Posted on 04/22/2003 10:57:04 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
It is said that Monterroso’s short story is the shortest one ever written. Textually it reads: “When he awoke, the dinosaur was still there.”
It is true that it is very short, what I fail to understand is why people insist on calling it a story. But let’s leave it at that, it isn’t my intention to discuss this very famous, and very short, story.
I intend to write about the most frustrated, and short, individual in this world; at least that’s how those of us who have suffered through his bouts of frustration and quirkiness have come to see him.
This malcontent had one thousand and one opportunities to gain notoriety but never did. He was a mediocre magician, and also tried to be an actor. He was a policeman, a bad artist, a deficient art teacher, even tried to be a gigolo, but lacked the looks. Then, he found out that there were dissidents in Cuba, and understood that somehow, he could achieve fame.
He searched and dug around in a thousand places, and understood that by being a dissident, he could get people somewhere to talk about him. He became an independent journalist.
One can very easily become an independent journalist, the best thing about it is that you don’t have to be a journalist at all, and by either luck or misfortune, what you say can be read or heard nearly anywhere.
In this, the frustrated man was pleased. Some of his mediocrities were read or heard overseas, but pleasing a frustrated individual is a difficult thing, and he wanted more. He was not satisfied with the sporadic mentions he received in the radio; his occasional appearances in Miami newspapers did not satiate his thirst for fame; he aspired to so much more recognition. He decided to become the most famous dissident in his province, but not by working, he would achieve his fame as a professional schemer.
He turned his house into the Devil’s cauldron. Gallons of café were consumed and tons of nicotine inhaled in an insecure and damaging blend of gossip and intrigue directed at the very brothers at arms of Cuban dissidence. Now, the frustrated man is famous. Every scandal that surfaces against someone is born there, in the macabre and obscene social events elaborated by himself and his unconditionally manipulated supporters. Discrepancies among members of organizations, dissolution of political movements, arguments, and disappearances of projects created with fine intentions are the fruit of the labor, and the shame of this individual.
Now, nearly every one of us fear his entanglements, and the truth is that what we have become is a group of frightened and confused brothers, and that brings me pain.
I hope this story serves as a warning, and maybe it will become the shortest story in the world, but I can’t write anymore about such a frustrated man. Fear not, for there is always hope remaining for us, even in spite of those who seek to do us harm.
But it is very sad however, every morning when we awake, the dinosaur is still there.
This was his last posted article in the website.
I have never been able to find out anything about what fate may have befallen Orlando Contreras, this voice without fear in a silent herd, I hope and pray that he is all right, and that someday, when Cuba is free, I can walk down the street in the little town in Cuba that gave birth to the both of us, and thank him for the lessons in freedom and courage he taught me.
A Voice Without Fear In A Silent Herd
The Crowd Would Not Wish Fidel A Happy Birthday
In The Line Of Fire (translation courtesy of William Wallace)
Independent Journalists
1-Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello 20 years
2-Raúl Rivero Castañeda 20 years
3-Héctor Palacios Ruiz 25 years
4-Oscar Espinosa Chepe 20 years
5-Victor Arroyo Carmona 26 years
6-Eduardo Díaz Fleitas 21 years
7-Horacio Piña Borrego 20 years
8-Fidel Suárez Cruz 20 years
9-Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés 18 years
10-Ricardo González Alfonso 20 years
11-Pedro Alvarez Ramos 25 years
12-Roberto de Miranda H. 20 years
13-Efrén Fernández F. 12 years
14-Omar Rodríguez Saludes 27 years
15-Marcelo Cano Rodríguez 18 years
16-Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez 20 years
17-Carmelo Díaz Fernández 15 years
18 Antonio Díaz Sánchez 20 years
19-Regis Iglesias Ramírez 18 years
20-Marcelo López-Bañobre 15 years
21-Arturo Pérez Alejo 20 years
22-Antonio Villareal Acosta 15 years
23-Pedro Argüelles Morán 20 years
24-Pablo Pacheco Avila 20 years
25-Alejandro González R. 14 years
26-Alfredo Pulido López 14 years
27-Mario Mayo Hernández 20 years
28-Normando Hernández G. 25 years
29-Claro Sánchez Altarriba 15 years
30-Luis Milan Fernández 15 years
31-Alexis Rodríguez Fernández 15 years
