Cuba-United States - Focusing on Transparency

Cuba-United States: Focusing on Transparency / Ivan Garcia
Posted on May 7, 2014

There are not always good arguments for trampling on the jurisdiction of
a foreign nation. The Cold War mentality is still latent in the behavior
of certain U.S. institutions.

If a government believes in democracy and political freedom, it
shouldn't go around hiding its peaceful efforts to support the democrats
in autocratic countries like Cuba.

The performance of USAID in the case of the contractor Alan Gross,
jailed for clandestinely introducing satellite internet connections, or
of Zunzuneao, the so-called Cuban Twitter, have been burdened by a lack
of transparency and professionalism.

Freedom of expression, information and access to the internet are
inalienable rights of any citizen. If the government of a country denies
them, it is not a punishable crime to allow another person to inform
them in some way.

Authoritarian and vertical societies like Cuba possess a bunch of rules
that allow them to manage the flow of information at will. This control
allows them to govern without hiccups, manipulating adverse opinions or
hiding them.

The White House can implement policies that contribute to Cubans having
diverse sources of information. But with transparency. And not designing
strategies that could be interpreted as interference.

It is positive that the United States Interest Section in Havana
operates two free internet rooms, where anyone can go, dissidents or
otherwise.

Washington's policy toward Cuba is generally public and transparent. On
the internet it is not difficult to find help or money awarded to
opposition groups on the island. A good way to bury this obsessive mania
for espionage and mystery.

It must be a goal of the United States that the Radio Martí programming
is becoming more enjoyable, analytical and professional. Since the
1960s, the Cuban regime used Radio Havana Cuba as an instrument to sell
its doctrines to foreign countries.

With the petrodollars of the late Hugo Chavez, Telesur was created,
television dedicated to openly spreading and supporting the most rancid
of the Latin American left. That's their right.

But each person should also be respected, according to his opinions,
able to freely access the TV channel he desires, listen to the radio
station he prefers, and read his favorite newspapers and digital sites.

For the olive-green autocracy, the 21st century is an ideological
struggle. And it has orchestrated a campaign called "the battle of
ideas." But on the national scene, opinions that diverge from the
official line are not accepted.

Cable antennas are illegal. Internet costs a price unattainable for most
ordinary people. Foreign newspapers and books critical of the status quo
are censored.

All that's left is to listen to shortwave. Or sit in the bar of a hotel,
spend four dollars to drink a mojito and watch Spanish CNN. The
censorship even goes beyond politics.

Although it's fair to recognize that Raul Castro has allowed Cubans to
see NBA and MLB games, foreign games in which players from the island
participate are still banned.

It's the same in the literary, intellectual and musical fields. The
singing Willy Chirino, the composer Jorge Luis Piloto, the poet Raul
Rivero, the columnist Carlos Albert Montaner, or the writer Zoe Valdez,
are prohibited from visiting their homeland for being convinced
anti-Castroites.

The Castro brothers suffer from a rare mania: they consider themselves
the legitimate owners of the nation. And know how to sell themselves as
victims. And mor than a few times, U.S. and European institutions, with
their Cold War mentality, give them ammunition.

Iván García

Photo: Flags of Cuba, United States, United Kingdom and the European
Union, among others, waving on the balcony of the Hotel Saratoga, where
in April 2013 Beyoncé and her husband , rapper Jay -Z stayed. The
pretext for the couple to spend three days in Havana was celebrating
their fifth wedding anniversary. It was speculated that behind the visit
could be Barack Obama, friend of the artists. True or not, the journey
was questioned in Cuba and in the United States. Taken from Cubanet .

29 April 2014

Source: "Cuba-United States: Focusing on Transparency / Ivan Garcia |
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