Yoani Sanchez on Castro and Obama’s Key Moment

Yoani Sanchez on Castro and Obama's Key Moment
April 1, 2016
By Carlos F. Chamorro

HAVANA TIMES – In defining the key moment of President Barack Obama's
visit to Cuba, journalist and blogger Yoani Sanchez, who directs the
site known as 14yMedio, doesn't hesitate in naming the live press
conference when – to the general astonishment of Cubans – President Raul
Castro found himself obliged to respond to the question of a CNN
reporter regarding the Cuban political prisoners.

That instant, charged with a historic symbolism, brought to mind a scene
from writer Javier Cuevas' masterpiece Anatomy of an instant, set during
Spain's February 23, 1981, coup d'etat. In the scene, ex-President
Adolfo Suarez remains in his assigned Congressional seat in the
semicircle while all of the other legislators, except for Santiago
Carrillo and General Gutierrez Mellado, have hit the floor to protect
themselves from the bullets of those perpetrating the coup. In Havana,
on the other hand, Castro appeared irascible and off guard, showcasing
his worst authoritarian disposition to his people, while he navigated
the questions of the international press. This paradoxical moment has
been engraved in the minds of Cubans, and may in the future represent
the beginning of a change of era.

Through a Skype connection that came and went, we spoke with Yoani about
how Cubans live – those in the party, those in the streets, and those
who are dissidents; the thawing of diplomatic relations between
Washington and Havana, amid hope and outsized expectations; and the
uncertainty of a country "that can go two steps forward and three steps
backwards. We also talked about the celebration with the irreverent
music of the Rolling Stones, and how Cuba has felt these days less of an
island and more "part of the world."

Yoani, what's the final assessment of Cubans regarding Obama's visit to
Cuba? I imagine there are several different visions.

YS: Yes, the government has one account, which seems to be fairly
critical and negative judging by the reflection and the comments made by
Fidel Castro; these were pretty aggressive against Obama. Another final
balance is that of everyday Cubans who have invested a lot of hope and
illusions in the outcome of this visit. People think that "Saint Obama"
will solve all our problems. And there's yet another set of conclusions
on the part of the opposition, the critical sector: this group received
a huge boost from Obama's meeting with them, but they want a little more
– stronger pronouncements regarding human rights, freedom for the
political prisoners, and other changes.

How much play did Obama's speech get? It was transmitted live on Cuban
television, but after that did the press and the official radio stations
continue to circulate it, or cover it up?

YS: That's a good question, because whoever didn't see it live, didn't
get to see it. After the transmission of Obama speaking in the Havana
Grand Theater, the complete speech was neither transcribed nor
published, to the surprise of many. They tried to offer little clips or
fragments of the speech that supported the official version. At any
rate, there's a deeply submerged and illegal Cuba with alternative
networks for the distribution of information. Right at this moment, a
pirated copy of the video is circulating from hand to hand and I can
assure you that it's very popular. Nothing is more popular than the
forbidden and Obama's speech is right now in the zone of the illicit.

Obama placed a lot of emphasis on the potential for social and economic
change that lies in the self-employed workers' sector. What real weight
does this group have?

YS: We're talking about a group of Cubans numbering less than half a
million who can make their way in a sector that the government calls
cuentapropistas, a euphemism for privately employed in occupations that
generally involve services, food vending, etc., but which are almost
never true professions. You can't be a self-employed lawyer, architect
or construction crew. The fact that Obama aimed his speech at them
seems to me very intelligent, because it's a sector that could change
Cuba, but right now it's very limited by the high taxes, the absence of
a wholesale market, the government oversight itself, and above all by
the suspicion that a system that has declared itself Marxist-Leninist
harbors towards private business people and workers.

Unlike the aforementioned gathering, the one that Obama sustained with
the leaders of civic organizations that promote political rights and
freedom of the press was private. What degree of significance did this
meeting have?

YS: It was a big boost to the critical and dissident sector. On the one
hand, it was the first time that a foreign president who visited the
island met with such a varied group of activists. Listening for over an
hour and forty minutes is a sign of respect. From now on, the next
functionaries and diplomats to visit Cuba may follow his example. On
the other hand, it was also a huge boost for the independent press. The
fact that at least four reporters who are not recognized by the
government could enter there, myself among them, take pictures and
interview functionaries at the highest level that accompanied Obama was
a way of saying: there exists a press beyond Granma.

