Luis Felipe Rojas, Translator: Raul G.
His name is Rubisner Utria Gomez, he resided in La Cuarteria
neighborhood of San German, in the province of Holguin. On the 8th of
July he was evicted from his workers' housing which he occupied along
with two other families, due to the overcrowding and precariousness with
which he previously lived. When, on that Sunday, a special operation
from the Ministry of the Interior and State Security arrived to kick him
out of the place, they first dropped by my house to detain me so that I
wouldn't inform the outside media about the imminent eviction. Thank
God, I had left my house the night before, apparently guided by pure
instinct. If I hadn't, I would have ended up in one of the dungeons of
the thousand demons.
That Sunday, they evicted him and took him, his wife, and their youngest
daughter three kilometers outside of San German, to a place known as the
"Rabbit Hole," an uninhabited farm where they once raised these furry
creatures, but which is now completely abandoned. But upon arriving
there, not even the soldiers had the courage to drop them off in those
roofed cages.
They immediately took them towards some huts which serve as summer
resting spots for distinguished sugar plantation workers. A few days
later they moved them again to a half of a rented house, "until we build
you a room in a run down building", he says they have told him. Two
weeks have passed and they still have not even marked his land and he
and his family are under strict vigilance.
Fifteen days later I was informed of more bad news, which was expected.
Rubisner Utria Gomez, the night guard of the "Urbano Noris" Sugar
Plantation, was fired from his Security and Protection position. His
crime was to become a non-comformist, like those Spaniards which they
put on Cuban television each night, as a slap in the face to capitalism.
The only difference is that in the case of Rubisner no one supported
him, except for some relatives and opponents of the regime. The latter,
the dissidents, were classified as opportunists and manipulators.
Rubisner Utria Gomez has a small daughter who suffers from congenital
brain problems and he has spent all of his money in tending to her and
taking her from place to place whenever her convulsions kick in. He has
spent his entire "socialist worker" salary on this, like he told a local
police official who is known for his coarseness and violent treatment of
detainees.
Now he must embark on an infinite journey between citizen processing
offices, writing letters to the Central Government of the nation, and
complaints on all sides. It is an ordeal that doesn't know the hope
without which one crosses oneself and prays to God for another Cuban
family thrown into the inferno.
August 4 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment