Perspectivas / Perspectives

May 31 (DP.net).─ Wèi Jīngshēng, 62, celebrated his birthday on May 20, the day Cubans celebrate their independence from Spain. He was born in 1950, the year Mao Tse Tung took control of continental China, forced the Kuomintang government to exile in Taiwan, and invaded Tibet. He was 8 year old child when the Castro brothers took power in January 1959. He is one among the "children of Revolution" born in Asia or America during turbulent times in the XX century.

Wei Jingsheng is a well known Chinese human rights activist deeply involved in the Chinese democracy movement. He was arrested and convicted of "counterrevolutionary" activities, and was imprisoned in China from 1979 to 1993. Released briefly in 1993, Wei continued his dissident activities by talking to visiting journalists, and was imprisoned again from 1994 to 1997. He spent a total of 18 years in different prisons before being forcefully exiled on "medical parole"  to the United States on November 16, 1997.

Wei Jingsheng first crime was to write and to attempt to make public in 1978 an essay titled "The Fifth Modernization" and his subsequent reflections after his first period of imprisonment titled "Courage to Stand Alone - letters from Prison and other Writings".  He received international recognition in the November 1999 National Geographic issue regarding "the power of writing", because one of the major alleged crimes for his conviction were his writings arguing for democracy. The well known magazine underlined how he "would spend 18 years in jail and become a prominent symbol of the power of the written word". It went to suggest that "Chinese authorities feared Wei, recognizing that writing has an almost magical power: Words on paper, created by ordinary citizens, have overthrown governments and changed the course of history".

This fear of the written word is still present in China and in many other authoritarian and totalitarian governments all over the World.  Blogers in Cuba trying to exercise their freedom of speech using their very limited access to the Internet are banned to travel abroad to receive international recognition and awards or for any other reason whatosoever.  Such is the case of Yoani Sanchez, whose blog is banned to most Cubans with access to the Internet, has been repeatedly banned to travel abroad and is constantly harassed and reviled for the crime of attempting free expression.

• The case for religious freedom at the big screen ─ A true story
• For Greater Glory's producer talks about the religious-liberty-focused film

May 28 (EWTN).─ Pablo Jose Barroso is a real-estate developer, but, more recently, he has become a film producer. In 2005, he produced Guadalupe. Last year, he produced the animated movie The Greatest Miracle. His most recent work, For Greater Glory, tells the story of the Cristero War in Mexico. The film features actors Andy Garcia, Peter O'Toole, Eva Longoria and Eduardo Verastegui. It opened April 20 in Mexico and will debut June 1 in the U.S. Barroso spoke about the movie before the film's debut.

What prompted you to make For Greater Glory?

I've always been Catholic. I'm a real-estate developer who had an encounter to be closer to God. Through that, I learned that the way to share God's message is through mass media. Pope John Paul II said that we need to be using the same language that the culture is.

I produced Guadalupe in 2005 and a children's film, but I had my heart set on something larger. With the Cristero [War], we had the opportunity to do a larger Hollywood film. We knew it would be difficult to get the actors, director, music, but it came out beyond my expectations. The Holy Spirit's timing is amazing. This was supposed to be ready last fall, but was delayed because we wanted to make a shorter version. When the Pope went down to Mexico recently to celebrate Mass, the Senate finally changed the Mexican Constitution. The Senate approved changes to Article 24 of the Mexican Constitution on March 29 guaranteeing freedom of religion. The timing of the film is relevant, given what's happening in the U.S., in Egypt and elsewhere.