<p>本月早些時候，民主黨眾議員普拉米拉·賈亞帕爾（Pramila Jayapal，華盛頓州）和喬納森·傑克遜（Jonathan Jackson，伊利諾伊州）從古巴返回，呼籲減少美國的 “言辭” 並重新考慮制裁，他們將此次旅行框定為人道主義考察任務。不幸的是，他們帶回來的太多內容是古巴政權關於自身的宣傳。</p>
<p>毫無疑問，近期美國的政策加劇了本已嚴峻的局勢。更嚴格的制裁，特別是對石油運輸的限制，加劇了古巴脆弱的能源部門，導致停電和短缺，影響到日常生活。任何誠實的敍述都必須承認這一點。</p>
<p>但僅止於此就是接受哈瓦那的敍述：古巴的苦難主要是外部壓力的結果，而不是一個幾十年來優先考慮控制而非能力、壓制而非改革的政治體系。</p>
<p>這種敍述在立法者的訪問中得到了充分展示。賈亞帕爾和傑克遜動情地談論古巴的物質困境，並呼籲美國採取更少懲罰性的方式。他們對普通古巴人的關心是可以理解的。但關心並不等同於清晰。一次關注短缺而未能充分面對管理、分配並常常將短缺武器化的政治體系的訪問，風險在於強化古巴政府最希望外國訪客帶回的故事。</p>
<p>面對一個監禁異議人士、限制表達並維持一個壓制生產和分配的集中控制體系的政府，這些立法者選擇了不去質疑權力，而是去附和它。</p>
<p>這樣一來，他們的角色更像是放大器，而不是觀察者——或者用一個更古老且嚴厲的術語來説，是 “有用的白痴”，參與了一個為他們聲稱以人道主義關懷接近的政權服務的木偶劇。</p>
<p>古巴政權早已理解與外國同情者進行精心策劃的接觸的價值。它提供接觸、親近和被接待的安靜聲望，這是一種經過精心管理的窺視，強化了其偏好的論點，同時壓制異議聲音。它所不提供的是未經調解的現實。而那些接受邀請的人往往未能超越所展示的內容。</p>
<p>在我早期訪問古巴期間，我與島上的政治精英關係密切。我曾與瑪麗埃拉·卡斯特羅（Mariela Castro）和古巴五人組之一的赫拉爾多·埃爾南德斯（Gerardo Hernández）以及一些文化人物交往，他們的知名度依賴於不偏離官方劇本。我不僅得到了一個波將金式的窺視，而是前排觀看了一個精心策劃的革命古巴的表演。</p>
<p>我知道這個劇本是多麼具有説服力，因為我曾經也相信其中的一部分。</p>
<p>然後我走出了這個劇本。我發現的並不僅僅是貧困——這可能有多種原因——而是一個剝奪和依賴與政治控制密不可分的體系。獲取、特權和救濟與權力的親近緊密相連。普通人被迫在早已成為結構性短缺的情況下即興求生。</p>
<p>在後來的訪問中，我開始走在哈瓦那老城和哈瓦那中心的街道上。我與普通古巴人交談。我走進公寓，親眼目睹了官方敍述努力掩蓋的衰敗、剝奪和安靜的絕望。許多外國同情者仍然傾向於通過浪漫的鏡頭看待古巴國家，但這種視角在與現實接觸後並未存活。</p>
<p>這種現實依然嚴峻。獨立記者、藝術家和活動家繼續描述監視、任意拘留和對錶達的嚴重限制。近期因輕微異議行為而被監禁的事件凸顯了政府在管控言論和公共生活方面的決心。</p>
<p>所有這些並不需要淡化美國製裁可能造成的傷害。人們可以反對加深人類苦難的政策，同時也要追究古巴政府對其公民所承受條件的責任。知識的誠實要求兩者兼顧。</p>
<p>更難以辯護的是那些以團結名義完全混淆這種區別的姿態。當美國立法者或活動家將古巴的危機主要歸因於華盛頓時，他們冒着免除造成並延續這一危機的體系的風險。</p>
<p>民主黨國會成員——無論多麼進步——都應抵制將精心策劃的接觸誤認為真相的誘惑。一個人道的古巴政策必須同時考慮制裁可能造成的傷害和當前政權在製造其巧妙向外宣傳的苦難中所扮演的核心角色。</p>
<p><em>喬治·亨森（George Henson），博士，是蒙特雷國際研究所西班牙語翻譯的訪問助理教授。</em></p>

CUBA

<p>民主黨眾議員普拉米拉·賈亞帕爾和喬納森·傑克遜最近的古巴之行被框架為人道主義使命，但因與古巴政權的宣傳相呼應而受到批評。文章承認美國製裁加劇了古巴的困境，但認為將危機完全歸因於外部壓力忽視了內部政治體制在延續苦難中的作用。作者強調需要對古巴的情況進行細緻的理解，既要認識到制裁的影響，也要承認政權對其公民困境的責任</p>

<p>When Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.) returned from Cuba earlier this month urging less U.S. “rhetoric” and a reconsideration of sanctions, they framed their trip as a humanitarian fact-finding mission. Unfortunately, too much of what they brought back was the Cuban regime’s preferred propaganda about itself.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>本月早些時候，民主黨眾議員普拉米拉·賈亞帕爾（Pramila Jayapal，華盛頓州）和喬納森·傑克遜（Jonathan Jackson，伊利諾伊州）從古巴返回，呼籲減少美國的 “言辭” 並重新考慮制裁，他們將此次旅行框定為人道主義考察任務。不幸的是，他們帶回來的太多內容是古巴政權關於自身的宣傳。</p>
</div><p>There is no question that recent U.S. policy has worsened an already dire situation. Tighter sanctions, particularly restrictions on oil shipments, have aggravated Cuba’s fragile energy sector, contributing to blackouts and shortages that ripple across daily life. Any honest account must acknowledge that.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>毫無疑問，近期美國的政策加劇了本已嚴峻的局勢。更嚴格的制裁，特別是對石油運輸的限制，加劇了古巴脆弱的能源部門，導致停電和短缺，影響到日常生活。任何誠實的敍述都必須承認這一點。</p>
</div><p>But to stop there is to adopt Havana’s preferred narrative: that Cuba’s suffering is primarily the result of external pressure rather than a political system that has spent decades prioritizing control over competence, repression over reform.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>但僅止於此就是接受哈瓦那的敍述：古巴的苦難主要是外部壓力的結果，而不是一個幾十年來優先考慮控制而非能力、壓制而非改革的政治體系。</p>
