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Spotlight on Cuba: Planning for the Post Castro Era
Prominent Opinions
The Political Transformation of the Cuban Regime, Seen Through the Perspective of Conflict Resolution
Author: Juan Antonio Blanco
Publication: Real Instituto Elcano, June 26, 2008
Location: Spain
Description: As it is stated in the Introduction, the focus of this study is the crisis the Cuban regime is facing. The idea is to evaluate, given current circumstances, its potential for limited reforms that would guarantee the political monopoly enjoyed by the current ruling elite, and the possibilities offered by alternative option: the start of a non-violent process of transformation leading to a new, democratic regime. The goal of this analysis is to provide conclusions and practical recommendations on possible policies to be followed by governments which, acting as third parties, wish to facilitate the success of that second option, which foresees a gradual, agreed and non-violent democratic transformation of the Cuban regime.
URL: http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/po...
Cuba necesita un socialismo participativo y democrático. Propuestas programáticas
Author: Pedro Campos and other comrades
Publication: Kaos en la Red, August 17, 2008
Location: Spain
Description: A group of Cuban communists, former officials, diplomats, and militaries living in the island, issue a document proposing changes to be considered at the 6th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party. The document warns on the need to initiate deep changes in Cuban socialism to avoid potential violence. These changes should be based on a more inclusive, humanitarian and participative regime. Among others, the proposal calls for the allowance of other ways of property and production, and the creation of Workers Councils. It advocates for the reform of the electoral system and the functions of all bodies of the People’s Power.
URL: http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia/cuba-necesita-socialismo-participativo-democratico-propuestas-programa (Spanish)
Incluir, palabra de orden en Cuba hoy
Publication: Convivencia, May 20, 2008
Location: Pinar del Río, Cuba
Description: This editorial (Inclusion: Key word in today’s Cuba) published in the online Cuban journal headed by Dagoberto Valdés, former director of Vitral, discusses the need of widening the participation of Cuban citizens in the decision-making process. The publication considers that in order to implement reforms, current regime needs to include all sectors of Cuban society in discussions as an essential first step. The op-ed explains the need of social, political, and economic inclusion in Cuba.
URL: http://convivenciacuba.es/index.php?option=com_content.. (Spanish)
El problema económico de Cuba
Author: Pedro Monreal
Publication: Espacio Laical, year III, no. 14, April-June 2008
Description: Monreal, a Cuban economist working for the International Economy Research Centre (CIEI), of Havana University, explains why Cuba needs a “wide and deep” restructure that could put “upside down” its economy, before attempting structural changes.
URL: http://www.espaciolaical.trimilenio.net/contens/14/3335.pdf
Por Todos y para el bien de Todos
Publication: Espacio Laical, April 9, 2008
An editorial of this Catholic publication calls the Cuban government to make public its plans for the near future, and requests the involvement of the population in the process of changes taking place in Cuba.
URL: http://www.espaciolaical.org/
Cuba: Continuing Revolution and Contemporary Contradictions
Author: James Petras and Robin Eastman-Abaya
Publication: Dissident Voice, August 13, 2007
Location: Santa Rosa, California, US
Description: Marxist writers James Petras and Robin Eastman-Abaya analyze the contradictions and challenges of what they call “the new post-special period” in the island, make proposals of change in the economy, criticize current weaknesses in the system, in thecultural sector and others, and propose several alternatives to the Cuban leadership. According to several sources, this was the essay that sparkled Fidel Castro’s reflection, “The Super Revolutionaries”, published in Cuba’s official media (see Cuban Government). Petras’ piece was translated to Spanish and published in other online journals.
URL: http://www.dissidentvoice.org...
Sobre la transición socialista en Cuba: un simposio
Author: A group of Cuban intellectuals
Publication: Temas 50-51, abril-septiembre de 2007
Location: Habana, Cuba
Description: A group of eleven Cuban sociologists, philosophers, jurists, economists, engineers and university professors, from different generations, discuss about socialist transition in Cuba. Acknowledging that there have been different cycles of socialist transition in the island since 1959, these intellectuals answer several questions posted by the organizers of the debate, politologist and director of Temas Rafael Hernandez and psychologist Daybel Pañellas, focussing on current situation in Cuba.
