Cuba 2021: diagnosis and shock therapy

Antonio Gonzalez Rodiles ​

Antonio Gonzalez Rodiles is a Cuban political activist and a member of "Estado de SATS", an independent project that promotes discussion on Cuban politics and persecution in Cuba.

The year 2021 on our Island will be sealed by the cruelty of Castroism, the rebelliousness of the people, and the abandonment they have faced. We Cubans, against all odds and fatalism, show that the spirit of freedom is still alive. July 11 left no doubt that the end of tyranny is our dream, no reforms to the socialist system or cohabitation with neo-Castroism. The protests took the regime by surprise and found the opposition at its lowest point in several decades. Many, during the demonstrations, believed that the nefarious tyranny would end. The regime promptly launched its elite troops with the order to raze. The popular catharsis crashed against that crude reality, denouncements and tokens of symbolic support were seen from abroad, although manipulative, demagogic and empty speeches also abounded.

Some of the media had a field day with what happened, although they were a loudspeaker against the brutality of the regime, many maintained false expectations and triumphalism even though they knew that the peaceful protests had been quickly and with impunity crushed by the repressive forces.
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Castroism came with a wave of violent arrests as a way of punishment, since maintaining the reign of terror has always been its objective. It did not care about possible condemnations from international organizations or the reaction of other governments. There has been no firm response beyond a select few and perfunctory statements of support, the sort of statements that seem to flood social media when needed for domestic U.S. political reasons, but out of touch with our reality in Cuba.

The year ends with hundreds of political prisoners, summary judicial farces and cruel sentences. The actual numbers are very difficult to determine, as many families prefer not to report their cases due to the pressures of the political police. Castroism will seek another negotiation process where it can exchange prisoners for a relaxation of economic sanctions. Once again.

What happened showed hundreds of Cubans and families the dramatic situation that the opposition is experiencing daily. Confronting a totalitarian regime that deeply despises the people carries a high personal cost, but the lack of support and real commitment from those who are supposed to be allies and part of the struggle generates boundless frustration among activists – new and old – who have put their lives on the line for a larger purpose.

In recent times it has become evident that it is not only this beast called Castroism that crushes or decimates the opposition. The very mechanisms supposed to help have affected projects and individuals on the island. Scores of NGOs based outside Cuba and orbiting our conflict are today part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Very similar can be said of political actors who, in the search for easy votes or prominence, enter a manipulative dynamic where they sell false expectations and triumphalist speeches that soon end up in oblivion and sow disappointment, discouragement, and apathy.

The tyranny continues to use another fundamental element: the permanent exodus as an escape valve and future source of income through remittances. A method of bloodletting, social atomization, and parasitism of the system.

Both the Castro family and their supporters have declared the need to get in tune with the international left in terms of the globalist or neo-Marxist agenda. Within this, the absorption of group identity ideologies, such as gender, racial, or environmental, among others. Most stakeholders outside of Cuba do not want to challenge these socially offensive agendas, and some groups are even promoters of them. For different reasons, gender ideology by both adherents of Castroism and groups that claim to be anti-Castro is not condemned.

On the economic front, the crisis is one of the worst in 62 years. The regime announced certain actions that have not yet materialized in practice. The much-vaunted micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are balloons that have yet to take off. Meanwhile, inflation continues to spiral, and production barely exists.

All the above is mixed in the deceptive game of construction and staging of neo-Castroism. Disguise the rancid totalitarianism, tailor-made for the Castro brothers, to be used by the heirs and faithful. Those who know no matter what smokescreens they use, only violence can keep them in power.

Although today tyranny controls our lives, it is still far from consolidating the mutation from one system to another. This provides freedom supporters a unique opportunity. Wasting this potentially once in a lifetime chance to steer a new way could prove fatal to the cause of freedom. So what can we do in these difficult and challenging political environment?

We should be clear about one thing to people here and outside of Cuba: there are no shortcuts to freedom when facing an enemy like Castroism. Creating false hopes among the people of Cuba, in some cases lies and false expectations, lack of professionalism by some groups and people in exile and in Cuba, eccentricities, and stridencies must fade into the background if we want to succeed. The common goal is freedom, the rest must wait.

There is nothing exotic or unknown about the road to freedom. Faced with a regime driven by cynicism, lies, cruelty and impunity, we must urgently appeal to truth, experience, knowledge, our values and morals as a people, free expression and debate, articulation, concrete and determined support, effective sanctions, boycott, and, above all, consistent, professional, and sustained work.