By Roberto Jesús Hernández on September 27, 2023
Where does authority come from, does it belong to those who accumulate the most power, property, or followers? Perhaps the answer is not to be found in any of the extremes or on a stage, but far from the spotlight, in the anonymous human being who is happy to put in place the blocks of what will be a park, help an elderly person, save an animal or plant a tree.
It is enough to walk a few blocks next to the young Randy Perdomo Garcia, 31, to notice that from him emanates an authority that does not depend on appointments, and is therefore more authentic and legitimate. Since he took office in 2017 as delegate of the People’s Power in the 78th constituency of Peñas Altas, in the city of Matanzas, he has earned his place among the people by dint of fulfilling what he promises.
His dedication is evidenced by the asphalted streets that are here for the first time, the community cultural house, an art gallery, medical offices, collective gardens built in sanitized sites, public lighting, and more.
Writer, cultural promoter, communicator of the provincial hospital Comandante Faustino Pérez, animal lover,…there is no noble cause he does not join in the only way he knows how: with all his heart. As it seems, there is no task above his possibilities nor below his pride.
Now everyone recognizes you as a delegate of the People’s Power (PP). How did this adventure begin for you?
Photo: Bill Hackwell
I had just graduated in Marxist-Leninist Philosophy from the University of Havana. I was doing my social service. I really wanted to do something for the good of my city. When I returned to my neighborhood, to the Pastorita neighborhood, the first responsibility I assumed was that of president of the CDR.
That year we were hit hard by the inclement weather, and with the previous delegate I joined in to help in whatever was needed. That is how I began to discover the work of Poder Popular, although I had always liked it. That is how this path began for me.
The elections were coming up and several neighbors proposed me. A large percentage of the votes were for me, a young guy. When that happens it is because the people are betting on a person who, although he may not have all the experience, can bring his strength and vitality to transform the neighborhood.
It was a huge challenge. I was born in that place and I saw it change over time. It had enormous challenges. The spaces in the middle of urbanization are very difficult. I had to organize and contribute to help generate beauty. At the beginning of the legislature we began to make participatory diagnoses.
The academy where I was trained gave me the theory, but here we had to put it into practice. If any leadership needs to be dignified in Cuba today, it is that of the delegate on the ground level. We are people who have a job and, at the same time, assume a key role in the community.
In our district there were more than twenty landfills, several sewage pits, no gardens, no landscaping, no social or cultural services, flooding areas contributed to make things worse, as well as streets without access or pending asphalting.
We also had no good street lighting, no parks or other gathering spaces, and many neighbors didn’t even know each other. These were huge challenges. I look back and it seems like a dream. I like to set utopias and strive to achieve them because they give me a chance to better myself.
In a time of so many economic shortages, when people avoid getting together, it is difficult to bet on a project for the collective good. But we have to find a way to convince, to seduce. Today we have a different community. Its future will depend on what we are able to achieve and maintain.
Many neighbors did not even know each other, but that has changed in recent years in the 78th district of the municipality of Matanzas, where today there is a rich social and cultural life.
Have they ever closed their doors to you?
You have to earn that they open the doors to you. For that you have to know the subjectivity of the people. You have to know that maybe someone is not interested in going to an accountability meeting, but is capable of contributing a resource or participating in solving a problem in his or her community. I have physicians whom I avoid calling to meetings, but with them we have generated a daily work alliance to attend to the main health problems of their neighbors. You have to know what each one is willing to offer.
I started little by little. Sometimes people did not believe in everything I dreamed and proposed. The first challenge was to get rid of a huge landfill. We had a majestic project of a park with several stairs, made by an architect from our neighborhood, but we didn’t have all the materials and the budget to build it. Thanks to innovation and participation with our neighbors’ own resources, we found a solution, and the Pastorita cultural plaza was born.
People joined in the cleanup and with the assistance of specialists we looked for technical solutions to the problems of the pits that poured from homes. Someone donated blocks, someone else put in the bricks, and in the same way the plants appeared to decorate that space. It was an injection of hope.
I had a hard time getting institutional support. Among the first to join the civic support of the neighborhood was Community Services. Today there are few who close their doors to me. Personally, the greatest pleasure was to have so many friends who joined in and helped, even in the midst of despair. Some are not physically here, but they are remembered. There are gardens and other spaces that bear their names, such as María and Hortensia.
Several people who assume this responsibility complain about the lack of support. They say that at the moment of the truth, the delegate is left alone fighting against all the problems. How do you see it?
I think we have to change the vision of the support of the institutions to the figure of the delegate. We have had a period, like a fashion, of the famous accompaniment of the organizations to the constituencies. In reality it is nothing new. It has been established for a long time that institutions and companies support the locality where they are located. We are all part of the same country, of the same project. However, many times the delegate has to face everything alone.
There is a lack of better diagnoses, and a social and community vision of each entity in its environment. It happens that an organization X, which is in charge of large investments in another place, has its headquarters in a street full of potholes where its own workers have to walk. That has to be taken care of.
