THE HOMELAND BELONGS TO US ALL
                                      
                        Cuban Dissidence Task Group
                         Havana City, June 27, 1997
                                      
   
     _________________________________________________________________
                                      
  I- INTRODUCTION
  
   
   When you finish reading this document, you will be able to support us
   if we can agree on this initial assertion:
   
   Man cannot live from history, which is the same as living from
   stories. There is a need for material goods and for satisfying his
   spirituality, as well as to be able to look to the future with
   expectations. But there is also a need for that openness that we all
   know as freedom.
   
   The Cuban government ignores the word "opposition." Those of us who do
   not share its political stance, or who just simply don't support it,
   are considered enemies and any number of other scornful designations
   that it chooses to proclaim. Thus, they have also sought to give a new
   meaning to the word "Homeland" that is distortedly linked to
   Revolution, Socialism and Nation. They attempt to ignore the fact that
   "Homeland," by definitions, is the country in which one is born.
   
   All of this aside, our Task Group has examined the Project Document
   prepared for the V Congress of the Cuban Communist Party, scheduled to
   be submitted for approval during this event. Because it is impossible
   for us to make public our viewpoints here [in Cuba] (given that the
   [Cuban] news media is in the hands of the state), we have decided to
   set them down in the hope that they will somehow be made known to
   Cubans inside and outside the island. By this mean we seek to defend
   our right to express our opinion, because we are convinced that THE
   HOMELAND BELONGS TO US ALL.
   
  I - HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION
  
   
   Of the 11,080 words that the document contains, grouped into 260
   paragraphs, more than 80% are dedicated to interpreting history. They
   wish to convince those that read the document that: ˇ There has been
   only one revolution [in Cuba] since 1868; and ˇThe U.S. has tried to
   seize Cuba ever since the l9th century.
   
   To try to strengthen those assertions, they invoke the name of [the
   father of Cuban independence, Jose] Martí.
   
   Thereby they persist in the old and absurd argument that the existence
   of a single political party is based on Martí's ideas, as only one
   party was founded by him. There is no known political leader that has
   created various political parties simultaneously. Nevertheless, many
   distinguished freedom fighters in their respective countries, once
   independence was achieved, have respected the multi-party system of
   government. Washington, Mahatma Ghandi and General DeGaulle were among
   them.
   
   There is no reason to think that Martí, had he survived the War of
   Independence, would not have done the same given his very positive
   views on democracy. Point V of the Tenets of the Cuban Revolutionary
   Party (1892) states: "It is not the goal of the Cuban Revolutionary
   Party to bring to Cuba a victorious group that will consider the
   island as its prey and dominion. It is, instead, to prepare, by as
   many efficacious means as freedom in exile permits, the war which is
   to be fought for the honor and welfare of all Cubans, and to deliver
   to the whole country a free homeland."
   
   Following the war, no patriot argued for the need to have a single
   party. On the contrary, many actively participated in politics with
   different affiliations and all respected the multi-party system.
   
   Even though they wish to portray the democratic republic as a series
   of interrupted failures and treasons, they have to contend with the
   socioeconomic achievements obtained between 1902 and 1958 which placed
   our country among the three most advanced nations of Latin America. In
   some areas, in fact, Cuba was ahead of even major Old World countries
   such as Spain and Italy. This undeniable reality speaks volumes for
   the industriousness of Cuban workers and the enterprising spirit of
   our businessmen-especially as all these true accomplishments took
   place following a major cataclysm (our glorious War of Independent and
   in spite of the terrible socioeconomic crisis of the 1930s. In
   addition, there are the political successes, such as the revocation of
   the infamous Platt Amendment in 1934 which the political propaganda
   does not mention, though its imposition in 1901 is well-remembered.
   
