HERNANDO CALVO OSPINA In the dawn of the 1990s the socialist system in Eastern Europe crumbled and savage capitalism happily and progressively took its place.
Cuba that was a socialist ally left on its own. It was a stubborn Revolution insisting that its path was Socialism. The United States and other capitalist countries aimed their propaganda and psychological war machinery at Cuba. Money flowed and the “dissidents” gushed out.
Though Cuba had some experience in dealing with these fabricated cases, but what came upon it could be registered in record books. “Dissidents” were hired every single day to mount anti-Cuba campaigns from Miami, Washington or any European capital, in their name. They were even paid to boost the stiffening of the US economic blockade of Cuba.
While they were able to use their dollars to get food, their neighbor had less to eat on his table. Their children had a good breakfast before going to school, while the other kids saw a reduction in their glasses of milk. But the “dissidents” kept getting advantage of the free programs implemented by the Cuban Revolution, beginning with health care.
The year 2000 came and time kept passing by. The Cuban economy improved. Even World Bank experts could not understand how it had been possible. They could not conceive that unity and faith in a dream can really perform miracles.
The strategic goal of sinking the Cuban Revolution in the Caribbean Sea has been impossible to achieve. Damage is what the “dissidents” have been hired to do in an effort to affect the large majority of Cubans who are faithful to the Revolution. And without being tortured, disappeared, much less murdered, every new “dissident” has got out of fashion. The lack of people´s support is the Achilles´ heel of these people and those who pay them. Their big enemy is the unity between the Cuban leadership and the people.
In the Cuban Communist Party there are many dissidents, but dissidents without question marks. It is normal; it is human, because dissenting is disagreeing with something. You can dissent from your wife´s views. Something different is joining your neighbor against your wife to challenge her. That is treason. And that is precisely what the Cuban people have faced day after day: those who are labeled as “dissidents” in the international context are allies of the enemy, Washington, which wants to do away with Cuban sovereignty.
A revolution is a creative process. The Cuban Revolution began from zero by learning everything and innovating in just about everything. So it is logical that not all its creators agree with some color of that process still under construction. Luckily it is like that, or else advancement would be impossible. They dissent; they do not sell themselves out.
The “Dissidents” continue to be an export product to damage the image of the Revolution, so that international pressure gets its way. None of them finds anything good in the Revolution. They are the best example of the ungrateful child. The Revolution taught them how to read and write, to become intellectuals, scientists, doctors and teachers. It even taught them how to exercise critique. But as the raven, they just want to help poke the eyes out just for some dollars, some words on the international media and some ovation by the enemies of their country.
The international media has played a major role. It is the only one that takes them into account in Cuba. They write an article on just about any of these elements. Aside from “listening” to them and waiting for the death of Fidel or Raul, you do not know what else is done by the many foreign correspondents on the island. Cuba is among the countries of the so-called Third World that is a priority for the international media.
Maestro Chucho Valdes, one of the finest pianists in the world, said back in 2004 that “a yellow press is acting against Cuba looking for what appears as sensational. They even act against us, the artists; the international media is always tackling the political side of the things, only to distort the reality and damage Cuba, and the Revolution.”
French European Deputy Jean-Luc Melenchon told me in May 2010 that “this media quite linked to the United States is only interested in finding someone self-proclaimed as a “dissident” or political prisoner to turn him into a hero and launch its campaign against Cuba.” (1)
It could seem weird, but ¿why do “dissidents” only exist in countries that are not politically welcomed by Washington, Madrid, London, Berlin, Paris…? Weird, it should be really weird, but it is not.
Note:
1. Interview with French Jean-Luc Melenchon, Europpean deputy. “Sudamérica es fuente de inspiración, lucha y optimismo”. http://hcalvospina.free.fr/spip.php...
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This is a South Journal English version of an article by Hernando Calvo Ospina published by Rebelion website.
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