Identidades in English No 3, September 2014 | Page 8

agreed upon laws for restructuring our own coexistence upon civilized precepts.” This is being accomplished through Constitutional Initiative Tables throughout Cuba, in which citizens analyze
and discuss the problems and difficulties they
have to face during this process, and offer proposals shaped by their own life experiences. Boris
González Arenas “Forgetting is Forbidden” deals
with this line of thought and Cuba’s current difficulties. It discusses the consequences that have
resulted from a decade’s old regime and the forgetfulness that is imposed in order to erase any
trace of the disaster, as well as the result of all this
on the citizenry’s pride and self-esteem regarding
its own efforts. Memory is an accuser that those
in power try to dissipate through forgetfulness
and hiding as tactics for demonizing individual
expression.
This section ends with “Democracy, Judicial
Power and History,” by Wilfredo Vallín, and
“The Political Bases of the Liberal Party in Cuba,
by Fernando Palacio. The first discusses the absence of important elements that define contemporary law: A Court of Constitutional Guarantees, and independent judiciary, and the unencumbered practice of law, with the consequences
that would bring about. Palacio talks about liberalism as a political tradition in Cuba, and the advantages he sees in it for bringing about democratic change.
Along with the lack of democracy, the digital divide, which the articles “Democracy, Memory
and the Digital Divide,” by Rafel Campoamor,
and “The New Technologies,” by Leonardo
Calvo Cárdenas, is another manifestation of the
multiple difficulties Cubans are facing. Both authors emphasize the need and obligation for
newer generations to become empowered through
new technologies to discuss the past, face the present and prepare for the future, and take advantage of the possibility of being able to find

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new paths in the middle of a reality that is darkening the social scene.
Given the conditions there have been in Cuba, a
new form of “alternative art” has emerged. We
dedicate the interview “Working at the Limit,” by
Verónica Vega, and “The Social Beat of Alternative Culture,” by Nilo González, to information
about the difficulties, censorship and objections
there are to risk-taking groups that do independent work beyond the official limitations that are
imposed. In “Ingredients of the Cuban Ajiaco
Stew,” by Ricardo Lazo, the author discusses the
different “flavors” of the legacy of Cuban culture
and its multiple, ethno-racial origins. Thus, he
highlights the limitations that slavery imposed on
Africans and the enrichment of our culinary tastes
and contribution to the national culture.
To finish, “The Silent Grind,” by Boris González
Arenas, goes beyond being just a bibliographical
reviewer of the volume. It also is a suggestive reflection of the economic, social and cultural consequences of the collapse of sugar, which began
quite early in the Revolution, and got worse by a
destructive blow, in 2002, when dozens and dozens of sugar mills that had functioned for centuries were abandoned, closed, and destroyed, but
for hundreds of years had been centers for wealth
production. The article examines the consequences of this social disaster for men and women
who had worked in the productive area not only
as a way to support themselves, but also to nourish their identities.
Dr. Juan Antonio Alvarado Ramos
Editor-in Chief