Parameters, Uncertainty and Recognition: The Politics of Culture in Cuba 81
statement about the errors committed in the area of cultural policy, Ambro-
sio Fornet mentions Fidel Castro's “Palabra a los intelectuales” as “fortu-
nately” the “main organizing principle of our cultural policy” over the past
decades, “except during the dramatic interregnum of the pavonato” (Fornet,
2007). Fornet talks about the First Congress on Education and Culture of
1971 and about a Commission of that Congress as a turning point allowing a
certain faction to take over most of the cultural field, with only a few organi-
zations like UNEAC and ICAIC preserving some autonomy. For Fornet the
nightmare ended on November 30th, 1976, when the new Ministry of Cul-
ture was created and Armando Hart became minister. Desiderio Navarro
goes a bit farther: “In my article, ‘In media res publicas’ I have talked about
the responsibility of politicians and the limitations of the critical role of the
intellectual—above all in the years in which culture was conducted by Luis
Pavón—but this is only half the problem. The other half-worthy of another
article-is the responsibility of the intellectuals: without the silence and pas-
sivity of almost all of them (not to mention the complicity and opportunism
of more than a few) the ‘Five Grey Years’ or the ‘Pavonato,’ as many now call
it, would not have been possible, or, in any case, would not have been possi-
ble with the great destructiveness it had” (Navarro, 2007). He significantly
raises the question of why “at just this singular moment in the history of our
country when all our people hang on the convalescence of the Commander-
in-Chief, is this sudden and glorious media resurrection of Luis Pavon pro-
duced?” In other words, not only is Fidel innocent of the Pavonato, as if he
was out of the country from 1971 to 1976: now adversaries within the field
take advantage of his convalescence to bring back fallen bureaucrats.
Two lessons can be drawn from the “wars of the emails.” First, official
writers reacted to the possible return of a group that had officially been
repudiated. In that sense, even though this mini-revolt was highly unusual
and therefore noteworthy, the writers’ reaction was literally conservative. Sec-
ond, Cuban intellectuals considered this episode as an internal conflict
within the politico-cultural field, without challenging the master narrative
shielded by the primary parameters (quite the opposite, as we saw).