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ARE
WE READY FOR THE FUTURE OF CUBA?
Ricardo E. Calvo MD PhD
Email: calvo@ccsi.com
USA
The future has reserved for Cubans the most challenging enterprise we
shall have to face yet in our history: the end of and the emergence from Marxism
the opportunity to get rid of the irrationalities and injustices of an old
discredited regimen and to build on its ruins a new country.
This will come the moment it loses the faith of its supporters and the fears of
those who oppose it. For us then the question will be: are we ready for it ?
Cuba has come out of dictatorships in the past but the transformation to be
experienced has very little resemblance to those in the past. More than four
decades of communism will not be easy to erase. Approximately 75 % of the actual
Cuban population in the Island has been born and educated by the Communist
Party.
Clear concepts of freedom, respect for individual initiatives, private
ownership, protection
for human rights and the Rule of Law are foreign to the vast majority in the
Island. There are no political or civic institutions to be salvaged. The basic
building block of society is non existent: the family. Material subsistence is
achieved by receiving subsidies in the form of hard cash from the outside or
from engaging in very limited self initiated and risky entrepreneurial
activities such as "paladares", prostitution or renting rooms to
foreigners among others not to mentioned the vast wide habit of stealing
from the government outlets.
Is this at all new to most Cubans? No. It is stated again to remind each one of
us of the hard and difficult tasks that ill entail to move from a command
political and economic society to one in which the individual is sovereign and
the State is at the service of the citizen.
Are we the first ones to face such tasks? No. Ten years ago the Berlin Wall fell
and with it the soviet apparatus collapsed in Eastern Europe. Without a detailed
and profound analysis , it is clear to see that most of these post Marxist
countries have fallen into a vicious circle of incomplete reforms measures, of
increasing inflation, of public budget deficits, of devaluations of their
currencies and of myopic policies resulting in socialism with a thin layer of
"democracy". In many countries of the world, including Russia,
"democracy" has been combined with wholesale corruption of liberty,
law and political institutions. Result: most Russians dislike the "system
of free political and economic initiatives" and eventually ask: "What
is democracy all about?".
Are we going to be immune to these same tribulations and difficulties? No. Some
will say that the geographic position of Cuba in this continent and the
existence of an economic and intellectual affluence of the "Cuban community
in foreign lands" will play a decisive factor in altering the past
experiences of "those far away European countries". Perhaps we should
remind ourselves of the self assurance statements heard in Cuba in relation to
the unimaginable advent of communism and its permanence in the Americas in 1959
and 1960.
For a successful transformation we need to formulate a straightforward vision
which appeals to the heart of men and women who have spent their lives under a
spiritually empty communist regimen. We must bring to the forefront proven and
time-honored principles upon which democracy and pluralism will rest on.
At no time should the advocacy of sound principles to be sacrificed to notions
of political expediency and therefore advanced under the banner of being
"practical". The only practical course is to enumerate and then defend
rationally the principles and then seek to gain the public opinion to support
such principles. It would not be forgiven to favor unrealistic principles and
institute programs even if held by a majority. That would represent an
abandonment of the fight for a fundamental change in a post
Marxist Cuba.
In the future of Cuba there will be a great need of clearly naming and
explaining short and long range programs that promote the excision of Marxism
and socialism. This may be a shock to some and displeasure to many but it should
be welcomed. This can contribute to the first steps in awakening from their long
held beliefs.
Do we know where we are moving towards?. To gain democracy and pluralism in the
future we must consider the factors which will produce such resulting product.
These products are not given by decree or wishful thinking or mandate from
national political groups or foreign governments. They must be home grown. The
resulting products do indeed depend on the order of the factors opposite to the
traditional rule of algebra.
We must strive to be a society in which the role of government is to serve the
citizen and not vice versa. A society where government does protect individual
rights and uses force only in their defense and in retaliation against the
initiation of force.
We desperately need a society in which private property is recognized as the
foremost human right a society in which no one is made to suffer for his
success or by being sacrificed to the envy of others or the coercion of
government. A society where the individual could rest assure in the knowledge
that their persons and property are free from aggression. We should have a
country where it is firmly discarded the belief that the individual initiative
rather than the government force is the evil that must be controlled.
