IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 8 ENGLISH | Page 94

gradually expressing their discontent
and criticism to the system beyond their
private circles. They are doing so on
buses, bus stops, and in the endless lines
to buy potatoes or eggs. The defeat of
both Cristina Kirchner’s party in Argentina, Chavez’s party in the parliamentary elections in Venezuela, and Evo

Morales in the referendum on his reelection in Bolivia have shown that if a
democracy was established in Cuba,
with several parties and without the
absolute control of the media by the
government, the political elite could not
have simply seized the power for so
many decades.

His address to the Cuban People
Obama publicly expressed his view that
people should directly elect their president and he did not circumvented other
Cuban issues. Thusly his popularity
increased among the Cuban people after
being already very popular since he ran
for president and above all due to his
audacity to normalize relations with
Cuba and to criticize the embargo. He
helped to encourage the debates whether at home or in the cafes, hair salons,
barber shops, and the ubiquitous lines of
the everyday life. Should we take the
United States as a model? Definitely

not. And not because Obama himself
has acknowledged that no one should
follow the model of anyone, but because history has shown that imitating
foreign models can only lead to failure.
The U.S. is an example that democracy
does not guarantee social justice. And
we must not give up on our dreams of
social justice. We must not become a
satellite of the United States, as we
should never have been one of the
Soviet Union. Our media insisted in
diminishing Obama's race as a factor,
but this factor is crucial, as the Citizens

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