URL: http://www.temas.cult.cu/revista... (Spanish)
Cuba's Democratic Future. The Type of Capitalism that Awaits Us
Author: Carlos Alberto Montaner
Location: Foro Nueva Economía, Madrid, Spain, June 27, 2007
Description: In his address to the Nueva Economía Forum, journalist and writer Carlos Alberto Montaner affirms that the economic model Cuba will follow after Castro will be one open to integration into the rest of the developed world, with full access to financial markets and international aid. The president of the Cuban Liberal Union sustains that current Cuban leadership does not support democracy, but is not attached to collectivist ideologies. Montaner also states that Cuba will not be shaped by the US, but by the Cubans themselves.
URL: The Type of Capitalism that Awaits Us.pdf
Transition SI, Succession NO in Cuba
Author: Jaime Suchlicki
Publication: Cuba Transition Project
Location: Miami, US
Description: The author discusses a proposal made by US Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, on the celebration of a referendum in Cuba. According to Suchlicki, this initiative would test a Raul regime’s will to provide an opening toward democracy; it could increase discussion among Cuban government elite; it could provide an opportunity for the international community to pressure the Cuban regime into opening the political process; and it could create further justification within the US and abroad for tougher measures once Raul Castro refuses this challenge as expected.
URL: http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FOCUS_Web...
Un nuevo gobierno en Cuba deberá mantener el consenso
Author: Rafael Hernández
Publication: El País, September 3, 2006
Location: Madrid, Spain
Description: In this interview with the correspondent of El País in Havana, Cuban academic and director of the journal Temas Rafael Hernández, gives his vision about the role of the United States in a succession process in Cuba, the beginning of a new stage in Cuban politics after Fidel Castro’s illness, the need for the new government to articulate a new consensus, its challenges, and the need for change.
URL: http://cubasource.org/pdf/entrevista_a_rafael.pdf (Spanish)
Cuba: Constitución vs ¿socialismo reversible?
Author: Manuel David Orrio
Publication: La Jiribilla, no. 252, March 4-10, 2006
Location: Havana, Cuba
Description: An article by Orrio, an official of the Cuban Ministry of Interior, and journalist by profession, who infiltrated the ranks of Cuban dissidents as the agent “Miguel”. Cuban authorities revealed his identity during the April 2003 anti-dissidence trials. In this article, the author directly criticizes Fidel Castro for amendments made to the Constitution in 2002 declaring the “irreversibility” of socialism in Cuba. The author also objects to the “premises” proposed by Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Pérez Roque to avoid the collapse of socialism during his statement to the National Assembly in December 2005. Orrio also advocates for urgent change, even prior to Castro’s departure from power. The article was removed completely from La Jiribilla.
URL: http://www.cubasource.org/pdf/Orrio.pdf
Cuba: Tres premisas para salvar la Revolución, a la muerte de Fidel
Author: Heins Dieterich
Publication: Rebelión, January 3, 2006
Location: Madrid, Spain
Description: The author, a Marxist-leaning intellectual, analyzes Felipe Perez Roque’s December 23, 2005 speech at the National Assembly. Dieterich considers Perez Roque’s premises to save socialism in Cuba an incomplete formulation and offers his views about Cuba’s socialist future. The author considers that the first premise proposed by Perez Roque is “correct and necessary”. But, in regards with the second one, Dieterich says that the “stability of the dominant class” is linked to its capacity to produce what the population needs, that it is not a simple equation, ethics vs consumerism. Dieterich insists in the need of strengthening the Cuban Communist Party by democratizing its decision-making procedures.
URL: http://www.rebelion.org/notic...
An Open Letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell Regarding the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba
Author: Inter American Dialogue
Publication: Country Studies, Cuba, September 2004
Location: Washington, D.C.
Description: Analysis based on closed-door review of the first report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba organized by the Inter-American Dialogue on June 4, 2004. A group of 10 experts highlights that the Report refers to the possibility of peaceful change in Cuba as subordinate to the larger goal of ending the Castro government. It emphasizes that although the US has an important role to play in Cuba’s transition to democracy, it is the Cubans who should decide what kinds of assistance they require from the US and how that assistance should be delivered.
URL: http://www.thedialogue.org/publicati... |
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