Hope Is Reborn in Cuba

Protests in Santiago de Cuba on July 11. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Luis Zuñiga, Miami, August 26, 2021 —  On July 11 the Cuban people handed the communist regime a death sentence. The Miguel-Diaz government knows this and so does the exile community. The steps that both sides are taking are representative of their expectations for the immediate future of Cuba.

Diaz-Canel, the Castros’ hand-picked successor, is touring schools, gymnasia and workplaces in an attempt to raise the regime’s political profile. His words reflect the predominant mood of fear, discouragement and defeatism within the party. They knew there was a segment of the population that strongly opposed and rejected them, but they did not imagine it was so enormous or so widespread.

On the other hand, the exile community is demonstrating its optimism about the future with a conference of prominent Cuban-American businesspeople sponsored by the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance. They have committed to offering their talent, expertise and investment resources as soon as freedom and democracy are restored on the island.

These prominent businesspeople have committed to establishing a fund for the reconstruction of the Republic of Cuba that will provide “advice, credit support, financing and accounting systems to Cubans who wish to become entrepreneurs and thus develop, as soon as possible, thousands of small and medium-sized companies that will be owned by individuals and families and not by an oppressive state.”

The obstacle preventing the Cuban economy from taking off is the communist system. The people have shown that they do not want to continue with a failed experiment that has plunged them into poverty and subjected them to oppression. Their calls during the protests were not for food or medicine but for the end of the system. Everyone knows this is the problem but the regime resists change and, once again, has resorted to the only tool it has to hold onto power: repression.

Faced with violence, the popular response being discussed on the island is a national strike to bring the country to a halt and force the dictorial leadership to resign. The opposition has demonstrated that it is in the majority and, with this majority, that it can paralyze the country’s productive and commercial activities. Faced with enormous debt, lack of credit, lack of income, and a dying economy, the regime would find it very difficult to survive.

People know that under the communist regime they will never be able to improve their lives. Nor will they be able to fulfill their dreams of becoming entrepreneurs. They know that the government’s tolerance of the private sector is simply a license granted today that will be taken away tomorrow at the whim of some official. They are also convinced that private enterprise and the market economy produce prosperity.

This is why the Miami businesspeople’s commitment to Cubans on the island is so important. It covers almost all the major sectors, including finance, banking, insurance, manufacturing, construction, energy, medicine, and even real estate and the press.

Persons and peoples are motivated to make great sacrifices, even at the risk of their freedom and life, when the goal is the happiness, well-being and security of their families. Those are the desires that have always moved humanity to undertake social and political struggles to achieve a better life. Today these desires are in the hopes and minds of millions of Cubans on the island who already know there is a better future awaiting them.

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