THE LETTER OF SUPPORT TO HEBERTO PADILLA

00:35:53.958 --> 00:35:57.625
that instead of being so committed,
writers should get married.

00:35:58.625 --> 00:36:04.625
{\\an8}GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
INVOLUNTARY SIGNEE OF THE LETTER OF
SUPPORT TO HEBERTO PADILLA

00:35:58.625 --> 00:36:01.416
I think political commitment
is not just for writers,

00:36:01.583 --> 00:36:06.458
but for everyone who is aware
of the problems

00:36:07.333 --> 00:36:10.625
of their country
and the current times.

00:36:10.833 --> 00:36:14.250
A writer does not need
to be a professional in politics,

00:36:15.166 --> 00:36:17.166
but in Latin America,

00:36:18.333 --> 00:36:20.541
especially here, this commitment

00:36:21.416 --> 00:36:22.916
is much more pressing.

00:36:23.125 --> 00:36:25.458
A writer\'s main commitment

00:36:25.708 --> 00:36:28.875
is to write without making
a single concession.

00:36:29.291 --> 00:36:33.458
The famous word \"commitment\"
can be an inconvenient

00:36:33.625 --> 00:36:36.375
as many circles and situations

00:36:36.750 --> 00:36:38.750
tend to re-imagine it

00:36:39.041 --> 00:36:42.541
as the obligation for a writer
to lower his ambition

00:36:42.708 --> 00:36:46.208
and write for the majority,

00:36:46.375 --> 00:36:47.833
for most people.

00:36:48.041 --> 00:36:50.083
And I think it is perfectly fine

00:36:50.250 --> 00:36:52.625
and perfectly natural
for many writers,

00:36:53.083 --> 00:36:54.541
but there are others

00:36:55.083 --> 00:36:58.875
who work on a more experimental level,

00:36:59.250 --> 00:37:02.208
whose explorations are more complex.

00:37:02.458 --> 00:37:06.375
And the worst betrayal to one\'s people

00:37:06.708 --> 00:37:08.500
and the future of Latin America

00:37:08.708 --> 00:37:12.000
would be to forget this
and look for a simplification

00:37:12.166 --> 00:37:14.333
that wouldn\'t help anyone.

00:37:14.666 --> 00:37:16.708
I feel that, as a last resort,

00:37:17.125 --> 00:37:19.875
just writing well,
doing your job well,

00:37:20.708 --> 00:37:24.333
is a form of political activism.

00:37:24.833 --> 00:37:28.708
I would summarize by saying

00:37:29.416 --> 00:37:33.000
that the best political work
anyone can do

00:37:33.666 --> 00:37:36.500
is doing your work well.

00:37:36.833 --> 00:37:38.083
But that\'s not all.

00:37:38.250 --> 00:37:41.250
There\'s a second aspect to this
of utmost importance.

00:37:41.416 --> 00:37:43.166
You have to follow through

00:37:43.333 --> 00:37:47.041
with your personal,
ideological and political behavior.

00:37:47.416 --> 00:37:50.458
The intersection of these two elements

00:37:50.916 --> 00:37:54.541
in a writer\'s work,
that is true commitment.

00:37:54.750 --> 00:37:58.583
And in this sense,
going back to the joke, I\'m married.

00:38:01.083 --> 00:38:03.125
I remember Lee Lockwood\'s book,

00:38:03.708 --> 00:38:05.000
he\'s an US reporter.

00:38:05.125 --> 00:38:08.166
There\'s a picture of me
with a Granma newspaper,

00:38:09.083 --> 00:38:11.625
very skillfully taken, very clever.

00:38:11.791 --> 00:38:15.875
I\'m not trying to be negative
about Lee Lockwood\'s picture,

00:38:16.458 --> 00:38:21.958
but the caption perfectly defines
the posture I took for the picture.

00:38:23.166 --> 00:38:26.875
It says \"Heberto Padilla,
poet and enfant terrible\".

00:38:27.125 --> 00:38:29.125
The terrible child of politics.

00:38:29.875 --> 00:38:32.375
I fell in love with that image.

00:38:33.625 --> 00:38:34.791
And those journalists

00:38:35.791 --> 00:38:37.541
made my name known.

00:38:38.166 --> 00:38:41.541
And in articles about Cuba published
in foreign countries,

00:38:42.208 --> 00:38:44.291
they talked enthusiastically
about me.

00:38:44.625 --> 00:38:46.625
They saw me as a rebel writer,

00:38:47.333 --> 00:38:51.791
a \"contestataire\" writer,
as the French say, uncompromising.

00:38:52.833 --> 00:38:56.833
They saw me as a typical case
in Socialist countries

00:38:57.041 --> 00:38:58.833
playing a role in Cuba

00:38:59.416 --> 00:39:02.500
that other writers had played
in other countries.

00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:14.458
A FROG IN THE SWAMP

00:39:15.375 --> 00:39:16.875
LIBELOUS

00:39:17.208 --> 00:39:19.208
And now that I have reached
the zenith of my days,

00:39:19.458 --> 00:39:23.583
at the sacrifice of other colors,
I will not renounce the blue.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:26.875
KOMSOMOL PLENARY SESSION

00:39:27.083 --> 00:39:30.208
As the Russian proverb says,
a black sheep is born even to a good flock.

00:39:30.458 --> 00:39:34.458
We have this black sheep
in the midst of our Socialist society,

00:39:34.625 --> 00:39:36.333
it is Pasternak.

00:39:36.875 --> 00:39:40.583
He has written a slanderous work.

00:39:40.958 --> 00:39:44.875
NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV
USSR Prime Minister

00:39:45.458 --> 00:39:48.458
This man has spat in the face
of the people.

00:39:48.708 --> 00:39:50.958
Even a pig does not defecate
where it eats,

00:39:51.208 --> 00:39:52.958
nor does it defecate where it sleeps.

00:39:53.458 --> 00:39:56.458
Why doesn’t this spiritual emigrant

00:39:56.708 --> 00:39:58.958
leave to breathe the air of capitalism

00:39:59.208 --> 00:40:00.958
which he misses so much,

00:40:01.208 --> 00:40:03.875
about which he expressed himself
in his work?

00:40:03.958 --> 00:40:05.875
Let him become a real emigrant

00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:08.708
and be gone
to his capitalist paradise!

