Untitled - Convivencia

Consejo de Redacción de Convivencia:Director: Dagoberto Valdés HernándezKarina Gálvez ChiúJesuhadín Pérez ValdésMaikel Iglesias RodríguezRosalia Viñas LazoLivia Gálvez ChiúHenry Constantín FerreiroDiseño y Administración Web:Dagoberto Valdés DelgadoEquipo de realización:Secretaria de Redacción: Hortensia CiresCorrectora: Livia Gálvez ChiúRelaciones Públicas y Suscripciones: Margarita Gálvez MartínezAsistencia Técnica: Arian Domínguez BernalComposición computarizada: Rosalia Viñas LazoContáctenos en:www.convivenciacuba.esredaccion@convivenciacuba.esWeb master: webmaster@convivenciacuba.esBlog: http://convivenciacuba.es/intramurosTwitter: @convivenciacubaComposición computarizada y diseño PDF de esta compilación: Yoandy Izquierdo ToledoObra de Portada:La Consagración. Óleo/lienzo 184 x 126,5 cm, 1997Autor: Julio César Banasco RegoEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 20121

CONTENTS“Living together”: a threshold for the citizenship and the civil society in Cuba .......... 4There is no full change if everybody is not part of it ............................................................... 6In this hour of Cuba: bread or freedom? ........................................................................................ 10Inclusion: an essential word in Cuba today.................................................................................... 15The conclusions of the European Union and the protagonism of Cubans ...................... 21To free the productive forces and the initiative of Cubans ................................................... 26“Convivencia”: first anniversary. On the threshold after half a century ........................... 30There is no fatherland without the sovereignty of every citizen ........................................ 34Culture and politics in Cuba ................................................................................................................. 38Power is for serving.................................................................................................................................. 42Cuba, a country on the run ................................................................................................................... 45There is no country if there are no institutions .......................................................................... 49Internet: information, solidarity and living together.................................................................. 53The blockade imposed to the culture world ................................................................................. 57The absolute respect for all of the human life ............................................................................ 60Dialogue, yes: but with human rights and without exclusion ............................................... 63The changes we want for Cuba depend on us ............................................................................. 67Cuba must ratify the Covenants on Human Rights that have been signed .................... 71Economy with freedom and responsibility .................................................................................... 76Something new for Cuba: civil society’s primacy ........................................................................ 81Freedom and fraternity for Cuba .......................................................................................................85To live in the coherence between what we believe and what we do……………………..The new communication technologies at the service of civil society................................The pope’s visit to cuba: expectations and possibilities..........................................................Civic friendship and pacific coexistence ........................................................................................What comes after the pope’s visit? ....................................................................................................899397102108Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 20122

Cuba does have thought, projects and protagonists for the future .............................. 114If political repression and exclusion don’t stop there is no possible updating ......... 121The Virgin of La Caridad: bread, justice and freedom for Cuba ......................................... 125Relación de artistas cubanos y las obras que ilustran las portadas de la revistay cada Editorial en este compendio ................................................................................................ 128Ediciones Convivencia3

“LIVING TOGETHER”:A THRESHOLD FOR THE CITIZENSHIPAND THE CIVIL SOCIETY IN CUBAEditorial 1. Jan-Feb-2008. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.es“Living Together” is a digital Socio Culturalpublication, plural, participatory andrespectful for differences. It promotes ahealthful diversity where each person will finda space to share and improve life.We aspire “LivingTogether” to be an openhouse shared by Cubans in the Island and inthe Diaspora. A sign and an advance of thecommon Home we should rebuild andreconcile all of us together. The dimension ofthe contribution is not what matters. Webelieve in the power of littleness.We intend to be a transparent space for publicdebate and proposals. A space useful to linkpersonal freedom and cohabitation in aninclusive and autonomous civil society.We will try to promote the pacific solution tothe conflicts which arise from living together.We seek and share with the others, the truthwhich is not an exclusive patrimony of anyone.We do not promote confrontation or discreditof persons, groups or institutions. We neitherpromote the fake confrontation between thecivil society and the State or the confrontationbetween the personal needs and theindispensable institutions of participation.We think that graduality and moderation indialogue are the best ways to the changes thatCuba needs.We wish to be an informal workshop where wecan learn how to accomplish a fruitfulcoexistence of the things we write and thethings we do; personal liberation and socialframework; responsible participation andpower, as a service; governability andgovernance; identity and change; cultureand creation; history and future; sciences,letters and arts; reason and heart; certaintyand search; good decisions and mistakes.Living together just the way we are. Creatinga better daily existence.We are a non-denominational site inspired inthe values of Christian humanism. We alsowish to encourage the dialogue and thecoexistence of religions and philosophies, ofbelievers, agnostics and atheistics. Weintend to be a nursery for diverse culturalexpresions. We are not afraid of diversity.We don’t believe that diversity brings aboutconfusion or relativism. We believe thatcultural opening strengthens identity. Wethink that the exchange among differentthings or beings and the pluralistcohabitation enriches the human beingsand helps the souls of peoples to grow.Unity can be built from diversity.We are not or belong to any institution,organization or party. The members of ourEditorial Board live in Cuba. “LivingTogether” is addressed to everybody with nofrontiers, however we wish our firstaddressees were the Cubans inside theIsland, though it is the most difficult task,no matter how absurd it might seem. Weexpect the cooperation of everyone to beable to fulfill this task.Our modest scheme of socialcommunication looks to the future morethan to the past and intends to share thepresent historical circumstances in Cuba,Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 20124

with their changes and hesitations, their fears,their hope and challenges. The name of themagazine:Invites to elaborate and revive the frameworkof civil society in Cuba as a school ofcoexistence. We believe that civil society is thenew expression of democracy.Summons to find a minimum of commonperspectives inside the most wide pluralism inorder to create (all persons who want to joinus), a new cultural-historic background forCuba which takes into account the essence ofthe Cuban foundations and inserts the newconditions that give meaning, safety and hopeto the new protagonists of a serene andfulfilled national community with pacificrelations towards the international community.Shares experiences of persons and groups thathave managed to trespass the threshold offear and mistrust and have opened theirthoughts and acts, making viable projects ofgreater civic maturity, a creativeempowerment of citizens and a minimum oftrust in order to towards the new and thebetter.Announces the celebration, in advance, of anational home “where there is room for all”(1).All in all, “Living Together” offers a smallthreshold for the future of Cuba in whichCubans learn to live their personal freedomwithout fear and share, without isolation ormiseries, the supportive responsibility ofcoordinating spaces of citizenship and civilsociety in which we are able to be the real“protagonists of our personal and nationalhistory” (2).Pinar del Río, Cuba. 28 th January 2008.(1) Martí, José. Speech, 10 th October 1881(2) John Paul II in Cuba, 21 st January 1998Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 20125

THERE IS NO FULL CHANGEIF EVERYBODY IS NOT PART OF ITEditorial 2. Mar-Apr-2008. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esSomething is moving in Cuba. Winds ofstructural changes have started to blow.Though, as it shows, this is only thebeginning of a new stage in our history. Thisperiod will be better if we try to carry it outas well as possible from the start because ifwe do so, mistakes can be prevented and thesinuosity inherent to change can bediminished. It seems that the Cuban people,with undoubtful patience and historicwisdom, offers the government anotheropportunity of time requested once morethrough five decades. We wish the new staffof the State speeded up and deepened thefundamental changes and went deep intothem without improvisations. Substantialchanges are the only responsible way outthat justifies the time that has been grantedand invested.Many of us are very worried about the natureof the changes: if they are cosmetic or reallystructural. Others are very concerned aboutthe meaning of the changes, where thechanges will lead us, if they will be a stepforward or a step backward to the past whichis impossible. Others are concerned aboutthe strategies and speed of the changes:how “to prepare” the people psychologicallyand politically, maintaining a tensionbetween graduality and urgency.Some persons don’t believe in the changes ifthe same faces remain; and there are alsothe ones who still cling to inmovilism or theones adjusted or the ones who are used tothe empty shriek of combat which is afasting of echo in the real life with noresonance in the vast majority of Cubanswho are about to be fed up with the aggresiveand decadent ways of saying, sitting at atable even shared by more calmed voices.Such ways of saying only show a deepweakness of reasons that cannot beconcealed. So different to other ways ofsaying: serene, open and above all, short.Exasperation doesn’t help anyone. And thoseways of saying and attitudes are not the onesthat Cuba needs.We believe that Cuba needs much serenitynow. Much meditation and study and patiencetogether with the wisdom which knows thatin times of changes any involuntary mistakecould suddenly turn into a cause of unusefulviolence. Exessive secrecy, mystery anddecisions behind the people’s back do nothelp either. A lot of transparency is needed, agreater consistency between words andaction and above all, it’s necessary torespond directly and quickly to the thegrowing expectations of Cubans.That is why we wish to focus our attention onone of the most forgotten aspects of allchanges. It’s certain that nature, meaning,strategy, ways of saying, quickness andserenity are essential but all of these aspectsand a every real transformation depend onone element which is often obviated or leftout: the protagonists of the changes.A too fast and suspiciously obvious answer tothe question: “Who will be the protagonists ofthe change?” comes to the minds of the mostshrewd ones: the government. We often hearthe ancient popular saying: Changes, veryEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 20126

well, eveyone knows that they are necessaryand urgent but... who bells the cat?There are, at least, two possible attitudes oranswers to the former popular expression:The atttitude which expects others to takethe risk, which expects others to be able totake action. Such attitude paralizes us. Thatis the trick of the proverb. And a second wayof giving a possitive answer to the question“who?” is the way offered by Father FelixVarela, “the first man who tought us how tothink” with our own brains:“It is necessary that the valuable men... thereal patriots persuade themselves that now,more than ever they are obligated to beuseful to the Fatherland, with the lack ofinterest of the honest man, but with all thestrength and the energy of a patriot... toprevent on time the wicked and mediocrepersons take the place of the best Childrenof the country because of their indiference”...“What easy resourses fear has! If the houseof a friend is burning, would it be an act ofprudence and friendship not to awake himwhile he is sleeping? And the ones who arealways saying: who bells the cat”? Is itnecessary to stick it out? It is enough toelaborate an opinion... and everybodyrealizes that there is an agreement amongall and then...Once bitten twice shy!” (ElHabanero).To elaborate a “state of opinion” is a way ofbeing a part of the changes and this issomething that everybody can do. It’s aneffective method. If we express and shareour opinions, in a free, respectful and sereneway, we can bell the cat all of us, that is, wecan be part of the transformations that havestarted, as ordinary citizens. This is thesovereignty from below. This is the firstanswer to “who” the protagonists of thechange are going to be: the citizens, all ofthem. Indiference is the worst enemy in thishour.We should say even more: We, the people, allof us are the most numerous and effectivepacific opposition, even if we are not awareof this role or its importance andeffectiveness. But we are. And thegovernment knows it very well. As a matterof fact, what is happening in Cuba andwhat’s going to happen, as in any other placein the world, has happened and is going tohappen as an answer to the pressure of thedaily needs of the people which cannot bepostponed. That is the most effective andpersevering pacific opposition. It’s thegreatest force for change and can’t berepressed increasingly and forever withoutcalling the attention, in a strong way, of theworld which today, more than ever has gotit’s eyes on us. It is a pressing andunavoidable reality. The very Cubangovernment knows it. If not, what are the“opinion of the people” surveys for? What arethe “round tables” and the “battle of ideas”for? Why the urgent wish that the image ofCuba be of total normality, order and unityuniformity?Disorder, which nobody wants, isnot necessarily the only way the tormentedpeople has to express itself.It can be said that it is for education; it can besaid that it is for avoiding confusion, forpreparing us psicologically and politically.Good. It could be. But that is not enoughbecause all of it vanishes the next morningwhen we face the agony of the daily struggle.That is the best barometer of the socialpressure: The voice of the people buried oron the streets, and this is happening everyday louder and more often. Something thatcannot be indefinitely endured: the needs, thehardship. Something that is growing and willconstantly grow until real changes areperformed. Deep, structural, not cosmeticchanges. The needs do not depend on anideology or a party. The needs have taken usto this crucial moment and they will continuepushing.Let’s look around: university students whodiscuss things with a leader applaud a youngman from Las Tunas, keep vigils asking forautonomy and do demands to the Deans andleaders; workers who do not earn the propersalaries in the very State corporations; artistswho escape or stay escaped, farmers who donot produce food because they don’t receivethe proper pay; houswives whose “battle ofideas” is fought in their kitchens every day inorder to figure out how to make ends meet;the defenseless old men and the helpless illpersons that are a crowd in the ricketycorridors of hospitals that are being eternallyrepaired...the force and the pressure ofEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 20127

survival: major and gratest opponents to anypublic administration. And that is not afaction. Not mercenaries. Not traitors. It’sthe Fatherland.But though the opinion and the pressure ofcitizens are the major performers, this is notenough. Part of this Fatherland whichbelongs to all, part of this nation which is allof us, are the rest of the “legs” of thenational “table”: the government, thepolitical opposition and the rest of the civilsociety organized in informal groups; socialor cultural associations; religious institutionsand others. These three protagonistscomplete the cast of this performance whichis: change. These actors are a part of theFatherland too.Then we would have to stop and make surethat some of the premises for change areclear, accepted and consistently assumed.We suggest six of them:No pacific change is done without the formergovernment. We have to rely on it and itmust give up what corresponds in order toreceive respect and prevent socialexacerbations. Time is not unlimited and itis a factor for credibility.No government gives up, not even whatcorresponds, without the pressure of theopposition and the civil society and theopposition of the citizenship in the directionestablished by necessity. Facing the newsigns of time, what new answers andinitiatives are offered by the opposition andthe civil society?No opposition force can exercise an effectivepressure if the primary needs of the peopleare not taken into account before its partyprograms. To listen to the vox populi, tohelp its awareness and to act as its catalyst.And also, adjust the programs to suchsoveriegn vox populi.Every government gives up insofar as thecivic pressure grows. They are directlyproporcional. Nobody should expect a newstep if he does not make an effort todemand it, but in a pacific way. Becauseviolence paralizes us and aborts any reform.We don’t understand pressure as blackmailbut as demanding and responsibleparticipation of citizens and a sign of civicmaturity and political normality. A countrywithout pressure is a country without bloodpressure. Not to give up to legitimatepressure exerted by the ones who aresupposed to give pulse to the social body canbe a sign of “rigor mortis”, a sign of fatalrigidity. To give up to sane pressure based onthe natural Right is a sign of the vitality of asystem, not a sign of weakness.Every change and transition is a process ofstages. If we want it to be pacific, it has to begradual. And if it is gradual we must believein the small steps and not discredit thembefore their effectiveness and veracity arevalidated. We all are to validate them byacting consistently, as if they were true, untilthe contrary is shown. This is the only way forus to obtain moral authority. To buck, tomake steps forward and steps backwards andsome of them to the sides, is inherent toevery pacific transition. No transformationhas been done straightly. That is a mythwhich we must unfold in order to heal ourdiscouragement.The role of the international community: Nopeople can live isolated from the presentworld, global and supportive, interdependentand neighbouring. Sovereignty should not beabandoned because it is essential to citizensand peoples, but this sovereignty is notstrengthened by stubbornness and anoutdated oppresive nationalism. All exiles inHistory have shown that living together withother nationalities and cultures does notweaken but strengthens identity andsovereignty. Every open and respectfulrequests from the international communityare good. To collate with lucidity andresponsiblity, our ways of political, economicand social coexistence according to thestandards of the present world is the bestway of being really sovereign andstrengthening the identity as a people. Hewho gets stubborn and thinks that the rest ofthe world is wrong cannot acknowledge hisidentity because he does not have means tocompare, or mirrors to recognize himself orencouragement to grow as a people. Beingstubborn is like being blind: nothing new orbetter is given to light.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 20128

There has to be a differentiation between theblackmail done by hegemony and thepressure based on the international right.The whole world cannot be wrong all thetime and only one nation in the mostabsolute justice. That does not existanywhere. In today’s world the internationalrelations are based on two pillars: the firstand the main one is the respect for thehuman rights expressed in United NationsAgreements which Cuba has promised tosign during the first three-month period ofthis year. And the second one: the regionaland world interdependence and integration.To demand these two ethical premisescannot be seen as blackmail or fakeprressure but as a duty and a right ofpeoples in a mutual supportive jointresponsibility.A new stage is open in Cuba. For the wholeFatherland this is a time of opportunities.The protagonists of the change are asimportant and decisive as its nature,direction and methods. Moreover, there willbe a flaw and a mutilation in the future ofthe Nation if one of the protagonists ismissing in the process of transition. Even thequality and the viability, the depth and thedemocracy of a process of changes should bemeasured by the diversity and theprominence of the four doers of real andauthentic lasting reforms: The State, theopposition, the civil society and the consciousand empowered citizenship. All of them opento the international community.There is no full and deep change without theparticipation of all. It should not be said thatno one is listening in Cuba. It should not besaid that there is nobody home willing toopen the door to the future.Here are some tools to awaken, open,participate and evaluate, as Cuban citizens,the process which everybody knows is alreadyapproaching in Cuba.Pinar del Río, 25 th February 2008.155 th anniversary of Father Félix Varela’sdeath.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 20129

IN THIS HOUR OF CUBA: BREAD OR FREEDOM?Editorial 3. May-Jun-2008. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esThe answer is very easy according to theoryand good will: We want both. The Cubanpeople wants bread and freedom. Morebread and more freedom.But in practice, facts say something different;strategies and tactics seem to switch the turnsignal on to go one way but they irremissiblygo the other way around. It seems that eventhe ones who want the best for Cuba, wemean, for Cubans, suddenly see themselvesmaking a pragmatic choise, away from theethical policy they claim to defend, awayfrom the life they demand in their owncountries, away even from the rights andvalues they teach in their philosophicallectures, political schools or religions.This inconsistency, often unconcious, othertimes clearly assumed and in not a fewoccasions covered by the best of wills, couldbe found in the decisions of ordinary citizensin their daily lives as well as in the strategiesand calculations of the ones who have anykind of power or influence. We could findthis inconsistency even accompanied by acertain amount of amnesia and some doublestandardmanias, in the behaviour of someinternational observers and officials and inthe behaviour of the ones who care abouttheir economic and comercial interests aboveall and without conditions.The “bread or freedom” manipulatedalternative could be updated in other actionsmore subtle but no less deceitful: “politicalmanouvers or human rights”. Or also: “theso-called “intelligent” strategies or growingjustice”. Or even more, “advantageous stanceor ethical and risky stances”. We state thatsuch alternatives contain a trap difficult toperceive and more difficult to evade andovercome.Behind those trick alternatives, deepreasons could be hidden. For example, anexclusive and amoral conception of politics,as if politics didn’t have anything to do withthe rights of citizens; the will to subordinateand separate the human, civil and politicalrights from the inseparable economical,social and cultural human rights; a mania ofcalling intelligent strategies to the selfinterestedcircumstances; a hemiplegicprofile of justice subordinated to thedilemma of: “the money or the life”. Apragmatism with no ethics and no longtermperspective. These manouvers place usin the false dialectical position of beingobliged to choose between the materialdimension of the person and socialcoexistence and other human and socialdimensions which are equally necessary,inalienable and urgent.Some argue the criterion of “gaining time”with the purpose of not changing anythingor consolidate themselves in power. Theyforget or conceal the fact that whenever acountry is living any crisis in which anychange in structures can change the natureof the system, prolonging changes andgaining time only lead to the worsening ofthe situation, the deepening of the crisisand eventually the door is open to chaos.Let us not think of a noisy, spectacularchaos only. In most of the occasions, as ithappens in Cuba, the chaos is deaf, mute,Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201210

lind. Infiltrations of bureaucracy in thesocial fabric. Also metastasis ofungovernability that silently spreads itselfupwards, from family life to the upperechelons of power. We can confirm it all thetime. Some times it has the style and the wayof working of the well known economicMafias. We feel that the social machinery is“stuck” and it only works accurately in theplaces where direct and punctual attention isreceived from “above”. We feel that there is a“macabre hand” that blocks the wheels ofproduction, obstructs the channels ofcommunication and putrefies theinterpersonal relationships. Bureaucracydegenerates into absurdity.For ordinary Cubans the daily life meansprolonged agony with sedatives that havegot labels of permissions to buy goods that,as we know, can be bought by any citizen inthe world if he has the money. Calamity isaccepted in our homes, schools, jobs andhospitals, parks and cities, freeways andairports, as if calamity were one moremember of the Cuban family. Other timesthe sedative is stronger: denunciations,repression, expulsions, imprisonment andwindow closings; windows which gaveoxigen and light to the ones who managedto look out of them. And the uneaseaccumulates and the capacity for enduranceof the human beings gets wild. The depth ofthe pool where we throw the reactions thatwe silence grows, and also the selfcensorshipthat asphixiates us and therepression of our irrepressible wish of beingsimply “normal” in a world like the one of the21st century. That is what eventuallyaccumulates. That is what overflows itself,among clauses and digressions, in personaloutbursts, in family desintegration, inleakages of social violence. Until one day.Then we could ask ourselves: why does sucha noble a people perform such sprouts ofviolence? Then, the well-off persons and theones responsible for “squaring” the usualcircle, will frown their brows and willhypocritically ask themselves: who hasincited the people to violence? The guiltyalways live abroad or are the ones who thinkdifferently. Never in the known history ofCuba it happened, until nowadays, thatabsolutely all persons, organizations anddisident or opponent parties inside theisland are non-violent, pacific and in favorof gradual changes. However, it’s neverenough to say that nobody has the right toplay with fire, or manipulate or postponethe explosive components of society in anirresponsible way.In times of crisis, “gaining time” at theexpense of liberties, can fill the “pot” to thebrim, make it blow; we might find catalyststhat lead us directly to undesirable socialoutbursts, to sources of irrepressibleviolence when people can endure no more.That should be prevented by all means,through non-violent methods and initiativesfor the serious and deep solution ofconflicts. The “band-aids” do not heal andthe sedatives do not cure.It is true that during the latest weeks manypersons have welcomed the lifting of someof the absurd prohibitios that used toviolate the rights of Cubans in a sytematicway. Others perceive as inaccesible theexercise of the acknowledged rights andsome become indignant when they witnessthat the simple acknowledgment of aninviolable right is now welcomed as a gift.Rights are rights and nobody could or cangrant them. Anyway, rectiying is a wisething and we are glad, but we should clearlysay that permissions do not grant freedom,rather permissions reaffirm the fact that wehave to wait for the handouts from the oneswho had become the owners of our wholelives. The laws and the institutions, theexclusive structures, are the ones that mustbe changed.It belongs to a feudal dynamics the factthat the people has to wait, (away from thedecisions and not knowing until when orhow), for a happy morning in which a new“resolution” appears or maybe a simple“giuidance” that illegally abolishes thesituation which had been formerly imposed,not established by laws freely discussed oraccepted. And the last straw is that somepress releases announce other pressreleases where dates and ways will be said,as if we were naughty children who are tobe cared of in their excursion to freedom.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201211

the feeling of power and yet defect. Theanswer is that a great part of them leavebecause every person always yearns forfreedom. And together with it, the possibilityto educate ourselves for a different way of“having”, more supportive; to “be able” in aresponsible and helpful way; to know, in anopen and pluralist way and used in our effortto get our daily bread. This kind of “having”,“being able” and “knowing” would qualify usto keep striving for greater degrees offreedom, opportunities for all, honestpersonal and family progress, without thefear of being confiscated, seized, arrested,pursued, denounced. Without this kind ofresponsible freedom we will never be happy,although we manage, miraculously, tosurpass all the economic indicators of Japanand Sweeden, Chile and Brazil, Canada or theUnited Arab Emirates.It will always be the other way around. AsAmartya Sen, Nobel prizewinner inEconomics has stated in his classic work,“Freedom and Development”: “There will beno sustainable and true development withoutfreedom for all. And such responsible libertymeans to lift all the embargos which areethically unacceptable: the ones abroad andabove all, the inside embargo to theinitiatives of citizens, persons andenterprises, which need to progress.That is why we consider that any model,norrowly brought or meticulously planned,won’t reach what the free protagonism andcreativity of Cubans can reach. For example,the Chinese model cannot be exported to awestern country like Cuba which experienced-though in a limited way- democracy andpersonal, family and business initiatives. Andthis experience, still lies in the culturalmemory and the political ideas of thecountry, in spite of everything. Moreover, theChinese case is the case of the Chinesegovernment and not the case of the wholeChinese people. How can someone thinkabout imitating one country, if we bear inmind the enormous difference in cultures? Ifwe are to imitate, why the Chinese modeland not the Brazilian or the Argentinian ones,closer to our idiosyncrasy and inside ournatural region? Why do we have to look forsomething in the thousand-year-old Iran orthe industrious Vietnam, if we can findsomething closer and more suitable in theChile that grows beside us without fuss orcensorship?To sum up, why the good things that arerecognized by the official speech and by thepress in other countries are a crime in ourcountry? Or on the contrary, why the thingsthat are legal and recognized in our countryas the best solution to protect Cuba fromevil, are flagrant crimes that violate themost essential human rights in any othercountry, culture or latitude? There must besomething wrong, or something wronglytaught and more wrongly implemented, ifwe evaluate that the whole world is wrongand only one country becomes a bastion of(what the present rulers consider) what isconsidered as the best of projects whicheven the closest allies recommend, in a lowvoice, to reform or change. The ancienthave alraedy said: “perfection is the enemyof goodness.”Well then, as simple citizens as we are, wewould like to share some simple ideas asthe following:One, do not think of Cuba as a country thatcan be “normalized” only with food andmaterial things.Two, we Cubans should not get used tocalamity and should make arise in oneanother a critical conscience of proposals.Three, we should not fall into the trap ofconfronting bread with liberty. Let us learn,once and for all that bread becomes scarceand rancid when there is no freedom, andfreedom without bread is an injustie and anillusion.Four, only the responsible freedom and awide opportunity of initiatives for all, is asource of material progress and holistichuman development.And five, no one will come to do for us whatwe Cubans need: Every country has thegovernment, the present and the future itdeserves and it builds for itself with its owneffort.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201213

We are, and we should be “the protagonistsof our own personal and natioal history”- themost important and currently in forcerecommendation from the Pope John Paul IIduring his visit to Cuba. Internationalsolidarity is a complement to thisprotagonism, open to the world. The paths,the strategies, the sceneries, the palacecaprices and the imported models can varybut what is true as a stone is that Cubans, allCubans, from here and from there, butmainly Cubans in here are the ones whomust think about the changes we need,choose the paths that correspond to ourhistory and culture; prepare the sceneriesthat favor the pacific reforms; unmask theown and others’ caprices, materialist orspiritualist; and do and consolidate the newproject of a country that will never bekidnapped by only one exclusive part of itsChildren so that the rest of the landfellowshave to pay the freedom at the bread’sexpense; much less will we be obliged tothank for the crumbs of the old bread at themost high and unpayable cost of ourpersonal, social or national freedom.We are sure it is and will be possible. We aresure that we Cubans, men and women, havegot the values, the knowledge and thegenerosity that these options require. Weare sure that the ones who have to give upwill do and will not wait for the chaos tooblige them; we are sure that the ones whowill have to receive, will do it withouthumiliating the ones who have given up,without climbing up again onto the “roof” ofthe Republic. Many countries with the mostvaried systems, left or right wing systems,have been able to do so; countries from themost dissimilar cultures and from allContinents. What makes us think that Cubacannot make it with the support of all itsChildren? Or is it that some, or some of ushave a low appreciation of our country? Ifthe others have made it, we can make it andmake it right. We believe it and that’s whatwe live and work here for. It requires effortand improvement. But above all we need tobe inclusive and optimist.Cuba will accomplish it.Pinar del Río, April 10 th 2008.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201214

INCLUSION: AN ESSENTIAL WORD IN CUBA TODAYEditorial 4. Jul-Aug-2008. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esThe fundamental word in Cuba today shouldbe: “to include”. Moreover, if there is a“shipwreck” of the structural changes inCuba and there is only one word to be saved,one only action, one only change, we shouldlift on board the “boat-nation” the attitude ofinclusion: we should raise it to the highestplace in the “floating” Island.Even more, we believe that the best“thermometer” to verify the structuralchanges in Cuba is the will to include,meaning to change the laws and decisionsand guarantee the maximum inclusion.Even more, we believe that the future ofCuba will be decided by the real capacity ofthe structures, the institutions, the laws andabove all, the mentalities, to go from a manicexclusion culture to an active inclusionculture.The true and deepest social, economic,political and cultural change means toremove from our reflexes, our models, waysto organize, perspectives of life, ordinancesand regulations, governmental organizations,civil society associations and from the call ofthe political opposition, the survival instinctexpressed by the exclusion of the differentones.We understand that one of the main causesof the mania of saying “he is not one of us”has been to live in the confrontation culture.To live in the sytematic and omnipresentneed to justify a totalitarian way of managingthe lives of the citizens and bribing the soulsof the ones who allow themselves to berecruited to serve the war culture, against alland against all who do not think or behave orobey and do not let temselves to be managedinside and out in a struggle in which no mercyis shown in the island-isolated and in the wholeworld.It’s living for protection. It’s the existencejustified by the struggle and not by the pacificand supportive living together which is grantedonly to the ones who “join the crew”. Thisexistence embraces the mind, the heart, thefinances, the press, the interpersonalrelationships, the shattered bosom of thefamilies, the bowels of the divided nation andabove all, this exclusion- culture-maniaexpresses itself in the language. So when weread something or listen to something it’seasier to answer ourselves the question:“against whom are they talking about?” than“what are they talking about?”The exclusion mania spreads all over, it sticksto the “marrow” of the structures, it sailsthrough the “sap” of the enterprises; it flowsthrough the arteries of the media inuncontrollable torrents; it penetratesimperceptibly but with the effectiveness of agoalkeeper, in work environments, in academic,scientific and religious institutions.Very often, the first topics dealt with in themeetings, projects or organizations are whowill be the ones to are to participate and whowill be excluded, and they deal with thepurposes and contents afterwards. The deepcause is the sectarianism and mistrust whichEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201215

have been introduced during decades by asupposed necessity to defend ourselvesthough very often we don’t know what weare defending against. Defence andexclusion seem to be synonims. But as amatter of fact, if we are to defend ourselves,the best way would be to include thegreatest quantity as possible of proposalsand organizations, because the true strengthof a work lies in the capacity to accept,summon and combine the diversity for acommon purpose. Then, the ones whoaccomplish a greatest degree of inclusion intheir projects will be ethically and practicallystronger.However we can distiguish and makeconscious some kinds of inclusion thatabound in our country:- To include only the ones who supportsomething or someone is inherent tothe sides, the parties, the factions orsectors of society. Then, this factioncannot say that represents or speaksor behaves on behalf of everyone.This faction should acknowledge andrespect the others.- There is a kind of inclusion of theones who support a project in general,but the included are asked to beunconditional; they are asked not todisagree and they are treated astraitors or unfaithful if they dissent.This is an attitude typical of sects orfanatical groups which demand thewhole soul and life. Such groupsbecome cysts, fossils that eventuallycause serious damage to the socialbody or its institutions.- To include everyone only forimplementing assignments and to beinstruments or parts of a work butnot counting on them for theorganization, choices and planning;not counting on them for evaluationand change of purposes, strategiesand tasks of the project or group.That is a partial and manipulativeinclusion, especially if it is said to beinclusive.The nations and groups of the civil society inthe whole world struggle for inclusion andagainst exclusion of any kind. That fight isone of the fundamental features of theprogressive socializing ideas and actions.Supposedly, a country that wishes a project ofdemocratic socialism must be the mostinclusive of possible models. Or, at least, acountry that changes in such direction morethan any other country. Then, why does theCuban government allows and stimulates in itsspeech and its actions the exclusion in oursociety?We who live in Cuba, and also the ones intoday’s interconnected world that wish toovercome the nostalgia of a project that nolonger exists and intend seriously to abandonethe blindness caused by ideologies and take anhonest look to our real and daily situation,don’t need to investigate much to realize, atleast, some of these kinds of exclusion whichwe will briefly enumerate:- Economic exclusion: In Cuba today, the Stateis the only employer, the only one that isallowed to create enterprises strictly speaking,and the only one that is able to establish andimplement the domestic and foreign trade. TheCubans citizens only have access to a mostlimited list of the so- called “freelance jobs”which are established and closed by the State,when it considers appropiate, withoutdiscussing any regulation. The great majority ofCubans are excluded from the economicinitiative, from the small, medium and bigenterprises management. We are excluded fromprivate property even in the most insignificantthings such as the impossibility of selling orbuying the houses and cars. Even more, toprogress economically in an industrious way,earning money and developing thosemicroenterprises is viewed as a crime, it ispursued in every neighborhood, it is punishedby confiscation and prison. The undergroundmarket, the black market, the lack of wholesaletrade and the total blockade to the access ofcitizens to raw materials, tools, basic meansand properties, places the whole society in themost absolute exclusion, in the humiliation ofillegality and in the total defenselessnessbefore the State which like the Sword ofDamocles hangs over the enterprising persons.Last but not least: We Cubans, men and womenare excluded from receiving the entirety of ourwages in the hard currency in which almost allthe necessary things for life are sold. Thedouble currency is one of the most aberrant,Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201216

humiliating and unfair economic exclusions.It is a real insult to the dignity of Cubans. Itoutrageously divides society and make themajority of persons who receive remittancesfrom their relatives and friends who workabroad dependent on them. The economicinclusion will be a sign that will show the realwill of the Cuban government to change.Even the very ones who hold marxist ideasthink that this is the change that will createthe basis for the other changes. How is itpossible that a country with this rootinjustice can call and consider itself socialist?The long list of economic segregation brandswith the red-hot iron of the feudal economya society that lives in the westernhemisphere , in the Caribbean Sea and in the21 st century. A society that asserts, besidesthat it has got the most perfect model, thatintends to insert itself in today’sinternational relationships and erradicate theinjustice that remains in this globalizedworld. If this were so, the Cuban citizenswould enjoy all the economic, social andcultural rights acknowledged in theCovenants that the Cuban Government hassigned this year in the United Nations. This isa structural change that Cuba needs and weshould undertake all of us together. For this:the economic exclusion must stop.Political exclusion: In Cuba today, in itspolitical Constitution, supreme law of theRepublic, exists, still in the 21 st century, anarticle that establishes with all clarity thefollowing : “The Communist Party of Cuba,Martian* and marxist-leninist, the organizedvanguard of the Cuban nation, is the higherleader force of the society and the State, andorganizes and orients the common efforttoward the highest ends of the constructionos socialism and the advance toward thecommunist society”. Besides, in this very textof the Constitution currently in force, thedoor is open to the violence of the armedstruggle, if there is not another way toassure it, as a constitutional right in order tosustain this project of political exclusion: “Allcitizens have the right to fight, through allmeans, including the armed struggle, whenother means is not possible, against anyonewho intends to overthrow the political, socialand economic order established by thisConstitution” (Article 3).This very Constitution is systematically violatedin other points that we will see further, butregarding one specific point we’ll mention, wecan say that the experience goes beyond andmore, the most meticulous implementation ofthis constitutional precept: we all know, and wecan prove this every day, that in Cuba exists theold concept and model of the “proletariandictatorship”, which excludes not only otherpolitical parties or the formation of free tradeunions or the activities of civil associations, butit excludes the access to jobs, even nonexecutivejobs to persons who express theslightest political discrepancy strictly speaking.You can disagree on adminsitrative matters,whenever you make clear that there is anegligence on the part of some local ofintermediate or even national official, only if itis a personal flaw, when somebody falls fromfavor, but you should never assert that the flawis something inherent to the project, to thesystem, to the economic or political model.Whoever insinuates it, even with most respectto the persons from the government, isexpelled from the school or workplace, sociallydiscriminated, defamed in the mass media,using a trench language, a concept of warfareand an explicit exclusive and defamatory will.Everybody knows that in Cuba you can holddifferent political ideas but they must be buriedinside the bone marrow or else, all the Statemachinery falls upon you until one purpose isfulfilled: you are marked and excluded. He whowants to know... knows it. That means, in thelanguage of ordinary Cubans: “don’t point outto yourself because it harms you”. And when aminority of persons decide to express whatthey can repress no longer inside them, there isno respect for the rights of those minoritiesand for their civic existence: they are declarednon-persons, they are excluded from all publicacts; the persons who acknowledge them are“frozen” into a political “limbo”; in practice, theyare forbidden to receive visitors, who are takingthe risk of not being received by thegovernment authorities. They are classified as“worms” ** and mercenaries at the service of aforeign country. Everyone knows that the realopponents and dissidents in Cuba are Cubans,men and women, who think differently; they arehonest and speak the way they think andbehave pacifically according to theirconsciences and not according to the orders ofa foreign boss. A mercenary does not dareEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201217

sacrifice his life, his prestige, his family, hisliberty, so generously as real patriots do. Weall know, but particularly the ones in power ,that the authentic dissidents love theirFatherland, at least, the same way that theones who denigrate them do. And we allknow that they do, say and think the waypacific opponents in the whole world do, sayand think and the same way pacificopponents in Cuba did during all the stagesof our history. How is it possible that theyare excluded in their own country, in aradical way, sometimes with verbal andpsychological violence and even physicalviolence, even before they have a singleopportunity to prove with facts and withtransparency the honesty of their lives, thevalidity of their proposals and theirincorruptible love to Cuba and to citizen andnational sovereignty? Even the very Cubangovernment knows that inside the Island andabroad, there are authentic patriots withsuch characteristics and better ones, whodissent, propose and work for the changetoward a greater democracy in Cuba. Andmany know that the best thing would be toopen spaces for their organized, lawful andpacific participation; to create the legalframework so that they can show theirhonesty, their love to Cuba and theircontribution to its progress. We all who havethought it, without clinging to economicinterests or political powers, know that Cubawould benefit. In the first place, the Cubancitizens would enjoy all the civil and politicalrights recognized in the Covenants that theCuban Government has signed this year inthe United Nations. Besides, Cuba couldimplement a full insertion with equalconditions, in the community of nationswhere its best friends and allies are. This isanother structural change that Cuba needsand we should attain it all of us together. Toachieve this: the political exclusion muststop.Social exclusion: Is a result of the twoformer exclusions and the result of the totaldefenselessness of the citizens that decideto exercise the sovereignty that is inherentto them precisely because they are citizensand not subjects. The mental and realsubordination culture must change in Cuba.The blockade to civic initiative and to theright of citizens to create non- governmentalorganizations must stop. The height of this isthat the very word “citizen” is systematicallyused in a pejorative way by the police officersto identify the Cubans, men and women, whoare excluded from the official category of“partners”. This can be considered a minordetail compared to the social appartheid weCubans are experiencing. But it’s a sign of thesocial gap which combines the worst ofcapitalism with the worst of socialism, theworst of market economy and the exclusivemonopoly of the State with the civic illiteracy,the paralysis of fear and the blockade toinformation and communication.Cuba is an Island in the media and Internetmanipulation as well as in the geographicaspect. It is necessary to board a plain or a shipin order to have access to the world life andmost incredible: in order to learn what ishappening in our own Island. It’s the selfexclusionthat we imposed to ourselves due tothe lack of information or to the Manichaeanmanipulation of every channel of the media: theouter world is all wrong; whereas within the citywalls, up to the ends of the Island, all is good.Otherwise, please try to watch one broadcast ofthe National Television News or the so-called“Round Table”, in which we receive anexplanation, attacks included, about the cablescoming through Internet and from the foreignPress from which the great majority of Cubansare excluded. This is the height of the officialopenness about exclusion: the informationappartheid. Four or five persons, almost alwaysthe same ones, have the “privilege and themission” to interpret, comment and, ifnecessary, clarify, denounce and amend thenews, images and sources of information fromwhich the rest of the eleven and a half millionCubans are excluded in fact. There is nopossible way to invent a more paternalist wayof excluding people from information or a moredisdainful consideration about the capacity ofCubans for:Gaining access by themselves to the mostplural sources of information, included the freeaccess to Internet in a way they can finance it.Choosing, with their own ethical assessment,what to read and learn and what to reject anddenounce.How is it possible the exclusion from thiselementary right of ethical discernment of aEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201218

people which is considered to be theprotagonist of a comprehensive culture? Ifwe are, then there are two questions: is itlack of confidence about the capacity tochoose and interpret the information byourselves? Or is it that precisely because weare capable of doing it well and because wehave the education and wisdom to do it, weare being kept away from the truth or part ofthe truth? Or is it both?With the access to hotels and otherforbidden goods, the apparheid for citizenshas not stopped. A few days after the liftingof those prohibitions, a “higher confidentialguideline” re-established another variant ofthe same appartheid: the Cubans who live intheir country are not allowed to pay withcredit cards, not even through the touristicagencies that grant prodedures and pricesto foreigners and Cubans who reside abroad-They have to make the reservation at thehotel desk, pay cash and only at the highestrates that can exist. These humiliatingexclusions would offend any citizen in theworld, but not the tourists who come toCuba. They turn their eyes to the “mojito” ***,the maracas and the mulattas, with the newtouristic and sexual racism which offendsand denigrates the best of the culture andthe identity of the Cuban people.If the readers wish to evaluate by themselvesthe reality sorrounding us they can comparethe letter of the following precept of thepresent socialist Constitution of the Republicof Cuba, with the every day experience ofeach of us:Article 43: “The State establishes thefollowing right conquered by the Revolutionfor the citizens, without distinction of race,color of the skin, sex, creed, national originor any other detrimental aspect to humandignity:They gain access, according to merits andcapacities, to all the State positions or jobs,in Public Administration and production orservice branches; they are promoted to allhierarchies of the Revolutionary ArmedForces and Security and Interior Departments,according to merits and capacities; they earnequal wages in equal jobs; they enjoyeducation in every educational institute inthe country, since elementary school until theuniversities, which are the same for all; theyreceive assistance in every health institution;they live in any sector, area or neighborhood inthe cities and they book in any hotel; theyreceive services in every restaurant and the restof facilities of public service; they use, withoutseparation, the sea, railway, air and motortransport; they enjoy the same seaside resorts,beaches, parks, social clubs and the rest ofculture, sports, recreation and rest centers”.We believe that in Cuba it would be better ifthis could be accomplished with equalopportunities. This is another structural changethat Cuba needs and we should negotiate all ofus together. To attain it: every social exclusionmust stop.If that reality we have tried to portrait, broadlyspeaking, coincide with the living experience ofthe readers, personally or somebody else’s,then we should not be satisfied with the uselessand fruitless complain.As long as these three exclusions don’t changein Cuba, or at least, we don’t start changingsome of them, we can say with certainty, thatno fundamental thing has changed in Cuba.For this, we must make proposals. When facingevery exclusion experience, let us learn toconjugate the verb “to include”:I include in my life the consideration andrespect to all persons regardless of sex, race,sexual preference and philosophical choice. Iinclude in my mentality, in my attitude, in mydecisions and in my human relationships aplural, diverse, multicultural understanding ofthe world, of politics, of economics, culture andreligion.You include in your life, in your relationships, inyour way to lead, to summon, to organize, tolegislate, to talk, to reflect, to define, todisagree, to work, to believe, to live together...the widest diversity, the most flexible tolerance,the most inclusive participation and the mostrespectful manners and language, by usingproposals.We include as a Nation all Cubans, men andwomen, even and especially if they thinkdifferently and hold opposite ideologies, if theyEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201219

have different political options, if theyprofess another religion or wish toexperience the same religion with diverseshades and commitments. We should includediversity, pluralism, the respectfulincorporation of minorities and the pacificliving together of the opponents in ideas,culture, religion, and political manifestos, asthe Founding Fathers of the Cuban Nationalways wished, since Varela until Martí. Wemust also include the internationalcommunity with no fundamentalisms ofideological blocks, which are a lateresurrection of the cold war or the oppresivetotalitarianisms.*Martian: It comes from Martí (José), a Cubanpatriot who lived in the 19th centuryconsidered the Apostle of Cuban Independence.**Worm: The way a person who doesn’t like thecommunist system has been called after 1959in Cuba.*** Mojito: Typical Cuban drink.You include, you, the ones in power, theones who exclude persons from knowledge,the ones who do not stimulate the being, thenations in the world that give priority tocommerce and geopolitics and not tohuman rights and the rights of peoples; you,our compatriots from the Diaspora, whoevershare the nostaligia, the dreams and thework for a free Cuba, prosperous, includedin the community of nations equally treatedand appreciated, please include the oneswho still do not have power for decisions;share the knowledge with no blockades orfake elitisms. You, nations that live indemocracy, include Cuba in the list ofnations that wish the same things you wishand work for in each of your country:freedom, the shared bread, social justice,human comprehensive development and thesupportive and pacific interdependenceamong nations. Why don’t you defend andwork in Cuba for better ideals and projectswhich you defend and promote in your owncountries?All in all, we believe that the main indicatorto evaluate the changes in Cuba is theinclusive character of the reforms. It means,the participatory and democratic character ofthe social project we wish.And if the grammar of inclusion fails, let’scarry out a new civic literacy campaign: theonly pacific way of learning to conjugate, allof us, the verb “to change”.Pinar del Río, May 20t h 2008.106 th anniversary of the Republic of Cuba.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201220

