ANOTHER PATH TO THE POSSIBLE DREAM

Mar 11 at 12:01 PM

by

R. E. Calvo  MD  Ph.D.

 

Much has been written and argued about Cuba, its actual situation and what the future should be. It should be apparent by now that no matter how much we write, we organize symposiums, conferences, plebiscites and we parade concerning the lack of freedom in Cuba will be of any help. Therefore a redirection of the efforts to liberate Cuba of the communist yoke is in order.

 

We have three groups of Cubans in existence: those inside the Island in mind and body, those outside the Island in body but whose mind is still functioning to the tune of the daily needs of their families left behind in Cuba and also to what they heard and learned for several decades. The third is the old group of exiles from the 60’s and 70’s whose representation is dwindling due to the inexorable law of nature but in most instances with very well defined anti communist beliefs. 

 

Those inside have essentially no way to organize, initiate and/or maintain any action that could represent any threat to the Communist regime. Those who have been in exile for decades have not been able to gather their ample economic resources and put aside the “self assigned God given” privilege that they are the ones who have the gift of knowing all solutions to all political and economic problems without realizing that their proposals are utopia within a post Marxist environment. We have too many high sounding words in many “declarations and manifestos” and too few actions that correspond with them.

 

The liberation of Cuba has two facets that must complement each other.

 

One is the strategy to end the existence of the Communist Party and its role as ruler while simultaneously state clearly and in as much detail possible the main realizable economic and political measures to be implemented afterwards to restore liberty, justice and prosperity as a preamble to a Constitutional Republic.

 

What means are available to realize such aim?

 

There is a well documented historical fact. No communist regime has been without the interference of a contemporary foreign power helping to create the ripe conditions for the majority of the population to mobilize and precipitate the fall of the Party.  Nowadays, such foreign power is represented by the United States that enjoy a supreme economic position in the world. 

 

 

It is of outmost importance to realize that the weakest link of any socialist regime is the economy. It is its “Achilles tendon”.  The Communist Party does not care at all how many violations of human rights or acts of repression are accredited to its curriculum vitae but it cares dearly about the economic stability of the communist hierarchy. 

 

The economic stability of Cuba is precarious. Cuba produces little and practically exports nothing. The economy of Cuba and what is left of it is essentially in control of the military echelon which forms integral part of the Party. The dependency of the Communist Party on international resources for its existence has been debilitated considerably by long list of unpaid debtors, the fast deteriorating economic conditions in Venezuela and the change in the Government administration of the United States.

 

Is it not intriguing to question the methods which the Communist Party possesses to sustain the economy of the Island without reaching a complete collapse? Besides the continuing contributions to the economy by the “remesas” sent by Cubans to the Island, what else is contributing solidly to its maintenance?

 

What are the possible sources of income to the Communist Party that cannot be explained in terms of open, transparent and honest internal and external commercial exchanges of goods and products? 

 

Cuba is the center of terrorism, drugs conduits, supplier of repressive forces and money laundering for many of the cartels and political socialist terrorist groups and governments in Latin America and in Europe.

 

In the past a former President of the United States utilized economic means and political alliances with other world powers to strangle the economic help and assistance that the West had provided to the USSR and its Communist Party during its prolonged existence. The result was the fall of the Berlin Wall and end of Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR. Effective economic measures were also utilized to terminate the apartheid government of South Africa.

 

Never let success go to waste. Let us repeat the implementation of similar measures with the tools disposable at the present time to the U.S. Treasury Department to curtail and end the dubious economic ways by which the Communist Party sustains its existence in the Island.  Many, if not all of these measures, do form integral part of the package of economic sanctions applied already by the United States to countries such as North Korea and Iran.

 

The second facet mentioned above is contained in the “Contract with the Cuban People”**. The transformation of a Communist country to one based on private property, free markets, freedom of enterprise, fiscal responsibility and the Rule of Law is the most challenging operation that any group of Cuban will face in their life time.

 

Will that temporary group in charge of the direction of the country have all the answers to the ever changing conditions in the post Marxist era?  No.

 

Will they make mistakes and implement measures that could be not so popular or be considered better? Yes.

 

The task ahead of those wishing to participate in such endeavor is daunting. What we require from those persons is to have real and honest intention of proposing and adopting the basic reforms in all the most important aspects in governing temporarily the Island.

 

There are many areas of the political and economic domains that are among the most pressing issues in the transformational period. They go from actions and measures in improving the different aspects of the infrastructure totally abandoned for 60 years, the neglected medical care, the restructuring of the military, the establishment of private property and its implementation through legal titles. The judicial branch of Government and its difficult transformation is basic to institute and maintain the Rule of Law.

To guarantee the fruit of the labor of all citizens is indispensable to have a small government that has a very careful and honest fiscal policy and an excellent management of the new currency either as formal “dollarization” or instituting a Currency Board.

 

Have we covered and mentioned all the aspects of the transformation of Cuban society that require careful and systematic evaluations and planning? No.

 

Let us concentrate in contributing as much as each one of us can to formulate in parallel the required path to strangle economically and end the Communist Party in Cuba while at the same time formulate and expose the most fundamental measures that are considered essential in each of the reforms that must be addressed to achieve the most successful renaissance of a devastated society that could be the pride of all Cubans and the example that all countries which would like to emulate it.

END

 

(** see below “Contract with the Cuban People”)

 

July 2018

 

“Contract with The Cuban People “.

As citizens born in Cuba or as ascend of such we declare to believe in certain fundamental principles extracted from historical experiences as we initiate the road toward the reconstruction of Cuba in the future.

BELIEFS

·      We believe that the absolute absence of freedom, private property and respect for human life are the predominant causes of the calamities that permeate all the stratums of the actual Cuban society.

·      We believe that every human being as unique owner of reasoning is sovereign in itself with the faculty to be the sole owner of his destiny without infringing upon others.

·      We believe that each human being is granted certain natural rights since its birth. These imprescriptibly rights are individual, inalienable and guarantee his liberty allowing him to live in peace and harmony within the societal fraternity.

·      We believe in the need to grant the consent of forming and supporting a Constitutional Republic. The functions of its government are to guarantee private property and the physical integrity of each citizen, protect the security of the Cuban nation, maintain fiscal responsibility and be subordinated to a body of objective laws within a frame of equality and without privileges.

·      We believe in fomenting a new Cuban nation where virtue is not a weakness but strength and where each citizen can express its full economic and intellectual capabilities within a free market environment where free enterprise and competition exits and are enjoyed equally by all.