IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 45

other’s from the same period were so ahead of their time! This got him accused of wanting to turn Cuba into a colony of France. All the blacks and mulattoes, whether they were members of the PIC or not, were accused of being ‘Francophiles’ and wanting to turn the country into a black republic. It speaks of freedom, but is bothered by the word ‘citizens’; it ignores democracy and assures the complicity of small groups of intellectuals by benefits that force them to bend to official policies. That is precisely how Estenoz writes about them in his philosophy: “A group of degenerates who are poor of spirit who live without limits in the ridiculous situation in which the regime puts them.” It is essential that we continue delving into our historical events and analyze the thinking of the patriots who, unfortunately, those in hegemonic power have not allowed into the national political imagination. Estenoz embodied the Mambí feeling of seeing an integrative nation with a valuable and efficient, democratic system. Past history that is being repeated now Today, those who are working on behalf of Human Rights in Cuba, and to bring out into the light the issue race independently from the State, are being called annexationists or mercenaries at the service of a foreign power. Herein lies the enormous lack of intellectual respect and disregard for the Cuban people’s common sense. The communist regime takes isolated anecdotes from a few supposed heroes and turns them into norms that must be permanently and obligatorily respected, as if society were condemned to organizing its coexistence according to criteria in keeping with officialdom’s rhetoric. The Cuban regime thrives on supposed historic processes, for which reason it does not tolerate anything independent. It hides its rage and pretends to defend the defenseless. 44 45