As Castro’s health fails ” creating hopes that it is at least the beginning of the end of his rule ” the world contemplates the exit of a man who has proven that it is possible to run a country like a military camp and still be beloved by self-styled liberals and progressives. The same people who decry a budding tyranny in the U.S. because the government now enjoys enhanced surveillance powers against terrorism suspects, celebrate and yuk it up with a ruler who jails anyone who disagrees with him. …
Ultimately, what probably attracts leftists to Castro is sheer power. He represents what the late writer John François-Revel called “the totalitarian temptation” ” in this case, socialism with the ability to tell anyone who disagrees to “shut up.” …
This article reminded me of this interview with Andy Garcia
H: While the events depicted in the movie occurred almost 50 years ago, you portray Batista, Che Guevara, and Fidel in a similarly negative light, a vision that may not be shared by a younger generation who has come to see, particularly Che, as a great visionary. Do you think this movie will change that?
AG: I don’t know. Most people I ask, ‘Do you know who you have on your T-Shirt?’ They will answer, ‘Yeah, it’s Che Guevara, he was a revolutionary guy.’ That’s as much as they know about him. When you confront them and say ‘Do you know he executed over 2,000 people in Cuba?’ They’d tell you they didn’t. This is historical fact, but people have limited knowledge about him. He talked about the necessity to execute, and about revolutionary justice being ultimate justice so you don’t need a trial to convict someone. This figure has been romanticized over the years and unfortunately people don’t take the time to read and learn about it.
H: Do you believe there is also a skewed, romantic vision of Cuba that is predominant outside the island?
AG: Yes, people think of Cuba as a social paradise. They argue that it has free education. Well, yes, only if you call indoctrination free education. If you believe that education is reading only the books they provide you. You can’t read Cabrera Infante or Faulkner because its illegal and you can go to jail. People believe the propaganda that the [Cuban] government has spread. People say: ‘They have free medicine.’ Well, they have free diagnosis but no medicine for the people. There’s a lot of [misconceptions] that people in the Americas and around the world believe based on the propaganda that comes out of Cuba. As an exile you know the lack of civil liberties that Cubans have, but people in America don’t know that. The majority of people here know very little about American history, let alone Cuban history.
H: It seems like foreign policy towards Cuba has become a waiting game for Castro’s death. Do you think there is more the world should be doing right now to remedy the conditions in which the Cuban people live?
AG: The entire world trades with Castro. I think America is the only country that enforces an embargo against Cuba. And it seems to me –this is just personal opinion- like every time there is talk of lifting the embargo something happens over there that makes the U.S. reconsider lifting it. I don’t believe he wants the embargo lifted, because once he has no embargo, then he has no enemy. That’s just my personal political theory. Also, the problem with an embargo-free Cuba is that it doesn’t solve the problem of Fidel’s embargo over the Cuban people that prevents them from participating in a market economy. The lifting of the embargo wouldn’t directly help the Cuban people. If they can only do business with the government, then how do the Cuban people benefit from that? Why don’t they benefit from the business that Cuba does with European nations? Those countries do business with the Cuban government, but Cuban citizens don’t have access to those business opportunities:And the benefits go to the government who can decide how much they trickle down to the people, which as you know, is nothing. The only way lifting the embargo could help stimulate the economy is if people are allowed to freely participate in a free market society so they can deal directly with investors coming in from the outside, or get hired by those investors. So there are two embargos that need to be lifted, the first is the embargo Fidel has over his own people, and obviously the American embargo. Until then nothing will happen. I don’t think Fidel wants the embargo lifted because it’d put pressure on him to open up the process. He blames the American embargo, but he also keeps it in place. Without an enemy, who’s going to like me?
H: Is a return to the 1940 constitution [which promoted a democratic state] a reality for post-Castro Cuba?
AG: I certainly hope so. It’s a simple move. All you have to say is: we want to go back to the promise of what the revolution was. The revolution has not fulfilled its original promise, which was to restore the constitution. It went in a different direction completely. So, yes, it is possible, but you’ll need a complete change in leadership. You can bet the house on the fact that the Cuban people would want that. But the question is: Will there be a government that wants to go in that direction, and have an election and restore democracy? It doesn’t mean you have to abandon social democracy. That was part of the Cuban constitution and of the revolutionary process. There were social programs established before the revolution, but the one thing that is not negotiable is freedom, democracy.
H: Do you see yourself returning to Cuba one day?
AG: Every day.
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