There is a sector of civil society that makes demands and exercises
certain autonomy: is that an irreversible opening, or could it be
squashed again by the forces of repression?

YS: In Cuba you never know. It's like a sinister dance that can go two
steps forward and three steps back. But I have the impression that
Castroism has lost a lot of strength. In the first place, because the
historic generation are approaching their nineties. On the other hand,
the "Obama coup", although merely symbolic because there's been no great
change since he left, has touched certain chords in Cubans about their
national identity and it's going to be hard for the Castro forces to
recuperate. Castroism can't win love or hypnotize people. Obama has
managed things that the Castro followers can't compete with, such as
talking with the best-known Cuban humorist, playing dominoes, eating in
a private restaurant. He has moved along some paths that leave Raul and
Fidel Castro far behind.

In the press conference with Obama and Raul Castro, Castro was asked
about the political prisoners and he promised to free them if he
received a list. What happened afterwards?

YS: Cubans of my generation watched the President give a press
conference for the first time – it was unprecedented. That was one of
the most important parts of Obama's visit, shining a spotlight on Raul
Castro's discomfort, because he looked angry, out of place, surprised,
and then said something that in my opinion is important: he stated that
if he received the list he would free the political prisoners. If it's
not a dictatorship and if we have a Rule of Law with a judicial system,
how is it possible for a president to say – "I'll free them tonight"?
If Obama's visit served to make clear that Raul Castro can't face a
free press, then it has been very useful. It laid bare the
authoritarianism and the dictatorship that we experience on the island.
After that press conference I understand that several independent
organizations turned in the list of people in prison, but there was no
liberation.

What can be expected from the upcoming Cuban Communist Party congress
that will be held next April 16?

YS: A lot and very little is expected. Why the contradiction? "A lot"
because the party membership itself has been giving signs that they're
unhappy that there hasn't been a public discussion during the last
months of the topics to be covered. There's a part of the membership
that believes in the party and believes that this seventh congress could
resolve some vital questions for the organization. But on the part of
the citizens, very little is expected, because a lot of people no longer
believe that the changes can come from within the Party. The problem
that the Congress faces is that whatever happens – whatever it does or
doesn't do – everything will be seen as a reaction to Obama's visit. If
they make a change, it will be because Obama pressured; if they make no
change, it will be seen as their reply to Obama. They're pretty well
trapped in this dynamic.

You direct a digital site, 14yMedio, whose stories we've reproduced in
Confidential. Can it be read in Cuba without interruption or censorship?

YS: Unfortunately, since the day we were born on May 21, 2014 – and
we'll soon be two years old – we've been technologically blockaded.
The Government has implemented a "filter" that keeps Cubans from
directly accessing 14yMedio. Nonetheless, I should clarify that I live
in a country where there are 1001 ways to leap over the censorship.
That is, everyone knows the way to enter into a censored site, a
forbidden page, an inaccessible content. That cheers me, because I
believe that we're an island that specializes in opening windows when
the doors are closed.

Obama left and Mick Jagger with the Rolling Stones arrived. What did
the concert leave behind for Cubans?

YS: In the first instance, a sensation of universality. Remember, we
live on an island and as a Cuban poet says, it's the damn circumstance
of water everywhere. So the fact that a nation that has missed out for
decades on hearing voices like The Beatles, Whitney Houston, Freddie
Mercury, musical personalities that left this world without ever even
setting foot on our island, could at least receive the Rolling Stones
was a very positive sign for Cubans. We feel like: "Wow! We're part of
the world!" It also felt like a victory for many people who suffered
the censorship of a certain type of music, especially rock. Now they
suddenly saw the officials receive with fifes and drums those same
musicians that decades before had been stigmatized, that were the
anti-new man, the enemy of that socialist man that the Castroists wanted
to form who thought only about work and never about entertainment, the
total opposite of what Mick Jagger is. The Rolling Stones concert also
touched many symbolic chords.

Source: Yoani Sanchez on Castro and Obama's Key Moment - Havana
Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=117863