On the way to have a different Cuba in the post Marxist era we must analyze what
courses have favored those who preceded us in the task of ending communism. Most
of these countries in Eastern Europe have already 10 year in the process and
only some have started to make progress in escaping the statist system of
government even when appearing dressed as "democracies".
Since the break up of the USSR in 1990 corruption has swamped the region
slowing growth, delaying reforms and discouraging foreign investments. Nepotism
and payoffs do undermine the faith of the young people in the governments of
these regions. Transactions costs are 25 to 30% of any economic deal in Central
Asia. The average cost of bribery ranges from 6 to 8% of company revenues in
some of these areas. Another reason for a deepening corruption: the leadership
is largely the same as during the soviet era. (WSJ 7/5/00 pg A17).
Democracy without protection of individualism and property and the Rule of Law
(all citizens are treated equal and due process is enforced) will be a hollow
shell.
We must remember that a negotiated transfer of power requires compromise and
there must be something in it for those who surrender power. In Eastern Europe
this something was to trade political for economic power and people in those
countries will readily point out that " the same old people are still on
top" and the "old Marxists " are the worst
"capitalists".
Bulgaria had a transition so soft that left the old Marxists in power.
Romania was violent but is not different. Only in Poland, Hungary, the Czech
Republic and Germany have made serious attempts to wrestle with the past.
The future of Cuba needs serious and careful considerations now while we are
still on time to avoid and repeat again the failures of 10 years of post
communism in Europe.
Many excuses will be at hand some will say: "first is to overthrow
today's hierarchy and restore democracy, create parties and have elections"
along with thoughts that "we have overthrown dictatorships before and
the U.S. will help us" etc these and others will be mentioned but the
real and difficult issues ahead of us must be handled with concrete principles
converging towards a vision of what Cuba will be in the future.
The intention is not to initiate a program of social and political engineering.
That would take us back to what has already been done for 41 years. The issues
at stake are principles which will guide the nation. What is freedom and how do
we establish it and even more important how do we safeguard it?.
Shall we continue with a mixed economy with strong influence of the State or do
we revert to the instauration of private property which protects humans rights
and makes the individual sovereign.?
Do we favor the establishment of the Rule of Law (Estado de Derecho) or do we
develop a country governed by influential political groups and financial
interests?
Do we demand fiscal responsibility from the government and take control of the
currency from the politicians or do we allow the ruling class to spends what the
nation does not have with possible recurrent devaluation of our currency?.
Do we support and develop social institutions which will help the initiation of
the Rule of Law or shall we be governed by the "old nomemklature"?.
It is important to look at our own past and at the experience of others which
have had the bitter and difficult experience of attempting to leave behind
Marxism. Let us learn but more important let us think, argue and analyze now
what path we are going to follow.
Sometimes is not what we do not know that is of concern but rather the strong
opinion about something we do not understand but we think we know.
Either we take the comforting path of modifying communism to end up in the hands
of socialism under the banner of a weak democracy or we let freedom rest on the
bases of private property, unprescribed individual rights, the Rule of Law
and economic stability to allow then and only then the birth of democracy and
pluralism so they become our way of life.
Make NO mistake. Nobody will do this for us. We are fortunate to have the time
and the resources to confront this dilemma now. Good faith and improvisation are
not guarantee of success. On the contrary. It is time not to ask socialism or
death. It belongs to the pages of history. We must ask:
is it possible socialism and democracy?
I have said in the past and I will repeat it: socialism and democracy together
is a folly. Socialism and democracy is an attempt with disastrous consequences.
The former carries in itself the seed of destruction for the latter. Together
they are not the "third way" but the path to continue living in the
political and economic miseries of the "third world".
Complacency and apathy are not helpful now. The future is now available and very
fast will become the present what it will bring depends on what we do now.
Closing with eloquent final remarks is the goal of many speeches and assays
this one leaves you with a question to ponder Can we afford another failure
in the history of Cuba?. The answer has to be given by the conscious of each one
of us.
Ricardo E. Calvo MD PhD
Email: calvo@ccsi.com
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