Perhaps not all officials have been perpetrators, but all the abusers acted in the name of a state and political party that have destroyed Cuba and the Cubans
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 25 August 2024 — If the Cuban state is repressive and led by a single political party, communist, that must mean that the militants of that party, especially if they hold some kind of leadership, are also repressive.
Those of us who have suffered the rigor of the totalitarian Castro regime can attest to the evil of their political and police officials and many others who enjoyed abusing their prerogatives, to the detriment of those who were not integrated into despotism.
Perhaps not all officials have been perpetrators, but all the abusers acted on behalf of a state and a political party that have destroyed Cuba and the Cubans. Many executioners have decided to seek refuge in the country that they officially hated the most and that many wanted to destroy in their years of Castro fervor, when they believed that brandishing the machine guns would silence the demands for freedom.
The victims are not obliged to forget, and forgiveness is a personal decision of the person who has been abused. It is the perpetrator who must be aware that his crimes went beyond the idea he claimed to defend. It is the predator who must admit his guilt and who is obliged to perform a public act of contrition.
The victims are not obliged to forget, and forgiveness is a personal decision for the person who has been abused
The necessary reconciliation cannot come only from the victim. It should not be a unilateral act by those who were harmed and who, by virtue of their civic conscience, control their passions and prefer the application of justice. A society that does not punish crime is based on arbitrariness and thus prone to new social or political crises.
The condescension received does not exempt the criminal from his legal responsibility. Assent does not imply impunity. Crime cannot be rewarded with oblivion. There must be a legal or moral sanction that warns potential offenders that the crime does not pay.
Once again the U.S. immigration authorities have confused me with allowing the entry into the country of Manuel Menéndez Castellano, who, according to information, is a former member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, the only party of a State considered terrorist by the White House, while on the Island more than one Cuban who fought the dictatorship has been denied a visa.
My confusion is such that I echo a comment on social networks, “At any time they might install the CDRs [Committees for the Defense of the Revolution] and create a core of the PCC [Cuban Communist Party] in the middle of Calle Ocho.”
Being a leader of the Communist Party of Cuba is not an easy task. That position demands loyalty and blind obedience to the maximum leadership, which, as we all know, has always acted on the basis of its convenience, without respecting the most modest of citizen rights.
Hatred becomes a profession and fear a disease from which even the abusers themselves do not escape
This reality has determined that the Cuban academic Juan Antonio Blanco has promoted a letter in which he asks the current repressors to have the dignity to cease their collaborations with the dictatorship and actively oppose their abuses.
The document says: “Do not denounce the neighbor, do not participate in the repression of other citizens, do not hit, or shoot other Cubans. Rectification can also begin by preventing new crimes by informing national and international human rights organizations of everything you know has been done or is being planning to repress the will of the people.”
Mr. Menéndez Castellanos may not like being treated like this because I remember that when an official was said to be “sir” he invariably responded, in a derogatory and threatening tone: “You are wrong, the gentlemen went to Miami.”
This first secretary of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos (1993-2003), according to the State newspaper Granma, must have people who defend him alleging his innocence, an impossible condition in a position in which everything is controlled.
Predatory regimes such as the one served by Mr. Menéndez Castellano generate victims and perpetrators. Hatred becomes a profession, and fear becomes a disease from which not even the abusers themselves escape. Living in a society where hating and fearing is a fundamental part of existence traumatizes everyone, including the culprits who choose to justify their abuses. Jose Martí was sententious with these subjects when he wrote: “To witness a crime with calm is the same as committing it.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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