More than half a century ago, when the model was implanted in our country, its later promotion was achieved on a base of present sacrifices (all former governments had been very bad) and a luminous future (the new government would be very good). Sooner rather than later, the horizon of promised happiness and well-being for which to aim, started getting further until, between speeches and new promises, like kites when their string is cut, it flew away in the wind.
Today, if there really are any, few are those who truly believe in it, the majority of citizens weary of surviving (by whatever means!) in the present, forgetful of the future. Since this is a dangerous situation, the authorities unable to offer material incentives, have opted to offer moral ones. Therefore, in speeches and the media, are repeated ad nauseam, as primary achievements of the model: maintaining independence, sovereignty and national identity, to create an internationalist sentiment among citizens, having elevated patriotism and strengthened the ability of resistance in the face of adversities. In support of this new promotion, paradigms are created, inflating pre-fabricated heroes, as if they were aerostatic balloons, and placing them in the national firmament, as examples to be followed by present and future generations.
If we weigh objectively the achievements of this model in this more than half a century, we should not leave out, among others: the destruction of agriculture and stockbreeding, the dismantling of urban, highway and railway transportation systems, the constant shortage of food and general use products, the power black-outs, the double currency, the double moral standards, the deficient citizen education, the increase in domestic and social violence, the deterioration of housing, the disorganization of commercial networks, the disappearance of industries, the censure, the repression of difference, the prohibition of free travel, etcetera.
These achievements are due, not to the existence of the embargo, but to the incapacity of the model of preserving that which was attained in fifty-six years of the Republic, to develop it and make the country move forward, resolving the problems still in existence, the main reason for the struggle and sacrifices of the majority of the Cuban people.
The path chosen (making tabula rasa of all that came before and building over its ruins the new society) failed spectacularly. It constituted a mistake and a costly historical error, of which, until now, no one has taken responsibility, trying with silence to make believe they never existed.
It is a shame that in the various biographical books, anecdotes, memoirs and interviews published, only the so-called heroic events are described, there exists not a single line dedicated to these achievements, nor the reasons that motivated them, which could be interesting to present and future generations, with the objective of never again repeating them.
Translated by: Maria Montoto
June 15 2012
