|
Pedro A. Freyre. Posted on Tue, May. 21, 2002 in
The
Miami Herald
The first 100 years of Cuba's history as an independent country have been
written. The next 100 are still a blank page. We, Cuban Americans and Cubans on
the island, have the opportunity and the duty to write a fresh story. A tale
full of hope, success and peace instead of the despair, failure and strife of
the past.
To do so, we must face the demons of the past and defeat them, and the
manner and method of their destruction is as important as their vanquishing.
• The first demon is violence. The past century of the Cuban Republic
is saturated with violent excess: from the Guerra Chica, when thousands of Afro
Cubans were killed, to the rule of bloody dictators like Gerardo Machado and
Fulgencio Batista, who imposed their will and corruption on the people of Cuba
through torture and death. Not surprisingly, institutionalized violence
engendered rebellion. Cuban political culture enshrined violent resistance to
violent governments and elevated it to the mythological levels espoused by the
current government.
The cult and culture of violence has been a drag on the development of Cuban
civil society and political evolution. If Cuba is to evolve into a mature
society, its people must renounce violence as an acceptable tool of political
action.
• The second exorcism must be of absolutism. Cuban political tradition
evolved from a long and fierce struggle for independence in which intransigence
became the supreme civic virtue. This all-or-nothing model has reached its most
absurd expression in the current Marxist government, which presumes to direct
the life of each individual from the moment of birth to the instant of death. It
is a view that allows one dictatorial ruler to govern unchallenged and
unquestioned for 43 years and declare, "Within the revolution, everything;
outside the revolution, nothing.''
Sadly, the infection of absolutism reached us in Miami, and for many years
only one tactic for defeating Castro was acceptable: the embargo. Societal
pressure to conform to the policy was exerted in Miami, albeit by a few
individuals instead of by the full force of the state. Cuba will only progress
on the path of true democracy when it does away with political absolutism as an
acceptable paradigm.
• The third evil is intolerance. This quality has permeated Cuban
political culture. It also sees its ultimate, and profoundly unethical
expression, in the Cuban government's fierce repression of dissent. To harbor
even discreet disagreement with the party line is risky, to express it openly
brings retribution.
This Orwellian landscape has produced profound paranoia. Every citizen is
wary of his neighbor, fearful that he will become an informer. The result is
deeply rooted hypocrisy that requires every Cuban to wear a mask.
Once again, this negative trait reached our shores in an attenuated form
that makes it acceptable to engage in character assassination of those who
express different views.
• A last obstacle is isolation. It is up to the Cuban government to
heed the words of Pope John Paul II and finally open Cuba to the world and
remove the barriers to information that keep the Cuban people isolated from the
flow of ideas and debate.
And for us in Miami who have lived all these years yearning for a country
that is so close, it is time to free ourselves from the artificial restraints
that some may place upon us. There is courage and honor in going legally and
peacefully back to the island of our birth. To see the blue of its skies. To
embrace our brothers and tell them how much we still care, and to do so under
the very gaze of the one person who has tried so hard for so long to divide us.
In his speech at the University of Havana, former President Carter
challenged the Cuban government to respect human rights, allow free speech and
install the political reforms proposed by the Varela Project. It is up to the
current rulers of the island to accept this challenge and lead Cuba peacefully
toward a transition into an open, vibrant, democratic society.
Of course, they may choose to keep the island in the quagmire of economic
stagnation and social and political decay in which it finds itself. Those who
presume to rule must also bear the burden of action and responsibility in
redressing the wrongs perpetrated upon the Cuban people over the previous
decades.
Cuban Americans were also issued a challenge: to sit down with people from
the island to begin the long and difficult task of healing the deep wounds that
divide us, the challenge of unearthing a shared memory and a shared sense of
truth and justice.
This is our choice. We can turn away from it and choose the path of
bitterness, anger and hatred, or we can rise above that and choose to be
magnanimous, forgiving and broad-minded.
I am an optimist. I have faith that eventually we will make the right
choices -- in Cuba and in Miami.
Pedro A. Freyre is a Miami lawyer. | 
