Forces from within are demanding changes
Posted on Fri, Feb. 15, 2008
BY MARIFELI PEREZ-STABLE
mps_opinion@comcast.net
Was Eliécer Avila -- one of the students who questioned Cuban National
Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón in a widely circulated video --
arrested on Feb. 9? An independent journalist filed a report to that
effect. Though the arrest was never confirmed, the ''news'' moved
quickly via e-mail, and some foreign media picked it up. On Monday,
Cuban media broadcast a new video of Avila denying his arrest and
stating his commitment to build ``a better socialism.''
What really happened?
My guess is that the video's wildfire circulation in Cuba forced the
government to take action. Emissaries were dispatched to Puerto Padre --
a rural town in Eastern Cuba where the Avilas live -- to ''persuade''
the 21-year old student to ''denounce'' the foreign media's manipulation
of the exchange with Alarcón. While Avila wasn't technically arrested,
and he might have returned to Havana somewhat willingly, how much of a
choice did he really have?
Nowhere is news pristinely objective. Reporting an unconfirmed arrest as
news surely contravenes journalistic ethics. But, let's keep our eyes on
the ball: the sorry state of Cuban media and, in general, official Cuba.
To some extent, the second video may reflect Avila's views. He and his
fellow students spoke up as revolutionaries. The University of
Information Sciences (UCI) is an elite institution that filters students
for their political trustworthiness and their high IQs. About 80 percent
are Communist Youth members.
At the same time, the questions raised in the exchange with Alarcón are
on the minds of all Cubans no matter their political leanings:
• Why can't Cubans freely travel abroad? Why are consumer prices set in
convertible pesos backed by hard currency when most Cubans earn their
salaries in nearly worthless pesos due to the Cuban economy's poor
productivity?
• Why are so many hotels and restaurants off-limits?
• What's the significance of the so-called united vote for National
Assembly deputies when most citizens never set eyes on the candidates?
Alarcón fumbled and stumbled, yet would anyone else in the leadership
have done better? I don't think so. We may soon see a lifting of travel
restrictions and an end to the two-faced peso. Unless the government
sanctions markets more forcefully than it has ever done, these measures
will lack heft for most Cubans. While salutary, a long-awaited
agricultural reform will not be enough to revalue the peso for citizens
to pay for airfare and other expenses abroad.
Tackling the united-vote campaign in January's elections is another
matter altogether. Havana may be ready for some market reforms. A
political opening? Not a chance, at least for now. That's why Cuban
media paraded the second video while never showing the public the
exchange with Alarcón. Talk about manipulated ``journalism''!
The same thing happened in early 2007 when intellectuals protested the
public recognition given to two former cultural commissars. Rich e-mail
exchanges and numerous meetings followed, which went unreported. The
public saw only the Writers and Artists Union statement, which,
officially at least, closed the matter. Last fall, Cubans assembled to
discuss Raúl Castro's July 26 speech. Official media gave perfunctory
accounts of these assemblies, which were anything but. Cuban journalists
and writers posted vivid chronicles on foreign blogs. Could it be that
the official media weren't interested in publishing reality-based articles?
That the video of Alarcón and the students surfaced may reflect an elite
power struggle to inflict political damage on Alarcón. We will know soon
enough. On Feb. 24, the newly elected National Assembly will meet to
elect its president as well as the Council of State. Nonetheless, let's
not get carried away.
While the UCI falls under the purview of Communications Minister Ramiro
Valdés, a long-standing hard-liner, the university has had a rather
troubled political trajectory. In 2005, a group of students and
professors established a network of e-mails and blogs to bypass the
official fire walls. About two dozen were expelled. See www.lanueva
cuba.com for a full account.
That's why the government is worried. Forces from within are demanding
changes that are nearly impossible to meet within official confines.
The second video may be a short-term victory. In the end, Havana will
run out of tricks. Then, Eliécer Avila will tell us exactly what happened.
Marifeli Pérez-Stable is vice president for democratic governance at the
Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C., and a professor at Florida
International University.
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