32-Ricardo Silva Gual 10 years
33-Leonel Grave de Peralta A. 20 years
34-Jorge Olivera Castillo 18 years
35-Julio Gálvez Rodríguez 15 years
36-Edel García Díaz 15 years
37-Manuel Vazquez Portal 18 years
38-Adolfo Fernández Sainz 15 years
39-Mijail Barzaga 15 years
40-Nelson Aguiar Ramírez 13 years
41-Nelson Molinet Espino 20 years
42-Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique 18 years
43-Fabio Prieto Llorente 20 years
Conscientious Objectors and Activists
44-Miguel Galbán 26 years
45-Alfredo Felipe Fuentes 26 years
46-Hector Raul Valle Hernandez 12 years
47-Jose Ubaldo Izquierdo 16 years
48-Ivan Hernandez Carrillo 25 years
49-Felix Navarro Rodríguez 25 years
50-Diodado Gonzalez Marrero 20 years
51-Librado Linares García 20 years
52-Margarito Broche Espinosa 25 years
53-Lester González Penton 20 years
54-Arturo Perez de Alejo 20 years
55-Omar Pernet Hernandez 25 years
56-Omar Ruiz Hernández 18 years
57-Antonio Villareal Acosta 15 years
58-Blas Giraldo Reyes R. 25 years
59-José Luis García Paneque 24 years
60-Jorge Luis González Tanquero 20 years
61-Alfredo Dominique Batista 15 years
62-Luis Enrique Ferrer García 28 years
63-Reynaldo Labrada Peña 6 years
64-Próspero Gainza Agüero 28 years
65-Julio Antonio Vides Guevara 20 years
66-José Ramon Gabriel Castillo 20 years
67-Jesus Mustafa Felipe 25 years
68-Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia 28 years
69-Oscar Elias Biscet Gonzalez 25 years
70-Orlando Fundora Alvarez 18 years
71-Angel Moya Acosta 20 years
72-Miguel Valdés Tamayo 15 years
73-José Miguel Martinez Hernandez 13 years
74-Guido Sigler Amaya 20 years
75-Ariel Sigler Amaya 25 years
Bump!
They should take a lesson from the REAL PROTESTERS, whose names you have listed here. These are the brave people who risk everything to defy Castro's regime. I am always fascinated by people like this, who are willing to put, even their own safety and well being , on the line for the greater good, and to tell the true story. God Bless them.
Anytime I see anything about Cuba, I am reminded of the terrible Holy Saturday morning,( the day before easter Sunday ) when I heard my mom yelling from the living room, she was yelling and crying at the TV image of Clinton's goons dragging kicking and screaming, poor little Elian from his home at the end of a machine gun. Then all the photo's of him being "held for his security" at Camp David. And all the photo's where he looked drugged. I will NEVER FORGET THAT EVER, it upset my whole family, that Easter Sunday. But, in total irony, Elian's plight is why we have George W. Bush as President today, and most importantly , why Al Gore WAS NOT president on 9/11.
"Anytime I see anything about Cuba, I am reminded of the terrible Holy Saturday morning..."
Three years ago yesterday.
Here's the link to the original Spanish version, I can't do his style justice with my translation.
Something sparked my memory last night, and I recalled an article I posted in the aftermath of the crackdown on Cuba, then I went to this short story and an alarm went off in my head.
The article was titled "True faces" in Cuba's dissident crackdown.
"Informant David Manuel Orrio, the reporter who walks with the cane, told Granma that the decision was based on politics."
"We thought there was still a lot we could do", Orrio was quoted as saying, but "we understood the political importance of unmasking the traitors of the nation and those who had bought them off."
"Since the mid-1990s, the websites of Cuban exile groups in Miami have published hundreds of Orrio's articles, many of them anti-Castro in tone. He had even helped organize a journalism ethics conference at Cason's home."
"Informant David Manuel Orrio, the reporter who walks with the cane, told Granma that the decision was based on politics."
Informant David Manuel Orrio---I'm going to remember that name for a long time to come.
You won't be alone.
"The bad news is that they'll be replaced by the faster mammals who have an even greater capacity for mischief and making people believe they're free at the same time they're being hobbled by alphabet agencies that only exist, so they claim, to make their lives better and safer and more secure."
I've tried them both. I'll take my chances with the mammals.
"Now, the frustrated man is famous. Every scandal that surfaces against someone is born there, in the macabre and obscene social events elaborated by himself and his unconditionally manipulated supporters. Discrepancies among members of organizations, dissolution of political movements, arguments, and disappearances of projects created with fine intentions are the fruit of the labor, and the shame of this individual."
**PING!!!**
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