   This twisting of information is also present in the document. If the
   pre-1959 statistics are consulted, it can be seen that the illiteracy
   rate among the Cuban population at the time amounted to 16 % and not
   40 % as proclaimed. The statistics are also manipulated when it is
   stated that 7% of the population voted in the elections at the turn of
   the century. This implies that the remaining 93 % included non-voting
   women (51%), children, and the great number of foreigners that lived
   here, as is to be expected in a country that had recently ceased to be
   a colony.
   
   Regarding the application of due process in the trials held for
   members of the Batista regime, Castroites have their own
   interpretation. But it mast not be forgotten that-as the document
   recognizes-those principally implicated fled the country on January
   1st, on which date the mass executions commenced. Those that were shot
   by the firing squads were arrested, accused, judged and executed in
   less than 24 hours. The rise to power of the current government was
   sealed by a vicious settling of accounts. The so-called "revolutionary
   trials" bore no relation whatsoever to due process nor to a true right
   to a defense. A notorious example was the trial of the pilots
   sentenced after having been absolved, an event which led to the
   suicide of Captain Felix Pena.
   
   Every year, by an ever-growing number of votes, the General Assembly
   of the United Nations demands that the so-called [U.S.] "blockade" be
   ended. This statement is true, but what goes unsaid is that, with the
   same frequency, the Cuban government is sanctioned for its systematic
   violations of human rights.
   
   The October [1962] "[Missile] Crisis" is mentioned, while omitting the
   fact that the Cuban leadership urged Moscow to deliver the first
   strike without waiting for the "Yankees" to take the initiative. This
   is acknowledged by history. A nuclear attack against the United States
   would have meant a terrible catastrophe for all humanity, but,
   undoubtedly, Cuba would have been swept from the map. That solution to
   the crisis was offered by the same park members that are now
   worried-according to them-that their departure from power would mean
   the disappearance of Cuba as a nation.
   
   But can we forget the autocratic way in which nuclear weapons and
   foreign troops were brought into the country? The people learned of
   the matter. As the document well states: "Everything began to change
   on July 26, 1953." We should not fail to mention that-in effect-on
   that date, for the first time in many years, much Cuban blood was
   spilled Up to that time, the deaths in the political struggle which
   occurred under the Batista government could be counted on the fingers
   of one hand. To find in Cuban history as mournful and fratricidal a
   day as this, we would have to go back to decades long past. Despite
   its being such a sad day, it has been made into a holiday and
   celebrated as such. This, we suppose, meets with the disapproval of
   even the fallen martyrs own relatives.
   
   These are but a few examples of the way in which the Communists have
   sought to Interpret History.
   
  II - IN THE NAME OF UNITY
  
   
   The party insists on unity but forgets that, for that unity to be
   valid and real (and not a mere parody), it is necessary for a
   consensus freely reached by the citizenry to emerge. The opposite
   would amount to a brutish imposition that would be a unity in name
   only. We the members of the opposition are here to show that in our
   country there is no consensus.
   
   The text asserts that: "Only the unity of revolutionaries can lead to
   the unity of the people." This argument, just like every other
   perspective on this matter, suffers from what is known in logic as
   "circular reasoning," whereby that which is sought to be demonstrated
   is taken as a starting promise.
   
   The party, declaring itself the representative of the people, prepared
   the document that warns the citizenry to participate in the meetings
   to support it. The people, subjected to the pressures of totalitarian
   power, attend [these meetings], and the fact is portrayed to the world
   as a plebiscite on Cuban society. This is declared the most evident
   and irrefutable proof that the party represents all of the people. It
   is precisely the same premise that was used as a starting point.
   Although there is talk of plebiscite, the people have felt what it is
   like to be trampled upon. A latent popular will still exists, just as
   when General Arnaldo Ochoa and his comrades were sentenced to
   execution by firing squad. Even though the vast majority did not agree
   with this sentence, it was officially declared as necessary and the
   opinions of the masses ignored.
   
   If, as its leaders assert, the citizenry in general supports the
   Communist Party, there is no reason not to held
   internationally-supervised, free elections, which would serve to
   silence all the detractors of the system.
   
