MIAMI, July 5, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — On Thursday the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, made the following statements about the writer, lecturer and communicator ISMAEL CALA:
Ismael Cala’s response to President Morales follows:
Today on the first day of my new phase away from CNN en Español and on a personal note I would like to thank you, President Evo Morales, for calling me “annoying” and a “conspirator”. In accordance with my style of shattering paradigms, which is fully explained in my book Un buen hijo de P (‘A real S.O.B.’), I take your attacks as a wonderful compliment.
The press is always seen as “annoying” to those who think they’re above everyone else. Certainly I am a “conspirator”, though NOT because I try to overthrow governments or get involved in politics, but simply because I ask my guests questions with no restrictions other than those of common sense. I know that questions are uncomfortable for certain people, but it is assumed that politicians are public servants who govern under the terms of a “contract” signed with the citizenry in mind. And they have to answer to the citizenry.
If you do not know the reasons why I voluntarily decided to leave CNN en Español, I will tell you. I did it to close a cycle, to embrace change, reinvent myself and allow for alteration in that space – an alteration that many people find hard to put into practice when they hold positions of power. One of the reasons for my resignation, already explained in my first book ‘El poder de escuchar’ (‘The power of listening’), was having to deal with politicians (it makes no difference what ideological banner they wave) who are too accustomed to memorized speeches, incapable of showing their feelings and encumbered with oversized egos.
On the other hand, believe me, it’s no insult for you to call me a cubano gusano (‘cuban worm’). Reducing people to animals for the purpose of discrediting their ideas, actions and opinions, always ends up discrediting the person who uses this approach. To describe a human being with the name of an animal that is supposedly repulsive is an old tactic that comes from Nazism.
Nobody uses the term gusano (‘worm’) in Cuba anymore. The more than two million Cubans who live outside of our country are human beings seeking personal self-realization, beyond the particular reasons of each individual.
Let’s leave behind the ideological dinosaur. Let’s sit down and celebrate what brings us together; enough with the caricatures, with discrediting people and the insulting attitudes.
Whenever you would like to, let’s sit down and talk, without any cameras.
I’ll say goodbye with best wishes for your health and success. Soon I will send you my most recent book El analfabeto emocional (‘The emotional illiterate’). I hope you enjoy it.
I am convinced that our continent must embrace its cultural, ideological and racial diversity. We must seriously address the reasons that drive citizens to immigrate to other places, instead of trying to humiliate them. Latin America has all the potential to become the happiest place in the world.
Cordially,
Ismael Cala
ATT. TELEVISION AND RADIO EDITORS: Press release on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp7NcCXpmn0