THE CONCLUSIONS OF THE EUROPEAN UNIONAND THE PROTAGONISM OF CUBANSEditorial 5. Sept-Oct-2008. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esOn the last June 24 th 2008 the EuropeanUnion Council lifted the diplomatic sanctionsimposed to the Cuban Government after itsunjust decision of imprisonning 75 personsfor thinking differently and shooting threeblack young men who tried to illegallyescape from the country, during the sadlyremembered “black spring” of 2003.This is an open-to-dialogue decision and apositive gesture that the European Union hasclearly sent to the new government in Cuba.We believe that every effort in this directionis welcomed by the Cuban people whichdoes not want confrontation at all, whichdoes not want entrenched attitudes orstuburnness that only benefits the mostconservative positions that cling to the pastand try to revert the normal and gradualadvance of history which is unstoppableregarding fundamentalist ideologies ofpersons or groups.We consider that in Cuba there have changedonly two fundamental things: one, therepresentative figure of the Government; andtwo, the exponential and accelerated growthof the expectations of the citizens.Indeed, every person is unique andunrepeatable and deserves as much respectas every one of his fellow citizens deserves,either the new rulers with their ownpersonalities or the ordinary people who arealways subjects of rights and sovereignty. InCuba, the rest of things have not change inessence. There is even evidence of verifiedand verifiable represion, harassment andviolation of the most elementary civic, politicaland economic rights. However there are at leasttwo ways of appreciating reality and this isclearly seen in an increasing way and two waysof responding before the unappealablechallenge of reality, from the spheres of thegovernment and from its political leadership.One of these ways of appreciating the Cubanreality are the mentioned Conclusions of theEuropean Union Council. To do this analysis wehave waited around two months to avoidnatural visceral assessments that could cloudus; to wait for the possible answers from theCuban Government and above all to let theessential in politics, which is not visible, have areasonable time of reception.As citizens, we wish to offer our appraisalabout the letter and the spirit of theConclusions of the European Union Councilapart from the results that can be achieved bythis new purpose of serious and responsiblepolitical dialogue:1. The Conclusions of the European UnionCouncil about Cuba on June 24 th 2008 are adiplomatic transparent and respectful actionwhich offers a high view of the present realityin Cuba and its future.2. This document reflects a plural attitudeon the part of the European countries regardingCuba, and has achieved a balance among theprinciples and ends of the Common Position of1996. The ends of supporting thedemocratization of the Country, of keeping apolitical dialogue with the Cuban Governmentand the cooperation for development providedEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201221

there is political will and changes in thatdirection remain valid today.3. The mentioned Conclusions havedemonstrated a high degree of tolerance andconfidence in the new government of Cubato offer it the opportunity of implementingthe political, economic and social reformsthat the Cuban people need. No governmentwith 50 uninterrupted years in power hasever received such a degree of considerationany place in the world. This is maybe whatamazes and disconcerts many persons whocan distinguish a democratic system fromthe contrary.4. We wish to point out the considerationsthat appear in the Conclusions which, in ouropinion, express such degree of confidencebestowed on the debutante CubanGovernment. Allow us to enumerate,separately, those four aspects in favor of thenew leadership, taking thus the EuropeanUnion, the initiative, waiting for aconstructive answer with tangible results:a. It asserts that the Cuban governmenthas started changes and it supportsthem:“The Council notes the changes undertakenso far by the Cuban Government. TheCouncil supports liberalizing changes inCuba and encourages the government tointroduce them”.b. It reiterates the sovereignty of thecitizens independent from the Stateand states that it is willing to give notonly humanitarian aid but coperationfor development:“The EU reiterates the right of the Cubancitizens to decide independently about theirfuture and remains ready to contributepositively to the future development of allsectors of Cuban society including throughdevelopment cooperation instruments”.c. It reiterates its willingness to resumea comprehensive, open,unconditional, non-discriminatorydialogue, reciprocal and resultoriented:“As stated in the Council Conclusions of 18June 2007, the EU stands ready to resume acomprehensive and open dialogue with theCuban authorities on all topics of mutualinterest. Since June 2007, preliminarydiscussions on the possibility to launch sucha dialogue have taken place at Ministerial levelbetween the EU and Cuba and bilaterally.This process of dialogue should include thewhole range of potential fields of cooperationincluding the political, human rights, economic,scientific and cultural spheres and shouldtake place on a reciprocal, unconditional,nondiscriminatory and result-oriented basis.Within the framework of this dialogue, the EUwill outline to the Cuban Government its viewson democracy, universal human rights andfundamental freedoms”.d- It lifts the diplomatic measures of theyear 2003:“The Council therefore agreed to pursue theabove mentioned comprehensive politicaldialogue with the Cuban Government. In thiscontext, the Council agreed to the lifting of thealready suspended 2003 measures as a meansto facilitate the political dialogue process andenable the full use of the instruments of the1996 Common Position”.5. In the very document of the Conclusionsappear these other six aspects which, inour opinion, express the degree ofconfidence bestowed by the EuropeanUnion to the democratic oposition andthe independent civil society in Cuba:a. It requests the government the respectfor the human rights, the liberation ofthe political prisoners and thepossibility of the prisons to be visited byinternational organizations:“The Council called upon the CubanGovernment to improve effectively the humanrights situation by, inter alia, releasingunconditionally all political prisoners, includingthose who were detained and sentenced in2003. This remains a key priority for the EU. Italso calls on the Cuban Government tofacilitate access of international humanitarianorganizations to Cuban prisons”.b. It requests the ratification, theimplementation and the undertaking of theHuman Rights Covenants:“The Council further called upon the Cubanauthorities to ratify and implement therecently signed International Covenant onCivil and Political Rights and InternationalCovenant on Economic, Social and CulturalEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201222

Rights and urged again the CubanGovernment to make real the commitmentto human rights it has demonstratedthrough the signing of these two humanrights covenants”.c. It asserts again that it will continue thedialogue with the three sectors of the Cubansociety: government, opposition and civilsociety. It mentions and differentiates for thefirst time, these three social actors:“The Council confirmed its renewedcommitment to and the relevance ofthe Common Position of 1996, andreaffirmed its determination to pursue adialogue with the Cuban authorities aswell as with representatives of civilsociety and democratic opposition, inaccordance with EU policies, in order topromote respect for human rights andreal progress towards a pluralistdemocracy”.d. It underlines that it will offer supportfor a pacific change and asks theCuban Government to grant freedomof information and expression,including the access to Internet:“The Council underlined that the EU willcontinue to offer to all sectors of societypractical support towards peaceful changein Cuba. The EU also reiterated its call onthe Cuban Government to grant freedom ofinformation and expression including accessto the Internet and invited the CubanGovernment to cooperate on this matter”.e. It asserts again that it will maintainthe contacts with the democraticopposition. It thus recognizes, oncemore, as opponets, the ones theCuban Government calls mercenariesand traitors:“The Council reaffirmed that its policy forEU contacts with the democratic oppositionremains valid. During high level visits,human rights issues should always beaddressed; when appropriate, meetings withthe democratic opposition will be part of highlevel visits”.f. It establishes a time and a content for theevaluation of this process of politicaldialogue and it underlines again paragraphtwo about the respect for human rights and theliberation of political prisoners:“On the occasion of the annual review of theCommon Position, the Council will proceed inJune 2009 to an evaluation of its relationswith Cuba including the effectiveness of thepolitical dialogue process. Following that date,the dialogue will continue if the Councildecides that it has been effective, takinginto account in particular the elementscontained in para 2 above".We consider that these Conclusions of theEuropean Union have placed in the center of thematter, in a clear and reiterated way, the twofoundations that cannot be waived and mustrule the international relationships in today’sworld: the respect for human rights and thecooperation for development. In that order andwith that priority.We appreciate these Conclusions as a lesson ofpacient international politics and maximumrespect and tolerance until trying everydiplomatic resource when dealing with systemsthat are not attached to democratic norms.Norms that are inclusive and defend the HumanRights. Norms that are internationallyrecognized, even by Cuba itself.These Conclusions are good for the communityof european nations: Once more they havegiven an opportunity to civilized dialogue. Agood opportunity for the Cuban people: Oncemore we receive the attention, theacknowledgement of our citizen sovereigntyand the solidarity for a democratic pluralistchange on this part of the internationalcommunity. And a good opportunity for theCuban government: Once more it has beenrespected, considered as a valid party for apolitical comprehensive dialogue, open,reciprocal, non-discriminatory, and for the seekof tangible results and furthermore it receivesthe opportunity to integrate itself to theinstruments of cooperation for developmentthat the European Union offers.This has been the gesture and the letter. A signof respect and confidence for the new Cubangovernment as well as for the democraticopposition and the civil society. Now we have toexpect the answers and the facts from theCuban Government and from the very EuropeanUnion when putting into practice theseEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201223

Conclusions from its Council. We think thatthis should be a patient process, to beevaluated. A frank, faithful, transparent andparticipatory process for the Cuban and forthe European governments, as well as for thedemocratic opposition and the Cuban Civilsociety that should be accuratelly informedand taken into account, and they should lookfor and win a space by themselves, adignified and significant space in thisdialogue, according to the quality of theircontributions, possibilities and abilities.We hope that the Cuban government thinkmore about an inclusive Cuba than aboutitself; resume this high level dialogue withthe political pragmatism and the diligencerequired by the present situation in ourcountry and in the world; attached more andmore to the real needs and to the inalienablerights of each Cuban without discredit allwho have earned credibilty and withoutexcluding the ones who should be included;acknowledge the independent Civil society asthe receiver of its proposals and at the sametime as a valid party to evaluate itsadministration.We hope the democratic opposition thatwishes to stay in the country, as recognizedby the European Union, think more about aninclusive Cuba than about itself; identifieswith realism and transparency what shouldbe changed, but above all, devise, arrangeand look for the more adecuate means andrythm to propose how, when, with whom andfrom where those changes will be done. Theperspective of the future should come firstthan the laments over the past. Theproposals for the present should bepragmatic and ethical, known and shared bythe greatest number of citizens. Thedemocratic opposition should recognize theCivil society as the receiver of its proposalsand at the same time as a valid party toevaluate its steps.We hope the Civil society, well differentiatedand recognized by the European Union,which wants to recognize itself as differentfrom the government and from the partidistopposition, starts its civic education, itsreconstruction from its foundations, itsorganization in a plural, multicolor, nonpartidist,inclusive, democratic nationalframework. We hope the Civil society will be adynamo of society and a demanding party forpolititians and rulers. We hope it will supporteverything good that comes out of those actorsand we hope it will share with them itsproposals for the present and above all wehope the civil society will implement that futurethrough small groups and projects; thedemocratic, creative and open future we wishfor us. We hope it will be really new; nototalitarianisms from the State or “party-cracies”of any color that Cuba has already known andsuffered. All in all, Civil society should be thenew name of democracy in Cuba.At the end of these considerations which comefrom our condition of simple Cuban citizens,we wish to stop in order to reafirm a convictionthat comes more and more urgent, necesaryand decisive:It’s the Cuban people, that is, each one ofCubans, women or men, however they think,wherever they are, the ones who have to be theprotagonists of the changes toward a pluralistdemocracy in Cuba. And when we sayprotagonism we are not speaking aboutmessianisms or leaderships or populisms. Wespeak about the real meaning of thatcontroversial and rich term which comes fromthe Latin language: “proto-agonae”, that is, “thefirst in the agony”, as was so well expressed bythe Apostle of our independence José Martí,with his word and with his life: the agony forthe nation.We are speaking about the daily participation,real and effective, simple but efficient, whichremains and never goes, which denounces forfifteen minutes of each hour but announces,proposes and works for those inclusive changesduring the other 45 minutes of each hour inCuba.The incipient diversity or duality which canbecome plurality is not in itself negative orworrying as long as the structural changes aremade at the same time creating or reformingthe indispensable institutions to channelinitiatives, debate things freely and reachagreements in favor of the common good of theNation.Liberalization always brings about diversity ofoptions and these bring about disorientation toEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201224

the ones who have had a closed and onlyhole to see reality and to live in it. When thewindow is opened each one can watchdifferent sceneries and landscapes. That isnormal. Even the eternal dialectics betweenreform and counter reform can rise to thesurface. All this is even logical after comingout from decades of an “anchor-and-belt”policy. But deep down this is anunmistakable sign that plural life alwaysemerges, even from the most monolithicstructural formats. It’s life which has got thelast word. It’s the present which does notallow itself to be locked even in the mostperfect and good of pasts. It’s the futurewhich does not stop constructing itself,unstoppable and sometimes imperceptiblefrom the vigorous and undecided “today”.There’s no point in carrying out diplomaticnegotiations, not even in the change of theforeign policy of the United States towardCuba, if the Cuban people does not get outof that disorientation and does not overcomethe dialectics of plurality to occupy its placein the Civil society, overcome the civicilliteracy and exercise sovereignty frombelow, which will make us all protagonists,co-responsible for our own Nation.Only then each Cuban, woman or man, willhave enough right and morality to demandto the international community a respectfulsupport and its solidarity, directlyproportional to the civic protagonism of thepersons, which means, directly proportionalto their daily work, sometimes silent but notless valid. Thus it will become a reality thefact that these conclusions take for grantedor essential: it’s the Cuban people the onlysovereign of its destiny.Pinar del Río, July 12 th 2008.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201225

TO FREE THE PRODUCTIVE FORCESAND THE INITIATIVE OF CUBANSEditorial 6. Nov-Dec-2008. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esCuba finds itself in a situation qualitativedifferent from the one we lived before thepassage of the two latter hurricanes. In fact,all Cubans know, though we never say, thatthey have been, at least, three hurricanes,not counting the former hurricanes.Indeed, we believe that these two meteors:Gustav and Ike, have come to fill thatquantitative and systematic accumulation offive consecutive decades which hasdevastated -it literally means to leaveisolated and with nothing- the Island of theCaribbean which once used to be thedestination of so many inmigrants and theparadise of so many appetites. Alwaysoverflowed with requests, some honest andprogressive... other times ethicallyunacceptable. Now it’s not like this. For thebetter and for the worse.It would be wrong, or at least, highlydeviating, to observe and evaluate ordiagnose the present situation in Cubastarting from an analysis of the economic,political and social reality bearing in mindonly the consequences of the two terriblenatural disasters.Not even considering that Cuba has been thevictim of a natural disaster in its widestmeaning, we could evaluate the situation ofthe nation as objectively as possible.It’s necessary to observe the statistics of thehouses and buildings that have been totallycollapsed, as well as the damages to theagriculture and the industry of the mainproductive branches such as tourism and thenickel. But also we would have to ask ourselves:Why were the houses so deteriorated? Why havenot been solved in the long run -so long as halfa century- the construction of anticyclonehouses in a country located in the Caribbeansuch as ours and with all of the resourcescentralized in the hands of a State that only hasto decide with no objections, where to usethem? Why was inefficiency battering, the sameas a five-category-hurricane, the inmensemajority of the enterprises, industries andsistematic forces of the country withoutstopping it for five decades? Who decided thepriorities that superseded these vital necessityof houses and infrastructure considered asurgent since 1952, in the far-off days of theMoncada Program?It’s necessary to bear in mind the totaldestruction of the electric system all along thenarrow Island and the inability of the existingsources of energy to cope with the demand ofthis small country. But we would also have toask ourselves: why in 50 years was not thedistribution network buried according to theeconomy and the help worth millions comingfirst from the USSR and then from Venezuela?Why were not substituted, little by little, theobsolete sources of energy until now? Whodecided the priorities of each quinquenniumwhich left behind this vital generation anddistribution of electric energy?It is necessary to listen to and bear in mind thetotal defenselessness of the m ajority of thecitizens, the Cubans, men and women, who say,Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201226

efore the TV cameras, with simplicity, witha dose of naivety and much of paternalistculture, that “they have been left withnothing”. And there they stay, expectingnobody will be “unprotected”. With one handover the other hand: waiting. But also wewould have to ask ourselves: the Cubanswho have suffered the damages of twocontinuous hurricanes, with no time torepare the damages of the first one, whydon’t they have savings to repare thedamages suffered? They haven’t been able toconstruct their houses with a minimum ofsecurity, until they were left “with nothing”.The salaries have not allowed to save anymoney in 50 years, for the personal andfamily security which is inherent andconstituent of every fair salary. Why? Or onedeeper question: Why this culture of thechick with the open mouth waiting in thetorn nest for something that will be put onhis beak? Why this defenselessnes of thecitizens? Why this anomy which expectseverything to come from above, just with thearms crossed? Why taking for granted thatnobody will be unprotected by a State whichis being considered God?It’s necessary to bear in mind the enormousand admirable mobilization of soldiers,leaders and workers from the State broughtfrom other provinces, to cover the mosturgent and relevant needs. This action hasbeen significantly called: “giving vitality” totowns and entire municipalities, manyprovinces and big institutions andorganizations on which many essentialservices depend. But now we will have to askwhy this vitality is not given, besides theArmy and the Civil defense by, above all, acivil society acting in coordination with theones who know the whole problem, but withthe initiative, autonomy and creativity thatdon’t give and can’t have, logically, the armyor the governmental structure which havetheir own centralized dynamics. We ask whythose “live forces” of the communities at thebase, the groups, the independentassociations, the organized alternatives frombelow cannot give this vitality themselves.Why do so many persons cross “one handover the other”? Where did we aquire thisanomy which is like a civic andanthropological anemia? Haven’t thesepersons been educated in our educativesystem?If we don’t try to analyze the situation andevaluate the “damages” of the three hurricanesin a multifaceted, holistic and integrated way,even the best intentions will be lost in a sea ofillogical conclusions, due to the alienationregarding the truth about Cuba. The logic, themethodology, the “normal” which is done insimilar situations in any part of the world donot work in the redoubts of the absurdity,where out of inertia or by an all-embracing will,there is an attempt to stop the evolution of lifeand history. It doesn’t matter if it is waiting fora “miracle” or waiting for “the requiredconditions”. Life and history cannot be stoppedor manipulated by twisting the normal courseof evolution, without causing irreparablecyclonic and anthropological damages;economic, political and social damages. Tomaster nature and cutivate the human spiritand consciouness is a task not only of all menand women in all times but of us who believe inGod; this task is sublimated, by an “order”given by the Creator Himself, since the Genesis.But it can’t be done against nature.Once we approach this holistic andcomprehensive evaluation of reality, it’s notnormal or ethical, to stand with the armscrossed in the useless complaint which hasbeen denounced (also the corruption and thestockpiling were denounced) in the articlecalled “Information to our people” publised inthe national press and it states (with goodreason): “Our people is showing a palpable signof the multiplying power of morality, unity, thedecision to endure and the confidence in theirleaders and above all, in itself. Such exemplaryattitude contrasts with the selfish attitude ofthe ones who just complain and demand thatothers solve their problems”. (GranmaNewspaper, 29-9-08)Responding to and sharing the confidence wehave in the inmense capacity for recovery of ourpeople, we try to give our contribution which issummarized in one proposal: to free theproductive and enterprising forces of eachCuban, man or woman, without distinction orexclusion.According to our limited perspective ofcommon Cubans we have tried to discern threeEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201227

tentative behaviors by the government andthree by the Cuban people. We nowsummarize these concepts in order to sharethem with the ones who wish to implement aserious, deep and truly “political” dialogue,that is, about the “polis”, the “civitas”, thewhole nation and not only its government orits intergovernmental relations ofinternational cooperation.May the synthesis not cloud the essence ofthe tentative behaviors we forsee:First tentative behavior:The government: Focussed on restoring thedamages, on maintainig the existing things,producing or even increasing a centralizedState production. Gainig time, day after day,waiting for a situation that allows to recyclethe crisis of the system without changinganything structural. It’s the delay, thestruggle against time or to gain time. Thesame old story, until it is possible.The sovereign citizenship, the community:Months go by, the adrenaline produced bythe disasters lowers; the diligent solidaritygives way to the routine of the work (or theunemployment); At first, we wonder, butthen we know that, like in former hurricanes,several years later, entire families will surviveliving in shelters which have been wronglycalled: “temporary facilities” and they areneither facilities nor temporary; then itcomes a down process, a psychosocialphenomenon related to depression, acollapse into the total apathy, thedependence on the State, the resistance tochange, the anti-dynamics of the “sittingdown”, and the subsequent deterioration ofthe personal, family and productive situation.Second tentative behavior:The government: A partial openning up,politically conditioned, establishingcooperation agreements that give priority tothe economic aspect over the ethics, thecommerce over the Human Rigths, thematerial aspect over the spirit of the Cubannation. The interests over dignity. It’s notonly a question of order for the treatment ofthe topics but the concept of the politicaland the ethical aspects. It’s as simple as thethousand-year-old golden rule: Don’t wishothers what you don’t wish yourself. Even withthis partial and selective openning, the systemwill not be able to avercome the cyclonic crisiswhich for 50 years have lived between survivaland totalitarianism. There is always an ally or asponsor, first from the East and now from theSouth. We have to acknowledge that regardingthe geographic aspect we have improved,though not in the essence of assistance inexchange for ideological blocs. It’s serum andoxygen to maintain the same internal blockadethat does not allow prosperity to develop anddoes not allow the development of thecapacities and opportunities of each Cubaneither. The same old story but with assistancetherapy.The sovereign citizenship, the community: Itwould be an opportunity for some persons whoare near the help or who are beneficiaries ofstrategic investments, and on the other hand,the exhaustion of the excluded ones, foreconomic as well as political or social reasons,who do not have anything to lose. It could leadto non-organized social outbursts, which are noless chaotic or dangerous.Third tentative behavior:The government: This is what we propose. Thestructural reform, the deep change: to free allthe productive forces and the economic, social,religious, cultural and political initiatives thatcan be found in the best moral reserve of theCuban people. We are sure that such capacitiesand strength exist. We are sure that Cuba is noless than any other country in the world whichhas managed to be the protagonist of its ownsovereignty from below as well as theprotagonist of a structure of partipatoryinclusion. There is no doubt about that. This isthe only sitematic and capillary solution in amedium and long run, which would respond tothe causes and not only to the consecuencesand that has inner capacity and pacific viabilityin today’s world to save Cuba and any countryfrom the cyclonic devastation of financialhurricanes of the savage market, such as themeteor of anthropologic disasters caused bypaternalist systems, centralized and exclusive.The sovereign citizenship, the community:Bearing in mind the enterprising character ofthe majority of Cubans and the openning upEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201228

that would stimulate their initiative, eachperson could choose his own project of life,managing by himself or organizing himselfwith others. It’s the equal oppotunities notonly among all the citizens to receive thethings assigned from above but between thecitizens and the State which now has themonopoly of everything. It’s the path tohuman promotion and social progress.Of course, it’s very probable that thesetentative behaviors combine. We only haveseparated them to facilitate their evaluationand look for solutions.On it’s part, the Cuban government hasdeclared that it cannot give inmediateanswer to all the consecuences derived fromthe hurricanes. These hurricanes have beenthe last straw of 50 years of an inefficienteconomic system, always depending onforeign help.Cuba is sinking into a state of effectiveungovernability. Because to rule is not torepress and practically militarize the country.Because, as Martí has said, a nation is notfounded as if ruling a camp. Cuba needs tobe founded again upon the basis of theVarela and Martí project. Governability is thedemocratic way to promote the governanceof the citizens, that is, their capacity to selfmanagement and count on the legalframework and the healthy environment ofpeace and opportunities, without exclusions.This ungovernability, de facto and nondeclared,hinders the journey of the nationwith obstacles called corruption, blackmarket, emerging mafias, not detected or yettolerated, unconscious sit-down strike,because there is no material or moralstimulation and the jobs only guarantee thedaily survival during the first days of themonth or the days closed to the pay day ofwhat is called salary. It’s also calledstructural inefficiency of the centralizedeconomic system. It’s called the closing toopen markets due to the lack of credits andthe lack of credits is because the acquireddebts are not paid. That has caused thelowing of the Confidence-Country Indicatorwhich is used by the investors of the wholeworld to risk their capitals and technologies.This state of paralysis in the essential aspects isalso called stubornness due to ideologicaldogmatism, lack of dialectics and politicalpragmatism which close the doors of Cuba toentire blocks of nations, with the possiblitity ofopenning them. Or they delay the economicnegotiations until despair for reasons strictlypolitical. Or there is a palliative policy in whichtemporary solutions appear: independent work,to palliate the internal situation, or thefliexibilization of investments to allow someoxygen from abroad. All this, until a politicalallied nation appears to palliate the situation,the doors of the former temporary little reformsare closed again, because they are not neededanymore: the security is granted by theneighbour nation. This way, there is no viableeconomy or democratic governability.It’s necessary to lift all blockades. It’s true. Theembargos coming from abroad. But at the sametime and above all, the blockade of thiscentralized and monopolist system upon itscitizens has to be lifted. To free the productiveforces and the initiative of Cubans so that theycan really work and succeed:To lift the economic blockade: imposed to theproductive strength of each citizen which isrepressed so that the laws of a regulatedmarket economy can awake and free the onlytrue source of the real and lastingreconstruction of the Country: the work.To lift the social blockade: which hinders thecapacity and the right that the citizenship hasto organize itself independently, so that thepersonal initiative can be complemented andopen to authentic spaces of participation andsolidarity, the only true and lasting way to healthe anomy, to put the protagonism of citizensat the service of the community and to learnhow to organize and rebuild the subjectivityand the most diverse group and associationrichness: a capillary and articulated network ofthe civil society.To lift the political blockade: which excludespluralism of opinions, alternative programs toseek the common good through the negotiated,pacific and agreed solution to the mainproblems of the nation. The only democraticway to attain a Cuba with a place for all of us ina healthy cohabitation: the multiparty systemand the division and effective mutual control ofEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201229

the three powers of the State: the executive,the legislative and the judicial powers. To beall of us under the law and not under theleadership of one only exclusive party whichpasses and repeals laws that are laterapproved in the unanimity of a monocolouredAssembly. That is: thereconstruction of a Democracy State.To lift the blockade of the internationalrelationships: The doors are open to somenations and closed to others due to politicalexculsive reasons. Nations that have beenhistorically very closed to Cuba, with ties ofculture, religion, idiosyncracy, ways ofgovernment and cohabitation. So that Cubaopens up to the world, really. It means thateach Cuban, woman or man, and that isCuba, can travel, go out and in his countryfreely and all citizens of the world have thedoors of Cuba open for the interchange ofopinions, cultures, commerce, experiencesand fraternity. That’s what corresponds to aninterdependent and global world in which weare living today, even when there are a fewcountries like our country where the citizensare kidnapped because they need a specialpermission from the government to be ableto travel. Besides, the whole nation is beingheld in a time and a worldcompartmentalized by ideological andpolitical frontiers which no longer exist inreality. That is: it’s necessary thereconstruction of the internationalrelationships not only among governmentsbut among all sectors of the civil society ofeach country.The hurricanes, anyway, will come back inthe years to come through the sea of theCaribbean. Cuba will not move from here.Neither the repression of laws enforcedrigidly, nor the tiering slogans of more work,discipline and demand will be able to solvethe deep problem. Everbody knows it and theones who have lived more know it better.It’s urgent to start a campaign of civic andethical education that raises the self esteemand the self management of the citizens.Only through education, the willpowerbecomes strong and the virtue is cultivated.To educate for freedom and responsibility,not to repress in order to keep the powerand survive precariously. The extremesituation the country is facing can’t endureanother experiment or more systematicexasperation, or more trench spirit, or morecall to endurance.So if we don’t implement now the options andefficient structural solutions in the medium andlong run, the patience of the citizens in Cubawill not be enough to come out of a hurricaneand go into another. Too much has been thetime and infinite the patience. Silent has beenthe suffering and the lost lives, not only for theconsequences of the meteors but for thestuburnness of wanting to go into the past.But precisely because of that, this is not thetime for complaints, or looking behind. It’snecessary a pro active and efficient policy. Apolicy of proposals. Let’s clean the skies ofCuba. Let’s channel the pushing waters thatnow, repressed, threaten the Cubans. Let’sopen the doors of citizen sovereignty and thefrontiers of the Island. It’s a new opportunityfor the fundamental and unavoidable changesto come with order and graduality, from theones who have got the power to lead andfacilitate them.Let’s free, once and for all, the live forces ofsociety. Cuba needs to change with serenity, ina climate of industrious quietness. Let’s stopthe confrontation with an external enemyalmost indispensable to maintain this warfareclimate and let’s also stop the confrontationwith the citizens who don’t think the same wayas the ones in power. If that happens, Cuba willno longer have the crash and the fright thatprevent living and working in peace. With that,Cuba will gain identity, dignity and progress,inserted in the concert of democratic nations,with quiet and serene normality.Cuba deserves it and we have the duty and theright to construct those new skies and this newland in which our children and grandchildren,at last, can grow up in peace and prosperity.Pinar del Río, November 3 rd 2008.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201230

“CONVIVENCIA”: FIRST ANNIVERSARY.ON THE THRESHOLD AFTER HALF A CENTURYEditorial 7. Jan-Feb-2009. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esIt’s the first anniversary of “Convivencia”, atthe service of the civil society, from theinterior of Cuba.We are on the threshold of our secondanniversary. The six issues have shown theprofile and style of the magazine; itslanguage and range. The way we propose itin our definition of that first editorial on the15 th February 2008: “Convivencia” is a digitalpublication of a Socio-cultural, plural,participatory nature, respectful of thedifferences and promoting a healthy diversityin which each person may find a space toshare criteria and improve life”.Cuba is on the threshold after half a century.Our service is not the useless complaint, orthe opportunistic adjustment, or the fearfulsilence. We have tried to breath with bothlungs: criticism and proposal. Both with themaximum respect. An analysis of thepublished contents allow to appreciate thisbalance yet to be improved. Thus wecontribute, gradually, step by step, to theorganization of a public space where there isroom for all of us, without exclusions, theway we outlined our service one year ago:“We want to be a transparent space for publicdebate and proposals which might lead tojoint the personal freedom with thecohabitation in a healthy, autonomous andinclusive civil society”.Cuba needs to trespass the threshold ofmonotony up to polyphony. The articles,interviews, stories, poems, art criticism fromdiverse authors and polemic approaches had aspace in this threshold because we have tried tobe faithful to our perspective: “We waht to be a“nursery” for the different cultural expressions.We are not afraid of diversity and we don’tthink diversity leads to confusion or relativism.We believe that cultural openness strengthensthe identity. We consider that the convergenceof the different ones and the pluralistcohabitation make human beings rich andmake a contribution to the growing of the soulsof peoples. Unity can be constructed throughdiversity”.Cuba needs bridges, not trenches. That is whywe have asked for and published works fromour brothers and sisters that live in othershores too: artists, writers, sociologists,economists, jurists and ordinary citizens whohave a common characteristic: their love forCuba. A love that has been increased by thedistance, put to trial by the years and“sharpened” by the experiences of otherlatitudes. These persons wish to put all theirtalents at the service of the present and thefuture of the Nation of which they are aninseparable part. Thus we are fulfilling one ofour hopes: “We aspire that “Convivencia” mightbe an open house shared by Cubans, womenand men, in the Island and in the Diaspora. Signand advance of the common home we ought torebuild and reconcile all of us together. Nomatter the dimension of the contribution. Webelieve in the power of the smallness”.Our editorials have tried to reflect the evolutionof developments, the scenarios that arediscerned, and always proposing, suggesting,Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201231

what in our opinion is better for Cuba, frominside, living together, sharing the luck ofthe Island. Cuba has been, is, and will be,our main concern and project. Cuba, startingfrom our sense of belonging and our love toits people and its culture which are ouressence. Without chauvinism or triumphalism.Without pessimism. Without condemning ordisqualifying or discouraging. Sometimes,our analyses can appear difficult, hard. Weask ourselves every time: how can we carryout different analyses if there is a reality thatgoes beyond complexity and rigor? How tocarry out them without sweeten or disguisingthat reality? How can we be faithful, withouthypocrisy, to the reality we live in and at thesame time keep our sight high, the moodstrong, the proposal diligent and the hopeunbeatable?There is no hope without a project. Wecannot demand for hope if we don’t have theopportunity to occupy the mind and the lifein a definite project. The dimension of theproject does not matter but its authenticity.This is our personal and team experience: welive on giving ourselves to a project at theservice of the others. The secret of hopecannot be to be holed up in ourselves. Thehope is to go out of ourselves and live forthe others. Our projects should be, forothers, a reason to keep waiting.Let’s look around us. Why the inmensemajority of Cubans live escaping? Why is the“safe-yourself” priciple the philosophy of thedaily life? Why do the ones who don’t usetheir minds, their hearts and their efforts in adefinite project end up in the exile or in the“insile” that they construct for themselves intheir narrowest caparison? Why does sadnesscomes back and despair and existentialtiredness clinch on the soul outside theisland or inside that fake shell, holed up initself?Indeed, the tendency of the human person’snature is to trascend. That is, to cross thethreshold. To get out and about. The naturalhabitat of the human subjectivity is openness,opportunity and project. It’s not only hisecology, it’s above all, his vocation and hisdestiny. That is why every closed society issad. If you want to evaluate this, asobjectively as possible, ask for the joy, forthe happiness of the citizens and you will getthe exact dimension of the spaces andopportunities.To live together is to project together, to sharedreams and opportunities. To live together is tobe awake to initiative. It’s to create, the onlyway to dream without alienation. To livetogether is to go out of ourselves and trespassthe threshold of sorrow. To live for the others isthe new name of hope. To share it andencourage the others in projects and spaces forthe human and social improvement are the lastnames.That is why the name of our project is“Convivencia”. Name and program. Wish andaspiration. Workshop and training. From thesmall experiences to the fabric of the civilsociety. If we don’t believe in the power of thesmallness there is no possible hope. Even lessin totalitarian ways of life which survive thanksto the obstruction of the projects and dreamsof the others. The tiredness and sadness aretheir most heartfelt results. Nothing can doagainst these results entire brigades of artistsand jesters, even the best intentioned ones.We can’t block the sun out with one fingerthough it might be a relief. We can’t alleviate alife without a project and without progress witha few hours of amusement. Even when thisdivertimento is reflected in the eyes of thelandless, the homeless, the project-less, theones with no opportunity to progress. Naivetyor opportunism should not blind us. What wesee in the eyes and in the smile is not always inthe heart and the existential sorrow cannot behidden by the suitable amusement.The solution to despair is the openness toopportunities. To open opportunities for all isthe only way to hope and supportive sense ofcohabitation. It’s not about designing eachopportunity from above. Or to plan each dream.Or distributing the increasing poverty. Or thedecreasing leveling of the controlledcohabitation. Half a century is enough andmore, to check the result of this only andexclusive project led from above and fromabroad. We have experienced the unique fromabove, before and later. And the diverse fromabroad: the United States, the former SovietUnion, Venezuela, China and later, theEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201232

European Union, before and later, and nowthe Russia of later.In half a century, all the experiments havebeen tried from above and from outsideourselves and outside our country. All ofthem inside the same logic of centralizationand exclusion of the diverse. All of themfrom the planning of the entire life.Everything of all of us by one part. Here isthe essence of what has happened duringthese five decades.The day is coming when the total will bechanged by all and each one of the parts.What a pity that we get exausted askingwhen! That is the trap to tire our hope.Everybody knows that the day is coming.There is no night without a day. Then, thefood of hope is asking what is coming morethan when will it come. But with thisquestion we continue dealing with the logicof the past in which we expect somebodybrings what will come.fear of diversity. That strengthens our identity.“Convivencia” magazine, in its first anniversary,continues trying to look at Cuba inside, topropose some of those thresholds, to wakecitizens up from sadness, to be a witness of thefact that hope is possible if we live together in asmall project for the others. We want tocontinue being one of the threads to weave, allof us, a new civil society in Cuba.Pinar del Río, from the interior of Cuba.December 10 th 2008.“Convivencia” invites you to cross thethreshold of the civic adolescence. To crossthe threshold of the citizenship illiteracy, ofthe renouncing to our inner freedom, inorder to invent spaces and the personalrecovering from the social anomy into whichthe anthropological damage has plunged usduring this half a century of paternalism anddependence culture.The morning is coming when nobodyconsiders himself a representative and doerof everything. And each part, each person,each citizen will be able to cohabitate inpeace, build one part of the project in aninclusive and participatory house-Cuba.Projects of pacific and democraticcohabitation will come and will be discussed,designed and constructed, block by block,from below and from inside a Nation openeditsel up to all Cubans, women or men. Aproject that does not plan everything orcontrol everything, or lead the dreams, orhinder the equality of opportunities. Aproject that may create the legal frameworkto be able to open spaces, thresholds, forthe citizenship and for the civil society. Forthe plural and respectful exchange with allcultures and nations of the world. WithoutEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201233

THERE IS NO FATHERLAND WITHOUTTHE SOVEREIGNTY OF EVERY CITIZENEditorial 8. Mar-Apr-2009. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esTo become a citizen (man or woman) is anachievement of the conscience and the will.It is a right and a duty. It’s the foundation ofcohabitation and politics of our time.In times of slavery there were owners andslaves. During feudalism there were lordsand servants from the glebe. During absolutemonarquies, there were kings and subjects.When the world left behind theserelationships of subordination andexploitation among persons, the Republicsemerged. Republic comes from “res-pública”,that is, people’s thing, in which all personsare equal before the law. The “cívitas”emerged, that is, the city of all citizens,equal before the law. And the relationshipsof subordination of some to others becameout of the good and the law.The nations have been organized since then,according to a social contract in which thecitizens choose other citizens for a certaintime and for a specific purpose: to serve thenation and administrate its progress and alsoto guarantee an ethical and legal frameworkwhich guarantee all rights of all persons sothat they can carry out all their duties.In this kind of social organization there areno kings or lords, or leaders or messiahs.There are no subjects or vassals. The State isnot afraid of its citizens and the citizens arenot afraid of their own State which has beenchosen to take care of them, not to pursuethem, or harrass them or to hinder theirfreedom or exploit their lives. The State isnot the absolute sovereign over its national“subjects”. Each citizen is the sovereign whochooses, controls, evaluates and revokes theState ones who are at the service of persons.If we accept this development of the socialcohabitation through the centuries, we couldask ourselves: is this the case of Cuba? Whatkind of social pattern are we living in?Cuba, its way of life, seems more like ahereditary feudal society than a modern State. Itis true that no country has been able to giveitself a perfect social pattern or anything likethat, but as Winston Churchill once said:“democracy is the worst of governments, withthe exception of all the others”.More than the 70 percent of the Cuban citizenshave been born under the same governmentwhich maintains itself for more than half acentury. And many more Cubans who wereborn after the elections of 1948, (the lastdemocratic elections in Cuba), have never beenable to live that real experience during the last61 years.Due to this simple and tragic reason, Cuba, thatis, each Cuban, man or woman, needs to knowwhat sovereignty of every citizen is. They needto become aware of what it means in each ofour daily lives; to make the decision to exercisethe part that corresponds to us and make acontribution so that the others can know,appreciate and get involved with their ownpersonal sovereignty and the sovereignty ofevery citizen.The personal sovereignty is reached when eachman and woman is able to choose his set ofEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201234

values; when he is able to freely educate hisconscience; when he is able to consciouslyimplement his fundamental option; if he canbe consistent with his life project andmanages this way, to take and to be incontrol of his existence. In other words, thepersonal sovereignty is to choose thedetermining values in our lives; to turn theminto virtues, which means to live a value in ahard and some times heroic way, andpenetrate, with the force of those virtues, allof our attitudes.It was the priest Félix Varela, father of ournationality and our culture, the one who firsttaught us to establish this root relationshipbetween the personal sovereignty and thesociety we were born and we live in: “There isno Fatherland without virtue, or virtue withmercilessness”.If we paraphrase this Cuban man, who wasthe first that taught us to think as Cubans,we could say: “There is no Fatherlandwithout sovereignty of all citizens. There isno sovereignty for all citizens withoutpersonal virtue”.This is perhaps one of the reasons why wecould give an explanation (with pain andsadness), to the following situations:- many Cubans, men and women, leavetheir Fatherland, not only for politicaland economical motivations whichare the same cause in Cuba today,but because they feel in their ownflesh the lack of spaces andopportunities to exercise theirsovereignty as citizens and to be ableto be and be involved with their ownproject of personal life. About theones who leave: do they abandonetheir Fatherland or is it that theFatherland, land of opportunities andsoil to cultivate the sovereignty, hasbeen kidnapped and obliged toabandone its Children in the privationand social anomy?- such a closed system, soauthoritarian and paternalist hasbeen supported, endured, defendedor rejected because it suffers from asubject complex with a childishdevelopment of civics, and it’s beenalready a period of 50 years. Theanthropological damage caused by thattotalitarian paternalism has castratedthe “vir”, the force of the soul of manyCubans. This is the cause of the nationallethargy that all of us experience someway or another. Such “intimidation” hasnothing to do with prudence and muchless with common sense. That is whatthe parents of this lack of “vires” try tomake us believe. Without personal virtuethere is no sovereignty of citizens. Is itcivic childhood or ethical adolescence?Is there an excess of dependence or lackof morality?- a preference for the foreign things inthe conscience of Cubans has arisen,almost imperceptibly. They are dazzledby the foreign element, they areappallingly attracted to a kind ofconsumerism by default. Is it only theattraction for the foreign thing or isthere a deep desire to live in a land ofsovereignty and freedom that comes tothe surface? What would happen if thatland were the Fatherland?This could be, above all, one of the reasons whyCubans, men and women, from all geographicand ideological shores have not had thenecessary personal virtue to renounce their ownprojects, even when they are legitimate andpure, in order to serve the common good of theFatherland. The leadership, the exclusiveprominence, the sectarianism, could find theirroot cause in the lack of this “inner ethicalforce” that is needed, not only to denouncewhat we consider bad, but to renounce what weconsider good in the interest of a greatest andmore inclusive good. More personal virtue isneeded, and more sovereignty of the citizens,in order to put aside or postpone for a while orforever what we have rocked as “good andours” to give way to a common work anddedicate ourselves to it. A common work whichwe consider “good” so far but we consider it tobe “of others”, because my personal sovereigntyhas a limit in the contruction of the sovereigntyof the others. A limit imposed by the others’parcel of freedom, and what is more virtuous: alimit bestowed, offered by the generosity ofgiving, in order to build the Fatherland wherethere is room for everyone. How is theEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201235

