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Lessons for the Cubans
Emilio Adolfo Rivero
February 2005
Recent events give food for thought to those who think
about Cuba.
The whole world has expressed admiration for the courage of the Iraqi
people. We already have results from the elections of January 30, in
which more than eight million voters--about 60 per cent of eligible
voters--went to the polls, under threat of bloody reprisals by
terrorists. The terror were part of an effort to intimidate the people
and keep them from showing their will. It was preceded by months of
suicide attacks from car-bombers and transients, of ambushes at night as
well as in full daylight, on highways and in cities, to the chagrin of
those who heard the explosions or before the terrified gaze of drivers
and pedestrians.
To the lack of safety and the continual risk of death was added the
burden of politics; the electoral process was carried out in a country
under occupation by foreign troops. Even so, the Iraqi people, besides
showing physical courage in the face of risks that the terror posed to
their persons, had the moral strength to take part in elections and
carry out their civic duty.
The Iraqis are progressing toward freedom and toward a state of
independence under which they will not have foreign troops in their
country. Their posture is the more notable for lacking a culture or
tradition of freedom. In the outside world they have a clear ally in
President Bush, who courted huge political risks when he chose to have
faith in these people. The president is supported by his steadfast
friend, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who defied public opinion and
even his own party in joining the effort to bring stability to a region
of perpetual conflicts.
The Iraqs, in choosing to be free, have chosen to pay a price in
blood--a price they know they must keep paying. They have before them
the example of soldiers from many nations, who are dying every day
because their governments have chosen to win and defend Iraq's liberty
as a way of having not to defend liberty, at a later time and under even
more dire circumstances, in their own countries. We already hear of
others throughout the Middle East praising this example.
The Iraqi events are stirring dreams of liberty among those who live
under tyranny. These wishes have been gathering strength for fifteen
years, ever since the fall of the Soviet bloc, and more recently with
the Ukrainian people's success in winning self-determination. It's well
to understand that those changes were furthered by cultural tendencies
that incubated for many years and are now spreading rapidly. The people
who wish to replicate these successes understand the need to create a
culture that favors them. They are the ones who must repeat the example
and raise the ideal of liberation, so that the conquest of freedom can
flow from it. Facing risks, overcoming fear, and paying a price in blood
are the costs of change.
Those who are still subjugated must take guard against negative cultural
tendencies that can always arise. They mustn't forget the recent and
relevant examples of Nazism and Communism, scourges of the past century
whose social and human costs might never be comprehended.
One example of a negative cultural tendency is the idea of "peaceful
transition" that has vitiated the forces of opposition to Castro's
regime, inside Cuba and outside, for more than a decade. The work of
tenacious and untiring activists, it has gained legitimacy throughout
the world--particularly in European countries, where it is respected by
national authorities as well as international meetings.
Castro thrives, he imprisons and beats and kills with impunity, he has
pushed more than 50,000 fleeing Cubans to their deaths in the Florida
Straits, he has forced tens of thousands of Cuban girls into
prostitution and converted Cuba into a global magnet for sexual
deviants. But since the idea of "peaceful transition" prevails, the
opposition answers with verbal protests and calls on other nations to
"put pressure" on Castro. No one speaks of rebellion or tells the people
that freedom has to be bought with blood.
The harm brought about by this idea of "peaceful transition" does not
limit itself to the Cuban people. In the process of assuring Castro, for
many years, that no one would try to overthrow him, and of creating a
culture that discouraged and blocked efforts toward this end, his
opponents left him with a free hand to promote subversion throughtout
Latin America. Thus was he able to send thousands of agents to Venezuela
and--with Chávez's help--to promote violence in Colombia and expand his
influence in the direction of Ecuador, Perú, Uruguay and the rest of the
southern hemisphere.
The culture of "peaceful transition" has sympathizers, promoters and
public support in countries whose governments condemn Castro while also,
through commercial relations and tourism, providing him with means to
keep up his repressive apparatus and stay in power. Those governments
invite expatriate Cubans to visit their capitals, in order to stage
meetings at which Castro is censured; and they invite the island's
dissidents to visit their embassies in Havana. They are making fortunes
in business with Castro, while also showing friendship to his opponents
in order to be able to keep doing business with Cuba if the opposition
should get to power. It's a blatant strategy, crystal-clear to all
except those friends of "peaceful transition" who might prefer not to
see the consequences. Their unceasing activity has contributed to the
deaths of thousands of people, men, women and children, in Cuba and
everywhere south of the Río Grande.
Translated from the original by David Landau
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