   In the name of unity, the Fist Party Congress considered it legitimate
   to bestow upon itself constituent powers and approve the final version
   of the 1976 Magna Carla. This includes Article 5, which proclaims the
   [Cuban Communist] Party as "a guiding force superior to society and
   the state."
   
   We are aware that there are historical precedents for this concept of
   unity. The Cuban Communist Party, in imposing a single party system,
   places itself in the unenviable company of Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler,
   Franco, Trujillo, Pol Pot and Sadam Hussein, among others.
   
   Having called the ranks to order on the matter of unity, the party saw
   it fit to declare that "the Cuban people have decided to have a single
   party." But, in the name of unity, under the concept of shared-guilt
   for mistakes, we have seen many things that have left their mark on
   history for having contributed to create chaos and instability in the
   country. It will suffice to cite a few examples:
   
     * The attempt to drain the Cienaga de Zapata wetlands;
     * The creation of an "agricultural belt" around Havana; The
       collectivization of agriculture;
     * The genetic alteration of livestock, in particular of cattle;
     * The authoring of a plan for food rationing and the mass production
       of "micro jet" bananas;
     * The dismantling of the sugar industry and the attempts to alter
       cane varieties;
     * The imposition of ideas that entail disastrous investments, such,
       as the Paso Seco Dam, which is a monument to that which should not
       be undertaken.
       
   Likewise, in the name of unity, a sugar mill was given as a gift to
   Nicaragua, an airport was built in Granada and, under the mantle of
   so-called "Proletarian Internationalism," troops were sent off to kill
   and die in different countries. To be sure, this was something that
   was never done under what they call the "subjugated republic," whose
   various governments refused to send troops to fight in either of the
   two world wars or the Korean war. This despite the fact that the
   "Yankee imperialists" did so. In this, our northern neighbor truly set
   itself apart from the Soviet Union, which-not practicing what it
   preached enabled and financed the sending of Cuban troops to a whale
   series of countries.
   
   The document, by the way, makes only a passing reference to these
   "missions" so as to avoid having to explain just what was achieved
   through that useless effort. Its only significance for the [Cuban]
   people was the breakup of families, mourning, pain and exotic
   diseases, among other things. Angola and Ethiopia-to cite only two
   such countries-exacted a high death toll among our follow Cubans. At
   present, over in those strange lands, Angola seeks a national solution
   with the participation of UNITA and the genocidal general Mengistu
   Haile-Marian, decorated here in Cuba with the Order of Jose Martí,
   fled ignominiously from Ethiopia. In addition, when it was considered
   convenient, unity was invoked to welcome our exiled brothers as
   representatives of the "Cuban community overseas." This after families
   had been keep apart and their mail hindered to avoid any kind of
   affectionate exchanges.
   
   Because of what it represented for the tattered finances of the
   country, party members were told that they could welcome into their
   homes those same people that had been reviled as "traitors" and
   "worms;" those that had had to endure the egg-throwing and blows of
   the renowned "popular dignity demonstrations." The latter subsequently
   gave rise to the Rapid Response Brigades and the detestable "acts of
   repudiation."
   
   In the name of unity, the "captive villages" were created, religious
   people were persecuted, and churches were practically left without
   priests. The document points out that: "The Congress approved the
   admission into the party of revolutionaries with religious beliefs."
   This implies that they take pride in a decision that bridles the shame
   of more than 30 years of persecuting those who profess religious
   ideas. If we look back, all of this came about, in good measure, due
   to opportunistic motives, as some members had turned religious just to
   be let go from the party.
   
   The unity to which the party refers is not about ideas, but about the
   aim that the people rally around the party leadership.
   
   For the rest, we cannot accept that a government which has dedicated
   itself to dividing the country can speak IN THE NAME OF UNITY.
   