Fatherland going to belong to everyone ifeach one of us don’t give one parcel of our“land” to live together with the other persons,putting up with them or tolerating them, andabove all, working in a national project inwhich the Fatherland may belong to all of usand all of us may enjoy all the rights? How toask this from the others if we don’t startfrom our small Fatherland? How to believethat we are going to arrive all together if wedon’t manage to start all of us together?Cuba needs an era of sovereignty forevery citizen. Sovereignty for everyone tohandle his own life and make acontribution to the improvement of thelife of others and the life of hiscommunity with solidarity.Sovereignty and solidarity. Freeedom andresponsibility. To demmand and to offer.Give-and take, starting from an ethics ofminima, which means to believe that wecan give space without grantingprinciples. Which means to believe thatwe can renounce something good inorder to get something better. Whichmeans to believe that the essential weare looking for is not inseparable fromthe circumstantial of the ways andmethods we are using to find it. Theethics of minima is not the minimum ofethics to reach the maximum of decisionpower, of planning, of implementation,evaluation and exclusion of the differentones.The ethics of the minima is to have thevirtue and the sovereignty and thepersonal and group security, alternativeor official, in order to recognize that if allof us say that we love Cuba; if all of ussay that we want a Fatherland foreveryone; if we all want human rights forall of us; if we all want a holistic humandevelopment for all of us; if all of us wantsovereignty for Cuba, then it seems thatit’s not enough for us to say what wewant, because we have been doing thatfor 50 years. Maybe it is necessary tomake coincide what we want with whatwe do more consistently and watch theway we do it.How can we expect self confidence if wedon’t have a minimum of confidence in theothers?Why do we have to wait for Cuba to changeto be inclusive if we exclude now even theones who want to reach the same aim, butwith different methods?How to say that Cuba is the Fatherland of allof us if we discredit the ones who don’tthink the way we do and we brand them asenemies of the Fatherland?How do we want the others not to condemnus if we go through life condemning thethought and the acts of the different oneseven when they are moderate?How to structure a dialogue with the othersin the big things if we don’t manage todialogue and negotiate the small aspectswith our closest ones?We trust all Cubans, men and women,specially the ones who are leading, fromone side or the other, these historicalmoments the nation is living. However, wecall upon them to cultivate a minimum moreof trust, and offer it to Cuba.We believe that deep inside all Cubans fromevery shore, there is the desire of inclusionand dialogue, but there are many woundsand it is necessary to heal and stand upover the historical memory which onlymakes sense if it is a pedestal to overcomeprejudice, revenge, almost always hiddenbehind the curtain of mistrust. However wemust take the first step toward inclusionand dialogue, not of all with us, but of allwith all.The sovereignty of every citizen and spacesfor us to meet in equal conditions. As theFatherland “is not the grass stepped by oursoles”, there is no Fatherland withoutsovereign daughters and sons. And therewill be no Fatherland without anatmosphere of trust, inclusion and commontasks. That’s what Varela and Luz, Céspedesand Agramonte, Maceo and Martí did. Ifthey had not given in, agreed; if they hadnot learned to be sovereign and inclusive; ifthey had not tolerated and forgiven...Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201236

Let us place virtue above mean interests.Magnanimity above human miseries.Let’s place Cuba above our heads so thatour ideas don’t exclude us. Let’s placeCuba also above our hearts so that ourfeelings and resentments don’t separateus. And let’s place Cuba above our willfulprojections so that we can learn to buildthe national space where there may beroom for all the good and diverseprojects of our serene and magnanimouswills.Cuba deserves it and so do we, itssovereign children, here and there, onesand the others can offer that to Cuba.Pinar del Río, January 28 th 2009.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201237

CULTURE AND POLITICS IN CUBAEditorial 9. May-Jun-2009. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esThe first four months of 2009 have passedwith an unstoppable marathon of culturalevents and political visits. It looks as thoughCuba is openning itself up to the world ofpresidents and artists from a real mix ofdifferent cultures, nationalities, politicalcolors and economical interests. All of themtrying to come, to arrive, to be, not only nowbut thinking about the mid and long termfuture. This process is good in itself: theopenning up, the exchange, the cooperationand the search for development and not onlyof the potential markets. This makes thepeoples grow.Some don’t see any relationship between thevisit paid by a president or a minister andevents such as the Film Festival or theHavana Biennal or a Theater Festival. Theydescribe the visits as “political events” andthe other developments as “cultural events”.Some even don’t wish to link the “political”thing with the “cultural” thing. Others cannotprevent themselves from manipulating bothor from capitalizing both in an aberrant way.We believe, however, that something ishappening in Cuba before our eyes. But weseem to be accustomed to closing our eyesso we can’t see reality or so we can’t befrightened or so we can’t be committed toreality. That’s why, observing what hashappened during this dizzy first four-monthperiod of the year we wish to try to approachone of the many and possible articulationsand holistic perspectives of this reality. Sinceit’s only one of the diverse interpretations,we present it hoping that it may give rise to adebate beyond the events and the apparentoccurrences.To promote culture is the most spiritual way ofpromoting politics. Both ways lead us to thecommon good of society.There are countries where the concepts and thereality are divorced. There is a falsecontradiction between the political thing, thecultural thing and the social thing. Wheneverthere is searing anger between culture andpolitics; whenever there is sectarian exclusionand mutual mistrust, instead of a public debate,free and responsible, there is something wrongin that country. We can’t say that it is a“normal” country.To manipulate the cultural expresions in favorof a sole ideology, whatever its sign or colormay be, without opening up to the loyal andrespectful dialogue with the other ideologies, isone of the most subtle ways of oppressing. Butto erase, to throw out, to condemn, to ignore orsupress cultural expressions as well as todiscredit them and call them anti-culturalsimply because they do not coincide with ourpoint of view, or even worse, because they donot coincide with an aberration that has beencalled: official cultural policy, then somethingvery regrettable is happening. Some have calledit cultural genocide if we are talking about asistematic, structural and massive behavior witha mass-scale and depersonalzing effect.The global conscience has not made theconcept of cultural genocide very conscious: formay persons there is alarm and commitmentEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201238

only if there is physical genocide... or maybethe conscience will grow if the genocide hasan ecological root. The physical bloodymutilations mobilize the people; the culturalamputations are not even dealt with asgenocide. Both manifestations areabominable because they make an attempton the human person and his integrity. But itlooks as thogh materialism based on biology,outdated but in force, gives more importanceto the truncated parts of the body than tothe amputations and lynching of the soul,the spirit of nations. It might seem that it isconsidered more terrible to use a prosthesisto substitute the mutilation of one memberof our body than being without freedom andoxygen needed for the subjetivity of theperson and the community.What reductionist concept of cultureunderlies in this overcome dichotomy aboutthe inseparable unity of all the dimensions ofthe human person? Why is the physicalagression denounced more frequently andwith more belligerency in the internationalarena? Invasions, assaults and violenceinflicted on the spirit of each human beingand on the plural and multicolored souls ofentire nations are avoided. Why?Today’s world walks hemiplegic, limping onits right or left foot. A qualifying disease asfalse and hypocrit as the pseudo-culturesimposed by politicians according to which, ifwe are going to criticize, standing on oneside, we have to get vaccinated on the otherside.Ready then, to state our opinion about therelationship between culture, politics andsociety in Cuba, we first submit ourselves tothis mania for inmunization against theextremes. Thus, we can condemn thecultural genocides against the indigenouscommunities of yesterday and today. We cancriticize consumer banalities which overflowthe West and the East. We can even defendnations with entire histories and souls which,in the middle of the 21 st century still don’thave access to political sovereignty or togeographic settlements. We should regretthe inter-ethnic genocides, or the violentmanipulation of religions and genocidesagainst them or sectarianisms.About these topics and about the topics on aglobalization with double strabismus, andabout the world capitalist crisis, the globalwarming, the nuclear proliferation and theimpossibility of some vulnerable sectors ofsociety to express themselves the way theywish, in the United States, in France or in GreatBritain, we can criticize and express ourselvesfreely in Cuba.But beware, when the same thing is intended tobe done about Cuba, by persons or foreigngroups, friends of Cuba, which even considerthemselves to have a left-wing ideologicalinpiration or political bias, then they are said tobe promoting “anti-culture”, they are said to becapitalized; there is a politization and thesepersons are considered mercenaries ormanipulated, or naive, but they are neverconsidered as legitimate expresions of ourunquestionable cultural diversity.The honesty of the ones who come to Cuba toexpress what bothers them and is dangerous intheir countries, is not enough to put themselvesin the place of Cubans, women and men, whohave chosen to live and stay in their countryand don’t agree with something, even when it isa light disagreement, with the official totum.This is what makes us think that hypocrisy hasglobalized itself and has landed in Cuba. Webelieve that the double standards haveglobalized themselves and make LatinAmericans and Europeans to consider normal inCuba what they would consider anunacceptable tragedy in their own countries. Weare not speaking only about artists, NobelPrizes, writers of worldwide stature, but alsopoliticians, religious persons and academicians.These “cultural expressions” are not the oneswe are referring to when we say that the mostauthentic way of promoting culture is to openthe door of the structures, the windows of thesoul and the spaces of the human spirit so thatit can express itself the way it is, with freedom,responsability and inclusive respect.The diplomacy of mercantile interests above theuniversally recognized human rights leads to aclear lack of ethics.On the other hand it is regrettable to asurethat: “We have our final objectives clear”although “in order to achieve them Europe hasto fall within the Cuban strategy...” We believeEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201239

that bearing in mind the strategies of Cubadoes not necessarily mean to “fall withingthem”. Is it ethical to fall within strategiesthat systematically and totally exlude everyperson who thinks different? It’s not these“policies” we are referring to when we saythat to promote the culture and thedevelopment of one nation is the mostauthentic way of promoting Politics, like that,with capital letter and with ethics.Bearing in mind the historical and culturaldifferencies and the differences in theprocesses, how would this same thing soundif it is said in the negotiations with The SouthAfrica of the apartheid, or in the Chile ofPinochet, or in the Argentina of the militaryjunta, with the left or right wingdictatorships or the Sudan of Darfur, theunbelievable Zimbabwe, the Germanxenophobics, the kidnappers of the FARC,the Talibans who prepare schools for womenthat will turn into bombs, or the usualmembers of ETA? We absolutely agree withthe dialogue, but according to this Europeanlogic, in order to achieve a dialogue “would itbe necessary to fall within the samestrategies”? According to this logic, is itnecessary to give in exchange for nothing, ina dialogue with a wall because already inother occasions they pretended they wereholding talks with other Chinese or Africanwalls? This logic demonstrates the doublestandard used to evaluate the violations tothe physical integrity and another one toevaluate the violations to the cultural andspiritual integrity of nations.It is not isolation which strengthens anddevelops the culture of peoples; that’s whywe see with hope the lifting of all therestrictions ethically unacceptable, imposedfrom abroad. But it would be morallyunacceptable not to demand, not to express,in any space of public debate the wish toalso stop the blockade, the isolation and thediscredit of the Cubans who don’t coincidewith the culture promoted by the centers ofpower.A blockade to the culture from abroad is notaccepted but the blockade to the differenceculture from inside is accepted. This is sucha visible incongruity that it would benecessary, at least, the unprejudicedconsideration by friends and adversaries. Onthe contrary, it is admitted; it is disguised. It isnot elegant, it is not “culturally or politicallyappropriate”, to mention this internal culturalblockade due to the fact that the Cubangovernment has entrenched itself in theexternal confrontation against the United Statesand the States have responded with the samelogic.Very often, in order to fight Goliath, the stonesthrowed by David at his own brothers aredisguised. Or the powerful of this worldmanipulate the sling of the small David todemonstrate that he is different from Goliath,but at the expense of the rest of David’s people.But we should not continue with this logic ofconfrontation: Don’t we see all the time David’sfriends amicably visiting, negotiating withGoliath whereas they come to Cuba and forgetthe part of himself that David hides, ignores,imprisons and discredits?To open up to diversity, to use the grammar ofan “us” which does not exclude or rate “them”anti-cultural because they are different, is theway to the true Culture and the authenticPolitics. Like that, with capital letters, so thatthere is space for the widest concepts and themost diverse and plural realities.If Culture means the cultivation of the spirit ofpersons and peoples there should’t be policiesthat don’t cultivate the spirit of some personsand some peoples; policies that put out theirlight; close their windows; cut off their oxygen.How is it possible that we accept and expressthe concept that there might be “persons aliento culture”?That concept is incongruent in itsef. Does the“culture” indentify itself with the officialinstitutions, the payrolls that certify who isgoing to work in the “culture sector” or with aprivate culture to which some “belong” andothers don’t? Exclusive culture is not realculture because something of the human spirit,which is its universal character is being, at least,unknown, and at most, mutilated.If Culture is the search for the highest degreeof human cohabitation there can’t be culturalinitiatives that exclude persons or groups fromthis human cohabitation because they don’tthink identical from the centers of power suchEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201240

as world hegemonies as well as hegemoniesinside the house which is Cuba. If Politics isthe search for the common good of the polis,of the human community, how is it possiblethat persons or cultural institutions becomeprosecutors or inquisitors of the commongood and even more, become defenders ofpublic and underground “auto-da-fé” of thevery concepts and of the spaces andexpressions of what they believe, exclusively,culture, politics and society are?The best thing for Cuba would be not toconfuse the terms policies and Politicsanymore; not to mistake the culturalinstitutions for Culture. The policies can beexclusive and the institutions can determinewhat persons are alien to culture. It is atleast something naive to turn culture andpolitics into watertight compartments.Another thing also harmful is to turn bothinto a shapeless “soup”, tasteless andrationed which can mistake the nationalspicy potatoe dish for a uniformed anddiluted broth. To confuse as well as theintention of isolating culture and politics forwhatever the reasons, mean to jeopardizethe identity of Cuba and the only future thatcan give health and expression to the soul ofthe nation.and open to all of the Cuban Children, insidethe Island and in the whole Diaspora, by itsinclusive character.Culture and politics, both and each one of themaccording to their methods and styles shouldpave the way to Cuba to open itself up, tochange, to grow in humanity and in the widestand possible democracy. And both, culture andpolitics should be the instruments for usCubans to heal, rectify, rebuild and develop thenational soul amidst the concert of nations,when the moment comes and new difficultiesemerge, new manipulations, new corruptionsand new challenges. We know that nothing willbe perfect. There are no paradises of culture orpolitics, but both will offer us the tools for thecultivation of the soul and body of the Nation.Pinar del Río, May 2 nd 2009.Culture is the best and most inclusive thingof the Cuban nation and it includes us all orelse it is not Cuban culture. Exclusive cultureis not culture. To mistake culture for onesole ideology is to condemn the soul of thenation to monotony and spiritualimpoverishment.Politics is the art of cohabitation and theconstruction of one community for thepersonal and social development. Politicsmust include us all or else it is not true. Tomistake politics for one sole historicalprocess is to turn the national cohabitationinto a “battle” among brothers or into acostume festival.Culture and politics are not ends inthemselves but means, and they should be atthe service of the person of each Cuban,woman or man and at the service of thefostering of a freer national cohabitation,more responsible, democratic and creative,open to the world by its universal characerEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201241

POWER IS FOR SERVINGEditorial 10. Jul-Aug-2009. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esThe world is not a chaos. Nor do we live inanarquy as a system. The world is not all bad.Neither is Cuba a normal country. Shades iswhat is missing, more and more.Manichaeism cuts the world in half. Notequal halfs, not proportional, not interwoven,but the partition is totally unsymmetrical: wethe good ones, and just in case, with someothers; and the rest of the world is acomplete disaster.However, to escape has become the mostrapid, used and wished “solution”, for theinmense majority of Cubans, women andmen, when they become aware of the realitywe are living in and the deceiving perspectivewhich says: “here everything is better”. Thetragedy is the following: in view of the firstdifficulty, in view of the violation of anyrights of the citizens, in view of the endlesscrisis, the “national solution” comes down toleaving or enduring without a complaint.Is it that Cubans do not love their countryanymore? Or is it that what they don’t love isthe way they live and the way this country isorganized?If the responsibility fell only on the shouldersof the citizens who choose to leave theircountry, this would have happened en massebefore 1959 too.This is why we wish to meditate on theexercise of power and the way toadministrate the country, because weconsider this might be the root cause ofeverything that Cuba and its exile areexperiencing.There are, at least, five forces which drive theworld: being, knowing, believing, wish andpower. All of them are necessary, all of themcan make a contribution to the welfare andhappiness of persons, families and thehumankind. For us, however, the order isimportant. And the way these forces are usedseems to us even more decisive. The way somepersons use these powers show theirconception of the world. The order theyprioritize these forces show the level ofcivilization; the respect to human rights; itshows the qualitative development of personsand society.In our conception of the world, and therefore,in our perspective about Cuba and its future,first thing is to be persons. Without thiscondition, the rest of vital forces collapse forlack of support or they are used against thevery human being. To develop the being meansto put an ethics as the axle, base and compassof all the rest of vital forces.Knowing, without personal ethics, is a sciencewithout a conscience. A sicence whichmanipulates the very life. Believing, withoutbeing first a human being, is fanaticism. Towish to do something, that is, to have willpowerwithout personal ethics is pure obstinacy.Power without personal ethics is heartlessauthoritarianism.According to this logic, the power without theprimacy of the ethical being; the personalEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201242

“ethos” and a community ethics freelyassumed and agreed, is subjection of someby others.Every power means to entrust something tosomebody. It’s the sum of all the quotas ofpersonal sovereignty that we willingly give toone or some reponsible persons. Therefore,every power is meant to serve the ones whohave passed it for a while, with a certainpurpose and under the effective controlexerted by the ones who have passed power.If power is not put at the service of citizensin an effective and obvious way; if powercannot be avaluated by everybody, itbecomes itself illegitimate. It loses its raisond’etre. It loses it’s reason.That is why it seems so illogical to us thefact that one people lives in fear of its rulers.The fact that some children fear their parents.The fact that some parishioners fear theirpastors; that some countries fear biggercountries. If power inspires fear then it’s notlegitimate power. If the ones involved insome kind of responsibility have to usethreats, coercion, repression, imposition...such responsibility loses its legitimity and itsauthority. Fear engenders submission ordeceitfulness and these are not resultsproduced by power exerted as a service.Nobody fears to be served or to shareresponsibilities with others when there is aclimate of trust and respect for the humanrights and the aspirations of the ones whoexpect an attitude of service and not ofimposition coming from the onesresponsible. He who serves does not imposeor demands servility.There is a substantial difference betweenholding power and having moral authority. Itshows. People are the best measurement andstandard to distinguish one thing from theother. People run away from the one whoholds power in order to subjugate them. Butthey come closer to the moral leadershipwhich accompanies and supports them intheir personal progress. People pretendbefore the authoritarian power; whereas theycooperate or criticize the ones who win amoral authority. People reject the powerfulselfish though it can’t be expressed openly.But they admire and follow the leaders withmoral authority, though it might not beexpressed either because they are afraid andbecause they pretend before the powerful ones.It is easy to know if one people has leaders withmoral authority. And it’s even easier to know ifone people is submitted to an authoritarianpower. Ask if the people are afraid, what theyare afraid of and whom they beware and youwill know if power is exerted to submit or toserve the citizens. It’s hard to believe that theinternational mechanisms need so manyperiodic evaluations in carpeted halls. It wouldbe enough to ask the people why they bewareand whom they beware.The very power knows it, better than anyone.The bigger and more powerful the Staterepressive bodies are, the clearer the Statequalifies itself. The more instruments andresources a Government needs to repress itsown people the clearer the exercise of its powercan be evaluated. The more prisons, detentioncenters, houses for questionig, security agents,tapped telephones and informers in each block,the clearer the kind of power exerted over thepopulation is. The moral authority is inverselyproportionate to repression.There is no moral leadership if there is noproject coming out of the real needs of thepeople. Or at least, if the projects from thecitizens are not accepted or consulted, therewill be no moral authority if there is no projectfor the future to be offered to the people. Thepower which only asks for sacrifice is abuse ofpower. The power which offers only death asan alternative to the Fatherland or to anideology, or to a saving imposed from abovewithout a notice and drastically damaging thequality of the daily and family life of citizens isnot ethical or legitimate though it is legal.When this happens, then the time has come forpower to go back to the people which is thesovereign one.Being a person is above every power and legalautority. What gives moral authority to power isthe respect for the life of every person. Whatgives legitimity to power is the real welfare, notthe welfare on television. Only the access toopportunities for present personal andcommunity progress, (not eternally postponed),backs up every power ethically.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201243

An authentic exercise of power as a service isbased on reason, dialogue, public debate,free access to the media; to convince, not todefeat and devastate the adversary; it’sbased upon giving and tolerating, consultingand listening in order to act consistently, notto put the people’s expectations on ice- or tolet the people to relieve tension- in a game ofmass psychology which works as a safetyvalve to control better the national “pressurecooker”.Then every citizen ought to have thesesimple tools for his civic literacy, for hisempowerment as a citizen. Tools that allowhim to educate his conscience in order todiscern, evaluate and have his own criteriaabout the ones who exert any kind of powereither inside the family or in a socialorganization or in a church or in a territoryor in the whole country. The sameinstruments for ethical discernment canserve to learn how to assess the exercise ofevery power in the international community.Fear cannot be hidden behind political masks,as Father Varela used to say. The very factthat people have to use masks is anunequivocal indication of the climate we areliving in.As for the Cuban people, we are certain andconfident that our nation has ethical rootsfirmly rooted to the humus of the history ofthe Fatherland and it shows wherever thereis a settlement of Cubans in the increasingnational diaspora. We also count on thesufficient moral reserve in the most simplepeople, less corrupt, more transparent, withless real power but with more moralauthority.Who identifies those interests of the nation?How can those expectations be expressedwithout the fear to be crushed in our owncountry? Where can we discuss the solutions inequal conditions with the ones who thinkdifferently? When are the decisions for changegoing to start? They are the only way to lift thehope of the people who are overwhelmed anddesperate. When and how will the ones with thesame interests be able to organize themselvesto serve each other in the search for thecommon good? What kind of service should theones who exert some kind of power orresponsibility render in order to provide a realand efficient climate for trust and coexistenceamong all Cubans and the legal structures thatguarantee this?Cuba, its present and its future, depend, to agreat extent, on the answers that each Cubanwoman or man gives, honestly, to these andother questions. That present and future of theNation also, and above all, depend on thepolitical will of power to listen to the answersand respond with an attitude of authenticservice in order to lift everything that mightblock the genuine aspirations of all of thecitizens.To serve the happiness and the real progress ofthe people, of each person so that he has not tochoose between leaving or being, is the onlyway to have moral authority. And only themoral authority legitimizes power.Pinar del Río, June 3 rd 2009.All in all we know that there are many peoplein Cuba and in all its shores who want to dowell, who want to work in Cuba, for a moreopen future, less dark, more participatory,less repressive, with more opportunities forprogress, with less frustrated personalprojects due to the domination and thecensorship of a power which thinks more ofitself, of its own safety and permanence thanin the only guarantee for a power to last,which is: to serve the real interests of thenation placing them above its own interests.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201244

CUBA, A COUNTRY ON THE RUNEditorial 11. Sep-Oct-2009. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esFifty years ago Cuba stopped being a countrywhich receives immigrants and turned into anation on the run. It doesn’t matter so muchif the exile is rough or velvet. It doesn’tmatter if persons leave through a program ofrefugees or undertake a “revolutionarymission”. What almost everybody wants is toget out.Cuba is a nation which is endlessly bleeding.The uprootment is maybe the most visibleresult of the 50 years of totalitariangovernment. The escape is the attitude, themethod and the “solution” for hundreds ofthousand Cubans.We dare say that the unstoppable ethnicbleeding is one of the most harmfultragedies that Cuba has faced.The massive exodus has harmed our pastbecause the past became “exiled”, that is,the greatest effort was made to erase thepast from the historic memory. Everythingstarted in 1959 or at the most, in 1953. Allthe past is bourgeois, mafia, or bad and itmust be erased. In case it cannot be erased itis turned into “socialist heritage” of thefounders who are considered the intellectualauthors of the present. A nation whosememory is thrown overboard dies as a nation,suffers from identity anaemia and enduresthe detachment from the present and thisleads to a cultural electroshock.The unstoppable exodus has harmed ourpresent because the possibility of personalimprovement of the nation’s children is“exiled”; because the milk and the honey thatthis Island might produce is placed in asupposed promised land. This Island is themost fertile and beautiful and the milk andhoney could be a result of the work here:without an internal blockade to the initiativeof the citizens; without turning the enterprisingcharacter of Cubans into a crime; withoutturning Cuba into a government strange to thenormality of the international community. Theones who want to improve think of leaving andthat is not normal for a country which wants tomaintain its sovereignty and independence. Thepresent is in constant exile. It escapes from ourhands together with the life.The desperate exodus has already harmed ourfuture because the hope for progress andhappiness inside the Island are “exiled”. Let’sthink about the youngest people, about theirsadness when they look at the future in acountry which blockades the dreams, or thatturns into dissident or opponent their desire ofthinking with their own brains and being thedoers of their own future. In a country wheredissenting, expressing or having small civic,religious, cultural, economic or politicalprojects is a crime or makes us suspicious orturns us into a source of “pre criminaldangerousness”; hope launches itselfdesperately into the sea. It prefers to diedrowned once and for all than to die drowningits dreams and aspirations daily. The future iseach day in which we can grow as persons, livetogether without mistrust, work for ourhappiness here and not have fear as apoliceman repressing our dreams. If all thisescapes, with the passing of days and years…some prefer to run away from this policenightmare that hunts the persistentEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201245

“mosquitoes” which are the small projects ofthe enterprising persons and gives way tothe smelly “camel” of violence, corruptionand emerging mafia.The worst of the tragedy of the run awaycountry is that this escape has rooted in thenational conscience as the first alternative to“get rid of this”. If you only have a smallsetback, if you are just different, theproposals and the incitements are abundantand we hear: “don’t be a fool, get out of thiscountry”. Where is the Fatherland, that is, theland of our parents? We don’t speak aboutthe Nation which we know is dismemberedhere and there by the ones who want todivide us in order to stay in power. We speakabout Cuba, the geographic settlement thatbelongs to all of us, the ones here and theones there. Cuba does not belong only to thecommunists and revolutionaries. Is itnecessary to say it? Thus, everyone whoincites to the escape to leave Cuba andforget it is contributing to theimpoverishment of the Fatherland, to theextension of the agony, to the bleeding,imperceptible but lethal, of the sufferingIsland.It doesn’t mean that everyone who staysloves the Island. It doesn’t mean thateveryone who leaves doesn’t love the Island.It’s about the one who accepts in hisconscience that “leaving” is the onlyalternative for Cuba. After all, everybodycontinues being the Cuban nation, in theIsland and in the Diaspora. And what canimpoverish the Island can enrich thewandering nation. Limited nationalismmakes everything poor. Uprootment makeseverything poor.But the responsibility for the escape is notonly personal. The Cuban government notonly allows it, tolerates it and wishes it as asafety valve but presents it all the time as the“other” option of the ones who don’t want tosubmit themselves to the totalitarian controlof the soul and the body. How can weunderstand, if not, that a regime whichcontrols each step of the citizens cannotcontrol the borders? It cannot control thembecause every day, in any coastal corner inthe country the rapid launches are allowed toarrive in order to get persons out of the country.How can we understand that a government thatcan control the airspace by bringing down twoinoffensive light aircrafts or can sink a tug fullof women and children cannot stop the growing,efficient and permanent business of the persontraffic all over the country?How is it that the simple citizens can organizethemselves and manage to go into the sea onthose launches and the government, with allthe power and the military resources of thefrontier guard has not been able to stop them?They only detain for three days, like a sampling,some persons who “manage” to escape later,sooner that later. The opinion of everybody,inside and abroad, launchers and Cubans thatgo to the sea, is that the Cuban authorities arenot doing what they should do to watch ourborders and prevent this massive exodus of lowprofile and sonority. If it isn’t so then why is thepermeability of our coasts only one way:outward? Or else, this vulnerability is bothways? Isn’t there safety in our coasts? Or is itthat in view of the fact that they cannotorganize a massive exodus of high mediaprofile like Camarioca (1965), Mariel (1980) andthe boatmen crisis (1994), the new strategy issubstituting hundreds of thousand dailycapillary and silent bleedings for those bigarterial bleedings?Attention: The big bleedings are scandalouslyvisible and they are interrupted and closedimmediately in emergency. These capillary butchronic bleedings are much more dangerousfor the life of the national body and nobodycares about them. They are not seen asemergency or they don’t want to see them asemergency. Their solution is postponed ordisguised with compresses and placebos. Evenwith symptomatic medication. In the end whenthere is no cure for the social ethnic bleeding,we will lament why Cuba has impoverisheditself, why the pernicious anaemia, why it diedin or hands without complaint, without ahealing surgery, without an agreement in thefamily.So, it’s been already a long time since somevoices here and there and more and more areraising the alarm and wish that leaving thecountry should not be considered as theEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201246

solution to our personal, family or nationalproblems.Once more, we wish to go to the root causeof the problem why Cuba is a country on therun. Only by identifying the deep causes andusing creativity for the solution will preventthis escapism to become a rooted nationaltradition.We believe that first thing is to make a call tothe conscience of each citizen. The problemsof Cuba have a solution first here and withthe help of everyone there. Father FélixVarela, founder of our nationality used to sayvery skilfully and with an impressive validity:“When the best children of one countryabandon the public thing, this is dealt withby the worst children of the country”. It’s notabout knowing who’s who. It takes all sortsto make a world and that’s not the point. Theones who have or promote a civic, political,religious or humanitarian vocation in Cubashould promote the attachment to theFatherland and should disregard the escapefrom the country as a reaction to therepression and the control that such vocationleads to in a system like ours.It’s not about denying the right to travel,emigrate, even the political exile as alegitimate resource for any person or familythat making an ethical discernment goes tothe extreme to consider that his life or thelives of their relatives are in real danger orhe feels in such a way pursued that he looseshis psychological or spiritual stability. We arein favour of the economic emigration and thepolitical exile as a right and as an extremeresource.It is necessary to identify the major andprimary cause, which is not the escapistconscience of the citizens but the internaland fundamentalist blockade that theyreceive from the ones who hold power in thecountry. That is the deepest cause and theroot cause why Cuba has turned into acountry on the run after being a countrywhich used to receive migrations.If this is the cause then Cuba will only beable to stop this capillary bleeding by havinga “surgery” on time, by removing the reasonand the cause of the external and internalexile of the ones who alienate themselves andrenounce their own freedom and responsibility:the blockade to the initiative of citizens.But there is a question that arises and it couldbe: Is this the process of discernment thatmakes the majority of Cubans, women and menthat desperately long for escaping to any place,taking any risk?An expected and wished answer is that apartfrom the major cause, each person may bewilling to stay in Cuba, to work for thetransition to democracy, to the economicopening up, to social pluralism. That eachperson may choose to consciously stay withoutselling his soul and without shutting up hisvoice, peacefully; working for making possiblewhat appears impossible; believing in thepower of the smallness, in the usefulness ofvirtue, in the gradualism of the civic processes,behaving with personal freedom andresponsibility.The exile will stop. Immigration will be theother way around; the Nation will heal itswounds the day when the totalitarian structurechanges; the day it frees the productivecapacities; the day it fires the policeman whodwells inside every Cuban citizen; thepoliceman that invents the nightmares thatblockade the best dreams of prosperity andhappiness.We believe that Cuba, the Cubans from allshores, have more than enough creativepotential, enterprising mood, recovery capacity,love for their Island, wishes to undertake theblocked future and freely work with their minds,their hands and all their souls, for thereconstruction of the most beautiful andblocked land that a human eye has been able tosee.Let’s build, let’s conjugate the grammar of theinclusion and consensus, the politicaldemocracy and the freedom for the economicinitiative and the decriminalization of social andcultural pluralism, then Cuba will stop being acountry on the run and will turn, little by littleinto a national Home which may make thealways remembered prophecy from Ezekielcome true day after day:Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201247

“For I will take you from among the nations,Gather you out of all countriesAnd bring you into your own landThen I will sprinkle clean water on youAnd you shall be cleanI will give you a new heartAnd put a new spirit within you.Then you shall dwell in the land that I gaveto your fathersI will deliver you from all your uncleanness.I will call for the grain and multiply itAnd bring no famine upon youAnd I will multiply the fruit of your treesAnd the increase of your fieldsso that you need never again bear thereproach of famine among the nations.I will inspire my spirit among youAnd you shall live again.And I will settle you on your landAnd you will then know that I, Jeovah,Say it and put it as my work.(Ezekiel 36)Pinar del Río, 4 th of August 2009.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201248

THERE IS NO COUNTRYIF THERE ARE NO INSTITUTIONSEditorial 12. Nov-Dec-2009. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esTo think about the future of Cuba, to thinkabout it and to arrange it; to arrange it andto start to build it from now all of ustogether, is an urgency which becomes moreand more present and last chance.Everything that is and acts for the foresightof the future is strength for Cuba. Everythingthat is petrified in the past is weakness andmummifies the present.That is why we will grant a smaller space tothe fair complaint and the necessarydenouncing; instead, we wish to go forwardin the vision of the future. This time we wishto invite all Cubans from the only nation, theones from the Island and the ones from theexile, to meditate about one of theirreplaceable mainstays of democracy: theinstitutions.To provide against the future with a greaterwisdom, conviction and a less degree oferror we should look into the past withoutbeing stuck in it. The historic experienceteaches us and warns us that there hasalways been in Cuba a strong tendency toleadership, to authoritarianism, to thepolitics of chiefs or messianic prophets ofthe absurd or deceptive or self-willed utopiaswhich mortgage the life, generation aftergeneration, until life is lost amidst of thefailure of the present without even discernthe light at the end of the tunnel.About this aspect of our historic reality andour social psychology, it seems to beunavoidable to educate the conscience andthe attitude of each citizen, man or woman,about the need of having a nation withstrong, participatory, lasting, transparent,inviolable and effective institutions.When we speak about the compelling need ofdemocratic institutions, we are not referring tothose structures which support the establishedpower that has a democratic appearance. Weare not referring to a supposed democracyinside an only party or inside parties ofopponents not legally recognized. We arereferring to the institutions that can only findtheir legitimization in the political pluralism, indemocratic methods internationally recognizedand in pacific alternation in power.A nation that doesn’t have institutions withsuch characteristics turns into a domain thatbelongs to one or more chiefs or leaders; itturns into a kidnapped Fatherland by onefaction; it turns into a weathercock at the mercyof the wind blowing every moment. Thechallenge is to sow the conviction that all of uslive under the law. Nobody can dynamite theinstitutions at his own risk. Cuba, that is, allCubans, with all pacific and ethical differencesincluded, must design that kind of institutions;to choose our representatives in them; toprevent, without concessions, that one part,one party or one coalition of parties getscontrol of the institutions and manipulatesthem its own way; periods to renew theinstitutions must be fixed and the institutionsmust be strengthened in fixed periods nonmodifiable.All dictatorships, authoritarianisms andtotalitarianisms have emerged and emergetoday, under visionary leaders who start actingwith the consent of some people; they goEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201249

forward by seizing the institutions countingon the credit of the masses and then, beingalready leaders, they dissolve the mostrelevant institutions, denature the mostuncomfortable ones, domesticate the alienones and magnify the submitted ones. In theend, all ways lead to one seeminglydemocratic proposal: to change theConstitution of the Country, with thepurpose of perpetuating in power, not onlydisregarding each one of the institutionalframework but, besides, with the purpose tofind a false legitimization and blowing up thegreat global framework of the citizencoexistence which are the politicalinstitutions.When this happens, the country startsdangerously approaching to violence andexclusion. If there are some who “jump over”the institutions, others will do the same andthat anarchic succession is difficult to stop.But there is always a place for the questionso that we can open a door to hope: Whatcan be done to prevent this, to change this,to bring forward a true democraticcoexistence?One of the answers that we consideressential is: to promote the respect, thestrengthening and the inviolability of thedemocratic institutions of the nation.The institutions are born in a legalframework designed and approved with theparticipation of all. This gives the democraticinstitutions the only unquestionablelegitimization: the consent of the citizens.It’s the principle of the sacred respect for theagreed structures. Only inside theseinstitutions the democratic game of politicalpluralism and diversity can be carried on.Only by respecting them, there can be anacceptance of the different ones withoutturning them into visceral enemy.Only inside the rules of institutionalcoexistence the following phenomena can behindered: the personal ambitions, theabsolutist sectarianisms, the economiccorruption, the political chieftainship, thecancer of the paralyzing ungovernability, thecultural genocide of one group upon otherand the social anomy. Here is, in a few words,the fundamental importance of the democraticinstitutions. If there are no constitutionalstructures no nation can progress, nogovernment is legitimate, no citizenship issovereign.But the foundational respect for the institutionsshould be accompanied by the gradual andsystematic strengthening of their structuresand operation, their dynamics and efficiency.We are not defending immobilizing straitjacketsbut channels that favour the flow of initiatives.We are not defending mammoth institutionswhich chase their tails in their own bureaucracy.The fact that they should be strong does notmean they have to be mummies. To strengthenmeans to fix a legal framework equal for all, tosimplify the structures, to make them fasterand increase their credibility by their efficiency.Indeed, there is a directly proportionalrelationship between the efficiency of theinstitutions in one country and the confidencecitizens have in them. We are living it. If theinstitutions change frequently on impulses bythe leadership, the citizens will not believe inthe institutions; these institutions won’t berespected by the citizens and will bedisregarded by them. If too frequently theinstitutions only are useful to control thecitizens, to repress the initiatives, to containfreedom, to prevent personal or family progressand are not useful to channel, promote andmake the initiatives easier, people won’t believein the institutions, they will rather reject them.It’s the breeding ground for chaos and anarchy;or for the immobilizing anomy which is theanaemia of citizenship.If there are no institutions the country does notexist. It dies; or at least, it fades in a marsh ofarbitrariness; a country without respectable,reliable, useful institutions, so that we can toturn to them and solve the problems inside thelaw; institutions that give certainty and notdistress. Institutions, all in all, that guaranteesecurity to persons; that guarantee confidence,options for solutions, high spirits to go forwardand progress, desire to live… to live in thiscountry.What to do? In the first place, the solidfoundation on which stable, lasting andcompetent democratic institutions for thefuture of Cuba can be built is the civicEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201250

education of citizens, women and men.There are no institutions without citizens.Institutions exist to serve the citizensbecause the human person must takepriority over the institutions. The citizens are,therefore, the soul and the substance ofinstitutions. Without personal empowermentand without social commitment, theinstitutions succumb and so does the citizenthat lies in every person.The right is the cornerstone of theinstitutions and nobody can demand hisrights if he has civic illiteracy. Human rightsand civic education are just like the river andits original source. The respect andpromotion of human rights depend more onthe exercise of sovereignty on the part ofeach citizen than on the authoritarian powerof one government. One government will lasta short time or it won’t be able to exertmuch control if it finds at every turn or ineach family, in each neighbourhood, in eachinstitution, a swarm of citizens civicallyeducated, pacific defenders of their freedomand supportive men who work for others’freedom. If people relinquish theirresponsibility as citizens, on theirprostration will fall not only the quiet,systematic and painful violation of humanrights but, above all, the whole totalitarianweight of some exclusive institutions forcontrol and repression will fall on theirprostration too.In the second place, besides the need of anethical and civic education from right thismoment, it is necessary to start to exerciseon a small scale, the respect for theinstitutions. It’s not only about theinstitutions at the provincial or national level;it’s about the institutions from the base. Inthis vast network, the citizens, women ormen, that obtain the benefits from theinstitutions, must play a demanding,dynamic and participatory role.HOW TO BUILD THE INSTITUTIONALITY FROMABOVE?To start with, the family must be acommunity of persons united by love andlife; this is the first school of socialization.This means that there, in the family unit,starts the respect for a small institutionwhose relations are essentially blood andemotional relations; but some things aretrained inside the stability of the home: thepersonal initiative, the respect for the rights ofthe other members of the family, the work withother people and the openness to the others. Itis true that the modern concept of familycannot be reduced to a formal or rigidinstitution but it’s also true that things havegone to the other extreme. Family instability,the inexistence of a domestic home, theconstant disrespect for the other members ofthe family, cut in the bud not only the trainingto live in social institutions but the veryexperience and the basic education to acceptthe existence of such institutions andparticipate in them in a constructive way. If in acountry like ours, the family institution–community is almost nostalgia, what will be thedestiny of the other civic and politicalinstitutions where there isn’t even the benefitof the blood bonds? Will it be possible for anational home to exist if there are no domestichomes?The school is the second actor for socializationand for the learning of institutionality in thecivic life. This is because the school is aninstitution and it is, besides, a favourableenvironment for institutional education. Howcould our school teach the respect to theinstitutions if the school does not respect itselfin its ends and its means? How is it possible forthe shortest citizens to live and participate indemocratic institutions if the school is amouthpiece and an eloquent example ofauthoritarianism? How can a civic education forparticipatory institutionality be guaranteed ifthe core and the same all story of the Cubanschool are the exaltation and the imitation ofthe leaders? If there is no education in theplurality and the human rights there will be noinstitutions but new leaders and new exclusions.A school with the pedagogy of Varela, Luz andMartí: liberating, designed to bring about peace,focussed on virtue and love, is a guarantee sothat the future of the Nation can be settled oninstitutions.The civil society which is the multiform fabric ofinformal groups, civic and cultural associationsand non–governmental organizations, is thenext step for an education for democraticinstitutions. The citizens need to gather, toorganize themselves, to have spaces ofEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201251

democratic participation where they canexercise and consolidate, at intermediatelevel, the habits, attitudes and dynamicsinherent to institutional structures. At thesame time, this supportive network is amechanism to demand probity, promptitudeand effectiveness from the other institutions.An active and committed civil society is alsoa guarantee for the respect and the defenceof Human Rights in the institutions.How can the institutions be democraticwithout the free and responsible fabric of thecivil society? How to get to achieve that theofficials who work at the institutions mayrespect their mechanisms, defend thecitizens’ human rights to whom they aredestined to serve, if they have never had theexample of the family; or the liberating anddemocratic civic education of the school; orthe work experience in a participatory andorganized space of the civil society? On theother hand, how to get to achieve that thepersons who make use of the institutionsmay trust such institutions if they have neverbeen able to trust either in the members oftheir families or in the efficiency of theschools, or in the mass organizations whichare manipulated and manipulating?society which is now a mouthpiece and aninstrument to control the citizens, to a networkof open, diverse, inclusive and efficient spaces.All in all, the future of Cuba will be the sameold thing if the changes don’t stop beingthought and carried out by a few who thinkthey know everything, they can do everythingand they will be able to do it only with theirgroup and their methods, mistrusting anddisqualifying everyone who does not join theirproposals, however democratic they mightappear to be.Cuba needs institutions to control the leaders,to serve the citizens and rebuild the Country.Depending on this premise, our prosperity andhappiness, the coexistence and the peace, willbe a fact. Or they won’t be.Pinar del Río, October 10 th 2009.There would seem that the future of Cubawill be of new authoritarian leaderships orsectarian and exclusive partycracies. But webelieve in the power of the small experiencesthat are trying to survive at this verymoment; if we didn’t trust “in the humanimprovement and the usefulness of virtue”; ifwe didn’t see, clearly and far, theunavoidable importance of a program toincrease public awareness, for education andexercise so that Cubans, women and menmay be protagonists of the serious,democratic and stable institutions…A safe and prosperous future, withopportunities, for the happiness of Cubadepends essentially on the capacity ofCubans to change from a leadershipmentality to an institution culture; fromdismembered families to families articulatedby respect, love and the education forfreedom and responsibility; to change from avertical, authoritarian and depersonalizingschool to an education for civic-mindednessand democracy; to change from a civilEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201252

