Punching Bag

Punching Bag / Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado
Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado, Translator: Unstated

Cuban society is the crazy punching bag on which the Cuban leaders and
the national media train, and sometimes beat up. If there is an epidemic
of dengue fever or some other illness it's the people's fault because
they don't maintain adequate hygiene in their home and in the city; as
if we were responsible for vector control, trash collection and street
cleaning.

Of if some neighborhoods lack water, while others are flooded because
the leaks aren't fixed, or the dumpsters are overflowing… it's our
fault. They also criticize us for not properly covering our water tanks,
and breeding the Aedes aegypti female mosquito, which carries dengue fever.

In the first place, why should we store water at all? If we were
guaranteed that it would flow from the taps, no one would take the
trouble to store it, much less in the inadequate containers where we do
so, because the plastic tanks they sell in the store are prohibitively
priced for the average Cuban. So We must make do with what we have, as
the majority of the population solves its problems.

The city buses always break because they're always overloaded. It's
common to hear on the television or read in the press reproaches about
people writing their names on the backs of the seats or the bus stops —
something clearly wrong — but they don't call attention to or make any
mention of the over exploitation by the competent State authorities,
which constitutes official and institutionalized mistreatment of the
transit equipment.

We can't freely enter and exit the country because we will conspire with
the enemies of the regime — a vain and speculative pretext — nor can we
watch international television channels, because they are full of
slanders "against Cuba."

We can't freely access information or the Internet which is the fault of
the United Stations and the transnational media corporations, who
constantly defame the revolution. If there are blackouts, it's our fault
for consuming too much electricity, and if the salaries are low it's the
sin of the workers who don't produce, etc.

Then, you must agree with me that the authorities, instead of putting on
the gloves to beat the undeserving culprits and injustices of society,
should hang them up and give new people or groups, with new or different
programs and mentalities, a chance to promote the common good and
happiness of Cubans from an effective power, so that we all live
together in our national home and democratic, plural environment with
the genuine rule of law and social justice.


August 28 2012

http://translatingcuba.com/punching-bag-rosa-maria-rodriguez-torrado/