Luis Felipe Rojas, Translator: Raul G.
This interview was conducted by Luis Felipe Rojas and published on
"Diario de Cuba" on October 21, 2011.
Eliecer Palma Pupo (Photo: Luis Felipe Rojas)
At a very young age, he left his home to combat Angolans who dissented
from the regime which governed them. He returned as a hero, with three
medals on his chest (Second Class Internationalist, for the Victory of
Cuba-RPA, and Distinguished Service). Afterward, he was left without
employment because he wrote a phrase which mocked Fidel Castro and his
clique. That's when the real war began for him. Marginalized from Cuban
social life, he traversed various obstacles until he became a public
dissident. And it was about these very subjects that Eliecer Palma Pupo
wanted to chat about with "Diario de Cuba".
Where were you stationed in Angola? What was your mission there, what
did you do there?
I left to Angola in 1987, when I was 18 years old. They stationed me in
a place called Matala, in Southern Angola. Later I was transferred to
Lubango, in the province of Huila. I became chauffeur for a Lieutenant
Colonel of the Radio-Technical Unit of Southern Angola. This soldier was
later discharged here in Cuba because he was having an affair, something
very common within the Cuban armed forces. I did not participate in
combat, but I was in the forefront and witnessed the horrors of war. I
lost a friend of mine, he was from my town. Like many Cubans who
participated in that war, I went thinking I was going to do something
just. In reality, I went to get myself into something I shouldn't have.
In 1996 they made me a militant of the Communist Party of Cuba. Years
later, precisely on February 24th, which is a symbolic date for many
Cubans, I was dismissed from my labor post and from that political
organization. They sent me to the street, as if I was some sort of plague.
What were the causes of this dismissal? What happened after?
I worked in the "Urbano Noris" Agro-Industrial Complex of San German,
Holguin. I wrote down a phrase on a piece of paper- it was a joke, a
question directed to Fidel, asking him when we would eat shrimp and
drink some beer. But the writing consisted of 14 letter C's, which at
the same time coincided with the Cuban rulers last name. That was all.
The political police was in charge of all the rest. The First Lieutenant
at the time, Frank Gonzalez, gave me a citation through the director of
the sugar plant and they accused me of promoting ideological diversion,
and therefore, they decided to expel me from my position as Chief of
Security in the Sugar Production Complex.
The current Major, Rodolfo Cepena, was the one carrying out the post
persecution. I was dismissed 8 times from different jobs. Wherever I
turned to, they would tell me I was hostile toward the Revolution, and
therefore could not administer resources from the State. In fact, in the
"Heroes of Moncada" co-operative in 2006, the chief of the Municipal
Attorney, Mrs. Maricelis Olivera, sided with State Security and ordered
to violate the internal rules of the operation. I was once again left
without a job because she pressured those who were in my favor,
declaring that my position against the Revolution affected the
collective mass of workers.
You were a member of the Association of Combatants of the Cuban
Revolution (ACRC), what can you tell us about this organization?
The ACRC is an organization in which you become a member if you are a
war veteran, and nothing is supposed to exclude you from that condition,
but I was expelled from there. In that sense, I have been stripped of
the possible "benefits" I could have been offered because of it- some
sort of prebend like having them sell me food at different prices, or
that they exempt me from some debts from using those electronic devices
which have now been sold to all Cubans.
On the other hand, I was freed from having to pay 10 dollars for being
associated to the group, from having to participate in meetings, and
other compromises which these people are subjected to. Everyone knows
that they do not pay the lest bit of attention to all these so-called
"combatants".
You joined the peaceful dissidence as an active member. Recently, you
were seen taking part in the National March for the Freedom of Cuba in
Baracoa. Are you aware of what you have done?
Yes, and I would do it a thousand times more. The authorities made me
become a public dissident- because in Cuba, many people are against the
government but they do not say it, or the political police does not find
out. Now I have a debt to the peaceful social protest methods, of
confronting the regime, and I do not plan on quitting, despite the many
pressures I am being subjected to. I have already gone through arbitrary
arrests and have had my house surrounded so that I do not participate in
opposition activities. I have already taken a step forward and I have no
plans of stepping back. I want to see a free Cuba, and I know what I am
exposing myself, and my family, to.
There is a generalized notion that Cuba is changing. Are Cubans changing?
The government has not changed at all towards the Cuban people. Now,
there is more repression than a few years ago. There is more poverty,
and they are increasingly dismissing workers and leaving them out on the
streets. I do not know where those changes some claim to see are, but I
don't see them at all.
In regards to Cubans, I do not think they are changing. The fact that,
as they wait in line for a loaf of bread they criticize the government,
does not constitute a change. Many people are afraid. Even the regime is
on alert in regards to what could happen. Popular discontent, lack of
credibility, and the increase of repression: all of this makes up the
fact that something is moving, but there is no real change yet.
Editor's note: On Saturday, October 22nd, Luis Felipe Rojas published a
Twitter message about the communist functionary Machado Ventura and his
arrival to San German, Rojas' hometown. Because of Ventura's visit, San
German officials painted houses and covered holes on the street, while
political police officials were on the move- surrounding and arresting
some dissidents, including Eliecer Pupo, who at the time was in the home
of Luis Felipe Rojas. Here is the Tweet:
@alambradas_en:
Police have just taken dissident Eliecer Palma Pupo from my house for
putting "Laura Pollan Lives" sign on his home
Translated by: Raul G.
23 October 2011
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