Heberto Padilla

Although Padilla initially supported the revolution led by Fidel Castro, by the late 1960s he began to criticize it openly and in 1971, he was imprisoned by the Castro regime.[3]

Padilla's criticism of the Castro Regime was prompted by the changing role of the writer in the new revolutionary society of Cuba, and the brewing hostilities between Cuban cultural bureaucrats and the Cuban writers. During the 1950s, writers in Cuba had shown strength and vigor in the production of cultural institutions and creative material, including the Casa de las Américas and the publication of Lunes de Revolución.[4] However, cultural bureaucrats had begun to be more critical towards art produced, and banned the movie P.M., a film about night life in Cuba. This perpetuated already existing distrust between the Popular Socialist Party, and Lunes de Revolución, who had sponsored the television platform that P.M. was shown on. Following this crisis, the writers of Lunes de Revolución, among other Cuban writers, were invited to a series of discussions at the National Library, where leaders of the PSP accused them of being divisive and not truly socialist. The heated nature of these debates demanded the intervention of Fidel Castro, himself, who then, in this speech, outlined the government's cultural policy: there will be tolerance towards all forms of artistic expression, as long as there was a basic support for the Revolution.[4]

Padilla began to get frustrated with the growing government interference in cultural affairs. In 1968, this underlying tension manifested in a debate published in the cultural magazine, El Caimán Barbudo, where Padilla wrote a scathing critique of Lisandro Otero's Pasión de Urbino, a novel that was considered for the Spanish Biblioteca Breve award, but was beat out by Tres Triste Tigres by Guillermo Cabrera Infante. In Padilla's article, he denounces Pasión de Urbino, as well as its bureaucratic author, Otero, who was the Vice President of the Cultural Council.[5] Padilla proceeded to praise Tres Triste Tigres, calling it one of the most brilliant, ingenious and profoundly Cuban novels ever written.[5] Therefore, Padilla not only attacked, Otero, a high-ranking cultural official but praised Cabrera Infante, who had publicly condemned the Revolution and the conditions of writers within Cuba, dangerously branding Padilla as an ally to traitor to the Revolution.[4] Following this scandal, the editorial board of El Caimán Barbudo that published this debate was fired and Padilla had also lost his job working at the Granma, or one of the government sanctioned news outlets in Cuba.

Padilla's frustration was only exacerbated when the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists, or the UNEAC, awarded the "Julián de Casal" to Heberto Padilla's collection of critical poems, Fuera del juego in 1968, which would allow it to be published and distributed to the public.[6] Before Fuera del juego was published, the UNEAC had heavily criticized the decision, and underwent a series of discussions about the counterrevolutionary nature of the book. The series of poems contained blatant revolutionary skepticism, especially in the poem titled Fuera del juego, where he outlines the difference between a good revolutionary and a bad revolutionary.[7] Although the poem, as well as the book, presents a critical stance on the Revolution, it does so to prevent the Revolution from "supra-bureacracy or militarization".[6] The decision, however, was upheld, and Fuera del juego was published with a political disclaimer, but the criticisms of Padilla's work did not halt here. A series of articles were posted in Verde Olivo, the magazine of the armed forces, under the name Leopaldo Avila, prompting a stricter outline of the government's cultural policy.[4] The conditional tolerance of Cuban literature required more than just a basic support for the Revolution. Thus a declaration of principles was created and approved at the Congress of Writers and Artists in 1968 that further defined the role of the writer in Cuba, stating that the writer has to not only support the Revolution, but contribute to it through utilizing literature as a "weapon against weakness and problems which, directly or indirectly, could hinder this advance."[4]

With the strengthening of the overall cultural policy of the Cuban government in an attempt to avoid the weakening of the Revolutionary ideology, vigilance towards Cuban writers had increased, punishing them for even slightly deviating from Castro's communist praxis. Thus on March 20, 1971, Heberto Padilla was arrested and jailed for his work, Fuera del juego. To illustrate the trivial nature of revolutionary vigilance, one of the charges brought against Fuera del juego was Padilla's conception of history, where he described time as a circle. This was seen as counterrevolutionary. In UNEAC's official point of view, they stated, "He has expressed his anti-historical attitude by means of exalting individualism in opposition to collective demands of a country in the midst of historical development and by also stating his idea of time as a reoccurring a repeating circle instead of an ascending line."[6]