INTERNET: INFORMATION, SOLIDARITYAND LIVING TOGETHEREditorial 13. Jan-Feb-2010. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esInternet is 40 years old. No one could haveimagined in the distant December of 1969when the first steps for this giantinternational net were taken, that fourdecades later it would be the most powerfulinstrument for communication and easy touse.The connexions between the computers inthe Universities of Los Angeles, Stanford,Utah and California, in Saint Barbra and oneCentre of investigation for the Defence wentimmediately beyond the threshold of theinvestigation and the Defence. The studentworld, the university young people, theenterprises, the State institutions and thecomplex fabric of the civil society tookimmediate control of this efficient, simple,close, personalized and global tool for work.The world has substantially changed afterInternet appeared. Two aspects of the humanperson’s essence have acquired universaldimensions: freedom and solidarity.Internet has granted human freedom achannel for expression without boundariesand with no other limitation than the veryethical exercise of freedom. Internet is themost inclusive door for the adulthoodresponsible freedom. That is why in Internetappear the same human miseries anddeviations that exist in real life. Noteverybody uses this freedom for the good,the beauty and the truth; but this is the storyof every progress of humankind. Only theeducation for using the own freedom and tohave access to ethical and civic responsibilityis the way for everyone to learn how tochoose between the weaknesses and thestrengths of the greatest net of freedom thathuman genre has achieved ever.Only the ones who oppose to the freedom ofcitizens restrict or block the access to Internet.It shows the tremendous efficiency and powerof this net. Cuba is one of the few countries inthe world that exercise this restriction tofreedom from a position of power for fear toinformation, to communication, to supportivesolidarity.…FOR FEAR TO FREEDOMBut what can we expect from a system that, atthis stage of civilization grant the governmentand its security bodies the right to decide whois going to own a telephone, a car or a house…?They decide who is going to travel inside thecountry or abroad, who can publish or not theirliterary, artistic or opinion works. But nobodylistens to this. Or almost no one sees this. Anda few take this seriously as a proof of thenature of the system that blockades Cuba. Thecommercial interests are unscrupulously placedabove the freedom and the dignity of eachCuban, woman and man.Meanwhile, hypocritically, a few governmentsand institutions want to censor Internetbecause of the moral miseries related to sex orbecause of the execrable incitement to bloodyviolence. It’s true that we have to find a way todo that without violating the essential freedom.But why not acting with the same intensityabout the violations of the rights that don’thave to do with sex? Or is it that the dignity ofthe human person is determined only by thesouth hemisphere of the human body? Whenwill come the day in which the hemispheresEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201253

north and south of the human person areequally looked after, healed, defended anddignified?…FOR FEAR TO SOLIDARITYAnother structural essence of the humanperson that acquires with Internet holisticdimensions is solidarity. The world net is notavailable to everybody. It’s necessary to haveresources, computers and connexion. But atthe same time, whenever there is a problemor a personal need there is no betteruniversal amplifier than Internet. Thousandsof children, ill persons, elderly men, disabledpersons, cry out for help through that virtualnet of real solidarity. Thousands ofsegregated, oppressed, exploited people,people in prison and unfairly condemned todeath turn to the solidarity of the net.Only the ones who oppose to inter personaland community solidarity restrict or blockInternet. The ones who exert the paternalistmessianism do not want the democratizationof solidarity. They only believe in solidarityby decree. They just can give help in order toreceive, in exchange, a kind of gratitudewhich means political fidelity. It is bad tasteto bite the hand that feeds you, as the sayinggoes. It’s the essence of populisms when thehelp turns into a machinery of politicalcontrol and ideological dependence. Thesovereign solidarity among citizens eitherwith the help of Internet or the help of themultiple and diverse organizations or groupsof the civil society is the greatest danger forpaternalist totalitarianisms.What can we expect from a way ofadministration where it is more difficult to besupportive than doing harm to others whenan anonymous letter is received in a workcentre and immediately it acquires acategory of document with official power?What to expect from a system that helpsother places of the world and deprives itshealth system, education, sports, culture andother essential sectors from resources? Or isit an absolute “priority” to promoteexportations and a source of income inforeign currency to the country? Is it that theessence of social justice let itself succumb tothe savage market disguised as realsocialism? Solidarity is the most socialist ofall human attitudes, but it cannot beauthentic if it is only for abroad, from aboveand by decree. Internet is the worst enemy ofthis kind of “solidarity” which works as a “maid”at the service of political or economic interests.…FOR FEAR TO THE THRUTHWe, the ones who live in a country which isblocked by its own laws, taken up by itsideology and “protected” by its powerstructures, know better than anyone thatinformation is power. It’s not the power of theweapons or the torture or the repression usingsticks in the middle of a central avenue; it’s notthe power of the kidnapping of a young womanwhose only equipment is the dignity and thefreedom. This is not the kind of powerinformation has. Its power is the truth. Truthdoes not need weapons or armies, or informersor anonymous letters. Truth carries in itselfanother kind of power: the pacific andconvincing power of facts, of convictions, of thefreedom that rises and the solidarity with whichit spreads. Internet is the most universal bearerof the truth. Internet has turned each citizeninto a messenger of his truth; it’s the dynamothat allows every person who has access to theNet to stand up. Internet is the global power ofinformation in the hands of the citizens.Democracy had never had such a free,responsible, eloquent and diligent servant.What can we expect from some political oreconomic structures that are afraid of openinformation, of the transparency of truth?…TO CHANGE THE ESSENCE AND NOT ONLYTHE CIRCUMSTANCESThe only thing we can expect and work for isthe structural and deep changes, in order tomaterialize them in a country like ours. It’s notabout putting new patches on the old structuralfabric. It’s about changes in the essence andthe conscience of society and the structuresthat it gives itself using a sovereign exercise offreedom and responsibility.What to expect and build in Cuba this late on inthe 21st century and at the moment of the 40years of Internet?- We expect to have a country where therewould be no fear of the freedom of thecitizens due to the existence of thepolitical, economic and social structuresthat legalize, promote and defend theEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201254

initiatives of all Cubans, men andwomen, without exclusions.- We expect a country where therewould be no fear of independentsolidarity of citizens due to theexistence of the political andeconomic structures that legalize,promote and defend the diverse,plural and inclusive civic religious,fraternal and cultural organizations ina multiform civil society where theempowerment of the citizens, womenand men, may unblock the precise,capillary and communitydevelopment of solidarity.- We expect a country where therewould be no fear of the truth thateach man or woman carries inside;where there would be no fear ofsearching for the other part of thetruth together with the other peopledue to the existence of the politicaland economic structures that legalizethe spaces for searching, debatingand spreading of the truth; due to theexistence of the two wheels of thedynamic and multifaceted truth: thefreedom of expression and the freeaccess to information.- We expect a country where therewould be no fear of Internet, wherethe virtual sites may not be blocked,just like our sad doorwayssurrounded by bars are; a countrywhere a person may not be beatenbecause he is a blogger; a countrywhere some persons would not bethreatened because they edit amagazine either virtual or printed. Acountry where the fact to have accessto the Net of nets would not be asynonym of danger, a mercenarything, a harm to the nationalsovereignty and independence or aserious danger to the nationalidentity.It is, at least pathetic, to listen to this in aworld where the identity strengthensitself in the face to face debate with thehegemonic cultures; in a world where ithas been universally demonstrated thatthe peoples, the minorities, the excludedones, are the ones who would get morebenefits if this Internet instrument wereavailable to everybody.How is it possible that in a system wherethey claim to be in favour of the mostvulnerable ones, the access of ordinarycitizens to the net of freedom, solidarityand communication is openly blocked?“CONVIVENCIA” IS GOING TO BE TWOYEARS OLDOur digital magazine “CONVIVENCIA” isabout to be two years old in this toil. Wehave tried to participate in this experienceof citizen solidarity and sovereignty. Werespect, admire and support the growingcommunity of Cuban bloggers, women andmen who are the contemporarycontinuators and stimulators of the heroicindependent journalists who have alwaysbeen here. “Convivencia” wishes to be likethem: independent journalists and bloggers.Their service to Cuba and their love for itinspire us. We highly appreciate theirinformative and dynamic contribution.With our bimonthly publication we wish tocomplement their irreplaceable service ofurgent and daily information andcommunication. We use a more calmedtempo for the service to reflection andthought, which is also necessary to allCubans, women and men from the Islandand from the Diaspora; that is why we don’tsee or feel any contradiction between whatindependent journalists, radio newsjournalists, the journalists from establishedagencies, publications from here and thereand bloggers do and what we do; also theindependent journalists who use other workinstruments but who have the same senseof belonging to Cuba and solidarity withtheir brothers who use the mostconventional means.We have had, thank God, both experiencesduring the last 16 years, first and for aperiod of time, with a printed publicationand now with a digital publication. That iswhy, maybe, we can understand, togetherwith others, that there is no contradiction ordisqualification; neither better nor worseformat to perform a good journalism. CubaEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201255

wins with the complementation and thecooperating coexistence among all thediverse means of freedom of expression,the means to spread the truth and toexercise solidarity.At the moment of being two years old,“Convivencia” invites all to share theservice to Cuba, which is plural and oneand this service should be done byplacing in the first place the fraternalcoexistence among all Cubans.Pinar del Río. December 8 th 2009.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201256

THE BLOCKADE IMPOSED TO THE CULTURE WORLDEditorial 14. Mar-Apr-2010. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esThe peoples, just like men have souls, aspiritual dimension. The culture world is thegreatest expression of the nations’ souls.All materialisms have tried to reduce thisdimension to objectiveness and technicalnature. The results of the peoples’subjectivity suppression by decree have beenthe impoverishment and decadence not onlydecimating their spirituality but also theirhuman and economic development.In Cuba, this reductionism is visible. Ifspirituality is not cultivated, nothing lasts.Virtue disappears and values get upset.Materialism is a phenomenon of tirednessand old age of the human soul. That is why itis so sad when we find young people whohave allowed their freedom of spirit to beseized: their ideals exile, their illusions abortand it’s very sad to see their despair.But the human spirit is indomitable. That iswhy no mechanism can mummify or kidnapthe initiative of the ones who decide toexpress themselves, in different ways, theirspirituality.Those expressions, like all expressions ofthe human spirit, like all that exists in theworld, are diverse. This diversity inphilosophies, believes, opinions, methodsand acting is the natural and normal way ofthe human life and all kinds of life.It’s an unnatural act to try to turn thisnatural plurality into uniformity. If thishappens, the richness of diversity is lost andthe peoples get impoverished.The political systems which try to control andstandardize the spiritual expressions of peopleshave gone beyond the red line of their ownviability and survival. The repression to thepolitical opponents is a violation of the rights ofthose opponents and it impoverishes thepolitical life of the Country. The repression tothe economic initiatives of the citizens isanother violation of their rights and itimpoverishes the progress of the families andthe development of the Country. The repressionto social sectors because of their difference inskin, social position, sexual or religiouspreferences is another way of discriminatoryviolation of their rights and lowers the richnessof plurality.In Cuba have existed for more than half acentury all of those ways of repression. Sometimes they have been more bloody and othertimes more subtle. This way of seeing life andthe world according to an exclusiveManichaeism has been essential to the powerfor maintaining its hegemony. SuchManichaeism works like this: the one whodoesn’t think or act the way I do is an enemy, a“worm” (1), or a non person.During the last year the expressions of thenatural diversity of Cubans, women and men,have visibly increased. This plurality has beenseen mainly in the culture world. This world hasalways been very varied. And during the last 50years this world has been treated more withsubtle censorship and exclusions than withmore direct methods.However, the increase of alternative sociocultural expressions in the last years in CubaEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201257

has reached a citizenship category and hasbecome a public expression genuinelyparticipatory. This reality had a turning pointwhen one student from the University ofComputer Sciences, Eliezer Avila, establisheda dialogue with the President of the CubanParliament Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada. Thisdoesn’t mean that everything started at thatmoment, but in our opinion, somethingstarted to grow from that landmark on. Atthe same time the community of bloggers,women and men, grew and diversified. Theperformance of Tania Bruguera happenedduring the last Havana Biennial together withother diverse artistic manifestations. In theHigher Institute of Arts in Havana there was aperformance which lasted three days. Ithappened at the campus of the Universityand it started with an explicit protest forhunger and it ended the way these thingsend right at this moment. The “Pánfilo”phenomenon with all its shades and savinghis person and his privacy has been anothersocial phenomenon to be studied.The Non Violence demonstration along the23 rd Street in Vedado, Havana, on the 6 th ofNovember, let us see very young peopledemonstrating along the main street in Cuba.That very day, Yoani Sánchez and OrlandoLuis Pardo were kidnapped and dragged bypersons in civilian clothes, to otherneighbourhoods in the city. In December, theprotagonists were the members of thecultural and spiritual project Omni-ZonaFranca from Alamar neighbourhood. Theyheld their superb Festival “Endless Poetry”.They were repressed and expelled from theHouse of Culture of that neighbourhoodfrom the East of the Capital.In Pinar del Río and in other provinces ofCuba, from the West to the East, there weresocio cultural activities around the 10 th ofDecember, the Human Rights Day. In thewestern part of the country we saw, in themiddle of the Park of Independence in Pinardel Río City, the artist Yamilia Pérez Estrellaperforming an artistic intervention which sheentitled “Without Permit”. A great number ofagents and officials besieged theperformance; it was held, however. Onemonth later, Yamilia tried to hold her secondperformance “Without Permit II: A step to theChange”, together with two friends, one ofthem, Maikel Iglesias, was kidnapped and takento his house in another civilian car. He couldn’tgo out from his house. Yamilia and Sergio Abelwent out for their public participation and anenormous repudiation act accompanied themall the time. On The Teacher’s Day, anotheryoung man released a communiqué during aceremony in a Senior High School in the countryin Pinar del Río. In this communiqué he askedfor a total reform of the Cuban educationsystem and a partial reform of the Constitutionof the Republic.Thus, the culture and education worlds expressthemselves, more and more, in a pacific, critical,punctual and persevering way. Instead ofgreater spaces for debate; instead of openingthe existent spaces for the diversity of opinionand action, the answer has been the increase ofthe violent repression, direct, without masks orsubtleties as it used to be. The repudiation actslike it happened in the 60’s or the 80’s not onlyharm the victims but they degrade the oneswho perform such acts. It is necessary to saveboth parties from this civic depravity: the oneswho endure it without feeling violence or hatredor revenge and the ones who perform it with noreserve, mercy or ethics at all.Cuba, our nation which is all of us, is the onethat suffers, it impoverishes itself, it coversitself with mud, when these repudiation actsoccur. Nothing is more anti Cuban and nothinghurts more the national sovereignty andidentity than seeing some Cubans against otherCubans because they think and act differently.Nothing is closer to the ordeal of the vileness.The ones who order them, the ones whoimplement them, the ones who volunteer toshout, beat and kidnap; the ones who observethat without denouncing it and the ones whotry to “save themselves” from the contaminationof the causes and the consequences, all of usare responsible for putting Cuba in the greatestof its dangers: the danger of not being itselfanymore; the danger to lose its essence of loveand peace, fraternity and reconciliation.The ones who blockade the culture world, theones who silence the arts, the ones who spoilthe beauty and switch off the light of the lettersand the truth of the dreams of freedom, justiceand Love in Cuba, are trespassing a verydangerous red line: they not only repress thecreativity of artists and the honesty of theEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201258

intellectuals, or the sincerity of thecommunicators but they also repress thenation’s soul.The ones that repress the soul of one peoplein order to try to stop the flow of the humanspirit, though unsuccessfully, inflict thegreatest anthropological damage on thecitizens; they seriously hurt the spiritualstability of the nation and lead the nation tothe irreparable violence which nobody wants.We can’t play with it. We cannot hold thesuperiors responsible for something that is astrictly personal responsibility. Each one ofus must weigh up the seriousness, thedepravity of violence and the sowing ofhatred and revenge that are being carriedout when some people vociferate suggestedold fashioned slogans which wound thedignity of the persons such slogans areaimed at.That world is upside down. And somedaythings will sort themselves out. And theartists will be able to create and expressthemselves in free public spaces, respectfuland participatory. And the bloggers will beable to write and launch to the world theirbinnacles with no gags or blocking toInternet. And the musicians and composerswill be able to say with their free notes andsovereign letters, what their souls want forthe welfare of all. And the writers andartisans will be able to give free rein toletters and forms as free as responsible. Andthe educators and students, and educationdirectors and advisors will not be afraid ofthe students when they express themselvesor when they get together on their own andthey won’t be watched by the guardiansunder the appearance of teachers. And eachcitizen, woman or man, will be able to makea contribution, participate in public spaces,in cultural environments without the horriblenightmare of being considered a “worm” or amercenary.And by then, Cuba will stand up and will closethe door to the gag. And the threatening arm ofthe brother against the brother will lower. Andthe insult among lifetime neighbours willdisappear, and also the fear of our telephonesand squares. And the divided families will gettogether.And then, the day of revenge, or hatred ormalice will not come. Cuba, each Cuban,woman or man will close tightly the door toviolence and repudiation. And we all will openthe wide, plural and fraternal door of theNational Home, using the beauty of the arts andletters, the truth of the ethical and civiceducation and the kindness of the pacific livingtogether. The National Home is and will beforever, this Cuba which is still navigating inhope.God wants it.Let everyone use his reason and heart.Pinar del Río, February 25 th 2010.153 rd anniversary of Father Félix Varela’s death.Founder of our nationality.(1) “worm” is a word used by the Cubangovernment to call a person who is supposed tothink against the official viewpoints.That world will come, nobody doubts it; noteven the ones who unconsciously repeat thesame all things they are suggested to blurtout to the serene faces of the Ladies in White,dissidents, opponents, artists, musicians andpoets.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201259

THE ABSOLUTE RESPECTFOR ALL OF THE HUMAN LIFEEditorial 15. May-Jun-2010. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esThe human life is above everything andeveryone. According to the development ofthe conscience of humankind today, noargument can justify the injury, the loss orthe interruption of the full life of everywoman and man.In the present world, every normal anddecent person strongly rejects theaggressions to human life wherever theycome from or whatever justification is usedmanipulating the most elaborated arguments.Nothing justifies inflicted or allowed death,directly or indirectly, to one person, not eventhe violation to only one of the physical,moral or spiritual dimensions of the mosthumble or unknown human person.The human person is the centre and thepriority above every institution, ideology,religion, political power or economic interest;that is why the Human Rights are at present,the ethical measurement of the legitimacyand kindness of governments and theinternational relations.No State can decide which rights are theones because this act contradicts the searchfor the common good, which is what theState exists for. Much less can the Statechoose which rights are correct and whichrights are not, or separate some rights fromother rights or give priority to some rights atthe cost of violating other rights; and muchless justify the violation of some rightsbecause in other countries or entire regionssuch rights or other rights are being violated.If others are thieves it doesn’t mean that tosteal is good or allowed; it doesn’t mean thatwe may neglect the moral seriousness of theact of stealing. All of us know, in the seconddecade of the 20th century that the HumanRights are indivisible, universal and inalienable.There is already a consciousness, a set state ofopinion though not yet consolidated, that everyviolation to the Human Person’s Rights shouldbe denounced, condemned and diligentlyprevented. That is the cause and the reasonwhy when there is a flagrant act of violation tothose Universal Rights, a concert of denouncesand demands is achieved and this should notbe amazing to anyone and should be a reasonfor us to be glad because it shows the matureness achieved by humankind.We cannot blame the mass media for theinvention of one death or any discrimination orone death penalty or an unfair imprisonment.The duty of the mass media is to reach thepublic opinion and its right is to observe, toinvestigate and denounce the abuse by anypower whether it is a left-wing or a right-wingpower, from the first world or the last world.The only way to make the Mass Media say thetruth is to make the expected truth and theexperienced truth coincide. That is, the onlyefficient way to get a good opinion about oneaction is to act well. We cannot do ethicallywrong and expect the media to speak well. Onething is defamation and lie; another thing is totry not to magnify what is of itself big.How is it possible that we hear someintellectual saying that the fact of denouncingthe death of only one human being is tomagnify it and justifies this by using theincoherent statement that thousands ofpersons in the world die or are executed? As iflife was worth depending on the accumulatedEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201260

and mathematical amount of deaths. Onlyone life is worth the same as the wholehuman life is worth. To play down theimportance of the death of only one personor disregarding it can open the door to thejustification of what is worse: to kill or let diethousands or millions of persons for anyreason of State or politics or religion, oreconomics. All genocides start with oneperson and if there is not a strong rejection,the moral relativism of the quantity willjustify the exponential growth of death. It’sworse to condemn the magnification of thedeath of one person than letting him die.To neglect the death of one person ordisqualifying his acts in order to minimizethe importance of his death is more seriouswhen the event is in front of our faces andour consciences and we have time andinformation that allow us to discern. Everyneglecting of the death of one person isethically unacceptable and there isjustification to condemn it. Wheneversomeone becomes an accomplice to death ofa defender of life, above every political orsocial argument he is clearly defining hisown moral height.If it is the case of one person who values andsupports violence and death, it’s veryregrettable and worrying, but if it is the caseof one religious group, an organized mafiaor even a modern State, it is even moreserious and then the duty of denouncing, offinding solutions and creating states ofopinion which lead to disallowing suchexcesses should be a responsibility of all ofus, shared by every honest citizen, by everysocial group, by every institution whichrespects itself. This responsibility alsoincludes the entire international communitywhich should make a commitment.So states the Pope Benedict XVI before theGeneral Assembly of the United Nations:“The acknowledgement of the unity of thehuman family and the attention to the innatedignity of every man and woman acquirestoday a new emphasis due to the principle ofthe responsibility to protect. This principlehas been defined recently but it was alreadypresent in an implicit way, when the UnitedNations were founded and now it has turnedmore and more into a characteristic of theactivities of the Organization. Every State hasthe primary duty of protecting its populationfrom the serious and continuous violations ofthe human rights, as well as from theconsequences of the humanitarian crisisprovoked either by nature or by men”. (BenedictXVI in the General Assembly of the UnitedNations, New York, Friday 18 th April 2008. Thistext was entirely published in “Convivencia”magazine Nº 3, May-June 2008,www.convivenciacuba.es).We should say clearly and precisely that everynation should respect the sovereignty, theindependence and the self determination of thepeoples. This is a fundamental principle of theinternational relations and the dignity andrespect that all peoples deserve as well as everygroup or group of nations. The empires,colonialism and neo colonialism are equallyreprehensible by the universal conscience.Nobody wants any nation to intervene in theinternal affairs of another nation. But no matterhow important this principle is, it’s not moreimportant than the human life. If we accept thatthe primary, supreme and main value is thelives of persons, then we can understand thefact that a religious leader, that is, the Pope, orthe most representative internationalorganization have clarified that the ones whodo not respect the human life, even if it is oneonly person, are the first ones who lead to andprovoke the reaction of the internationalcommunity:“If the State is not capable of guaranteeing thisprotection, the international community has tointervene by means of the legal resortsestablished by the United Nations Chart and byother international instruments. The action ofthe international community and its institutions,taking for granted the respect for the principlesthat lie in the base of the international order,never has to be interpreted as an unjustifiedimposition and a limitation to the sovereignty.On the contrary, the indifference or the lack ofintervention is what causes a real harm. What isneeded is a deeper search for the means toprevent and control the conflicts, by exploringany possible diplomatic via and by payingattention and also stimulating the slightestsigns of dialogue or desire for reconciliation”.(Benedict XVI in the General Assembly of theUnited Nations, New York, Friday 18 th April2008).Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201261

It is clear that it is about the intervention ofthe international organizations and underthe United Nations Chart and through theinternational legal instruments. The realdamage, says the Pope, is the indifferenceand the lack of international interventionwhen the principle of protecting the citizenswithout distinction is violated. A governmentthat respects the sacred duty of taking careof the human life of all has nothing to fear.The life of honest citizens and the life ofcriminals, of political and ordinary prisoners;life from its conception to its natural end,the life of one only person and the life ofmillions of persons, the life of the peoples ofthe North or the South, the life in Abu Graibor in Guantánamo and the life in the Cubanprisons or hospitals. Nothing justifies thatone only life may be lost. It is regrettablethat there may be a neglecting of theseriousness of life loss by considering thenumber of persons that lost their lives or byconsidering the immense number of personsthat are taken care of inside the country orabroad while they exercise solidarity. Onlyone Haitian has the same value compared tothe ones who died squashed by the collapse.Our humanism would reject the fact of notpaying attention to one person becausemillions died. Why does this principle workthere and we neglect it here?The life of a psychological sane person hasthe same value than the life of one patient ina psychiatric hospital. Why do they create acommission to investigate the death in oneof our hospitals and they do not createanother commission to investigate who letdie only one person in another hospital? It isa duty of the rulers and a right of the onesunder a government. And this is not aninvention by present media campaigns or bya right-wing ideological trend. It is apatrimony of our legal and ethical culturethroughout centuries, codified in the wellknown People Right which was founded andelaborated in the Salamanca University in the16 th century with the contribution of theDominican Fathers, especially with our closeFather Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas. Sostates the Pope in his well known speech inthe United Nations:gentium as the foundations of all the acts bythe rulers towards the persons under theirgovernment: in times when the concept ofnational sovereign States was being developed,the Dominican friar Francisco de Victoria, whowas rightly considered to be the precursor ofthe idea of founding the United Nations,described such responsibility as an aspect ofthe natural reason shared by all Nations and asthe result of one international order whose taskwas to regulate the relations among peoples.Today, like then, this principle has to makereference to the idea of the person as image ofthe Creator, to the desire of an absolute andessential freedom” ( Benedict XVI in the GeneralAssembly of the United Nations, New York,Friday 18 th April 2008).The essence is the freedom of each humanperson which is not granted by any State or byany law but by his Creator. It is freedom whichmakes us free, as Jesus said. The freedomabout the women and men, the truth about themission of the State; the truth about the humanrights and duties; the truth about the sacredand inviolable condition of every human lifeand every dimension and stage of life.“The only way to be free”, as Martí said, is thecultivation of the truth culture about the humandignity. Martí’s postulate, which is fortunatelyin force in the present Constitution of Cuba,summarizes our political culture, ourhumanism: it ratifies the value of life and thehuman rights; invites us to put this ethicalcriterion as the supreme law of our Republicand even more: it urges us to turn the absoluterespect of the human life into a cult that we allcan offer at the altar of the Fatherland.“I wish the first law of our Republic be the cultof Cubans to the full dignity of men”.Pinar del Río, April 10 th 2010.“The principle of the “responsibility toprotect” was considered by the ancient iusEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201262

DIALOGUE, YES:BUT WITH HUMAN RIGHTSAND WITHOUT EXCLUSIONEditorial 16. Jul-Aug-2010. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esCuba is going through one of the tensestmoments of its recent history; withouteconomy, without a viable political projecton the part of the ones who hold power andwith a society which is increasinglydiscouraged. It’s not an apocalypticperspective but reality. It’s the new “specialperiod” though it has not been officiallycalled that way. There is a difference with thecrisis of the 90’s. In that crisis there was alot of money in national currency circulatingand almost nothing to buy. Now there is nomoney and nothing to buy. In that crisisthere were measures to maneuver and thelegalization of another currency. Now thereis nothing of that. Those who doubt it maygo to the streets; may come to Cuba; maytalk to all the sectors and not to some ofthem.The mass media play their role in differentways, of course, in a plural world. Theindependent journalists and bloggersgenerate and confirm news from the insideof Cuba with veracity and immediacy neverseen before. More and more the foreigncorrespondents and the international pressagencies quote the independent journalistsand bloggers because they are close to thenews protagonists and to the real life inCuba. That is the verifiable truth if we haddirect access to the social mass media. It hasbeen an almost imperceptible evolution. It’san unstoppable and reliable evolution. Inthat world competence, veracity andimmediacy transcend all the rest. Thejournalists and bloggers have won thisacknowledgement. It’s a sign of real change.It’s due to this new phenomenon that itbecomes very difficult to manipulate the publicopinion because there are very diverse Cubanvoices that appear immediately and contributeother approaches. It’s not about who is right orwho has got the truth. It’s about the fact thatthe persons who have access to this diversity ofinformation can build their own opinions andhave the necessary to elaborate their ownjudgment. That is what freedom of expressionis for. It’s diverse and opposite to theexclusiveness of the sources and to theexclusion of the voices.In this time Cuba is torn again between anguishand hope; the same as more than half a centuryago. The only thing new is the exhaustion ofthe projects, the tiredness of the same old storyand the irrepressible need for change whichturns into a dangerous urgency and we cannotand should not play with it. One thing is thenecessary gradualism that every process needsand another thing, very different, is tomaneuver in order to save time and not makeany changes, even more when there are humanlives at stake. It’s ethically unacceptable. It’s acrime.So the only honourable and ethical way out isthe pacific dialogue and the negotiation withresults. However, for a real dialogue and acredible and viable negotiation some premisesmust be fulfilled; these premises are essentialaccording to our opinion:1. The dialogue should be an attitude and amethod. That is, it should have a dosage ofgood will and another dosage of technicalrequirements. Not only good will because itwould be ingenuousness. Not onlyEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201263

negotiation techniques because it couldhide the possible bad will.2. When the dialogue occurs in the politicalenvironment it has the inherentcharacteristics of such environment andthese characteristics cannot be maskedby other dimensions even if they are veryrespectable. In politics, things cannot bemixed because it creates confusion ofends and roles.3. Every dialogue must have as absolutepriority, as centre, as object and end thedefence and protection of the humanperson and his rights and duties. All thehuman rights for all. The human rightsare indivisible as freedom is. Freedomand human rights cannot be negotiatedas if they were coins.4. There is a difference between dialogueand negotiation: the dialogue is meant tocommunicate, to be informed in a directway, to explain reasons, to expressdiverse opinions, to present theacceptable and the unacceptable. On theother hand, negotiation is the otherdimension of dialogue: its essence is tolook for results. It has to have visibleresults that can be assessed and thatmay be acceptable for all parties.5. Dialogue and negotiation can only beimplemented between valid interlocutors.This means that if one party does notrecognize the other there is no completedialogue or negotiation. To call it thatway is a deceitful way to maneuver withthe time, the credibility and the patienceof persons and peoples. If one of theparties offends or discredits ordisqualifies the other party there cannotbe normal dialogue or negotiation. Itcould be concession or indulgence ordilatory maneuver but not dialogue. Theessence of dialogue and negotiation isthe explicit acknowledgement of theinterlocutor or interlocutors; and sit faceto face; with respect, and if it is possiblestarting with the negotiation of anagenda and using a mediator orfacilitator.6. Mediation is a service; it’s a technicalservice to facilitate the atmosphere ofrespect and the fluency of theconversations and to assure that what issaid and done is exactly what wasnegotiated. That service of mediationshould be granted to both interlocutors inan equal, impartial way, there should betransparency between them and discretionshould be guaranteed outside theenvironment of negotiations. The mediationmeans facilitation of the dialogue betweenthe parties and there shouldn’t be partiality.The mediation should be accepted by bothparties as reliable, competent andattainable in an equal way for bothinterlocutors.7. The mediation must respect and promotethe voice of each interlocutor. Themediation should promote the word of eachof them and there should be no influence;the mediation must open channels for allthe voices that participate in the dialogue,without exclusions and with their consent.This is a great service on the part of themediation.8. For a dialogue or negotiation to be viableeach one should carry out all things andonly what corresponds to his role and heshould not be confused with the roles of theother protagonists of the dialogue. Thoseroles are equally necessary and different:interlocutor, mediator and speakers fromboth sides. The facilitator and mediatordoes not have anything different to say tothe public opinion but to confirm theprocess and what each interlocutor or thespeaker communicates from his position,respecting his autonomy, his own voice andhis capacity for communicating what hebelieves convenient.9. Every dialogue and negotiation is a processand it means that it has to be carried outstep by step, gradually, consolidating andevaluating each concrete fact and this is theonly way for the negotiation to havecredibility and continuity. In every dialogueand negotiation there is a give-and take.Each interlocutor lays his cards on the tableof dialogue, that is, the things that accredithim to be a part of the negotiation. Nobodyceases the cards of his position withoutreceiving other cards with similarmagnitude from the other part. So partiesmust give in but not make concessions. Inan environment of negotiation the partiesmust give but receive as well. They alsomust stop and interrupt publicly thenegotiation though not the dialogue whenthey don’t attain what they are negotiating.If one party is to stop the negotiation itEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201264

must communicate it firmly and clearly tothe valid interlocutor.10. The language used in the dialogue is notthe least important: in order to achieve adialogue and a negotiation attacks,disqualifications, epithets and offencesmust disappear. If the parties don’tattack with their language it does notmean that the language is beinghypocrite, it’s just being respectful andthis does not mean that concessions aredone; it means the acknowledgement ofthe inherent dignity that every humanperson has even the person that deservesa punishment because of his behaviour.The proper trial to a defendant is anunmistakeable proof of that inalienablerespect. He who lies in an obvious thingor discredits persons or groups onlydiscredits himself and disqualifieshimself as a valid interlocutor. Thelanguage used is the first letter ofintroduction and a certificate for everycredible dialogue. It’s its guaranteecertificate.The only guarantee and certification for adialogue to be a real negotiation is thevisible, measurable and dynamic progress ofthat process, without reverse. The truedialogue is not exclusive. It only shouldexclude violence and the very exclusion.Dialogue is undoubtedly the only ethicalmethod of our time. This seems to be cleareven among persons that think and act in adiametrical different way. Negotiation is, atpresent, the proper process of a pacific andpluralist cohabitation.A scenario of an atypical negotiation hashappened in Cuba. It’s about the fact thatthe government does not want to explicitlyacknowledge the members of the civilsociety yet who have built this new scenariothrough an internal qualitative change andthe almost unanimous international supportto their internal move. This fact united to theserious economical, political and social crisisthat Cuba is undergoing has pressured thegovernment to negotiate given somecatalytic events: Zapata’s death, the activitiesof the Ladies in White and Fariñas’ going onstrike together with many other initiatives bythe civil society.Whereas the acknowledgement of the validinterlocutors is attained the Church has thevocation of facilitating the communication.However, from now on, the roles of anauthentic negotiation must be normalized:The acknowledgement of the independent civilsociety, including the political opposition as thevalid interlocutors of the process ofnegotiation; impartial mediation of the Churchand the continuation of the process withdefinite results that can be assessed such asthe release of the political prisoners orprisoners of conscience. This is just the firststep.It seems to be an invalid redundancy to clear upthat the dialogue should be critic and exigent.The dialogue that is not critic, that is, thedialogue that does not exercise the criterionand does not discern respectfully each step andproposal is not a dialogue but indulgence orconcession or even connivance. The negotiationthat is not exigent is indulgence or complicity.Then the ones who accept and propose thedialogue and the negotiation should notexclude the interlocutors if they are critic or theproposals if they are exigent. He who closes thedoor to inclusion opens another door toviolence and exclusion.The dialogue and the negotiation should becoherent. A dialogue that does not include oneof the parties involved is not credible. That isethically unacceptable. If we have a dialoguewith the distant neighbours and don’t have adialogue with the close neighbours and theones at home we lose credibility. This involvesall of us without exception. There shouldn’t beeither a dialogue if silence is imposed on onevoice or several voices of one party and theother voices are amplified.If a regional or international community or acountry commits itself to the dialogue with onenation it should not exclude any of theinterlocutors. It should not either state publiclyand officially that it will not meet one of theinterlocutors because it wants to be received bythe other party. That lack of coherence andacknowledgement of the valid interlocutors isnot only regrettable but it’s a discredit and italso causes a reduction in the possibilities forthe ones who do the things hoping to start adialogue. The proof is that the interlocutorsEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201265

who are firmly coherent, which does notmean that they are fundamentalist or thatthey want confrontation, attain much morewhen they meet all parties than the ones whosubmit themselves in advance to exclusiveconditions coming from one of thenegotiating parties.We believe in the dialogue, in the negotiationand in the gradualism of the processes. Webelieve that the human quality exists in Cubaand there is also the need and theconvenience of a dialogue and a serious,credible and efficient negotiation. Wecommit ourselves to that. We also believethat we have amongst we Cubans virtuous,pacific, perseverant, brave and flexiblepersons and groups that can be validinterlocutors. We believe that we also have inCuba institutions with a great prestige andcredibility to serve as mediators andfacilitators. And we also believe that eachone of these interlocutors has his voice andmeans to let them to be listened to and tocommunicate themselves with the world.If Cuba, Cubans, women and men have allthis then what is left to attain a pacific andauthentic transition through dialogue? Maybesome more good will, a great dosage ofpolitical will, acknowledgement of theinterlocutors, much more respect andinclusion of all parties, a good antidote forexasperation and violence and above all,much coherence and perseverance.The results will validate this confidence.Pinar del Río, June 29 th 2010.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201266

THE CHANGES WE WANT FOR CUBA DEPEND ON USEditorial 17. Sep-Oct-2010. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esEverything has moved in Cuba, especiallysince February 2010. Everything had beenmoving before. It’s a process. Everything hasmoved except the essence of the system.If we assess the first 9 months of this criticalyear we could mention some factors of theanalysis, catalysts, dilemmas, morals andchallenges:Factors for an analysis of the Cubanreality1. Accumulation of the inefficiency ofthe system for half a century: it’sbeen proven that it doesn’t work.2. Galloping economic crisis up to thelack of liquidity and significantcredits.3. Increasing social unease because ofsocial differences, violence andrepression.4. Accumulated corruption, caused bythe economic crisis and the moraldeterioration5. Immobilism of power: it gains timeand the expectations of changes arefrustrated.These and other structural causes are theroot cause and the essence of theproblem in Cuba. The rest is the sameold thing or good intentions on the partof some. But the Country cannot bechanged for the good only with goodintentions. On the other hand, during2009 it seemed that the internationalcommunity and the public opinion turnedtheir heads and forgot about theCaribbean Island in order to payattention to problems of grater importance.Every crisis that is hidden or disguised orpostponed turns out through catalysts thatcan seem small or seemingly insignificantand out of proportion regarding the powermachinery. From February on somecatalysts began to appear coming from thisinternal pressure that has been repressedand increased for decades.Some catalysts:1. The going on hunger strike and thedeath of the prisoner of conscienceOrlando Zapata Tamayo.2. The increasing and pacific presence ofthe Ladies in White on the streets.3. The going on hunger and thirst strike ofthe psychologist and journalistGuillermo Fariñas Hernández.These are the main protagonists of what haveoccurred in Cuba this year, with the support ofthe rest of the civil society. Everyone demandedthe same thing, each one using his ownlanguage and style, all of them in a pacific wayand opened to dialogue: the freedom for thepolitical prisoners unfairly accused andimprisoned for seven years in prisons of highrigor and faraway from their homes. Zapata’sdeath unleashed a process. The world reacted,the media looked at Cuba again with graterattention and everything started to move morerapidly.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201267

