Terry Onley

Cultivo Una Rosa Blanca

Cultivo una rosa blanca

En julio como en enero,

Para el amigo sincero

Que me da su mano franca.

Y para el cruel que me arranca

El corazon con que vivo,

Cardo ni ortiga cultivo,

Cultivo una rosa blanca.

Jose Marti (1853-1895)

José Martí was the great writer of the Cuban

Revolution against Spain. He spent a great

deal of time in the US, and also in other

countries in Latin America and Europe. He

admired US culture for its strength and

freedom, but feared its obvious desire for more

Dominion in Latin America, including Cuba.

The beautiful song

“Guantanamera”

contains some of his

verse set to music…

This great man died in a fruitless 2-man charge against overwhelming

Spanish forces in 1895. It is said that the Spanish, upon discovering

the identity of his body, refused to burn it for fear that his ashes would

get in their throats and choke them…

They may have been right.

There are

statues of

José Martí

all over Cuba

“Granma” is Cuba’s only state-run daily

newspaper. As with all news media in Cuba,

the content is tightly controlled to adhere to

the official dogma of the state.

In the January 30th, 2010 edition of the

Havanatimes.org online newsletter, Erasmo

Calzadilla suggests that, while the paper is

apparently becoming more willing to publish

dissenting views and expressions of

dissatisfaction, certain other properties of the

publication which seriously affect its most important function for the

Cuban people have recently deteriorated.

However, Mr. Calzadilla is not without a solution. Apparently, wetting

La Granma and allowing it to dry over the shower curtain rod improves

its texture greatly, thus making it much more pleasant to use for its

primary purpose!

On January 27, 2010, world-famous Cuban Writers

Manuel Garcia Verdecia and Rafael Vilches Proenza were fired

from the Cuban Writer’s Guild for “improper use of the Internet”:

it seems they browsed sites that were not complimentary to the

Cuban government.

Many Cuban writers, such as Reinaldo Arenas & Guillermo Cabrera

Infante, have continued to write from exile, thus creating another set

of voices against tyranny.

I suspect Mr. Calzadilla may lose his internet privileges soon…

Sources:Google Images

Wikipedia

http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments

/i_grow_the_white_rose/

http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofthecaribbean/p/josemarti.htm

guantanamera

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=18878

the granma newspaper pickle erasmo calzadilla

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5117176

-cuban-writers-fired-for-improper-use-of-the-internet

www.thefileroom.org/documents

/dyn/DisplayCase.cfm/.../798 arenas