Something that Obama Left Us

Nonardo Perea

HAVANA TIMES — I find it very curious that President Obama’s address to the people of Cuba on March 22nd hasn’t been re-aired. I say I find this “curious” because these events tend to be covered extensively in Cuba, where they normally repeat things ad nauseum…but this wasn’t this case this time.

The same thing happened with the press conference the day before, where rather uncomfortable questions were put to our leader, and they only broadcast the opening words spoken by each of the government representatives. The part where journalists asked questions was snipped out, and those who didn’t see it during the live airing simply missed it.

Why did this happen? Could it be that, during this press conference, President Castro made it clear, and confirmed, that human rights aren’t fully respected in Cuba, and, what’s more, reveals his less-than-diplomatic aptitudes when he nearly exploded when a journalist asked him about political prisoners in Cuba and about the Ladies in White, who were detained that same morning.

It made me laugh to see him get nervous and not understand some of the questions. Instead of replying, he preferred to ask a question to the journalist, though logic dictated he was supposed to be able to reply to the question. Anyone who saw this, saw him put on and take off the headsets. At one point, I thought he simply didn’t know how to use them.

In light of such aptitudes, I thought that he is no longer fit for such events, as one needs certain skills for that, such as a way with words, presence of mind, the ability to turn the question in on itself, as our beloved Fidel Castro used to do, an expert in changing the subject and walking away from this victorious.

It’s been demonstrated that our current president is far too impulsive, that he doesn’t like being asked too many questions, particularly those he doesn’t know the answer to, or knows the answer to and doesn’t want to share it.

The whole time, I got the impression he was eager to get things over with. He would look at the clock and he was obviously uncomfortable. He even ended up grabbing Obama’s arm as though he were welcoming him, waving it in the air like the arm of the straw man in The Wizard of Oz.

Our comedians are surely coming up with new jokes and skits to delight us. In the meantime, without access to the Internet, I’ll have to wait for the weekly package to have a blast with the memes and parodies surrounding this event, as these begin to flood the Internet.