The government faced one first dilemma:1. To stay still letting the internalpressure and the internationalsolidarity campaign lead to an out-ofcontrolsituation, or2. To move the domino and grantfreedom to some of the almost 200political prisoners imprisoned at thatmoment in the Cuban jails; more thantwo dozens of them were seriously ill.It seems that they measured the seriousnessof the crisis of the country and they decidedto choose the second alternative.But there was still a second dilemma:1. To acknowledge the trueprotagonists: Zapata, Ladies in White,Fariñas and with them the greatestagreement and solidarity everachieved in the rest of the civilsociety, or2. Not to acknowledge these validinterlocutors and palm theirprominence so that the undeniablefact of the existence of an internalopposition is not accepted.An opposition which is militant and open,really small but visible and active; it’s a signand a voice of the immense mass which isdissatisfied, frustrated and increasinglyviolent. Small, yes, but where has thepolitical opposition been a majority from thebeginning, in the transition processes of thetotalitarian systems to democracy? We areextremists here in Cuba, a country which isan island with a leadership. Some times weare extremists by doing too much and sometimes by doing too little. Máximo Gómezstated: “We Cubans either go beyond thingsor we never make it”.The power clearly chose the secondalternative: it disregarded the interlocutorsand looked for a mediator. The twointerlocutors have never been sitting at atable: the State and the opposition, with thehelp of the mediator: The Church. It wasrather an oral mediation some distance awayuntil the mediation became negotiation andexclusive spokesperson for this process ofreleasing the prisoners from prison. Werecognize this meritorious humanitarian task bythe Church and we are glad together with theprisoners who have been released from prisonthough the majority of them have been sentinto exile.The negotiation has gone beyond the nationalboundaries and what used to be and is aproblem between the people and itsgovernment was superseded by the eternalconflict between the governments of the UnitedStates and Cuba. And once more, the internalconflict was superseded by the relationsbetween the European Union and the Cubangovernment. Once more, the internal situationin Cuba is intended to be negotiated abroad.The same thing that happened at the end of thewar of 1895 could happen now: the fighters forfreedom in Cuba, the mambises and CalixtoGarcía were left out of Santiago at that time.Now it’s the pacific fighters from the civilsociety.The Cuban government prefers to acknowledgeand negotiate with its “bitter enemies” abroadand at the same time ignores and disregardsone part of its own citizens. The same as whathappened with the mambises at the end of thewar of independence in 1898. The differencenow is that this is not the metropolis and theUnited States excluding the fighters forfreedom but the totalitarianism indecomposition which negotiates abroad anduses disregard and repression inside.It is necessary to continue analyzing and goinginto these strategies in high politics and notparalyze ourselves in the details that could endin an humanitarian operation but that could aswell have a possibility to advance into structural,gradual and inclusive changes. In this kind ofsystem and in the middle of the accumulatedcrisis, every movement can help to open thedoor to the change or just maneuver in order todecrease the pressure and gain time. For boththings it is necessary to be alert, to analyzedeeply, to include all the scenarios and acceptthe call of the responsibility that each citizenfeels.It would be good to find some morals orlessons up to now in this very recent historyuntil History has the distance and all thenecessary elements to judge:Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201268

Morals or teachings for the future of thechanges in Cuba:1. We Cubans, women and men insideCuba, are the main protagonists of allthe process of transformation in theCountry; all Cubans who wish pacificchanges and not only the ones whowish to perfect this socialism throughreforms. There isn’t any group whichcan be the judge to decide whoshould or can be in charge of thedestiny of Cuba.2. The support of the part of the Nationthat lives in the Diaspora will beincreasing and effective insofar we,inside Cuba, do what we should dopacifically.3. The international community will turnits head to pay attention to us andgive solidarity to the democraticchanges in Cuba only if we Cubansdo what we should do pacifically.4. A small group of women and twomen in a hunger strike, one of themto the death and the other one on theedge of the maximum sacrifice, bothof them heroic as martyrs; all of them,men and women, doing a selfless andgenerous service for the freedom ofthe Fatherland, have becomecatalysts and a driving force of thereal change. Once more, the power ofthe smallness.5. This catalyst can be neutralized, theprominence can be palmed and theconflict exported if the civil societyinside Cuba is not alert, civicallyeducated and willing to sacrifice itselffor its role and its purposes.6. The power can be moved and gradualand increasing goals can be achievedif we decide ourselves to do what weshould do pacifically inside Cuba.Something has been attained now.Tomorrow we could attain thechanges that the immense majority ofCubans wish; but without exclusionsof some Cubans by other Cubans. Ithas been proved that it depends onus and we can and should do it.Other morals could be concluded. Cuba andwe Cubans some times have been forgetful.We turn the page very soon. This is goodwhen we are dealing with rancor and hatred,with revenge and violence because it helpsforgiveness and reconciliation. But there is ahistoric record that we should not lose. Thereare experiences that we have lived and weshould learn from them. We should see themorals and have strategies in order to continuethe process with new coherent steps and weshould not distract ourselves from the essentialthing we are looking for.The first eight months of this historic year 2010show it convincingly: we Cubans will attain onlywhat we are willing to attain through the pacificstruggle, with the eyes very open and the civicconscience well educated.From the experiences we have lived we coulddeduce some challenges that the Cuban Nationhas for the next months.Challenges for the immediate future:1. Will the political opposition and thedissidence from the civil society want toassume their own pacific prominencewithout getting tired? Will they be ableto? Their political credibility and theirservice to the whole Nation withoutexclusions could be jeopardized.2. Will the government assume its ownprominence in favour of the substantial,gradual and pacific changes with noexclusions and without retaining thepower? Will they be able to? Its politicalcredibility and its service to the wholeNation without exclusions could bejeopardized.3. Will the Church assume its mission ofauthentic impartial mediation, withoutexclusions and without political optionson any of the parties when the momentcomes during this process of mediatingbetween the opposition, the civil societyand the government? Will it be able to?Its temporary credibility and its serviceto the whole Nation without exclusioncould be jeopardized.4. And will the rest of the citizens whoconstitute the Fatherland want to maketheir contribution, according to theirvocation and possibilities, using thealternatives they consider better forfreedom, justice, peace and thereconciliation of the whole Nation? TheEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201269

credibility, the service and thesovereignty of each citizen, woman orman from the real Cuba could bejeopardized.We believe that soon we will have at hand thespecific answers to these four challenges.The future of Cuba, its freedom and itshappiness depend on those free andresponsible answers.An urgent needBut this is not about phrases only. The recenthistory has proved to us that if the civicprominence is assumed, that is, the “protoagonae”:to be the first ones to suffer the agonyfor the Fatherland, then everything moves andthe power gives in.The future will undoubtedly confirm this moral:We will achieve only what we are willing toattain by our own effort through sacrifice.Pinar del Río, September 8 th 2010.Solemnity of Our Lady of La Caridad de Cobre.Emblem of our Country and Mother of allCubans, women and men.There is one requirement so that each one ofthese sectors can assume its prominence in aresponsible way: the civic and politicaleducation. The civic illiteracy of a majority,even of the ones who hold a greaterresponsibility, is evident and regrettable. Themain causes are: more than 50 years offorced indoctrination and the anthropologicdamage of totalitarianism; the confusion ofroles and the interference in others’businesses; to relinquish responsibilities andcivic liberties; the unstoppable exile; the lackof respect and cooperation among thedifferent sectors; the leadership and theexclusive sectarianisms. These are onlysamples of the urgency for the education ofall of us for freedom, diversity, pacificcohabitation and democratic participation.Nobody should snatch the prominence in ourown personal and national history from us.This was a warning by the Pope John Paul IIwho said it four times during his five days ofvisiting in 1998 and it seems that we stillhave things to learn. When everybody saidthat the main phrase and message from thePope in Cuba had been: “May Cuba open upto the world and the world open up to Cuba”,we agreed and this openness is veryimportant to us at present.But since 1998 we were convinced that therewas another message repeated persistentlyby the Pope from the very moment hestepped on Cuban land at the Airport inHavana: “You are and should be theprotagonists of your own personal andnational history”.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201270

CUBA MUST RATIFY THE COVENANTSON HUMAN RIGHTS THAT HAVE BEEN SIGNEDEditorial 18. Nov-Dec-2010. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esThe human rights and the civic duties are thebasis and the measuring stick to promoteand evaluate the pacific and prosperouscohabitation of the nations.This is a conviction that has grownthroughout the history of humankind andreached its highest degree with the adoptionof the Universal Declaration on HumanRights by the United Nations Organization onthe tenth of December 1948. Cuba was thenthe country that had the honour to submitthe Declaration to the Plenary of theAssembly to be voted. It was presented bythe person of Guy Pérez Cisneros, who was aCuban academician, an art critic and adiplomat. Cuba had also made a contributionto the text while it was drafted.Those 30 rights passed by the UnitedNations are universal, indivisible andinalienable thus it is impossible that they beascribed to some cultures or countries andnot ascribed to others. Ones from the otherscannot be separated, for instance, the civicand political Rights cannot be violated withthe justification of guaranteeing theeconomic, social and cultural rights or viceversa. They cannot be either alienated orunknown or falsely interpreted and theycannot be violated by any authority or powerno matter how strong or legitimate it is. Therights are intrinsic to human nature and thusinseparable from the dignity and happinessof each one and all persons.The Universal Declaration of Human Rights isthen a source and inspiration for all of thosewho work and fight pacifically throughoutthe world for the spreading, the education andthe defence of all of the human rights for all ofus.This step made in 1948 was the most maturestep of civilized humankind, however, it wasonly a non-binding declaration that is, it is notlegally mandatory for the States to enforce it ormake it to be enforced. It only obliges morally,ethically, which is already enough.That is why after one decade, the veryOrganization of the United Nations promotedthe drafting of two Universal Covenants, which,after being freely adopted by the nations of theworld became legally binding instruments andthey are entirely mandatory on the part of thesigning governments and on the part of all ofthe citizens as well.Thus on the 16 th of December 1966, those twoCovenants were put at the disposal of all of thecountries in the world: The Covenant on Civiland Political Rights and the Covenant onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights. As thehuman rights are indivisible the nations andtheir governments should adhere to both legalinstruments.To adhere to these Covenants two steps areneeded to be taken: it is necessary that thegovernments of the countries sign theCovenants by taking their protocols to the Siteof the United Nations. The other step is to ratifythe Covenants by the Parliament or by the legalauthority that each country has got in order togive them force of superior law. From thatratification on, the Constitution and other lawsof the country must be modified or adjusted toEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201271

make them coherent with those internationalinstruments. From the second step on, andin the term that it is prescribed, theCovenants are binding for that country andare obliged morally and legally as well. Theviolation of these covenants can be carriedbefore the International Court of the UnitedNations in The Hague in order to be judged.The safeguard of the human rights for allcitizens transcends the national boundariesand it is a responsibility of the wholeinternational community and the competentworld organizations. The nationalsovereignty cannot be used as a pretext forany government to violate the human rightswith impunity. The reason is very simple andenough: the sovereignty and theindependence of the countries emanate andlegitimize themselves through thesovereignty and independence of each one oftheir citizens who are the sovereign ones. Ifthe sovereignty of the citizen is violated thenational sovereignty does not exist anymore.It would be then the sovereignty of onegroup or government above thedefencelessness of the rest of the society.There are countries such as the United Statesthat have not been adhered to the Covenanton Economic, Social and Cultural Rights andthere are other countries such as the wholeEuropean Union that have adheredthemselves not only to both Covenants butthey have written a European Chart onHuman Rights. This Chart inspired theLisbon Agreement which is a kind of regionalconstitution though it doesn’t have thisdenomination. There are persons andgovernments that have been judged andcondemned by the International Court of theUnited Nations and others are beingprosecuted because of their failure to complywith the Covenants they have ratified. Therewas a brilliant Latin saying in the times ofthe genesis of Law which states: “Pacta sumservanda”: the agreed must be observed,respected and fulfilled. It’s the key to pacificcohabitation. Its nonobservance is the reasonfor all the ancient and present wars andconflicts.Cuba was one of the leader countries in thedrafting and signing of the UniversalDeclaration on Human Rights in 1948. Someof the articles of the best Constitution Cubaever had, the one of 1940, were an inspirationfor some articles that stayed as part of theUniversal Declaration. However, 44 years afterbeing emanated Cuba has not ratified thebinding instruments yet.On the 28 th of February 2008 the CubanMinister of Foreign Affairs at that momentsigned, on the part of the Government of Cuba,the International Covenants in the Site of theUnited Nations. But the signing is no more thanthe first step and it does not turn Cuba into anegotiating country and a country committed tofulfil the covenants and make them to befulfilled by law. It is necessary that thesecovenants be ratified by the Cuban Parliamentor by the authority that according to ourConstitution has the jurisdiction to ratifyinternational covenants.During the last months a group of politicalprisoners and prisoners of conscience havebeen released and exiled. We are glad for themand their families and at the same time weshare their sorrow for their deportation sounjust as their indictment and the 7 years ofprison served by those 75 brothers of ours,just because they thought and acted pacificallyin favour of democracy in Cuba. They and theLadies in White; the memory of the martyrZapata and the strikes performed by Fariñas(the Sajarov Award has been bestowed uponhim), will be eternal reminders in the nationalmemory of the sacrifice and of the methodsthat can lead the Cuban nation toward greaterdegrees of freedom and reconciliation.This gesture, though incomplete andinsufficient could be the door that leads Cubato ratify the two Covenants on Human Rightsthus starting the gradual reform of itslegislation with the purpose of turning itcoherent with the spirit and the letter of thoseinternational instruments that have alreadybeen signed by the Cuban Government twoyears ago.Political ReasonCuba must ratify the two Covenants on HumanRights because it would be the best thing forthe stability and the political participation. Onlythen we could speak of a “process” of opennessor “updating” of our country according to theEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201272

conscience universally assumed. The onlyway to prevent forever the unjustpersecution or imprisonment of hundreds ofbrothers for reasons of conscience orpolitical option is enjoying freedom andresponsibility on the part of all citizens,having an absolute respect for all of theirrights and duties and all of them under theguarantee of a legal framework. It’s a matterof democratic governance. If not, the prisonswill be filled again as long as there is aCuban, man or woman, who tries to exercisepacifically his civic, political, economic,cultural or social rights and duties, which areinalienable and inseparable from pacificcohabitation in its highest degree. To ratifythe Covenants is therefore to fulfil a debt tothe political mission of the State which is tocreate and safeguard a framework of Lawthat protects the citizens and makes easy forthem their full and democratic participationin the institutions and in the independentassociations of the civil society.Economic and Social ReasonsThere is another reason why Cuba mustratify the Covenants on Human Rights:because it would be in correspondence withthe wish of progress and welfare of thepresent and future generations of Cubans,men and women. All the respectedeconomists and sociologists of our timecoincide in the criterion of linking deeply theeconomic welfare with the holistic humandevelopment and linking the civil andpolitical liberties with the development of thepeoples. Let’s remember the anthologicaltreatise by Amartya Sen who is a Nobelprizewinner on Economics. The name of thetreatise is “Freedom and Development”. Thetwo Covenants therefore complement eachother inseparably. Without economic, socialand cultural rights the civic and politicalrights cannot be properly exercised and viceversa. The economic independence promotesand demands the liberties of the citizen.Without respect to the inherent laws ofmarket, even when they are properlyregulated, there is no economic right ormaterial autonomy to exercise the politicalrights. The same way, without respect to therights of the peoples it won’t be possible thefair distribution of the created richness. Toratify the Covenants is, therefore, to fulfil adebt to the Cuban vocation for the economicprogress, for social justice, and for a holistichuman development.Civic and Patriotic ReasonAnother reason to ratify the two Covenants onHuman Rights is because it corresponds to themost genuine and deeply-rooted inheritanceleft by the founding fathers of the nation: sinceFr. Varela to Luz y Caballero, from Céspedes toIgnacio Agramonte, from Antonio Maceo to JoséMartí; they not only fought for the freedom andthe rights of all Cubans but they wereeducators of those rights and duties in each ofthe epochs they lived. The Apostle of ourIndependence proposed precisely the following:“the first law of the Republic should be the cultof the Cubans to the full dignity oh man”. Toratify the Covenants that represent today themaximum endeavour of humankind to reachsuch dignity for all men equally, is therefore, tofulfil a debt to the roots of our Fatherland.Cultural ReasonCuba must ratify the two Covenants on HumanRights, besides, because that corresponds tothe essence of our national identity. Even whenthey did not have the political liberty, the firstCubans who thought with their own brains andtaught us how to think, wrote constitutionalprecepts that guaranteed the fundamentalrights: Starting by that kind of constitutionalessay written by Joaquín Infante in 1810; alsothe proposal made by Fr. José AgustínCaballero in 1811; the one by Claudio GabrielZequeira in 1811 up to the one presented by Fr.Félix Varela in the Spanish ConstituentAssembly in 1820: he had been democraticallyappointed to be a deputy. Then, at the verybeginning of the first wars of Independence theCubans, women and men wanted to define andguarantee the rights of the free citizens:Starting by the original Constitution ofGüáimaro (1869), also the one of Jimagüayú(1895) and the one of La Yaya (1897). From theConstitution of the Republic of 1901 up to theConstitution of 1940: the most democratic,progressive and inclusive one of all of theConstitutions in the Cuban nation, includingthe Socialist Constitution of 1976 whichestablished the dictatorship of one class overthe rest of the nation. We can say that in theCuban culture there is an indelible influence ofEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201273

democracy even when all of theseconstitutions were, in some way and in adiverse degree, ignored, violated in part ortotally, by foreign interventions, coups orunfair laws. In order to assure thedemocratic and constitutional tradition in thesoul of Cuba is enough to remember the verycurrent doctoral thesis by the lawyer IgnacioAgramonte. To ratify the Covenants onHuman Rights is, therefore, to fulfil a debt tothe essence of our national culture.Anthropological ReasonCuba must ratify the two Covenants onHuman Rights, all in all and above all,because those instruments of InternationalLaw, even when they are perfectible, areconsidered the age of majority, the respectand the safeguard of the dignity of each manand woman. They are and should be the bestway to reach the maximum personalfulfilment, the social cohabitation and ademocratic participation for all Cubans, menand women, with no exclusions. Everyeconomic, social and political system shouldhave as a principle and end the securing ofthe happiness of every human person andthe common good for the whole society.Without educating, respecting and defendingthe rights and duties in a systematic andunrestricted way, no nation can live in peaceor progress material or spiritually. Thehuman person, who is the centre, the subjectand the end of all the institutions, is at stake.To ratify the Human Rights Covenants istherefore, to fulfil a debt to the search forhappiness and the holistic development of allof the Cuban citizens.So because of these and other reasons wemust look for, spread and propose among allof us, the ratification of the Covenant onCivil and Political Rights and the Covenant onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights is apriority, it’s a duty and a significant step inthe path to place Cuba as a full, normal andsupportive member in the community of allnations. The international community andseveral regional groups ratify each year theirwill that Cuba be treated with no restrictionsor embargos whether these are internal orexternal, political or economic. Theinternational community and the regionalgroups have the moral authority to recognize,demand or criticize and accompany any countryin the world in the respect anddecriminalization of the exercise of HumanRights, even when in their own countries theyare not fulfilled in part because no nation isperfect. If that moral authority is so valid andrecognized to condemn every economicrestriction ethically unacceptable, it should alsobe useful to denounce the violation of othercivil and political rights inside the nation thatendures the embargo. Cuba should thank theinternational concern for its welfare andhappiness.Once both Covenants are ratified, a new stagewill be opened for Cuba. We have the convictionthat the new stage could move forward in adynamic and efficient way based on twofundamental axels: the civic education for alland the legal reform with the participation of all.Any person can ask himself: what is the impactthat the ratification of some internationalCovenants will have on the every day life? If theCovenants are well implemented the life of thecitizens will change. If the national laws areadapted to the Covenants all of us will knowwhat to do and will know our spaces and thespaces of others. It will open to each person anew field for creativity and initiative whether itis private, cooperative or public. An atmosphereof personal and civic security will be createdand the defencelessness to which all of us areexposed will be healed. It will be, for eachcitizen, like an oxygen cylinder that will spreadout the asphyxiated lungs of the enterprisingpersons and the creators. Everyone will notice.Under democracy, with a supportivecommitment and the accompanying of theinternational community, the cohabitationinside Cuba will have a qualitative improvement.The institutions will be healed under the rule oflaw and not under arbitrariness and thecorruption of the ones who decide in theseinstitutions as if they “ruled a camp”. Each oneof the Cubans will have the tools for oursecurity and the exercise of rights and besides,the impartial mechanisms for defence in casethose tools fail, in case they those tools areviolated or fall under the mafia or thecorruption.All might remain the same if the Covenantswere dead letter and if the unjust laws are notEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201274

changed. But everything could start changingif the citizens educate ourselves civically andlegally and use those tools to demand theright to democracy. When this starts tohappen, the short-sighted evaluations willstop and also the conspiratorial delays andthe connivance between the economic orcommercial convenience and the agonizingsearch for undecipherable signs of asubstantial change that does not exist. Itwon’t be necessary anymore to scrutinize inan incessant discernment, with a magnifyingglass and gestures, in order to decipher thequestion if things are changing in Cuba. Allof us will be able to see it in daylight andwith the indelible and clear letters of a legalframework internationally guaranteed andaccompanied.To ratify the Covenants on Human Rights is aduty of governability.Cuba needs it urgently.Pinar del Río, October 20 th 2010.Day of the Cuban Culture.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201275

ECONOMY WITH FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITYEditorial 19. Jan-Feb-2011. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esCuba finds itself in a middle of a dilemma.Structural changes are needed and the fearof change paralyzes everything. Cuba is in amiddle of a terminal economic crisis and itdoesn’t want to open up itself to politicalchanges. There is a reluctance to transfer thepower even if the price for Cuba is not tohave and not to be. Cuba is in labor and itdoes not know for sure what it’s going togive birth to: it does not know either how thedelivery is going to be because thegynecologists and the obstetricians don’treach an agreement. Ones are afraid thechild will die and the others are afraid themother will die. Ones want to save theparents and the others want a new child tocome into the light.The worst thing is that time is over foreveryone. “The time to go around theprecipice is over” as it has been officiallyacknowledged.Facing this gestation which has been wished,expected and delayed for a long time, thegovernment has decided to undertakelimited economic reforms but not to open upthe legal framework for the right ofownership, wide and decisive enterpriseagency or civic and political liberties.The urgency of the crisis, the weakness ofthe proposals and the self-willed delayshould not paralyze the citizens whoembrace any way of thinking, creating,believing, acting; the citizens who embraceany philosophical or political trend in anygeographic place we are. Cuba is the onethat is at stake: its identity, its sovereignty, itsfuture and its progress.Many persons complain but a few are willing togenerate thinking for Cuba, viable scenarios,proposals for credible solutions, possible andefficient alternatives. It is true that it dependsin the first place on the ones who hold totalpower of decision but it is also true that thepossibility that this power opens up to theurgency of the reconstruction of Cuba is aresponsibility of all and every Cuban.There is a call to work but it seems that theyare only referring to the work for materialproduction. It is necessary to widen thisconcept of work for Cuba: Ones can work at theproduction of material goods; others can praywhich is a way of working; others can generatethinking, another way of working; others canmeditate, negotiate and make proposals andthis is also work. All of us can participate andexercise the criteria by expressing ourselveswith freedom and proposing with responsibilityas the Cardinal Archbishop of Havana has saidin the Mass for Peace which was held the firstday of this decisive year 2011.The debate has been reduced to the economicsphere and the proposal to solve the economiccrisis has been reduced to what the veryminister of Economics has called “chinchal” (1)and according to him, there’s nothing to fearabout these small businesses because theycan’t compete with the State which continuescentralizing, planning and restraining, as if itwere a “dike”, the state sector and the non-statesector as well, and here we are using the sameeuphemistic language used in the guidelines,Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201276

which have received a correct name.According to the minister what do we have tobe afraid of then? Do we have to be afraid offree enterprise?Cuba needs spaces to create, work and solvethe problems and there is no need ofguidelines dictated from above which lookfor the debate and the support below. Theguidelines have to be also explained andexorcized by the very minister of Economicsto the members of Parliament. Parliament isa name that means: space to talk, tonegotiate, to condense, to argue; it’s a placeto look for an improvement or to rejectthings, not to “explain” things from theplatform to the ones sitting below. In anormal parliament the deputies are the oneswho should explain things to the minister,the ones who demand or amend things; theyeven disapprove them if necessary.FREEDOM AND CITIZEN RESPONSIBILITYIt is good and urgent to rebuild what is leftof the Cuban economy. But the old clothescannot be mended using old cloth becausethe new cloth will widen the rip. The old winecannot be poured into an old wineskinbecause the new wine breaks the old vesseland the wine scatters. The new wine has tobe poured into new vessels so the wine andthe vessels can be preserved” (Mt. 9, 16-17).The “wheat is not to be separated from theweed in advance” (Mt. 13, 30)Half a century has help to show theinefficiency of a model that has denied andrectified itself; it has been corrected andbrought up to date. The problem is not theimplementation of the model. It’s about theessence of the model, its constitutiveelements: the authoritarian and strong-willedcentralization, the state ownership andprocedures; the alienated planning ofresources and needs; the blockade to theprivate initiative and to the true independentcooperatives; the moral and administrativecorruption and the prevalence of the politicaldecisions above the moral, economic andsocial norms. All these foundations of themodel have been unmistakably ratified in thefirst Economic and Social Guidelines whichseem to be and are presented as themaximum of the proposed reforms, howeverfeared.As we can see the situation evidently cannot besolved through much reduced lists ofindependent work. They are just lists,insignificant gifts of permissions from the onlyowner and employer. These permissions areonly referred to medieval trades that don’tharm even slightly the constitutive elements ofthe model which doesn’t work.ECONOMY AND ANTHROPOLOGYThe economy is fixed with economy. Andeconomics is a social science, so it is human. Ifeconomics is a human and social science it candisregard, blockade or manipulate theconstitutive elements of the human being.The human person is the subject and the end ofeconomics and the whole social cohabitation.The human person can be the subject ofeconomics only if he is able to manage his lifeand develop his social relations; if he enjoys hisfull capacities, liberties and rights. Thereforeevery attempt to update any economic, politicalor social model will inevitably fail if itdisregards, restrains or blockades thecapacities, liberties and rights of the potentialparticipants in these models.There is no economic development without civiland political liberties. There are no authenticcivil and political liberties without economicliberties and real opportunities.If there is economics without freedom there ishuman and material misery. Our experience of52 years and the failure of all of the totalitarianand vertical systems show this.On the other hand, every model with economicand political liberties without ethic and civicresponsibility, without legal regulations leads tochaos and crisis and these ones produceinjustice, inequality and global destabilization;the trajectory of all of the capitalist crisesreminds us about this periodically.Amartya Sen received the Nobel Prize inEconomic Science in 1998. In theAnnouncement of the Prize it was said: “hecombines the economic tools with thephilosophical tools and he has restored theEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201277

ethical dimension of the debate about themost vital economic problems”. (SwedenRoyal Academy). It also said: “his writingshave made the theory and the practice ofdevelopment evolve by showing that thequality of our lives should not be measuredby our wealth but by our freedom”. Kofi A.Annan, Secretary General of the UnitedNations has written about this subject deeplyand his assertions should be considered inCuba too:“Freedom is fundamental for the process ofdevelopment for two different reasons:1. Evaluation. The progress is to beevaluated mainly according to theincrease or not of the liberties of theindividuals.2. Efficiency. “Development dependstotally on the free agency of theindividuals”. (Sen Amartya,Desarrolloy Libertad 1999, p. 19.28.Introducción: El desarrollo comolibertad)Economy and freedom are indivisiblecomplements of the sameanthropological subject. This subjectcannot be submitted to economicmechanisms manipulated from abovewhich prevent or blockade the subject’senterprising capacities, his freedom as acitizen and his rights as a proprietor andgenerator of material and spiritual wealth.That’s why the synthesis of economy andfreedom favors the holistic humandevelopment.The expansion of freedom is thefundamental end of development as wellas its main means. Development is theelimination of some kinds of lack offreedom which leave the individuals a fewchoices and scarce opportunities toexercise their reasoned agency…Development demands the elimination ofthe main sources of freedom deprivation:poverty and tyranny, scarcity of economicopportunities and systematic socialdeprivation; the abandonment of publicservices that could exist and theintolerance or the excess of theintervention of repressive States”. (SenAmartya, Desarrollo y Libertad, 1999,Prólogo p. 16 e Introducción: El desarrollocomo libertad p. 18 y ss.)If the human being is not a departmentstore then no model can work by turningwork and freedom into barracks in a totaland strong-willed conflict. No economicmodel works or will work if there isantagonism between “being a part of” and“belonging to” the productive structures. Itdoesn’t’ work and there is no sanity if webelong to something we are not a part of.It’s against nature. It’s also an unnatural actto divide into stagnant demarcations thecapacity for business management and theindividual and cooperative property. Tohave economic capacity means to have aproperty, to have the right and the freedomto dispose of the means, the management,the produced wealth and the socialdistribution of the wealth and such thingsdon’t work if there is fear of theunappealableexpropriation,the confiscation or the intervention of theState.Fear and mistrust are inseparable; they havean impact on the economic and socialmechanisms. If there is uncertainty theinvestments decrease. Fear discourages theenterprising persons. Mistrust destroys theenterprises and the business. An economywithout at least a primary or essentialanthropological dimension, doesn’t work.Likewise economy without humandimension and social justice is not ethicallyacceptable.The world is not a paradise. One economicmodel works but it generates injustice. Theother economic model generates injusticebecause it doesn’t work. The one that worksbecause it respects freedom lacks socialresponsibility. The one that doesn’t worklacks everything because it cannot demandresponsibility if it doesn’t respect freedomand rights.THE CHALLENGES FOR A NEW MODEL INCUBAThe challenge is clear: to build a mode thatlifts all of the blockades and achieves a vitalEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201278

synthesis, with the participation of all.This synthesis should be of:-freedom and responsibility.-private property and social responsibility.-respect for the mechanisms of marketand respect for the subsidiaryregulations of the State.-productivity and solidarity.-enterprise agency and citizenempowerment.-job and rest.-salary and duty of the taxpayers.-the foreign investments and the localand national participation.-promotion of the small and mediumsized businesses and the openness to theglobalization of the economy.Amartya Sen expresses:“Among the main challenges ofdevelopment at present there is the needof liberating the job from the explicit andimplicit ties which prevent it to haveaccess to the market of open work. Alsothe denial of the access to the market ofproducts is one of the deprivations thatmany small farmers and hard-workingproducers endure because of traditionalsystems and restrictions. The denial offreedom for participating in the jobmarket is one of the ways to maintainindividuals in slavery and captivity”.(SenAmartya, Desarrollo y libertad, 1999, p.19.28. Introducción: El desarrollo comolibertad).THE SCENARIOSThere are at least two possible scenariosleft:-to open the economic reforms with theirinseparable civic and political liberties; toopen the legal opportunities and fullydevelop the human and social capacitiesof the individuals and the corporativegroups of the civil society by doing thesynthesis proposed by the challengeswithout wasting time. This would be thepacific way most far from sharp remarksand violence.-to cling to timid concessions very limitedwhich disregard the anthropologicaldimension of economy, blockade thecapacity of self management of the citizens,restrain the civic and political liberties andcompletely reject the intrinsic laws ofmarket and democracy. This scenario willtrigger even involuntarily, a negative,explosive and violent force or at least agovernability chaos which would inevitablylead to political reforms and to theopenness of all of the full economic rights,the civil and political liberties and thesystematic and structural pluralism. Thisscenario would be much more dangerousand traumatic.Other scenarios can be generated but theyalways must respect the anthropologicaldimension and the timing. It’s ethicallyunacceptable to turn a whole Nation into anexperimentation camp. It is a greatirresponsibility and genocide. History is awitness and it should be a teacher.TIMINGTiming is another anthropologic andeconomic factor. We cannot play with itbecause we will face the consequences.The maximum irresponsibility of the State isto disregard the unity and the capacities ofthe human person; to manipulate the livesof its citizens; to be the owner of our timewithout reasonable periods and turn thesociety into an experimentation lab againstthe human nature. The maximumirresponsibility of the citizens is torelinquish their freedom and let themselvesbe manipulated as if they were Indian pigsin order to prove that something thatprobably failed can be brought up to date.Time will say. Maybe the consciencesproduce miracles before; because even Godrespects the capacities and the freedom ofthe human being. Even God trusts thehuman person and doesn’t restrain hisfreedom or blockade his responsibility orforgets his rights. That’s why we say thatonly an awakening of the consciences of theones who can decide without violence isable to work the wonder that God himself isEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201279

expecting from us Cubans, men andwomen without exclusions.Let’s do it pacifically and gradually. Let’sreally do it.Pinar del Río, January 6 th 2011.Feast of the Kings.In Cuba, the only day when the slavesused to enjoy freedom of expression andthe public space.(1) A very precarious and small business.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201280

SOMETHING NEW FOR CUBA:CIVIL SOCIETY’S PRIMACYEditorial 20. Mar-Apr-2011. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esCuba experienced during the 20 th centurythree ways of organization as a nation:colonialism in which the primacy of anothernation deprives the colony of its sovereignty;capitalism in which market outweighs theState and the civil society; and this model ofsocialism in which the State imposes itself ina totalitarian way over market and over civilsociety. The injustices that these three sociopoliticaland economic ways cause are wellknown.Almost anybody would like to come back tothe past to copy it identically in our future.Neither one model nor the other such as wehave experienced them is right. This is so,among other reasons, because such modelsdon’t exist in almost in any place of thisworld anymore.Cuba is searching, following different paths,one way to structure its society. It’s anurgent need. Almost everybody believes thatthe state of things must change. But thequestion is: the change, where to?We believe that every healthy and lastingchange should combine: novelty,experiences and roots.The experiences lived cannot be invented ormodified, they are the recent past. They arethere. The anthropological roots cannot betorn out from the present or forgotten in theremote past. The national pantheon of theidentity is also there and it should be asource and a path for the new things. Thethings we should recreate, reinvent, conceiveand agree are the things that are novel forthe future. Then, what would be truly novel inthe Cuba of the 21 st century?A long way of reflection has led us to identify aconstituent element of the social body whichhas not been the main protagonist of the nationyet: the civil society.We don’t say that a flourishing and boomingcivil society did not exist in the last centuryuntil the year 1959 when it started to bethoroughly dismantled. On the contrary webelieve that the dense fabric of socialinteractions and the enterprising andindependent character of the civil societyduring the first five decades of the 20 th centurybuilt a republic with lights and shadows. Buteven with its injustices and inequalities, thatrepublic carried in its heart a plural, inclusiveand democratic seed, in spite of everything.The novelty and the concept of civil societyWe believe that “the novel thing” would be toachieve the rebuilding of the civil society withthe free and plural participation of all Cubansfrom the Island and from the Diaspora, first ofall, by reaching an agreement on theidentification and acknowledgement of whatthe term “novel”, which is relativelycontemporary, means to Cuba. Manyunderstand it this way:-It’s the open, complex, diverse, inclusive andinteractive collection of relations and resourcesthat constitute a social fabric or a civicframework of all those natural groups; social,cultural, sports, political, professional, welfare,supportive associations; of all those religious,Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201281

fraternal, humanitarian institutions; of allthose organizations whether they are local,national or international.All of them should have as commoncharacteristics:1. They should be autonomous from anystructure of the State, in theirfoundation, in their procedures, intheir financing, in their organizationand actions; they should really benon-governmental.2. They should follow pacific andproactive methods and ends.3. They should be a free andparticipative public space. This publicspace also allows the groups of civilsociety to debate, to pressure,denounce or cooperate with the Stateand with the structures of the market,as well as to create states of opinionand pacific and democratic pressure.The debate of the civic and politicalmatters is also a part of the very civilsociety as if it were its atmosphere orhabitat. This civic fabric, that networkof initiatives, would give theFatherland the third leg or the thirdpillar back; the third column of thenational home which is the civilsociety and it would reach suchprominence and levels ofparticipation that it would assume theprimacy in the public administrationand in the progress and the holisticdevelopment of the nation, withoutthe exclusion of the Market or theState.The civil society: the new name fordemocracyThe way to interrelate the three legs ofthe stool of the nation will define thecharacter, the efficiency and thedurability of democracy in Cuba. Theinterdependence and mutual control ofthe three powers of the State, which is abasic and a foundational principle and anaccepted and acceptable patrimony ofthe modern States, should also beimplemented in the relations between theState, the Market and the Civil Society.The democracy with the absolute primacy ofthe market causes inequalities, injusticesand exclusions.The democracy of the Marxist-Leninistsocialism causes the same and itestablishes a dictatorship of one class overanother.The democracy with the primacy of civilsociety would be a way to organize thesociety as:-A school of empowerment, leadership,inclusion and self-management.-A fabric of solidarity and a subsidiaryprinciple.-A network of control and pressure over theMarket and the State.-It generates creativity, richness and acommunitarian patrimony, created anddistributed as fairly as possible.Civil Society: Catalyst of Governabilityand GovernanceWhat gives true consistency to a nation isnot only the capacity of its politicalgovernment, that is, its governability. It’salso and above all, the capacity of itscitizens to organize themselves in theframework of the civil society, and this isknown as governance.Some countries change their primeministers and cabinets with incrediblefrequency. These ministers and cabinetsundergo crisis and lack of credibility fromtheir parliaments; however, these arecountries which don’t lose their socialstability or their economic growth or theirinternational role and their governabilityturns itself sustainable because of theresponsible exercise of governance.The strongest the role of the civil society is,the more reduced and efficient theregulating role of the political power is, andthis political power should contribute thelegal framework and the guarantee of thesocial security in a subsidiary way.Differences between the power vacuum andthe civil society vacuum.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201282

If the power vacuum can lead to violence,social disorder and bloodshed during thetransit period, the civil society vacuumcan lead to:- The absence of governance during thechange so that the responsibility of the“design” of the project can lie again inthe hands of a group or a person who are“enlightened” and this leads to the usualleaderships or populisms.-A democracy that does not have asociety educated and exercised indemocratic methods and without spacesto experience democracy; without thenecessary empowerment and with thehereditary social anomy which is theanemia of democracies.-A very stringent economic participationwhich may fall in the hands of the Stateagain or in the hands of some fewpowerful or some “more clever” persons,organized in new mafias.-The political parties wouldn’t have acounterpart in civic movements andinstitutions and this situation may lead tothe particracies which mutilates theparticipation of citizens.-The State could intervene directly in thelife of each citizen without intermediateinstitutions that can regulate the Statecompetence, support its procedures ordenounce its excesses.What would be the new prominence ofthe civil society?Václav Havel, ex president of the CzechRepublic, has said: “The most importantaspect of civil society is another. It allowspeople to fulfil themselves. The humanbeings are not only manufacturers,businessmen or consumers. They arealso, and this is maybe their mostintimate quality, persons who want to bewith other persons, who long for ways tolive together and cooperate, who want tohave an influence on what happensaround them. People want them to beacknowledged because of what theycontribute to their environment. The civilsociety is one of the key ways to spread ourhuman nature in its entirety”. (Havel, Václav.“Civil Society is the Most Legitimate Thingof Democracy”). Vitral Magazine, Year VIII.Nº 45. September-October 2001, page 57)The new prominence of civil society couldbe conceived as:-A route to gain access to the participationin the rest of the sectors of society (political,economic, cultural, religious).-A reserve of civic education so that eachperson can exercise the citizen sovereigntythat corresponds to him by right.-A school of participation for a moreefficient participative democracy.-A source of progress in the economicaspect and the holistic human development.-A factor of pressure to control the politicalpower, the market and the State.-A network of solidarity to promote andassist the most vulnerable.-A shield of protection and empowermentfor defenceless citizens and minoritygroups.To interact is the attitude and the task torebuild the fabric of the civil societyMany times the absence of a pretendedunity of the civil society in Cuba has beencriticised. Some work tirelessly trying tofind alternative ways to reach a consensus.And this is good. Every nation needs “lowestcommon denominators” to prevent it to bedisintegrated. However, we believe thatdemocracy carries in its essence pluralityand diversity. The desire to standardize orunify everything would be to workcrosscurrent. Democracy also carries in itsfunctional structure, the need of thedifferent members of the social body tointeract.To interact and not to standardize. Thiswould be a realist challenge and hope. Tointeract does not demand from themembers to leave their features and socialfunctions behind, and it is alwaysunderstood to be inside the limits of thepacific cohabitation. The arm cannot beasked to be a leg and the ankle cannot beasked to be a neck. Every association, groupEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201283

or social institution should keep itsidentity, its social object, its ownlanguage, its methods and other codes ofcohabitation and public service. An artistcannot be asked to have the language,the task and the actions of an opponentpolitician but both of them can interactusing their respective charismas for thebenefit of the whole society. To interactis to connect the diverse social functions,the different services so that they canshare the holistic responsibility of thewhole social body so that these functionsand services can be complementary andco responsible.The service of integration of the civilsociety is a work of a perpetual creativityand flexibility in order to train theweavers of cohabitation who devote theirendeavor, among other many actions, to:communicate and share experiences;educate for diversity and pluralism: trainto prevent the discredit and sectarianism;build bridges and strengthen the onesexisting in the Island and in theDiaspora; identify (not define), an ethicsof minima; identify (not define), minimacommon praxis; implement, in common,minima possible and growing works; toweave the small interactive things andturn them into greater networks.Another interaction which is alsonecessary would be among the three legsof the national stool. It is about findingamong the market, the State and the civilsociety the mutual control, the balancedregulation, the committed participationand the mutual cooperation for thecomprehensive and holistic developmentof the Cuban society and at the sametime the correspondent and healthyautonomy should be kept among market,State and civil society.We don’t have to wait for the radicalchange to happen in order to see theslow recovering of the civil society.So was the experience of the ones whohave been through situations similar toours, each situation with its own nuance.It seems to us it is a castratingobviousness to repeat that Cuba isdifferent from the rest of the peoples onEarth: from the people of Central Europe orthe extinct USSR or the Middle East or LatinAmerica. We must have something incommon with humankind and we believethat the inalienable longing for freedom andprosperity is what we have in common. Thatis why we must listen to every pacificexperience which searches for the newthings and we must discern what we canapply to our reality.“…even under communist domination, itexisted, in a significant degree, a civilsociety in a stringent meaning and it shouldbe granted the opportunity to exertpressure, to move forward to theestablishment of a civil society in its mostwide sense (…) in Poland, the Church andthe Unions were the ones that defendedthese proposals (thus, above all, in theassociative field); in Hungary, these initiallyemerged through the development of whatwas called the second economy (thus, in thefield of market); in Checoeslovaquia theywere defended mainly in the field of thepublic debate and the cultural dissidence(that is, above all, in the field of publicsphere (…) These practical demonstrationstook place during a long period of time (…)and they paved the way (…) that ended uphappening in the late 80’s when aventilation shaft was opened; a window ofopportunity, due to the incapability or lackof will of the leaders of the Marxist Statesand parties to use violence against theirown populations.” (Pérez Díaz, Víctor. Laprimacía de la sociedad civil. AlianzaEditorial. Madrid, 1994, p. 140-143)Cuba has already gone through that “longperiod of time.” The time to serve as sociallab has ended.The most responsible attitude and thegreatest present challenge would be: to useour diverse and plural endeavors to “pavethe way” for the primacy of civil society inCuba.We make paths as we walk.Pinar del Río, 25 February 2011.158 th Anniversary of Father Varela’s Death.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201284

