Cuba, Where the Old Leaders Elect the New

Cuba, Where the Old Leaders Elect the New
July 29, 2013
Rogelio Manuel Diaz Moreno

HAVANA TIMES —This last 26th of July address was far too important. A
round anniversary of the assault on the Moncada Barracks, held in
Santiago de Cuba, attended to by many foreign dignitaries.

This time, President Raul Castro didn't give the platform to Cuba's new
First Vice-President Miguel Diaz Canel, as he had done in previous July
26 festivities with former First Vice-President Jose Machado Ventura.

In addition to paying tribute and expressing his gratitude to different
individuals, countries and cities, the president made a brief remark –
the most significant of the entire speech, in my opinion – about what we
are going through at the moment and our future.

The revolution's historical leadership, he declared, "begins to step
down so that the young can take their place, peacefully and with a sense
of serene confidence that stems from the new generation's proven
capacity to maintain the course of the revolution."

The inevitable passage of time has imposed this as a necessity on Cuba's
current government, which today acknowledges and explains that "the
process of handing the chief responsibilities of the nation over to the
new generations in a gradual and orderly manner is underway."

We could say that Diaz Canel is a clear example of this renewal within
the leadership. And, to tell the truth, I am bothered by the whole affair.

It would be reasonable to say that a bigwig's ultimate power isn't put
to the test during his term of office. It would be reasonable to say
that their ultimate power lies in deciding, when it is time to step
down, who will be handed the sceptre, in order to become the new bigwig.

As usual, I cannot help but ask myself a few questions. What does the
"process of transferring power" over to someone consist in, who controls
it and how is it handled in general?

The Cuban president/general insists that institutions are of the essence
in guaranteeing the country's smooth, orderly functioning. However, he
again blatantly avoids the fact that no institution, no leader, no
course set by any government will ever be more legitimate, respected and
powerful than democracy – the legitimate representation of the people's
will.

Abiding by the sovereign will of the nation, serving the people
represented by the government, this summarizes the role that all
governments should play, particularly those that would claim to be
revolutionary and socialist.

We can't have a situation in which a "historical leadership" has secured
a "place" of power, of preponderance (even if it is given a name with a
nice ring to it, like "vanguard") and now "begins to step down" to hand
over power to the new, selected caste of leaders.

The space of democracy, the space where citizens chose, evaluate and, if
necessary, remove, those leaders it believes will represent them most
faithfully, is apparently not to be mentioned by the official discourse.

What of the mechanisms of the People's Power, which aren't true
democratic institutions, but are the closest thing to these in Cuba? No,
no, the sun was beating down on that platform in Santiago de Cuba too
intensely to waste time talking about things that aren't important.

But, the fact of the matter is that we don't have to agree with the way
this process is being organized. No new batch of fresh bigwigs, chosen
at finger-point by the old bigwigs, could ever hope to secure any
legitimacy in the eyes of the people. Nor could they credibly demand
discipline, restraint and devotion from these people.

No new batch of leaders will ever secure any legitimacy unless it
subjects itself to and abides by the principles of those societies made
up of individuals with equal rights. And these principles invariably
demand universal suffrage, a process whereby every citizen, old or
young, male or female, of any race, religious creed or sexual
orientation, living anywhere in the country, judges and elects those who
will become their representatives on the basis of their merits and
capabilities.

The legal authority to judge and elect all current and future leaders
lies exclusively with the totality of the electorate.

Only respect towards this democratic principle – an obvious one, to be
sure – can effectively protect the unity of all honorable Cubans, a
unity that is of the essence to the country, not only its current president.

Source: "Cuba, a country where the old leaders want to elect the new
ones" - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=97122