Relationship is Not Simply Acceptance

Relationship is Not Simply Acceptance / Fernando Dámaso
Posted on March 15, 2016

Fernando Damaso, 8 March 2016 — At the 31st Ordinary Session of the
United Nations Human Rights Council, which met in Geneva, the delegation
of the Cuban government, headed by Mr. Pedro Nunez Mosquera, Director
General for Multilateral Affairs and International Law of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), was upset because a few days before
President Obama's visit to Cuba, Mr. Antony Blinder, Undersecretary of
State of the United States, pointed out some outstanding issues for the
Cuban authorities with regards to Human Rights, such as the importance
of the Cuban people being free to elect their leaders, express their
ideas, and enjoy a flourishing civil society.

Normal relations between governments means mutual respect, and not quiet
acceptance of what they consider wrong. It seems that the "socialist
heritage," when relationships are between "brothers" means accepting and
applauding everything each other does, continues to weigh on our leaders
and their representatives in international forums.

As a result of this misconception, determined by ideology and politics
and not by reasoning, the Cuban government supported the Soviet Union's
invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan, and looked kindly on Soviet
interference in the internal matters of other countries and, recently,
supported Russian policy against Ukraine and the dispossession of
Crimea, failed to criticized the North Korean nuclear tests and took
sides with the Venezuelan government against the victorious opposition,
supported Kirchnerism in Argentina and against the newly elected
government of Macri and, also the loser Evo Morales in Bolivia. The list
could be endless.

It is no secret that change is very difficult, especially when the same
things have been repeated for five decades. To repeat absurdly that "the
Cuban people freely decided their destiny in January 1959" ignores the
fact that since then almost four generations have been born, who had
nothing to do with what happened on that date, who have the right to an
opinion, to decide and to change what they consider obsolete, it
childish and lacking in seriousness.

It is like trying to condemn the nation to eternal immobility. Repeating
the worn out "chorus" of "solidarity" in areas in healthcare, education
and sports, as an argument that Human Rights are exercised, is getting
boring. When we talk about Human Rights were are talking about those
contained n the Universal Declaration of Human Rights approved by the
United Nations, and not the rights invented at the convenience of the
Cuban authorities.

Putting forth the idea, as a defense against its critics, that the
United States or the European Union should change its laws if they want
Cuba to do the same, aside from being pedantic shows a lack of political
intelligence in a globalized world, where the right to an opinion and
even to criticize belongs to both governments and citizens. Putting
blinders on so as not to hear or accept criticism is a suicidal
position, totally divorced from elemental logic.

If our authorities want to be respected and taken into account in the
international arena, they should start by changing these obsolete
conceptions of foreign policy, which instead of helping make it
difficult to maintain stable relations.

Source: Relationship is Not Simply Acceptance / Fernando Dámaso |
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