La Patria Es De Todos
(The Homeland is Home for All)
From the City of Havana, Cuba by Félix Antonio Bonne Carcassés, René Gómez Manzano, Vladimiro Roca Antúnez, and Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello.
June 27, 1997
(A liberal and annotated translation by Antonio Gordon)
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Introduction.

When you finish reading this document, you can gauge your agreement with our position in terms of your reaction to this initial proposition:

    Man cannot live from history alone. Or what is the same, man cannot live from tales and stories. Man needs material goods, spiritual satisfaction, and in fact man needs to look into the future with hoping expectations. Furthermore, man needs a social, psychological, human spaciousness that we know as liberty.

The Cuban government ignores the word "opposition." Those who do not share its views or political inclinations - or simply abstain from supporting them - are considered enemies of the State. They are in fact labeled with any variety of diatrival nouns and adjectives. The Cuban government has also wished to render a new definition of the word "Patria." * They link the term Patria in a distorted fashion to these other terms: Revolution, Communism, Nation. The Cuban government would like to ignore that  by definition, Patria is the country where one is born.

Putting these issues aside, our Working Part has analyzed the Proyecto
Documento (The Cuban Communist Platform Draft) proposed by the Cuban communists in preparation for the Fifth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party. The Proyecto Documento will be subject to ratification during the Communist Party Congress to be celebrated later. Since it is impossible for us the express here (in the island of Cuba) publicly our points of view in regards to these issues, we have decided to express them in this fashion. We cannot express ourselves publicly here because all the media (written press, radio, television, and electronic communications are in the hand and under the control of the Cuban government. It is our hope, that this document will be known by Cubans in the island and outside of it. In doing this, we feel that we are defending our right to express our own opinion. we do this convinced that: La Patria Es De Todos.

I. Interpretation of history

The Proyecto Document of the Cuban Communist part contains 11,080 words grouped * The definition of the word "Patria" in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Language Academy is as follows: Patria.- f. 1. Tierra natal o adoptiva a la que se pertenece por vínculos afectivos, históricos o jurídicos.2. Lugar done se ha nacido in 260 paragraphs. Eighty percent of those words are dedicated to interpret history.

The interpretation proposed by the Cuban Communists would want that those reading the Proyecto Documento  would become convinced of the following:

-There has been only one revolution since 1868.
-American have wished to possess Cuba since the XIX century.

In order to give some credibility to the story, The Communists bring forth the figure of Jose Marti. They insist in an absurd fashion that the idea of Marti was to have only one party since Marti only founded one Party. We do not know of serious political figures who have founded more than one political party. However, if those Parties were founded in the struggle for independence or liberation from a foreign power, leaders which we respect
with Marti like George Washington, Mohandas Ghandi, and Charles De Gaulle, respected the existence of Parties other than their own, defended multi partisan politics, and shared government with those of other parties or
without party affiliation.

It cannot be defended that Marti, had he lived to see the end of the Independence War when it merged into the Spanish American War, would have imposed a single Party on the Cuban people. Instead, it is more in accordance with his thinking, writings and deeds to think that he would have behaved in a manner not different from Washington, Ghandi or DeGaulle. In fact, in the document of the Revolutionary Cuban Party founded  and organized by Marti one can read: " The Revolutionary Cuban Party has no desire to install in Cuba a victorious group which would consider the Island its prey and dominion. Instead, our goal is to prepare by as many means as are feasible in the exterior, the independence war which will yield with honor and for the good of all Cubans "free Patria" in all our country.

It must be noted that after the Wars of Independence, none of the Cuban leaders or patriots postulated the necessity to install a single party in power. All of then, instead, respected multi partisan politics.

The Proyecto Documento wishes to depict the Cuban republish inaugurated on May 20, 1902 as a series of interruptions, fiascoes, and betrayals. However, the socioeconomic status of Cubans at the end of these democratic, interrupted, betrayed, broken governments between 1902 and 1958, placed Cubans and our country, Cuba, among the three most advanced and developed in Latin America. In fact, in some socioeconomic  indicators, Cuba was ahead of great nations in the Europeans continent such as Spain and Italy. These undeniable facts speak highly of the productivity of the Cuban workers and the entrepreneurship ability of our people. It should be said that the achievements of the Cuban Republic up to 1958 were made in less than optimal conditions: the devastation of a bloody war with Spain which culminated with the forced migration of all rural workers and residents into Havana, and the drop in sugar prices which proceeded the worldwide depression of the thirties.
 
