More than 300 personalities from the world of culture have signed an appeal to ask the Government of Cuba to end the repression against artists and respect freedom of expression, after the alleged abuses registered in the framework of the mobilizations called in July and November .
Among the signatories of the text, promoted by Human Rights Watch (HRW), are Meryl Streep, Paul Auster, Elena Poniatowska, Isabel Allende, Sergio Ramírez, Mario Vargas Llosa, JM Coetzee, Jules Feiffer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Khaled Hosseini, as well as representatives Spaniards such as the filmmaker Isabel Coixet or the writer Rosa Montero.
There are also representatives of Cuban culture, such as the authors of the song ‘Patria y Vida’, the playwright Yunior García or the artist Tania Bruguera. The latter has warned that “the level of injustice and repression that the Cuban government is imposing on its own people is getting worse,” to the point that she wants to “prevent and criminalize peaceful protest and dissent.”
The signatories ask the Executive of Miguel Díaz-Canel to respect the fundamental role that art and artists play in society, taking into account that imprisoning them or “forcing them into exile” is “an abusive and inhuman act.”
Poniatowska, for her part, has stressed that “if an intellectual, a writer or an artist rises up against a government, they are doing an indispensable task.” “It is not surprising that some want to silence us when we bear witness to the voices of those who, otherwise, would not be heard. They are afraid of the truth because, once revealed, it can no longer be hidden or contained,” he added.
