What had to happen did happen
By Aurelio Pedroso
HAVANA, 2013/01/15. In the full exercise of that journalistic genre that is the opinion article, and relying on our editor’s generosity, I have the impression that once and for all, more than the reformulation of a policy, in present day Cuba common sense –the least common of all senses, according to many experts independently of their respective creeds– has begun to predominate.
Here we have the issue of migration, an inexhaustible source from which nobody knows how many are drinking in South Florida and many other places in the world. Large headlines scream that more than travelling, people can leave the island. The passion for traveling, so inbred because we are an island, among other important reasons, cannot be denied.
It was a parking attendant near the office of Immigration in El Vedado, who informed me about the number of applicants in comparison to previous days. And there were also those who were asking, as if it were a trip to another province, which countries did not require a visa. Cuban citizens that have made the news previously because the authorities have denied them permission to travel abroad probably now could do so. Yoani Sánchez has told some media in Miami that she has been promised a passport in 15 days, while reliable sources have assured me that “Coco” Fariñas that master in alleged hunger strikes, was visited at his home and told that he was free to travel abroad and return whenever he wanted.
They, like that famous boozer Pánfilo, will make the headlines in the first few days. Then they’ll disappear from the news. Mark my words.
Today, March 15, 2012, my bet on common sense has gained more strength. The Ministry of Public Health, so slow in acknowledging bad news in its field of expertise that should be known by people as soon as possible, has admitted the presence of cholera in Havana, although, truth be told, many measures had been taken already. But I should say that only two media, Progreso Weekly/Semanal/Radio Progreso Alternativa and BBC World –in that order– published what was happening days before the announcement, while El Nuevo Herald, as far as I know, remained silent, maybe for not fiving credit to the above mentioned sources…
Also today, matter-of-factly, the good news comes from Customs: travelers won’t’ have to pay for any food brought into the country, contrary to what had been decreed weeks ago.
All of the above, plus a few other surprises already in force, and several others to be announced, are designing another country with transformations that although have not been overnight are glimpses for the wise to bet that in a few years Cuba will be very different.
I do not believe that there is fear of that ghost called capitalism that has haunted us since our childhood. If, after all, as a famous Chinese said, we have to use capitalist methods and teachings in order to save Socialism, let them come in single file, for they will be for Socialism, We will see then that many will leave and many will return. And that the concept of a round trip, whenever a citizen desires, will be the norm.
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