00:40:10.083 --> 00:40:15.541
PASTERNAK TURNS DOWN
THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

00:40:15.750 --> 00:40:20.166
IN THE FACE OF BRUTAL REPRESSION
BY THE SOVIET REGIME

00:40:22.750 --> 00:40:25.291
Andrei Sinyavski & Yuli Daniel

00:40:25.458 --> 00:40:29.875
(1965) Crime: Anti-Soviet
publications in foreign countries.

00:40:30.041 --> 00:40:32.833
Sentence:
Imprisonment in a labor camp

00:40:33.750 --> 00:40:35.625
Natalia Gorbanevskaya

00:40:35.791 --> 00:40:39.625
(1969) Crime: Protested against
Soviet invasion in Czechoslovakia

00:40:39.791 --> 00:40:41.916
Published critical articles

00:40:42.083 --> 00:40:45.083
Sentence:
Internment in a psychiatric hospital

00:40:45.833 --> 00:40:47.333
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

00:40:47.500 --> 00:40:51.250
(1945) Crime: Criticized
Stalin\'s military strategy.

00:40:51.416 --> 00:40:54.125
Sentence:
Imprisonment in a labor camp

00:40:54.291 --> 00:40:57.583
(1974) Crime: Treason after winning
the Nobel prize.

00:40:57.750 --> 00:40:59.000
Sentence: Exile.

00:40:59.250 --> 00:41:00.541
Human rights,

00:41:00.750 --> 00:41:04.291
albeit having been conquered
in bourgeois revolutions,

00:41:02.958 --> 00:41:07.041
{\\an8}CARLOS FUENTES
SIGNEE OF THE LETTER OF SUPPORT TO HEBERTO PADILLA

00:41:04.458 --> 00:41:06.500
are universal rights

00:41:06.708 --> 00:41:09.041
and if Socialist revolution
sacrifices them,

00:41:09.250 --> 00:41:12.916
it sacrifices
it\'s own nature in the process.

00:41:13.750 --> 00:41:16.250
My impression,
when I visited the Soviet Union,

00:41:16.458 --> 00:41:19.958
was that behind
the Marxist Leninist façade,

00:41:20.333 --> 00:41:22.875
the eternal old Russia was still there

00:41:23.791 --> 00:41:26.500
with its essential problem,

00:41:26.666 --> 00:41:29.458
its inability to separate powers.

00:41:31.458 --> 00:41:33.625
UNITED STATES

00:41:42.125 --> 00:41:46.166
FIDEL CASTRO SAYS THAT COMMUNISM
WILL NOT SUCCEED IN CUBA

00:42:24.958 --> 00:42:27.083
Long live Cuba and the USSR,

00:42:28.125 --> 00:42:29.916
peace and Socialism.

00:42:30.458 --> 00:42:31.791
SOVIET UNION

00:42:35.458 --> 00:42:38.041
Our friend and comrade Fidel Castro!

00:42:38.250 --> 00:42:41.250
The Cuban Revolution was possible

00:42:46.125 --> 00:42:47.666
because long before

00:42:48.500 --> 00:42:51.041
there was a Russian Revolution.

00:42:57.833 --> 00:42:59.666
Long live Communists

00:43:00.875 --> 00:43:02.583
and solidarity.

00:43:04.458 --> 00:43:06.958
Long live the proletariat, tovarich,

00:43:07.708 --> 00:43:10.500
long live my Cuban homeland.

00:43:13.833 --> 00:43:16.000
Long live Cuba and the USSR,

00:43:16.875 --> 00:43:19.500
peace and Socialism.

00:43:20.666 --> 00:43:22.791
Long live Cuba and the USSR,

00:43:23.541 --> 00:43:25.000
peace

00:43:27.833 --> 00:43:31.208
and Socialism.

00:43:33.708 --> 00:43:38.125
“I AM A MARXIST-LENINIST
AND ALWAYS WILL BE.”

00:43:45.625 --> 00:43:48.750
CIA Headquarters, Langley, USA

00:45:15.958 --> 00:45:18.541
I\'m rather tired,
I hardly slept last night.

00:45:18.708 --> 00:45:20.958
But I want to keep going

00:45:21.583 --> 00:45:24.458
because this is worthwhile,

00:45:26.208 --> 00:45:29.541
even though I\'m not
as coherent as I would like to be,

00:45:30.083 --> 00:45:31.875
nor as accurate.

00:45:32.833 --> 00:45:35.125
What\'s more, I\'m hoarse.

00:45:35.291 --> 00:45:38.125
I\'ve talked to my friends,
my children, with Belkis.

00:45:40.791 --> 00:45:43.166
Anyway, I took on certain attitudes,

00:45:43.333 --> 00:45:45.916
I poisoned myself
and grew apart from my friends.

00:45:46.583 --> 00:45:49.666
If before my friends had been
Roberto Fernández Retamar,

00:45:50.666 --> 00:45:52.041
Lisandro Otero,

00:45:52.666 --> 00:45:55.083
Edmundo Desnoes, Ambrosio Fornet,

00:45:55.208 --> 00:45:57.000
to name a few,

00:45:58.833 --> 00:46:00.791
they no longer were.

00:46:01.791 --> 00:46:03.375
They couldn\'t be my friends.

00:46:04.583 --> 00:46:07.291
They tried hard to set me straight.

00:46:08.541 --> 00:46:11.250
I remember my discussions
with Roberto.

00:46:12.125 --> 00:46:16.750
But I talked too much
and I drowned him in my rhetoric.

00:46:17.458 --> 00:46:19.666
Or he may have realized

00:46:20.666 --> 00:46:23.666
it wasn\'t his job to persuade me
as I was old enough to think.

00:46:24.833 --> 00:46:29.083
As I continued
with my sickly and negative arguments,

00:46:29.416 --> 00:46:30.916
he followed the correct line.

00:46:31.083 --> 00:46:33.750
And them,
these comrades and many more

00:46:33.916 --> 00:46:36.291
did not stray from the truth,
but I did.

00:46:37.375 --> 00:46:39.166
I was wrong.

00:46:40.250 --> 00:46:43.166
If what I want is to be a critic
of the Revolution,

00:46:43.416 --> 00:46:44.708
then I have to be one

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:48.041
when the Revolution asks me to
for its benefit.

00:46:48.166 --> 00:46:51.708
But not a critic who betrays it,
a critic who obstructs it,

00:46:51.875 --> 00:46:54.458
who vilifies it and slanders it,

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:56.500
as did many of the pages

00:46:57.333 --> 00:47:00.833
that will never be published
and are among my documents.

