Cuban emigration: Investments and political participation in Cuba

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From
Havana

Cuban
emigration: Investments and political participation in Cuba

An
interview with Jorge Gómez Barata

By
Manuel Alberto Ramy                                                      Read Spanish Version

Jorge
Gómez Barata, 62, journalist and professor of history at the
University of Havana, was an official at the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Cuba. From the important post he held, he was one
of the main organizers of the Conference on the Nation and
Emigration, held in 1994. In the past 15 years, numerous changes have
occurred both in Cuba and in the opinions and attitudes of the Cuban
community in the United States. These changes, along with the outlook
for certain reforms in the Cuban government and President Barack
Obama’s promises of a greater flexibility toward the island,
especially regarding the relations of Cuban-Americans with their
country of origin, suggest a new scenario for the Cuban nation and
its émigrés. We spoke with Gómez Barata about this new reality.

Gómez
Barata:
For the first time in a long time, in the topics of Cuba-U.S.
relations and Cuba’s relations with the émigré community, we
perceive a climate of optimism and tranquility. This is linked to the
end of the Bush era, a brutal era of prohibitions, limitations, and
the harshening of U.S. policy toward Cuba, which was reflected in a
brutal manner in its relationship with the émigré community. By
limiting those relations to the most minimal expression, Bush ended
every type of exchange — academic, cultural, sports, informational
— thus considerably altering the relations of Cuba with the émigrés
and causing a lamentable retreat in that field.

Manuel
Alberto Ramy:
Fifteen years have passed since that conference, which was a
milestone because it brought together a very diverse number of Cubans
living abroad. At that time, there was an interest in favor of a
dialogue. How much interest do you see at the present? The same
interest as in 1994, or do you think new interests are on the table?

Gómez
Barata:
Thirty years have passed since the dialogues of 1978, which led to
the start of the trips to Cuba by the émigrés, who are the human
channel and facilitate every kind of relationship. If there is no
travel, there is not human contact, and human contact is the
foundation for everything. This was achieved during the dialogue of
’78, held by Fidel Castro with representatives of the Cuban community
living abroad. Among other things, there were additional gains, but
the main one was the travel.

Ramy:
In 1994 — and under very difficult circumstances, because the
socialist camp had disappeared — you held the Encounter Between the
Nation and the Émigré Communities, at which several sensitive
issues were broached. Do you remember some?

Gómez
Barata:
That encounter was a real milestone because of its pluralistic
composition, because of its breadth and the depth of the issues
broached. The discussion dealt with topics as important as the
reinsertion of the émigrés in the Cuban economy, and answers were
given to such questions. We spoke about topics that were previously
unthinkable, such as the participation of the émigrés in Cuba’s
electoral process, but Bush cancelled those issues with his
restrictive measures.

Ramy:
At that time, was the possibility that Cuban émigrés might invest
in the nation concretized?

Gómez
Barata:
Regarding economic reinsertion, the answer at the time was Yes,
although conditioned to the same general treatment that Cuba gives
foreign capital, based on the expectation that the investor will
contribute capital, technology and a market. In principle, any
émigrés who were willing to do that were free to participate.

Ramy:
I know émigrés whose relatives on the island have farms they
exploit privately or as members of a cooperative. Would the Cuban
government allow the relatives abroad to supply those farmers with
capital to buy modern equipment?

Gómez
Barata: So
far as I know, it is not illegal to own foreign currency. I know that
agricultural producers can buy fertilizers, seeds, pesticides and
farming equipment. Those are topics that need to be discussed, to be
clarified; but for that we need a dialogue, an exchange that will
become easy once the limitations imposed by the U.S. disappear. And,
of course, once there is flexibility on the Cuban side. I think the
Cuban government is prepared to deal with subtlety, diplomacy, and
high politics.

Ramy:
I recall that during that encounter, there was also talk of a
possible political participation by the émigrés. What became of
that topic?

Gómez
Barata:
That was not possible, given the regional nature of the electoral
processes in Cuba. As you know, Cubans vote according to the
electoral district where they live — and we don’t have an electoral
district in Miami. Later, our electoral law was reformed, and that
might be a topic for conversation. In any case, it seems to me that
in the present stage what’s important is not to examine what we
examined in the past but to use those findings as a starting point.
What’s important now is to take advantage of the opening that
presumably will be created by the contacts between the nation and the
émigré community to advance boldly and without fallbacks. We have
already fallen back twice.

Ramy:
Do you think that a new encounter will be held between the émigrés
and the Cuban nation?

Gómez
Barata:
I would say Yes; the situation is ripe, and, to advance consistently,
we need to define shared goals. To do that, it is necessary to meet,
dialogue and pin down our common interests.

Ramy:
Do you see an obstacle in the attitude of certain sectors in Florida
that oppose a new encounter between the nation and Cuban émigré
community? How is this reflected within the structure of power in
Cuba when it comes to making decisions about the issue?

Gómez
Barata:
I do not perceive in Cuba any force, any current of opinion that is
opposed to relations with the émigré community, to dialogue, to
encounters. All the opposite. Cuban society and the government
structure are open to all those processes and favor them
enthusiastically because they are common interests for the Cuban
nation and the émigrés. True, in Miami there are forces with some
power who oppose [those processes] but they were well pictured by
Obama when he described them as people who are on the wrong side of
history. If they want to join, the doors are open. What’s important
is to gather forces.

Ramy:
Is the Cuban government prepared to deal with forces that have
economic power and will it allow them to invest in the country?

Gómez
Barata:
I believe it is. In my opinion, Cuban society and government are
willing to meet those challenges. I would go further: put us to the
test, lift the blockade, let’s start relations. Test us, to see how
it works. On the other hand, modern politics is conducted with
diverse factors, that is, a right-of-center, a liberal right, a left.
We have to deal with all that. And the same way we can acknowledge
that strength and interact with it, they must be willing to interact
with us and acknowledge us as we are, as our society is, as our
political system is. On those foundations, anything can be built.

Ramy:
Cubans call “the white card” the exit permit every Cuban citizen
must obtain before traveling abroad. Will that restriction be
eliminated?

Gómez
Barata:
I think that was a measure that was justified at one time for reasons
of security, but that it is now obsolete and, I believe, is part of
what [Raúl] Castro himself called “absurd prohibitions.”

Manuel
Alberto Ramy is Havana bureau chief for Radio Progreso Alternativa
and editor of Progreso Semanal, the Spanish-language version of
Progreso Weekly.

NOTE:
This is a version of an interview that will be broadcast Friday, Jan.
30, at 9 p.m., in the Miami radio program "Night Moves,"
(1210 AM). Filmed excerpts of the interview will be accessible on the
home page of Progreso Semanal and in Youtube, through "maprogre,"
beginning Thursday, Jan. 29.