Open Letter against censorship of anti-Castro Cuban film in New York
Penúltimos Días
March 24, 2017

Foto shot from trailer "Santa and Andrés"

Last week, Cuban filmmaker Carlos Díaz Lechuga announced that his film Santa and Andrés had been excluded from the competition in the 18th Havana Film Festival of New York, which will take place in that city from March 30th to April 7th.

This is not the first time that Lechuga’s film has been censored. Last December, it was banned from the Havana Film Festival, in Havana, Cuba. This exclusion, though unjustified, followed its own logic: Santa and Andrés shows the repression and harassment against a homosexual Cuban intellectual a few decades ago. The censorship from the Cuban cultural institutions against Lechuga’s film was a confirmation of the very repressive nature of the system.

But if it is logical that in Cuba the regime rejects its own reflection, it is inconceivable that a cultural institution in New York would emulate a dictatorship.

We, filmmakers, artists and creators, strongly denounce the censorship of Cuban artists, not only in their country of origin, but also in the United States, a nation in which so many artists from around the world have sought refuge from the violation of their right to express themselves, and to create and disseminate their work.

If we are repulsed that these things occur in Cuba, it is more intolerable for us that such authoritarian practices take place in the United States. Particularly when this is done while invoking the need to create bridges between both countries, which is what Carole Rosenberg, Executive Director of the Havana Film Festival of New York, did to justify her collaboration with Cuban cultural authorities in the double censorship of Santa and Andrés.

Establishing links with institutions from a dictatorial regime, while at the same time closing the door to the freest and most critical voices of a repressive society does not promote bridges, it thwarts freedom of expression and democracy. Collaborating with the repressors is an attack on liberty in any place and time, all the more so in New York, a city in which José Martí, Félix Varela, Reinaldo Arenas and so many other intellectuals and artists lived and created in freedom.

We call on public and private institutions that sponsor the Havana Film Festival of New York to withdraw financial support to projects that go against the free and inclusive spirit of the city of New York and the Constitution of the United States.

Signed by:

Orlando Jiménez Leal, filmmaker
 Andy García, actor, producer, director
 Susana Pérez, actress
 León Ichaso, filmmaker
 Iván Acosta, playwright and filmmaker
 Olatz López Garmendía, filmmaker
 Rolando Díaz, filmmaker
 Roberto San Martín, actor
 Tania Bruguera, visual artist
 Orlando Rojas, filmmaker
 Lester Hamlet, filmmaker
 Alysa Nahmias, filmmaker
 Paquito D’Rivera, musician
 Manuel Castedo, president of the Cuban Cultural Center of New York
 Mari Rodríguez Ichaso, filmmaker and journalist
 Gustavo Pérez-Firmat, writer
 Adriana Bosch, filmmaker
 Manuel Arce, screenwriter and producer
 Camilo Vila, filmmaker
 Carmen Pelaez, filmmaker
 Carlos Alberto Montaner, writer and journalist
 Raúl Kim, filmmaker
 Rosie Inguanzo, actress
 Humberto López y Guerra, filmmaker
 Rafael Almanza, poet
 Humberto Calzada, painter
 Estela Martinez, filmmaker
 Didier Santos, filmmaker
 Reny Díaz, producer
 Alina Rodríguez, filmmaker
 Arístides Falcón-Paradí, filmmaker and writer
 Pablo A, Medina, visual artist
 Mabel Cuesta, writer and professor
 Lilo Vilaplana, filmmaker
 Miguel Sirgado, journalist and editor
 Pedro Monge Rafuls, playwright y editor
 Iraida Iturralde, poet
 Lourdes Gil, writer and professor
 Perla Rozencvaig, professor
 Carlos Espasande, art director
 Alejandro Ríos, crítico cinematográfico
 Pablo F. Medina, writer
 David Oquendo, musician
 Alfredo Triff, musician and writer
 Aurora de Armendi, visual artist
 Eliécer Jiménez, filmmaker
 Alexis Romay, writer
 Valerie Block, writer
 Néstor Díaz de Villegas, writer, film critic
 Luis Cruz Azaceta, visual artist
 Alberto Lauro, poet
 Adriana Méndez Rodenas, literary critic
 Ángel Delgado, visual artist
 Elvis Fuentes, curator
 Geandy Pavón, visual artist
 Gladys Triana, visual artist
 Alejandro Aguilera, visual artista
 Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, writer
 Enrique Del Risco, writer
 Alejandro Anreus, art critic, curator
 Ana Olema, producer
 Maya Islas, poet
 Juan Antonio Blanco, writer and professor
 Armando Añel, writer and journalist
 Lourdes Zayas- Bazán, professor
 Eduardo Zayas- Bazán, writer and professor.
 Rudely Cepero, writer and professor
 Carlos Sotuyo, writer and professor
 Nils Longueira, film critic
 Michel G. Nunez, journalist.
 Armando Guiller, sculptor
 Emilio Sánchez, journalist.
 Jorge I. Domínguez-López, writer, editor
 Ernesto Hernández Busto, writer and journalist.