FREEDOM AND FRATERNITY FOR CUBAEditorial 21. May-Jun-2011. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.es“The Greek Democracy had conquered for the citizen theright to participate in public life. Modern democracyinverts the relation: the State loses the right to intervenein the private life of citizens”.Octavio PazTo change but not to change the essence:This could be the diagnosis of what ishappening in Cuba. To regret in the middleof the disappointment and the indifferenceor to bring the future forward: they are twoof the doors through which we continueliving.In order to get out of the structuralimmobilism it is better to think and bringforward the future we want for Cuba. Asignificant number of Cubans ask for greaterdegrees of freedom in its diversemanifestations: personal freedom to beourselves without fear, freedom ofconscience, of expression, freedom to meetand associate ourselves, economic andpolitical freedom, religious freedom,freedom for artistic, literary and scientificcreation, freedom for communication andaccess to Internet, freedom to travel insideand outside the country and many otherways to exercise individual freedom.However, freedom not only has the personaldimension to satisfy the needs and rights ofhuman beings but it is a way to break downthe walls of selfishness, rivalry and violenceas a solution to diversity and discrepancy. Itis the freedom that helps the egos and thetake divisions of the only and plural humanfamily to transcend.Freedom cannot be a trench to take coversone in front of the other or to lock up tootherness and much less to attack, discredit orviolently confront the others in the name of afreedom without boundaries or ethicalregulations. That’s not personal freedom butbarbaric licentiousness. That is not human rightbut offensive wildness ethically unacceptablewhen it’s about some citizens against othersand even worse when it’s about the Stateagainst the citizens.Individual liberties as all human rights havetheir dialectical pair in duties that areinseparably correspondent. For example: to theright to express ourselves freely correspondsthe duty to respect the others when we expressourselves. To the right of economic initiative,the duty of sharing and redistributing therichness obtained through the tax systemcontribution corresponds. The right to religiousfreedom has a correspondence in the duty torespect the right to profess other religions orthe respect for the atheism of the others. TheStates have the right to look after the order andthe gobernability but their duty is to protectand take care of their citizens as well as toguarantee its right to its own governance. Thatis what we want for Cuba in the present and inthe future.Likewise, the rights of the modern States canonly reach the public range and never the scopeof the private life of their citizens. To controlthe private life of the citizens is not only anabuse of the rights of the State but a flagrantviolation of the rights of persons, even more ifthe way of organizing the State intends tocontrol all dimensions of the human existence:the family, the neighbourhood, the friends, theassociations, the labor and the public one. Thisis the extreme way to exercise the rights of theEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201285

State and the worst way to violate the rightsof citizens. This is called totalitarianism,precisely because it tries to controleverything and everyone in every space oflife. To take care of the privacy of citizens isnot only a duty of every modern State but theguarantee of its ethics. We want that forCuba in the present and in the future.Living Together Is More than ToleranceIn short: the liberties and the rights of anindividual reach the limits of the space wherethe liberties and the rights of others are.This is the secret of the pacific and civilizedcoexistence. We want that for Cuba. However,this is only one first step: the step oftolerance; but coexistence is not the superiorway of human and social relations. Thesuperior way is to live together.To live together is more than tolerating andmore than coexisting. It’s more than toexercise our own rights and liberties andeven more than to respect the freedom andthe rights of the others. To live together ismore than to live in a State that respects theliberties and the rights of its citizens, thattakes care of them and protect them fromevery violation to their physical existenceand to their dignity. Living together is morethan to live in a State that does not interferein the private life of the citizens and protectsthat personal sphere of ones and the otherspreventing, through order and right, that thecitizens attack one another. Living togetheris more than the regulations and thesubsidiary services of the modern State thatonly exercises its power of service in thefields where persons and the different waysof association cannot do by themselves.Living together is to achieve harmonybetween our own freedom and the freedomof the others. It means to complete theexercise of the liberties by respectingunrestrictedly the rights of the others. But,above all, to live together is to go beyond therights, liberties and State structures: to livetogether means fraternity.Indeed, if we believe that it’s time to leavethe complaint and think of the future ofCuba, we wish a future which is notrestricted to freedom, human, social,economic and political rights. We wish for Cubathe fullest way of human relations which is theinseparable communion between freedom andfraternity. It’s the supreme vocation of man andwoman. It’s the dignifying fulfilment of thehuman family with a universal and inclusivedimension. For centuries, in the world and inCuba up to the present, many have fought,lived and died for freedom and rights. And thatinheritance of martyrdom must be honoured.For centuries, humankind have been growingand maturing in its aspirations until 1789 whenhumankind reached that formula of the westernculture that the French revolution brought:freedom, equality, fraternity.Two have been the systems that cameafterwards: one of them was capitalism whichput emphasis on freedom, above equality andfraternity. The other one was socialism whichput emphasis on equality, above freedom andfraternity. The results of both systems are wellknown, with their lights and shadows. Thegreat loser in both systems has been fraternity.The historic lesson could be summarized likethis: with freedom without equality and withoutfraternity, man becomes a wolf of man.Likewise, with imposed equality, withoutfreedom and without fraternity, the Statebecomes a wolf of man.We wish not any of the two experiments for thefuture of Cuba. We wish not any exclusion ofthat civic trinity: we should not leave outfreedom, equality and much less fraternity. Ourflag, just like the French flag or the Chilean, theCroatian, the Panamanian flag or the flag of theNetherlands, carry the three colours thatmarked that step forward from the absolutismof the State to the sovereignty of citizens. Thisstep was the end of all absolute powers butonly ten years later, in 1799, the new formulathat organized the power service was hit for thefirst time by Napoleon. Such has been theadvance of humankind: zigzagging. There is nohistoric materialism which makes the humangenre to advance in a mechanical andirreversible way.A New Way to Organize Society: Fraternity’sPrimacyThere is too much violence: among persons, inthe families, socially and internationally. Theculture implanted is the following: if you attackEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201286

first you strike twice. The perspective thatthere is always an external or internal enemyis fostered. The media encourage the cultureof exasperation, threat, the trench, the waragainst the enemy. The language is that ofbattle: to crush the opponent, to eliminatethe adversaries, to discredit anyone whodoes not think or act the way we wish him todo. All of this, through the media, promotesviolence, exasperates the mood, inducespeople to revenge, foments hatred andeducates badly for confrontation. Let’s stopthe culture of confrontation among humanbeings, all of us are brothers:We want for Cuba the equality of dignity andthe rights of every human being before Godand before the law; we also want the equalityin opportunities to progress personally andin the community. The lack of equalitybefore God and before the law has provokedall kinds of injustices. On the other hand, theegalitarianism by decree has alreadygenerated the anthropological, economic andsocial disaster that we all know. The systemsthat put this value as a centre failed whenthey disregarded or crushed freedom andfraternity.We want for Cuba the freedom inherent toevery human being; the freedom that nobodycan bestow or violate; freedom from allphysical or moral limitation; freedom that donot violate the freedom of the others; andfreedom of the soul, of the spirit so thatanybody be asphyxiated inside. The lack ofinner freedom and the lack of social libertiesis the civil death of persons and peoples. Onthe other hand, the licentiousness withoutethical regulation has already caused everykind of violence and abuse inside and outpersons and countries. The systems that putthis value as a centre failed when theydisregarded or postponed the social justiceand the living together.We want for Cuba the fraternity which is thenatural way of living among human beings infamily and in the community. Fraternity isthe base for living together and the result ofthe combination between equality andfreedom. Fraternity promotes virtue and lovein every man and woman. It brings out thebest characteristics of the human spirit andit has been able to write the most notablestories of generosity, dedication and solidarity.None of the political, economic and socialsystems has put this value as the centre of theirprograms. Only religions and fraternal orphilanthropic associations have fragmentarilyexperienced the results of fraternity.But societies are not organized as churches.That would be a return to theocracies, aninvolution which we don’t want. Society has itsown nature, its dynamics and its means. Thevery French trilogy was born out of the civilsociety against the absolute powers whichsubdued the human person whether they weremonarchical or ecclesiastical. It’s about therescue of the French revolution values or thereligious values without using violent methodsor the sacralization of society. Thus respectingthe autonomy of the temporary realities andtheir own dynamics, it is possible and desirableto plant and cultivate values and virtues in thepolitical, economic and social systems so thatthe human person be the subject, centre andend of the State structures, the Market and thecivil society.The human person’s primacy results in theconsideration of two of his structural qualitiesalso as primary: freedom to be different andunrepeatable and equality in his dignity and hisopportunities. That personal freedom and thatequality in his human condition make possiblethat all men and women in the world be a truefamily: “Every man is my brother”: so stated theslogan of one of the World Journeys for Peaceheld by the Catholic Church.Proposals for a Fraternity Culture in theFuture of CubaThe practical and daily consequences of thispolitical, economic and social philosophy couldbe:1. Fraternity would place peace anddialogue as a way of life and violencewhether it is among persons, groups ornations would be banned: To attack isto violate the freedom, the equality andthe fraternity of the others.2. Fraternity would consider theparticipation of citizens as a naturalexercise of every human family withoutexclusions, in a more democraticpolitical system in which the partisanEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201287

diversity would not be considered acrime but a richness of plural livingtogether.3. Civil and political liberties wouldencourage the sound competition forthe development of persons and theprogress of peoples.4. The economic, social and culturalliberties would be moderated by agrater equality of opportunities andby the respect for the equality anddignity of the ones who work andcreate.5. Equality would be reached not bydescendant, egalitarian decree but bybeing all of us, even the ones inpower who serve their people, underthe law, with equal rights and duties;this would prevent a few to be “moreequal” than the ones excluded ordiscriminated for being different ordisagreeing.6. The equality of all citizens would bethe possibility to have access to thesame economic, work-relatedopportunities and the opportunitiesof association and expression inorder to show their capacities andmerits as the two components of theholistic human development.7. The family and the school should bethe first educators in this new modelof living together. Fraternity which isthe result of freedom and the diverseequality of each member of the homepaves the way to social life. Theschool cannot be partisan orsectarian or exclusive in its pedagogyor in its methods or in its ends. Aparticipatory and liberating educationis indispensable to mould citizens forpacific cohabitation and civicempowerment.8. He market would be a means and notthe end and would give opportunitiesfor development: free, equal andfraternal opportunities. Businessmenand employees would not only defendtheir own rights but in the process ofrespecting each others’ rights, aclimate of class-struggle would notbe present but a climate ofcooperation to reach the good of thelocal, national or global community.9. The State would be a public server andnot an authoritarian father or the foolson of the family. The State wouldguarantee the legal framework forgobernability and the capacity ofgovernance in which each citizen is ableto rule his own destiny, the destiny ofhis family and his group.10. The well structured civil society wouldbe the school and work-shop where thecivic education and the experience inthe range of small initiatives wouldempower the citizens so that they canlearn and exercise their rights andduties by themselves.We are determined not to succumb tofrustration and escapism; living behind the 15minutes for criticism and complaint, it’s timefor each Cuban citizen, each family and eachgroup of the civil society to start proposing,suggesting and contributing the truly newelements and the best for Cuba.It’s time already to propose what each one ofus consider to be the best for Cuba, withoutdelay, without exclusions, without repression,without discredit, without fear. Because there isno freedom if there is fear. There is no equalityif there is fear and much less there is fraternity.Fear is the best barometer to measure thesocial pressure. If you feel fear inside yourselfthere is something very wrong in Cuba. If youfeel that your neighbours and friends live infear too, something worse is happening in Cuba.Fear can only be beaten through transparencyin life, serenity in the actions and the convictionthat what we think, feel and do is good. Fearalways loses before the truth and the kindnessof our actions.To overcome fear and to continue proposingethical and possible solutions for Cuba are thebest services to the sovereignty of citizens, tothe national identity and to the economic andspiritual progress of Cubans, men and women.To propose the truly new things and do it in therange of the small initiatives can be one of thekeys to the future of Cuba.Let’s do it.Pinar del Río, May 20 th 2011.109 th anniversary of the birth of the Republic ofCuba.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201288

TO LIVE IN THE COHERENCE BETWEENWHAT WE BELIEVE AND WHAT WE DOEditorial 22. Jul-August 2011. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.es“To live is to love. To love is to resurrect”.These mystical verses by Dulce María LOynazcan summarize the life and the work of theemeritus archbishop from Santiago de Cuba,Pedro Claro Meurice Estiú who was rightlycalled “the Lion of the East”.The end of his pilgrimage took him bysurprise in another shore of Cuba which isonly one; it happened maybe as a visible signof his passion to unify the Nation-in-Diaspora.And now that it happened there is anumerous and urgent question: what hasbeen his legacy for his Fatherland and for hisChurch?This question is too imminent and theanswer will transcend the painful door of hispath to the House of the Father. So history,with its rhythm and its necessary andinviolable timing will respond, with greaterdepth and range. But we shouldn’t let go thetime for open reflection after death and weshould start saying something, with emotion,about that legacy which is undoubtedly, apatrimony of all Cubans, believers ornonbelievers, the Cubans of the present andthe Cubans of the future: to live in thecoherence of what we believe and what wedo.Monsignor Meurice was an incarnation ofwisdom, of close love to Cuba andunrestricted fidelity to his Church. From thatincarnation, tough like the rock of Peter andclear as the second number of the patriarch,didn’t come out the roar of a forest lion butthe transparent voice of the voiceless. In thatsense is that we understand the description“the Lion of the East”, as the voice of manyCubans who found reception and amplificationin his voice and channelled their suffering andhope through this large “vita-fone” (never bettersaid: voice of life).Since the commotion of his leaving we wish todraw some points of his legacy, not with ourwords but with his own words in the mostsolemn and transcendent moment of histeaching: the presentation of the Cuban peoplebefore the blessed image of the Virgin ofCharity which left El Cobre for the Square andbefore the Church Supreme Pontiff whose longsufferinghands that know our reality were tocrown the Queen of Cuba; she had already beenacknowledged by Juan Gualberto Gómez as a“native emblem”.1. Cuba is and should be a land of libertyand dignity, of faith and charityHe stated this almost at the beginning of hisshort presentation during the bright morning ofthat Saturday 24 th of January 1998: “this is anindomitable and hospitable land; it is a cradleof freedom and a home of open heart… thisland guards the bell of La Demajagua and theblessed image of the Virgin of Charity from ElCobre, (1) in its core of dignity and its roots ofcubanhood.2. Cuba needs to make the synthesisbetween authority and citizen participation,governability and governance, withoutmessianism or anarchy.We need this second vital synthesis so much,now and even more in the near future! Thesynthesis between the necessary authority of aEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201289

democratic government whose capacity ofleading the destiny of the nation is calledgovernability and the other capacity which isinseparable from the former one that iscalled governance or capacity of the citizensfor self-management with free andresponsible participation in their own destiny.Mons. Meurice states in his legacy: “Ourpeople respect authority and like order butthey also need to learn how todemythologize fake messianisms… This is apeople that have striven for social justice forlong centuries and now it finds itself at theend of one of these stages, seeking againhow to overcome inequalities and lack ofparticipation”.3. Cuba needs to rebuild the damagedfabric of civil society which is a schooland a guarantee of that responsiblegovernability.The threads to weave the civic cohabitationhave already been mentioned: spaces,fraternity, freedom and solidarity. These arethe textual words that Mons. Meurice left us:“Cuba is a people that have a deep vocationfor solidarity but throughout its history thespaces for association and participation thatcivil society has enjoyed have beendismantled or paralyzed so I present you thesoul of one nation that longs for rebuildingfraternity by a lot of liberty and solidarity”.4. Cuba must recognize and promote theprimacy of the human person above all ofthe other structures of the nation.The anthropologic failure is the worst of thedamages of the State paternalism. The wayout must be found, according to Meurice’slegacy, through a process of personalizationand empowerment of the citizens for themto be able to choose and design their ownlife project: “I present you all of the Cubansand the ones from Santiago de Cuba whocannot find a meaning for their lives, whohave not been able to choose and develop alife project because of a path ofdepersonalization which is a result ofpaternalism”.5. Cuba needs a deep civic educationwhich can allow people to discern andvalue their nation and their roots.The civic and political illiteracy which is a resultof the ideological manipulation of teaching hasproduced confusion and uprootness. That lossof the ethical consciousness leads togeneralization and escapism. To educate is toteach how to discern and not how to maneuverin the consciousnesses that are confused. Thatis why in that “Antonio Maceo” Square thediagnosis that follows resounded so strongly;this was the first time that someone said it soclearly and so publicly for four decades. Thewhole world listened to it; it was the voice ofthe Lion from the East. Though in a decreasingway, confusion still goes on: “I present you agroup of Cubans who have mixed up theconcept of Fatherland with one party; who havemixed up the concept of nation with thehistoric process we have experienced for thelast decades and they have mixed up culturewith one ideology. They are Cubans who rejectall at once without discernment so they feelrootless; they reject everything from here andovervalue all that is foreign”.6. Cuba must strengthen its geographic andpolitical independence by promoting thecitizen sovereignty of every human person.There is an inseparable relationship which isdirectly proportional, between personalfreedom and national independence. Thisrelationship has been negatively shown in Cubabecause of the results of economic and politicaldependence, very hard to overcome, first on theUSSR and the socialist field and then onVenezuela. This dependence has coincided withthe restriction on personal liberties. Manycountries from “primitive” capitalism and from“real” socialism as well have suffered thishemiplegia in their sovereignty. The PrimatialAchbishop from Cuba used to describe it likethis: “this people have defended the sovereigntyof its geographic boundaries with true dignitybut we have forgotten a little bit that thisindependence must arise from the sovereigntyof the human person who sustains from belowevery project as a nation”.7. Cuba needs to learn from themulticentenarian history of one part of itspeople which is the Church. Its lights andshadows of yesterday warn and educate todiscern today’s lights and shadows.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201290

The necessary laicism of the State and theright to religious freedom of all Cubans, menand women, should not be an uncivil pretextto erase in one go, the history of this Islandwhich is overlapped, whether we want it ornot, with the Church that came from Spainand got mixed with the African and theprotestant Churches and made up themiscellaneous fabric of the national “ajiaco”(2). Better than erase we should rescue thememory of these paths of the Nation’s soul.If we are forgetful of everything related tothe values of the spirit and if we replacethem with secularist complexes, ideologicalmessianisms or denominational taboos, thespirit of the peoples dry out and also theyare submitted to the most spurious idols andslaveries. Once more, Dulce María Loynazhad said it in a poetic way: “if we don’t useour soul as a root, we dry out”. That’s why Iconsider that this part of the words said byMonsignor Meurice should not be obviatedor left only for Catholics. Cuba’s matrix, forbeing Catholic, which means “universal” isand should be a uterus without exclusions.Monsignor Pedro el Claro said this: “HolyFather, we present you the glorious epoch ofFather Varela from the San Carlos Seminar inHavana and from the San Antonio MaríaClaret Seminar in Santiago, but also the darkyears in which, due to the chaos of thecouncil, the Church was decimated at thebeginning of the 19 th century (…), it wentthrough the threshold of this century tryingto recover itself until in the 50’s it found itsmaximum splendour and cubanhood (…)Later, as a result of the ideologicalconfrontation with Marxism-Leninism whichwas induced by the State it was impoverishedagain: poor means and a few pastoralagents; but the Church was not poorregarding the motions of the spirit, forexample: the National Ecclesial CubanEncounter (…) It was a Church in a stage ofreal growing and a long-suffering credibilitywhich arises from the experienced andshared cross. Perhaps some persons mightmistake this religious awakening for a cult ofpietism or for a fake inner peace thatescapes from commitment”.8. Cuba must build its present and itsfuture counting on the whole nation: theone that lives in the Island and the onefrom the Diaspora.Sister Mirtha, a nun who accompaniedMonsignor Meurice during his whole episcopateand the last moments of his life on earth, tellsthat his last words were: “Don’t split up! Don’tsplit up! Don’t split up! It’s the plea of the goodpastor who takes care of the communion of hispeople until his last breath. An interpretation ofthis triple plea could be: don’t split up as aChurch; don’t split up as a people; don’t beaway from God, from the good, from the truethings. The necessities of communion could beothers: unity in diversity, not in uniformity. Tosail striding and slowing down through thehistory of one people means to plough througha day’s run of accompanied fleet; of fleetwithout sides though they might be of diversepassages or merchants. It’s to overcome theage of exclusive ships, violent pirates or armiesresisting the temptation to dismember, toexclude or separate the ones who are not, don’tthink, don’t believe or don’t act as one of theparties. It’s to build a ship-country “with roomfor everyone” as Martí said. Under the mantle ofthe virgin that is called “Caridad” in Cuba, thestrongest link of communion, Meurice who wasa good captain of the ship of Jesus, traced thisroute through the turbulent Caribbean Sea: “thenation lives here and lives in the Diaspora. TheCuban man suffers lives and waits here andalso suffers lives and waits out there. We areonly one people that is sailing in strides over allthe seas, we continue seeking unity which willnever be the result of uniformity but the resultof a common and shared soul based ondiversity”.9. Cuba must identify what its major povertyis and work in order to be out of it: the lackof freedom.Amartya Sen is a recognized Hindu economistwho has made a contribution to humanity: thedemonstration of a social scientist about thereciprocal relation between personal freedomand the development of peoples. We Cubans,men and women, know by the experiencebacked up with every day life, that no reformor updating of any economic, political or socialsystem will result in the development of thenation if we don’t recognize legally, promote insociety and educate consciously that thefreedom of the human person is the base, thefoundation and the driving force of everyprogress. Without freedom there is noresponsibility and without responsibility thereEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201291

is no possible development. Back in thecontext of 1898 this truth was as visible as alight in the dark and so states the patriarchwho presents his people: “The Church inLatin America made in Puebla the option forthe poor and the poorest amongst us arethose who don’t have the valued gift offreedom”.10. Cuba- the Island and its Diaspora- hasa vocation of universality.It must open itself up and leave behind itsselfishness and exclusions between Cubans,men and women and it should open itself upto the world because the world wants toopen itself to Cuba for a long time now.John Paul II had already said it in that veryvisit. The words by Meurice have a dialoguewith the Polish Pope’s desire. Cuba mustenter the future along the bridges of theinterdependence of solidarity and thecommunity of globalization. Cuba’sgeography as an Island never markedCubans negatively. We are people of opennature, hospitable, frank, expressive andwarm. The foreign and continental ideologythat locked us in an island blockade was, bythe way, conceived, in the making, in anotherIsland in Northern Europe but exported tothe Caribbean already under the seven boltsof Eastern Siberia. Nothing more alien to ourcharacter and vocation. With prophetic words,under the radiant Sun of the Cuban East,Pedro Claro Meurice Estiú closed significantlyhis words by opening the bolts of the mindsand building bridges over the blockades ofauthoritarianism when he said: “This is apeople that have a vocation of universalityand it is a creator of bridges ofneighbourhood and affection but it is moreand more blocked by foreign interests and itsuffers from a selfishness culture due to thehard economic and moral crisis we undergo”.universal communion; because as a pastor ofthe “polis” he was entrusted with, he did andsaid what he thought it was better in order toreach the common good and that meansPolitics in a wide, inclusive sense and as thePope Pío XII used to say: “politics is an eminentform of Charity”. Meurice also lived Charityprophetically.One day, history and Church will look for andemphasize vehemently “this voice that cried outin the desert”.Just as Meurice could courageously live theunwavering coherence between his two loves:Cuba and the Gospel of Christ, we Cubans, menand women should live the coherence betweenwhat we feel, what we believe, what we say andwhat we do, without deceitfulness and withoutfear.That would be the best monument to thememory of the pastor who was strong, who sawfar, spoke clearly and loved much… and actedconsistently.Pinar de Río, August 4 th 2011.(1)All the quotations in italics are from thespeech of presentation and greetings to thePope by Mons. Meurice. The speech wasdelivered at the beginning of the Mass inSantiago de Cuba on the 24 th January 1998.(2) Ajiaco: A stew made up of many ingredients.The “ajiaco” is an analogy with the Cubansociety.Many persons these days have emphasizedthe prophetic character and the vitalcoherence between faith and life showed byMons. Meurice. Many have clarified thatthese words were pronounced as a Pastorand not as a political maneuverer becausethe coherence in which he lived and guidedhis people didn’t align with “politics” from aparty or parties. “Don’t split up” was his lastadvice in the search for the inclusive andEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201292

THE NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIESAT THE SERVICE OF CIVIL SOCIETYEditorial 23. Sept- Oct 2011. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esTo go on thinking of the future of Cuba is “aduty and an agony”, as Martí used to say.Keeping such duty with hope, we wish tosuggest the need to think how a society ofinformation should be and how the use ofmedia should be in a country like ours andwhat we can do in the present and in thefuture in order to build from now, thisdecisive sector in a democratic society inCuba.The new communication and informationtechnologies have changed the world. Theyhave consecrated globalization. They haveturned freedom of expression capillary andsocial. They are the most powerful,immediate and efficient instrument toexpress the citizen sovereignty that everyhuman person whose mind and educationhave arrived to the 21 st century shouldexercise.The use of computers, mobile phones andother portable instruments is called newinformation and communicationtechnologies. These portable instruments areused by the citizens to work on their own inthe internet, in blogs, magazines,newspapers, audiovisual presentations anddigital TV transmissions. At the same timethe citizens can catch a glimpse of the socialnetworks such as facebook, twitter, youtubeand other sites of interrelation thatpractically globalize human relations,solidarity, information from the base and theimmediacy of what happens to the person,his family, his neighbourhood, his work orschool, his church or his fraternalassociation, his group membership or hissports team.TOWARD A HUMANIST ETHICS OF THE NEWTECHNOLOGIESFrom the ethical point of view, the sovereign,personal and social use of these tools withinreach of the citizens is, just as every inventionof humankind, ambivalent and it can bemanipulated by each person according to hisanthropologic understanding or his vision ofthe world. In short, it can be a great democraticpower or it can turn itself into another socialblight. It can contribute to the empowerment ofpersons and groups or to the moraldisintegration when freedom is exercisedwithout responsibility.We believe that one measuring stick to evaluatethe use of the new communication technologiesis the respect to the full dignity of men andwomen. Everything that attacks, denigrates anyhuman being should be considered ethicallyunacceptable and the internet users shouldreject it in a free and conscious way. An adultsociety made up of mature and well educatedcitizens can turn to personal conscience for thediscernment of these means. Everything inhuman life has an ethical dimension, that is, avision that safeguards the inviolable characterof each person. Why not the new technologies?This does not necessarily mean to forbid them.Prohibitions without personal discernment orevaluation can turn the censured thing into amorbid object of curiosity and transgression.Only the ethical and civic education canempower persons and groups with evaluationand discernment tools. This way, persons andgroups acquire and exercise an autonomousethics, that is, values which are freely andindependently accepted as virtues to live andcriteria to evaluate. Once more, the measuringstick depends on the personal and communityEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201293

dimension in order to safeguard the personaland common good.AT THE SERVICE OF THERECONSTRUCTION OF THE CIVIL SOCIETYFABRICCivil society, in its very concept, is not onlymade up of the social fabric which is bastedby the civic networks. The opening ofindependent spaces and the creation ofpublic opinion are two indispensablecolumns of civil society structure. So it isn’tonly about learning how o organizeourselves to create groups or social networksbut also about learning how to open physicaland intangible spaces for the creation ofpublic opinion. Without these two pillars nocivil society will ever exist or develop itself.The new technologies have contributed andcan continue contributing an undying andcapillary dimension to the independentspaces and to the creation of opinions freefrom the censure of the big media or of thepre-civil or authoritarian states. A modernstate is the one whose institutions areparticipatory and totally at the service of itscitizens without exclusion.That modern State should be a sustainablestructure, open to the change and subsidiary,that is, a State that only takes on the thingsthat the citizenship and the civic and political,economic or cultural groups cannot beresponsible for by themselves. One of themain measures to evaluate the evolution anddevelopment of a modern State would be“how” this State puts the new technologies atthe service of citizens and how the access tothem is and also the “treatment” they aregiven in their legal framework and socialappraisal.We will mention only some decisivecontributions of the new communication andinformation technologies to the developmentand strengthening of civil society:1. They are an instrument of protection andsafety for the citizens and for theindependent groups because these personsand groups gain visibility and worldsolidarity. In the past they could berecognized and heard only when the bigmedia such as the press, television and radiogave them some attention.2. They significantly contribute to theinterrelation of persons, groups and civicprojects so that they can know each other,practice solidarity and cooperate among themwhen they have common purposes.3. They are an easy, immediate, economic,testimonial channel of information from below,they are efficient and globalized and they canbe consulted by millions of persons around theworld.4. They create public opinion in a participatoryand citizen way and they have a power of callwhen they are used the right way.5. They empower the citizens and independentgroups of civil society and make each person aprotagonist of his local history and a universalinformer of those small local projects which canbe connected to others and to the rest of theworld.6. They are a new tool to construct a capillarydemocracy and to the socialization oftraditional Media because they are open andinclusive.TOWARD A SOCIETY OF INFORMATION ANDCOMMUNICATION IN AN INTERDEPENDENTWORLDThere will be no democratic society or a State atthe service of its citizens or civic empowermentor personal sovereignty if the new technologiesare not put within reach of all or the majorities.UNESCO defines information society as “asociety in which information is intensively usedas an element of the economic, social, culturaland political life” (From the World Report oninformation of UNESCO, page 290).THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF THEINFORMATION SOCIETY:1. The use of information as an economicresource for the opening of markets, agreater efficiency and competitiveness,for the stimulation of innovation andimprovement of the quality of goodsand services.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201294

2. The access to information by thegreat public should be quantitativelygreater and qualitatively superior.The public should choose withcriterion, it should know and exercisethe information rights and the rightsto freedom of expression togetherwith the exercise of the civicresponsibilities and for having accessto education and culture.3. The development of theinfrastructures of one sector ofinformation: telecommunicationnetworks, education centers,consultancies, free and public centersof access, computers, modem, printer,scanner, information goods providingenterprises, etc.THE FIVE TASKS IN THE INFORMATIONSOCIETY:The spinal column of information isdevelopments and they should have anadded value and should be a truecontribution to the information society; forthat, it is necessary that persons and groupsinvolved in this sector fulfil some of thesefive tasks or all of them. We will call themASOSS:-Acquisition of information.-Selection,-Organization,-Storage,-Spreading.FIVE ETHICAL CRITERIA ONONFORMATION:The whole process and the internal dynamicsof an information and communication societyis summarized in the tension between thesefive dialectic pairs:1. Between transparency and safety.2. Between veracity and respect todignity3. Between freedom and responsibility.4. Between denounce and proposal(proactive information)5. Between justice and peace.NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE LIMITS TO THEINFORMATION SOCIETY:1. The excessive secrecy culture.2. The obstacles to the access toinformation: there is an emergence ofthe division of societies: between theones that have access to informationand are capable to use it and the oneswho don’t have access and/or are notqualified to use information.3. Information and journalistic illiteracy.4. The isolation of information. The roadsto information are closed. Information iscensured. The access to Internet isdenied.5. The manipulation of information. Only apart of the truth is said. The informationis ideologically selected. Only theconvenient aspects are emphasized andthe non convenient ones are avoid.6. The State monopoly over the officialmeans of information andcommunication.7. Due to the great amount of informationthere could be a handicap: not to haveadvice for the search, processing andapplication of such information.8. The need for a global and free of chargeservice of information: personal andvirtual information and advice. Lack ofInformation Consultancies.However, there are positive limits to theinformation society too. Such limits are freelyand consciously accepted as an expression ofthe very responsibilities of citizens:. The right to privacy and image.. The fair legal instruments for the use and theevaluation of Media by the citizens.. The minimum and enough requirements forthe request of information.. The State secrets.. The copyright.. The right to rectification and reply.. The right to criticism and previous censure incase information or Media harm the person orthe society.. In the electoral debates: the right to the sameaccess to information and spreading in time,quality and range..The rights of prisoners, arrested personas andtheir relatives to information or to theprotection of the Media.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201295

.Requirements to publish announcements,decals, posters and other physical or digitalpropaganda in public places.. The protection and evaluation of musical,plastic, stage works and others.All these criteria, determining values,specific characteristics and tasks could serveas guides for any citizen who wants toexercise his social sovereignty to evaluate,criticize, propose and work in order toachieve that the country in which he liveswould go toward an information andcommunication society in a true and solidway.They are only tools for the discernment andparticipation of citizens as long as they areused with good will and the wish to servepersons and civil society.Last, the new technologies don’t lead to theinformation and communication society in asudden or automatic way. It’s an arduous,persevering and gradual task. And now wepropose, only as a suggestion, a possibleitinerary to go from a closed civil society to amore globalized one; from an excessivesecrecy culture to informative transparency;from informative exclusion to the fullparticipation and socialization of the Mediaand technologies:1. To start from the power of thesmallness (small networks of friends) toinformation self-management of citizens(information consultancies).2. To continue along the sovereignty frombelow (interrelation of institutions andgroups) up to the “information freeways”.(Al Gore, 1992).3. Until reaching the global village startingfrom the people squares or new virtualAreopagusses, senates or parliaments.All this must be thought and built in theframework of a global and holistic processwhich will travel from the information society tothe knowledge society and from them both tosolidarity society and Holistic HumanDevelopment. (HHD)All who have access to this editorial and live inCuba will be able to form their own criteria, touse these tools to evaluate our technological,civic and information illiteracy in this field. Iwish we also realize that there is an urgentneed for an ethical and technological educationin order to live and make a sound and linkedcivil society capable of taking on the challengesof the changes that approach in Cuba and playa leading role in them.Pinar del Río, September 8 th 2011.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201296

THE POPE’S VISIT TO CUBA:EXPECTATIONS AND POSSIBILITIESEditorial 24. Nov-Dec 2011. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esThe Catholic Church and the official presshave announced that His Holiness the PopeBenedict XVI “is considering visiting Mexicoand Cuba during the spring of the year 2012”.At the same time, the spokesman of the HolySee has declared that the State Department ofthe Supreme Pontiff has told the PapalNuncios in each one of these countries toinform the respective ecclesiastical andcivilian authorities about the expected visit.This news which was published at thebeginning of November has arousednumerous expectations and possibilities. Morethan a half of the Catholic Church onethousand million members live in LatinAmerica so the visit of the Supreme Pastor ofthe Catholic Church is always a momentousevent that does not leave indifferent either thevisited Church or the civilian authorities or agreat part of the people that declares itself abeliever from a Christian matrix.It’s about two things at the same time whichare inseparably mixed in one person: the visitof the head of one church and the head of asmall State which symbolizes the sovereigntyof this religious denomination to be able toexercise its evangelizing mission, withoutinterference or manipulation. That is whywhether we want it or not, every visit of onePope has a religious dimension and anotherpolitical and social dimension. For this reasonit brings spiritual and political expectations ina wide sense though his visit is essentiallyreligious.However, the visit of a head of State shouldnot be compared or likened to the visit of thePope; if we do that we would be making amistake in perspective, in interpretation andexpectations.Cuba already had a papal visit 14 years ago.His Holiness the Pope John Paul II who hasbeen declared blessed and has been veneratedas a saint by millions of persons around theworld, carried out an unforgettable pastoralvisit to our Island which lasted five days, fromthe 21st to the 25 th of January 1998. It’simpossible not to bear this in mind and it’svery probable that some try to makecomparisons with the announced pilgrimageof Benedict XVI. Though it is natural that weremember and evoke that historic event thebest thing we should do is to be aware of thefact that any visit of this kind can’t be likenedto another one because they are differentPontiffs, because this is a different time andbecause Cuba in 1998 was a different one inmany aspects compared to the Cuba of 2012.THE RESULTS OF A PONTIFICAL VISITDEPEND ON THE PROTAGONISTSHowever, we wish to be participants in thisstage of preparation of the possible Pope’svisit so we wish to tell some expectations andpossibilities shared by some Cubans, womenand men, not necessarily Catholics. There isan old Latin saying though it’s not alwaysexact and it goes: “what goes to Rome comesfrom Rome”. This generally means that theexpectations of the Church are very importantand so are the expectations of the rest of theNation that the Pope will visit; the view of thelocal reality that will be informed to the Popeand the characteristics of his pastoralpilgrimage as desired by both parties.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201297

That is why it is logical and good that the HolyFather should listen to what the Church andthe people wish from his visit. But it is alsological and good that the Pope should wish toconvey his message without distorting hismission and being at the service of the Gospelof Jesus Christ, his only paradigm and sourceof inspiration. The results of a Pontifical visitdepend essentially on the smoothcommunication and the consistence with theidentity and the mission of all theprotagonists of such event: the Church, thepeople and the authorities.The president of the Catholic BishopsConference of Cuba who is Dionisio García,Archbishop from Santiago de Cuba has statedthat the Pope will come mainly to participate,as a pilgrim, in the celebrations of thediscovery of the Virgin of Charity image fromEl Cobre: the mother, queen and patron of theRepublic of Cuba. Thus the center of thePope’s presence in Cuba will be the visit andthe Eucharist that will be held in the NationalSanctuary-Basilica of El Cobre. And though theitinerary has not been announced, and itappears to be short, we expect he will visit theCapital too in order to have another religiouscelebration and pay his greetings to theauthorities of the country. We cannot eitherrule out that the Pontiff would haveencounters with more specific sectors of theChurch, for example, young people, laics,bishops, priests and nuns.SOME EXPECTATIONS AND POSSIBILITIESIt is a responsibility and a duty of each citizennot to stay indifferent toward the nationalevents. The preparation of a papal visit doesnot belong exclusively to the Church; it is acivic and religious task. All of us shouldexpress our opinion, suggest things and showwhat we feel inside us. We should show oursouls because above all it is the visit of aspiritual leader and we all have a soul and weall share the Nation’s soul. Here are some ofour expectations and opinions:1. Charity unites us. Unity is inclusion.“Charity unites us”. This is the slogan thatsummarizes the spirit of the celebrations ofthe 400 years of the discovery of the Virgin ofCharity image which is at the same time, theend and the center of the papal visit. Thencharity is the Christian name for love thatmakes us give ourselves to the others so itshould unite all Cubans and that’s why ourexpectation in that sense is that this unity willnot be uniformity in thinking, believing inoptions and in acts. We believe that this unityshould not exclude the different ones and theones that upset the government or the Church.We believe that this unity is not unanimity orunity around one only option. Any way, inonly one phrase which is, at the same time,our main expectation regarding this topic:Unity is inclusion. Thus the Pope’s visit shouldinclude all the representatives of the Cubannation, all of us children of the Virgin ofCharity: the believers, the non-believers, thegovernment, the opposition and the civilsociety, the ones who live in the Island andthe ones who live in the Diaspora. If any ofthese groups is left out of the papal visit andout of the life in Cuba the unity in charitywould not be possible. The degree ofinclusion before, during and after the visitcould be one of the expectations andopportunities for the preparation and theevaluation of the visit.2. The spirit that will promote the pacific andgradual structural changes.The pacific and gradual structural changes inthe political, economic, social, cultural andanthropologic environments are not thepurposes of the Pope’s visit but they are anurgent need of the people that the Pope willvisit and a need of the Church that will receivehim. These changes are not a task that thePope should carry out or a task that should becarried out by the Church in Cuba exclusivelybut each substantial reform has its foundationin the soul of the people and in the spirit ofthe citizens. Thus, everything that strengthensthe spirit of Cubans, men and women;everything that nurtures the Nation’s soul;everything that opens up the nation to thebest motions of the Spirit of Truth, Good andBeauty will revitalize the changes that havebeen patiently expected for a long time. Thedegree of spiritual depth before, during andafter this visit can be one of the expectationsand opportunities to prepare the visit, toexperience it and evaluate it.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201298

