Photo: Wikimedia Commons
After a denial, the majority of those seeking permission to travel give up going back to ask again. A few, very few, continue to insist when they've heard the phrase, "You are not authorized to travel," more than three times. Only a handful of stubborn ones, among whom I include myself, return to the Department of Immigration (DIE) to demand the so-called white card that has been denied on four occasions. Although with each new request it would seem the possibilities become more remote, I'm driven to make it clear that my imprisonment on this Island has been for my not having exhausted all legal avenues.
Under this philosophy of the impossible I've launched another application in the direction of the Plaza municipality's DIE, this time to go to the city of Jequie-Bahia in Brazil. In July there will be a documentary film festival where a young filmmaker will present a short film about Cuban bloggers; if I miss it it will be because I've received the sixth "No" in just two years. As with all previous applications, the letter of invitation has arrived on time, my passport is up-to-date and my criminal record is spotless. In theory, I meet all the existing requirements to cross the national frontier, but I am still emitting critical opinions and this turns me into a special kind of criminal.
For this trip I have decided to knock on as many doors as possible, and have even sent a letter to the Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. Who knows if, failing to listen to the demands of its own citizens, my country's government has receptive ears when a foreign dignitary speaks. My friends are hinting that I have become, at the DIE office, just another piece of "office furniture" with the little metal inventory tag nailed to my shoulder blades, like on all the other furniture in state institutions. I can only smile at such jokes and shake off the despair with a nice play on words: "I am going, yes... I am going to become accustomed to staying."
My Letter to the President of Brazil
Havana, March 14, 2010
Mr. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil:
Someone once told me that the ships that traded African slaves left part of their cargo in Cuba and the rest along the Atlantic coast of Brazil. Thus were separated brothers and sisters, parents and children, and friends of a lifetime. And so our bifurcated people share the same root.
Thus, anything that tries to separate us seems perverse, and we dream that one day there will be free movement between all of our American nations, so I can hardly understand that the authorities of my country would prevent my visit to yours.
On the first occasion, in October 2009, I tried to attend the presentation of my book De Cuba con carino published by Contexto. The immigration office that grants exit permits to Cuban citizens informed me that I was not authorized to travel. This was the fourth time they had denied me this authorization. Previously I had been prevented from traveling to Spain to receive the Ortega y Gasset prize, later to Poland and after that to the United States to receive a special mention in the Maria Moors Cabot awards from Columbia University. I have been invited to Brazil for a second time, now for the presentation of a documentary about me, made by a group of filmmakers in Jequie.
I am convinced that I will find no difficulty in obtaining a visa from your embassy in Havana, but I also am certain that the authorities in my country will again refuse me permission to travel.
You have given recent signs of having great confidence in the good faith of the Cuban government. I hope that perhaps those who lead my country would like to keep that confidence alive in you and -- in the interest of not disappointing it -- they would agree to your request to give me permission to visit Brazil. You will would only be asking, in my name, what for any Brazilian -- and for any human being -- is an inalienable right.
Forgive me for having taken your time to read this letter, and please forgive me as well for having written in Spanish. I do not ask your forgiveness, however, for this belief of mine that you yearn for the same rights for Cubans that you want to see enjoyed among Brazilians.
-Yoani Sanchez Cordero