>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yet unpublished article by Rhonda: 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. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ On the move? 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