Furthermore, Cubans have political triumphs earned against difficult odds. Look at how in 1934 the infamous Platt Amendment imposed by the United States on the Cuban Constitution of 1901 was repealed through negotiations.

The distortion and boggling of data, facts, and even dates present a special problem to those attempting to read the Documento Proyecto. If the reader checks the statistics and figures prior to 1959, we could see that the Cuban population which was illiterate at the time was 16%. In the Proyecto
Documento, however, it is claimed that 40% of Cubans were illiterate. There is also manipulation of figures. For example, the Proyecto Document states that only 7%of the population voted in the elections conducted at the beginning of the century. If left alone, the latter may imply that 93% of the population did not vote. However, women made up 53% of the Cuban population of the time and at that time women did count in terms of having a vote. The remaining 40% of the population was made up by those who inhabited the island but did not have Cuban citizenship and children. Thus, of the Cubans credentialed to vote, the vast majority did vote!

About the due judicial processes carried on the supporters of Batista, the batistianos, it should recognized not only that the most notorious of the batistianos exiled themselves just before January 1, 1959. The ones who were caught were quickly taken to the firing squad after they were detained, accused, judged by revolutionary tribunals where no appeals, proper defense, or constitutional rights were observed. In short, they were executed in less than 24 hours.  It will be remembered, that the arrival of the current group of revolutionaries gained power through forceful terror. They made clear soon through the revolutionary process that  they wished to settle accounts through their revolutionary trials.  Those trials did not follow the constitutional order or due process. The accused had no actual ability to defend themselves.  A well known example of this lack of due process was the trial of the aviators accused of crimes of war during the Sierra Maestra guerrilla war. The aviators were tried in Santiago de Cuba and the tribunal found them not guilty. Without any reasonable explanation, the sentence was revoked, a new trial enacted, and the aviators were condemned. This led Captain Félix Peña to commit suicide. 

Each year, with a growing number of followers, the General Assembly of United Nations demands an end to the blockade. They refer to the embargo in effect against Cuba since 1961 now strengthened by the collapse of the Soviet block and the American legislation known by their proponents: Robert Torricelli, and Helms-Burton.

 However, with similar periodicity, the United Nations condemns the Cuban government for its systematic violations of the human rights of the Cuban people. This is not mentioned in the Proyecto Documento.They mention the October Crisis. However, the comment and its story fail to mention that the Cuban leadership  headed by Fidel Castro proposed to Moscow to use nuclear weapons first without waiting for the "yanquis" to open fire first. This has been well documented in recent history. A nuclear attack launched against the United States would have resulted in a terrible catastrophe for all humanity. Furthermore, Cuba itself would have been swept from the map of the Earth.

The first use of nuclear weapons in October of 1963 was the recommendation of those same individuals who are in power in Cuba now. It is paradoxical, however, to observe how these Communists are now worried because according to them: "the separation from power of Castro would imply the disappearance of Cuba as a nation. Is it possible for the Cuban people to forget how those missiles, rockets and nuclear weapons were brought into our Island with one single consultation with our people or even our elected officials?  The people only found out about this when the problem had reached its climax through the denunciation televised by the American president, John F. Kennedy.

The proyecto Documento clearly states - and properly so - : everything began to change on 26 of July of 1953."  It should be recognized that on that day, too much Cuban blood was shed. Innocent blood was shed from those involved in the Cuban army, the revolution and many bystanders and patients who were unfortunate enough to be ill in a nearby hospital. Until the Castro adventure of the 26 of July, the victims of the Batista regime could have been counted with the fingers of only one hand. To find a day of similar grief, loss, and fraternal enmity one would have to go back in Cuban history scores of years. And despite the fact that the 26 of July is such a devastatingly sad date in our calendar, it is taken officially in this country as a festive day. It has, as far as we are concerned, the rejection of even those who are relatives of the martyrs of the revolution evoked on that fraticidal day.

