A Subtle Form of Corruption

A Subtle Form of Corruption
September 6, 2012
To my constant friends
By Esteban Morales* (Published by Progreso Weekly)

HAVANA TIMES – When in 2010 I wrote about corruption and what happened
to me became general knowledge, it was inevitable that many people
worried. Nobody ever understood how it was possible to take a
political step of the nature that was taken against the denunciation
that was made.

Those writings went through the hurricane of incomprehension, so to
speak, and today we have moved ahead in terms of that type of
criticism. Our highest Political Directorate, being consistent with
what it had said ever since it assumed command, condensed its
pronouncements: Corruption is the equivalent of counterrevolution.

All of us revolutionaries breathed a sigh of relief. Taking up
criticism was a reality and nobody had to right to silence it.

But we must continue to advance. An important body of our
revolutionary intellectuals valiantly assume the criticism of our
realities, as Raúl has suggested, but we cannot yet feel deeply and
confidently that they are doing what they should do, even though
they're convinced of it.

Some bureaucrats lie in wait, taking advantage of the opportunity to
tell us intellectuals that we are wrong, that apparently things cannot
be exactly as Raúl has told us. Meanwhile, all of us who have assumed
the criticism of our society are, along with Raúl, convinced that it's
the only way to save the process.

What did Raúl Castro mean by "corruption is the equivalent of
counterrevolution"? No doubt, that assertion is painfully
all-encompassing, because it includes the following dangers, among
others:

• In the first place, it means that whoever becomes corrupt has
already crossed into the enemy's ranks.

• That he tries to discredit the political discourse of the Revolution
at its most critical moment.

• That he leads people to say that things are not always what they
seem, which – like a direct attack on the nation's leadership – is
counter to any process that tries to propel the economic renovation,
to accomplish the necessary social adjustments, and to achieve a
change in mindset.

• That, amid the difficult material situation the nation is going
through, he gives a baleful example of how to solve my individual
problem.

• That whoever becomes corrupt is practically incapable of upholding
other values, so his next step is to collaborate with those who can
facilitate his work, corrupting others and placing all of them in the
service of subversion.

But there is a more subtle, concealed form of corruption among us,
which many people minimize because they practice it systematically or
because they don't consider it as dangerous as the highest
functionaries do.

In material terms, it is a piddling corruption, practiced gradually
and directly among low-level functionaries who, able to move certain
resources, exchange them as if they were swapping merchandise.

I'm talking about a functionary who manages a coffee shop and procures
the sweets and the beer for a friend who's going to celebrate his
daughter's 15th birthday. In turn, his friend, who manages a factory,
delivers to him the flagstones and the cement he needs to build
another room in his house. A simple exchange between the two, where no
money is exchanged, only goods, and where many look the other way,
waiting for their turn to engage in the same deals.

This way, in an illegal fashion, an incredible amount of resources
disappear, resources that should have been sold to the population.
This type of corruption is no less harmful than the former one, for
the following reasons:

• Its low monetary value makes it appear as simple favors from a
friend. This has become popular under the description of "resolving."

• In general, in the workplace, it is something that almost everyone
knows about but ignores, because they don't care, they fear reprisals,
or they think that their day might come.

• It tends to create a level of compromise between the administrators
and the rest of the workers, who may consider they have the right to
enjoy those illegal advantages at some future time.

• It is very easy to conceal by means of accounting and economic control.

• Because no money is involved, the peril of its practice is quite limited.

• Nevertheless, the degree of corruption of this practice corrodes the
authority of even the political organizations in the workplace.

Looking at corruption in all its characteristics and levels of
practice, we see a phenomenon that can be defeated only if all the
social sectors participate, declaring a generalized war that makes us
more aware of what that corruption means and gives us the tools to
combat it.
That means transparent information, open discussion and the confidence
that opportune and efficient criticism will always be welcome.
—–
(*) Esteban Morales, a renowned Cuban academician, founded and
directed for 18 years the Center for United States Studies at the
University of Havana, where he was Dean of Humanities.

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