As is known, the spontaneity of that feat, which was its great merit, was also its Achilles heel
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 26 May 2024 — One way to evaluate the time that has passed is to inventory the achievements; another, to list the outstanding issues.
It is the responsibility of the press to point out faults, demand compliance with what was scheduled and also denounce the unfeasibility of what was promised.
These days, as our newspaper, 14ymedio, celebrates its first decade of existence, I have set myself the unpleasant task of relating everything that has not happened in Cuba yet. I’ve limited the list to ten, just to play with our birthday.
The salary that Cuba’s workers earn has failed to become the most important form of support for families.
The rationing system, instead of becoming a way to subsidize people, has extended its tentacles of control and limitations to other goods that were previously unrationed.
The salary that Cuba’s workers earn has failed to become the most important form of support for families
The mythical little glass of milk, promised in 2007, not only remains out of reach of consumers, but has become even further removed, along with other products previously considered accessible and popular.
The promise of guaranteeing decent housing for families continues to be a populist formula that is impossible to carry out under the current mode of production.
The criminalization of political dissent, far from decreasing, has been implemented in a penal code that criminalizes all dissent.
The Cuban State still has not ratified the human rights pacts signed by the country in 2008.
In all this time there has not been a single amnesty that benefits political prisoners.
Economic reforms remain timid and insufficient, and policies absent.
We Cubans are still obliged to return to the country before 24 continuous months have passed, under penalty of losing our resident status. Those who have transgressed this limitation still need a permit to enter the national territory. That elimination of the exit permit has been reintroduced selectively with travel bans on those who are arbitrarily “regulated” (the regime’s term for “forbidden to travel”). To make matters worse, a new arbitrariness has been introduced, which prevents the return of those who “behave badly” abroad even if they have not exceeded the 24-month limit.
Cubans are still obliged to return to the country before 24 continuous months have passed, under penalty of losing our status as residents
The new Agrarian Reform that grants land ownership is still pending. Both by omission of reforms and by reiteration of unnecessary and abusive control measures, Cuban agriculture has not taken a significant step, not even mentionable, in all these years towards the purpose of guaranteeing the food of its citizens.
Everything inventoried up to this point is the result of the deficiencies of those in power in Cuba and the defects inherent to the imposed system. If, by a miracle all these shortcomings disappeared, the dissatisfaction of citizens would remain the same because the essentials would still need to be changed.
It seems logical to warn that the people of Cuba are the ones who have a big pending issue. What happened on 11 July 2021 can be considered as an entrance test to the civic consciousness of recognizing oneself as the protagonist of history. As is known, the spontaneity of that feat, which was its great merit, was also its Achilles heel.
The independent press does not have it easy.
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