By: Alexander Hall Lujardo
The social protests that took place in Cuba on Sunday, July 11, 2021, marked the outbreak of mobilizations of popular disapproval unprecedented in scale since the triumph of the revolutionary process on January 1, 1959. In the early hours of the morning, several cities across the country had taken to the streets to express their discontent with the highest leadership of the government, headed by President Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who holds the highest position in the Cuban Communist Party in his role as First Secretary. This was an unprecedented event that, although not national in scope due to the lack of coordination between the different populations, as well as the limited temporality of the events, covered all three regions into which the island is divided (western, central, and eastern), so its echo was felt throughout the entire island.
The combination of factors that made the outbreak possible at a time of peak pandemic due to the ravages of SARS-CoV-2 is not the result of a random or isolated act, but rather a consequence of the accumulation of sanctions the United States has imposed on Cuba in the context of an international crisis. This has been marked by the recession of international economies due to the disruption of the supply chain in the face of the decline of industrial sectors and strategic lines affected by the impact of COVID-19. This has led to higher prices for food, fuel, rent, parts, medicines, and other products in a context marked by a lack of foreign currency due to the abrupt contraction of tourism and, in the final days of the Trump administration, the inclusion of Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This has made it impossible for the government to conduct any financial transactions in dollars with other countries, while also hindering the establishment of agreements with banking entities in that currency. The harm caused by such a policy extends to the U.S. government’s refusal to normalize political and economic relations with the largest of the Antilles, in addition to the imposition of penalties on investors, banks, businesses, companies, firms, and private traders willing to establish any type of business in the country.
However, the Cuban economy remains in a permanent state of vulnerability despite having a highly skilled workforce. The high level of professionalization and specialization of its human potential, coupled with the impact on the social imaginary that the process has projected in the minds of its inhabitants, results in its workers’ willingness to give up overtime for productive work. This inability to do so highlights the weaknesses of a model marked by extreme centralization and a lack of freedoms among its social base. These elements contribute to the proliferation of a bureaucracy that spreads corrupt practices that hinder growth and commercial activities, thus harming efficiency when its primary purpose should be to address the obstacles to the dynamic development of the economy.
In this context, the consequences of implementing measures such as the sale of basic necessities in freely convertible currencies (MLC) have had a traumatic impact on society. Workers have no way to access these goods except through remittances. This measure not only caused a considerable exacerbation of inequality in purchasing power, but also increased discontent with what constitutes a clear step toward the implementation of the “state capitalist” model.
In such a difficult situation, the government gave the green light to the so-called “Ordering Task,” eliminating the distortions caused by the multiple exchange rates, accompanied by a series of transformations that emphasized wage increases, reduced subsidies, and the promotion of payment by results. This policy did not have the impact that specialists in charge of its implementation had envisioned, after a decade of implementation. This strategy was ultimately undertaken in a scenario marked by the decline of global economies, rising prices for imported products, restrictions on the availability of foreign currency, among other impacts. All of this denotes the inappropriateness of implementing such a structural change in a period seriously affected internationally in the economic, commercial, and financial spheres. 1
Thus, at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, it is possible to visualize a complex horizon defined by a systematic accumulation of dissatisfaction in society. These are reflected in a decline in consumption, coupled with the discontent caused by rising inequalities, after decades marked by the predominance of a model characterized by egalitarianism in its programmatic proposal, whose collapse still lacerates the memories of generations who sacrificed a large part of their existence to the yearnings of a project that vindicated a considerable portion of the population with transcendent social achievements.
There is no indisputable recognition of the human emancipation that the revolutionary triumph of 1959 represented for the poor people of the territory, as well as the international impact the Cuban Revolution had on the decolonization of the peoples of the Third World. Added to this are its grassroots strategies, with high levels of participation, aimed at the dignification of subaltern sectors (the poor, Blacks, mestizos, women, workers, peasants) historically excluded from the social pact by the nation’s underdeveloped capitalist system.
