Cubans and
Yankees: The End of Anti-Imperialism and Anti-Communism (La Jornada, Mexico)
"It is
time to bury the last shovelful of Cold War dirt and the highfalutin rhetoric
that came with it. If relations between the two countries continue to progress,
there are two ghosts that seem destined to their graves, even if of course we
continue to hear their echoes: anti-imperialism and anti-communism. The
far-right Tea Party in the United States and the champions of 21st century
socialism will beat these ghosts as long as the racket brings them political
gain."
It's already commonplace to say that the meeting between
Barack Obama and Raul Castro at the Summit of the Americas in Panama is a
milestone. It is of course, and it will have implications for the entire
continent as it changes the nature of relations between Latin America and the
United States - giving a new tone. It is time to bury the last shovelful of
Cold War dirt and the highfalutin rhetoric that came with it.
If relations between the two countries continue to progress,
there are two ghosts that seem destined to their graves, even if of course we
continue to hear their echoes: anti-imperialism and anti-communism. The
far-right Tea Party in the United States and the champions of 21st century
socialism will beat these ghosts as long as the racket brings them political
gain.
The well-considered words of Raul Castro exonerating Obama
for the imperialist aggression of the past and qualifying him as an honest man
were fittingly complemented by a
comment of Obama himself, who said: "Our nations had to break free from the
old arguments, the old grievances that had too often trapped us in the past;
that we had a shared responsibility to look to the future … This shift in U.S.
policy represents a turning point for our entire region."
It is an approach with promise, but for it to become
irreversible will require some of the planned steps to happen right away,
such as U.S. removal of Cuba from its list of terrorist countries and a restoration
of full diplomatic relations. That would open the way for a lessening of the
economic blockade and a situation that there would be no turning back from for
Obama's White House successor - important if that successor comes from radical
Republican ranks.
The argument of those who oppose the current understanding
is that Cuban government is giving very little in terms of human rights and
democratic freedom while all the concessions are to be made by the United
States. In turn, however, it is well known that the fundamental concession that
Cuba is hoping for, a lifting of the blockade, is not in Obama's hands. In
Congress in Washington there is still a long way to go to reach a majority on
the measure. Raul Castro already knows that, hence his insistent repetition
that much patience will be required.
Much patience indeed. When we speak of human rights and
civil liberties in Cuba, these are not mere concessions but issues concerning
the nature of the political system: the power of a single party, the control of
civil society and a monopoly on media and communications. This is where Raul
Castro has been intransigent in stating that Cuba will not change its system,
and then everything seems to be at an impasse.
But there will be no such roadblocks from now on. Approaching
the end of his last term, Obama wants the opening to Cuba as a visible part of
his presidential legacy. On the other side of the negotiating table he faces a
historic leader of the Cuban Revolution well over 80 years of age who has
announced that he will not seek a new term as leader of the regime. Raul Castro
represents a generation that is on its way out. There will therefore
necessarily be a generational shift in Cuba, which will have leaders who have
nothing to do with the Castro family. Whether these new leaders will abide by
political orthodoxy and cling to the idea of a single party remains to be seen.
Surely things are being carefully planned to ensure that
those who are handed power don't depart from the traditional line and continue
to tolerate economic openness, but not political opening. However, history has
repeatedly shown that the future cannot be dictated so that plans are observed
to the letter. Once one generation gives way to another or seeks to manage
events from the grave or the deathbed, it depends on more than a willingness to
be preserved in formaldehyde, but also a host of elements that collide and
intersect: new conceptions of world, new needs, new realities and abrupt
environmental change. The old dialectic is unable to cope.
Generational change becomes critical to breaking down
barriers and leaving intransigence to the aged. So it will be with the Cubans
inside and out - those living on the island and those in Florida. The young
never want to be handed the past only to have to incessantly repeat its
mistakes. They have their own ideas about the future, of breaking out of
ideological constraints, particularly in a country like Cuba where in so many
ways, people have had to be creative, starting with the arts - film, music,
literature, painting; and certainly economics, as entrepreneurs since the
operation of small businesses were permitted and having learned with private
initiative to move in the forbidden waters of yesteryear.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Then there is the issue of geographical proximity, which has
played such an essential and often negative role in Cuba's modern history. As
you will recall, with Cuba and the United States just 90 miles from one
another, there was a recurring theme in the speech of the two parties during
the Cold War: governments in the United States would point to the danger of
having a Communist country so close to its continental territory; and Cuban
leaders spoke with pride of carrying out a revolution in the very whiskers of
Uncle Sam. Now, with a lifting of barriers, that proximity will certainly be a
positive element.
That is why the meeting in Panama between leaders of two
countries so long joined in confrontation is truly historic. By removing the
bolts from the gates of the future, they have opened the way to something truly
novel.
*Sergio Ramírez
Mercado is a Nicaraguan writer and intellectual, a former member of Nicaragua's
Government Junta of National Reconstruction and former vice president under
President Daniel Ortega from 1985-1990.
