In Cuba, Castro foes wage
lonely fight
Dissidents make little
progress, say they could be jailed at any
time
By Tracey Eaton / The
Dallas Morning News. December 18, 2004.
HAVANA - The toothbrush tells it all.
Martha Beatriz Roque carries it in her
purse 24/7 because she fears she could be
thrown in jail at any moment.
One of Cuba's best-known political dissidents,
she leads a precarious existence. And she
seems to be making little headway against
Fidel Castro, who remains popular among
many Cubans. But she continues her lonely
fight.
"I have to do something for my people
- and for me," she said over dinner
in Havana.
Ms. Beatriz Roque, 59, and other Cuban
dissidents have strong support in Washington,
where U.S. officials have vowed to keep
pressing for a change of government in Cuba.
How it will happen isn't at all clear.
While campaigning for re-election, Mr.
Bush announced measures to tighten the longtime
ban on trade with Cuba. Critics said he
was pandering to South Florida's Cuban-American
community. But James Cason, the chief U.S.
diplomat in Cuba, said that "is not
what this president is about."
Mr. Bush is committed to seeing a rapid,
peaceful democratic transition in Cuba,
Mr. Cason said. And he's counting on the
island's political opposition to help.
Hundreds of dissidents oppose the socialist
government. But their movement is divided
and heavily infiltrated by government spies.
The opposition got some relief in recent
weeks when Cuban authorities released seven
jailed dissidents. Cuba watchers said the
government probably freed them to improve
relations with Spain, which broke with the
Castro regime in 2003 after the jailing
of 75 dissidents.
'Master puppeteer'
But the gesture doesn't mean the Cuban
government is suddenly turning democratic,
some say.
"Castro is a master puppeteer. He
released a few people, but he's also been
arresting people," Mr. Cason said.
"It's a tactical thing."
Ms. Beatriz Roque agreed, saying Mr. Castro
still has the opposition in a vice grip.
"He opens up a little with the right
hand but closes a lot with the left hand,"
she said.
Castro loyalists have a very different
view of the dissidents, saying they have
little support in the country and are propped
up, financed and guided by the U.S. government.
"There is no punishment in this country
for expressing ideas that are different
than those of the government," said
Roberto de Armas, a senior official at the
Cuban Foreign Ministry. "What's not
tolerated is collaborating with a foreign
government to overthrow the Cuban government."
The four-decade ban on trade with Cuba
is the toughest economic embargo imposed
on any nation in history, he and other Castro
loyalists add. It has caused billions of
dollars in damage to the Cuban economy,
and officials would like a change - they
want normal relations with the United States.
"The Cuban government is not the enemy,"
Mr. de Armas said. "We don't portray
Americans as people who eat children or
have large fangs dripping blood."
But given the U.S. government's hostility
toward Cuba, relations between the two nations
remain at a low point, he said, and "it's
not a realistic scenario" that Mr.
Castro will meet with Mr. Bush anytime soon
to negotiate.
Mr. Bush said in May 2002 that he would
soften the embargo if Mr. Castro gave a
sign that he was willing to move toward
democracy and announce, for instance, free
elections or economic reforms.
"That was a genuine offer," Mr.
Cason said, "and the answer was, 'Hell
no.' "
Castro loyalists
Castro loyalists counter that Cuba is a
sovereign nation and that the United States
should stay out of its affairs. They insist
that the vast majority of the Cuban people
support the socialist system. And they vow
to continue to improve it, putting a strong
emphasis on education.
Castro loyalists say Internet use in Cuba
will grow massively over the next five years,
surpassing that of all other Latin American
nations.
Already, the Cubans have converted Lourdes,
a former Soviet spy station, into a computer
school. About 4,000 Cubans study there now,
and that will grow to 10,000 within three
years, Mr. de Armas said.
The educational push shows that the Cuban
government is committed to allowing freedom
of expression, said Lisando Otero, a Cuban
writer and winner of the country's prize
for literature in 2002.
"People spend all day criticizing
the government," he said. "That
shows the Cuban people have never been freer
than they are now."
American officials don't buy the argument
and say Mr. Castro is steadily losing the
support of the island's youths.
"Young people don't believe in the
revolution anymore," Mr. Cason said.
"They're into hip-hop and putting ring
piercings in their navels."
Ms. Beatriz Roque said it's not just young
people who are unhappy.
"All Cuban people are dissidents.
They don't want this. They want to live
better," she said.
Accused of subverting the Cuban government
and working as an agent of American authorities,
she and 74 other dissidents were jailed
in the spring of 2003. Ms. Beatriz Roque
received an 18-year prison sentence but
was unexpectedly released this summer.
Still, she and other released dissidents
say they don't feel safe.
"We could go to jail again anytime,"
she said. "We are out of jail, but
we are not free."
E-mail traceyeaton2004@yahoo.com
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