José Daniel Ferrer, Executive Secretary of the Patriotic Union For Cuba (UNPACU), an organization that had 28 of the 36 released prisoners from Castro's regime this January and is by far the most active in Cuba, analyzes in this Press Release UNPACU’s position regarding the current OBAMA's policy towards the Castro regime and defends reasons why UNPACU is maintaining its position on this issue, in favor of this opportunity to change Cuban history. Some of the reasons explained in the statement are as follows:
- A serious and responsible political option cannot be presented to Cubans unless you take into account very much the opinion of the majority of Cubans.
- It’s impossible to attract the attention and solidarity of democratic nations blaming them for mistakes Cubans are the only ones that should be blamed for, and which can only be solved by them. But neither turning our back to the opinion of the vast majority of solidarity nations in the democratic world.
- The Government of the United States and their political representatives continue, as always, showing support and solidarity towards Cuban human rights defenders.
- The embargo, as it was only American, rather than harming, has benefited Castro's regime.
- Nobody is more worried than Castro's regime on what could happen with the end of the policy of open confrontation and the advantages that the defenders of human rights would be able to obtain in the new scenarios that could emerge.
- The great challenge we face in the Cuban independent civil society is not whether we are for or against Barack Obama's policies. The great challenge is the need to join our efforts to be able to articulate a strong mass movement to compel the regime to sit at the table of dialogue or to leave power.
JOSÉ DANIEL FERRER GARCÍA. Feb. 2, 2015. SANTIAGO DE CUBA.
Yesterday in the afternoon I went to an Internet point in Santiago de Cuba with the intention of looking for the latest news related to the Cuban opposition, to Cuba and the rest of the world. The Cubans can’t connect to Internet from our homes, but only from the Internet points (ETECSA) and from certain hotels where one hour of Internet connection costs 4,50 CUC [the Cuban turistic coin equivalent to a dollar]; the equivalent of 10 working days for most of the national workers.
“…one hour of internet connection costs 4,50 CUC… equivalent of 10 working days for most of the national workers…”
José Daniel Ferrer – Executive Secretary of UNPACU
Looking here and there, and among other locations, I found a blog where somebody was wondering if, after the beating and detentions suffered by around thirty members of the UNPACU last Thursday in Palma Soriano while publicly demanding freedom and democracy and expressing their support to the new policy of the president Barack Obama towards Cuba, we were not going to change our opinion on this issue.
The members of UNPACU, after deeply analyzing a subject, after hearing the sincere opinion of the majority of the people and after assessing the benefits and the ethics of an approach or an action, decide what our position is accordingly. Neither the brutal beatings or a million years in jail nor a billion of tortures would make us change our minds. We won’t either change our position to please other opponents of Castro who have political and economical powers but whose agendas are not always in line with the needs of millions of Cubans who live in total poverty, deprived from their rights and from their freedom.
“…after hearing the sincere opinion of the majority of the people and after assessing the benefits and the ethics of an approach or an action, we decide what our position is accordingly. Neither the brutal beatings or a million years in jail nor a billion of tortures would make us change our minds”
The facts clearly demonstrate what the UNPACU’s position is and what the moral basis of our approach is: we are a pro-democratic organization from inside Cuba with the biggest activism and the biggest number of activists. In the last three years and a half, the UNPACU has had more political prisoners, more beaten and fined activists, detainees, tortured and accused than all the organizations of the opposition altogether.
Concerning the subject of the new Obama policy towards the Castro regime, I said: “towards the Castro regime”, because towards the people and the Cuban opposition, the American policy is remaining the same: solidarity and support to the advocates of human rights and to the UNPACU. After analyzing in the most objective way, after consulting the majority of our activists, collaborators, supporters and many other citizens, after knowing the opinion of the majority of the Americans and of citizens and governments of other friendly nations as well as the opinion of Cuban democrats, we decide to give our support.
“… towards the people and the Cuban opposition, the American policy is remaining the same: solidarity and support to the advocates of human rights.”
As we had the opportunity to express it on previous occasions, we are convinced in the UNPACU that the main actors of the fight for democratization and reconstruction of our nation have to be the Cubans from inside and from the Diaspora and if we don’t succeed it would be for our own errors and mistakes. We can’t blame the USA, or anyone else, for what is in fact our own responsibility. What others decide might influence, positively or negatively our cause, but will not define the final result. The final result will depend, above all, on the love, the responsibility, the value, the intelligence, the knowledge and the strategies of the ones who fight for a free, fair and prosper Cuba.
