The beginning of the end of ‘Castroism'

The beginning of the end of 'Castroism'
JOSÉ GABRIEL BARRENECHEA, Havana | Diciembre 20, 2014

Cubans continue to be as impressionable as ever. In the Island, the
masses have been only able to see the release of the three spies who
were released from American prison, and nothing else. Many members of
the opposition and exiles, in the meanwhile, only seem to see the bias
of the majority within Cuba. Consequently, they immediately assume that
Obama's decision will only result in strengthening the Castro regime.

What will remain three months after all this melodrama that the official
media has created around the three spies? Nothing, because it has been
revealed that unfortunately the "big boys" (" muchachones") that could
have possibly become part of the elite that will replace the historical
leaders, have no expression, no people skills. They lack of charisma, to
the extent that Miguel Díaz-Canel gives the impression of being a
politician next to them.

Moreover, we must not overestimate the reaction of the masses. There was
nothing more than a disinterested joy after the speech of the president.
Not a spontaneous conga or a demonstration, like those that happened in
previous years when American monopolies were being nationalized. Only a
few isolated acts whose amounts of protagonists have never reached the
amount of government officials, members of the party or the communist
youth, or well-paid government informants that are always within the
crowds. Personally, by the time of the speech I was in the Parque Vidal
Santa Clara. I even noted concern in the faces of some young people who
listened to me predict that the Cuban Adjustment Act was coming to an end.

Within three months, there will be an American embassy in Cuba, but most
of all, there will be several measures from the American president,
focused on the facilitation of the flow of people, finances, goods and
information. The Castrist regime is a regime of confrontation, a regime
of segregation. The regime has only three options now: change the world,
isolate from it, or disappear. Its end will come from:

1- The hundreds of thousands of American tourists who, unlike Canadian
or European tourists, do not allow restrictions on their basic freedoms
of movement or meeting.

2- The money that will rain over a more effective sector of the
democratization process: the thousands of small entrepreneurs and small
businesses.

3- The unstoppable stream of information that will help the opposition
transform into a more educated and flexible actor, which is ideal for
this times in which we need politicians instead heroes of resistance.

4- The almost certain end of the Cuban Adjustment Act, which will
deprive the regime from that convenient outlet that they will try to use
during the time in which they transfer the power from Raul to whoever he
chooses to replace him.

5- The moral strengthening of the Church, which has played a key role in
this process through Pope Francis, who hopefully will visit Cuba soon;
an institution that has always been against this dictatorship, even
though some have never admitted.

Although almost nobody wants to see it in the midst of the current
turmoil, the long night of 'Castroism' has come to an end. That is why
Fidel Castro, remains in silence. As in April 1898 and in March 1958,
Americans have done what they should have done. Something that,
unfortunately, they have almost never done while focusing only in
overpowering foreign policies. Perhaps, thanks to this gesture, our two
countries, separated by just 90 miles, can finally stop being like
teenage brothers: full of jealousy and resentment. And I now speak about
a time beyond the end of the Castrist regime; a time when Cuba can join
as one in the battles of our civilization: western civilization.

Source: The beginning of the end of 'Castroism' -
http://www.14ymedio.com/englishedition/beginig-end-castrism_0_1691830811.html