The first democratic elections in Cuba
By Roberto G. Peralo
From the blog La Joven Cuba (The Young Cuba)
MATANZAS – It was a splurge of democracy and a phony rehearsal of what is wanted for the democratic future of Cuba. The day of the presidential elections of 2004, at the residence of the Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana (USIS), James Cason, a simulated vote was conducted. Cason called it “a true democratic exercise.”
On several occasions on the blog La Joven Cuba, we have utilized the photograph that immortalized that moment, which shows Martha Beatriz Roque exercising her right to vote for the president of the United States. I always wanted to know what really happened that day when the elite of the Cuban counterrevolution gathered. I was sure that one or more of the participants were agents of Cuba’s security services.
I am not a fortune teller or an intelligence analyst, but I’m very much in agreement with the opinion of Julito, a drunken neighbor of mine, who affirms that out of every ten counterrevolutionaries, eight are segurosos – undercover agents. Applying the theory of probability, one of the people present there at the time turned out to be “agent Daniel” of the State Security Agency.
In his book Enemy, he tells us how the people who voted had to stand on line to receive a gift bag containing books, magazines, portable radios and a parasol. Once they received the bag, they were stained with ink on the arm so they could not ask for seconds. As I read that humiliating experience, I recalled that that method was used by the Spanish conquistadors to brand the island’s aborigines as slaves. They did that with red ink, and if they found a native who wasn’t marked they cut off his hands.
Nobody at the USIS complained about the offense. On the contrary, they commented that for the first time they felt like free citizens. They stood on line, exercised their right to vote and left with their present and ink stain on the arm.
The most surprising thing was the result of that democratic exercise. According to “agent Daniel,” in addition to voting for either Kerry or Bush, the Cubans had to fill a ballot that contained a list of alleged parties on the right and the left, liberal, communist and socialist. At the end of the farce, Cason read the results. His words, verbatim:
“Incredibly, the winners by a big majority are the socialists. In second place, the communists – and here we have today the cream of the opposition to the regime.”
I would have loved to watch Cason’s face as he read the results of “the first democratic elections in Cuba.” If it weren’t for its repugnance, it could have been a scene from a comic theater in Cuba.
Editor’s Note: James Cason, former head of the USIS, today is mayor of the city of Coral Gables in the Miami area.
