|
One
more dissident in Havana
An exile exercises his right to live in Cuba
Posted on Sat, Aug. 09, 2003 in
The
Miami Herald.
Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo has never done the
expected, not as a Cuban revolutionary commander,
anti-Castro warrior or ex-political prisoner seeking
dialogue with his jailer. It's too soon to tell
whether his dramatic decision on Thursday to return
to live in Cuba after 17 years of exile will help
push the Castro regime to open ''legal space''
for opposition parties, but the very fact that
the return of one exile could arouse such interest
underscores the fragile -- or nonexistent -- state
of freedom in Cuba.
Though he spent 22 years in Cuban prisons under
horrendous conditions for trying to overthrow
Fidel Castro, Mr. Gutiérrez-Menoyo has
long advocated dialogue with the Cuban regime.
He even met with Castro in Havana in 1995, at
which point he asked for authorization to open
an office of his opposition group Cambio Cubano
(Cuban Change) there.
When he made his latest announcement at the Havana
airport, the news reportedly came as a shock to
his wife and young sons, who returned to Miami
as planned. An a older daughter in Puerto Rico
also said she was taken unaware.
Yet Mr. Gutiérrez-Menoyo obviously had
planned this for some time. He had prepared a
four-page manifesto, which was also distributed
in Spanish and English to contacts outside of
Cuba. ''I return to work toward a legal space
that will allow us to construct a future of plurality
and coexistence,'' he wrote. "I can be more
useful here than abroad.''
We agree that the solution to Cuba's problems
lies within Cuba, but it's good to remember that
island dissidents have been fighting for peaceful
change for years, and suffering the consequences.
Varela Project leader Oswaldo Payá, for
example, supported Mr. Gutiérrez- Menoyo's
right as a Cuban citizen to live in his country
and admired his courage to take on the risks that
opposing Cuba's regime entails. But he noted that
the dissident struggle isn't new.
Some resent Mr. Gutiérrez-Menoyo's occasional
criticism of dissidents for being in the grip
of U.S. interests. By staying away from dissident
groups, he has not shown solidarity. Others question
his aim, given that being allowed to stay and
to form an opposition group would have to be approved,
perhaps by Castro himself.
We applaud the courage to take on a police state.
Mr. Gutiérrez-Menoyo risks imprisonment,
again. But his approach does have downsides. For
one, a real dialogue requires that both sides
be willing to listen and to change position --
qualities that Cuba's dictator has never exhibited.
Mr. Gutiérrez-Menoyo's first task, then,
should be to meet the other dissidents in Cuba
and listen to them. Cuba's people do not need
more self-appointed leaders. They need leaders
who are as democratic in their actions as they
are in their words.
|
