Permanence, Legitimacy and the Future in Havana

Permanence, Legitimacy and the Future in Havana / Juan Juan Almeida
Posted on April 3, 2013

If there is one thing I learned from being close to power, it was not to
focus on explicit actions but rather on non-verbal messages that go
unstated. It is precisely for this reason that today, while many are
captivated by dreamy visions and hopeful about evolutionary developments
that to me still seem embryonic, the Cuban government is approving and
reaffirming steps towards a greater permanence, legitimacy and future
for itself.

I have 103 reasons — three of them personal — for being opposed to what
is called Revolution. But that does not mean that I cannot see the
growing empowerment of an administration that on the one hand combines
investments in key areas such as tourism, technology and education while
at the same time guarantees the sustainability of the system by
increasing the number and size of certain personal bank accounts and
overseas investments. I will comment more on this at another time.

It is clear that the abuses, apathy, incessant propaganda, a surfeit of
rhetoric and ongoing requests for martyrology-worthy sacrifice have
caused the majority of the population to distance itself not only from
the government, but from the opposition as well.

The housewife, the farmer, the worker, the doctor, the thief and the
student are neither political nor apolitical, but rather anti-political.
The government is aware of this and has taken concrete steps, pretending
to bridge this gap between the leaders and the led by appointing
executives who are younger… sorry, I meant to say less elderly, less
corrupt and more in touch with the people, although in practice none of
them have real freedom or executive power.

Last year there was an unusual freeze on the military budget. Several
days earlier the General asked the armed forces community for its trust.
Political ploy or not, it is one more thing to round out an image of a
pragmatic leader aware of administrative and financial limitations.

The eyes of foreign investors, however, see a slow but recovering
economy, open to foreign investment and eager for free trade. Since it
is almost a rule that capital is unconcerned with ideology but worships
opportunity, the swift negotiator quickly falls into the mix and ends up
being fodder for the government, which uses him to advance its interests
and pressure governments, states and monarchies. They learn too late
that recouping investments is not a function of production levels or the
labor market, but rather of avoiding the leaks in the very dilapidated
state plumbing system.

Fluent in diplomacy and official propaganda, they know that today's
world is not about militant leftists or well-to-do rightists, but about
people who lean towards one side or the other based on their own overall
interests. Therefore, many agreements are facilitated, giving teeth to
those who cannot smile and colors who those who cannot see. From an
endless number of patients they humanely raise armies of the grateful.

The Cuban government is preparing itself by forced march to confront the
future, which I can see upon crossing the street. I do not want to
appear negative, because I am not, but I cannot help thinking of my
astute grandmother, who possessed a wisdom without equal, when she used
to tell me, "There are two kinds of people in this world — those who
have power, and those referred to as 'the nobody bosses of nothing.'"

Juan Juan Almeida

28 March 2013

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