A text titled “The travels of Gulliver, Jr.” have given more than one Cuban something to think about. On Cuban social media, many have expressed that they believe “Gulliver, Jr.” is really a reference to Antonio Castro Soto del Valle. Fidel Castro's youngest son was photographed while on summer vacation in Turkey.
It was entitled “The travels of Gulliver, Jr.” and published
in the Tribuna de la Havana(Havana Tribune) weekly, also known as
the “Periodical of Cuba’s capital.”
An opinion column written by Alexander Alvarez Ricardo and
published Oct. 24 has provoked Cuban journalists and social media users to
speculate over the text’s significance, which many believe is in reality a
piece criticizing Antonio Castro Soto del Valle, Fidel Castro’s youngest son.
Turkish magazine Gala photographed Castro Soto del Valle in
June as he spent his summer vacation in the famous tourist enclave of Bodrum.
“Thanks to his father, Gulliver, Jr. travels quite
frequently. He appears as a giant enjoying himself on the Mediterranean coast,
or as a dwarf adventuring through life without any problem, thanks to his visa.
He sets sail to compare whether the skies of other lands are as intensely blue
as those of his own. Sailing on his father’s fleet is a hereditary privilege,”
reads the text’s opening paragraph. The article has sparked a debate on social
media despite the fact that no names are mentioned and the writing has a
cryptic tone.
In another excerpt, the journalist compares and contrasts
the luxury and freedom Gulliver enjoys with that of his peers: “While he sails
through calm seas, in his land, other sailors can only watch the seagulls fly
by… Thousands of scrolls narrate the experiences of the chosen one. Tranquil
nights in the margins of the Aomori. Barrels of wine opened in Hawaiian
beaches. Afternoons spent fishing in the Sidney Bay.”
Turkish news agency Dogan also reported that Fidel Castro’s
son, who studied Medicine and is currently Global Ambassador of the World
Baseball Softball Confederation, arrived in the Greek isle of Mykonos in a
50-meter yacht and reserved five suites in a luxurious Bodrum hotel.
Dogan posted a video showing one of Antonio Castro’s
bodyguards attacking a reporter, Yasar Anter, who was trying to photograph
Castro while he was having dinner with a group of friends in a restaurant.
In late September, while his uncle Raúl Castro attended
United Nations activities, he was also captured on camera trying to evade a
Univision 23 news team.
None of this was published in Cuba’s official press outlets,
which are under the control of the Ideological Department of the Communist
Party. Only social media users and those who watch American television through
illegal satellites learned about the case.
To all this, is what the journalist who wrote the “Travels
of Gulliver Jr.” column could be alluding to in his piece.
He also takes a jab at the double standards of Cuban leaders
and the media, often transmitting an overly negative image of what happens
outside the island.
“Once at home, he says nothing. He lies to his fellow
countrymen with anecdotes of shipwrecks. He describes enormous waves, endless
thunderstorms, marine monsters and singing mermaids; later he grabs the sack
and puts away the loot,” writes Alvarez Ricardo.
But precisely, the Party’s staunch censorship to the Cuban
media has increased speculations over the future of the journalist and even the
future of the current director of the newspaper, Marta Jimenez Sanchez. Tribuna’s website
doesn’t display readers’ comments for this article but on the blog of
journalist Fernando Rasverg, who lives in Cuba and reposted the text, a reader
asked in jest, “When does Tribuna debut its new director?”
Another praised the “intelligence” of the journalist: “Who
wishes to judge the author and punish him commits the first “sin” because his
subconscious betrays him...Alexander only had to respond to his inquisitor: ‘I
didn’t say any of that, that’s what you’re thinking.’”
Rasverg declined to comment for this article. The author of
the article also declined to comment.
It wouldn’t be the first time that a journalist who
trespasses the boundaries set by the Communist Party pays for his audacity with
his job — or that of his superiors — but this case happens when even the
country’s leaders have made a call for allowing more criticism in the press.
Moreover, in official events, journalists have aired their frustration for the
lack of access to government sources, the poor qualification of many media
directors (many just party cadres without journalistic experience), the high
level of secrecy and the limited media independence on the island.
For Baruch College Sociology professor and long-term
observer of Cuban politics, Ted Henken, the article demonstrates in fact “that
within state media there are journalists (typically young with little to lose)
who are making an effort to create a different type of journalism, one that
reflects what state media hides.”
Articles of this type, which illustrate “the diversity of
opinions and experiences” existing in Cuba today, also respond “to the
pressure” of independent digital media sources, points out Henken, who believes
“Now, the state media feels pressure toward creating a better type of
journalism because independent journalism is winning the race.”
On Oct. 7, when Tribuna celebrated its 35th
anniversary, Alvarez Ricardo shared with Radio Ciudad Habana his predilection
for “opinion genres. In a weekly newspaper like Tribuna, in which
news loses its immediacy, it’s good to carry out works that ask in-depth on the
how and why of things.”
Among readers of the article in Cuba, there are many who
point to the fact that a chronicle about “Gulliver, Jr.” could cause so much
controversy which, in their view, is merely the result of the limited space for
debate and the questioning of those in power on the island.
“In a normal country, this ‘text’ has names and last names,
with a profile photo or a caricature included. Here, all we have is to become
overjoyed at the knowledge of ‘such a daring feat,’”, writes one user
identified as “Alabao.” The next comment stated: “Without
further ado, down to the blockade.”
*Nora Gamez Torres on Twitter: @ngameztorres
**http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article43872561.html#emlnl=The_Americas#storylink=cpy