A few years ago, exactly on October 20, he spoke of the absences, of how necessary the presence of Alicia Alonso, Adelaida de Juan, Roberto Fernández Retamar, of Desiderio, was for Cuba and its people. Today I revisit those words and think of Rogelio Martínez Furé, Mario Balmaseda, Aurora Basnuevo, Fina García Marruz, Eugenio Hernández Espinosa, Juan Moreira, Cozme Proenza, Luis Eliades Rodríguez from Baracoa and many other sensitive, capital, essential losses to build Cubanness. Men and women who made culture a lens to look at life, a platform to build their family, to educate, to sow, to dream.
Another essential, Eusebio Leal, said in one of his speeches “...sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that culture is something that we hang on like a hat, like an umbrella, like an additional thing. No, culture has to be the center. Any development project that dispenses with it only generates decadence”. Eusebio, as always, chooses the exact words. Culture is lived, felt, and incorporated into your life while slowly transforming. And when we put our heads on the pillow, to make an analysis of the day, we realize that without everything we have cultivated, our day would not be the same, without everything we have cultivated we would have acted differently, without everything we we have cultivated perhaps we will not discover those details that give a minute of tranquility, of calm, of joy.
From October 10 to 20 we do not celebrate the day of the arts in Cuba, that would be oversimplifying these days, from 10 to 20 we celebrate the way in which good men and women assume a country, we dream of a country from the very act of assume ourselves as Cubans.
In the midst of the deep economic crisis we are going through, in the midst of the repairs to the Matanzas super tanker base, in the midst of the disasters caused by Cyclone Ian in Pinar del Río, we continue to cling to culture.
Embraced by their essences, our artists have returned these days to the communities, they have assaulted this same park, they have sung, they have danced and poetry has been in the air, modulating the ugly, which sometimes turns too gray. That is what we talk about when the transforming role of culture is mentioned, that is what we appeal to when we repeat that culture saves us.
Under the conviction that in these times, in which it is not possible to conquer with overused slogans and phrases, to evoke the verses of Fina, the elegance of Balmaseda, the characters of Furé and Eugenio Hernández, the colors of Cosme, Moreria, Eliades, the popular phrasing of Estervina, our Aurora, eliminates any doubt about Cuban culture and its power to conquer, convince, found.
If there is something that can be appealed to in order to save a country, it is culture. If there is something that identifies us as a nation, it is our culture. If there is something that we should defend to the last consequences, it is culture.
Let's multiply these days. Let's remember that we are a unique race on the planet, too mixed and too unique, let's remember Estervina's laugh while telling us "What people, gentleman, but what people!", and then we will feel something similar to pride while we applaud her and everyone the others that have made Cuban culture a symbol for the world.
Words by Eldys Baratute Benavides, Vice President of the UNEAC in Guantanamo and deputy to the Cuban Parliament, at the event for the Day of Cuban Culture.
Photo: Idaliena Diaz Casamayor