Iván García, Translator: Unstated
We have to see Fidel Castro as a piece of living history. A stream of
bright ideas. God in olive green with a beard. The only comandante. The
man who never makes mistakes.
Democracy, that word so used and which has provoked so many wars, has
many interpretations according to whomever is using it. Kim Il Jong
plays his head in a Russian Roulette through the Juche ideology. For the
satrap of Pyongyang his form of governing is the perfect definition of
democracy.
Cuba isn't far behind. The "government of the people" is practices on
the island. True democracy, assert the island's leaders. A happy people
fucked after a night of reggaeton in a plaza where they buy in bulk a
beverage with a taste similar to beer, early in the morning present
themselves at the polls to choose the neighborhood's delegates.
For Castro, Western democracy is a scam. Trying to sell us, from the
White House, the president in office. Who seeks to impose on us by hook
or crook. And if you don't accept it, he launches intelligent missiles.
It's legitimate to think this way.
But it should set off a fundamental debate about the desirability and
utility of an authoritarian government without elections. And
demonstrate that ruling uninterrupted for 50 years resolves more and
doesn't cost any money on political campaigns, for administering a
country for 4, 6 or 8 years.
He could do it. He's got the time and the gift of the gab. What I see
badly about the comandante, or better I should say about compañero
Fidel, is that in order to express the viability of the system he
represents he tells us without blushing that Cuba is the most democratic
country on the planet.
I would like to believe the old leader. If Grampa Castro would allow
comments on his blog of reflections on Cubadebate, then we might think
he's a novice democrat. But no. Zero arguments. I've tried to leave my
opinions on some of his incendiary reflections and found it impossible.
With the perfect ruler, who defeated Yankee imperialism at the Bay of
Pigs, and who if Khrushchev hadn't been a food, would have swept that
infamous country with the medium range nuclear missiles, there's no debate.
Especially if you're Cuban. Perhaps it might be permitted of a subject
of the British crown or an American congressional representative. Castro
is like that. You're under his harangues and then we all have to read
them in school assemblies and committee meetings, applaud and shout
fatherland or death we shall overcome.
The Internet and new times have pointed to the corrupt, cheaters and
autocrats. We can't talk about democracy outright any more. The Gazette
exhausted everything they put in it. But on the wed there's a feedback
loop. Something healthy and enriching.
Apparently Fidel Castro does not like discrepancies. He considers
himself above good and evil. Reading him ought to be a pleasure. After
all, he's a veteran guerrilla, a survivor of the Cold War. Thus, without
comments. But always, to tell the truth, I have my doubts.
April 11 2011
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