>From: Larry Oberg <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>To: [log in to unmask]
>CC: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: An Open Letter to the Librarians of the World
>Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 09:56:42 -0700 (PDT)
>
>Friends,
>
>Here is a quick English translation of the Carta Abierta recently released
>by the Cuban Library Association (ASCUBI). If you wish to forward their
>message to lists you subscribe to, the attached English version may be
>useful. I have also attached the original Spanish version for purposes of
>comparison.
>
>It seems to me particularly important to clarify that those recently
>detained were not librarians as we define them. Rhonda Neugebauer and I
>were the first North American librarians to visit the so-called
>"independent" libraries in Cuba. Here is a relevant paragraph from an as
>yet unpublished article by Rhonda:
>
>"When asked about their international connections and funding, the
>"independent librarians" showed us packing materials from the Swedish
>Embassy and some postmarks from Miami and Mexico. We also were shown
>website "news" printoffs from Cubanet.org and other anti-Castro websites
>with computer-generated labels addressed to the individual "library" and
>signed "from the U.S. Interests Section." we were told that personnel
>"from the U.S. Interests Section" delivered many of the items that were
>not published in Cuba, and that they received regular visits from U.S.
>Interests Section personnel who dropped off packages on a regular basis
>along with money ... We also discovered that by accepting anti-government
>materials and by developing "libraries" with these materials, the
>"librarians" qualified to be paid a monthly stipend -- 'for services
>rendered,' as one of them put it."
>
>Here is my translation of the Cuban document:
>
>
>An Open Letter to the Librarians of the World
>
>Havana, A;pril, 2003
>
>Esteemed Colleagues,
>
>Once again the extreme right in the United States, in collusion with the
>Cuban exile community in Miami, is stepping up its pressure on the Cuban
>people, much as it has done since the beginning of our revolution in 1959.
>
>Among the methods being used by these people to attack and pressure our
>country are distortion, subjective interpretation, and crude manipulation
>of the events that are currently taking place in Cuba.
>
>We appeal to you as information professionals and colleagues whose job it
>is to provide information to readers and library users to make, insofar as
>you can, the following facts known to your public:
>
>* The people who have been detained and sentenced in Cuba over the past
>few weeks were paid by different United States government sources through
>the U. S. Interest Section in Havana, which officially represents the
>United States government in Cuba. All of this has been made public in a
>press conference held by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez
>Roque. (See: 222.cubaminrex.cu, Granma 19 April 2003.)
>
>* No Cuban librarian, no graduate of any of our Cuban library schools, nor
>any librarian or paraprofessional who currently or ever has worked in the
>Cuban library and information system has been detained.
>
>We emphasize here only those matters that link librarians with the
>problems we are denouncing. At the same time, there are many other
>questions that threaten and worry us as librarians, indeed, as they do all
>Cubans, such as:
>
>* The tightening of the political and economic blockade the United States
>government has imposed against our people for the past forty years.
>
>* The imprisonment of five Cuban patriots who have been unjustly condemned
>to extreme prison sentences in the United States.
>
>* The United States government's announced policy of attacking militarily
>any obscure corner of the world, depending on what best fits its own
>interests.
>
>In these times of preemptive wars such actions become even more dangerous
>than they have been over the past forty years of terrorist attempts and
>invasion threats to which our country has been subjected and against which
>we have victoriously resisted.
>
>The world's librarians have already seen how the National Library of Iraq
>has been looted and destroyed. At the same time, we note how few voices
>have been raised to denounce and condemn these unfortunate acts.
>
>Finally, we declare our solidarity with the struggle of librarians in the
>United States against the restrictive regulations imposed upon library
>patrons [i.e., the USA Patriot Act] under the pretext of the fight against
>terrorism.
>
>The Cuban Library Association (ASCUBI), which has members in libraries in
>all provinces of our country, awaits the solidarity and understanding of
>our colleagues in the rest of the world.