00:47:01.125 --> 00:47:04.500
Like that novel
which name I won\'t even mention.

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:06.041
That novel

00:47:06.583 --> 00:47:10.875
that I have turned over in my mind
while being in State Security.

00:47:11.458 --> 00:47:14.500
That novel\'s main character

00:47:14.666 --> 00:47:19.125
is a disgruntled man that never stops
speaking out against the Revolution.

00:47:21.125 --> 00:47:25.541
HEROES ARE GRAZING IN MY GARDEN
A Novel by Heberto Padilla

00:47:29.208 --> 00:47:31.583
Hi, are you busy? asked Julio shyly.

00:47:31.750 --> 00:47:35.125
The man stirring the whitewash
answered without looking up.

00:47:35.291 --> 00:47:37.916
Well, yes, here I am,
building Socialism.

00:47:38.083 --> 00:47:40.583
Julius smiled,
looking for solidarity.

00:47:40.750 --> 00:47:43.000
Socialism and Communism, comrade.

00:47:43.125 --> 00:47:45.958
Fidel said we\'re going
to build both together.

00:47:46.083 --> 00:47:48.916
The bricklayer looked at him
for the first time.

00:47:49.208 --> 00:47:52.916
Did you hear that, Pedro?
Pour me another bucket of shit.

00:47:53.458 --> 00:47:55.041
It was a subtle novel,

00:47:55.416 --> 00:48:00.208
packed with different elements
in order to please one and all.

00:48:00.958 --> 00:48:02.833
A little novel that,

00:48:03.125 --> 00:48:05.666
fortunately,
will never be published now

00:48:06.083 --> 00:48:09.208
because I have torn up
and will tear up any page

00:48:09.791 --> 00:48:14.041
that happened or will happen
to appear before my eyes.

00:48:14.583 --> 00:48:17.333
It\'s an embarrassment
not only politically,

00:48:17.500 --> 00:48:20.958
and I mean this, not only politically,

00:48:21.541 --> 00:48:23.083
but morally.

00:48:23.333 --> 00:48:24.875
That novel conveys

00:48:25.333 --> 00:48:27.958
all the flaws in my nature,

00:48:28.833 --> 00:48:33.458
my defects,
even my psychological problems.

00:48:34.458 --> 00:48:36.041
Very serious problems,

00:48:36.166 --> 00:48:39.750
which I discovered alone
in the custody of State Security.

00:48:41.500 --> 00:48:43.083
That novel shames me.

00:48:43.666 --> 00:48:45.291
Those poems shame me.

00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:48.458
I\'ve written some new poems
while in detention.

00:48:49.708 --> 00:48:52.750
One has to live through
such an experience,

00:48:52.958 --> 00:48:55.875
but I don\'t want you to,
and that\'s why I\'m here.

00:48:56.125 --> 00:48:59.333
But you have to live it,
to live and feel it

00:48:59.541 --> 00:49:02.625
in order to understand
what I\'m talking about.

00:49:04.416 --> 00:49:06.583
However, I\'m convinced

00:49:08.583 --> 00:49:12.000
that many of those sitting here
in front of me,

00:49:14.708 --> 00:49:17.625
while I have been speaking,

00:49:18.958 --> 00:49:21.166
have thought,
with some consternation,

00:49:22.291 --> 00:49:25.750
that their attitude may be similar
to mine.

00:49:26.625 --> 00:49:30.083
That the life I have led so far

00:49:30.208 --> 00:49:32.583
may resemble to the one
they are leading,

00:49:33.250 --> 00:49:36.083
That my faults may resemble theirs,

00:49:36.375 --> 00:49:38.083
my opinions to theirs,

00:49:38.333 --> 00:49:40.125
my shames to theirs.

00:49:43.500 --> 00:49:44.500
I am positive

00:49:45.875 --> 00:49:48.083
that right now they\'re worried.

00:49:49.333 --> 00:49:51.541
And that they were truly worried

00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:54.166
about my fate during these past weeks.

00:49:54.875 --> 00:49:56.875
What could happen to me?

00:49:57.791 --> 00:50:01.875
And now, on hearing me speak,
they\'ll probably think that,

00:50:02.250 --> 00:50:03.916
using the same argument,

00:50:04.083 --> 00:50:06.958
the Revolution
could have arrested them.

00:50:07.375 --> 00:50:09.833
The Revolution
could no longer tolerate

00:50:10.083 --> 00:50:12.541
a situation plagued
by a poisonous conspiracy

00:50:13.041 --> 00:50:15.250
made up by all the groups

00:50:15.750 --> 00:50:18.250
of hostile intellectuals and artists.

00:50:18.416 --> 00:50:22.250
I understood it clearly
in my talks with State Security.

00:50:22.708 --> 00:50:26.666
And if there haven\'t been
more arrests until now,

00:50:27.458 --> 00:50:29.458
if there haven\'t been,

00:50:30.125 --> 00:50:33.583
it is thanks
to our Revolution\'s generosity.

00:50:34.083 --> 00:50:36.250
And if I am free here and now,

00:50:36.625 --> 00:50:41.166
if I am not condemned
or standing trial in a military court,

00:50:41.333 --> 00:50:44.541
I must thank our Revolution\'s
generosity.

00:50:44.875 --> 00:50:46.333
It could have been otherwise.

00:50:47.083 --> 00:50:49.750
I\'m sure
that if I were to stand up now

00:50:50.083 --> 00:50:53.666
and point out the many comrades

00:50:54.083 --> 00:50:57.458
who were on the way to be
in a situation similar to mine,

00:50:58.291 --> 00:51:00.750
they would be unable to deny it.

00:51:02.083 --> 00:51:06.000
I could say the same
about a very dear friend

00:51:06.875 --> 00:51:11.708
who has shown me much warmth
over the past years.

00:51:12.750 --> 00:51:13.958
A friend

00:51:14.416 --> 00:51:19.875
who did many positive things
for our Revolution in earlier days,

00:51:20.291 --> 00:51:24.166
but who has lately shown himself
to be embittered,

00:51:24.833 --> 00:51:26.166
hostile,

00:51:27.333 --> 00:51:31.333
sick, unhappy and therefore,
counter-revolutionary.

00:51:31.500 --> 00:51:34.250
And I\'m referring
to Pablo Armando Fernández.

00:51:35.291 --> 00:51:36.958
I know that Pablo Armando,

00:51:37.125 --> 00:51:39.750
cannot stand up here and deny this.

