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Forgetting is Forbidden1*

in Cuba

Boris González Arenas
Historian and filmmaker
Blog Probidad
Havana, Cuba

56

T

o the victims of the sinking
of the “March 13” ferry

In “Camino al poder a través de la Revolución”
[On the road to power through the Revolution]
(Diario de Cuba, March 23, 2014), I distinguish
between collective leadership and exclusive leadership.
Collective leadership is affirmed through the free
election of chosen in any politically subversive
movement. The election is tied to the electees’
virtues; they have been collectively identified.
Yet, cohesion doesn’t necessarily or naturally result from this, but rather due to a need to effectively organize the subversive action and resistance. The possibility of dying is an element
that comes with leadership. For the chosen one to
remain as leader depends on consensus.
This is not the case with leadership. The leader
ceases being a choice that was made and becomes
in the be all and end all of political action. Repressive and ideological mechanisms are created
to ensure the leader’s permanent place at the head
of the movement. This is why exclusive leadership means a change in nature that requires forgetfulness. A collective requires a convergence of
memories; exclusivity points more to the importance of whoever prevails.
Upon delving into three types of forgetfulness in
Cuba after 1959 and their role in implementing
Castro authoritarianism, I begin with the kind that
results from the implementation of an authoritarian regime, then immediately to the rejection of
memory, which is forgetfulness taken on individually, to adapt to and survive the imposed order,
and conclude with the kind of forgetting I’d rather
identify as an inability to remember.

If exclusive leadership implements mechanisms
for containing everyone’s memories, the denial of
memory is also set up at much more intuitive levels that require that the individual not just internalize the requirements power expects of him or
her, but also actively work to not be able to remember. Anyone remaining in the shadow of exclusive leadership will be required to listen to its
declarations. In Cuban slang, this is the real
meaning of expressions like “watch what you
say.” One is expected to constructively criticize it
or anything surrounding the exclusive power, but
not in front of those who truly criticize it, are
against it. With this is created a complex chain of
spaces for expressing criticism that is never seen
socially or identified by other like-minded people.2 A notion that the other, the antagonist, is enemy is also created. Against that enemy, exclusive power will mobilize all its might, from the
armed forces to the judiciary to semantics. The
enemy will end up being called a gusano (worm),
scum, mercenary and even more in Cuba; in Venezuela, twenty-first century socialism will call
him or her a runt and fascist.
There is a middle ground between the enemy and
those who are not someone who is mistaken