Given this historical legacy of dignification and restoration of social justice, how then are we to understand the demonstrations of redress against the government led by First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez? Precisely, the protests are the result of accumulated dissatisfaction, political failures, historical debts, socioeconomic shortcomings, and systematic errors that still weigh heavily on the shoulders of the citizenry. This is despite the lack of full recognition by much of the international left, which considers the prevailing regime in Cuba a representative bastion of revolutionary forces worldwide, whose alignment makes it difficult to objectively analyze the contradictions, limitations, and failures that characterize this process within itself.
Images of the peaceful nature of the demonstration that took place on July 11, 2021, at the intersection of Prado and Malecón avenues. Photos by the author.
Despite the media impact and the scale of the protests across the country, state institutions have failed to interpret them sufficiently critically. Entrenched in a Manichean conception of these events, they reproduce a narrative that places the individuals who led the protests in a satanic dualism, without seriously investigating the causes that motivated a considerable portion of the population to express their discontent with the current political leadership. Similarly, they have proven ineffective in establishing comprehensive transformation alternatives in areas in need of social care, economic infrastructure, and re-examination by the authorities. Instead, the brunt of repression, official censorship, the neglect of their demands, and the judicialization of their actions have been directed at them.
The national press has reacted angrily, hurling derogatory epithets at those who peacefully demonstrated their discontent with the government and made open exercise of their constitutional right to free public demonstration, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic, according to Articles 54 and 56 of the aforementioned document. 2 However, many have exercised this legally recognized right and have suffered the severity of police arrest, physical aggression by “revolutionary” sympathizers, and/or the opening of an investigative file. 3 Intolerance has permeated the media with such force that there has been no shortage of inferiorizing epithets directed at the general public who, under various circumstances, procedures, reasons, locations , and temporary situations, took to the streets to protest. 5
The violence of the oppressed demands new forms of emancipation.
There have been many intellectuals, journalists, writers, and artists who, occupying space in the official press, have used the visibility afforded them by this platform to censure the actions of social actors. Such pronouncements have come at a time when life is becoming difficult for residents of the lowest strata of society, marked by the expansion of the informal economy as the only alternative for survival, given the state’s inability to redeem these spaces marked by the hostility of their surroundings and the precariousness of their lifestyles.
The disproportionate proliferation of derogatory categorizations when analyzing the facts leads to a reductionist interpretation of the analysis, as the official discourse indiscriminately spreads terms such as “mercenaries,” “thugs,” “delinquents,” “criminals,” “annexationists,” “reactionaries,” “marginals,” “alcoholics,” “counterrevolutionaries,” among others. All of this fails to understand that such positions against the prevailing order are a byproduct of the political system itself, since it has been unable to offer effective solutions to the problems that plague the lives of these individuals.
Throughout the evolution of the revolutionary process, a large portion of the marginalized population has witnessed how they have been denied access to important opportunities for advancement. Although their rights are guaranteed by law under principles of equality, a significant number of constraints—notably geographic, economic, educational, and social causes, among others—prevent these guarantees from being effectively realized. Such a reality arises due to imminent difficulties that provoke extensive use of practices marked by survival, as these communities lack basic needs. This is the result of a management system that has turned these spaces into areas plagued by poverty, insecurity, and social neglect. The aggressiveness of certain groups, criminalized by the official press in the face of acts of vandalism during the protests, is the result of the symbolic violence that permeates the daily lives of these individuals, whose urban surroundings remain distant from the landscapes that typify the comfortable residential lives of bureaucrats, civil servants, and high-ranking officials.
The violence of the “marginalized” is expressed in the attack on what they identify as the apparatus of oppression by the power structures that have relegated them to surreptitious areas of the social fabric, far from the center that has denied them representation in the highest spheres of citizen participation. While these distort their expression, using the ventriloquist substitute of leaders who claim to represent their interests, the reality that prevails in these spheres lacks visibility in the media or government decision-making bodies. This violence, channeled into the streets, stores, and public establishments, is a consequence of the marginalization to which institutions have confined these historically invisible sectors of the national project. In exchange, they were offered the rigor of repressive bodies, adding doses of violence to the disproportionate reaction of protesters seriously affected by the socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic.