00:51:40.125 --> 00:51:43.291
I could say the same
of another dear friend of mine,

00:51:43.666 --> 00:51:45.125
César López,

00:51:46.083 --> 00:51:48.333
whom I admire and respect.

00:51:49.666 --> 00:51:51.541
But César López

00:51:52.958 --> 00:51:54.958
and I have shared defeatist

00:51:56.000 --> 00:51:58.500
and negative thoughts
about our Revolution.

00:51:59.083 --> 00:52:03.041
César López has also brought
this defeatist view to his poetry.

00:52:03.416 --> 00:52:07.458
César catalogued unpleasant moments
and included them in a book

00:52:07.916 --> 00:52:11.791
that he sent to Spain
before it was published in Cuba.

00:52:12.166 --> 00:52:13.625
But I know,

00:52:14.833 --> 00:52:18.166
I am convinced,
no, I am more than convinced

00:52:18.791 --> 00:52:22.166
that César López is an honest
and honorable comrade

00:52:22.833 --> 00:52:26.416
who knows he has to correct
his behavior.

00:52:26.750 --> 00:52:31.083
I\'m sure that César López
will not stand to contradict me.

00:52:31.416 --> 00:52:33.208
And if he stands up,

00:52:33.458 --> 00:52:36.416
it will be to say that I\'m right.

00:52:37.833 --> 00:52:38.708
Exactly.

00:52:40.083 --> 00:52:41.625
César, there he is.

00:52:42.166 --> 00:52:43.541
I\'m glad he said it.

00:52:44.041 --> 00:52:46.500
César knows I\'m right.

00:52:46.708 --> 00:52:50.041
He shouldn\'t have done that,
he shouldn\'t have written it.

00:52:50.250 --> 00:52:53.791
I\'m sure that he will put things right
and begin to write

00:52:54.166 --> 00:52:57.000
the beautiful poems
that he has always written.

00:52:57.125 --> 00:53:01.541
The intelligent, wise, reflective
poetry that he has always written.

00:53:01.916 --> 00:53:03.625
His usual good poetry.

00:53:04.208 --> 00:53:05.875
I\'ve spoken about César,

00:53:06.916 --> 00:53:09.958
but I could say the same
about many other friends.

00:53:11.250 --> 00:53:14.500
I thought about Norberto,
Norberto Fuentes.

00:53:16.333 --> 00:53:19.958
I thought a lot about Norberto,
do you know why?

00:53:21.250 --> 00:53:24.583
While detained in State Security,
I remembered

00:53:24.833 --> 00:53:28.250
the difference between
those passionate and loving stories

00:53:28.666 --> 00:53:32.083
he wrote
about our revolutionary fighters,

00:53:32.541 --> 00:53:36.958
and his personal attitudes,
the opinions that we often shared.

00:53:37.583 --> 00:53:41.916
A man who had close ties
with State Security.

00:53:42.250 --> 00:53:45.916
A man whom State Security
trusted implicitly.

00:53:46.708 --> 00:53:50.083
He has been most useful

00:53:50.541 --> 00:53:52.166
to our newspapers.

00:53:52.666 --> 00:53:56.750
He has contributed beautiful pages
to Cuban literature

00:53:57.000 --> 00:53:59.000
and he will continue to do so.

00:54:02.416 --> 00:54:03.375
And I,

00:54:03.875 --> 00:54:05.666
I remembered and thought

00:54:07.083 --> 00:54:08.916
about Manuel Díaz Martínez.

00:54:09.291 --> 00:54:13.291
When many young people
were politically indifferent,

00:54:14.250 --> 00:54:18.333
Manuel Díaz Martínez
was a committed and radical militant,

00:54:18.541 --> 00:54:20.083
a young communist.

00:54:22.375 --> 00:54:23.458
For example,

00:54:24.625 --> 00:54:28.958
I don\'t know if he\'s here,
but I\'ll dare pronounce his name

00:54:31.666 --> 00:54:34.416
with all the respect
that his work deserves,

00:54:35.416 --> 00:54:39.333
with all the respect
that his behavior deserves,

00:54:40.083 --> 00:54:42.458
with all the respect he deserves,

00:54:43.291 --> 00:54:44.875
I know I can mention

00:54:45.916 --> 00:54:47.291
José Lezama Lima.

00:54:52.458 --> 00:54:54.041
When I was arrested,

00:54:54.166 --> 00:54:57.083
they told him
that it was not a general policy,

00:54:57.208 --> 00:54:59.833
but that it was solely
about Padilla\'s case.

00:55:01.791 --> 00:55:06.125
But he shook his head and said:
\"No, it\'s against everyone.\"

00:55:06.333 --> 00:55:09.375
Heberto Padilla
\"Self-Portrait of the Other \"

00:55:09.750 --> 00:55:11.208
The Cuban Revolution

00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:12.833
behaved

00:55:13.125 --> 00:55:14.958
fairly with Lezama.

00:55:16.125 --> 00:55:19.375
The Cuban Revolution
has published this year

00:55:19.541 --> 00:55:23.083
two of his books this year,
beautiful editions both of them.

00:55:24.750 --> 00:55:27.416
But Lezama\'s views
have not always been fair

00:55:28.416 --> 00:55:30.083
towards the Revolution.

00:55:31.083 --> 00:55:33.250
And these views, comrades,

00:55:34.500 --> 00:55:38.708
these attitudes and activities
I mentioned are well known.

00:55:39.833 --> 00:55:42.000
They are known everywhere,

00:55:42.583 --> 00:55:45.541
and also by State Security.

00:55:46.750 --> 00:55:49.083
What I\'m saying is old news,

00:55:49.541 --> 00:55:51.583
even more so for State Security.

00:55:52.458 --> 00:55:54.666
I\'ve had plenty of time
to talk about this.

00:55:54.916 --> 00:55:58.750
Our comrades in State Security
are not regular policemen.

00:55:59.625 --> 00:56:02.875
They are very clever,
much smarter than I am.

00:56:03.125 --> 00:56:05.250
I admit it,
and much younger than me,

00:56:05.625 --> 00:56:07.833
I don\'t know where they found them.

00:56:08.416 --> 00:56:09.583
I really don\'t.

00:56:09.750 --> 00:56:12.416
I remember asking a comrade,

00:56:12.958 --> 00:56:16.166
an officer,
where they had found these guys.

00:56:17.083 --> 00:56:21.958
I was outside, they kindly allowed me
to walk and sit in the sun.

