Two Types of Dissidence, Two Policies

Two Types of Dissidence, Two Policies / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on March 26, 2015

Angel Santiesteban, 25 March 2015 — For the first time in the history of
the violations against the Cuban dissidence by the political police of
the totalitarian Regime, there are two lines of thought: one subdued and
the other more severe.

Those in the opposition who have publicly supported the intention of the
governments of the United States and Cuba to reconstruct diplomatic
relations have had their rights respected to travel abroad, reunite,
publish, etc.

But those who openly oppose the reestablishment of diplomatic relations,
unless the Cuban Government respects human rights and frees the
political prisoners, have been detained and had their passports take
away, like the plastic artist Tania Bruguera, who was visiting the
country, so that she now finds herself held hostage, and the activists
Antonio Rodiles and Ailer Gonzales.

The Ladies in White, together with their leader, Berta Soler, and one of
the 75 prisoners of the Black Spring, Angel Moya, Antonio Rodiles, Ailer
Gonzalez, Claudio Fuentes and Tania Bruguera, among others, were
captured, some for several days, and, coincidentally, have all opposed
the reestablishment of relations.

It's painful that this distance exists between both factions, which,
when united, have suffered so much abuse from the dictatorship. Some who
accept relations keep quiet about the abuses committed toward those who
think differently.

In a certain way, they have to recognize that silence converts them into
accomplices of the Regime. We can't forget that in different ways,
thinking from parallel paths, is precisely what transforms us in
dissidence, because we came fleeing from belonging to that mob that
accedes to the call of the Dictator, which sometimes, even in an
indirect way, can manipulate us in its favor.

Although we think that others are wrong, we should defend their right to
be so. There is no one dissidence that is bland and another that is
extreme, only degrees that are necessary and that strive for the same thing.


Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

Unidad de Guardafronteras Prison, Havana. March 2015.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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