Artist Tania Bruguera speaks out after Cuba detention

Artist Tania Bruguera speaks out after Cuba detention
By Rigoberto Diaz

Havana (AFP) - Cuban performance artist Tania Bruguera, detained for
trying to stage an open-mic show in Havana, says a government crackdown
may actually have helped her make her point.

The 46-year-old artist was detained twice this week along with 50 other
dissidents as authorities moved to stop her show in Havana's Revolution
Square.

Bruguera had organized the "participatory performance" for Cubans to
share hopes and fears for their future and that of the communist island.

But, she said, the mass arrests ended up telling a different story.

"The government did the work for me," she told AFP during an interview
Thursday.

"They changed the meaning of the work, giving a lesson in intolerance
... All they did was create chaos."

Bruguera, who divides her time between Cuba, the United States and
France, now faces charges of holding a "performance aimed at inciting
public disorder and resistance to the police."

She said she must remain on the island, because Cuban authorities
confiscated her passport.

Bruguera, who calls herself a "woman of the left," said the performance
had been designed with "great professionalism, order and full transparency."

She promoted the work on social media and went to the island last week
to prepare it. She denied it was a provocation and dismissed claims that
US companies were somehow behind the piece.

"There's no American company behind it, there's nobody. I also am not a
CIA agent," she said.

She said Cuban security agents had treated her cordially during her
hours of detention.

- 'We must start to forgive' -

"The idea was to put microphones in a public plaza so Cubans can talk
about these moments we are living through, the worries they have,"
Bruguera said, referring to the historic thaw in relations between the
United States and Cuba.

On December 17, US President Barack Obama and Cuban counterpart Raul
Castro announced an end to 50 years of hostility between the former Cold
War foes.

Obama said he would work to revive diplomatic ties and ease a trade embargo.

Castro in turn said he was ready to discuss any topic with Washington
after the historic bilateral rapprochement, but warned not to expect
political change.

"Why can't they trust that there are some Cubans who, in a moment like
this, would give an enthusiastic response and say they want to be a part
of these changes," Bruguera asked.

Her project was rejected in advance by the National Union of Writers and
Artists of Cuba, which called it a "political provocation."

The Ministry of Culture's National Council of Fine Arts said it was a
"reality show" and not a work of art.

"I really did not expect that reaction," she said. "I don't understand
why they're afraid."

She said she didn't realize the string of arrests had caused the first
friction between Washington and Havana since the announcement of the thaw.

Her only intention was to make "people with different points of view
come to the same space to hear each other out," she said.

"I think that for Cuba to become the place that Raul (Castro) and Cubans
want, we must start to forgive and to forget many things. If not, it
will be a disaster."

"The government needs to rethink the system to address some issues,"
Bruguera added, insisting that even though she never got to perform it,
her show nonetheless "was a success."

Source: Artist Tania Bruguera speaks out after Cuba detention - Yahoo
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