00:56:22.666 --> 00:56:27.333
A group of very poor,
humble Cuban children was nearby.

00:56:27.708 --> 00:56:29.583
He said: \"Look, from there.\"

00:56:30.208 --> 00:56:31.958
A straight-forward answer.

00:56:32.208 --> 00:56:34.125
\"Right there, man\".

00:56:34.458 --> 00:56:36.833
That\'s where I came from,
all of us did.

00:56:38.083 --> 00:56:39.708
He put me to shame.

00:56:39.875 --> 00:56:42.916
Every day wholesome conversations
put me to shame.

00:56:43.083 --> 00:56:47.000
They had nothing to do
with the sickly conversations

00:56:47.583 --> 00:56:50.416
that have been central to my life
these past few years.

00:56:51.625 --> 00:56:54.625
If I were to mention
my own wife, Belkis,

00:56:54.791 --> 00:56:56.625
who has suffered through all this,

00:56:57.125 --> 00:57:01.541
and mention the bitterness
and resentment she has built up,

00:57:01.958 --> 00:57:03.750
she would be unable

00:57:04.208 --> 00:57:05.708
to stand up

00:57:06.541 --> 00:57:08.125
and deny it.

00:57:09.625 --> 00:57:13.000
She knows that I\'m saying the truth.

00:57:15.166 --> 00:57:17.625
If we see ourselves as we really are,

00:57:17.791 --> 00:57:20.958
we\'ll realize
that the basic characteristics

00:57:21.250 --> 00:57:24.083
that define us are selfishness,

00:57:24.291 --> 00:57:25.708
smugness,

00:57:26.125 --> 00:57:29.083
the vanity which defined me

00:57:29.250 --> 00:57:32.125
and define
the vast majority of writers.

00:57:32.291 --> 00:57:36.125
That\'s why we usually align
ideologically,

00:57:36.458 --> 00:57:40.083
but seldom
with a feeling of true unity,

00:57:40.416 --> 00:57:41.958
towards a common goal.

00:57:42.625 --> 00:57:45.333
Our solidarity is anchored
in pessimism,

00:57:45.833 --> 00:57:49.125
disenchantment and defeatism.

00:57:49.458 --> 00:57:51.541
That is, in counter-revolution.

00:57:57.083 --> 00:57:59.583
I will never grow tired of thanking

00:58:00.083 --> 00:58:01.750
the Cuban Revolution

00:58:02.333 --> 00:58:04.583
for the opportunity it gave me

00:58:06.208 --> 00:58:08.375
to divide my life in two parts.

00:58:09.250 --> 00:58:11.875
Who I was and who I will be.

00:58:13.125 --> 00:58:15.083
Motherland or death,
we shall overcome.

00:58:33.958 --> 00:58:36.375
PADILLA\'S ANSWER
TO EUROPEAN INTELLECTUALS

00:58:36.583 --> 00:58:38.000
DEPLORABLE
Juan Rulfo

00:58:38.125 --> 00:58:40.000
CASTRO: PADILLA WAS NOT TORTURED

00:58:40.291 --> 00:58:43.666
ALBERTO MORAVIA: \"I\'M NOT AGAINST
FIDEL CASTRO, NOR FOR PADILLA,

00:58:43.833 --> 00:58:45.750
BUT AGAINST SELF-CRITICISM.\"

00:58:45.958 --> 00:58:49.375
After Padilla came out of jail

00:58:49.875 --> 00:58:52.083
and said he was a CIA agent,

00:58:52.291 --> 00:58:54.958
saying that all those
who had defended him

00:58:55.125 --> 00:58:56.583
also were CIA agents,

00:58:55.875 --> 00:59:00.625
{\\an8}THE MANIFESTO OF 61 INTELLECTUALS
FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD AGAINST FIDEL CASTRO.

00:58:57.083 --> 00:59:00.625
we wrote a second letter
that García Márquez refused to sign.

00:59:01.083 --> 00:59:03.041
Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza thought

00:59:01.083 --> 00:59:06.541
VOICE OF MARIO VARGAS LLOSA

00:59:03.166 --> 00:59:06.541
that García Márquez knew
not everything was right in Cuba,

00:59:08.000 --> 00:59:13.416
but that he believed Latin-America
should have a Socialist future and,

00:59:14.416 --> 00:59:16.000
in any case,

00:59:16.583 --> 00:59:18.500
Cuba was kind of a battering ram.

00:59:19.083 --> 00:59:22.458
It was breaking down
Latin-American stasis

00:59:22.958 --> 00:59:26.083
and that by backing up
the Cuban Revolution,

00:59:26.250 --> 00:59:29.708
he was in favor of a Socialist future
for Latin-America.

00:59:30.125 --> 00:59:32.916
The self-criticism
was so out of proportion

00:59:33.083 --> 00:59:36.208
that it seemed obtained
by ignominious means.

00:59:36.375 --> 00:59:39.625
I don\'t know if Padilla
harmed the Revolution,

00:59:39.791 --> 00:59:42.333
but his self-criticism certainly did.

01:00:03.666 --> 01:00:05.875
I will take advantage
of this opportunity

01:00:06.958 --> 01:00:11.458
that the Revolution offers
to each and everyone,

01:00:12.000 --> 01:00:13.583
starting

01:00:14.208 --> 01:00:16.958
with comrade Heberto Padilla,

01:00:17.583 --> 01:00:19.125
to open

01:00:20.291 --> 01:00:23.208
an exercise of self-criticism.

01:00:23.625 --> 01:00:27.125
I think it would be an act
of extreme disloyalty

01:00:27.916 --> 01:00:30.708
not to sit here tonight and share

01:00:31.291 --> 01:00:32.750
this splendid

01:00:33.666 --> 01:00:35.500
and exemplary moment.

01:00:37.166 --> 01:00:38.583
I\'m not quite sure

01:00:39.083 --> 01:00:42.000
if my poetry really deserves it.

01:00:43.250 --> 01:00:45.458
When Heberto Padilla said

01:00:45.708 --> 01:00:48.916
that I had served the Revolution,

01:00:51.041 --> 01:00:52.250
he did not lie.

01:00:52.416 --> 01:00:54.708
I sincerely think, as Padilla said,

01:00:56.958 --> 01:01:00.250
that if one wishes to criticize
a revolution,

01:01:00.958 --> 01:01:04.500
one should have
revolutionary achievements,

01:01:05.375 --> 01:01:06.750
and secondly,

01:01:07.208 --> 01:01:11.083
a political development
to go with these achievements.

