Reliable sources informed me that certain magnates and Cuban-American and US lobbyists met with members of the president’s staff to try and temper the tone of Obama’s speech on the island dealing with the support for democracy and human rights.
They say that Cuba’s Citizen Insecurity apparatus – i.e. State Security – has threatened to put an end to the Sunday rallies organized by a group of government opponents. Could we be about to witness a kind of (less intense) Black Spring?
Because of the professional and civil background of its bureaucracy, Correa’s leadership has been infinitely superior to other progressive movements – and to Cuba – in terms of its “administration of things.” In terms of “governing human beings,” however…
The practice known as the acto de repudio (reprisals) in Cuba has a terrible range of anti-social implications that make it a perverse innovation within tropical Stalinism. The process has been endured by poets, journalists, community leaders and the wives of political prisoners.
The image and sounds are worth a thousand words. Yelling “down with human rights!” the old man summarizes the official ideology of the Cuban State in a terrible and succinct way: human rights (HR) are a weapon the enemy uses to subvert the system, period.
In Cuba, the discourse used to discredit opposition groups among civil society organizations revolves around two main issues: their source of financing and the way in which their agendas are determined by funders.
Last week, three declarations in Cuba made news almost simultaneously: the statements by singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, Cuban Vice-President Diaz Canel and the mastermind behind the country’s economic reforms, Marino Murillo. The three made mention of the conditions that the majority of Cubans live and work under.
Some years ago, the death of an old professor who taught at the University of Havana unleashed a torrent of tears and praises among his former students, who remembered him as an exemplary educator, father and friend. However others has a totally different opinion.
Following the recent elections in Europe, I am left with more questions than answers. Among the latter is the impression that a good many citizens of the Old World – discontent over the effects of the crisis, the rise in poverty and the dirty tricks of their political class – have decided to vote for extreme-right parties.
A few weeks ago, I discovered – and literally devoured – the two seasons of the US TV series House of Cards, offered on Netflix. Anyone interested in political matters (and in the disciplines that tackle them) will find it impossible not to succumb to the charms of the series.