In Cuba, time for some really new ideas

In Cuba, time for some really new ideas
Posted on Wed, Aug. 01, 2007
BY ANA MENENDEZ
amenendez@MiamiHerald.com

Anniversaries -- with their leaden feet in the past -- are lifeless
things, and their celebration is usually best left to children and
romantics.

But this anniversary offers a rare chance to look forward, a difficult
exercise for a nation that has made a fetish of history, but one we
cannot afford to pass up.

On July 31, 2006, Fidel Castro, for the first time, stepped aside and
ceded power to his brother Raúl. It was the beginning of the end, even
if it came in a way both unpredictable and anticlimatic.

A year later, a sick Castro still looms over Cuban politics, but his
continuing presence should not obscure the fact that things are already
changing on the island. The pace and scope of that change depend
foremost on Cuba and its leaders, who still rule absolutely. But its
outcome also will depend on us here in Miami and our willingness to let
go of the dusty language and habits of nostalgia.

ECHOES OF THE PAST

Monday, Cuba's old sugar and cattle barons took out an ad in The Miami
Herald, harking back to the glorious constitution of 1940. I have often
praised that constitution, a model of liberal democracy. But we can't
forget that it was a short-lived one -- almost immediately suspended by
Fulgencio Batista after his coup. Cuba has produced wonderful poets and
thinkers; unfortunately it has shown equal talent for nurturing
horrendous political leaders. Fidel Castro didn't come from outer space;
he came out of a tradition of caudillos and violence.

Miami is awash in post-Castro studies. Enough plans, predictions and
outright fantasies have been written to fell a small forest. All of it
is worthless until we examine the roots of our misery: a tragic
inability to find common ground.

Fidel Castro proved a willing student of the rigid, uncompromising
school. Raúl, who arguably has more blood on his hands, seems willing to
relax the rhetoric. Even if the impulse is born more out of practical
considerations than a sudden attack of benevolence, it's worth paying
close attention.

''To have more we have to begin producing more,'' The New York Times
quoted him as saying on the anniversary of the Moncada assault.

Radical stuff. Are we listening?

UNUSUAL ADMISSION

Of all the proposals to emerge in the last year, one of the best is a
small, modest paper put out by the Cuba Study Group in September 2006.

It begins with a bold statement: ``Because this proposal lacks the input
and participation of knowledgeable individuals residing within Cuba, it
is inherently flawed and lacking a most fundamental perspective.''

A study on Cuba that begins by acknowledging the need for input by the
Cuban people? It's radically refreshing. Victims have a right to their
pain. But a humane policy needs to be built on more than a catalog of
grievances, and the Cuba Study Group's plan acknowledges this.

Though limited in range -- just 10 pages -- the paper makes several
observations before going on to propose a simple first step to a true
transition: micro-loans directly to the Cuban people. ``In the end, we
believe that Cuba's future hinges on unleashing the human capital of the
individual.''

Of course, it can't happen without the Cuban government. A micro-lending
program can be started through the Mexican Banco Compartamos. But first
Cuban law must change to allow that kind of assistance. If Cuba's
leaders can finally get past their paranoia and allow the future to take
shape, it will be evidence they truly care for the ordinary Cuban
people. If we can get past ours, it will show we do too.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/ana_menendez/story/188695.html