HAVANA, August 14, 1996 (APIC).- Between the tyrians and the troyans bleeds the heart of the Cuban Council and a soothing balsam is not available to save it, according to the way things seem to be going. I've been a witness to this, I'm not exagerating. To warn is one of the first duties of a journalist. It matters not that solutions are not offered. It matters not that we grind our teeth at the sight of the scandal of truth, the only judge for one who is determined to practice this profession honorably, a profession which is a mix of policeman and iconoclast poet.
Over these last few days, I've seen just how far the mind of my compatriots is controled by three jailers: censorship, self-censorship and double morality. I've seen how a press article has been called innappopriate, without having the question of how can a journalist be labelled "inappropriate" answered. I've seen, for the upteenth, time how they attempted to disqualify an idea by trying to morally destroy its proponents. I've been threatened with a beating, just like I'm telling you. I've seen lies and cowardice. And I've seen all of this within some circles in the Cuban Council, a sad confirmation of a phrase expressed by an opposition member: "There are no organizations free of the same vices afflicting the people who originate it".
Tyrians have defended me from the troyans when the truth benefited them; Troyans have watched my back if the truth went against the tyrians, both have forgotten at some point in time that the social duty of the journalist is to find facts and make it come to life for the public. I'm no one to judge the tyrians or the troyans. I do, however, want for my pen, which is saddened by such happenings of the Council, for it to write three names which must be mentioned: Leonel Morejon, Lazaro Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Monzon.
The hope, intact. I've witnessed a retraction, looking at me in the eyes, like men do, from someone who had threatened to personally give me a beating. I know of a woman with a great power of persuasion, sick, and fearless to speak into a recorder say: "Either the Cuban Council goes to hell, or the Council will survive". I've talked to party leaders whose reply to the possible death of the opposition forum is always the same: "The streets are ready and waiting for us. It is time to grow".
Up until August 9th, the secretariat of the Cuban Council had attempted to meet with the required quorum six times, I don't know if it was the tyrians or the troyans, to talk about grave issues, of those worthy of the verdict of history, documentary testimonies in hand. I have proof of all that was done so that on August 9th, on that seventh attempt, don't know if according to the tyrians or the troyans, I repeat-- the meeting would take place in a more or less civilized manner, and I know everything which took place, because I was there from beginning to end, knowing full well that with all these ramblings, the leadership of the political police could very well send their operatives to disband us, and charge it all to the State.
Once again, I remember the terrible maxim issued by Seneca: "The wind is never favorable to those who don't know where they are going", something which is well understood by the wife of Leonel Morejon Almagro, the same one who, without raising her voice, asked to represent him.
"Don't fail, Council, during this hour of so much hope", I wrote back on November 4, 1995, in my debut as an independent journalist. Today I ask myself: Will the Cuban Council survive?