3. The promotion of the sovereignty ofcitizens and a national inclusive dialogueabout essential topics.The people that the Pope will visit and eventhe Catholic Church that is preparing his visitwhich is a part of that people have had adeficit in citizen education and ethicaleducation to live in freedom, responsibility,participative democracy and fraternity duringmore than half a century. This civic and moralilliteracy is one of the greatest shortages ofthe people and the Church the Pope will visit.It’s a pastoral and evangelizing duty of theChurch to contribute, with its educativemission, to the education for citizensovereignty, responsible civic participationand the inseparable coherence between ethicsand politics without choosing any ideology orpartisan political option. One of theexpectations and opportunities to prepare thisvisit, to experience it and evaluate it is theendeavour for an ethical and civic educationthat may be present before, during and afterthe visit. This education would lead to anauthentic national dialogue without exclusionsin order to deal with every essential topic.4. The reconstruction of the sovereign fabricof civil society.The reconstruction of the sovereign fabric ofcivil society is a long-term task and aconsequence of the education of each personas a citizen, of the ethical responsibility and aspiritual mystique in order to achieve that thediscouragement, the human miseries and thematerialist and hedonistic interests do notdestroy this task for the present and thefuture of Cuba. The Pope’s visit, the way oflife and work of the very Church as aparadigm of one of the communities in civilsociety could be a view, a motion and apossibility of work on the occasion of thePontiff’s visit. The preparation, the carryingout and the ecclesial style that the Pope’s visitto Cuba will leave can be a testimonial andprophetic school for the reconstruction of asound civil society. At the same time that lifeschool for civil society can be an expectationand an opportunity to prepare the visit, toexperience it and to evaluate it before, duringand after the visit.4. The decriminalization of discrepancy.Cuba needs, above all, to live in the respectand the agreement of diversity which isnatural and desirable in a sound society. Cubaneeds to decriminalize discrepancy, such as arelevant journalist in Camagüey has said. Themission of Christianity is, according to theGospel of Saint Luke in its chapter 4, 18-21:To preach the Gospel to the poor; to proclaimliberty to the captives and recovery of sight tothe blind; to set at liberty those who areoppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year ofthe Lord”.That’s to mark the visit of the Pastor of theChurch we can expect: an amnesty for all thepolitical prisoners or prisoners of conscience,rather than pardon; the cessation of allrepression and to change the climate ofexasperation we find in the media and on thestreets: an environment of war, conspiracyand espionage that harms the Nation’s souland the spirit of Cubanhood: to change allthat toward an atmosphere of confidence andfraternity. This good news, guaranteed andconsolidated by the completedecriminalization of discrepancy, before,during and after the pontifical visit can be oneof the expectations and opportunities toprepare the visit, to experience it and evaluateit.6. Toward a true religious freedom.The true religious freedom in a modern laicState is not “the permit” for each action orwork by the churches and it is not having aspecial office to control their activities or toexclude some works, persons and groupsfrom the Church in order to obtain “thenormalization” of the relations between theChurch and the State. These relations will onlybe normal when the Churches enjoy a truereligious freedom guaranteed by law orConcordat, by the renewal of mentality and bya social environment of freedom and respectfor all the believers. The religious freedom isnot a privilege for the ecclesiastic institutionsbut a right of each citizen and eachcommunity of believers. To take care of thisright is a responsibility of the Hierarchy of theChurch and the civil Authority as well. Therecannot be religious freedom if only one of thebelievers is pursued, discriminated, excludedEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 201299

or repressed for his faith and for theconsequences of his faith regarding hispolitical, economic and social options. Thepurposes of the Gospel are not exclusively thegood relations between the Church and theState but and above all, the good relationsamong all citizens and the State. To promotethis more holistic concept of religiousfreedom can be a support and a source,inspiration and complement of all the otherliberties, human rights and expectationsregarding the life of the Churches and thePope’s visit. The degree of true religiousfreedom achieved before, during and after thisvisit and for each Cuban can be one of theexpectations and opportunities to prepare thisvisit, to experience it and evaluate it.7. National reconciliation: truth, justice,amnesty and magnanimity.Another expectation about the papal visit isthat it should contribute to the long andnecessary process of national reconciliation.For more than five decades confrontationamong Cubans that think and act differentlyhas been stimulated. Persons that love Cubaand work pacifically for it have been unfairlycalled “warms”, mercenaries, traitors and allkinds of degrading damaging remarks.Informers and oppressors have done a lot ofphysical and psychological harm. Thepontifical visit should use a strong spiritualand ethical motivation to make this mania ofdiscrediting the person instead of disagreeingwith serenity about his ideas stop. Weak mustbe the arguments against these ideas whendiscredit is used against this person. Thepeople that the Pope will visit needs a deepprocess of national reconciliation thatnecessarily should include these four steps: acommission of truth, legal processes with allthe guarantees, an amnesty without amnesianot to fall in the same hole ever again and aspirit of magnanimity which is the mix offorgiveness and fraternity. The degree inwhich the preparation of the papal visit, thevisit itself and what comes afterwardscontribute to the process of nationalreconciliation can be one of the expectationsand opportunities to prepare the visit, toexperience it and evaluate it.8. The opening-up to the world strengthensthe cultural identity and the nationalsovereignty.“May Cuba open- up to the world and may theworld open-up to Cuba” was one of the moststunning messages of the visit paid by JohnPaul II to Cuba 14 years ago. Quickly, many ofus in Cuba added that together with those twoopenings and as a consequence of them thegovernment should open-up mainly to thevery Cubans so that all of us can enjoy all therights. Unfortunately the three openings arestill unresolved, some are not started, andsome are not completed. The world haschanged since 14 years ago: it is moreindependent, more supportive, moreconscious and sensitive to the violations ofthe Human Rights and to the use of violencein any ways and places. The opening up andthe interdependence do not degrade or harmbut strengthen the cultural identity and thenational sovereignty if the citizens have anethical and civic education to start a dialoguewith other cultures and other nations.Paternalism thinks that by locking up theirchildren at home as if they were little and bygiving them a simplified version of the worldwill result in the children’s fidelity and purity.The very life denies the efficiency of being soenclosed regarding information, media,interpersonal relations, travel and interchangeamong countries. The degree of opening tothe world, to Cubans and to all of humanrights for all achieved before, during and afterthis visit can be one of the expectations andopportunities to prepare this visit, toexperience it and evaluate it.9. The transition from fear to hope and fromhope to the reconstruction of the Country.Cuba needs a deep transition but not only apolitical and economic transition. Cuba needs,above all and first of all, to transit from fear tohope. This indicator of the situation in ourcountry and the life quality we have in thisIsland is indeed measurable by all of us: Cubawill not really change if you find fear aroundyou. If television threatens and attacks; if thenewspapers are libels that denigrate thedifferent ones; if your neighbourhood is a nestof distrust and informers; if your job is a packof envy and corruption. If all this happensthen something is wrong in Cuba and it mustEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012100

change. There is no life quality where fear ispresent. If there is no hope the future movesaway from each one of us and from thecountry. A country where the hope of personslies in the possibility to travel to any othercountry in order to improve has to changesubstantially. The Pope’s visit, its preparationand its continuity can be evaluated by theconcrete steps in this urgent itinerary oftransition from fear to hope and from hope tothe reconstruction of the Country withfreedom and responsibility.contribution of those Cubans, women andmen who have decided to exercise theircitizen sovereignty in the every day nationalevents.This is the time for every one to contributewhat he thinks, what he expects, what he willdecide to do on the occasion of the Pope’svisit during the next spring in Cuba.Pinar del Río, November 20 th 2011.22 nd Anniversary of Father Varela’s Birth.10. We Cubans, women and men are andshould be the protagonists of our ownpersonal and national history.Another unfinished legacy of the visit paid byJohn Paul II is that message three timesrepeated by the venerated Pontiff: “You areand should be the protagonists of your ownpersonal and national history”. This is maybethe foundation, the key and the guarantee ofall the expectations and possibilities related tothe visit of Benedict XVI: Only if we Cubans,women and men accept our personal and civicresponsibility the changes in Cuba will beimplemented with depth and peace. The Popewill not turn all of our expectations intorealities but the prominence and theresponsibility of all Cubans will do it; and wewill be able to do it and we should do itcounting on the supplement of the soul thatreligions can give through their mystique,their spirituality, their ethics and theirliberating and holistic view of reality.The visit of every religious leader is always acall and a spiritual encouragement for all whowant to listen and accept the Pope’s wisesuggestions and advices. That is why the visitof His Holiness Benedict XVI can be amagnificent catalyst in this gradual butirreversible process in which each Cuban,woman and man should accept ourresponsibility, our social and historicprominence to implement, all of us withoutexclusion or violence, the changes that onlywe Cubans should do for Cubans.This will depend on each one of us but veryespecially on the authorities and the faithful ofthe Catholic Church and also on theauthorities and followers of the Country’sgovernment. It will also depend on theEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012101

CIVIC FRIENDSHIP AND PACIFIC COEXISTENCEEditorial 25. Jan-Feb 2012. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.es“Friendship is the greatest of the civic goodsbecause if there is friendshipthe civil confrontations will be reduced to theminimum.”(Aristotle: “The Nicomacheme Ethics”. Book IX,1170)“Convivencia” magazine is going to be fouryears old. Its name (living together) is a needand a proposal. But we don’t want to speakabout us. We want to continue thinking andsuggesting things for the present and for thefuture of Cuba always with our feet on thisground.Looking at the Cuban reality many timesconfused and complex, we see an increasingdanger and an increasing need: the danger ofmoving downhill toward violence; the need ofputting an end to exasperation, moraldiscredit, physical and verbalconfrontation and the confrontation of themedia. All this is a breeding ground and asure path for civil violence.There is no real way or gradual reform if thewarlike environment, the attacking languageare not stopped dead; if the obsession tobelieve that the different ones are the enemiesof the Nation is not stopped dead; becausethis bellicose attitude makes us believe thatthe essence of the maintenance of total powersystems is the invention of an “enemy”meaning everyone who disagrees either insideor outside the country. The ethical validationof the changes whether they are cosmetic orstructural is to eradicate confrontation, attack,public discredit among Cubans.As long as those methods of confrontationand violence among Cubans who thinkdifferently and act peacefully are notabolished from above; as long as thedisqualifying and aggressive language in thewritten press, television, the cyberspace is notbanished; as long as it is not banished inworkplaces, the Communist Party meetings,the mass organizations, in theneighbourhoods; as long as the condemnationacts are not banned in our streets we cannotgrow in confidence or wait patiently and muchless cooperate with the ones who repressothers and incite the children of one samepeople to violence.A Proposal that can appear to be naïve:Cultivating civic friendshipIndeed, this could and should be one of thedeepest changes that Cuba needs: to transitfrom being subjects to being citizens; totransit from being enemies due to ourdifferences to living together as friendsbecause we are the children of the sameNation; to transit from discredit to respectingdiscrepancy; to transit from confrontationamong Cubans, women and men, to “civicfriendship” which is another way to say“charity unites us”.How can we speak of national unity whereassome resort to condemnation acts? How canwe speak of increasing confidence if someCubans violently repress other Cubans,women and men for thinking differently andexpressing it publicly in a pacific way?Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012102

This proposal could seem not very political,not very effective, weak and not very defined.To think that this is a naïve proposal could bea reflection of the violent and aggressivementality we are used to through the media,the harangues, the condemnation acts.However we are convinced that if there is nota change in mentality, a change in languageand violent methods, the changes in Cuba cantake an ethically unacceptable road.A good gesture of change would be toreprieve and grant amnesty to the mentality ofinternal enemies, to that language and thosemethods of confrontation among Cubans justbefore the visit by the Pope Benedict XVI toCuba. That is why we would like to cite whatthe Church Social Doctrine Compendium saysregarding the dynamics between the fairclaiming for human rights, the role of theState and the cultivation of civic friendship asthe foundation of pacific coexistence:“The deep meaning of the civil and politicalcoexistence does not emerge immediately fromthe catalogue of duties and rights of theperson. This coexistence is based upon civilfriendship and fraternity… Civil friendship isthe most authentic acting of the fraternityprinciple which is inseparable from freedomand equality”. (CF. Santo Tomás de Aquino,Sentenciae Octavi Libri Ethicorum”. lect. 1)The French Revolution brought into the worldthe struggle for these three universal valueswhich should be interrelated in an allembracingand balanced way. The evils thatthe world has suffered after 1789 are deepdown a result of an unbalance between thesethree values or the absence of some of them.Ultra-liberal capitalism has given priority tofreedom of market above equality andfraternity and this has led to a visibledetriment of them or to the absence of themin the lives of the majority of citizens. “Realsocialism”, on the other hand, gave priority toa downward equality dictated by anauthoritarian State thus leading to freedomand fraternity serious violations. An era mustcome when the mutual balance and theintegration of freedom and fraternity shouldbe the way for civic friendship and pacificcoexistence both built with responsibilitythrough the conscious exercise of citizensovereignty.The change in civic habitat: principle andfoundation of all political and economicchangeCuba is a nation that has suffered the evils ofboth systems so the change of age will notcome if this change is not sustained on achange of concepts, mentality, language andmethods so that the totalitarian egalitarianismdoes not kill equality, so that exasperationand violence don’t’ kill fraternity and so thatfreedom without ethics does not kill its twosisters at the same time: equality andfraternity.The cultivation of civic friendship could be adoor to guaranteeing the other changes. Sostates the father of contemporary Christianhumanism, Jacques Maritain:“If society structure emerges, above all, fromjustice then the vital dynamism and theinternal creative force of society emerge fromcivic friendship. Friendship creates theconsent of wills demanded by nature butfreely carried out and found in the origin ofsocial community”. Civic friendship “is theencouraging force of society”; Aristotle knewthis well. Justice and Law are not enough; theyare indispensable pre-required conditions”. Butjustice and civic friendship require inclusionand equal opportunities for all citizens: “It’sfor friendship to use the already existingequality among men, in an equal way. It’s forjustice to carry equality to the ones who arealready different. When this equality has beenreached (through civic friendship) the task ofjustice is carried out.” (Jacques Maritain. Losderechos del hombre y la ley natural, p. 43-44).Even Marxist philosopher Agnes Heller statesthis the same way:“In the best possible socioeconomic world thegood life depends exclusively on the existentialchoice and the fundamental choice made bythe individual… the goodness of every personincludes the virtue of justice and the exerciseof this virtue in the public sphere, in achievingpublic happiness. Empathy, sympathy, thewillingness to help, to comfort and adviseothers, magnanimity, forgiveness; all of theseare virtuous attitudes and acts that arebeyond justice… citizens of the present world,Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012103

we have arrived to the conclusion that it is notpossible to be honourable if we don’t gosometimes beyond justice.” (Agnes Heller.“Más allá de la justicia”, p. 343).That is why we consider that the structuraland substantial reforms in Cuba will not bedeep and lasting and will not reach thepurposes of freedom, justice and peace if theatmosphere among the diversity of Cubans isnot changed. It is necessary and urgent thechange in civic habitat and going from asociety which is falsely united to a society thatcan look itself in the mirror and recognizeitself the way it is: diverse, soundlydisagreeing, stubbornly inclusive. It isnecessary to go from a climate of “necessaryenemies” inside the same national communityto a new air where all of us can breathewithout the need of turning into traitors orenemies the ones who think, act or believedifferently and pacifically. It is also necessarythat civil society banishes the disqualifyingmentality, language and methods to supportits proposals. Without this change in civichabitat we will not reach the other changesthat the majority of the Cuban nation longsfor.Let’s see two examples, using our capacity tosee the future, supposing we have not lost it:1. Economic reforms or changes in CubaA vision of the future: let’s imagine thatthose changes which until now have notmodified the essence of the centralizedsocialist system, would transform graduallythe State paternalist economy into a marketeconomy liberating really and effectively theproductive forces of the whole society andreleasing the enterprising initiative of Cubans,women and men, from here and the Diaspora.Some positive results: The economic lawsstart being respected, the self-managedproductive forces are untied, the marketproduces results, and the life of Cubans,women and men, can have a sustainablemeaning and they stay in Cuba. Every personcan freely choose his family, economic andprofessional life project. Initiative and privateproperty guarantee a more prosperous lifeand prevent paternalism and State totalitariancontrol.Negative limitations and dynamics: If civicfriendship is not promoted the economy turnsdehumanizing inequality. The marketeconomic laws, without the necessaryregulations reached by consensus can turn theCuban society into a ferocious jungle. Iffreedom is not well used man can turn into awolf for man as the State has also become.The savage competence without humanismcan maintain and increase the climate ofhostility, exasperation and ruthless attacksamong Cubans. The insatiable and soullesscareer for markets and profits can create aclimate where people cannot live; just as it isnow but with different signs and colors.Proposals for an economic change ashuman as possible: The promotion of civicfriendship through an education system thatcultivates fraternity and solidarity amongCubans, women and men, as most of ourpeople has shown inside and outside theIsland, can moderate, regulate and create aclimate of civic coexistence that helps to build,among all of us, an open and efficient socialmarket economy being subsidiary andsupportive. Other more specific proposalscould be: the promotion of the ethical banking,the enterprises with social responsibility, thesmall and middle enterprise, cooperatives ofall kinds and the conscious taxation as a wayof responsibility toward the common good; ina word, to educate for freedom withresponsibility.2. Political reforms or changes in CubaA vision of the future: Let’s imagine that,using common sense and responsibility overthe life of citizens and in order to preventincreasing violence and poverty, the politicalchanges start and put Cuba in the place ofmodern nations; the stable legal frameworkthat recognizes and protects pluralism whichis inherent in every society, is created; thethree steps of a political change are taken: thesteps that place the sovereignty and theindependence of Cuba and Cubans on a parwith the globalization of solidarity andprosperity, that is: One: the acknowledgementand the legal protection of diversity throughthe decriminalization of discrepancy. Two: theacknowledgement and the legal protection ofthe inclusion of all pacific political proposalsthat accept the democratic alternation limitedEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012104

y the sovereign will of citizens. Three: theacknowledgement and the legal protection ofthe civic and political participation “with alland for the benefit of all”.Some positive results: Cubans, women andmen, will be able to enjoy civic and politicalfreedom guaranteed by a stable legalframework: We would have independenttribunals, a civic space for debates,discrepancy and consensus and the ones whohave vocation will be able to be nominated byothers or by themselves in order to make thepolitical power to be a true public service. Themultiparty system will exhibit the diversity ofour nation and its multicolour soul on thestreets and in the squares. Cuba will stopbeing a nation in the depths of simulation andfear and will adopt an exposed andtransparent way of life.Negative limitations and dynamics: Withoutcivic friendship politics turns into adehumanizing battlefield. Governmentprograms are not discussed but private livesof politicians are under attack. Power is nothold to serve but politicians would use theothers to climbing up to power and dominate.Electoral campaigns would turn into battles tocause the loss of prestige of the different oneand to reveal inside information about hismanagement or his party. The practice ofobtaining votes with promises of governmentposts, populism and leadership will help tostrengthen the belief that politics is“something dirt”. Bad doctors don’t makemedicine to be considered something dirt.Proposals for a political change as humanas possible: An ethical and civic education forpublic life can instruct citizens to be fraternaland make proposals. We have to be sure ofthe conviction that all of us are human andthus perfectible, fragile; we have ourlimitations and we can make mistakes. Civicfriendship is something that would allowpolitical freedom to be lived the way it is livedin those more civilized countries where goinginto politics is not to learn how to bite anddiscredit the adversary but to learn how andwith what resources one can run a country thebest way possible; to serve people of one’scountry better; to become a part of this worldwhich is increasingly interdependent andabove all, learning how to take care of citizensand have their lives and dignity as thesupreme value; to contribute to the prosperityof the country; to learn how to be subsidiaryand supportive with the most vulnerable onesin the accomplishment of the possiblepersonal happiness and the attainablecommon good. In a word, it’s about educatingso that one politician would not be, bydefinition and in action, the enemy of theother politicians or the enemy of his peoplebut the brother in the common cause whichwould be the national welfare, theinternational peace and cooperation.What do we understanding by mentalitychange?These two examples could help us realize thatthe proposal of educating for civic friendshipand for pacific coexistence is not a “kind”proposal or a sentimental or a pseudoreligiousproposal or even a naïve contribution.What we are proposing has a stronganthropological dimension in a world that hasreduced the human person to a machine thatproduces or consumes or on the contrary hehas been reduced to being a defenceless andfaceless mass. That is why many peoplediscredit the inhuman market or they don’tbelieve in politicians anymore, they don’tbelieve in parties anymore or what is evenmore serious: they don’t believe in democraticinstitutions anymore. This is the worstscenario for the future of every nation. Weunderstand as mentality change the fact thatevery civilized country must have economiclaws and must believe in them even if they arelimited by nature. They must be regulated byfinding the irreplaceable connection betweenethics and economics. On the other hand,every civilized people should have democraticinstitutions which have been universallyproven; people must believe in them includingpolitical parties and politicians as servers ofthe nation although they have limitations andmake mistakes because they are human andthe institutions are human work. We have toadd dignity to the institutions by cultivatingthe inalienable relationship between ethicsand politics. That is, to put the common goodabove the class struggle. It is necessary toremember this paradigmatic phrase bySenator José Manuel Cortina who was born inPinar del Río. He said it during the ConstituentEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012105

Assembly in 1940:“! Parties, stay out;Fatherland, come in!”Everybody would ask themselves why and how.We remember once more Father Varela,founder of our culture and nationality. Heresponds to these questions by pointing outthe need of creating opinions which is thefundamental work of the press and the civilsociety; and at the same time, the need toachieve that everybody perceives that themoods agree:“¿What’s the purpose, you will say to me, oftalking so much about parties? In order toshow, dear Elpidio, that no matter how just acause is and how sacred its object is, thecause will be inevitably ruined if heartlessnessprevails; and because the human race isnecessarily made up of parties it turns outthat heartlessness which is the enemy ofvirtue, arouses distrust in the people andprevents their happiness. Only an internalbond can unite men when they cannot besubmitted to the external bonds. Then theconfidence of one party is not set up upon anyother basis than the feelings of justice, goodsense and honor and the one who professessome principles assumes that the othersprofess the same principles (…) and I say tothe to ones who are always saying: “¿whosticks his neck out?”: ¿Is it necessary to stickthe neck out…? Let the opinion be formed andit will suffice… and let everybody perceive thatthe moods agree and then… !Once bitten twiceshy!” (Cartas a Elpidio. Sobre la impiedad. AndEl Habanero).Let’s say it once more; there is some effectiveand safe ways that would lead to the changesof concepts, mentality, methods and economicand political system that Cuba needs. They areamong others: to create the internal bondwhich is civic friendship; to uplift confidenceby expecting good faith and honor on the partof other parties and not consider themenemies, traitors or mercenaries; the creationof diverse opinions and by consensus and asystematic ethical and civic education.To change mentalities and attitudes in Cubameans to change the concepts of classstruggle for the concepts of civic friendship.To change mentalities and attitudes in Cubameans to change the proletarian dictatorshipfor participatory inclusion and for the exerciseof the sovereignty of all citizens.To change mentalities and attitudes in Cubameans to change the need for an externalenemy or internal traitors or mercenaries forthe mentality that all of us are Cubans, womenand men, united in diversity.To change mentalities and attitudes in Cubameans to change power as a paternalist andmessianic domination for power as a selflessservice, with alternation, limited andsubmitted to the will of citizens.To change mentalities and attitudes in Cubameans to change the condition of living in fearand paranoia (these feelings are justified bydenunciation and violent physical andpsychological repression) for the condition ofliving in trust, solidarity and civic friendship.To change mentalities and attitudes in Cubameans to leave behind the militaristenvironment, the warlike memory, thecultivation of confrontation as a method of lifeand implement a pacifist civil style, forcoexistence in peace and tranquillity.To change mentalities and attitudes in Cubameans to stop living with the politicalsimulation masks and the mask ofopportunism in order to adopt a transparentway of life which would show a commitmentto the nation and not a commitment to one ofthe nation’s sides or parties.To change mentalities and attitudes in Cubameans also to change the hostility, thediscredit and the attacks among the differentparties of the opposition and among thedifferent groups of the civil society for therespectful and open dialogue about the betterfuture for Cuba.We know that to propose this change could beconsidered subjective or spiritual. But weknow that each one of us Cubans, woman orman, are and will be fully human thanks tothat spiritual dimension. One day we will seemore clearly how costly has been and can beto underestimate, disregard or even repressan intangible, boundless but absolutely realand necessary spiritual dimension which is theNation’s soul.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012106

To cultivate civic friendship and pacificcoexistence means to redeem and grantfulfilment to the Nation’s soul and the soul ofevery one of us Cubans, women and men.If this change is not taken as basis andprinciple no change will be full, stable, deepand human.Pinar del Río, January 1 st 2012.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012107

WHAT COMES AFTER THE POPE’S VISIT?nd the Legacy of his visit.Editorial 26. Mar-Apr 2012. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.es“You are and should be the protagonists ofyour own personal and national history.”(John Paul II, Cuba 1998)The two visits by the Supreme Pontiffs of theCatholic Church are landmarks that show astep forward taken by Cuba civil society. Cubahas changed and not only and not always forthe worse. Our opinion is that between bothapostolic visits there is a process that goesforward: the process of the awakening of theconscience of many persons in Cuba civilsociety and it goes toward citizen adulthoodwhich is still developing.Fourteen years is enough to sense thedifference in Cuba society composition andthe balance of forces between the differentsocial actors. The Cuban State has won whatlasts least. The Church has won, in the shortrun, a part of what is inherent to it. But therest of Cuba civil society is the one that haswon most. Yes, civil society has lost becausethere is frustration due to the manipulation ofthe movements and gestures of the Pope’svisit by the State; but civil society has wonbecause since it was not recognized as aninterlocutor it’s aware of the fact that it mustforward in the process of citizen awakeningwithout expecting foreign messianisms. Andthis is what lasts most, what matures andbenefits the nation most, in the medium andlong run; though it may hurt. More thancomplaining hopelessly, we intend to analizeother aspects of this visit regarding four of itsmultiple facets: Cuba in the showcase; thePope’s gestures for Cuba; thePope’s messagesto Cuba and the Legacy of his visit.Cuba in the showcaseThe country that the Pope is visiting becomesthe center of attention for all mass media andthis fact is always positive. When suchtransparency is attained the world has anextraordinary opportunity to know first handthe reality the Cuban people is living, therelations of domination that the authoritieshave established with their own citizens aswell as the difference in the methods used bythe government, the opposition and the restof Cuba civil society. To know what reallyhappens at least for a few days, gives peoplean idea of the way things are and results ofveracity about the observed nation are alwayspresent.The Pope’s gesturesSaint Peter’s successor, on one hand, has hadgestures of great closeness and admiration forCuba, its cultural and religious patrimony, itsfounding fathers several times mentioned.One of those positive symbolic gestures wasto raise the devotion for the Virgin of Charityof El Cobre to the most eminent level ofuniversal Catholic mercy expressions when hepresented the Virgin with the Golden Rose.Another gesture was the possibility forpersons from the exile and the Diaspora,members of the one and only Cuban Nation,to participate in the celebrations. However,the organizers of the pontifical visit could finda time not only for the courtesy call to theHead of State –absolutely normal andappreciable in all countries visited by thePope- but also for other encounters withpersons who no longer hold public posts. ThisEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012108

could have been understood due to itssymbolic character though not necessary, if,at the same time, the Pope had briefly greetedsome representatives of Cuba civil society:that other part of the Nation without whichthere will be no unity or inclusion or nationalreconciliation. The Cuban Church which willbe a server in the future that the Popeanticipated in his messages, will maybe regret,in due course, this exclusive omission. Thisomission is an act takes into account the shortrun more than the medium and long journeyof Cuba regarding the excluded persons andgroups that will necessarily be a part of thefuture in our country. The Church which is anexpert in humanity and counting on itsbimillenary experience almost always looksfarther and higher because it has all the timeahead. It’s a pity this time it was not like that.In this aspect the outcome appears to benegative. Let’s hope this outcome is put rightalong the every day events of the Churchrelations with the rest of civil society the bestway possible for everybody.The Pope’s message and his legacyWe consider that in this aspect the outcome ismaybe the most positive one if we compare itto the former ones; for the present and for thelong prospect in the future. The Pope’smessages have dealt with the time ahead of us,they have looked high and far; thesemessages have left a rich, concrete andinclusive legacy. Let’s hope no Cuban mandisregards this legacy of theological elevation,maximum humanist depth and above all, alegacy of a great love for Cuba and for allCubans without exclusion. We hope to Godthat once everyone is down all Cubans fromhere or from abroad will study and applythese messages that have a deep ethical, civicand spiritual significance and will not be ledby the stubbornness of what the very Popecalled “fixed or unilateral positions”.In this issue we publish entirely all the officialtexts said by Pope Benedict XVI in Cuba sothat each person can choose from them whathe understands is better; however, after a fewdays we don’t want to keep the feeling ofdiscouragement and we offer a first andimmediate selection of those texts to facilitatethe study of the contribution that the SupremePontiff of the Catholic Church has suggestedus with a great respect and all his moralauthority. At the same time we have wanted tocompare them with the expectations of manypeople in Cuba, some of them published inour Editorial 24 in the January-February 2012issue. Let the very Pontiff be the one whospeaks to our readers:1. The Pope sincerely recognizes thesufferings and the fair aspirations ofCubans.“I carry in my heart the fair aspirations andlegitimate desires of all Cubans wherever theyare, their sufferings and joys, their concernsand most noble deepest desires especiallyyoung people and the elderly, adolescents andchildren, sick people and workers, theprisoners and their relatives as well as thepoor and the people in need”. (Greeting whenhe arrived at the Antonio Maceo Airport).2. Cuba is already looking at tomorrowfrom the patrimony of the homeland’sFathers.“I am convinced that Cuba, in this importantmoment of its history, is already looking attomorrow and for this purpose it makes aneffort to renew and widen its horizons… andthe immense patrimony of values willcontribute to such task… those values havemade up the national most genuine identityand they are sculpted in the work and the lifeof many notable homeland’s fathers such asthe blessed José Olallo y Valdés, Lord’ serfFélix Varela or the national hero José Martí”.(Greeting when he arrived at Antonio MaceoAirport).This message satisfies the expectations ofmany Cubans. We outlined it in number 8 ofEditorial 24: the opening-up to the worldstrengthens the cultural identity and thenational sovereignty.3. The short cuts in the search for truth.The Pope alerts us about the traps and thetwists and turns we face all the time when weare searching for truth. The Pope speaksabout some of them: “You will know the truthand the truth shall set you free”. (John. 8, 32).Truth is something human beings long for andEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012109

the search for it always implies an exercise ofauthentic freedom. Many, however, prefer theshort cuts and try to evade this task. Somepersons, just as Poncio Pilato did, satirize thepossibility of being able to know the truth. (cf.Jn. 18, 38) and they proclaim the inability ofman to reach truth or deny that there is atruth for everybody. This attitude like in thecase of scepticism and relativism causes achange in the hearts and make them cold,unsteady, distant from the others and lockedin themselves. There are persons who washtheir hands as the Roman governor did and letthe water of history flow and don’t committhemselves. On the other hand there are otherwho misinterpret this search and go towardirrationality and fanaticism; they lockthemselves in “their truth” and intend toimpose it to the others; they are like thoseobstinate legalists who furiously shouted:“Crucify him”! as they watched Jesus beatenand bleeding”. (Cf. Jn 19, 6) (Homily duringthe Mass at the Civic Square José Martí inHavana).4. Even God respects and needs thesupreme gift of freedom.This message is maybe the one that has thegreatest theological and humanistic scopewhich could serve as a solid foundation for itsanthropologic, social, political and economicconsequences, even religious consequences:“God not only respects human freedom but heseems to need it.” (Homily during the Mass atthe Antonio Maceo Square in Santiago deCuba).5. To propose, not impose, even whenfacing rejection and the cross.“Christianity emphasizes the values thatsupport ethics: it does not impose butproposes the invitation of Christ to know thetruth that makes us free. The believer is calledto offer it to his contemporaries… even whenfacing the dark premonition of rejection andthe cross.” (Homily during the Mass at theCivic Square José Martí” in Havana).6. If we want to attain unity in thediversity we should find an ethics ofminima which brings us closer.“Every human being must investigate the truthand choose it when he finds it even at the riskof facing sacrifices. Besides, the truth aboutman is an unavoidable assumption to reachfreedom since freedom makes us discover thefoundation of an ethics to which every one canface up. This ethics has got clear and preciseformulations about life and death, duties andrights, matrimony, family and society, in short,about the inviolable dignity of the humanbeing. This ethical patrimony is what canbring closer all cultures, peoples and religions,the authorities and the citizens and thecitizens among them, also the ones whobelieve in Christ and the ones who don’t”.(Homily at the Civic Square José Martí inHavana).This message coincides with the expectationsof numerous compatriots and they are statedin number 4 of our Editorial 24 which dealtwith the contribution of the Pope’s teachingsto: the reconstruction of the sovereign fabricof civil society. The search for an ethics with aminimum common denominator whichincludes everybody in the national livingtogether is and can be the steadiestfoundations of the reconstruction of relationsamong citizens and between citizens andauthorities which should be at the service ofcivil society and not the opposite.7. May Cuba be the house for all of us,without excluding God or men.“And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongus”. (Jn 1, 14). The expression “became flesh”points out the most concrete and tangiblehuman reality. In Christ, God has entered ourhistory, has put his dwelling among us thusfulfilling the intimate aspiration of the humanbeing that the world may really be a home forman; but when God is cast out the worldbecomes an inhospitable place for man…”(Homily during the Mass at the Antonio MaceoSquare in Santiago de Cuba). “Virgin Mary,with her presence in the Sanctuary of El Cobrefrom where she accompanies the path of theChurch in this Nation… encourages all Cubansso that, under Christ’s guiding they maydiscover the genuine meaning of theeagerness and wishes that dwell in the humanheart and so that they may find the necessarystrength to build a society of solidarity inwhich no one feels excluded… May nobody beEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012110

disabled to join this fascinating task becauseof the limitation of his personal liberties; maynobody be exempted from the task because ofapathy or lack of material resources which isa situation that becomes worse whenrestrictive economic measures are imposedfrom abroad and are a burden on thepopulation”. (Farewell words at the José MartíAirport in Havana).These teachings satisfy other expectationsshared by many persons and outlined innumber 1 of Editorial 24: Charity unites us.Unity is inclusion. It proposes an inclusive andsupportive society which is not blocked fromabroad and much less from inside because ofthe apathy, repression or disrespectfuldisregard for diversity on the part of the verycivil or ecclesiastic authorities. We can’tunderstand how the government can respectand feel affection for a foreign visitor’sthinking, whether it is different of coincident -in this case, the Pope’s thinking- and is unableto do the same thing regarding its owncitizens who are pacific, independent andrespectful of the laws of coexistence in theland where they were born.8. The role of the Church in Cuba: to showits true face without fear or complex.“Dear brothers and sisters, I know how mucheffort, courage and selflessness you show towork every day under the concretecircumstances of your Country in this time ofhistory so that the Church reflects more andmore its true face as a place where Godapproaches and meets man. The Church… hasthe mission of extending the liberatingpresence of God on earth; the mission ofopening up the world to something greaterthan itself, to the love and the light of God. It’sworth it to devote all our lives to Christ…Easter is near so let us decide, without fear orcomplex, to follow Jesus in his path toward thecross. Let us accept patiently and faithfullyany setback of grief, with the conviction that,in his resurrection, he has defeated the powerof evil which makes everything dark; he hasmade possible the dawning of a new world,the world of God, of light, of truth and joy”.(Homily during the Mass at the Antonio MaceoSquare in Santiago de Cuba).Expectation number 9 in our Editorial 24expected from the Pope a message which mayexhort us to: the transition from fear to hopeand from hope to the reconstruction of theCountry. These teachings at the AntonioMaceo Square confirm and satisfy manypersons who want to overcome fear and opena more breathable world. At the same time, itis an exhortation to the Cuban Church to befaithful to Jesus Christ, to reflect its true faceand not to be afraid of the cross of its Lord.Cooperation and confidence cannot exist atany cost. We cannot stop being part ofourselves so that we don’t have any problemswith the ones different from us. Society andthe Church cannot exclude part of theirmessages or part of the persons that make upthem for being different in order to please theother part of that very society or that veryChurch, in order to talk, trust or cooperatewith this other part. Confidence andcooperation must be with all parts otherwisethey are not believable cooperation orconfidence. What is at stake is the authenticityand credibility of all parts.9. The true religious freedom includesthe social and political performance ofbelievers.“The indispensable contribution that religion isdestined to perform in the public sphere ofsociety”. (Greeting on the arrival at theAntonio Maceo Airport). “The right to religiousfreedom, in the individual dimension as wellas in the communitarian dimension shows theunity of the human person who is a citizenand a believer at the same time. This rightalso legitimizes the fact that believers offer acontribution to the building of society. Thereinforcement of this right consolidates theact of living together, nurtures the hope for abetter world, creates favourable conditions forpeace and harmonious development and atthe same time it establishes steady bases toconsolidate the rights for future generations.Whenever the Church highlights this right it’snot demanding a privilege; it just intends to befaithful to what its divine founder mandated,conscious of the fact that wherever Christmakes Himself present, man grows inhumanity and finds his consistence”. (Homilyduring the Mass at the José Martí Civic Squarein Havana).Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012111

In number 6 of our cited Editorial we reviewedwhat some Cubans hoped the Pope wouldclarify: the authentic concept of freeexpression and performance of Christianreligion: Toward a true religious freedom. ThePope has clearly said that the rights of thefuture generations cannot separate thebeliever condition from the citizen conditionand the citizen’s contribution to the buildingof society. So we conclude that: religiousfreedom is not only freedom of worship orwhat we have called “freedom of permissions”.The law must open and guarantee three thingsfor all without distinction or exclusion: toprofess worship, the exercise of the Christianlabor by present prophets which includesannouncement and denounce; and social,political and economic service. This service isdemanded of believers according to theChristian understanding of the human personand the world.10. The way to changes: teaching how tothink and educating virtuous men.“Cuba and the world need changes but thesechanges will occur only if each person is fit toask himself for the truth and decides himselfto follow the road of love and sowreconciliation and fraternity. An illustriousexample of this work was the notable priestFélix Varela who was an educator and ateacher and a distinguished son of this city ofHavana; he has went down in the history ofCuba as the first man who taught his peoplehow to think. Father Varela shows us the wayto a true social transformation: to educatevirtuous men in order to create a dignifiedand free nation since this transformation willdepend on man’s spiritual life as “there is nofatherland without virtue”. (Cartas a Elpidio,carta sexta, Madrid 1836, 220). (Homilyduring the Mass at the José Martí Civic Squarein Havana). “Before the eyes of the Virgin ofCharity of El Cobre I wish to make an appealto you… so that you live from Christ and forChrist and with the weapons of peace,forgiveness and understanding; so that youfight in order to build an open and renewedsociety, a better society, more worthy of man;a society that should reflect the kindness ofGod more”. (Homily during the Mass at theAntonio Maceo square in Santiago de Cuba).According Felix to Father Félix Varela’s veryCuban teachings the Pope has told us clearlythat Cuba needs changes and that the way andthe spirit of changes must be without trauma.This satisfies some of those expectations ofwide sectors of our society that we reflected itin Editorial 24, to be precise, in number 2: Thespirit that should promote the pacific andgradual structural changes. And in number 7:National reconciliation: truth, justice, amnestyand magnanimity. The portico of this visit wasopen by Benedict XVI in the middle of theflight to Mexico when he expressed. “The wayMarxist ideology was conceived no longercorresponds to reality and the Church isavailable to help changes to be undertakenwithout trauma”. Let’s notice that he does notspeak about the way Marxist ideology was putinto practice in the former USSR or in theSocialist field but about the way it wasconceived. We believe that this clear denouncewhich is one part of the prophetic message ofevery Christian has been excellentlycomplemented by the other part of theprophetic work which is the announcementmade by the very Pope inside Cuba about theway, the style and the protagonists thatshould guarantee changes to be withoutviolence or trauma. Indeed we consider thereare two deep causes as a result of more than60 years of authoritarianism and totalitarianpaternalism that could lead us to violence andtrauma: The anthropological damage due todepersonalization and ethical and civicilliteracy which lead to personal and socialanomy. These root causes of social andpolitical evils should be overcome through anethical and civic education that regeneratesthe human person and pacific coexistence.11. It’s the hour for coexistence andnational dialogue that banish theimmovable positions.“The present hour urgently requires thatimmovable positions and unilateral viewpointsshould be banished from the human nationaland international coexistence; such positionsand viewpoints tend to make understandingmore arduous and tend to make inefficient theeffort for cooperation. The incidentaldiscrepancies and difficulties must be solvedby searching tirelessly what unites us all, withpatient and sincere dialogue, with reciprocalunderstanding and a loyal will for listeningEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012112

which accepts goals of new hope”. (Farewellwords at José Martí Airport in Havana).In his farewell words at the Airport, the Popefinishes the masterly strokes of his messagesand his legacy. We want to emphasize theseteachings which have responded andexceeded the expectations of many persons;we had stated these expectations in number 3of our Editorial 24: The promotion of thesovereignty of citizens and a national inclusivedialogue about essential topics. And in itsnumber 5: The decriminalization ofdiscrepancy.12. May every Cuban feel himself anessential protagonist of the future of hislife, his family and his fatherland.“I finish my pilgrimage here but I will continuepraying fervently so you can carry on andCuba can be the house of all and for allCubans where justice and freedom coexist in aclimate of serene fraternity. The respect andcultivation of freedom which lies in the heartof every man is indispensable to properlyrespond to the fundamental demands of hisdignity and thus build a society in whicheveryone feels he is an indispensableprotagonist of the future of his life, his familyand his fatherland.” (Farewell words at theJosé Martí Airport in Havana).We have experienced the visit paid to us byBenedict XVI. This visit leaves us a new andgreat challenge which emerges as aconsequence of his teachings: to realize atlast, that changes will not come from abroador from above but from inside and from belowwhich means to say: through the exercise ofeach citizen’s sovereignty in a personal andcorporate way. From abroad: solidarity,support and respect for what we undertakeinside: and not the other way around.We believe that the greatest challenge thisvisit leaves us is the fact that we cannot andshould not continue waiting for a specificevent or for a messiah who should come toredeem us from outside, not even therepresentative of the Messiah Christ. We have,it’s about time, arrived to the stage when weare disappointed in false messianisms andimported solutions. Cuba will be in the futureonly what we Cubans, women and men shouldbe capable of doing among all of us, asprotagonists of our own personal and nationalhistory.This is the only, authentic and lasting civicadulthood.Pinar del Río, April 8 th 2012.Easter Sunday.Here is the key to everything; this is the legacywe consider most important and transcendentand at the same time it is the continuity of theunforgettable message said by Pope John PaulII in 1998 which was emphasized as anessential expectation many persons had in thenumber 10 of Editorial 24: We Cubans, womenand men are and should be the protagonistsof our own personal and national history. Likenever before, during the 500 years of ourhistory, Cuba civil society, which is notincipient but already growing, has reached aconsensus in some central topics. We willmention some of these topics: to be sovereignabout our own personal history with thecommitment of weaving a civic coexistence; tounite in diversity accepting that democracy isplural, diverse and complex; to agree in someethical minima such as: the purpose to attaindemocracy and the use of pacific methods toachieve it.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012113

CUBA DOES HAVE THOUGHT, PROJECTSAND PROTAGONISTS FOR THE FUTUREEditorial 27. May-Jun 2012. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esFear of change always paralyses us. One ofthose fears is the supposed lack of projectsand protagonists for the transition and thefuture in Cuba. Very often the authorities andsome international observers whose interest isthat nothing should change in Cuba arguethat changes are necessary but the problem isthat there are not viable projects or seriousactors who can lead them; this is one of thetraps that obstruct the way to democracy.Nobody would be so irresponsible as to opena process of structural transformations ifthere are no projects, persons and groups thatlead and channel these urgent and necessarychanges in a civilized way.If that were so Cuba would be destined forever to living submitted to authoritarianismsof all signs. The country would be seized withpolitical mafias and auctions for corruptentrepreneurs. Cuba would unviable and noone would be able to live in this land. Soserious is the fact of disregarding or bury theexistence of projects and protagonists underdeceiving propaganda. Who could beinterested in this future for Cuba? What is thepurpose of disregarding, discredit or sendingto the catacombs the best thinkers, the mostviable and moderate projects and the mostindependent part of the social actors?By acting like that Cuba would be the onlycountry in the world that would condemnitself to live in social anomie, in politicalvacuity and in the mercantile pillage in thehands of a few who do have viable andprofitable economic and commercial projects.The three bars of the internal blockade todemocracy and three proposals for thefutureThree fundamental factors constitute this trapthat blockades the way to structural changesfrom inside.1. To disregard or exclude social, politicalor economic actors that have very diverseopinions because they are not recognized oraccepted by the government is to leave theinclusive project of transformations leaderlessand it means to leave all the responsibility andthe partisan acting of changes in the hands ofthe ones who hold the power. Some who stillthink with leadership or messianic mentalitycomplain that there is not “one” notable leaderthat should be “the illumined”, “the voice” ofthe Nation, the one to be followed by all. Thiswould not be the best thing for Cuba becauseit leads directly to new ways of populistauthoritarianism. There is no democracy orchange to democracy with no actors ofpolitical opposition, with no enterprisingpersons of an economic diversification andfree competition, with no protagonists of thewide range of alternatives of an independentcivil society. To say that they don’t exist or tolet them out of the place wheretransformations are emerging is to amputatethe Fatherland, to exclude one part of itschildren and to reject pieces of the nationalpuzzle. It doesn’t matter where the puzzlestarts to be done; the important thing is thatall pieces should fit in the process and be onthe table.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012114

