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What do José María Heredia,
a 19th century poet who died in Mexico and Professor
Rafael Saumell-Muñoz have in common? Firstly,
they are both Cuban. Secondly, they both experienced
the reality of exile due to their writing. Thirdly,
they share a passion for the freedom of their homeland.
Frederick Aldama, an Ohio State University professor
of English, invited Saumell-Muñoz to come to
Ohio State. Aldama said, “It is important for the
scholarly community — students and faculty alike
— to be reminded that intellectual and creative
work matter in real material ways. This includes upholding
the right of all peoples to the freedom of expression,
even at the cost of serving five years in a maximum
security prison, as did Saumell-Muñoz in Cuba.”
The visit was supported by Clusters of Interdisciplinary
Research on International Themes (CIRIT), The Center
for Latin American Studies, The Department of Spanish
and Portuguese, and The Institute for Collaborative
Research and Public Humanities.
Rafael Saumell-Muñoz, a professor of Spanish
at Sam Houston State University, came to Ohio State
to lecture about the life of José María
Heredia, a famous Cuban poet who lived in the early
1800s. Heredia’s fame came from opposition to the
tyranny of Spanish colonial rule expressed through his
writings. As one of the first authors to publish poems
about independence in the Western Hemisphere, he became
an inspiration to José Martí, a famous
Cuban independence leader and exile. Saumell-Muñoz
remembered studying Heredia’s works in school as
a boy, yet he did not begin to identify with Heredia
on a personal basis until he also became a Cuban exile.
Rafael Saumell-Muñoz was born in Cuba in 1951.
He attended school and college there, majoring in French
literature. His life radically changed in 1981, when
he was arrested. He remembered, “They arrested
me because a person I thought was one of my closest
friends read the stories I was writing. He was a police
informant and told them that I was writing a counter-revolutionary
book and also had pornographic materials at home. If
people denounce others, they get better jobs, better
houses, and better salaries.” The Cuban government
deemed the collection of short-stories he was writing
as counter-revolutionary, and labeled him an enemy of
the state. The court sentenced him to five years in
prison for his writings, dropping the pornography charge
due to a lack of evidence. In 1988, Saumell-Muñoz
left Cuba and settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where
he obtained his doctorate in 1994.
Saumell-Muñoz eloquently discussed the history
of authors and artists in Latin America. He said, “Politics
has forced many artists and writers to leave their native
land, including José María Heredia. In
Latin America, if you are a writer and you go to prison,
that is a work-related accident. It comes with the territory.”
He also talked about his transition from a system where
the government had absolute control to an open, consumer
society in the United States. He recalled, “When
I first went to the store and could buy as much beef
as I could afford, I felt guilty because I was enjoying
that opportunity, but I left behind so many people.
It was very painful.”
What Rafael desires for his future and his country are
non-material freedoms. He stated, “We want to recover
the right to be actively involved in Cuban politics
or even to be indifferent to Cuban politics. We just
want to be together. We want to recover the right to
go back or to not go back to our island.”
José María Heredia died without ever having
the opportunity to return to his native country and
see changes taking place. Hopefully, Rafael Saumell-Muñoz’s
story will end differently.
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| Professor Rafael Saumell-Muñoz
(second from right) lectures about the hardships
of authors and artists in Latin America throughout
history. |
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