Second Act

http://translatingcuba.com/second-act-rosa-maria-rodriguez-torrado/

Second Act / Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado
Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado, Translator: Unstated

The Cuban government is a joke. They make us participate in elections in
which we have to elect a member of their party to represent us to them?
Judge and Jury? The conflict of interest mold has been broken!

The second act of the Cuban election parody occurred this Sunday,
November 4. I'm not joking, nor do I place it under the comedy genre
that it deserves; the truth is that we who are mocked make up the
majority of the Cuban people. They entertain us with a low budget and
badly written play, although it is well directed, and with excellent
actors. And so it is justifiable that in violation of our civil rights,
we respond with the caustic and harmless weapons within our reach,
rather than continue to legitimize them for other reasons — among them
officially directed intimidation — and the dirty and antidemocratic
totalitarian games.

They have already elected in the second round from my own neighborhood,
the municipal delegates that will offer the "ugly face" of executive
inability to the demands of their constituency. They are controlled by
the resources they have at their disposal and they distribute them with
much propaganda, based on their needs and interest. They also continue
to emphasize what they give us, which reminds me of the refrain "favor
taken, favor defecated." It is probable that in any country with a
president who is a friend to Cuba – that is to the Cuban elite
leadership — perhaps they lack no goods coming from us.

However, the delegates to the Popular Power popular power do not have
the authority nor the capital to patch the streets of their locality,
fix the burst pipes, replace neighborhood lighting, the park lamps or to
repair a damaged sewer pipe and prevent pollution. The most important
tasks of the elected will be to go to all the bureaucratic-partisan
meetings with the basic purposes of "raising" the demands of the
population of their territory on the one hand, and on the other, to
listen to negative "justifications" of authorities.

The U.S. blockade facilitates the inadequacies of the unproductive and
centralized sociopolitical and economic system that has anchored Cuba in
backwardness; they use it to justify their inadequacies.

Many acquaintances and friends have always voted. They are fearful since
there are hidden cameras placed in the voting booths. They leave their
finger prints on the ballot to prevent annulment. Many ask if the rumor
started in the office of the political police, but they are also fearful
of risking their good citizenship status, which the authorities for sure
would use to publicly scorn them through their organizational network.

The precedent exists of people who lost their jobs because they did not
vote, or students who have been denied admission at the university, or
expelled from school for the same reason. Of course, that unleashed long
ago the submission of citizens to participate in the electoral process
so that they can guarantee the well-being of their family. So, to make
more effective their suspicions and thick files, the law does not
mandate voting, but at any rate, they surreptitiously force people to
vote. What a joke! No?

That's why, between my friends and acquaintances, almost no one cares
who are the candidates, and even less about who was elected, because at
the end of the day, what's the difference?

November 6 2012