CUBAN LIBRARIES SOLIDARITY GROUP
Resources on Cuba

November 17, 2003

Excerpt from the book The Dissidents, by Rosa Miriam Elizalde and Luis Báez, dedicated to "...the anonymous heroes that, within and outside of Cuba, struggle in the shadows so that we never lack the light." Chapter title is "Money is what moves dissidence."

Translation by Dana Lubow, edited by Mark Rosenzweig.

Interview with Agent Otuardo Hernández Rodríguez

Q: Were there other news agencies in the life of agent Yanier?

Journalism no, but I was linked to the “independent libraries” project. I believe in my own case, that I called “independent library head ‘Felix Varela,” and I went to the Interests Section to register it.

Q: We are going to go in parts: Who suggested organizing a library? How was the idea suggested to register at the Interests Section of the United States (SINA)?

The person who spoke to me about founding one was Gisela Delgado, the wife of Héctor Palacios, who I met in Havana, during a trip that I made with Mario Mayo. She gave us some literature, statements about human rights, she began to sweet-talk us and to tell us that by that way she was going to give us money and medicines, fax, computers, radios… She painted a very seductive picture. During that time the direction of the library project had been divided, one part was in Las Tunas and the other in Havana. In Oriente, there was Ramón Colás. In Havana, Gisela. The two were presented as directors. Gisela Delgada made a proposal to me to organize mine in Camagüey, work with her and register it at the Interest Section. I had my doubts because I was very loaded down with work,

Q: What other responsibilities did you have?

I was the independent journalist of the “Felix Varela” agency, President of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights of Camagüey and I just had just associated myself with Odilia Collazo in order to be the delegate of her control office for human rights and, additionally, Gisela made a proposition to me that I would represent the subsidiary of the “independent libraries”… It was too much.

Nevertheless, Gisela called Odeilia to talk with her, but she wasn’t at home and communicated with Martha Beatriz Roque, who dictated my personal data over the telephone, although in practice she never went to make my registration official. Finally, Gisela called the Interest Section, spoke a bit with someone, gave all my data, told me that she had already registered the library and that now the only thing that remained was that she will present me there.

Q: How was it arranged?

When I returned to Camagüey, Mario Mayo told me that it was madness, since I was also to look after that library project, and began to make arguments to discourage me, which only strengthened my resolve in front of the rest of them. I had received instructions from my official not to involve me in that thing. When we returned to Havana ­ Mario was invited to lunch with the then boss of the Interests Section, Vicky Huddleston. We brought up the situation with Gisela. However, I nevertheless accompanied Mario to the Interest Section. There they gave us books, white paper, envelopes, summaries of news from the Miami Herald. I remembered that because it was during those days that the fascist coup against Chavez had recently occurred in Venezuela, and almost the only thing that they spoke about in the news in the Herald was about that.

Q: Why did they give you that documentation?

I didn’t agree to be the representative of the “librarians” in Camagüey, but I made my own library "special".

Q/ What books did they give you?

Biographical sketches of the United States, its government, its economy, speeches of Bush, those types of books that nobody would be bothered to read, but we had to bring them in any case, if we wanted them to give us other things.

Q: Like what?

Novels of West, dictionaries, children’s stories...

Q: Did they give you instructions at the Interests Section about the “Independent Libraries”?

They gave me the list of libraries in the country. That was a fraud. Mario Mayo himself realized, because Omar Darío turned up. He told me he “has only four books and tries not to loan them.” We laughed at the people that appeared there, from Camagüey. We knew them all. Mario told me how Omar Darío looked for books in the Interest Section in order to sell them. Later Omar himself told me his version of the facts, which blamed Mario for picking up a pile of English-Spanish dictionaries, in order to get some money. He had even inquired about a loan and he was told that they couldn’t help him any longer.

Q: How many dictionaries did they give you?

They gave one per library. But there were times when they let you pass a store in order that the same one chose the books. For me that didn’t happen. Nevertheless, I had received instructions from Mario about what I had to do.

Q: What did he say?

He told me: “If they let you pass by the store, look for a box and first put inall the books that interest you. Then put on top of them those that talk about the U.S. and human rights, that is what interests the Interests Section that is read in Cuba.” Then he warned me not to worry myself with dictionaries, because they were made with a paper that wasn’t heavy. Mario visited there often because he had a very good relationship with Vicky Huddleston.

Q: They brought books to your house?

The truck from SINA, -- a van that was driven by a Cuban ­visited me in Camagüey on three occasions and left me deliveries of books.

Interview with Agents Yamila Pérez Reyes and Noel Ascanio Montero.

Q: Were you the ones that wrote a letter to the director of the National Library, Eliades Acosta, when he published an article in “Rebellious Youth” about the “independent libraries”?

Yamila: It was in March, 2002. Jadir Hernández and Noel, my husband, wrote it up. He was among the signatories. The only library that was functioning at that moment in the municipality of Güines was the one that was in my house.

Q: How was it supplied?

Yamila: This library was always supplied, from the beginning, thanks to what the Interest Section gave us. We picked up books there and they sent others. They brought everything, from the magazines Dissident and the Hispano-Cubana, up to some universal literature.

Q: When did first go to the Interests Section of the United States?

Noel: When Miguel Galván got close to me and told me that he needed a secretary for the Engineering College and Independent Agronomists” of Cuba (CIAIC) ­ look at that name—, He in reality wanted an interview with someone from the Interest Section, in order to make himself known to them. We visited the Interests Section March 12, 2001.

Q: With whom did you interview?

Noel: With an employee named Patricia French, from the Service Office of Human Rights. She was interested in the projections from the Engineering College, its composition and expectations of economic remuneration. She gave us some magazines, Cubanet and The Dissident ­ and made arrangements with us for another meeting right there.

Noel: Miguel, who was very nervous and dropped some things he was holding, had the idea of bringing her something big that would make an impression… And so it was. She made arrangements for another meeting at SINA, in July, 2001.

Q: The same employee met you?

Noel: We went, but for other reason, for the “independent libraries”. Mary Ann McKay, responsible for Press and Culture welcomed us. She was interested with our independent library” and its activities, its popular acceptance and its projections for the future. She asked about the inhabitants of Güines and their reading habits. She took notes about everything. She also gave us books, pamphlets, and counter-revolutionary magazines. There were almost forty copies. We couldn’t carry them.

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