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Cuba must restore hope
after Castro, official says
By Madeline Baro Diaz,
South
Florida Sun-Sentinel. Posted on Tue,
Nov. 09, 2004.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - (KRT) - When Fidel
Castro no longer remains in Cuba, one of
the challenges for a transition to a new
government will be to "restore hope
in a country where little remains,"
the chief of the U.S. Interests Section
in Havana said Tuesday.
James Cason, the top representative for
the United States in Cuba, also said the
fall of Communism in Eastern Europe might
hold lessons for Cuba, a country he said
is suffering from deficiencies in health
care and housing as well as an overburdened
system that struggles to provide basic necessities
such as electricity and water to its citizens.
"As we think about ways to ease Cuba's
transition, we will rely on our EU colleagues
to give us the benefit of their experience,"
Cason said during a conference on transition
in Cuba at the Cuba at the Omni Colonnade
Hotel. "After all, eight formerly communist
countries met the conditions ... for joining
the European Union since the fall of the
Iron Curtain."
Hosted by the University of Miami's Cuba
Transition Project at the Institute for
Cuban and Cuban-American Studies and the
U.S. embassy of the Czech Republic, the
conference was held on the 15th anniversary
of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The Czech Republic is considered to be
one of the former Soviet bloc countries
that made a successful transition to democracy
and several of its leaders have been supporters
of dissidents in Cuba and advocates of a
transition on the island.
Martin Palous, Czech ambassador to the
United States, said the relationship between
the Czech Republic and Cuba "is based
on our common experience of suffering and
struggling with totalitarian rule."
Support for dissidents and dialogue between
Cubans on the island and in exile will be
crucial in a transition, he said.
Cason said the deterioration of essential
facilities in Cuba has eroded the country's
educational and health care systems, once
considered triumphs of the Castro's revolution.
The diplomat described a Cuba where hospital
patients have to bring their own food and
sheets, bandages, anesthesia and sterilization
equipment are not routinely available. He
also said school supplies are scarce and
teachers in Cuba quit their jobs for work
in the lucrative tourist sector.
Many Cubans, he said, are trying to muddle
through and expect change in the wake of
Castro's death.
"The survival strategy is simple,"
Cason said. "Keep your head down, don't
make waves and await the biological solution."
Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute
for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said
the most likely scenario for a post-Castro
Cuba is one where the Communist system remains
in place after Castro's death.
"We don't anticipate a total collapse,"
Suchlicki said. "We anticipate a quick
succession and a gradual transition which
will be long and difficult."
© 2004
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
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