01:01:12.500 --> 01:01:15.041
But I have neither.

01:01:15.541 --> 01:01:16.458
Poems,

01:01:18.875 --> 01:01:21.083
revolutionary-themed poems

01:01:21.541 --> 01:01:26.000
were written in the years that demand
they be written, and I did just that.

01:01:26.625 --> 01:01:29.333
In my specific case,

01:01:29.833 --> 01:01:33.416
starting with an accusation that,
today,

01:01:34.083 --> 01:01:37.208
three years after it was made,
appears more than justified,

01:01:37.750 --> 01:01:40.125
I shall take advantage

01:01:41.625 --> 01:01:44.916
of this opportunity
to start feeling happy.

01:01:46.083 --> 01:01:47.875
I was just another

01:01:48.291 --> 01:01:49.666
dissident.

01:01:49.833 --> 01:01:52.083
But I do think

01:01:52.875 --> 01:01:54.333
that a large part

01:01:55.541 --> 01:01:58.125
of the mistakes we made

01:01:58.916 --> 01:02:02.375
were the result
of a basic misjudgment

01:02:03.083 --> 01:02:05.625
from the leaders of the Revolution.

01:02:06.583 --> 01:02:10.291
The error was not fostering,
since 1961,

01:02:11.083 --> 01:02:16.208
when Fidel met with the intellectuals
in the José Martí library,

01:02:17.041 --> 01:02:18.583
not having fostered

01:02:19.458 --> 01:02:21.000
a closer relationship

01:02:22.458 --> 01:02:23.500
with us.

01:02:23.750 --> 01:02:28.458
—Throughout the years, I have made
many friends and enemies.

01:02:30.083 --> 01:02:33.250
My house has always been open
to people.

01:02:33.750 --> 01:02:35.625
When they asked me:
\"What do you do?\",

01:02:35.875 --> 01:02:38.291
\"I have no job\" was my reply.

01:02:38.875 --> 01:02:42.791
How could it be that during
these past days

01:02:43.166 --> 01:02:45.208
we felt terrified

01:02:45.541 --> 01:02:48.625
whenever someone, at an odd hour

01:02:49.166 --> 01:02:50.708
and unexpectedly,

01:02:51.208 --> 01:02:53.166
knocked on our door.

01:02:53.791 --> 01:02:57.750
—I just want to say that I agree
with everything comrade Padilla said

01:02:58.541 --> 01:03:00.750
as well as expressing
my gratitude and joy

01:03:01.708 --> 01:03:03.583
to have him back.

01:03:05.166 --> 01:03:07.333
We\'ll continue
working for the Revolution.

01:03:08.541 --> 01:03:09.375
Thank you.

01:03:09.833 --> 01:03:11.291
There\'s no need to go on.

01:03:11.541 --> 01:03:13.458
You have all understood.

01:03:14.916 --> 01:03:16.541
I have understood.

01:03:16.875 --> 01:03:18.083
I have nothing to add.

01:03:22.833 --> 01:03:25.083
As Heberto Padilla\'s wife

01:03:25.208 --> 01:03:26.916
and as a poet,

01:03:27.625 --> 01:03:29.166
I want to say

01:03:29.583 --> 01:03:32.875
that I fully agree
with everything Heberto has said.

01:03:33.083 --> 01:03:35.291
Not only do I agree, I support it.

01:03:36.041 --> 01:03:37.833
Furthermore, I\'d like to add

01:03:38.125 --> 01:03:39.416
that my attitude

01:03:40.083 --> 01:03:43.916
contributed enormously
to the development

01:03:46.625 --> 01:03:48.750
of Heberto\'s activities.

01:03:49.000 --> 01:03:52.208
I think that many of these things

01:03:53.541 --> 01:03:57.166
made me not only feel guilty

01:03:57.500 --> 01:04:01.083
during the time I was detained
by State Security,

01:04:01.208 --> 01:04:03.791
but I was able
to understand precisely,

01:04:04.166 --> 01:04:07.375
and in just two days there,

01:04:07.708 --> 01:04:10.083
what the Revolution really meant
for me

01:04:10.250 --> 01:04:13.250
and what it had ceased
to mean during all that time.

01:04:13.750 --> 01:04:17.916
It has been one of the most important
sensations in my life.

01:04:18.583 --> 01:04:21.625
I wish I had words
and coherence enough

01:04:21.791 --> 01:04:25.083
to fully explain to my comrades

01:04:25.291 --> 01:04:27.250
that if I have been mistaken,

01:04:27.458 --> 01:04:30.541
I am more than willing to rectify and,

01:04:30.958 --> 01:04:33.000
above all else, help Heberto

01:04:33.666 --> 01:04:36.666
so that we may live a better life

01:04:36.833 --> 01:04:39.041
in a country that is truly ours,

01:04:39.250 --> 01:04:42.125
and for which we have always fought

01:04:42.500 --> 01:04:46.208
despite our previous erroneous
positions.

01:05:07.791 --> 01:05:11.291
When everything seemed
to have gone exactly

01:05:11.416 --> 01:05:14.083
as State Security had planned,

01:05:14.208 --> 01:05:18.083
Norberto Fuentes asked to speak
and took the floor.

01:05:18.208 --> 01:05:21.625
Reinaldo Arenas,
\"Before Night Falls\"

01:05:35.291 --> 01:05:36.416
I believe

01:05:36.916 --> 01:05:38.875
and I\'m glad to hear Heberto say

01:05:39.125 --> 01:05:41.333
that he thinks he made mistakes.

01:05:46.875 --> 01:05:49.083
That he wishes to return
to the Revolution.

01:05:49.250 --> 01:05:51.625
I believe this to be true,
that he is sincere.

01:05:51.833 --> 01:05:55.458
But concerning me,
I don\'t feel he was entirely fair.

01:05:56.625 --> 01:05:58.958
I\'m referring particularly
to him saying

01:06:02.625 --> 01:06:06.083
that all those he mentioned
had counter-revolutionary ideas.

01:06:06.250 --> 01:06:09.166
Heberto, I don\'t have
counter-revolutionary attitudes.

01:06:09.750 --> 01:06:12.166
I have opinions
and will continue to do so.