This chaotic, desperate, and incoherent outcry is a byproduct of the technocratic measures imposed in the wake of US sanctions, as well as the economic vulnerability imposed by the impact of COVID-19. This is expressed in a considerable increase in prices, coupled with a situation of widespread shortages, as a large part of essential goods are sold on foreign exchange markets (MLC), which are unaffordable for most people, as they are traded in a currency unattainable for local workers. Hence, most of these establishments have become targets of attacks by those unable to access such products.
As immediate antecedents to the July 11 protests, we can point to the strikes of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), in addition to the participation of writers, musicians, poets, filmmakers, activists, bloggers, and artists in front of the Ministry of Culture headquarters on November 27, 2020 (27N). These events demonstrate the growing dissatisfaction that persists in society with government agencies, which have repeatedly ignored the demands of civil society, adhering to the verticalism of the PCC and the guidelines of the Ideological Department of the party organization. The recurring neglect of these demands, coupled with the difficult political and economic context, created favorable conditions for a social outbreak.
Despite the creation of platforms for dialogue between government officials and citizens, complaints have been made public on social media about police harassment, arbitrary arrests, and the siege of several figures involved in the negotiations by the authorities. At the same time, they have suffered media lynchings and violations of their privacy exposed on television channels, demonstrating the anti-democratic nature of the national press. This translates into the denial of a public space for plural participation, not subject to the “revolutionary” filter of their proposals. This implies the subordination of thought to the political system and confirms the impossibility of disseminating other worldviews, not mediated by the state siege that uses the besieged nature of the territory as an excuse to prohibit dissent .
An important element to highlight in the analysis is the generational factor and the conflicts that the diverse demographic compositions by age group generate within society. While from 1959 to 2016 the country’s leadership was dominated by the charismatic Fidel Castro and the rest of the leaders belonging to the generation that confronted the Batista dictatorship through armed struggle as a means of gaining power, The current government headed by Miguel Díaz-Canel and the rest of the leaders who are part of the generational change has not achieved substantial levels of popular legitimacy, due to the slowdown of structural changes, the worsening of the socioeconomic crisis, the wear and tear of the “revolutionary” discourse that results in its lack of credibility, the immutability of general living conditions and the institutional crisis that suffers from the deterioration of social property, added to a fossilization of political and mass organizations that, at the present stage, do not represent the totality of existing interests within contemporary Cuban society.
The mechanisms used by the new government structure to achieve high levels of popular support are a pending task in the direction of the country’s destiny. In its role, it must take into account the evident dissent in the social pact and propose a renewed discourse for a citizenry marked by the effects of globalization, consumerism, the expansion of the market, and the new forms of socialization of postmodernity. This also includes the need to establish new bridges of dialogue, spaces for participation, and the renewal of democratic mechanisms that have suffered the wear and tear of many years of inalterability.
In the debate and agreement processes established at the Eighth Congress of the PCC, the top leadership of the Party/State has endorsed the maintenance of the party organization as the “supreme leading political force in society.” This means preserving the molds that have characterized the exercise of democracy on the Island, typified by “the irrevocable nature of socialism,” 7 the bureaucratization of economic management methods in the face of the widespread predominance of state ownership, the slowness of reforms that make a clear liberation of productive forces impossible to achieve the desired surge in growth, and the maintenance of citizen participation in traditionally established mechanisms. All of these aspects result in a state-centric conception of power, nuanced by the militant “communist” and/or “revolutionary” nature of its representative leadership, which excludes other forms of thought, action, creation, and expression from inclusion, conferring an exclusionary character on the democratic composition of the social system. However, this projection, rooted in the mindset of the political leadership, ignores the desire for neoliberal transition, bourgeois lifestyles, and acts of corruption present in the highest spheres of government.