</div><p>That narrative was on full display during the lawmakers’ visit. Jayapal and Jackson spoke movingly about Cuba’s material hardships and urged a less punitive U.S. approach. Their concern for ordinary Cubans is understandable. But concern is not the same as clarity. A visit that focuses on scarcity without fully confronting the political system that manages, distributes and often weaponizes scarcity risks reinforcing the very story the Cuban government most wants foreign visitors to take home.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>這種敍述在立法者的訪問中得到了充分展示。賈亞帕爾和傑克遜動情地談論古巴的物質困境，並呼籲美國採取更少懲罰性的方式。他們對普通古巴人的關心是可以理解的。但關心並不等同於清晰。一次關注短缺而未能充分面對管理、分配並常常將短缺武器化的政治體系的訪問，風險在於強化古巴政府最希望外國訪客帶回的故事。</p>
</div><p>Faced with a government that imprisons dissenters, restricts expression and maintains a system of centralized control that stifles production and distribution, these lawmakers chose not to interrogate power but to echo it.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>面對一個監禁異議人士、限制表達並維持一個壓制生產和分配的集中控制體系的政府，這些立法者選擇了不去質疑權力，而是去附和它。</p>
</div><p>In doing so, they functioned less as observers than as amplifiers — or, to use an older and harsher term, as “useful idiots,” participants in puppet theater that serves the interests of the very regime they claim to approach with humanitarian concern.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>這樣一來，他們的角色更像是放大器，而不是觀察者——或者用一個更古老且嚴厲的術語來説，是 “有用的白痴”，參與了一個為他們聲稱以人道主義關懷接近的政權服務的木偶劇。</p>
</div><p>The Cuban regime has long understood the value of curated encounters with foreign sympathizers. It offers access, proximity and the quiet prestige of being received, a carefully managed glimpse that reinforces its preferred talking points while muting dissenting voices. What it does not offer is unmediated reality. And too often, those who accept the invitation fail to look beyond what is shown.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>古巴政權早已理解與外國同情者進行精心策劃的接觸的價值。它提供接觸、親近和被接待的安靜聲望，這是一種經過精心管理的窺視，強化了其偏好的論點，同時壓制異議聲音。它所不提供的是未經調解的現實。而那些接受邀請的人往往未能超越所展示的內容。</p>
</div><p>During my early visits to Cuba, I moved in circles close to the island’s political elite. I spent time around Mariela Castro and Gerardo Hernández, one of the Cuban Five, as well as cultural figures whose prominence depends on not straying too far from the official script. I was given not merely a Potemkin glimpse, but a front-row seat to a carefully staged production of revolutionary Cuba.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>在我早期訪問古巴期間，我與島上的政治精英關係密切。我曾與瑪麗埃拉·卡斯特羅（Mariela Castro）和古巴五人組之一的赫拉爾多·埃爾南德斯（Gerardo Hernández）以及一些文化人物交往，他們的知名度依賴於不偏離官方劇本。我不僅得到了一個波將金式的窺視，而是前排觀看了一個精心策劃的革命古巴的表演。</p>
</div><p>I know how persuasive that script can be, because I once believed parts of it myself.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>我知道這個劇本是多麼具有説服力，因為我曾經也相信其中的一部分。</p>
