Hypocrisy on Both Sides of the Florida Strait

By Pedro Pablo Morejon

HAVANA TIMES – I ran into an acquaintance this week, who was celebrating Democrat candidate Joe Biden’s presidential win.

According to his theory, when Biden enters the White House, he will continue with former president Obama’s policy of normalizing relations with Cuba. That’s to say, in the long run, end the US’ commercial embargo – which is called the Blockade here.

I’m a bit of a skeptic on this issue. I told him that things would still be bad here because the main cause for the Cuban tragedy today is a system that denies individuals their freedom and ability to make progress. I said the possible lifting of the “blockade” would do little to get the country back on its feet.

I didn’t say it in those words though, mind you. Here, people can be very quick on the take when it comes to surviving, but when it comes to socio-political theory, totalitarianism has turned them all into robots, into another sheep in the herd.

I really thought about ignoring what he had said and keeping quiet. However, I am an impulsive person normally and I don’t like to bite my tongue.

What was I asking for? A series of digressions and lies to justify the fair nature and superiority of Socialism. It came with examples of the COVID-19 in the US and violent protests in Chile.

When I asked him where he got his information from to think like this, he immediately began to rant and rave about what he called the “great media controlled by Imperialism which only tells lies about Cuba.” He didn’t even let me get a word in sideways.

Who is this man? A guy with a Communist Party card, but who lives off of the many remittances he receives from abroad.  Clearly this man thinks as he lives, and he feels that Mr. Trump has tightened the noose. 

A noose which somebody else placed around his neck six decades ago, and has always been tightened. It’s the Caribbean take on Stockholm Syndrome.

I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth, but I wasn’t worried. I lost my fear a long time ago. 

The flip side of the coin is some Cubans living in Florida today. They left years ago, and in spite of their spiel of democratic ideals, they insult and even accuse anyone of being a Communist, if they offer an opinion that goes against their old anti-Castrism. 

When they lived on the island, they did nothing to free it (I would even dare to say that many of them played the dictatorship’s game). But now they call us sheep, to say that we live the way we do because we are cowards and submissive.

They do so from their comfortable life on the other side of the Florida Strait, eating sandwiches and drinking whiskey. They have no fear of reprisals for supporting tougher sanctions that only affect the Cuban people. Moreover, they are sad that Trump lost the election. They believe he is a Messiah, democracy’s savior and the bastion of the fight against global Communism.

They are on the other end of the intolerance spectrum. The plight of the people they say they are defending are the least of their concerns. They hold onto the simple belief that a US president will bring about the fall of a regime, that has always used the embargo as its main ally, by using coercive measures.

They also think like they live.

Read more diary posts by Pedro Pablo Morejon.