The Real "Achievements" / Fernando Dámaso

The Real "Achievements" / Fernando Dámaso
Fernando Dámaso, Translator: Maria Montoto

More than half a century ago, when the model was implanted in our
country, its later promotion was achieved on a base of present
sacrifices (all former governments had been very bad) and a luminous
future (the new government would be very good). Sooner rather than
later, the horizon of promised happiness and well-being for which to
aim, started getting further until, between speeches and new promises,
like kites when their string is cut, it flew away in the wind.

Today, if there really are any, few are those who truly believe in it,
the majority of citizens weary of surviving (by whatever means!) in the
present, forgetful of the future. Since this is a dangerous situation,
the authorities unable to offer material incentives, have opted to offer
moral ones. Therefore, in speeches and the media, are repeated ad
nauseam, as primary achievements of the model: maintaining independence,
sovereignty and national identity, to create an internationalist
sentiment among citizens, having elevated patriotism and strengthened
the ability of resistance in the face of adversities. In support of this
new promotion, paradigms are created, inflating pre-fabricated heroes,
as if they were aerostatic balloons, and placing them in the national
firmament, as examples to be followed by present and future generations.

If we weigh objectively the achievements of this model in this more than
half a century, we should not leave out, among others: the destruction
of agriculture and stockbreeding, the dismantling of urban, highway and
railway transportation systems, the constant shortage of food and
general use products, the power black-outs, the double currency, the
double moral standards, the deficient citizen education, the increase in
domestic and social violence, the deterioration of housing, the
disorganization of commercial networks, the disappearance of industries,
the censure, the repression of difference, the prohibition of free
travel, etcetera.

These achievements are due, not to the existence of the embargo, but to
the incapacity of the model of preserving that which was attained in
fifty-six years of the Republic, to develop it and make the country move
forward, resolving the problems still in existence, the main reason for
the struggle and sacrifices of the majority of the Cuban people.

The path chosen (making tabula rasa of all that came before and building
over its ruins the new society) failed spectacularly. It constituted a
mistake and a costly historical error, of which, until now, no one has
taken responsibility, trying with silence to make believe they never
existed.

It is a shame that in the various biographical books, anecdotes, memoirs
and interviews published, only the so-called heroic events are
described, there exists not a single line dedicated to these
achievements, nor the reasons that motivated them, which could be
interesting to present and future generations, with the objective of
never again repeating them.

Translated by: Maria Montoto

June 15 2012

http://translatingcuba.com/?p=19046