New York, 22 March 2017. As part of his visit to New York City, prominent Cuban intellectual Miguel Barnet held a meeting with the staff of the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.
Diplomatic officials, workers and their relatives, as well as some representatives of the Cuban Women Federation, joined Barnet while warmly evoking the Historical Leader of the Revolution several times during the meeting, who he referred to as “The Enlightened”.
Likewise, the author of La vida real gave a first-hand account of his experiences and impressions about New York and the notions he got from his youth about the life of poor emigrants in the city.
He went through crucial moments of the Cuban revolutionary process and its close relation to culture and the deepest patriotic values of the nation.
While recalling the legacy of José Martí, Félix Varela and Che in shaping Cuba´s identity, the author of Biografía de un Cimarrón stressed the importance of preserving the historical and cultural roots as an essential element of Cubans.
Barnet, who is also president of the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC, by its Spanish acronyms) emphasized the role of this institution as a key actor of the cultural processes and the exercise of Cuba´s cultural policy, especially in the midst of the great challenges that our country is facing, and focusing on culture in particular.
In this regard, the Vice-president of UNEAC and Member of the National Assembly of the Peoples' Power of Cuba, Luis Morlote Rivas, gave a detailed overview of the actions taken in Cuba in terms of cultural policies and future expectations.
The meeting concluded with the nurturing poetry of the writer and ethnologist, advocating the revolutionary and day-to-day efforts of every Cuban when he said:
I am that man going around
pushing a country.
It is not a fantasy, it is true.
I have spent my life pushing a country.
With large stones on the road
and my giant shoes
I have been slowly pushing a country.
Against the strong winds
and the night that squeaks in its hinges,
against the lack of oxygen
and the bad omens
I have done my utmost to push a country.
But there are many other things to do
like loving in the dark,
without walls, by the way,
or shattering the everyday beetled-flavored rice,
or filing the nails in front of an opaque mirror,
or playing baseball
with the crossed-eyed children in the neighborhood.
So forgive me if I do not listen
the complaints of my contemporaries.
I cannot do other than
keep pushing a country.
Miguel Barnet´s working program in New York relates to the 61st session of the Legal and Social Status of Women, among other events, held in the United Nations headquarters from March 13 to 24, 2017.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to UN