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By Jorge Luis Romeu. Published in
The Syracuse Post Standard, May 21, 2002.
This week, Cuba is again in the headlines for two important reasons: Former
U.S. President Jimmy Carter has just visited the island to meet with Castro, and
Monday marked 100 years since the first Cuban president was inaugurated.
Nobody knows exactly Carter's reasons for visiting Cuba now. It may have
been to try to persuade Fidel Castro to improve his dismal human rights record,
in exchange for moderating the U.S. trade embargo. Carter has met with Cuban
dissidents (as Mexican and Spanish officials and the pope have already done).
And Castro has recently released well-known Cuban dissident Vladimiro Roca.
But the Centenary of the republic is also a big milestone for Cubans, both
in the island and in exile. On May 20, 1902, in spite of the Platt Amendment,
the American flag was lowered for the last time in the Morro Castle - and Cuba
finally became a free nation.
Cuba however, remains an unknown for most people, full of mystique and myth.
This has created more problems than it has solved. There are at least seven
false myths about Cuba that must be dispelled in order to understand (and help
improve) its present situation.
Myth No. 1: Americans gave Cubans their independence. The Cuban people
fought three long and bloody wars between 1868 and 1898 that left scores of
thousands dead and destroyed its economy, before the Spanish-American war even
started. Spain barely controlled the large cities when the American fleet
destroyed the Spanish armada in Santiago and Manila and Teddy Roosevelt charged
up San Juan Hill.
Myth No. 2: Despotic dictators misgoverned Cuba. From 1902 to 1958, Cuba had
nine presidents, chosen in free, multi-party elections (Estrada, Gomez, Menocal,
Zayas, Machado, Laredo, Batista, Grau and Prio). All served out their terms -
but Estrada, Menocal, Machado and Batista forced their re-election and provoked
four revolutions. In spite of their many shortcomings, each left a legacy that
improved the country in some important way.
Myth No. 3: Cuba, before Castro, was a backward country. According to the
1953 census, the last before Castro, Cubans had the highest socioeconomic level
and income per capita in all of Latin America. There was one physician per 1,000
inhabitants, more than 70 percent of the adult population could read and write,
more than 50 percent of the pop ulation was urban, and radio, TV, newspapers,
roads and railroads covered the entire country.
Myth No. 4: Cubans are either pro- or anti-American. Cubans like the
Americans and recognize the mutual economic advantages stemming from their
geographical proximity. But Cubans have also disliked (and worked hard to
repeal) the Platt Amendment, imposed by the United States in 1901, and resisted
several subsequent U.S. efforts to interfere in Cuban internal affairs. Castro,
very shrewdly, manipulated these nationalistic sentiments.
Myth No. 5: The Cuban revolution of 1959 was socialist. Castro started as a
liberal and nationalist revolutionary. The large Cuban middle class and
unionized workers supported his efforts to restore democracy and extend
socioeconomic gains to the less-favored sectors. Castro betrayed this ideal and
implanted instead his four-decades-long Marxist dictatorship.
Myth No. 6: All Cubans in the island support Castro. Many thousands of
Cubans went to political prisons, were killed in guerrilla war, were sent to
forced labor camps, were expelled from the universities and work places - or
have drowned in the Florida straits. One million have preferred going into
exile. Dissidents are routinely jailed. However, Cubans still flock out of the
island at every chance: Remember the Mariel boat-lift in 1980, and the 1994
boat/raft exodus.
Myth No. 7: All Castro op ponents are rich, singleminded conservatives. If
the million exiles were all rich, then Cuba would have been the wealthiest
country in the word! Cubans in exile, internal dissidents and even Castro
government supporters come from all political persuasions. Internal dissident
Vladimiro Roca is a social democrat; Paya Sardinas is a Christian democrat; and
dissenting Gen. Ochoa was shot by Castro for treason in 1990.
So where are we going from here? What Cubans need to learn is what Americans
know and practice well: Politics ends at the water's edge. Castro has governed
Cuba for 43 years, but is 75 and ailing. As opposed to Spain's Francisco Franco
and Chile's Augusto Pinochet, Castro has not allowed a space for the opposition.
It was such opposition that in due time and with the moderates inside the
regime, performed a peaceful transition towards pluralism and democracy.
This is the only lasting solution for the Cuban problem.
About the Author:
Romeu, of Syracuse, is an emeritus faculty member of SUNY Cortland and
directs the Juarez Lincoln Marti Project.
© 2002 The Post-Standard. Used with permission. | 