01:06:12.583 --> 01:06:15.125
We spoke about State Security,

01:06:15.375 --> 01:06:18.458
and I stand by my opinions
about certain institutions,

01:06:18.708 --> 01:06:22.166
They are honest opinions,
I can voice them here or elsewhere.

01:06:22.333 --> 01:06:26.583
I started years ago to ask
the leaders of the Revolution

01:06:26.916 --> 01:06:28.375
to meet with me.

01:06:28.958 --> 01:06:31.458
I\'m a militant
of the Communist Youth League.

01:06:32.208 --> 01:06:35.958
In 1960 I was in charge
of the Young Rebels,

01:06:36.458 --> 01:06:38.416
I\'ve been a militiaman since 1959.

01:06:38.791 --> 01:06:41.958
Since the publication
of \"Condado\'s Damned\",

01:06:42.083 --> 01:06:44.000
and not from a literary criteria,

01:06:44.166 --> 01:06:47.833
I have been criticized unfairly
and not from a revolutionary view.

01:06:48.291 --> 01:06:49.958
I\'ve lived an experience

01:06:50.375 --> 01:06:52.750
which led me to draw conclusions.

01:06:53.041 --> 01:06:55.125
I\'m not going to recall, here and now,

01:06:55.375 --> 01:06:58.166
I don\'t want to put you
in a difficult situation,

01:06:58.750 --> 01:07:00.958
the times you and I

01:07:01.208 --> 01:07:03.291
have ideologically coincided.

01:07:03.541 --> 01:07:06.375
I\'ve explained
my personal experience.

01:07:07.000 --> 01:07:10.750
Your attitude is exemplary
in a negative sense.

01:07:12.083 --> 01:07:14.125
I know that the Revolution

01:07:14.416 --> 01:07:17.750
has never shut its doors to you,
nor will it ever do so.

01:07:18.583 --> 01:07:21.208
I also know, because you told me,

01:07:21.916 --> 01:07:25.291
that you have worked closely
with State Security.

01:07:26.250 --> 01:07:28.958
Closely with State Security.

01:07:29.458 --> 01:07:32.958
That you have benefited
from their trust.

01:07:33.416 --> 01:07:34.208
Now,

01:07:34.625 --> 01:07:38.208
if you believe that your worth
as a writer and your attitude

01:07:38.416 --> 01:07:42.833
are reason enough for them to solve
your economic and personal problems,

01:07:43.250 --> 01:07:44.500
allow me to say

01:07:44.958 --> 01:07:49.416
that we shouldn\'t request to be heard
because of what we achieved.

01:07:50.083 --> 01:07:52.791
Forgive me, go ahead,
but I needed to say this.

01:07:53.083 --> 01:07:56.708
-I don\'t want to argue.
-I want to clear up a few things.

01:07:57.500 --> 01:07:59.791
I don\'t want
to worsen Heberto\'s situation.

01:08:00.208 --> 01:08:03.083
I have reflected
and wish to express my opinions.

01:08:03.333 --> 01:08:06.708
For a start, I never requested
to talk to anyone in particular.

01:08:07.333 --> 01:08:09.833
I\'ve run the gauntlet
of State institutions

01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:11.500
to solve my situation,

01:08:11.666 --> 01:08:15.166
that of a revolutionary willing
to work for the Revolution.

01:08:15.666 --> 01:08:18.458
Moreover, I have proof of this,
which I can show anytime.

01:08:18.625 --> 01:08:20.708
-I\'ve been treated unfairly!
-That\'s not true!

01:08:21.000 --> 01:08:24.083
-It isn\'t, I can prove it!
-You\'re lying!

01:08:24.416 --> 01:08:26.291
-I am not.
-Yes you are.

01:08:26.458 --> 01:08:27.791
-As a result...
-Lies.

01:08:28.875 --> 01:08:32.166
I\'ve been separated from
the revolutionary process for 4 years.

01:08:32.916 --> 01:08:35.083
Norberto, you\'ve spoken your mind,

01:08:35.333 --> 01:08:37.916
I\'ve answered,
the comrade is free to speak.

01:08:38.125 --> 01:08:40.500
And we can now close this meeting.

01:08:41.750 --> 01:08:43.333
I\'d like to say a word.

01:08:48.916 --> 01:08:50.625
If you don\'t know me,

01:08:50.791 --> 01:08:53.083
I\'m the editor
of \"El Caimán Barbudo\" magazine.

01:08:53.333 --> 01:08:55.666
ARMANDO QUESADA
Lieutenant of the Cuban Army

01:08:56.041 --> 01:08:57.708
For a start, I think

01:09:00.416 --> 01:09:04.000
that Díaz Martínez,
in his intervention,

01:09:04.625 --> 01:09:07.916
raised a point
and we want to make it clear

01:09:08.458 --> 01:09:10.875
that we disagree, it\'s not like that.

01:09:11.250 --> 01:09:14.083
Neither is it the way
Padilla has presented it.

01:09:14.791 --> 01:09:17.083
We cannot accept for a second

01:09:17.791 --> 01:09:19.333
that our Party

01:09:19.708 --> 01:09:22.875
has distanced itself
from our intellectual activities.

01:09:23.416 --> 01:09:26.875
Through the Writers\' Union,
other cultural institutions

01:09:27.041 --> 01:09:29.041
and the strategies of the Revolution,

01:09:29.208 --> 01:09:31.708
there has been a constant connection

01:09:32.083 --> 01:09:33.916
as we are in full effervescence

01:09:34.083 --> 01:09:38.416
and every intellectual should be
fully incorporated

01:09:38.583 --> 01:09:42.375
and understand his role
as just another citizen.

01:09:42.791 --> 01:09:46.083
It\'s high time we understood
that intellectuals

01:09:46.208 --> 01:09:48.416
do not limit themselves
to producing art.

01:09:48.666 --> 01:09:52.166
Scientists, technicians,
teachers are also intellectuals.

01:09:52.583 --> 01:09:55.250
Anyone who plays a fundamental role.

01:09:55.500 --> 01:09:57.583
On the other hand, it\'s inadmissible

01:09:57.916 --> 01:10:02.166
for Norberto Fuentes to say
that his attitude is correct.

01:10:02.333 --> 01:10:07.125
His book goes against the interests
of the Armed Forces

01:10:07.375 --> 01:10:10.083
which made possible
the triumph of our Revolution.

01:10:10.333 --> 01:10:13.208
Anyone who says the opposite
is being unfair.

01:10:34.375 --> 01:10:35.625
Comrades.

