Freedom's Always On The Run
Cubans fight for freedom while America stays silent.
Note: I started writing this article last month when no action had come from the federal government. Since then, the situation of the Cuban public has all but disappeared from the media. It’s a disappointing, and disturbing trend watching the rise and fall of social interest in real tragedy happening in the world. We’re witnessing a similarly distressing moment in Afghanistan, now, and I worry that in a short time our attention will have moved on to some place else. It’s not that we must all suffer all of the time with the knowledge of despair in the world, but a year from now will we be wondering, “I wonder what happened to Cuba?” when a sustained focus could affect change on the lives of our fellow man. At least, if we continue to contemplate their suffering, we keep their stories alive. On how we move forward, and the reason for why I write I’ll offer the words of Oswaldo Payá, a Cuban dissident assassinated by the Cuban government in 2012.
“The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together. This is the liberation which we are proclaiming.”
Photo by Ricardo IV Tamayo on Unsplash
“Cos across the human frontier, Freedom’s always on the run,” sang The Clash’s Joe Strummer on 1978’s Give ‘Em Enough Rope. Strummer was depicting the world he saw, a world of political violence and oppression. A vision that, while living in America in 2021, might feel hyperbolic to many, but recent events across the globe remind us that Strummer’s words are just as appropriate and poignant as ever.
China’s capture of Hong Kong and the genocide of Uyghur muslims, the Russian occupation of Crimea, and Putin’s treatment of his political opposition, the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents (with no political recourse), and Yeonmi Park’s harrowing story of escaping the cruelty of North Korea are evidence enough to support the above claim. But, in America, we’re insulated by hemispheres and continents, and separated by oceans from those realities. While those events and history don’t seem to speak loudly enough, could a human rights crisis that is happening under our nose sufficiently illustrate the tenuous grasp the fortunate few of us have on liberty?
Enter Cuba.
Fidel Castro took power after the Cuban Revolution in 1959. In the following 60 years, the Cuban public has endured economic exploitation, sham elections, and tyrannical rule dominated by brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro. Three generations of Cubans have long suffered the rule of the Marxist regime. There have been repeated unsuccessful efforts spearheaded by citizens to fight their oppressive government and bring freedom to the island. These efforts throughout Cuba’s history have either been censored or violently suppressed.
On July 11th, thousands of Cuban nationals took to the streets to protest their tyrannical government. The American flag was flown alongside its Cuban counterpart as cries of libertad - liberty - rang through the streets. The organic, spontaneous protests are due to living conditions the coronavirus has only served to exacerbate (i.e. high prices for essential items that the regime sets based on what they think they should cost, limited access to healthcare and vaccines, and the increasingly common problems of hunger and starvation), and it appears the Cuban public may have reached their boiling point.
The media in Cuba is not free, and speech is either censured or compelled. It is by no small miracle that the videos of these demonstrations have leaked to the outside world. The internet and phone services are both state run in Cuba, and the state did what any dictatorship worth its salt would do when met with subversive material. They shut them down. All of Cuba was in the dark for the better part of an hour, and once internet access had been restored it was with significant restrictions. Some sites such as Facebook and WhatsApp were entirely blocked from public access. Thankfully, due to the courage of dissidents living on the island, images and video of the protests were able to escape the jurisdiction of Cuban officials so that the rest of the world could view the historic events.
Disappointingly, the bravery displayed by los Cubanos has not been matched by those in the American government who have the power to aid them. Both Democrats and Republicans in congress have suggested providing wi-fi to the Cuban public through high-altitude balloons, or from the nearby base in Gauntanamo. Providing unfettered internet access would give the SOS Cuba movement the infrastructure critical to a successful modern day revolution. While American politicians debate the ramifications of taking action, Cubans are suffering. Those identified as having taken part in the protests three weeks ago are being rounded up, or ‘disappeared’ by the communist government. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel is committed to a disinformation campaign against his own citizens calling protesters ‘American mercenaries’, and downplaying the size of the uprising that took place across several of Cuba’s major cities in efforts to curb enthusiasm for the anti-communist movement.
Initial comments from the Biden administration did little to bolster hopes of freedom for the Cuban people. In an official White House statement that read “The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves,” Biden called on the authoritarian regime to satiate its people’s needs. This statement soft-pedals the human rights abuses committed by the communist state, and presumes not only that a Marxist state has the capacity of granting the wishes of a people who desire freedom, but also without dismantling the primary source of their ire. One week later, in an admittedly stronger statement, President Biden condemned the oppressive government, announced new sanctions on the Cuban government, and disclosed that his administration is working with the private sector in efforts to provide internet access to the island. However, the sanctions announced in the press release target specific arms of the Cuban military, not the government as a whole. Furthermore, how effective of a reprimand can these sanctions be on a state that is the subject of an American embargo? Regardless, we’re nearing two months since the initial protests, and mass detainments and show trials have continued with no significant action taken by the United States.
What is perhaps the most telling statement on future policy plans of the current administration is the statement made by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. In regards to Cubans who may attempt fleeing their home to seek refuge in the States, Mayorkas said “Allow me to be clear, if you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States”. He went on to state that if anyone were to make the 90 mile voyage successfully that “people will be returned.” These statements are in sharp contrast to the ones the Cuban-born official made about the on-going crisis at the border telling migrants “don’t come now” but instead to “give us time to rebuild the system” that would allow for a more orderly way to arrive at the United States.
In the following weeks, rallies and demonstrations in support of the Cuban public have continued in American cities urging the Biden administration to do more to support the grassroots movement in Cuba. Protestors gathered in Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington D.C. on July 26th in support of the pro-democracy contingent in Cuba. Ironically, the organization whom the plaza recently derived its name, placed blame on the United States for the oppression of the Cuban people by calling for an end to the embargo, but failed to condemn the oppressive actions of the communist regime. BLM insisted that the United States respect the Cuban people’s right to self-determination, but in what sense does a totalitarian regime preserving its status quo constitute self-determination?
If America is going to continue to muse on providing internet access to Cubans - the case can be made that it is a fundamental right at this point - then the very least we can do is offer political asylum to the Cuban refugees who arrive at our borders. Does America not have a commitment to remain the land of the free, the one represented by the flag the protesters carried alongside their own? Certainly, America has a political, if not a moral, obligation to welcome those who share our ideals and seek refuge from oppression. In order to remain that beacon on a hill, to remain devoted to the American project, citizens and political leaders alike must stand in solidarity to those who seek freedom where ever they are. If the United States cannot provide that sanctuary, then where can freedom run to next?