Padilla was released thirty-seven days after being imprisoned, but not before delivering a statement of self-criticism to a UNEAC meeting. In this statement he had confessed to the charges brought against him, describing himself to be what his adversaries accused him of being: a counterrevolutionary, subtle, insidious, and malignant.[8] He had also accused other writers, including his own wife, and urged them to follow his lead of conforming to the Revolutionary society.[1]

After Padilla's statement of self-criticism, a number of prominent Latin American, North American, and European intellectuals, including Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar, Susan Sontag, and Jean-Paul Sartre, spoke out against Padilla's incarceration, and the resulting controversy came to be known as "the Padilla affair."[1] Though Padilla was released from prison, he was still not allowed to leave the country until 1980.

He lived in New York, Washington, D.C. and Madrid, before finally settling in Princeton, NJ. Padilla was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Farrar Straus & Giroux published several editions of his poetry, a novel, En mi jardín pastan los héroes (translated as Heroes Are Grazing in My Garden), and a book of memoirs, La mala memoria (translated as Self-Portrait of the Other).

He was the Elena Amos Distinguished Scholar in Latin American Studies at Columbus State University, Columbus GA, 1999–2000. He died on 25 September 2000 while teaching at Auburn University in Alabama.

Heberto Padilla Heberto Padilla was a controversial Cuban poet that is known for standing up against Fidel Castro; the President of Cuba from 1979-2008. Padillas poem, “In Trying Times” is a tribute to the struggles that the Cuban people faced during the time of Castro’s leadership. This poem uses many metaphors to portray different rights that the citizens of Cuba had striped away from them. Two of these metaphors include “turn his tongue over to them” and “take a walk.”

One of the metaphors that is important in this piece is “turn your tongue over to them. (In Trying Times)” Colleen Sweeney states that “None of those rights is a match for the right to speak out.” In other words the right to speak up and out is more important than any other right because it allows us to testify what is right and what is wrong. We take for granted the ability to speak out, not everyone has this luxury. We should use this liberty to better our country and do what is fair and just. Heberto Padilla used his right to speak and was accused with treason which led to his jail time and later his exile. However, he never stopped trying even though he had lost everything.

Another metaphor that is used in “In Trying Times” is “take a walk.” Celestine Bohem says “[Padilla’s] criticism of Fidel Castro's rule landed him first in jail and later in exile.” This elucidates to the fact that Padilla was held captive and forced out of his home for most of his life, despite the fact that he did nothing wrong. This is ironic because the government is “begging” him to “take a walk” despite the fact that Padilla and the citizens of Cuba are being held hostage. Imagine being bottled up, forced to speak about things that are not true, and kicked out of your home. This is what Padilla had to deal with throughout his life. “In Trying Times” helped show the people of Cuba that despite the fact that he was being tortured he never gave up.

As one can see, Heberto Padillas' life was a very difficult one. However Padilla was able to use those challenges to write poetry that is still talked about today. “In Trying Times” used metaphors to tell the citizens of Cuba and others what was going on and how he felt about the situation. We should use the abilities and rights that we have to better our community because, as shown, not everyone has that opportunity.

Works Cited:

Colleen Sweeney. “Fidel Castro.” Prezi. 2020 Prezi Inc. 9/23/2020 https://prezi.com/kcgpnnbokmyl/fidel-castro/

Celestine Bohlen. “Heberto Padilla, 68, Cuban Poet, Is Dead” The New York Times. Sept. 28, 2000 The New York Times Co. 9/24/2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/28/arts/heberto-padilla-68-cuban-poet-is-dead.html

Heberto Padilla. “In Trying Times” Reading the World. Alastair Reid and Andrew Hurley. Connections Literature. 9/18/2020.