One of the nicest things about our system is the accountability of the delegate to his or her constituents. Many times it is schematic and routine, but it can also generate great practical solutions. If I, as a public servant, have to tell the people what I did during my term in office, why can’t a company do the same? It is worth rethinking and transforming this space to make it more effective. It was hard for me at the beginning.
I think we have to forget a little about attendance and statistics. Let whoever wants to go. We have to find mechanisms for political participation so that people join and participate. In each meeting I present the new projects that we are going to execute. The most important thing I had pending was the house of community culture, and it is already done and working for the benefit of all.
Communication in the PP election process must be done in a different way. That implies knowing a delegate’s priorities, his or her vision. Some are elected in constituencies where they have never lived. It is not possible then for them to know that neighborhood inside and the inhabitants with their needs and their problems. The rehabilitation of common areas is also aimed at fostering citizen participation.
Has it happened to you that people who do not identify with the Cuban political system join in when you call them?
Yes, it has happened to me several times. I have had doubters of the system who have accompanied me in the transformation of the neighborhood and the actions to ensure its sustainability. What I appreciate most about my work in this constituency is the great diversity of opinions, particularly from people who feel dissatisfied with different policies, or situations at the country level. I’ve been told: I don’t agree with this or that, but I’ll support you in any way I can. We are not talking about a vulnerable neighborhood, but a residential area where there are people with economic resources, a skilled professional force, booming businesses, and also people who have emigrated to other countries.
It is a great satisfaction that anyone can join me, whether or not they agree with my political ideas. I work with anyone who wants to join me in working for the common good. There is also a diversity of religious beliefs. I listen to all of them and respect them. Nobody deserves to be excluded, unless they are determined to destroy or generate bad social coexistence.
Like so many thousands of Cubans, you have family abroad, specifically in the U.S. Do you think that somehow gives you a more open perspective as a delegate?
I stay in Matanzas out of sentiment, and out of desire. I do what I do because I am passionate about the PP. Of all the things I have achieved since I graduated, this is the one that gives me the most satisfaction. If I could dedicate myself exclusively to this I would. My most sacred family (my mother, father and brother) resides abroad. In addition, I have had the opportunity to travel in several countries. My brother does not agree with our system. In my most intimate circle there are friends who have very different criteria from mine regarding the socioeconomic and political measures implemented in recent years in Cuba. I believe that this diversity detoxifies me from banality and routine. It has been indispensable for me to relate to everyone, the lonely old man, the entrepreneur, the housewife, and to be able to feel useful.
My greatest satisfaction and happiness is in being first nominated, then elected, by my neighbors in the neighborhood to represent them there, in that daily space, at the grassroots. The noblest position in Cuba is that of delegate. It is beautiful to see how a new flower is born where before there was a garbage dump. Not all of us have the privilege of serving in the most humble places.
Do you consider yourself as someone who makes politics from your position?
I think that word is one of the most vitiated that exist. Every human being participates in politics in his own way. In Cuba today we are facing a great challenge, which is, in my opinion, the urgency of making a more intelligent, more accessible, more inclusive policy. Why is it that if we are such a colorful country, with such a sensual and joyful people, our policy seems so gray? I think we can get more out of charisma.
Our discourse should reflect, first and foremost, the needs and concerns of the common people. A country’s project is based on ordinary people: the doctor who goes to the doctor’s office every day, the community service worker who cleans the city, the entrepreneur. We are all equally important. It makes no sense to look down on others. When it comes to taking a certain measure, we have to imagine how it could affect or benefit the citizens.
The delegate has to go beyond the routine spaces of the office and accountability, to go beyond. I believe that from the People’s Power we have been bad at making policy. The best way is to work every day, to create works so that people believe and join in search of a better life.
Politics in Cuba must be injected with empathy, rethinking it from beauty and usefulness. Empathy is an essential condition to be a public servant. If a neighbor knocks on the door of my house at 10 o’clock at night, I have to attend to him. Being a delegate is not a job from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, it is a sense of life. I believe that this work should be professionalized, and I say this with all responsibility. It is something to keep in mind for the future.
Do you remember any particularly difficult experiences you had to overcome as a delegate?
The pandemic was very difficult. Also the days of the fire at the supertanker base. Every day you have to deal with complex situations that test you. It’s all part of learning. But I think the hardest thing has been to be accepted for my less conventional way of doing things. It is a permanent struggle against mediocrity. Among the things I remember most are my pronouncements in the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power. I was questioned a lot for denouncing administrative officials who did not attend to the delegate’s demands. There were people who were upset. I believe that in our assemblies the voice of the people should resonate more, and the most urgent problems of the moment should be discussed.
We should not be afraid of good examples and initiatives. Why not apply participatory budgets? Everyone has the right to express their criteria on how public resources will be used. In the same way, everyone who is willing should be given the possibility to contribute according to their possibilities to make their neighborhood a better place to live.
There are many humble delegates doing good for Cuba, even with little or no resources, in rural and hard to reach communities. Unfortunately we do not know most of their stories.
Source: Cubadebate translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English