Peace for All the People

Peace for All the People
HILDEBRANDO CHAVIANO MONTES | La Habana | 8 Oct 2015 - 11:29 am.

The peace process in Colombia may serve as an example for Cubans, no
matter what side they are on.

The peace process in Cuban may serve as an example for Cubans, no matter
what side they are on, of how, when the nation's interests are placed
above personal ones, everything is possible - even miracles. Thus,
reconciliation in Cuba depends on the conflicting parties' capacity to
listen to each other. So long as the Cuban government insists on
snubbing and dismissing its critics, without pausing to heed their
grievances, protests, complaints and other manifestations of civic
concern, the country will not be return to the path of prosperity and
lasting peace.

Wherever there is hatred and fear unresolved by those wielding power,
there cannot be progress towards social reconstruction. Even though
there is currently no armed conflict, society is, nevertheless, divided
by an ideological confrontation whose most visible and detrimental
effects are the over two million Cubans and their descendants elsewhere
in the world, and the dejection of those who have stayed.

Thinking differently has been considered a crime in Cuba for more than
half a century, when, on the contrary, it should always be a reason to
sit down and converse, rather than an obstacle. Those meetings,
assemblies, congresses, conclaves and conventions (invariably featuring
more of the same), where the only point open for discussion on the
agenda is when to take a break in the afternoon, have poisoned the
country's culture of debate.

The ex-guerrillas from the Sierra Maestra seized power and have retained
it, with firing squads and jails as part of their monologue. They
continue to be the same guerrillas they were back in 1959, harboring
more faith in arms than in words, even though they fervently applaud the
Colombian peace process. According to them, the FARC-EP in Colombia
deserve to have the kind of access to political life that they deny
anyone who thinks differently in Cuba.

What, then, about the rhetoric of inclusion, political will and equal
rights? General Raúl Castro refuses to accept that society will always
have critical voices, but that they ought not be considered enemies as a
result. Cuban totalitarianism trembles before the idea of peaceful
changes towards democracy and a market economy. The ruling class refuses
to give up its privileges, preferring to open the door with the greatest
wariness - and slam it shut again should they perceive the slightest
threat to them.

Raúl Castro's speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations
demonstrated that the actions of the US government to spawn an
atmosphere conducive to improving relations between the two countries
will never be sufficient. As long as this remains the case, the
portrayal of Cuba s a castle under siege will be rolled out by Havana's
communists to justify oppression.

It is evident that the Cuban government does not really repudiate a
market economy, per se. After all, the economic system that it is
seeking to implement, with the help of American capital, is nothing but
a market economy, but of the worst kind, with none of the blessings of
capitalism and all of its curses, which, added to those of Communism,
prevent us from being very optimistic with respect to the island's future.

But it is not a crude and substandard market economy model that Cuba
needs, but rather the institutionalization of the country as a whole,
with inclusive laws that apply to everyone; a Constitution devoid of
favoritism or ideological discrimination, respecting private property
and the freedoms and civil rights recognized in any democratic society,
which does not by any means exclude the much-touted right to public
health and education; mercantile legislation adapted to the needs of a
nation that aspires to grow to stand on its own two feet; and an
electoral system that allows Cubans, on the island and abroad, to elect
their government representatives.

Will Raúl Castro have enough political will to allow those Cubans who
think differently to enjoy true equality? Hitherto it has not been a
crime for people to aspire, individually or collectively, to a better
government, but this aim can only be achieved by everyone working together.

Source: Peace for All the People | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1444296595_17381.html