  III - THE MAIN OBJECTIVE
  
   
   The philosophy of the government is not to serve the people but to be
   their dictator. It is not its main objective to guarantee the
   citizenry a quality of life which has a minimum of decorum. Power,
   exercised through totalitarian control, is the end that is being
   pursued with this political ploy. No longer is anyone fooled by the
   much-touted call to social justice. The wage rates combined with the
   stagnation of other economic factors makes the situation of the
   populace more difficult each day. And the more they deteriorate, the
   more the economic activities are politicized and militarized.
   
   Something which is truly deserving of a triple-X rating in the meaning
   assigned to what is termed the Socialist Civil Society. The document's
   authors wish to ignore the fact that a civil society is made up of
   elements outside the control of the state and therefor cannot be
   socialist or, what amounts to the same thing, "sovietist."
   
  IV - THE PLAN FOR SOLVING THE CRISIS
  
   
   In a paragraph detailing some of the accomplishments of the
   government, the following statement appears: "Our country became
   covered with highways and roads, as well as with waterworks for
   productive uses. Milking machinery and aerial spraying, previously
   unknown technologies in rural communities, were put in place."
   
   However, reality confronts us with the fact that there are no means of
   transportation on the highways and roads, and that there is
   insufficient water available to supply the major cities. In
   particular, there are heavily populated neighborhoods in the city of
   Havana where there are serious shortages of the precious liquid, and
   whole provinces-Santiago de Cuba being the prime example are
   experiencing irrigation problems.
   
   The cattle population has declined. In 1955 it reached a per capita
   level of 0.82 heads per inhabitant. Forty years later it was 0.38. The
   milk that was distributed in the 1980s originated from trade with the
   former German Democratic Republic. As there are practically no cows
   left to milk, the automated milking machinery has turned into scrap
   heaps from lack of care and maintenance. In the long term, far from
   serving to increase agricultural food production, all of the methods
   that were indiscriminately and inefficiently introduced have only
   hindered its development. The old methods at least yielded reliable
   results and allowed the needs of the population to be met.
   
   Further on, the document asserts that more than three million hectares
   were handed over to the Basic Units for Cooperative Production (BUCP).
   The pretense here was to make it seem that this was an innovative
   production method which would pull agriculture out of its presently
   critical situation. However, more than three years have passed since
   their establishment and no results can be seen. The government itself,
   through its official spokespersons, has declared that only 7°/O of the
   BUCPs are even marginally cost-effective. To this we can add that more
   than 60% of the state organizations have been recently deemed
   unreliable. It has also been recognized that the sugar mills are not
   grinding cane in a cost-effective manner but that, as cane production
   cannot be curtailed, nothing can be done about it.
   
   Allusions are made, in speaking of the changes and the things
   accomplished up to the time of the Special [Economic] Period, to how
   the food production program could have been successfully developed.
   This implies that at present this program is no longer viable. But no
   alternative is presented; not even the slightest suggestion that could
   put an end to the severe rationing that has lasted now 35 years-a
   world record.
   
   After considering the ensuing paragraphs, one may also conclude that
   there is also no plan for solving the country's economic and social
   crisis. For Cuba to partake in the global economy without renouncing
   its totalitarian ways, the challenge is more than difficult.. The
   stagnation that has characterized the Cuban government's policies
   continue to increase its alienation from financial institutions, the
   assistance of multinational consortiums such as the European Union,
   and even from the possibility of entering into any bilateral
   agreements. The foreign financing situation is dismal and it is not
   possible to continue to pay short-term leans with interest rates of 17
   or 18%. However, loans that offer at least low initial rates are
   difficult to obtain.
   
   What does the Communist Party offer the people? "We will have only
   that which we are capable of creating," it tells them. More than a
   promise, it seems a mournful threat about the proverbial inefficiency
   of the production system and about the usual limitations which, it
   imposes on the citizenry. The list of problems is enormous.
   Nevertheless, only material problems are addressed and no mention is
   made of the spiritual needs of our people, much less about the lack of
   all sorts of freedoms. For the party, the concrete tasks ahead are
   clear, but it does not identify for the populace the solutions to the
   problems, the timetables involved, or the differing view points. It is
   as if, suddenly, the future wore synthesized into that one slogan.
   Faced with our harsh reality, there is only room for the patriotic and
   revolutionary code-of-conduct of working more and better.
   
