Revolution and Repression: Cuba Si! Fidel No!

Revolution and Repression

It was 52 years ago today that the first shots of the Cuban Revolution were fired as Fidel Castro led the attack on the Moncada Barracks. The date of the attack, 26 de Julio, was adopted by Castro as the name of his movement which came to power on January 1, 1959.


Do the math and see that Fidel has been in power for...um...more than 46 years. It's a staggering and ultimately shameful notion. A revolution that promised a "New Man" has instead produced an Old Man dictator who jails his opponents and governs by decree.


Give me all the jibber-jabber you want about the unfair way Cuba was and is treated (and all that's true) but nothing justifies four and a half decades of one man rule. Indeed, Castro's personal power monopoly is an insult to the Cuban people as well as to  anyone who identifies with the revolutionary, humanist principles in which the regime so cynically continues to cloak itself.


For all of the regime's rhetoric about "the people," apparently the one thing the regime won't and can't do is trust that people to elect its own representatives and leaders. That is the essence of dictatorship. The Cubans have every bit as much a right to free expression and political freedom as they do to health care and education -- the two selling points of the regime.


In any case, of what value is a free public education that excludes any critical thinking, any dissenting opinion, any open debate?



All that to say I've been rather dismayed to read of yet another Castro crackdown on dissidents – the most significant since his arrest of more than 70 opponents two years ago.


Last Friday, Cuban security agents took away 33 people who had been planning to attend a protest outside the French Embassy in Havana.


They wanted to apply pressure on European nations that lifted economic sanctions against Cuba earlier this year. The sanctions were originally imposed after Castro tossed 75 people in jail for thought crimes two years ago. Many of that group remain imprisoned with sentences of more than 25 years.


Twenty-three of those detained Friday were released over the last two days, but at least ten remain in jail. The new crackdown may force the Europeans to reconsider their current dialogue process with Castro. The Spanish government leads the efforts to keep the dialogue open. Not surprisingly, eastern European leaders are more skeptical: 
 

Popular eastern European feeling on the subject was encapsulated in an open letter to the media from former Czech leader Vaclav Havel in mid-June.


"Castro made a fool of the EU [over the sanctions agreement]", the letter stated. "He released a few critically ill prisoners, secretly jailed some others and did not let some European parliamentarians into the country".


The sorry news comes, ironically, just as I have been solicited to give some money to a Pastors for Peace solidarity caravan to Cuba. I have always opposed the Cuban embargo. But how can I feel solidarity with a regime that locks people up for their mere opinions?


If the Pastors could find it in their righteous souls to show some support for these Cuban political prisoners along with the “Cuban people” then we might have something to talk about.Take a look at compere Doug Ireland’s comprehensive posting  on the latest wave of repression. Doug’s got some great links there. In the meantime, how I wish George W. Bush would find some reason to make nice with Castro. Then maybe a strong liberal-left chorus of voices could find the courage to say oonce and for all: “Cuba Si! Fidel No!”