The National Council of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) released an open letter this Saturday to American artists, writers, and academics, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence from British rule.
Due to its importance, we reproduce the document in its entirety:
“Open Letter to American Artists, Writers, and Academics:
“Cuba is experiencing a systematic genocide and a war waged by the U.S. government, manifested in a cruel economic and financial blockade that has lasted for almost 70 years. The current U.S. government is increasingly tightening the trade and oil embargo measures, which are causing serious consequences for our country and great suffering for the Cuban people.
“We, Cuban artists, writers, and academics, call upon our American colleagues of goodwill and humanist commitment to publicly denounce and condemn the policy of suffocation and the threats of military intervention in Cuba by the Donald Trump administration.
“We do so precisely on this Fourth of July, the day on which the United States celebrates the signing by representatives of the thirteen colonies to achieve emancipation from British rule. We are familiar with this momentous document, whose beautiful wording states that all men are created equal, endowed with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
“Cuba is being attacked by the United States government in its inalienable rights. Ridiculous reasons are being used to pressure us, among them the incredible fallacy that this small Caribbean archipelago represents a danger to U.S. national security. Such lies come from delusional and wicked minds. They are ludicrous to anyone informed about the United States, the greatest military and nuclear power of all time.
“Our peoples and cultures share a long common history with abundant examples of a natural bond, deep academic, artistic, and literary connections, which the haters have been unable to erase.
“The Trump administration’s policy toward Cuba remains hijacked, as has been the tradition, by a Cuban-American minority that benefits economically and politically from this unpatriotic and irrational behavior. Today, the leading exponent of this irrational and inhumane confrontation is, without a doubt, Marco Rubio. The Secretary of State lies to the American people about our reality and fans the flames of interventionism with his increasingly criminal actions.
“For Rubio and his acolytes, the oil embargo, the sanctions against foreign companies based in our country, the threats against those who trade with Cuba, the obstacles to humanitarian cooperation, and the persecution of the supportive friends who visit us are not enough. They are even attempting to impose a global gag order on those who defend us in international organizations based on legal and humanitarian grounds, respect for self-determination, and civilized universal coexistence among peoples and governments.
“We Cuban writers, artists, and academics are very familiar with the beautiful history that has united our peoples for centuries, expressed in milestones such as the contribution of the Cuban merchant Juan de Miralles (1713-1780) to the struggle waged by George Washington (1732-1799) and the friendship they shared; the myriad Americans who fought for Cuba’s independence and died for it on the battlefield, as did Brigadier General Henry Reeve (1850-1876) at only 26 years old, whose name is borne by the brigades of Cuban doctors who travel the world saving lives, not dropping bombs.
José Martà (1853-1895), the great Cuban poet and politician, lived in the United States for 15 years, longer than in his own country, and there he had great friends who supported him in his efforts to resume, in 1895, the war for Cuban independence against the Spanish colonial government. One of them was undoubtedly Charles Dana (1819-1897), editor of The Sun newspaper, who employed the Cuban hero, fully aware of his ideals and his powerful intellectual capacity.
“When he learned of MartÃ’s death in combat, he wrote: ‘He was a man of good feelings and a great heart, of ardent opinions and high ideals (…) heroes like him are not abundant in today’s world, and his warrior’s grave testifies that even in this era of materialistic positivism there are spirits capable of giving everything for the sake of principles, without selfishness or ulterior motives.'”
“We Cubans are proud descendants of that lineage. At UNEAC, we recognize ourselves in that sublime legacy of fidelity not only to artistic and literary creation but also, and equally, to the homeland.
“Here we are, in the midst of painful daily resistance, but accompanying the Cuban people with our creations. In very difficult times, marked by great scarcity and suffering, we offer our verses, songs, and dances to our neighbors… in an unwavering commitment to service; to comfort their souls.”
“We want peace. We believe in the values ​​that have united us for centuries with the American people, their artists, writers, academics, and all men and women of goodwill. That is why today we ask you to raise your voices, to fight with ideas, and to use creativity to condemn the criminal policies of your country’s government against our people, of whom we are a part and to whom we owe everything.
“Enough of the inflicted suffering, of the deliberate genocide, of the war waged against us for the sole ‘sin’ of defending national independence and the inalienable right to decide our own destiny! The world should be a better place, and the United States the country ‘dreamed of by dreamers,’ as described by the great Harlem poet Langston Hughes (1901-1967), a close friend of Nicolás Guillén (1902-1989), the founder of UNEAC.”
“Let us take Hughes’s verses as a call to reason from a government that does not represent its people by attempting to suffocate Cubans: ‘May America be the dream that dreamers dreamed. / May it be that great and strong land of love / Where kings never conspire nor tyrants plot / So that no man shall be crushed by another.’
National Council of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba
IMAGE CREDIT: ACN Editorial Staff | Photo: of the work “JardÃn Propio” (Bronze, 2006) by the artist Ernesto Rancaño
[ SOURCE: AGENCIA CUBANA DE NOTICIAS ]
