Can Repression in Cuba Be Considered a Victory?
HAVANA TIMES – The overlap between law and power in revolutionary Cuba has meant that for more than 60 years anyone dissatisfied with government policy is, according to those in power, a dissident, a criminal, a violator of the rules.
In a clear violation of fundamental rights and to keep the farm clean of “worms,” the Cuban regime has repressed freedom of expression, assembly, and the press; it has dominated through fear and threats; and it has wanted to homogenize thought to crush criticism, the questioning of those in power.
An individual who exercises their rights, who thinks freely and who opposes the political-social chaos in which the country is submerged will be considered an enemy and, therefore, the entire weight of the system will fall on them. Even so, there have been thousands of Cubans who, despite the punishment and repression, defy and challenge those in power.
On the other hand, the official Cuban rhetoric of turning setbacks into victories has always been a fallacy. Not acknowledging mistakes, failures or defeats and smearing them with a triumphant and misleading discourse has only done more damage. With the recent London trial on a portion of Cuba’s foreign debt, they’ve done it again.
After learning the decision of the British judge Sara Cockerill (on April 4, 2023), the state media was flooded with news items and headlines announcing that Cuba had won the lawsuit in London; which is not entirely true. The strategy of painting and softening reality does not prevent the final consequences.
Cockerill expressly said that the CRF I Limited fund — plaintiff against the Cuban State and the Banco Nacional de Cuba (BNC) and that claims a sum of US $78 million — had “won against the BNC, but at the same time [had] lost against Cuba.
Cockerill’s decision denies the possibility of considering the Cuban State responsible for the debt, but it does not deny the existence of non-payment. She also recognized that the London Court has jurisdiction to try and force the BNC to pay a debt that she considered legitimate and payable.
What is the victory then? Doesn’t the BNC really owe the debt? What if they can’t pay it? Doesn’t the Cuban state have any involvement in the equation?
