“I agree, there will be changes, but in the United States! Cuba changed long ago and it will continue its dialectical path,” said Castro adding that Cubans will never “return to the past.”
Analyzing the situation in Cuba, it doesn’t surprise me to see such incoherent responses from some American commentators and politicians, speculating forthcoming changes in communist Cuba because of the change at the top. Its worth mentioning, especially for the sake of informing those unfamiliar with Cuban politics, that Raul Castro is none other than Fidel Castro’s younger brother. The younger Castro has, in fact, been commander-in-chief of Cuba’s army for the last 49 years—not to mention his brother Fidel’s most faithful collaborator. This has been so since the beginning of the nearly fifty-year-old Communist Revolution. So, the question is, what change can any reasonable observer expect from this character?
It’s true that even under the same political system and leadership there is a new mood of uncertainty about the island’s future. We have yet to see if the new administration will be able to keep in line a community who calls for liberty and human and social rights for themselves. The people found themselves deprived of these in 1959 when a band of warriors claiming to be defenders of democracy and freedom turned out to be a gang of power-hungry, bloodthirsty thugs.
I won’t soon forget my first days of school back in Cuba. The teachers made us recite the national motto: “Pioneros por el Comunismo, seremos como el Che” (pioneers for the communism, we will be like Che). This thin slice of life under Communist rule says much of the hypocrisy and coercion inherent in such a system. First there’s the “pioneer” bit which in Communist countries is just a code word for “Communist-in-the-making.” There isn’t much choice involved. Then, the obligatory promise to be “like Che”. Ernesto “Che” Guevara, a murderer seemingly without scruples. His only real accomplishment was his role in building the Communist machine that continues to oppress and spill the innocent blood of the Cuban people. Yet, day after day Cuban school children recite this motto. If any refuse, they face expulsion plus potential jail time for their parent.
What can I, or any of us, say about a regime that trains and supports violent insurrections throughout the world, especially in Latin America? About a government that spends most of its budget on its military and overseas conflicts, as evidence by a twenty-year-long war in Africa, which has cost the Cuban people more than 10,000 lives? What can we expect from ethically faulty manifestation of Communism that calls for peace and democracy in front of the world community while wielding a dagger of hate and oppression against its own people?
This is clear even to the presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, who referred to the logistical support and troops sent by the Cuban government to North Vietnam in its war against the United States.
For these reasons I believe—I am certain—that there will be no change. Not until the Castros and their followers are gone. Not until the Cuban people freely elect their leaders. Not until the end of the repression blanket of the majority, can change take place.
Then and only then can Cuba truly become what Columbus called it when he first set his eyes on its shores: “The most beautiful land that human eyes have ever seen”.
CUBA is NeVeR going to change!!!
By gemaramila - Posted on November 5th, 2008


