Expelled University of Havana student spots woman he says reported him—celebrating July 4th in Miami

Cuban filmmaker Eliecer Jiménez Almeida used his Facebook profile to announce that his former classmate Marta María Mariño who he says was responsible his expulsion from the University of Camagüey, and in a stunning twist of irony, she celebrated Independence Day in the United States, yesterday.

"Today Ms. Mariño has taken off her militia uniform, put on the appropriate clothes, according to the moment and the country, and raises a Palma beer to celebrate 4h July somewhere in the USA. God bless America... God bless Ms. Mariño," Jiménez Almeida said sarcastically in his post.

The young filmmaker added that "it will soon be 12 years since my former classmate at the journalism school of the University of Camagüey, Marta María Mariño, participated in the disciplinary commission that expelled me from higher education in Cuba."

Jiménez Almeida claims that "from that meeting, only this summons and my memories remain," referring to the paper with which he was informed that he had to appear on July 20, 2010 to account for an "alleged breach of student discipline."

"After graduating with honors, comrade Mariño joined the staff of the official newspaper Granma," said Jiménez Almeida, who today is an independent filmmaker. 

In response to the publication, photographer Jorge J. Perez said "there are a lot of patriotic people today eating barbecue to celebrate the date. [It is] as if the Declaration of Independence was celebrated at a buffet table."

Netizen Peter Menéndez pointed out that "these are anecdotes that illustrate the absurdity of many Cuban situations, and that are reflected daily here in a country that at one time, was poison for them."

User Anabel Jiménez Cervantes recalled the case of Eliécer Ávila, claiming that "those of us who were witnesses, like me, could not understand why [there was] this malicious grudge" against him.

Cervantes praised the genius of the independent filmmaker, implying his peers were perhaps envious of him and that suffered retaliation, "only because you could see thousands of kilometers beyond us, because you had a voice and a vision that other people like me did not have."

Eliecer Jiménez Almeida was born in 1983, in the town of Vertientes, Camagüey province.

He is a filmmaker, video artist, and journalist. He studied documentary filmmaking at the EICTV in San Antonio de los Baños (2012) and was a workshop participant at the Sundance Institute Documentary Program (2016).

In 2009 he founded Ikaik Films, a project dedicated to producing and developing experimental films. His work “Persona” has been exhibited by MoMA and by the Ludwig Forum Aachen in Germany.

He received the EICTV Special Award at the 10th International Poor Film Festival of Gibara, Cuba (2012). Another film of his, “The Face of the Waters,” won the Short Film Award at the Climate Change Film Festival (China, 2017).

In addition, “On a Package of Spaguettis” was selected for the Queen Sofia Award (Spain, 2011). His films have been screened in the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, China, India, and Argentina, as well as Yale University, New York University, The City University of New York, University of Miami, Florida International University, Rutgers University, and Georgia Tech.