Lessons on Corruption from Cuba’s Mariela Castro

Lessons on Corruption from Cuba's Mariela Castro
July 24, 2015
By Martin Guevara

HAVANA TIMES — In 1966, the renowned Beat Generation activist and
intellectual Allen Ginsberg was invited to Cuba's Casa de las Americas
cultural center by Haydee Santamaria. Shortly afterwards, he was
unceremoniously expelled from the country for criticizing the repression
of homosexuals ordered by the uncle and father of Mariela "Rainbow"
Castromasov – and perhaps he was also kicked out of the country for
being a homosexual himself.

I wonder: are there no people, people with greater moral authority, to
lead any type of change in Cuba other than the members of that family?

Is there not a single gay man or lesbian more knowledgeable of the needs
of their community, and more entitled to lead their movement, than this
woman? Is she the only one who can do this?

Today, Mariela shows us a well-developed aspect of her personality,
concealing her wish to remain in power less and less, referring to those
who oppose her parent's feudal rule as a handful of ignorant sell-outs.

It seems both pathetic and incredible that a well-meaning person who
once sympathized with that distant revolution should, after considerable
effort, establish some type of link between that bearded revolt and this
wasted ruin, managing to feel the same sympathy for this heap of nonsense.

In the imperfect but up to a certain point free world, we permit
ourselves to refer to the most backward sectors as "intolerant" – some
even call them "fascists" – because they merely content themselves with
free national, municipal and autonomous elections every four years, in
contrast to the exemplary "angry protesters," who demand permanent
democracy. That is enough for us to consider them cavemen.

I can't imagine any politician in any civilized country, not even the
most conservative out there, who would dare boast of having outlawed all
opposition to the government for over fifty years, much less publicly
refer to this opposition as a "handful of ignorant and corrupt people,"
thus dismissing those who, despite the difficulties and risks,
peacefully struggle for changes and greater participation in the
nation's politics.

Mrs. Rainbow Castromasov feels she can lecture us about corruption.

Could there be a clearer example of corruption than clinging to power
for more than half a century while crushing any semblance of opposition?

Source: Lessons on Corruption from Cuba's Mariela Castro - Havana
Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=112848