IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 5 ENGLISH | Page 38

been the victims and hostages of a confrontation that benefits only the autocrats in Havana.
The fact that that the Cuban government
has not changed its confrontational
rhetoric by now, but imports a large
amount of the food we consume is so
absurd and tragic because it destroyed
our agricultural production. The family
remittances received in Cuba from a
million or million and a half exiles is
the only source of steady, fresh money
in Cuba. The total amount is imprecise,
but calculated to be in the billions every
year. This creates another ridiculous
situation; money and foodstuffs arrive
in Cuba every day from a country with
which we are willing to fight.

The infallible image of the Cuban regime is also mightily sustained in wellarticulated mechanisms that create international clients and commitments.
Using specialized systems of political
tutelage and intelligence services with
which the Cuban government has managed to manipulate leaders and organizations, for decades, on three continents, and turned them into its staunch
supporters, on its terms.
After the incredibly harmful and failed
exportation of insurrectional violence
that during past decades sowed so much
pain and fratricide in Latin America, the
sending of hundreds of thousands of
professionals of all sorts to countries on
three continents in recent years has allowed the government to exploit its specialized workforce and gain a high political dividend. The work of these professionals reinforces the image of the
Cuban government as a promoter of
solidarity. One has to admit that it is
difficult to imagine a government that
offers such extensive collaboration to so
many needy countries, yet internally is
facing a disaster in its ability to offer it
own citizens medical and social coverage and attention, where there are so
many vulnerable people and deterioration, all of which is making daily life in
Cuba an insurmountable challenge.
Terrible working conditions and very
low salaries convince professionals to
abandon their families and workplaces
and look for the wellbeing and material
advantages in other countries that they
cannot find in Cuba. For a long time
now, they feel their talents and efforts
have lost their value.

Our maximum leader has also shown
his ability to take advantage of the Cuban people’s bad historical memory, in
order to portray a disastrous, prerevolutionary Cuba. A false narrative
took the place of the original, true story
of the political difficulties of redefining
democracy. The image that was presented was that of economic impoverishment, rampant poverty, and deep
inequalities. This is how Cuba was defined for many, like an African-style
country in the Caribbean where anything that happened from then on had to
be better than what had already taken
place in the past. It is often the case that
ignorance or interested manipulation
cause socio-economic indexes from
Cuba’s past to be seen as moot, despite
the fact they reveal that Cuba was constantly growing, receiving immigrants,
and had the highest level of human development on the continent.

38