Biden Exasperates Cuba

The president is no rush to think about Cuba, so that the island, which is in a rush, can present its case. Biden will be able to do so before Cuba’s next party congress.

During his trip to Cuba, Barack Obama did not give interviews to the official press but preferred instead to attend the comedy program “Vivir del Cuento,” the most popular show on television, to humanize Yankee imperialism and woo the audience with a game of dominoes. Some applauded his wide-ranging speech at the Havana Theater when he rejected the embargo, and others applauded when he demanded respect for human rights. It began to circulate that he had won a seat in the National Assembly for a neighborhood district. It seems hard to imagine Joe Biden messing about in shirt sleeves, as convinced as Obama that carrots are better than sticks for achieving immense change on the island. The president is no rush to think about Cuba, so that the island, which is in a rush, can present its case. Biden will be able to think about Cuba before Cuba’s next party congress.

The Cuban regime’s press seems neither convinced of its direction nor of its influence; the bureaucracy, aware that communication is a strategic tool, practices occultism and abstention with more fear than one has for one’s life and soul. Unraveled by globalization, and without the marvelous speaker that Fidel Castro was, communication of the Cuban revolution is shipwrecked. The main challenge that its press and institutions face is the defense of basic fundamentals, pestered by the internet, generational change, exhaustive slogans, digital anti- government campaigns and U.S. campaigns aimed at young people. But the most pressing issues do not come from abroad or from invisible demonstrations for democracy, but from an ineffective economy, which generates emigration, shortages and lines. Hardly triumphs to write about, and barely results worth waiting for.

The news that authorization of private enterprise for 2,000 occupations has not been as powerful in the media as was intended, nor has it impressed the new U.S. chief executive, who is more interested in the regime’s response to the ideological subversion of the San Isidro Movement and the song “Patria y Vida.” Moreover, there is the benefit of dissident activism by voters in Florida. Before any detente, the White House will have to ponder the scope of tolerance, repression and business; it wants signs that the eventual relaxation of Torricelli’s law and the Helms-Burton’s Act will be reciprocated with ambitious measures.

It would be encouraging if the April party conclave accompanied the appointment of the new secretary, Raul Castro’s replacement, with a nomenclature committed to liberalizing reforms, and without serious delay. The regime demonstrated that it can resist the embargo on the backs of a population worthy of freedom and well-being, just like revolutionary journalists did, in reality or pretending to resist, and shackled by propaganda as they are challenged by more pressing realities than those presented by the anachronistic Radio Martí.