01:10:37.083 --> 01:10:38.291
I\'m sure

01:10:38.875 --> 01:10:39.750
that tonight

01:10:40.458 --> 01:10:42.708
we all know each other better.

01:10:43.416 --> 01:10:47.041
We have a better knowledge
of the comrades who have spoken.

01:10:47.666 --> 01:10:50.791
Most of all, we have a better
knowledge of the Revolution.

01:10:51.666 --> 01:10:55.583
I want to say that one
of the Revolution\'s characteristics

01:10:55.750 --> 01:10:58.083
is to grant us an evening
like this one.

01:10:58.708 --> 01:11:01.916
That\'s why I also think
that tonight\'s best lesson

01:11:02.083 --> 01:11:04.458
is not specifically
about Padilla\'s case,

01:11:04.708 --> 01:11:08.416
or the comrades that have gone
through self-criticism,

01:11:08.583 --> 01:11:09.875
or even Norberto\'s.

01:11:10.041 --> 01:11:12.083
What we really have learned

01:11:12.250 --> 01:11:15.666
is to better respect and love
the Revolution.

01:11:16.208 --> 01:11:18.333
The UNEAC thanks you all.

01:11:50.916 --> 01:11:54.958
The winner of a prize in a national
or international competition

01:11:55.125 --> 01:11:59.458
will have to be a true revolutionary,
a true writer, a true poet.

01:11:59.625 --> 01:12:02.375
There is room
only for revolutionaries.

01:12:02.541 --> 01:12:04.750
FIDEL CASTRO,
THREE DAYS LATER,

01:12:04.833 --> 01:12:09.291
CLOSING CEREMONY OF NATIONAL CONGRESS
OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE.

01:12:18.041 --> 01:12:21.166
HERBERTO PADILLA: FROM JAIL TO FURROW

01:12:21.708 --> 01:12:26.291
On Castro\'s orders, the poet and his wife
have been transferred to a plantation.

01:12:26.458 --> 01:12:29.125
The Right applauded me,
(it will belittle me).

01:12:29.375 --> 01:12:32.791
The Left made me famous,
(haven\'t they started to doubt?)

01:12:32.958 --> 01:12:35.250
Be it as it may,
I know I live between streets.

01:12:35.416 --> 01:12:36.666
I do not wear sunglasses.

01:12:36.916 --> 01:12:38.916
Nor do I carry time bombs
in my pocket

01:12:39.166 --> 01:12:41.125
or a hairy bear ear.

01:12:41.291 --> 01:12:43.833
Make way for me without greetings,
please.

01:12:44.083 --> 01:12:46.875
Do not speak to me,
stand aside if you see me.

01:12:47.791 --> 01:12:51.541
I wrote this poem
when I was really desperate.

01:12:52.583 --> 01:12:54.666
I had no hard feelings against anyone,

01:12:54.958 --> 01:12:58.958
Everyone looked at me,
the police was always there.

01:12:59.583 --> 01:13:01.625
On my back,
I was always watched.

01:13:02.250 --> 01:13:04.625
That\'s when I wrote this,
what had I done?

01:13:04.875 --> 01:13:07.125
It\'s true the Right spoke well of me,

01:13:07.416 --> 01:13:09.625
but then they discovered

01:13:10.083 --> 01:13:12.375
that I wasn\'t on the right.

01:13:12.791 --> 01:13:15.583
Then the Left discovered

01:13:15.750 --> 01:13:18.666
that my attitude does not correspond
to the Left.

01:13:19.375 --> 01:13:23.125
There always is
a right-wing and a left-wing temple.

01:13:23.500 --> 01:13:24.750
I don\'t like temples.

01:13:33.375 --> 01:13:37.250
RONALD REAGAN
PRESIDENT OF THE USA 1981-1989

01:13:40.750 --> 01:13:43.666
I\'m really sorry,
I want to live in my country.

01:13:44.125 --> 01:13:46.416
We all need to have a country,
right?

01:13:46.708 --> 01:13:47.916
A land of your own.

01:13:49.000 --> 01:13:51.000
To me it\'s important.

01:13:51.750 --> 01:13:54.333
Anything that takes me away
from my land,

01:13:54.791 --> 01:13:57.041
impoverishes and saddens me.

01:13:57.791 --> 01:14:00.500
I\'m desperate to return to Cuba.

01:14:07.666 --> 01:14:10.083
Heberto Padilla died in Alabama
in 2000,

01:14:10.250 --> 01:14:12.333
after having resided in Miami

01:14:12.666 --> 01:14:14.958
as Cuban exiles
in Miami never forgave him

01:14:15.125 --> 01:14:17.958
for participating in a literary event
in Stockholm in 1994

01:14:18.125 --> 01:14:20.750
with writers loyal
to the Cuban government.

01:14:20.750 --> 01:14:22.791
On the subject, he wrote:

01:14:23.000 --> 01:14:25.375
\"I\'m off the field again.\"

01:14:25.708 --> 01:14:28.125
I felt that prison

01:14:29.416 --> 01:14:32.041
was not a badge of honor
to be flaunted,

01:14:34.000 --> 01:14:37.583
a sacrifice against tyranny.

01:14:38.375 --> 01:14:39.458
Actually,

01:14:39.916 --> 01:14:43.166
it was a fair and moral internment

01:14:43.791 --> 01:14:48.416
because it condemned something evil
against the Revolution and my country.

01:14:48.666 --> 01:14:50.958
I wrote poems feverishly.

01:14:51.250 --> 01:14:53.791
I wrote beautiful things in the midst

01:14:53.958 --> 01:14:56.875
of my anguish and sadness.

01:14:57.750 --> 01:15:00.958
Moral anguish has some
very strange manifestations.

01:15:02.791 --> 01:15:05.125
I even wrote a poem about Spring.

01:15:05.416 --> 01:15:06.458
Unbelievable.

01:15:07.375 --> 01:15:08.625
About Spring!

01:15:31.541 --> 01:15:34.416
In Habana, Cuba, about 200 people,
mainly artists,

01:15:34.625 --> 01:15:38.458
demonstrated for hours in front of
the Ministry of Culture.

01:15:38.708 --> 01:15:41.666
A spontaneous protest demanding
freedom of expression and thought.

01:15:43.875 --> 01:15:45.833
We have been guaranteed

01:15:46.083 --> 01:15:49.541
that we will reach home safe and sound
without being stopped

01:15:49.750 --> 01:15:52.333
by the Political Police waiting
at the corner.