“We can’t blame the USA, or anyone else, for what is in fact our own responsibility.”
We respect the right of the ones who are opposed to the normalization of the relations between the USA and the Castro regime to express their opinion and to follow a path they consider convenient. We hope that our right will be respected to express what we believe is the most in favor of our fight and will achieve what every Cuban desires: Freedom and Welfare for all.
We believe with certainty that Cubans can conquer their liberties even when the whole world shows very little sympathy, but with real solidarity, we will be able to achieve it sooner. The support is not always given because it is needed, we must also know how to gain it. We not only need support from the USA and some European countries, we need all the free world to know that we are responsible, civilized and intelligent people and this can be proved by adopting positions that are in line with the opinions of the majority of the Cubans which should guide us in the decisions we take for our nation and should serve as a reflection.
Every year, even the best allies of the USA, except Israel, and populations that are very supportive to the cause of freedom of Cuba, vote in the United Nations against the embargo on the Castro regime.
“The support is not always given because it is needed, we must also know how to gain it. We not only need support from the USA and some European countries, we need all the free world to know that we are responsible, civilized and intelligent people and this can be proved by adopting positions that are in line with the opinions of the majority of the Cubans.”
The ideal would be a world without dictatorships, or at least a world in which the majority of countries would be democratic and would sanction the few dictatorships left on the planet to discourage, by doing so, any potential dictator, but in real life, things work differently. If, after the collapse of the soviet bloc and the end of the military dictatorships in Latin America and the fall of some tyrannical regimes in Africa and Asia, the democratic ideal seemed to be triumphant and many believed that totalitarianism and authoritarianism had their days count, reality is that old and very powerful dictatorships remain like China but also, new authoritarian regimes were born that came to power through free and plural elections and that, later, had eliminated the democratic institutions, violated the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press and other fundamental rights and made alliances with old dictatorships, one example is the case of Venezuela and its close alliance with the Castro regime. Today, we see nations like Argentina developing very close ties with regimes like China.
In UNPACU, we seek a harmonious balance between the benefits and the ethics, our main purpose being the democratization of Cuba and we want to reach that goal through the most human and moral way, the non-violent fight. To provoke the much needed political change in our nation through the non-violent fight, we need thousands of Cubans to join our fight and to mobilize these thousands; we need first of all to earn their trust and their respect. Trust and respect of thousands of our compatriots can’t be won by adopting positions and discourses opposed to the opinions of the majority.
A Cuban woman said recently: “It is very easy for those who receive money from the US to support that the blockade should be maintained… I, who survive with 315 cup (around 12 dollars) I see things differently.” Beyond expressing objectively our view, it is certain that many people share this way of thinking and their opinions can’t be ignored, nor without reason.
“…to mobilize thousands of Cubans; we need first of all to earn their trust and their respect. Trust and respect of thousands of our compatriots can’t be won by adopting positions and discourses opposed to the opinions of the majority.”
It is a fact that the influence of the West had a crucial importance in the democratization of Eastern Europe, it is a fact too that influence is more and best practiced from inside than from outside. It is a fact that the USA, the European Union and other free and developed nations maintain diplomatic and trade relations with dictatorships and regimes that violate human rights in the five continents. It is a fact too that the USA and the European Union are supportive to democrats who fight in these nations in non-democratic systems; they criticize and condemn violations of human rights under certain circumstances.
Also, it is a fact that the American embargo was used by the Castro regime to justify the widespread poverty that is, in fact, due to the economic models they imposed on us and even to justify the repression against human rights defenders they claim the “necessity to defend against aggressions from internal agents of the imperialism”. The embargo, as it was only American, rather than harming, has benefited to the Castro regime. In the 1990, it seemed that Castrism had its days count but a minimum opening to foreign investments, tourism from Europe and Canada and limited spaces for “self-entrepreneurship” refreshed the regime. Back then, capitalism was not that bad, the unique and only evil, according to Castro propaganda, was the American government and his “genocidal blockade”.
“The embargo, as it was only American, rather than harming, has benefited Castro’s regime.”
