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CUBA: Social Beefs, Proposals Voiced in Widespread Debates

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Oct 11 2007 (IPS) - Like Pandora’s box, the popular debates promoted by acting Cuban President Raúl Castro have brought to light countless problems that affect the daily lives of Cubans, who are now hoping to see their proposals for solutions on the official agenda in the short or medium term.

The discussions, focused on Castro’s openly critical speech on Jul. 26, started in August within the grassroots organisations of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and the Young Communist League (UJC), and then were extended to workplaces and Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR) all over the country.

"The last meetings are supposed to take place in the first fortnight of October. Then the results will be processed," said a knowledgeable source. Minutes taken of the proposals and conclusions arising from each meeting will be collated and analysed to produce a summary of the concerns and expectations of society.

According to reports by participants at the meetings, which were off limits to the foreign press, there were no taboo issues, and the main accent was on the low purchasing power of wages, shortages in housing and public transport, the high cost of food and other economic questions.

"At my school, we talked about those problems, but we also put forward proposals for improving the quality of education. These meetings weren’t only to vent complaints, but also to generate practical initiatives," the vice principal of a primary school, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told IPS.

Other participants said that the meetings also aired discontent about restrictions on foreign travel and self-employment, as well as limits to private property. "I own a house and a car, but only on paper, because if I wish to sell them, I can’t," complained a retired architect.


A leaflet with guidelines for the meetings recommended facilitating "an in-depth debate in an atmosphere of profound freedom and sincerity, about the central issues" addressed in the Jul. 26 Revolution Day speech by Raúl Castro, who temporarily replaced his brother Fidel, absent from office due to illness, since Jul. 31, 2006.

In his speech, Raúl Castro acknowledged the shortages and difficulties plaguing daily life in Cuba, although he ruled out the possibility of immediate or quick solutions, and said that any wage increase or price reduction would depend on boosting productivity.

He also said it was necessary to transform concepts and methods which had been appropriate in their time, but were now outdated, and spoke about introducing structural and conceptual changes as necessary to make the soil more productive and stimulate agriculture.

Rafael Hernández, a political scientist and editor of the Temas magazine, said that whoever succeeds Fidel Castro, who for all these years has commanded a kind of "instantaneous consensus," will have to develop "popular policies that enjoy the support of the people and that come from below."

To that extent he agrees with those who believe the results of this debate will reveal the demands of Cuban society, so that a programme can be drawn up with the backing of the majority of Cubans, 70 percent of whom were born after the 1959 revolution.

Other analysts underline the knowledge that is being provided by the debates. "Lack of information about the country’s real problems could one day cause a strategic error with serious consequences," said a researcher, who believes that improving people’s quality of life is equally "strategic."

"A plan based on social justice is sustainable and can be widely applied insofar as it also establishes an economic base," said sociologist Aurelio Alonso at a symposium on "The Socialist Transition in Cuba", published in the latest edition of Temas.

"Economic self-sufficiency is essential," Alonso insisted.

Meanwhile, the president of the University Students’ Federation (FEU), Carlos Lage Codorniú, said the positive effects of economic recovery must translate into improved material wellbeing for families in Cuba.

In his view, "during the crisis years (the 1990s) there was a sense of collective resistance, and people could understand the shortages. But now funds can be seen to be increasing, and it’s harder for everyone to support the logic of their distribution, because it isn’t equal in all sectors."

But solutions do not appear to lie just around the corner, Minister of Informatics and Communications Ramiro Valdés said on Monday, at the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the assassination in Bolivia of legendary Argentine-Cuban guerrilla fighter Ernesto Che Guevara, whose remains are buried in a mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara in central Cuba.

"What we hope from this debate is that it will help us to break away from inertia, dogmatism and a bureaucratic mentality, and to develop a creative and liberating focus where productive forces have become bogged down," he said.

Valdés, who is one of three veterans of Fidel Castro’s guerrillas who still bears the rank of Commander of the Revolution, pointed out that problems are solved by ideas, organisation and awareness, "but also with resources."

"Not everything can be done at once, nor can there be an immediate response to all the needs expressed," he said.

Manuel Cuesta, spokesman for the moderate dissident coalition Arco Progresista, said that on the one hand, the discussions have acted as a "social catharsis," and on the other, they have created "an atmosphere in which people have begun to feel that their opinion is going to be listened to."

"I think that is positive, as it is also positive for the government to take the pulse of its citizens," he said.

 
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