Why purification?

Foto: Claudio Fuentes Madan

Almost all countries have a government more or less corrupt but approximately every five years it changes and also it must answer for its actions before a civil power. They have secret services charged with protecting the interests of the country against possible external interference and against corruption among their ministers and officials, among other complicated and bureaucratic things. Under no circumstances does their work involve limiting the freedom of their citizens by repressing them, screening them for their political profile, worrying about what they say or whether they meet freely with others. Instead of occupying themselves with denying permission to leave the country, or keeping citizens from attending cultural events, attacking artists and writers for their work, firing people from their jobs because of the ideology, among other “activities” that our ministries specialize in, those of less paranoid countries perform more commendable functions in accordance with the laws of the country and the work assigned to them.

Because of this, I think that for Cuba to transition to an open society from a society “with some emergency exits”, some of the people now occupying positions of power in the government could take a long vacation and dedicate themselves, for example, to offering services, which by then won’t be so difficult to get a license for.

It is obvious that this little island, for some time, has not been governed only by two old men, but by the many mid-level and high officials of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) while Central Intelligence maintains the status quo and enjoys power almost at the same level as the old-timers, but in a more surreptitious way. It’s obvious that the person who today decides that Yoani Sanchez cannot travel cannot continue to occupy decision-making positions in a plural Cuba where we will all have the same rights regardless of our ideology. A civil servant whose decisions protect corruption and crime cannot later be responsible for prosecuting social vice. To purify does not mean to discriminate nor to despise, but if the National Assembly of the People’s Power continues with the same people who today applaud and raise their hands, I don’t think that change in Cuba is going to be very successful.