The international left, led by united voices at the São Paulo Forum, has expressed its unconditional support for the government while condemning the protests, biased by a conception that underscores the need for the model to continue on the island. This is a far from subtle development, considering the rise of proto-fascist, supremacist, and racist expressions worldwide, spearheaded by actors from the international oligarchic right who employ predatory, exclusionary, and irrational ultra-capitalist rhetoric. However, this position ignores the contradictions of the model under the guise of the damage the blockade/embargo causes to the Cuban economy. It also turns a deaf ear to the various socialist alternatives present in the country, such as Freudo-Marxism, eco-socialism, anti-racism, anarchism, feminism, and sexual dissident movements, among others. Indeed, these movements suffer from the delegitimization of their proposals and the discrediting of their ideas by the Party/State, regardless of the points of convergence with such organizations and political movements.
Instead, it imposes censorship, repression, and the illegalization of their activities on them, given its monopoly control of the media. They give in to the dogmatism, reductionism, opportunism, and narrow-mindedness of their militants, persecuting civic actors who could well be key allies in building a broader revolutionary base that, from multiple progressive positions, contributes to the development of the nation. A lack of understanding of this reality leads many non-anti-socialist groups to assume an anti-government stance, occupying an undeserved and unjustified space in the opposition.
The emancipation of the Cuban political system demands democratization in its various forms of participation. This requires an enrichment of the culture of debate and public discussion of social issues, based on recognition of the diversity of existing ways of thinking, with the intention of making viable the long-standing demands of civil society. The survival of the economic system demands a prompt liberation of the productive forces, so as to avoid further increasing the accumulation of obstacles and dissatisfaction in the sectors that contribute most to the sustainability of strategic areas, due to the impacts caused by a corrupting bureaucracy that has extended its parasitic practices to all areas of state ownership.
The cartoon demonstrates the simplistic nature of the traditional left’s analysis of the Cuban situation, delegitimizing the popular will in the mobilization by subordinating society’s demands to the anti-national agenda of pro-American groups that did not turn out to be protagonists in the events of 7/11. This analytical reductionism ignores the heterogeneity of the protesters, as well as the seriousness of the fracture of consensus on the island in the face of an exhaustion of the model and a erosion of its democratic forms. The careful eye of the observer also reveals a racist intention, as it reproduces the supposed inability of Black people to civically exercise their constitutional rights by being spokespersons for their own demands. Image taken from the Facebook blog of the Argentine intellectual Atilio Borón, https://atilioboron.com.ar/la-revolucion-cubana-victima-de-su-exito .
Just as it is urgent to reduce the role of the state in the face of the predominance of a top-down approach to administration, characterized by excessive centralization that fails to achieve satisfactory results in the most diverse spheres, the establishment of new autonomous forms of expression is equally imperative. These should not be mediated by the bias that, from comfortable seats of power, establish the parameters, decrees, and regulations of culture through the implementation of a policy aimed at the homogenization of creative forms. This seeks control by officials vested with institutional authority, whose conception harms the richness of the existing creative diversity in the country. Likewise, the creation of a law on associations that allows for the recognition of the numerous forms of activism that, under current circumstances, develop outside the law, despite the fact that this gap does not prevent the normal exercise of their activities, is imperative.
The deepening of democracy toward socialism requires renewed attention to subaltern sectors/groups, relegated to spaces of ostracism and marginalization that prevent their members from fully integrating into society. They are denied dignified avenues for the full enjoyment of their rights and the realization of effective guarantees of real access to the benefits granted by law. This task demands a deep-rooted approach to disadvantaged communities, significantly affected by the gaps created by the formalization of long-standing customs naturalized in the political model.
The salvation of the revolutionary project in its socialist essence fundamentally requires the decolonization of all forms of oppression articulated from those in power toward the lower classes of society. This can be achieved through the rigorous treatment of outstanding debts, the rehabilitation of which would restore the human dignity of invisible individuals, despite their significant identification with a system to which they have contributed significantly.
Seriously addressing the factors that hinder the advancement of socialism demands the attention of popular interests expressed in the demands of an increasingly diverse and influential civil society, establishing appropriate steps toward democratic radicalization. If materialized, it would place the country in a better position for takeoff, based on political commitment to building an inclusive system, far removed from anachronistic discourses that hark back to old mentalities tinged with hatred, utopia, one-sided thinking, and social homogeneity.
