The glide path to an open society

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Cuba, change?

Not if the Cubans have a choice.

You wrote:

Cuba, under Raul Castro, shows signs that he wants to make his island nation more open to the outside world. He has allowed wider access to essential communications technologies, such as cell phones and the Internet (and toasters, though that is a function of a more consistently operational electricity grid built with funds from Hugo Chavez, a fact that I?m sure cheers the poor of Venezuela to no end).

[End quote.]

Being able to use the cell phone, internet, even a toaster is not a sign of political change, even for those able to afford them.

Cubans are apparently afraid of the political opening of the country.


Quoting from a NY Times story:

Still, what most surprised us was how little Cubans clamored for drastic change. Dictator or hero, Mr. Castro?s grip on power was ending, and no one seemed to care.
...
[Quoting a hotel maid:]
?Nobody says it, but everybody knows that someone new could be worse than what we have now,? she whispered. It was the kind of declaration I?ve learned to trust because it stems from neither fear nor a desire to curry favor.
...
Still, many people we met shared a fear expressed by Miguel, a 62-year-old retired army lieutenant colonel ... He said he worried about only one thing after Mr. Castro: what he called the Americanization of Cuba.

By that he meant a savage capitalism that might take away from Cubans the best houses, the best land, the best factories. In short, if a transition means that the little they have managed to acquire might be taken away, he?d rather not change.

[What happened?]

?Cubans today are not like the Cubans of the 1950s,? Aidan said. He thinks that 50 years of worrying about getting enough to eat has beaten the heart out of them. Inside their refrigerator were the eight eggs per month they are rationed, and little else.

[End quotes.]


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/weekinreview/24depalma.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=cuba%%20revolution&st=nyt&scp=7


Just as in Iraq, people have been formed by their experiences over a period of years, and consider continutation of the existing situation to be less perilous.

And I've read that chaotic periods in the country's history have been used successfully to teach people to fear disruption.

So excessive optimism should be avoided.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 04/08/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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