The appointment of Lizette Martínez Luzardo As the new Vice Minister of Culture of Cuba, she was criticized by civil society actors who identified her as one of the repressors of the young people who demonstrated on January 27, 2021 in front of the ministry headquarters.
Martínez Luzardo, who served as General Director of Cultural Policies of the MINCULT, was one of the officials who accompanied the minister Alpidio Alonso Grau to confront the young people who were asking for dialogue with the authorities and an end to the repression against artists and activists of 27N.
The events also involved the recently dismissed vice minister, Fernando Rojas Gutierrez, who, together with Alonso Grau and Martínez Luzardo, attacked the young protesters, reaching the use of physical violence and collaborating with State Security in their violent detention.
After the events, Cuban television broadcast a reportage hosted by the presenter and spokesperson of the Counterintelligence cuban, Humberto Lopez, where only the MINCULT workers were given a voice, without showing the aggression of the minister and his henchmen against those who came to the institution to demonstrate peacefully.
“One of the new Vice Ministers of Culture, appointed to replace Fernando Rojas and Kenelma Carvajal, already comes with a repressive history at the service of those who promote her today. This is Lizzete Martínez Luzardo,” the independent journalist said this Tuesday on X. José Raúl Gallego.
The young official, the activist recalled, “had already been awarded a position as a deputy in the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) and was one of the MINCULT officials who participated in the repression of young artists on January 27, 2021.”
“She was also one of those in charge along with the current president of the ICAIC, Alexis Triana Hernandez, and the spokesperson Humberto López, of lying and justifying the repression of that day on national television,” Gallego recalled.
Born on January 16, 1987 (she will turn 37 soon), Martínez Luzardo represents that caste of people who embody what the philosopher Hannah Arendt conceptualized as the “banality of evil.”
These are officials who act within the rules of the system to which they belong without reflecting on their actions or their consequences, out of pure inclination and obedience to the power of their superiors.
“When I arrive at the Ministry of Culture, I find Vice Minister Fernando talking to the young people who were gathered there and asking them to please come in. I agree with Fernando when I saw that the attitude of the young people was... it was a challenging attitude. Offenses were even said at the time that Fernando was trying to talk to them,” Martínez Luzardo told López the day after the events.
Accompanied by the then MINCULT communications director, Triana Hernández, the young official gave “her testimony” about what happened on January 27th. According to him, the protesters were “challenging, laughing and with a clear position that they did not want to enter the Ministry of Culture.”
“I don't understand, who had to give them the order to enter?” he asked. “It was like a game to waste our time. I felt that way… I even felt attacked. Where is the limit? The attitude was provocative. I've said several times that it was challenging because that's what I saw. That's what I felt. I mean, nobody told me. So, suddenly feeling attacked, challenged, laughed at our intelligence, is something very complicated.”
As he defended on National Television, Martínez Luzardo did not respond to “orders” from superiors. “They didn't call us there. Seeing what was happening, we simply responded.”
“In other words, I participated, I was there, I arrived just at that moment and I believed, above all, that my duty was first of all to accompany Fernando, who is our work colleague, because in addition Fernando's attitude has always been very simplicity at all times. And then accompany the group, my work group,” he added.
In addition to Rojas Gutiérrez, this Monday the vice minister was also dismissed Kenelma Carvajal Pérez, and named as such Lillitsy Hernández Oliva, current president of the National Council of the Performing Arts.
These changes in the MINCULT, widely demanded by artists and union workers - especially in the case of Fernando Rojas, who now serves as an advisor to the minister -, are part of a political maneuver that many have seen as a distraction strategy, since they were announced just when the Cuban regime approved a “package” of measures, with a general increase in prices of goods and services, pursuing the alleged objective of “correct distortions and re-boost the economy”.
What do you think?
SEE COMMENTS (2)Filed in:
