Castroism has won — again

Castroism has won — again
BY YOANI SÁNCHEZ GENERACIONYEN.WORDPRESS.COM
12/19/2014 7:12 PM 12/19/2014 7:12 PM

HAVANA — With that pessimism that by now has become chronic in our
society, many of us Cubans thought that Alan Gross would leave Cuba only
"feet first," in an image depicting a fatal outcome. The obstinacy that
the Cuban government has shown in its relations with the United States
did not presage a short-term solution for the subcontractor.

However, on Wednesday, he was [released, as were] three Cuban spies
imprisoned in the United States, thus bringing to a close a long and
complicated political chapter for both parties.

Gross was useful only while alive, and his health deteriorated very
rapidly. Raúl Castro knew that very well. That is why in the past
several months he raised the decibels on his proposal to exchange him
for the agent Antonio Guerrero and the officers Ramón Labañino and
Gerardo Hernández, who served long sentences in prisons in our neighbor
country to the north.

As the 65-year-old subcontractor grew thinner and lost his sight, the
official campaigns insisted more loudly in the exchange. When Gross
threatened to take his own life, alarms rang throughout the government,
and the timetable for negotiation was speeded up.

For his part, President Obama clearly saw that any change in policy
toward Havana would run into the insurmountable obstacle of an American
imprisoned for "threats to the security of the State."

The New York Times itself had suggested the exchange in one of its
editorials on Cuba, and the publication of that article in such a
prestigious newspaper was read as a portent of what would happen.

As in every political game, we could see only one side while, in the
backstairs of power, negotiators tied the ribbons on the accord that was
made public this week.

For those of us who know the mechanisms of pressure used by Revolution
Square on its opponents, Gross' very arrest can be seen as a move aimed
at rescuing the Interior Ministry agents. The subcontractor was arrested
not so much for what he did as for what could be achieved through him.

He was a simple bait and was aware of that from the start. His crime was
not bringing devices for satellite connection to the Internet to Cuba's
Jewish community, but carrying in his pocket a passport that transformed
him immediately into a piece of exchange on the board of the tense
bilateral relations between Washington and Havana.

If we review the five years of captivity Gross endured, we will see a
well-researched news script that the Cuban government used to pressure
the Obama administration. Every image that came to the public eye, every
visitor who was allowed to see him was authorized with the single
condition that it should reinforce the theory of exchange.

In that manner, Castroism managed to achieve its purposes. It managed to
release a peaceful man enrolled in the humanitarian adventure of
providing connectivity and information to a group of Cubans and regain
intelligence agents who caused significant damage and pain with their
actions.

In the game of politics, totalitarian regimes manage to overpower the
democracies because they control public opinion inside their countries,
predetermine the legal outcomes at will and can spend 15 years spending
the resources of an entire nation to liberate the moles they sent into
an adversary's territory.

The democracies, in turn, end up giving in because they have to answer
to their people, to coexist with an incisive press that reproaches the
leaders for making — or not making — certain decisions and because
they're obligated to do everything possible to carry their dead and
their living back home.

Castroism has won, although the positive result is that Alan Gross has
emerged alive from a prison that threatened to become his tomb. Now we
can expect long weeks of cheers and slogans, during which the Cuban
government will proclaim itself the winner of its latest battle.

But there is no space in the national pantheon for so many breathing
heroes, and little by little the newly returned agents will lose
importance and visibility. The myth that was created for them will begin
to fade.

Now that the principal obstacle for the reestablishment of relations has
been eliminated, we wait to learn what the next step will be. Does the
Cuban government plan some other movement to be again in a position of
strength with the government of the United States?

Or have all the cards been put on the table, before the tired eyes of a
population that suspects that Castroism will again win the next round?

Source: Castroism has won — again | The Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article4699491.html