Former Communist loyalist leads some 5000 U.S.-bound Cubans in Ecuador

Former Communist loyalist leads some 5000 U.S.-bound Cubans in Ecuador

Some of his critics state that he was sent to Ecuador by Cuban
intelligence to collect money for helping the Cubans emigrate to the
United States, and then hand over the funds to the government. For
others, he is a messiah trying to lead Cubans to the promised land.
BY MARIO J. PENTÓN
mpenton@elnuevoherald.com

Peter Josué Borges Basulto was a model Cuban revolutionary — a member of
the Cuban Communist Party and the Union of Communist Youths as well as a
deputy in the legislative National Assembly of People's Power.

His leadership skills were tapped starting in elementary school, where
he was "unit commander" in the so-called Pioneros, a Communist
organization for school-aged children.

But even though Borges, despite years of living in Ecuador, still uses
the jargon ingrained during his years inside Cuba's political system, he
now is so opposed to it that he is trying to help more than 5,000 Cubans
in Ecuador who want to immigrate to the United States.

"The situation Cubans are living here is terrible," said Borges, 31. "I
realized how bad it is for them and that's why I am now fighting to help
get them out."

Backed by more than 5,000 signatures, Borges and his group of "community
spokesmen" have asked for U.S. and Mexican government help in trying to
bypass Central America to get to the U.S. but to no avail. Several open
letters to authorities requesting humanitarian visas and passage to the
U.S. also has not helped.

Borges and his initiatives have been attacked because of his
revolutionary background.

Some of his critics have taken to social media platforms stating that
Borges was sent to Ecuador by Cuban intelligence to collect money for
helping the Cubans emigrate to the United States, and then hand over the
funds to the government. For others, Borges is a messiah trying to lead
Cubans to the promised land.

Borges says he hopes he will be judged "for my work more than my words."

Born to an Evangelical family with no ties to the Cuban government,
Borges said that when he was told as a child to be like Jesus, he would
reply that he wanted to "be like Che," the Argentine revolutionary who
fought alongside Fidel Castro and to whom Cuban school children must
swear loyalty.

Borges' generation grew up in the best years of the Cuban economic
model, when the former Soviet Union was subsidizing it with billions of
dollars per year. From leader of his elementary class he went on to lead
in high school and then became president of the a high school federation
in the Camagüey municipality.

His participation in the "integral teachers" program — which deployed
students in their late teens and early 20s to replace teachers who were
leaving in droves because of their low salaries — put him in contact
with top leaders of the Communist Youth Union (UJC) and Federation of
University Students (FEU). Thousands of Cuban youths joined the program
because of the shortage of jobs and other educational opportunities at
the time.

Borges earned a university degree in education, with a specialty as an
"integral teacher," and later earned a master's in education.

"During that time we had a lot of meetings with (Communist) party and
government officials. I became convinced that was the way I should serve
my country," Borges said in a Skype interview. "They brainwash you in
Cuba, and as you grow up you know nothing different. By the time I was
19, I belonged to both the UJC and the Communist Party."

THEY BRAINWASH YOU IN CUBA, AND AS YOU GROW UP YOU KNOW NOTHING DIFFERENT
Peter Josué Borges Basulto

That's how he was picked to become a deputy in the National Assembly of
People's Power. "I was head of the FEU in Camagüey, and since 50 percent
of the parliament comes from mass organizations, I was nominated and
then selected," he said.

Borges said the Cuban government tries to create "test tube leaders" as
if the island is a laboratory. "One thing is the theory, but the
practice is very different. When you reach the high levels of power,
that's when you realize that system is rotten," he added.

As a lawmaker, Borges said he learned that the job is simply to transmit
the decisions of the central government down to the lower levels.

"I represented a district that was half urban and half rural. People
asked me for help with houses that were falling apart, for schools that
were in terrible condition, and I could never do anything. Sometimes we
waited months for authorities to reply, and no one did anything."

Borges said that's how he learned that Cubans live in fear.

"When you believe in a system like that, you are blind. That's what
happened to me," he said. "In Cuba the people live in fear, fear of
being singled out, fear of sticking out of the herd."

IN CUBA THE PEOPLE LIVE IN FEAR, FEAR OF BEING SINGLED OUT, FEAR OF
STICKING OUT OF THE HERD
Peter Josué Borges Basulto

Borges said that among the experiences that shattered his ideals were
meetings with families who had no electricity at home and lived in the
worst of conditions. "You only see how the system really works when
you're at those national levels of leadership: Everything is based on lies."

He finally broke with the system, he said, when it tried to force him
into "false modesty."

"They wanted me to use a bicycle instead of the car, because the car I
used belonged to my grandfather, to his church. That's when the clashes
with my supervisors started, until I finally decided to leave the
Assembly, the UJC and the party," he added.

Two women who served with Borges in the Assembly and are still in the
parliament — Migdalia Águila Arostegui and Teresa Cruz Proenza — said
his version of the troubles he faced in Cuba is not true.

Águila, in a telephone interview, said she owns two modes of
transportation (a motorcyle and a car) and plans to travel abroad soon,
adding that she has never had any problems with her superiors. Borges,
she said, withdrew from the National Assembly because he had neglected
his duties to his constituents.

HE LIKED EXPENSIVE PERFUMES, EXPENSIVE THINGS
Teresa Cruz Proenza, member of Cuba's parliament

Cruz, in a separate telephone interview, added that Borges displayed
"opportunistic attitudes" as a deputy. "He liked expensive perfumes,
expensive things. He was very self-sufficient and ambitious, and that's
why he could not continue as a deputy," she said.

Leaving the Assembly, the UJC and the party brought him immediate
retaliation, Borges said.

"I tried to start my own business and I managed to own two cafeterias,
but the inspectors were killing me with fines, obviously on orders from
someone," he said. A State Security agent constantly followed him until
he decided to leave for Ecuador two years ago.

"I was afraid they would turn me back at the airport, but I finally
left, and after I landed in Quito I joined initiatives like the Cuban
National Alliance in Ecuador and the Movement X Cuba."

Borges initially kept a low profile as he tried to help the Cubans in
Ecuador who wanted to emigrate to the United States. But then he joined
several other activists, including Nancy Sosa, Fernanda de la Fe and
Roxana Acanda, organizing protests in front of the U.S. and Mexican
embassies to ask for humanitarian visas for the Cuban migrants.

The activists also are trying to help poor Cubans in Ecuador, receiving
and distributing private donations.

"There are people who have nothing to eat. Many are undocumented
migrants," said Borges. "We have tried to resolve these problems
independently."

Source: Former Cuban communist now helps compatriots trying to get to
the U.S. | In Cuba Today -
http://www.incubatoday.com/news/article82876087.html