Musings of a Blind Man (3)

Musings of a Blind Man (3) / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on March 2, 2015

At this point in the historic events that have taken place in recent
days between Cuba and the United States, it is not worthwhile to have
regrets, but rather to understand the reasons for these events, and try
to find a positive view of them.

I dare say that President Obama has passed the ball to the Cuban rulers.
Now they have in their court what they have been long been clamoring
for. We shall see what they are capable of doing with it. Most likely,
the Castro brothers will not know what to do with the new possibility
that can only lead to the path of liberty and democracy. This is
something that they are unwilling to concede, albeit knowing of the
great chance that the Republicans will assume power in the next U.S.
elections and will revoke a good part or all that Obama has given them –
which as a policy matter is never possible.

Barack Obama knows that he can play with these possibilities for another
year and, in a certain way, it is his personal vengeance against the
opposition party. Although in his speech he mentioned relations with
China and Vietnam, the question is whether the U.S. is willing to
tolerate human rights violations in a country so historically and
geographically close. I do not accord to Cuba the same status as those
other two communist countries. I am of the view that Cuba will
demonstrate to the world its inability to allow individual freedoms,
even though the Castro brothers will be unable to return to power – the
older one due to physical limitations, the younger because of the very
legislation that he himself approved.

Of course, we are all more than certain that the president who will be
installed will be no more than a puppet whose strings will be in the
hands of the Castro family if, by then, one of their own offspring is
not put in power so that the cycle of history can repeat itself.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

December, 2014. Jaimanitas Border Patrol Prison Unit, Havana.

Translated by Alicia Barraqué Ellison

Source: Musings of a Blind Man (3) / Angel Santiesteban | Translating
Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/musings-of-a-blind-man-3-angel-santiesteban/