Cuba: “Living Without Castro”

By Iroel Sánchez on March 11, 2018

Cuba has prepared itself “to live without Castro” for several decades through the democratic process the Cuban people exercised.  This was mainly because their leadership contributed to build a true democracy of the people, different to what the media sells us with the same title but while hiding everything else.

“Cuba prepares itself to live without Castro” is one of the many versions of headlines that the media has been using to describe the electoral process of Cuba; a process which will end on April 19 when the National Assembly chooses a new President, Vice President and members of the Council of State.

The obsession with the surname is old and reached its greatest height in the 1990s when “The final hour of Fidel Castro” was announced along with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. But the Revolution continued due to the longevity of the leaders that came from the Sierra Maestra. And then the “final hour” was raised again, when Fidel suffered a severe illness that prevented him from his continuing his responsibilities as a leader and he was replaced by Raúl.

For the Cuban people it is clear that Fidel’s successor didn’t arrive at the presidency for just being his brother since they know that Raúl Castro wasn’t the Revolution’s second in command because of his relationship with Fidel but because he risked his life for his people when he was only 20 years old and he took great risks for his revolutionary ideals. It started with his participation as a combatant in the assault on the Moncada barracks, and then his responsibilities grew in prison, and in exile. Trust of Raul grew in the expedition of the Granma, so much so that he was in trusted to lead the Second Guerrilla Front in Sierra Maestra. It was a natural continuation that after the triumph of the Revolution in 1959 he would lead the Armed Forces that allowed Cuba to resist the full spectrum of threats and aggressions carried out by the United States.

Against all predictions, Raúl lead Cuba for 12 years with a favorable outcome, pushing forward the necessary changes to adapt the country to the new realities and created the necessary conditions so that new generations can now arrive at political positions in order to successfully face the challenges of the country.

The electoral process started in September with the direct nominations of the candidates to the Municipal Assembly by the citizens, who were later elected on November 26, and it ended with the people’s election on March 11. Those delegates -nominated and elected by the people without intermediaries- have the power of making the lists that the voters will choose from, something that only political parties can do in other countries.

The Cuban electoral system isn’t perfect but the problems that haunted the electoral process before 1959 (political corruption, fraud, failure to fulfill pledges, etc) are absent in Cuba. Propaganda and campaign promises are banned in the Cuban elections, as is the influence of money. The scrutiny of the election is public in every electoral precinct, the voting boxes are guarded by students, the Communist Party doesn’t nominate the candidates, and the elected candidates must go through an evaluation process every six months at every level.

This is a system created and improved upon under the leadership of Fidel Castro and has its roots in Jóse Marti’s ethics, not in the regimes of soviet socialism. The Cuban electoral system was corrected in 1992 and it will be improved in the same way with a new Electoral Law that has been announced to appear before 2021, when the VIII Congress of the Communist Party will convene.

Unlike in other countries, in Cuba, democracy isn’t synonymous with elections. The trade unions, student and women organizations have systematic debates and processes of renovation where the problems that affect them are treated and presented to the government. Trade union and student leaders participate with voice and vote in the Directive Councils of the various entities that go from work and study centers to the ministries by law.

If we count together all of this democratic exercise, Cuba has been preparing for decades “to live without Castro”, mainly because their leadership contributed to build a really a democracy of the people, different to what the media tries to sell.

http://www.thedawn-news.org/2018/03/13/cuba-living-without-castro/

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, translation by The Dawn