These are only some of the ways in which the Communists have attempted to interpret history.

II. In the Name of Unity

The Communist Party insists on unity. It forgets, however, that in order for
such unity to be real and not just a parody it is necessary to gather and harness the consensus of the entire people Thusly reaching in freedom the entire citizenry. Here we are. We oppose the current government. We cans how with ourselves and with the history of the Communist Part that in our country their is no consensus.

The Communist Party begs the issue when it attributes itself the representativity of the entire people of Cuba. It was the party the one which organized the mass meetings in support of the the party's position. The people, reduced to submission b the totalitarian state, goes to those meetings. The government in turns presents to the American and international public opinion such attendance of the citizens as a plebiscite of the Cuban society. It is furthermore said that this is an irrefutable and evident proof that the Communist party represents all the people. And although a popular consult or plebiscite is invoked, there is still a fresh memory of the popular will when the current government executed by a firing squad General Arnaldo Ochoa in 1989. As the current government has acknowledged, the vast majority of the people was not in agreement with the execution of Ochoa. Despite this reality, Ochoa and his followers were eliminated without concern for the opinion of the masses.

The flawed argument proposed by the Communist Party goes on to affirm that since the general consensus of the citizens favors the Communist Party then there is no reason to conduct free elections under international supervision.

In fact this issue regarding our unity was taken too far. Back in 1976 when
the Communist Party took upon itself the authority to approve the final and
definitive version of the constitution of 1976. The said magna carta of the Communists imposed on the entire people states in its Article 5: The Party is the superior, leadership force of society and of the State. Furthermore, the imposition of the single party on the people places the Cuban Communists in a company which is not very laudable: Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Franco, Trujillo, Poltov, and Sadam Hussein, among others.

It is paradoxical that after proposing the flawed logic depicted above, the Party states:"the Cuban people decided to have a single party." But it feels
rather repugnantly to hear this in view of the fact that in the name of unity what has been created in our people is a truly chaotic situation which has destabilized the entire country. These are some of the examples of failed campaigns:
-Attempting to dry up the Zapata swamp
-The creation of an agricultural belt around the city of Havana.
-The collectivization of agriculture.
-Changing the genetics of cattle
-The conception of a national dietary regimen and the massive production of the microjet bananas.
-The dismantling of the sugar industry and attempting to change the varieties of sugar cane.
-The imposition of ideas which led to disastrous projects such as the Paso
Seco dam- a monument of what should not have been done.

In similar fashion, in the name of unity a sugar refinery was given to Nicaragua, an airport was built in Grenada, and under the "Internationalism
of the Proletariat" troops were sent to kill and to die in various countries. This last measure of unity, by the way, was never done by what the Communists call the "mediatized" republic, referring to the political order which began in 1902 and ended in 1959. However, those imperfectly democratic governments were more people driven than the current Cuban government. None of those governments of the Cuban Republic sent troops to die in either of the World Wars, or the Korean conflict despite the fact the "yanqui imperialism" was involved in those armed conflicts. In fact, the "yanquis" went to die in those conflicts in harsh contrast with the Soviet Union which provided support for the Cuban troops to land and die in various countries where no Soviet troops were on the battle fields......

We cannot accept that a government which has dedicated itself to dividing our country could speak in the name of unity.

*On October 10th, 1868, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes led the Cuban Declaration of Independence. This was followed immediately by the liberation of the slaves in the land, a long revolutionary war which lasted ten years gaining at the some recognition of the Cuban's right to self government from the Spanish crown but not the independence of what by then was a Patria separate from the Spanish peninsula. The so-called Cuban War of Independence was launched on February 24, 1895. Its leader was Jose Marti. It was never concluded in its right, merging with what Americans call the Spanish American War of 1898. The movement led by Marti was a revolutionary movement which led to the organization of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. A revolutionary change occurred in 1933 which climaxed with the election of a Constituent Assembly and the promulgation of the Cuban Constitution of 1940. Castro launched his revolution on July 26, 1953. He gained power on January 1st, 1959.