   That past that is portrayed as something so brilliant should not have
   given rise to the present crisis, as all of those accomplishments and
   conquests have been touted about since the 1960s. Accepting what the
   communists allege, it can only mean that they have given nothing to
   the people in the last 30 years. It is a case, then, of a regime
   anchored in the past and which lives in the past-and quite a remote
   past at that.
   
  V - CONCLUSIONS
  
   
   When on January 28th the U.S. government published its Plan in Support
   of a Transition [in Cuba], there was no alternative response by the
   Cuban government regarding the responsibilities identified in the plan
   to support a transition process. The document issued by the Communist
   Party is not such an alternative because it offers nothing concrete to
   the Cuban people. The following matters are still without explanation:
   
     * ˇ the way in which the catastrophic economic situation will be
       solved;
     * ˇ a solution for the ideological vacuum that the current political
       crisis has created, one result of which has been the use of
       foreign flags by young people in their attire;
     * ˇ what is going to be done to maintain at least the levels of
       service once attained in public health, education and social
       security, so as not to increase the painful situation of the
       population;
     * ˇ what the Cuban government will agree to do in order to solve
       international disagreements and to try to adopt global economic
       standards;
     * ˇ the measures it will take to eliminate the embargo; the means to
       be used to recover those parts of the Cuban territory occupied by
       foreign military bases: ˇ Guantanamo [Bay], Lourdes and
       Cienfuegos;
     * ˇ ways in which to address the growing number of people that
       express their opposition to the official political position and to
       stop the treatment of Cuban citizens as third class people in
       their own country.
       
   It is no secret that Cuba had the worst performance in the region
   during the five-year period between '91 and '95, and that even though
   it is said that an economic recovery occurred in 1996, the populace
   never experienced it. Upon the termination of Soviet-block aid, the
   inefficiency of the system increased and foreign commerce diminished.
   
   There is no doubt that the socioeconomic policies need to be reformed
   and redesigned so as to achieve better results. The use of the society
   and the economy to exert controls has to cease.
   
   Cuba needs a recovery based on high rates of sustainable growth to
   bring itself back into the realm of intense international competition
   and dynamic technological change. What the party has set forth is not
   this. It is merely an attempt to maintain the status quo of obsolete
   totalitarianism; to entrap us in social and economic backwardness
   amidst a dynamic and competitive world.
   
   No one wishes a return to the negative aspects of the 1950s, as the
   government argues. The realities of the world have change and those of
   our country too. The transition toward democracy that we wish to
   achieve is based on the fundamental principles of the 1940
   Constitution, which establishes social rights that have nothing to do
   with the influx of neo-liberalism. The current situation whereby
   foreign companies hire their workers through a state intermediary
   could be termed neo-totalitarian. Through such an arrangement, the
   state exploits the workers without even offering them stable
   employment.
   
   The document does not offer the possibility of establishing a true
   constitutional state, nor an independent and impartial legal system
   that would protect the liberties and rights of the individual and the
   practice of political pluralism.
   
   The government, given its current position, has no chance of
   stabilizing the economy quickly and without a recession, and this is a
   necessary pro-condition to effectively achieve an economic recovery
   and consolidation.
   
  VI - RECOMMENDATIONS
  
   
   The document states that economic liberalization is linked to the
   creation of joint-ventures and other forms of business arrangements
   with foreign companies. But this has not been enough, and is far less
   than what is needed. What is needed is a process of true economic
   liberalization, which would entail the democratization of the country.
   The Cuban community overseas-amounting to a million and a half
   people-could undoubtedly contribute to a sustained economic recovery.
   Currently, in fact, the financial assistance that [the exiles] send to
   their relatives on the island accounts for a substantial portion of
   the country's import-purchasing power. This is demonstrated by the
   fact that the government has gone so far as to as to impose taxes on
   the receipt of this money.
   