At the end of the nineties Hugo Chavez came to power and, with him, came the Venezuelan oil. Precisely because of wanting to imitate Castro’s model, and because of the current low prices of oil, Venezuela is in a deep crisis. It is certain that, fearing that things would get more complicated in the country of Bolivar, Raul Castro accepted to open a dialogue with the United States and is looking for new sources of oxygen to refresh the cancerous lungs of his despotic regime. But, neither the overthrow of the Maduro’s regime, if it happens soon, guarantees that the old guard of the Cuban regime would decide to facilitate the democratization. We can’t be sure neither that they will not find sources to maintain its repressive apparatus while blaming the American embargo for the growing poverty. It is certain that we will have to argue that the times have changed and Cubans have more information and less fear, but also in reality there is a need to inform more and more and to overcome many fears; we must keep beating the fear of brutal repression, of jail, of tortures, but also the fear to lose the very poor services of so called “free” health and education.
It is true that the US government, just like the European Union, would make a great favor to the Cuban people by maintaining solidarity with the Cuban democrats and making clear that any step taken that would benefit to the regime would be accompanied by actions to help the independent civil society and the people in general. We are convinced that the duty to free Cuba lies with the Cubans and we work directly with the people and strive for the people to be directly involved in the fight for their liberties, for the constant and growing presence of officials, press and tourism from the free world and especially from the USA, that we believe is always preferable to the isolation, the lack of exchanges. So, the repression against the opposition is stronger in the interior cities of Cuba than in places like the Capital, Havana, where exchange takes place … the presence of diplomats, media and foreign tourists.
“…It is true that the US government, just like the European Union, would make a great favor to the Cuban people by maintaining solidarity with the Cuban democrats …”
For those who know how to take advantage of the new scenarios in favor of the freedom of Cuba, the visit of the US delegation headed by the Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Roberta Jacobson, was of a great importance. Thousands of ordinary Cubans, that hardly have the time and the energy to fight for something else than their daily subsistence, have been informed, thanks to our CDs and printouts, of the presence of the pacific opposition in the main means of communication of the world. Even Telesur has talked about the meetings of Americans with a representation of the pro-democratic opposition. These details influence, positively in the mentality of an oppressed and still terrified population. Thanks to the importance we give to many “small” details, the UNPACU is today the opposition organization with the biggest activism and the biggest number of activists.
Nobody is more interested than the Cuban regime in making the opposition appears, in the eyes of the Cuban people and for the rest of the world, as opposed to the reestablishing of relations between both governments and opposed to a better exchange between both populations and to the right of Americans to travel to Cuba, a right that is universally recognized. Nobody is more worried than the Castro regime in what could happen with the end of the policy of open confrontation between both governments and the advantages that the defenders of human rights would be able to obtain in the new scenarios as the USA and the European Union advance in the dialogue with the Castro dictatorship and it could be obliged to diminish the repression against the dissent knowing that the dissent count with better and more important means to counter the regime’s monopoly of mass media.
“Nobody is more worried than the Castro regime in what could happen with the end of the policy of open confrontation … and the advantages that the defenders of human rights would be able to obtain in the new scenarios that could emerge…”
When we go to weigh in on an issue first must analyze it in depth. For example, I am of those who criticize the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Cuba by certain postures in which I consider them too weak compared to the excesses of the Castro’s dictatorship, but if we want to be fair, we must also recognize that the Cuban Church is contributing to the formation of a mentality in favor of human rights, without making any noise, as no opposition organization does. We are also witnessing the contribution to the reduction of fear, the increasing independence of artists and the change of mentality produced by travel abroad and perform by comedians, singers and other artists who go to the United States and return, and which performances circulate in the so called “paquete” [set of popular audio and video files, updated every month in digital format, which go hand in hand through Cuba in different physical formats, CD, DVD or pen drives] or just because we download them from the Internet and distribute it, like we do in UNPACU.
A few weeks ago, in an article entitled “El pueblo cubano también quiere y necesita ganar”, published by Europa Press, I referred to the principle “win/win”, which according to Stephen R. Covey is one of the 7 habits of highly effective people. When we have positions contrary to rights and healthy interests of those of whom we most need support, we are not practicing the win/win principle, We want, or intend to earn up even on behalf our best friends loses. That is not fair or Smart!
The great challenge we face in the Cuban independent civil society is not whether we are for or against measures of Barack Obama. The great challenge is the need to join our efforts to be able to articulate a strong mass movement to compel the regime to sit at the table of dialogue or to leave power. In UNPACU we keep the best will to consolidate that necessary force and we will always be open to fraternal and constructive dialogue with all our brothers of struggle from within the island and from the exile.
“The great challenge we face in the Cuban independent civil society is not whether we are for or against measures of Barack Obama. The great challenge is the need to join our efforts to be able to articulate a strong mass movement to compel the regime to sit at the table of dialogue or to leave power.”
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