These attitudes are completely out of step with the current needs of Cuban society, whose mentality is influenced by a variety of factors ranging from generational differences to the impact of globalization. Hence, it is necessary to understand the complexity of the current historical moment and to raise awareness of the importance of accelerating the transformations that urgently demand implementation to avoid a shift toward political positions that even endanger the independent character of the national territory.
GRADES :
1 One aspect that must be assessed in the outcome of the “Ordering Task” by economics specialists is the need for a change in mentality regarding work, due to the continued proliferation of bureaucracy, poor performance, ease of planning, lack of control, lack of incentive, lack of innovation, excessive number of workers on staff, the spread of corruption, theft, cronyism, influence peddling and nepotism in companies, cooperatives and state establishments, which contributes to unproductivity and low growth.
ARTICLE 54. The State recognizes, respects, and guarantees the freedom of thought, conscience, and expression of all persons. Conscientious objection may not be invoked for the purpose of evading compliance with the law or preventing others from complying with it or exercising their rights.
ARTICLE 56. The rights of assembly, demonstration and association, for lawful and peaceful purposes, are recognized by the State provided that they are exercised with respect for public order and compliance with the provisions established by law.
3 There have been numerous random arrests, as well as police files opened against protesters, spectators, and/or bewildered passersby who happened to be in the places where protests were taking place. This is confirmed by the testimonies of people incidentally involved who, ultimately, were victims of abuses of their integrity by law enforcement. At the same time, the disproportionate treatment the protesters received for the peaceful exercise of a constitutional right, coupled with the call to confront the “counterrevolutionaries” made by President Miguel Díaz-Canel on national television, denotes the criminalization of popular mobilization as a civic exercise that lacks legitimacy in the country.
4 Among the many journalistic articles that focused on the criminalization of protests and the delegitimization of their demands, the article by Black poet, translator, and scholar of Caribbean thought, Nancy Morejón, under the rubric “Malandrines,” was particularly striking. In this article, she places herself on the side of the colonizer with a reductionist and stigmatizing analytical proposal against the population that expressed its discontent. See: http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2021-07-19/malandrines-19-07-2021-17-08-28 . Accessed April 30, 2021.
5 The author of this article confirms the peaceful nature of the protesters at the gatherings that took place on the busy avenues of Prado and Malecón; however, there were evident instances of police excess, attacks by “revolutionary” sympathizers protected by law enforcement, as well as intimidation of the population by security agents and armed FAR soldiers who were present at the protest sites.
6 A palpable example of the equivocal nature of the view that considers it consistent to silence social problems, thereby postponing public discussion of a complex issue due to the U.S. government’s hostility toward the island, was the Cuban state’s decades-long policy of silence on racial matters. Contemporary studies published by national specialists on the subject confirm that this approach, far from contributing to an accurate understanding of the matter or offering comprehensive solutions, offered distorted conceptions and allowed for the reproduction of prejudices, discriminatory criteria, Eurocentric canons, and Westernized patterns that persist to this day.
7 From the rigor of political economy, it is not possible to affirm the practical existence of socialism in Cuba, since, following the revolutionary triumph in 1959, most of the means of production have transitioned from private to state ownership, rather than fully socializing them. Added to this reality is the hegemonic nature of the PCC, the elimination of political tendencies in government, the prevailing unanimity in the National Assembly, the state monopoly over the media, excessive centralization in political and economic decisions, accompanied in recent decades by an overwhelming expansion of the private sector and foreign transnational capital, among other factors.
8 Following the “Special Period,” a gradual privatization process began, to the detriment of cooperative ownership and real socialization in production processes. The change in economic policy led to the rise of elites popularly known as the “new rich,” which evidenced an increase in inequality and the concentration of consumption in certain social groups. These facts confirm the reconfiguration of the system toward a neo-capitalist model promoted from within government spheres, accompanied by the maintenance of authoritarian practices as a result of its state-centric, one-party nature.