>
>Cuban Library Association (Asociacion Cubana de Bibliotecarios; ASCUBI).
>
>
>
>On Wed, 30 Apr 2003, [iso-8859-1] Biblioteca Pública - Ciudad de La Habana 
>wrote:
>
> >  Carta abierta a los bibliotecarios del mundo
> >
> > Ciudad de La Habana. Abril de 2003
> >
> >  Estimados colegas:
> >
> >  Una vez mas la extrema derecha estadounidense en contubernio con la 
>emigración residente en Miami, exacerba sus presiones en contra del pueblo 
>cubano, de la misma manera que lo ha hecho desde el comienzo de nuestro 
>proceso revolucionario en 1959.
> >
> > Entre los métodos utilizados por estas personas para atacar y presionar 
>a nuestro país están la tergiversación, la interpretación subjetiva y la 
>manipulación burda de los hechos que ocurren en Cuba.
> >
> > Apelamos a ustedes, como profesionales de la información, como colegas 
>que tienen a su cargo proveer de información a lectores y usuarios, cada 
>uno según sus posibilidades, para que conozcan y hagan conocer que:
> >
> > Las personas que han sido detenidas y sometidas a juicio, durante las 
>últimas semanas, eran pagadas por diferentes fuentes del gobierno 
>norteamericano, a través de la Sección de Intereses de Norte América, 
>oficina que representa los asuntos estadounidenses en Cuba. Todo lo 
>anterior fue denunciado a la opinión pública en Conferencia ofrecida a la 
>prensa nacional e internacional por el canciller de la República de Cuba, 
>Lcdo. Felipe Pérez Roque. (Ver www.cubaminrex.cu , Granma abril 19, 2003)
> >
> > Entre esas personas no hay ningún bibliotecario cubano graduado de 
>nuestros diversos niveles de enseñanza y formación profesional, ni 
>trabajador o ex -trabajador no profesional, de los sistemas bibliotecarios 
>y de información de la República de Cuba. Tampoco hay personas que hayan 
>trabajado antes o después, en  algunas de nuestras bibliotecas.
> >
> > Hemos enfatizado, solamente, los asuntos que vinculan a los 
>bibliotecarios con los hechos que estamos denunciando. Pero, hay muchas 
>otras cuestiones que, al igual que nuestro pueblo, nos amenazan y 
>preocupan, tales como:
> >
> >   a.. El recrudecimiento del bloqueo económico y político al que el 
>Gobierno de los Estados Unidos ha sometido a nuestro pueblo por más de 
>cuarenta años.
> >   a.. La prisión injusta a que se somete a cinco Patriotas Cubanos, 
>condenados injustamente a penas exageradas en las cárceles dé los Estados 
>Unidos.
> >   a.. La declaración del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos de atacar 
>militarmente cualquier oscuro rincón del mundo según convenga a sus 
>intereses.
> > En estos momentos de guerras preventivas estas acciones se tornan ahora 
>más peligrosas que durante los cuarenta años de acciones terroristas y 
>amenazas de invación a los que  nuestro pueblo se ha visto sometido y ha 
>resistido victoriosamente.
> >
> > Ya los bibliotecarios del mundo hemos visto como se destruyó y se saqueó 
>totalmente la Biblioteca Nacional de Iraq,  del mismo modo hemos constatado 
>las pocas voces que han denunciado y condenado esos lamentables hechos.
> >
> > También nos solidarizamos con la lucha de los bibliotecarios 
>estadounidenses contra las regulaciones que,  persiguen a los usuarios y 
>lectores, bajo el pretexto de la lucha contra el terrorismo.
> >
> > La Asociación Cubana de Bibliotecarios que agrupa a verdaderos 
>bibliotecarios asociados con filiales en las provincias del país  espera la 
>solidaridad y la comprensión de nuestros colegas en el mundo.
> >
> >
> >
> > Asociación Cubana de Bibliotecarios.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>


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