In view of the exclusion of the social actorswe propose: The ways to a participatorydemocracy and to a modern State of Rightsare the ones that favour institutional spaceswhere the protagonists should be and findequal opportunities and equal means to servethe Nation among all and through public andparticipatory debate as a body of limited andshared leadership, as a community of electedactors controlled by their voters. Nobody shallbe above the law and the democraticinstitutions. The support of the voters will begained by the ones who are more inclusiveand the ones who serve the Nation more, theservers who show that they know how to workin a team, how to be respectful of otherprotagonists who are equal in dignity andopportunities; the servers who are able toobserve alternation in power; servers and notleaders is what Cuba needs.2. Disregarding or excluding some orall of the political, social, economicprograms and projects which arealternative and pacific is to deprive theFatherland of its dreams and hope; it is toclose the way to a civilized and gradualchange in peace as we all want. Some who stillthink with totalitarian or exclusive mentalitycomplain that there is no “project” which“unites all”, which “represents the Nation” andshould be its new perfect and finished utopia.That is not what other Cubans, women andmen want for Cuba because it leads directly tonew authoritarianisms and new exclusions.In view of the exclusion of projects andsocial programs we propose: The ways ofinclusive democracy and modern State ofRights are necessarily plural, diverse anddissenting; or they are not democratic. Tothink that unity is uniformity is not only apolitical mistake but an unacceptable ethicalattitude whatever its color is. There is nonational and democratic unity if it is not aunity in diversity. That unity in diversity canonly be achieved by opening public spaces ofproposals, debates and decision taking thatshould convene and include all political, socialand economic projects which are pacific,gradual and respectful of national sovereigntyand the sovereignty of citizens. The majoritysupport will be gained by those programs orprojects which are more inclusive and whichpropose the search for the common good ofthe Nation with more efficiency and realismand not the partisan privileges.3. Disregarding or excluding the sourceof thought for the present and the future inCuba is to sever the spirit and the mystique ofthe Nation; it’s to hinder its creativity and theideation of the itineraries to democracy. Tosilence the pacific thinkers whatever theirphilosophical, political, economic or religiousschools should be means to make the Nation’ssoul wither. Some who think that there shouldbe only one ideology for the changes or thosewho don’t think first of “thinking” becausethey are paying attention to the every daystrive for survival do not notice that a“hatchery” of thoughts is appearing insideCuba and in its Diaspora.In view of the exclusion of the schools ofthought we propose: The most wide anddiverse rainbow of ideas is articulating amongthe thinkers of all ages, of all politicalaffiliations or not specific affiliation. There isno country with only one ideology. Theschools of thought that will convene a greaternumber of Cubans, women and men will bethe ones with wider range, the most tolerantand the most pacific ones; the ones thatshould submit themselves more to thescrutiny of dialogue and public debate; themost inclusive ones.What Cuba needs in order to construct,piece by piece, the way to democracyThen we could say that Cuba does not needmore than this to the ones who paralize or tryto monopolize, for their sake, the process ofchanges by arguing that there is nooutstanding leader or viable project. Cubapast and recent history absolutely showswhere these two messianic and exclusiveaspirations lead.On the contrary Cuba needs to believe andconvince itself that democracy is made blockby block, step by step counting on all thepieces of the national puzzle. WinstonChurchill used to say this very serious joke:“Democracy is the worst of all politicalsystems with the exception of the rest ofthem”. This can be one of the lessons onpolitics Cuba needs most in order to get outof its civic illiteracy. Perfect and unreformable,Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012115

everlasting projects shall be never soughtagain. Democracy is the art of sizing up withno improvisation or opportunism and withoutunethical pragmatism. And the sizing upmeans not to tie up ourselves or the Nation toany exclusive political, economic or socialproject and in no way to one project whichconsiders itself the Kingdom of Heaven hereon this Earth.What Cuba needs is to learn how to do thenational puzzle patiently without rejecting,disqualifying or destroying any of its “pieces”which are not pieces but free and responsiblecitizens or pacific and not sectarian groups;protagonists and projects should not either beconsidered as pieces of a machinerymanipulated by only one group or person whobelieve without transparency that they will beable to lead the people-flock toward a futurewhich is being “cooked” in the backyard of theNation.What Cuba needs is to create viable and pluralthought in order to start conceiving its ownfuture consistent with and faithful to itshistoric roots, its cultural patrimony, itsspirituality and its idiosyncrasy.What Cuba has gotThis is not the space to catalogue a list ofsocial actors, programs and thought creators.It would be a laudable project to make this listand make it as inclusive as possible withoutthe influence of sectarian ideologies but wewill mention only some examples inside theIsland and in the Diaspora for those who don’tbelieve if they don’t “touch” reality:Some thought creators for the future inCuba: The universities in Cuba and abroadwhere scholars who study Cuba in theDiaspora teach and publish, for example:Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Harvard, Princeton,Yale and Michigan Universities, FloridaInternational University, Miami Dade College,among others; study or investigation Centersfrom the Academy of Sciences, the Academyof Languages and the Academy of History; SanJerónimo College in Havana with its masterlyconferences; Inter American Dialogue inWashington, Cuban Consensus with more than30 groups from the Diaspora, the group ofUniversity students of Cuban origin namedHope Roots and other groups which deal withscientific, social and literary studies aboutregional policies or about economic and socialpolicies; they belong to the Cuban State or tothe exile. University professors, economists,sociologists, anthropologists, historians andother specialists who have devoted part ortheir whole lives to studying and proposingthought for the future in Cuba in differentgeographic and philosophical shores.Other thought creators are the differentspaces for study and reflection sponsored byChurches and fraternal Associations: CatholicSocial Weeks (1991-2011), Centro deReflexión y Diálogo (Center for Reflection andDialogue) in Cárdenas, Martin Luther KingCenter, the Civic and Religious EducationCenter in Pinar del Río (1993-2007) with itseducative, economic and information societythought itineraries; Enrique Pérez SerantesInstitute in Santiago de Cuba; Janssen Institutein Holguín, Study Center in Santa ClaraDiocese, Aula Fray Bartolomé de Las Casasand Dominican Fathers Center in Havana; FélixVarela Cultural Center in Havana, John Paul IIBioethics Center; Protestant Seminar ofMatanzas, Masonic Study Higher Center,Yorubá Association of Cuba, Summer Schoolsfor Educators, María Reina Institute belongingto Jesuit Fathers and other Centers fromreligious orders such as the Pious Schools, thePassionists, the Salecians and some others.Besides we must bear in mind all the officialor independent publications which arethought hatcheries devoted to creatingproposals and perspectives on the future forCuba; Catholic magazines and magazinesfrom other denomination and associations forexample, Vivarium, Palabra Nueva, Espacio,Bifronte, Espacio Laical, Vitral, Enfoques,Cocuyo, Amanecer, Iglesia en Marcha.We should also mention the civic publicationsand encounters such as the Cuba EconomyStudy Association (ASCE), Cuba Study Institute(IEC), Cuba Study Group, Latin AmericanStudies Association (LASA); Socialist Trend,Studies, Consensus, Cuban Institute ofIndependent Economists, Social Study Centerand other spaces and Cuba study centersinside Cuba and in United States universities,Latin America, Spain and other academies; aswell as the socio cultural magazines such asCriterio, Temas, Caimán Barbudo, Catauro, La116

Gaceta de Cuba, Convivencia, Cauce, LaGaveta, Voces, Revista De Cuba, Renacer,Nueva Prensa Cubana, Miscelánea, Primaverade Cuba, Cuba Nuestra (belonging to the CubaStudy Society from Sweeden), Arte Cubano,Herencia (belonging to the Cuba CulturalHeritage Association), Encuentro de la CulturaCubana, Revista Hispano Cubana, Diario deCuba, among others. Not everything in thesepublications is thought for the future in Cubabut especially their editorials and essays are.Those essays and editorials are muchappreciated. Some of these magazines are stillbeing published, others are not but they havegot an ethical, civic, religious and culturalthought in their files and this thought must betaken into account. Other sources of thoughtare the spaces for reflection and theaudiovisual productions: Omni Zona Franca,Observatorio LGBT, Sex Education NationalCenter (CENESEX). Razones Ciudadanas,Estado de Sats, Observatorio Crítico,1Cubano+; some programs on CubanTelevision such as “Vale la pena”, the space bythe economist Terrero broadcasted during theTV space “Diario de la Mañana”, among others.Of course this is an unfinished and insufficientlist. These previous spaces and all spacesknown by the readers can vouch that it is falseto say that good and viable thought is notbeing created in Cuba for the future. We haveonly mentioned some of the centers fordebate, dialogue, thought creation andalternative proposals for the future in Cuba.These spaces work with a respectfulperspective which does not disqualify anyone.These spaces have a wide and inclusive viewand each one of them maintains its ownprofile and dynamics. This enumeration whichis clearly incomplete would be useful to recallother centers that have not been mentioned:they are evident examples showing thatcertainly there are thought issuers in Cubawhich have roots in our most authenticpatrimonial sources. No matter their diversity,divergence or contradictions. We can agree ornot with something published or studied inthose spaces; this is, in our opinion, the bestand desirable thing. It’s the frank and mixedprocess, sometimes dialectic and sometimesdialogic; it’s the always unfinished search forthe best things for Cuba and its happinesswhich is and should be the commondenominator. All of these sources and allthings they have published and debated haveleft a heritage of thought which is stilldispersed and not yet interwoven but whichshould be compiled and published withoutexclusions.Some projects and programs for the futurein Cuba: The 19th century in Cuba witnessedthe emergence of the foundational projects ofthe Nation. Medardo Vitier has called theseprojects “changing agents that grantdenseness to an epoch”. For different reasonsamong which there are leadership,regionalism and frustrations, these projectsdid not culminate immediately in theindependence of the country. The sameauthor points out that those ideas andfoundational projects remained unfinished as“not unfolded germs in the 19th century”; wemust turn to them; the majority of projectswhich are thinking for Cuba in the early 21stcentury turn to them.For example, one of these projects is theVarela Project which was named after “the firstperson who taught us how to think”. Varelawas the Father of Cuba nationality and culturewho devoted all his life to organizing projectsfor Cuba independence and freedom. TheVarela project which is an initiative by theLiberation Christian Movement was anachievement of the joint work by many in civilsociety among which there was theoutstanding participation of the “TodosUnidos” (All United) Movement. This projectled to a reaction by the Cuban government: itdeclared that this kind of socialism in powerwas irreversible. Much earlier, during the 70’sthe first Cuban Rights Committee had beenfounded and it had an essential andelementary program to defend the libertiesand rights of all Cubans; this program hasbeen maintained by all the successors of thefirst committee among which there is theCuba Human Rights and NationalReconciliation Committee. We also recall theeffort by “Concilio Cubano” (Cuban Council)which was an incipient advance of what wouldcome later. Other examples are: the differentorganizations for help to prisoners and theirrelatives, the projects of Independent Libraries,the Cuban Writers Club, the Eastern YoungWriters Association, the Letter of Intellectuals,the “La Patria es de Todos” (FatherlandBelongs to All) Manifest, and the group of 75117

prisoners of conscience. This group ofprisoners used to have a diverse origin but itbecame a symbol of unity and commitment tothe Cuba cause. Among the efforts forconceiving projects for Cuba also was theAssembly to promote Civil Society.Other many projects show that Cuba civilsociety has learned how to take its first stepsof group organization designed to create, indue time, strong and efficient democraticinstitutions which should be mutuallycontrolled and should put a stop to newleaderships or sectarianisms. There are inCuba today projects and programs of liberalinspiration such as the liberal Alliances andparties; projects of Christian Democratinspiration such as “Todos Cubanos” (AllCubans) and the “Heredia” Project; there areprograms of social democratic inspiration;projects and programs of socialist inspirationsuch as the Cuba Democratic Socialist Trend,the Arco Progresista (Progressive Arch) theproject “Nuevo País” (New Country) and itsForum; projects of Marxist inspiration such asthe “Observatorio Crítico” and others; besidesthe present official project which is expressedto be an updating of socialism, etc.Other examples of associations that have theirprojects and programs are: La CorrienteMartiana, the Committee of Cuban Citizens,the Party of Workers and Farmers, CubaLiberal Movement, Democratic Solidarity Party,30 de noviembre Party; Eastern DemocraticAlliance and Pinar del Río Democratic Alliance;Young Men for Democracy Cuban Movement;Cuba Human Rights Foundation; Liberal Partyof Cuba; Young men from Bayamo Movement;Unión Patriótica de Cuba (Patriotic Union ofCuba) (UNPACU); Latin American Federation ofRural Women (FLAMUR); Unitary Council ofCuban Workers (CUTC); CorrienteAgramontista de Abogados; Movement forRace Integration; the Human Rights LawtonFoundation; Asociación Jurídica de Cuba(Juridic Association of Cuba) and a long mixedetcetera. They exist all along Cuba and notonly in Havana. Some present themselves astypically partisan projects, others as union orlabor union movements; some of them as newkind social movements; others as sociocultural projects, or social communication, oreconomic studies, or genre programs orprograms of respect for sex preference oragainst discrimination or exclusions of allkinds. The Ladies in White, the bloggerMovement, the independent journalists, theCuban Network of CommunitarianCommunicators and each one of the diverseindependent press agencies all over thecountry; they not only open windows tofreedom of expression and association butthey turn the life of the Nation, theprominence of civil society and the events inall corners of the Country more and moretransparent. This movement, the program ofwhich is to reach a society of information andcommunication among citizens has alreadybecome unstoppable and it has changed thequality of transparency in the information andassociation in Cuba.“In the processes of human associationprogress is marked by differentiation”.We can’t mention all of them but it isnecessary to show, through examples, thatthey exist and they have programs, more andmore, which are either in a process ofconception, or consolidated or under way.Each one of them with its ideological andhumanist orientation, all of them pacific, all ofthem put Cuba in the first place. Someobservers argue as a deficiency that theseassociations are many, that they are dispersedand small and that they are muchdifferentiated to each other. This cannot beconsidered a handicap because we are at thebeginning of a new projection toward a plural,inclusive and democratic society. This phraseby Medardo Vitier, written in one of the booksthat every Cuban must read and study,describes the foundational moment which hasan astonishing and urgent validity nowadays:“The outstanding Cubans who projectedpolitical reforms in the colony in the early19th century were based on a certain degreeof maturity reached by the communitygradually. The mere human aggregate wasgaining features of nationality though stillincipient. Declared or not by them that wasthe sociological fact. In the processes ofhuman association the progress is marked bydifferentiation. They originate slowly in thedemographic, economic and intellectualaspects… and in a certain period (rather thanin a moment) there is a sense of communitywhich is suitable for governing itself or atEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012118

least for having a participation in thegovernment of the public thing. Cuba, themere colony beyond the sea was starting toperceive its own identity. The homogeneousand amorphous thing was turningheterogeneous… Of course, the ideal nation,the one sometimes defined by writers, neverappears in history… the seed stayed in thefurrow. The structure of the colonial societymade its fabric more and more diverse. Theneed for reforms increased”.We can state that what was happening duringthe transition from the colony to the republicin the 19th century is similar to what ishappening in Cuba today. The differentiationof the fabric in civil society is a sign ofprogress and reinforces the need for reforms.Some protagonists for the present and thefuture in CubaNone of these schools for thought and social,economic, political, cultural, religious, civicprojects and programs could exist, grow andcreate, reflect and propose if they hadn’t intheir heart and in the head of their diversestructures, a growing number of leaders,actors, organizers, who are all protagonists ofthe Cuba which is brewing with urgent needfor pacific changes.This is not either the space to make a list ofpersons of both sexes, young and adult,historic and emergent, political and civicactivists, bloggers and independentjournalists, academicians editors of religiousor socio cultural magazines, jurists andfarmers, artists and writers, graffiti artists andmusicians, defenders of human rights andgenre equality and defenders of sexpreferences. All of them are part of thepresent protagonists of the future in Cuba andthey can’t be ignored or disqualified becausesuch thing would inflict an important damageto the Nation’s soul since their work andprojects speak for them. And they exist andgrow in conditions that cannot even becompared to democratic societies. Cuba is nota normal country due to the asymmetric andreversed relation between government andcitizens.In order to know the names of very wellknown persons inside and outside Cuba andthe names of other little-known persons but ashard-working and sacrificed as the formerones, we can look up in two investigationworks which list names and projects. Theseworks are: “Organizaciones de la SociedadCivil Cubana no Reconocidas Legalmente”Alberto F. Alvarez García, sponsored by theFundación Canadiense par alas Américas(FOCAL), 2004 and “Quién es quién en laPolítica Cubana” 2005 coordinated by J. A.Aleaga Pesant.These and many other protagonists not citedin these investigation works who are even lessrecognized are today and could be consideredtomorrow to be “our guides”, in the middle ofthe “drowsiness of the spirit”; the ones who“interrupted the monotonous enjoyment andsent signals in the night”.Some like Márquez Sterling consider thatCuba has always been “a people sufferingfrom a messianic obsession”. This cannot leadus to satanize, discredit or disregarding therole of leaders as social actors. It’s justnecessary to discern very carefully, accordingto their work, the way they lead and theircapacity to work in a team, if they areauthoritarian or democratic leaders and thus,try to promote the civic education of the firstones and give citizen support to the latter.Martí is one of the models of inclusive anddemocratic leader; he managed the widest andmost plural call in our history including thevery “good Spaniards”. His words invite usvehemently today:“With the pain of the whole Fatherland wesuffer and for the good of the wholeFatherland we build and we don’t wantrevolutions of exclusions or opposite sides…we neither get worked up nor get scared. Weneither compel nor exclude. What is thegreatest freedom for but to use it in favour ofthe ones who have less freedom than us? Whatis faith for but to inflame the ones who don’thave faith…? It’s true that only the republicansouls know how to discern and obey the firstsigns of the rising peoples… and this is whatwe do here and we carve out a future herewithout showing off; a future with space forall of us”.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012119

After 110 years of the birth of that firstRepublic of Cuba on the 20th of May 1902 westill are in the middle of the including andinclusive carving out in which there should bespace for all of us. Faith is still necessary notas a power or alienating escapism from realitybut to inflame and encourage faith in Cuba, ofall Cubans without exclusions or oppositesides.It’s a work inspired by Martí. As republicansouls may we help to discern, recognize andrespect the existence and growth of schoolsfor thought, projects and protagonists for thepresent and the future in Cuba.Watching the dispersion of this thought forCuba as well as the projects and protagonistsand the need to put them in common withinreach of everybody we propose to create aweb site named “Para el Futuro de Cuba” (Forthe Future of Cuba) that should have threeportals: Thought for the Future in Cuba,Projects and Programs for the Future in Cubaand Protagonists for the Future in Cuba. Thisopen and plural site, of free concurrencewould be a space with no criterion ofadmission other than the two criteria whichmark Cuba identity: that the thoughts,projects and protagonists should be pacificand should not attack or offend others.Everyone could send his thoughts, programs,projects and protagonists to this site with theonly purpose that scholars and personsinterested in Cuba may find, in pacificcoexistence, the widest information in orderto have an analysis as accessible, objectiveand plural as possible about Cuba reality,inside and outside the Island.Pinar del Río, May 20 th 2012.On the 110 th Anniversary of the Birth of theRepublic of Cuba.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012120

FOR THE FUTUREIF POLITICAL REPRESSION AND EXCLUSIONDON’T STOP THERE IS NO POSSIBLE UPDATINGEditorial 28. Jul-Aug 2012. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esInefficiency and exclusion are the signs ofwhat has to be changed in Cuba. It’s not onlyabout economic inefficiency and exclusion butpolitical, cultural, organizational and evensports inefficiency and exclusion. All of themlead to, and have their root cause in theinefficiency and the anthropological erosionwhich is the damage caused to the humanperson and prevents his full and happydevelopment. It is, above all, a spiritualinefficiency. It is the soul block.All political systems have inefficiencies,limitations and injustices and they makemistakes. There are realities and processesthat cannot be measured only by a materialefficiency. But to be satisfied with such stateof things because the whole world is bad isthe most opposite thing to evolution,development or whatever we want to call it.For example, Brazil, with all its limitations, hasreached a model of inclusive democracy andeconomy which has significantly decreasedpoverty, it has decreased unemployment andit has increased the standards of livingthrough health, education, social security.Brazil, just one case, has grown economically,it has distributed the created wealth better butabove all, it has created more wealth to beable to distribute it. All of it happened duringtwo terms of office. Ten years. And they didn’tabandon or restrict democracy the way it wascreated in the West and by the way, Cubabelongs to that hemisphere not only becauseof obvious geographical reasons but alsospiritual, cultural and historic reasons.What doesn’t exist cannot be distributed andpeople cannot live on what comes fromabroad in solidarity or due to politicalinterests of other nations: that’s neocolonialismand we have experienced itsconsequences three times in Cuba: with Spain,with the United States and with the formerUSSR. Now, as if we hadn’t learned from threeprevious mistakes we are watching to seewhat will happen in Venezuela. China isalready showing its economic and politicalproblems as a result of an eastern hybrid, oddand typical of cultures that have never knownwestern democracy which is neither aswearword nor anything perfect but it is whatis working nowadays, with its problems, but ithas the human person and his citizensovereignty as the centre, subject and end ofsocial coexistence.Cuba is not a laboratory of socialism but anation with human beingsMore than fifty years experiencing a model ofsociety is excessively enough to show whatthat model produces and cultivates in thecitizens and where the nation is led. In theimmense majority of today’s world, onegovernment has, at the most, ten or twelveyears to show what it is. It is ethicallyunacceptable to turn a whole nation into apolitical and social laboratory and it is sosimply because we human beings have onlyone life and because we persons are notguinea pigs.The dignity of all human persons cannot beused to try the inventiveness of one group orEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012121

one ideology. To use persons to see if aneconomic plan or some political guidelineswork is a human and moral damage and it’scivically unacceptable.It is, at least, a serious irresponsibility toexperience an “updating” in order to achieveefficiency against social justice and inclusionof the different ones in order to see if apolitical system can be saved; a politicalsystem which has been showed not to beeffective, or egalitarian or fraternal and muchless liberating.Persons can become citizens and not subjectsonly if all their inalienable rights, not onlyeconomic and social but civil, political andcultural rights are recognized and respected ina frame of legality that should not hidepolitical repression by saying that it is fightingsome supposed common crimes. A frame oflegality that should recognize and defend inCuba what the government in Cuba demandsto be respected in other countries.If repression doesn’t stop there is noupdating of any projectAs usual, we not only analyze the existentreality but we now go to propose somesolutions in accordance with our condition ofCuban citizens:So that a country “normalizes” its model allarbitrary detentions must stop even the onesthat last a short time, also the threatstransmitted during supposed friendlyconversations, the pressure in the veryworkplaces and schools, the unofficial visitsby officers wearing civil clothes who don’t givetheir true names or show their identity papersclearly or present a court order, that is, theones who implement what we call aclandestine repression against pacific personswho show their faces, their identity cards,their residence and their project for Cuba inan honest and transparent way. These illegalmethods even in the very existing legality, riskthe citizen stability, tense the situation, give anegative image of Cuba abroad and slid theCountry down a dangerous slope. We are surethat the highest responsible ones will stopthese illicit methods for the sake of Cuba.So that Cuba should be more respected andmore integrated to the community of nationsall disqualifying language to other Cubancitizens must stop either on the streets or inthe press and television: to categorize everydissenting person with degrading epithetssuch as “warm”, “unpatriotic”, “mercenary”,“CIA agent”, lackey at the service of a foreigncountry” “traitor to the Country”. Theseepithets were already used during decades inthe repudiation of the ones who were livingthe Country and suddenly there was an orderand a conference about the Nation and theEmigration and it was enough to turn thosewarms into “butterflies”, that is, they became“the Cuban community abroad”. This is anexample of what should be done to keep theunity of the Nation. Why should we repeathistory after we have realized its failure andits negative ethics?So that Cuba should be a “normal” Nation therepudiation acts must stop immediately andforever. The usage of some Cubans againstother Cubans, of some neighbours againstother neighbours who are led or at leastallowed by the authorities who should keeppeace and citizen tranquillity must stop.Those things must be legally punishable andmorally reprehensible. Otherwise we aresowing rambles to reap thorns in the future.This does not help unity in diversity ornational reconciliation.So that unity in diversity can be constructed,all Cubans, with no exception, above all, theones who hold some civil, political andreligious responsibility and all who exercisethe service of order and citizen tranquillityshould ask ourselves and answer ourselveshonestly this question: How is it possible totalk about, to think about, to promote andclaim a national reconciliation withouteradicating, condemn and punish all acts ofpolitical repudiation to pacific personswhether these actions might be spontaneousclashes or organized or allowed and guardedby security and order guards?So that Cuba should achieve a soundintegration to the international communitykeeping its independence and its sovereigntywe should ask ourselves and answer withspecific measures and urgent reforms: Howcan be officially used in the structures of StateEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012122

institutions the terms and realities such as“commissions for clashes” or “brigades forquick reply? This doesn’t help the unity of theNation or the reconciliation of all Cubans. Inthe structures and institutions citizens mustbe treated equally in right and dignity.So that exasperation and exodus should stopwe should ask ourselves and answer withessential changes: Why do common peoplewho don’t commit crimes are afraid of policeor security authorities in a country thatproclaims to live in a system of social justice?Where there is fear something must becorrected. Where there is fear to somethingundefined something must be cleared up.Where there is fear to someone undefined,something must be identified and healed.If Cuba wants to really update its economic,political and social model with depth, in astructural and democratic way, repression topacific and honest citizens must stop andinclusion must be the watch word.Protecting political discrepancy andfighting common crimePolice institutions must take care and protectpolitical discrepancy which strengthensnational unity and stability and they mustdevote themselves to fighting common crimewhich undermines and breaks up the Countryinstead of repressing political diversity.If Cuba and its government really want tochange all that has to be changed, they mustreplace the verbal attacks with the promotionof values; they must replace politicalrepression with an open ideological debatewith equal rights and opportunities; they mustchange the usage of Mass Media and makethem accept diversity, decriminalizediscrepancy and eliminate forever thediscredit between Cuban brothers from allideologies, religions, sex and geographicresidence.If Cuba, its government and civil society reallywish to change all that must be changed thenpolice and security organs should leave alonethe ones who pacifically disagree using a civicattitude; they should stop considering“dangerous” or “of police interest” the oneswho promote coexistence in peace anddemocratic diversity and they should devotethemselves to fighting real illegality, commoncrime, rampant corruption in all levels ofsociety, increasing violence, increasingcriminality in young people who have beeneducated during the last 50 years, familyviolence and disintegration, public resourcediversion, traffic of influence and power,irresponsible administration of the Stategoods, violation of contracts,misappropriation of productions, enterpriseinefficiency, the venality of politicians,ineffectiveness of public officials, drug,prostitution, human trade, genre, racial andother kinds of discrimination.We sincerely believe that these commoncrimes and other not mentioned are the oneswhich undermine, erodes, discredit the systemand what is even worse they could causegrater evils of ethical character, ofungovernability and possible new organizedmafias. Even the highest leaders of thisCountry have recognized and expressed it.The urgency of these changes is evident in anunequivocal way in each family, eachneighbourhood, each school and eachworkplace.All Cubans, women and men, who are sincerewith themselves know, verify and distinguishthat the real and dangerous damage is notinflicted by pacific dissenters or opponentsbuy by the ones who want to live on illegalityand permissiveness of organs which havebeen focussed, during five decades, on awrong target which is the persons whodisagree because they love Cuba, becausethey see clearly its evils and solutions andhave decided to stay in our Country to workfor its change, for human improvement, forpolitical pluralism, for economic efficiency, forsocial progress and for holistic humandevelopment.If an objective and multidisciplinary evaluationis done we will see in a transparent anddefining way, how the following words said bythe Apostle, who achieved unity in diversity inCuba, work as a paradigm in Cuba today andhelp us to question ourselves. The first phraseof these words are usually quoted but the restof the words are unknown and they illustratethe most universal and comprehensiveEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012123

perspective given by any statesman in ourCountry. Let us stop in each idea of this longquotation by Martí. Let it be a work programand a perspective for the true “updating” wewant for the Nation:“Men walk in two sides: the ones who love andset up and the ones who hate and destruct…There is much and spare aspiration in Cuba,much intelligence and the unemployed talentsfind little occupation in that life of beggarsless desirable than death; that’s why we can’tdeny that in Cuba, a trend or a habit ofmutual disallowing and mean rivalry isemerging; something like rubbing shouldersexcessively and selfishly to reach the dish offame or to reach the table which is not wellset to favour indispensable generosity andconcord for the creation of the republic. Theseattitudes are expected to disappear as soon asthe smothered activity is released throughwide channels, as soon as the new land isopen to the worker, commerce is open to theCreole, the newspaper is open to the truth andthe tribune is open to teaching which is whattribunes are truly used for. Ah, Cuba, a futureAmerican university! It is bathed in the sea ofdeep blue: the hot and aerated land raises themind clear and active at the same time: thebeautifulness of nature attracts and keeps theman in love here: the children nourished bythe university and practical world’s culturespeak with elegance and think with majesty,in a land where the three civilizations will beconnected tomorrow. To live in the bond of theworlds, enjoying the easy freedom of a richand hard-working country, as a representativeand authentic people where the Americaninitiative joins the European art thatmoderates its rawness and savageness, will bemore beautiful rather than let the native soul,delicate and strong at the same time,surrender to an alien national spirit thatcontains only one of the factors of the Island’ssoul; an alien spirit that would pour thetorrents of its selfish and corrupting wealth onthe poor and venal island, and would turn arefined people with a glorious future into whatEngland has made of Hindustan! And to plotthe obscure jealously, the fame by biting, thereduction of the mind to local controversiesand unimportant things is not good for thefuture life, for the original and cultured lifethat would turn the rotten garden into aninteresting and saving nationality, a spiritualyeast in an American bread, an altar wherethe spirits of the world should takecommunion in the happiness of climate andrichness at the same time.”The ethical principles to rebuild the Cubannation are two:-That freedom should become responsibilityand generosity.- That the respect for the rights of all shouldbecome the foundation of peace.Martí himself who founded our nationrespecting diversity didn’t want to makeUtopian projects as great as unattainablebecause they are soul empty and that’s whythey collapse in one day; he wanted the firstlaw of the republic to be “man’s full dignity”.The act of building up with love is notfounded only on the project of communitycoexistence explained by the quotation butalso, and above all, by the soul nobilityexplained in the following description of theperson who wants to be a free citizen:“The man of free chest refuses to give hisheart to the selfish and conquering freedomand predicts that the triumph of the worldresides in the abundance of generosity, in thefull passion for the right to respect theothers’ rights as much as his own, more thanin the artistic Babylonian buildings.”This would be a very Cuban way to update theCountry with inclusion and reconciliation andnot a system or a single party. It would be alsoa way to rebuild the Cuban person who suffersfrom an anthropological deterioration due to acollectivist way of life.All of us, let’s do it!Pinar del Río, July 20 th 2012.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012124

THE VIRGIN OF LA CARIDAD:BREAD, JUSTICE AND FREEDOM FOR CUBAEditorial 29. SEpt-Oct 2012. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esFour hundred years ago three menrepresentatives of the Creole stratum of theIsland picked up from the sea, after the storm,a small and brown image of Mary, Jesus ofNazareth’s mother.That was the symbol of our domestic encounterbetween three cultures: two Indians, a blackslave and an icon of the Christian religion whichis the religious matrix of our identity. Thestorm was the proof that no transculturationtakes place over the serene waters of the sea incalm. The Cuban “ajiaco” (1) Fernando Ortizspoke about, “is boiling” in the national potsince the start, sometimes with less pressureand other times with safety valves.Four centuries after the start which has beenalways mixed and always in gestation, “Cachita”,the small and brown girl, has become one ofthe native symbols along with the maturity ofour culture.That is why we have a party whenever allCubans, women and men in the Island and inthe Diaspora, celebrate this great anniversary,and this is not only the celebration of areligious image which would be slimming andimpoverishing fact. We have a feast because400 years ago today’s nation started to showthe first signs of gestation. On the boat of thethree Johns the semen of faith coming from theMiddle East through European ways fertilizedthe native culture and the African one in theCaribbean matrix of a Latin AmericanChristianity.The celebration of the 400 years of the findand presence of the mixed-race image of theVirgin of La Caridad that lies in El Cobre andin the historic memory of all Cuba is not onlya religious fiesta but also the intention tolavish attention upon the origin, a folk partyof reunion and crossbreeding, a fair ofuniversal vocation of openness, a festival ofidentity, a procession of values and virtues,a feast of the national soul.Since then, Cuba and Cachita dance a “sonmontuno” (2) at the mountains in El Cobre.Thus, Cuba and Caridad (3), with our two mostaffectionate “C”, enjoy the Cuban “danzón” (4)and they fan themselves with the tuft of theroyal palm and they both wear a butterfly ontheir motherly chests so that no Cuban feelshimself excluded from their tricolour bosomlike the tricolour “tocororo”(5).Wherever Cubans want the storm to be over,their hearts’ intimacy have sensed a lot andtalked and very much prayed the sea that unitesus becomes serene, they sense, talk and praythe double wall of the two stretches of ElMalecón, the bright one in La Ermita and theoriginal at the coast in Havana open to the freeflow of Cachita’s sons and daughters. The oneswho look from that Malecón fight the nostalgialooking at the Island and the ones who aresitting bored on the green alligator hope toreunite the other part of the only Cuban nationunder the tender and warm cloak of La Caridad.This way we celebrate, we pray, we long for, wework, we wait and love, we fight and love, webelieve and include everybody, we change and125

we respect everybody, we live weavingcoexistence. That’s the best way to celebratethe Mother, Queen and Patron Saint of Cuba onher 400 birthday in the land of the West IndiesPearl.La Caridad used to be “The Queen” of the firstfreed slaves in Cuba yesterday. She is theMother of liberation for all Cubans today. She isthe Queen of freedom.La Caridad used to be “The Measurement” inthe chests of the mambisas (6) yesterday. She isthe Image of the pacific fight of all Cubanwomen today. She is our Measurement of Peace.La Caridad used to be the “Patron Saint” of theveterans, who requested her proclamation tothe Pope. Today, she is the Protector of theones who work for the change in Cuba toward abetter Fatherland. She is the Patron Saint of ourJustice.The Children celebrate and honour their motheralso by dreaming their future, by building whatis coming from this moment on so that the onewho gave origin to our life and planted valuescan enjoy the projects of coexistence, theworks for human improvement, the building ofthe future. There is one thing that makes amother’s heart happy and it is the future of herchildren. One thing makes her soul proud and itis to see her children to be in charge of theirlives and to be protagonists of their own history.The Cubans who recognize the Mambisa Virginof La Caridad as the tender Jesus’ mother andthe mother of all Cubans should do that.That’s why we put in her hands our projects forthe present and the future of Cuba. Thereshould be a space here for all the desires andhopes, sadness and anguish of everycompatriot , all of us, the ones who call herOchún or Cachita, Mary or Caridad, Patriot Saintor Queen, Mambisa or Star of Peace, Flower ofthe Mountain, Sea Bird, National Shield or Virginof El Cobre, Liberator or Country Emblem.Mother of Christ or Our Mother… “Convivencia”opens its space to dream and work, pray andglimpse the future of Cuba.Virgin of La Caridad, these are oursupplications and hopes. We want to work for:- The ethical and spiritual reconstructionof every Cuban to achieve to be free andresponsible persons, through civicempowerment: to achieve to beauthentic and pacific protagonists ofour lives and our national history byexercising the citizen sovereignty.- The reunification and rebuilding of ourfamilies so that they can be true homes,communities of life and love, cradles ofmoral, civic and religious values.- The renovation of education in Cuba sothat our schools can be nurseries wherefreedom and responsibility can becultivated and values should be plantedand virtues should be cultivated, wherecoexistence among all human beingsshould be the deep motivation forinclusion and democracy so thatideological manipulation and civicexasperation give their place to the lovefor truth, justice, magnanimity andreconciliation.- The rights of Cuban workers, womenand men, so that work dignifies menand creates shared wealth so that menwho work may have a fair salary,enough and equal to the coin they needto buy in the shops.- Our neighbourhoods; that a soundcoexistence be present and notdenunciation, envy, violence anddiscredit.- Our economy to be open, efficient,subsidiary and supportive. That therights to private property be respectedand also the cooperative and publicproperty, freedom of enterprise,investment and solidarity. In short,market with social justice.- Our culture to be without censure andwithout vulgarity and should be aculture that may promote freedom ofcreation and should promote anopenness to the world so that oursovereignty and our identity should bestrengthened.- Our mass media to be sovereign andresponsible spaces to spread the truthempower the ones who get information,promote values and favour pacificcoexistence and public debate.- Religions and Churches to be truecommunities of faith, love, spiritualnourishment, personal and socialEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012126

liberation, where values can be plantedand virtues can be fertilized and alsoprojects for justice and peace.- Our growing civil society to be more andmore plural, autonomous, responsible,supportive, respectful of the opponents,builder of unity in diversity, school ofdemocracy, a source of social andpolitical commitment, a workshop forparticipation and dialogue.- The Cuban government to be open todialogue, change, renovation anddemocracy with absolute respect for allHuman Rights of all Cubans. May thepower be to serve and may the servicebe for coexistence in its highest degree.- Cuba to open itself up to the world andbe inserted in the internationalcommunity with normality once therelations between the government andthe citizens are normalized so that theworld opens itself up to a new Cuba thatdoes not block freedom or theenterprising spirit of its sons anddaughters. Let the change we long forcome. The changes we all need. Theprogress and happiness we all deserve.You, Sweet Mother were the StarThat announced the dawning of peace.Don’t forsake your Children, Oh Mother:Save Cuba from weeping and eagerness!And your name will be our shieldAnd your grace will be our shelter.Pinar del Río, September 8 thOn the 400th anniversary of the Virgin of LaCaridad(1) Ajiaco (figurative): the name of a soup made upof many different ingredients(2) A national dance(3) Caridad: Charity(4) Another national dance(5) The national bird(6) Women who fought for freedom in Cuba duringthe 19th century(7) Fighters for freedom in the 19th centuryCuba and La Caridad, the first free slaves andthe mambises (7), the descendants of Africansand Spaniards , natives and Chinese, freeCreoles and unimpeachable Cubans have unitedthemselves throughout four centuries to turnthis Island into the Pearl of the West Indies andthe faithful of The Americas, so now that wecome to the 400 years of this pilgrimagetoward freedom and happiness, we join theones who have united themselves as Cubans,women and men, throughout these centuries asCubans, to sing or recite this Official Hymn ofLa Caridad del Cobre. These verses summarizeall of our feelings, pains and hopes:Hail, Hail, Delights from Heaven.Pure Virgin, Supreme Beauty.Hail, lofty Patron Saint of Cuba.Lovely Mother: La Caridad.In the beautiful regions of Cuba,Lady, you chose to have altarsTo make them mansions of wondersAnd fill men with joy.When tears were your children’s breadAnd terrible anxiety was your children’s lifeEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012127

Relación de artistas cubanos y las obras que ilustran las portadas de larevista y cada Editorial en este compendio1. Julio César Banasco Rego-“Impenetro y Netro a la Fe”2. Margarita Rodríguez Arencibia (Margot)-“Homenaje a las Torres Gemelas”3. Alain Arencibia-“Del techo al cielo”4. Miguel Ángel Couret -“Mi silla Insular”5. Lucy Blanco-“Antifaz”6. José de Jesús Pacheco Cruz -“Santa Rosita de las Monedas”7. Arquímides Lores (Nelo) -“Serie Conspiración”8. Raúl Bravo Medina-“Juanito Camaleón”9. Juan Carlos Rodríguez-“Dolor y luna”10. Adrián Herrera Reyes- “Sobreprotección”11. Manuel Azcuy-“Observando una lucecita en silencio”12. Alberto Borrego-“Tríptico Cuba” Fotografía13. Yamilia Pérez Estrella-“Tres nudos”14. Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo-“Bandera araña”15. Alan Manuel-“El Padre Las Casas”16. Lester Campa-“Bandera”17. Ángel Martínez Capote-“Serie impotencia”18. Jesús Gastell-“El muro”19. Ramiro Zardoya Sánchez-“Chimenea humo árbol”20. Fernando D’Caso Cordovés-“Palomas”21. Luis Cáceres-“Amanecer”22. Enrique Alonso Daussá – “Perfil”23. Orlando Fernández Páez - S/T24. Pedro Pablo Oliva - “Detalle de El inconcluso milagro del pan y los peces”25. Alexander Sánchez Rivas-“Fotografía S/T”26. Fausto García González- “Santuario Nacional de El Cobre”27. Olimpia Ortiz Porcegué -“Olympya”28. Daniel Maldonado Machado, “EL Sexto”- “Grafiti”29. Antonio Canet Hernández-Grabado de la novela Cecilia Valdés128

“LIVING TOGETHER”: A THRESHOLD FOR THE CITIZENSHIP AND THE CIVIL SOCIETY IN CUBATHERE IS NO FULL CHANGE IF EVERYBODY IS NOT PART OF ITIN THIS HOUR OF CUBA: BREAD OR FREEDOM?INCLUSION: AN ESSENTIAL WORD IN CUBA TODAYTHE CONCLUSIONS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE PROTAGONISM OF CUBANSTO FREE THE PRODUCTIVE FORCES AND THE INITIATIVE OF CUBANS“CONVIVENCIA”: FIRST ANNIVERSARY. ON THE THRESHOLD AFTER HALF A CENTURYTHERE IS NO FATHERLAND WITHOUT THE SOVEREIGNTY OF EVERY CITIZEN.CULTURE AND POLITICS IN CUBAPOWER IS FOR SERVINGCUBA, A COUNTRY ON THE RUNTHERE IS NO COUNTRY IF THERE ARE NO INSTITUTIONSINTERNET: INFORMATION, SOLIDARITY AND COEXISTENCETHE BLOCKADE IMPOSED TO THE CULTURE WORLDTHE ABSOLUTE RESPECT FOR ALL OF THE HUMAN LIFEDIALOGUE, YES: BUT WITH HUMAN RIGHTS AND WITHOUT EXCLUSIONTHE CHANGES WE WANT FOR CUBA DEPEND ON USCUBA MUST RATIFY THE COVENANTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS THAT HAVE BEEN SIGNEDECONOMY WITH FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITYSOMETHING NEW FOR CUBA: CIVIL SOCIETY’S PRIMACYFREEDOM AND FRATERNITY FOR CUBATO LIVE IN THE COHERENCE BETWEEN WHAT WE BELIEVE AND WHAT WE DOTHE NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AT THE SERVICE OF CIVIL SOCIETYTHE POPE’S VISIT TO CUBA: EXPECTATIONS AND POSSIBILITIESCIVIC FRIENDSHIP AND PACIFIC COEXISTENCEWHAT COMES AFTER THE POPE’S VISIT?CUBA DOES HAVE THOUGHT, PROJECTS AND PROTAGONISTS FOR THE FUTUREIF POLITICAL REPRESSION AND EXCLUSION DON’T STOP THERE IS NO POSSIBLE UPDATINGTHE VIRGIN OF LA CARIDAD:BREAD, JUSTICE AND FREEDOM FOR CUBAwww.convivenciacuba.es129