</div><p>Then I stepped outside of it. What I found was not merely poverty — which can have many causes — but a system in which deprivation and dependency were inseparable from political control. Access, privilege and relief were tied to proximity to power. Ordinary people were left to improvise survival amid shortages that had long since become structural.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>然後我走出了這個劇本。我發現的並不僅僅是貧困——這可能有多種原因——而是一個剝奪和依賴與政治控制密不可分的體系。獲取、特權和救濟與權力的親近緊密相連。普通人被迫在早已成為結構性短缺的情況下即興求生。</p>
</div><p>During later visits, I began to walk the streets of Habana Vieja and Centro Habana. I spoke with ordinary Cubans. I went into tenements and saw firsthand the decay, deprivation and quiet despair that official narratives work so hard to obscure. The romantic lens through which many foreign sympathizers still prefer to view the Cuban state did not survive contact with reality.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>在後來的訪問中，我開始走在哈瓦那老城和哈瓦那中心的街道上。我與普通古巴人交談。我走進公寓，親眼目睹了官方敍述努力掩蓋的衰敗、剝奪和安靜的絕望。許多外國同情者仍然傾向於通過浪漫的鏡頭看待古巴國家，但這種視角在與現實接觸後並未存活。</p>
</div><p>That reality remains grim. Independent journalists, artists and activists continue to describe surveillance, arbitrary detention and severe limits on expression. Recent imprisonments for minor acts of dissent underscore how determined the government remains to police speech and public life.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>這種現實依然嚴峻。獨立記者、藝術家和活動家繼續描述監視、任意拘留和對錶達的嚴重限制。近期因輕微異議行為而被監禁的事件凸顯了政府在管控言論和公共生活方面的決心。</p>
</div><p>None of this requires minimizing the damage U.S. sanctions can inflict. One can oppose policies that deepen human suffering while also holding the Cuban government accountable for the conditions its citizens endure. Intellectual honesty demands both.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>所有這些並不需要淡化美國製裁可能造成的傷害。人們可以反對加深人類苦難的政策，同時也要追究古巴政府對其公民所承受條件的責任。知識的誠實要求兩者兼顧。</p>
</div><p>What is harder to defend is the posture of those who, in the name of solidarity, collapse that distinction entirely. When U.S. lawmakers or activists attribute Cuba’s crisis primarily to Washington, they risk absolving the very system that has produced and prolonged that crisis.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>更難以辯護的是那些以團結名義完全混淆這種區別的姿態。當美國立法者或活動家將古巴的危機主要歸因於華盛頓時，他們冒着免除造成並延續這一危機的體系的風險。</p>
</div><p>Democratic members of Congress — no matter how progressive — should resist the temptation to mistake curated access for truth. A humane Cuba policy must reckon with both the harm sanctions can cause and the central role the current regime plays in producing the suffering it so skillfully markets abroad.</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>民主黨國會成員——無論多麼進步——都應抵制將精心策劃的接觸誤認為真相的誘惑。一個人道的古巴政策必須同時考慮制裁可能造成的傷害和當前政權在製造其巧妙向外宣傳的苦難中所扮演的核心角色。</p>
</div><p><em>George Henson, Ph.D., is visiting assistant professor of Spanish translation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.</em></p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p><em>喬治·亨森（George Henson），博士，是蒙特雷國際研究所西班牙語翻譯的訪問助理教授。</em></p>
</div>

進步人士必須明白：不能全信古巴所説的話