Cuba can't postpone cultural transformation

Posted on Sunday, 05.23.10
ARTISTIC EXCHANGE
Cuba can't postpone cultural transformation
BY OSCAR ESPINOSA CHEPE
leivachepe@gmail.com

HAVANA -- In the context of the Obama administration's opening to the
appearance of Cuban artists in the United States no matter what their
political positions, Silvio Rodríguez, his wife and daughter received
visas to tour that country.
The highlight of the tour is a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York
on June 4. In addition, the visit will include appearances in Los
Angeles, San Francisco and Puerto Rico.
Although Silvio maintains his support for the regime, in recent times he
has expressed criticism of controversial issues in the nation's reality,
among them the restrictions on entering and leaving the country, as well
as the Revolutionary Offensive of 1968 [when the government confiscated
more than 55,000 small businesses and put them under state control] and
its disastrous consequences.
Silvio's visit has been preceded by the visits of many other Cuban
artists. The day before his appearance in Carnegie Hall, Alicia Alonso
will be honored by the American Ballet Theatre in New York, where she
began her career as a dancer in 1943. She is about to celebrate her 90th
birthday.
Alonso is not limited by her political position of connivance with
totalitarianism, including her support for the repression during the
Black Spring of 2003, which put in prison 75 peaceful Cubans only
because they tried to express their opinions, and for the cruel and
excessive sentence of death by firing squad meted out to three young
blacks who made the mistake of trying to take a ferryboat to the United
States without shedding any blood.
Cubans applaud President Obama's gestures of true democracy and wonder
when the Cuban government will allow artists who live abroad to bring
their art to Cuba. People here want to enjoy the appreciated talent of
Bebo Valdés, Gloria Estefan, Willy Chirino, Albita, Paquito D'Rivera and
many others.
The repeated friendly gestures made by the American authorities should
be reciprocated by the Cuban authorities. At a time when the economy
sinks swiftly, we should take advantage of Washington's stance to begin
to settle the differences that for so many years have separated our
countries.
Ninety miles from our shores and possessing the world's most powerful
and efficient economy, the United States would be an economic and
commercial partner that, on a basis of mutual respect, could help lift
our country from the terrible chaos in which it finds itself. That
requires outsize investments that demand enormous resources and the best
technology, factors available in the United States, home to 1.7 million
Cuban Americans, who could form a magnificent bridge to achieve that
objective.
It is impossible to reach that objective, however, if the Cuban
government does not also take steps toward rationality and the gradual
democratization of the island.
Such a strategy would be in line with the interests of Cuban society,
which has been plunged into disaster precisely by the authorities, when
they refuse to walk along the road of sanity, common sense and respect
for different opinions.
Today, more than ever, it is in the interest of all Cubans, the
government included, to put aside a bunker mentality cluttered with
wrong positions and useless rhetoric.
It is indispensable to take concrete measures that would include: the
immediate release of prisoners of conscience and peaceful politicians;
turning over the land to the peasants so they can cultivate it freely
and enjoy honorable lives with their efforts; allowing the creation of
small and medium private enterprises; granting all the citizens the
freedom to work in a legal framework for the establishment of a
democratic society with respect for human rights; and creating a strong
and independent civil society.
As Cardinal Jaime Ortega said recently, referring to the need to find
solutions for today's economic and social difficulties the common
denominator among the people consulted is that ``the necessary changes
be made soon in Cuba . . . this opinion reaches a sort of national
consensus, and its postponement produces impatience and malaise in the
people.''
We are in a crucial moment for Cuba. The changes can no longer be
delayed. The government must understand that the transformations cannot
be postponed. Reconciliation is attained on the basis of honorable
compromises among all Cubans.
Oscar Espinosa Chepe is an economist and independent journalist in Cuba.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/23/1642452/cuba-cant-postpone-cultural-transformation.html