The Cuban Opposition

Once, on a visit to the United States, the former Polish President, Lech Walesa, made a public call to all Cuban opposition parties to unite and fight to achieve democracy in Cuba.

These calls were unanswered by the Cuban opposition parties, so I took it upon myself to write to them, stressing the urgent need to unite and take action against the Castro regime. An opposition leader based in Miami immediately sent me a message. He called me a government agent and accused me of attempting to undermine Cuban opposition abroad.

A few months later, at a Sunday service in church, this "leader" arrived and greeted me rather warmly. It was evident that he had simply used me, through his crude and irresponsible statement, to argue against Cuban unity.

This incident, among others, showed me that expecting any directly unified political action from the opposition groups was impossible. To hope for any provisional form of unity amongst the opposition was absurd.

The Apostle of Cuban Independence, Jose Marti, realised this many years ago. He said, "telling people to unite is an order". And he was right; the aversion to uniting to achieve political objectives is not something inherent to Cuban people. As history has shown, we would rather be the ones making decisions than following them.

But there are certain circumstances, like in the case of Cuba, that we should unite to be "together but not scrambled". The motivation to raise the search for democracy and well-being for the Cuban people, even if the motivations are varied. To ask this of genuinely good people should not be too much.

This could be the nucleus of an Alternative Government Programme, which could raise support from democratic governments and international organizations. It must be something practical that does not aspire to be like the country's history of tobacco or religion.

To achieve unity, it must overlook the "minor players" in the game of Cuban independence. It will turn to only those capable and determined to make real change in Cuba—postponing the passions and interests of the sub-groups. This idea is not new; the Jesuits have done this for many years. The best you can do when you cannot make a change is to go and find people who can. This strategy has given the Jesuits many results. Today, on the Throne of Saint Peter, there is a Jesuit.

The opposition within Cuba today is dissected, and its capacity to act as a political organization is entirely annulled. On their behalf, the exiled opposition has the resources, relationships, and freedom to act. All they need is the willingness to coordinate.

In 1990, from Havana, on the telephone with listeners in Miami, people who were part of the so-called National Unity Committee (CUN), said they were opponents. In this way, "human rights people" and "dissidents" voices began to be left behind.

Politicians do politics. And after more than 30 years of using this sort of "politics", I hope that one day, the politicians in Cuba will stop this twisted system and achieve some change to help Cuba and its citizens.