   The Cubans on the island have demonstrated what they are capable of
   accomplishing if given even a small degree of economic freedom. The
   self-employed-whom the system has tried to drown because of what they
   represent from a political perspective-manage to turn any small
   business they undertake into models of efficiency.. In this regard,
   the Revolution stimulates the creativity of the masses in all fields
   of endeavor. Innumerable innovations have been introduced to
   production and service activities. If there is a true desire to
   stimulate the creativity of the masses in all areas, then they must be
   allowed to enter the economic arena. Cubans mast be allowed to invest,
   just as foreigners are allowed to. Moreover, to be consistent, this
   type of stimulus should be extended to the political realm.
   
   It is said that the party demands each and everyone of its members to
   think with his own head and to express himself freely within the bosom
   of the party organizations. This means that there are 770,000 persons
   in the country who are allowed to think and speak freely, while the
   rest of the population-the ones without a party; the ones that
   constitute the majority-have no opportunity to express themselves
   freely. They too need breathing space.
   
   You may find this a curious assertion: "Our electoral system is above
   political games, fraud, and the buying-selling of votes." And is this
   not what is to be expected? It would, after all, be truly
   mind-boggling for the party to engage in and condone vices to benefit
   candidates that already follow the party line. It is also stated that:
   "The party does not nominate, reelect or impeach." Clearly, it has no
   need to do so. The entire leadership of the mass organizations belongs
   to the party. It is enough that these leaders participate in the
   whole-scale nomination process of the so-called "Candidacy
   Commissions." Despite all this, people are compelled to go vote. For
   something truly novel, they should allow the opposition to form part
   of the electoral process itself; to be able to rally its own parties,
   nominate its own candidates and engage in political campaigning-all
   under the supervision of international observers.
   
   The document does speak of a constitutional state. However, not one of
   the traits that would characterize as such is discernible. There is no
   respect for the law, as demonstrated by Decree 217, which violates
   provisions of the Constitution and the General Housing Law. There is
   also the case of the systematic disregard of the Law Governing
   Associations, under which different independent organizations
   should-as they have repeatedly requested-be made legal.
   
   The state is not at the service of the citizens. Between them there is
   not even an egalitarian relationship of reciprocal rights and
   obligations. Instead, the citizen is at the service of the state. The
   laws do not respect the rights inherent upon human beings, as
   demonstrated by innumerable denunciations of the violations of these
   rights as well as repeated sanctions against Cuba in the United
   Nations over this issue.
   
   The government should resolve problems such as the matter of the right
   of Cubans to freely enter and leave the national territory and
   allowing the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, and
   his team, into the country. It must also be noted that there is no
   legal protection in the country, as it has been shown that the laws,
   and even the Constitution, can be modified overnight. Thus, if other
   ideologies besides that advocated by the Communist Party were
   recognized, a Constituent Assembly should be convened with the main
   goal of modifying the existing constitution. The Constitution of 1940
   could be used as a basis for the revisions, with the subsequent aim of
   holding multi-party elections.
   
   Measures such as this are what the Communist Party should propose to
   try to avoid a spontaneous outbreak in the near future of incidents of
   social violence.
   
   It is impossible to continue leading the nation to its ruin without
   expecting an uncontrolled awakening of the populace in search of a
   rightful space within a civil society with democratic institutions.
   That which no one desires could well occur, and thus it is better to
   discuss solutions now than to plunge our homeland into mourning
   tomorrow.
   
   Havana City, June 27,1997
   Felix Antonio Bonne Carcasses
   René Gómez Manzano
   Vladimiro Roca Antunes
   Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello
   
     _________________________________________________________________