IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 3 ENGLISH | Page 47

the expectation and practice of institutional life,
and the value implicit in the rule of law.
We live in a nation where human rights violations
are not only established, desired and legitimated
acts institutionally, but also where human rights,
as a notion, have disappeared from the mentality
and culture of Cuban citizens.
We live in a country whose economic crisis has a
double standard. On the one hand, the crisis cre-

over time because of years of structural economic
failure.
We are facing the greatest economic crisis in the
history of our country; its social consequences are
situating Cuba at the bottom of the list of Latin
American nations with historic levels and degrees
of inequality. Furthermore, the loss of values,
youth’s disenfranchisement, and citizen apathy,
all resulting from both the State’s practices and

San Juan y Martinez, Pinar del Río
ates a model; on the other, crisis is the model.
Given how impossible it is for people to satisfy
their basic needs and create wellbeing, the difficult economic situation worsens because neither
the country’s productive or economic mechanisms, nor the structure of property are in a position to establish a foundation for a present or future for families and society in general. Options
become even more complicated when they are
blocked and it becomes more difficult to articulate socially visible demands due to the State’s refusal to acknowledge any rights. If not for this,
the State would feel pressured to respond to current social needs, needs that have accumulated

people’s inability to assume their role in society,
has brought us to a place where there will be a
probable social and political implosion in a country that lacks the references necessary for dealing
with and channeling its multiple crises.
The challenge for us is to manage the crisis in a
positive and creative way, and build a State of
Law that fulfills three, essential needs, from the
bottom up: a stable State model, guarantees for
citizens so they may carry on their individual and
societal initiatives, and a democratic State.
Many things can stand in the way of these
achievements, first and foremost the weak sense
of citizenship that we have been trying to

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