The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.59/No.45           December 4, 1995 
 
 
Cuban Editor Visits Miami  

BY ERNIE MAILHOT

MIAMI - Some 50 people attended a November 5 poetry reading and discussion with Norberto Codina and Jan Sebon at the Tap Tap Restaurant in Miami Beach.

Codina, an award winning poet from Cuba and editor of La Gaceta de Cuba, had stopped in Miami following a speaking tour to several cities in the United States. Sebon, a Haitian poet, painter, and musician, is a founder of the Haitian cultural group Koleksyon Kazak and is well known here as a supporter of the fight for democracy in Haiti and in defense of Haitian refugees.

The Tap Tap Restaurant is known as a center for activists in defense of Haitian rights and a number of them attended the poetry reading along with Cuban-Americans and others who oppose the economic blockade of Cuba. Some students and unionists attended as well.

Throughout the hour-long poetry reading, warm applause was given as each poet alternated reading their works. The reading was followed by a lively discussion on culture and politics in Cuba and Haiti today. Except for a disruptive reporter from Spanish-language TV Channel 51, the event went smoothly after the chairperson and audience told him to stop his outbursts.

Before his disruptions, the reporter had claimed that there is a form of apartheid in Cuba and no freedom of expression. Codina explained that in his opinion in no part of the world are people satisfied with the level of free expression but that in Cuba you can see more openings for expression, as represented in the pages of La Gaceta.

When asked about ties between Haiti and Cuba, Sebon noted that Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world and that many Haitians look to the example of Cuba today. Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara is a hero to many Haitians, he said. "This is because Haiti is still in struggle."

Codina discussed the rich cultural ties that have existed over the years between the United States and Cuba and how the economic blockade of the island had denied the people of the United States access to Cuban culture.

While in Miami, Codina also spoke to a meeting of Veye Yo, the main Haitian rights organization in the Miami area. More than a hundred people cheered Codina's presentation. A discussion period after the talk went much longer than had been originally scheduled.

One participant in the meeting started his comments by saying, "Thank you to Cuba and our Cuban friend because Cuba is the only country that I know where there is no discrimination against Haitian people. In all the other countries - the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, and the United States - we're discriminated against, but not in Cuba."

 
 
 
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