The Reasons for Cuba’s Failure

The Reasons for Cuba's Failure
January 11, 2016
Veronica Vega

HAVANA TIMES — I want to thank readers for their comments regarding the
post To Leave or Not to Leave Cuba. To my friend Rene, who appears to be
sincerely worried about me, I would like to ask whether he's offering
psychiatric services. I am flattered he should read my articles, but I
am also disconcerted, for, I would not read the work of someone whose
mental health I questioned.

Yes, as Luis says, the "sophisticated theory of evasion" can be
explained as a "result of being denied freedom for more than half a
century," but becoming aware of this and trying to exercise this
essential freedom within the very system that oppresses you, is there
merit in this, or should one simply flee this system? One chooses to
exercise one's freedom, and it is always possible, in any circumstance.
And, if a nationwide exodus is the only solution to Cuba's problems, I
pity this land, which doesn't even appear to deserve a transition like
the ones had by countries where socialist experiments were conducted.

To travel, and to choose to return or stay away from the country of
one's birth is a natural right. This is why I choose to speak in terms
of "those who are outside Cuba now" and "those who are inside," as
anyone, at any moment, can choose to change their place of residence,
and this indisputably is part of human freedom. What I find curious is
that the majority of those who leave comments (in Spanish) in this
forum, Cubans residing abroad, believe that, if one hasn't left the
island, anything one opines on the subject of Cuba is a rationalization
for not having been able to leave. In contrast, they automatically
assume that the reasons that led them to emigrate are entirely valid.

Why is it that many of those who speak of tolerance and freedom show no
respect for the experiences and choices of those who did not opt to
leave the country? Why do they insist in judging the lives of others on
the basis of their own? Someone once said that, to prove that you have
chosen the right path, you need not demonstrate that others have chosen
the wrong one.

I believe, as Marlene does, that "the new (and even the old) generations
are right to try and build a better present and future, outside the
prohibitions that the Cuban government imposes on its citizens in all
aspects of their personal and professional lives." I also believe that
every wave of emigres is partially responsible for the undeniable
failure that Cuba represents – just as those who opt for an "internal
exile" in silence, those who sincerely or hypocritically collaborate
with a system that has destroyed our country physically and morally, are
responsible.

I am pleased to hear of people who have left the country and decided to
return to set a project of change in motion, like Antonio Rodiles or
Yoani Sanchez, who, after returning, fought for her right to travel for
years, until securing it, in addition to her right to express her
opinions freely in her blog and even found and manage an independent
newspaper. I also admire young people like Eliecer Avila, who emerged
from the rank and file of officialdom, with the courage to question the
establishment, paying the price of naivety, deception and vilification,
and that he should have founded his movement, Somos +, abroad, to
continue this project on the island. I am also thinking of Pedro Campos,
who also has traveled and returned, to continue defending his socialist
project here.

These days, whenever I hear that the number of Cuban emigres stranded in
Central America continues to rise, I tell myself these figures express
popular discontent and wonder how different things would be if those
people were protesting inside Cuba right now.

Imagine eight thousand Cubans, for instance, flooding Revolution Square,
demanding the political and economic changes that would allow them and
their families to lead decorous lives – protesting, not to be allowed to
continue on their way towards the United States, but for their right to
contribute and fully belong to their country of birth.

A few days ago, I said this to an anthropologist and he shook his head.

"Those Cubans would never have protested here. They are the type of
people who look for a way out and avoid anything that will single them out."

I had to acknowledge he was right. Most of those whose numbers continue
to grow alarmingly are apparently professionals or self-employed, tired
of empty promises and solid obstacles. Back here, perhaps, they might
have swelled the ranks of those who turn their backs on the few who dare
speak their hopelessness in public, which, no matter how regrettable, is
also their right.

The nostalgia and interest in Cuban reality of those who leave their
comments in this forum, despite the fact they live miles way and could
be using their time not to think about Cuba, is also a right.

I am also pleased that they should prefer to devote their time to debate
about this "sick" land and to share in the common dream of our country's
rebirth, a country of justice, prosperity and democracy. This is why I
now recall the words of a friend who left Cuba on a raft at the age of
sixteen, whom I interviewed a long time ago, who said:

"I would one day like to see the word "exile" replaced with
"preparation." Isn't that what people did before? Some would leave to
return later, to make their way. To pave new roads towards a better
understanding of this short breath we call life. Jesus, Buddha,
Moses…even Jose Marti opened new roads when they came back to their
place of birth."

Source: The Reasons for Cuba's Failure - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=116032