Bottoms why and for whom.

Victor and Sanchez
Independent journalist
victorernestosanchez@ymail.com

Santiago of Cuba, 22 of June - (www.miamiprogressive.com) In a report published by the newspaper Granma the past 9 of June, titleholder: “EE.UU releases bottoms for subversion in Cuba� occurred to know that the Department of State and the Agency of the United States for Desarrollo Internacional (USAID) released 15 million dollars destined to programs that they look for to fortify the democracy in Cuba.

The bottoms that will have to be distributed in the next months have been object of questionings by many opponents, who ask themselves: why and to whom they will be assigned? If the bottoms continue being used for the same projects and being administered by the same people, the Cuban Government does not have of what worrying. The result will be the same that until now, and the failure already is assured. Those bottoms, will not have positive impact some, in this tedious process to democratise to Cuba.

The North American Agencies take more than to 10 years assigning bottoms, to organizations been in the outside, for projects related to the democratic transition in Cuba. Nevertheless, the results have been insignificant, if the granted amounts consider.

If the Cuban Government has the country submissive a political do-nothing policy, the opposition, as much commits as external it does not remain back. , It even is as if the spirit of the totalitarianism had incarnated itself in all. Everyone is created owner of the absolute truth and the suitable project. That does that the bottoms arrive at certain people and certain projects, very reduced by the way. And the worse thing is than there are no measurable pursuit nor results, by which they must render accounts.

The work and the methods of the opposition in the context of a totalitarian society have their own peculiarities. The strategies and I put must be drawn up by those people who have direct experiences of this type of societies. That has been the fundamental error that has been committed in the granting of the bottoms: the lack of perception of what really it is needed and that it is due to do, because the criterion that prevails is the one of people who live in democratic societies, that not even are abreast of the dynamics of the fight and they are continued sponsoring projects, that already lost its conjunctural impact.

The unique effective formula to approve projects is by means of the licitation. Nevertheless, the licitation demands that those that compete have the opportunity to defend their projects, next to all the proposers. Against this background, one prevails that the projects, although for reasons logics are elaborated in the outside, are discussed by the receiving organizations or executants in Cuba, with a representative of the North American Agency supplier of the bottoms, that could be in the Section of Interests of the United States in Havana.

Ignorance of how to implement effective mechanisms to accelerate the democratization of Cuba has taken to commit errors and unnecessary expenses of the bottoms.  The power of call and the mobilized capacity that needs to the opposition have tried, that is to say, to reach by means of the delivery of products and medecines a species of totally dysfunctional clientelism. The perception of the roll that plays the work parties and support to document to the violations the human rights like the computers, recording, copying, printing cameras, etc. must be valued with severity. The majority of those equipment finishes into the hands of the organs of the Security of the State and other times are lazy to relatives who do not tie to the opposition or are sold in the black market to finance the expenses of the exit of the country, by that take refuge in the program of refugees.

If somebody doubt of these assertions I invite, them to realize an inventory of basic means granted by these programs from its implementation and to verify how many they are in functions of the opposition and the civil society at the moment.

The lack of legal recognition, with its corresponding legal function and position of agent, prevents the audits of the organizations, that guarantee the correct use of the assigned resources. In addition, the government considers all the means and equipment granted by institutions illegal that are not of their approval, which allows the confiscations of the same when he considers therefore it.

One of the characteristics of the totalitarian regimes is the control of the resources to prevent the political activity in his against. The consequences are so serious, that the citizens, even those that have economic means, abstain to contribute bottoms for the cause. This forces the dependancy of external bottoms, even of foreign Agencies.

The necessity of bottoms and the impossibility of a suitable control and use of the same, would seem to locate us in an impasse. This situation implies that a series must be taken from measures that allow that the things behave of a different form. The first measurement would be to change the norms in the migratory agreements. The status of political refugee only must be granted to the people who have fulfilled sanctions by political reasons.

The opposition must be organized institutionally, to define its profiles so that each grouping plays its role: the political parties, to make policy under a program of citizen interest and the organizations of the civil society, to fulfill the stipulated thing internationally, to be able to represent the society in its diversity. With this structure, it is possible to be corresponded better with the intentions of the assigned resources, that must essentially be in money in cash, to pay the goods and services which really they are needed and they been more difficult, almost impossible to prevent by the government.

The structure that better can tie to the opposition with the community is the one of the Municipalities of Opposition. The municipalities by definition are the political representation that is born and it is sustained of the social restlessness. By his character of democratic governability they count on the mechanisms to control and to handle the resources with the necessary transparency.  It was already said: “It is not that all the men are honest, but exist the mechanisms so that all the men behave honestly�.

The municipalities for being the form of public administration conceived and applied to international level, demands from already, the good enabled picture preparation for the democratic exercise. A trajectory on watch that can be identified by the population, would give the real possibilities them to win before a possible electoral campaign fixed by the regime, under the hairs-splitting of the Socialism of the 21st century.

Nevertheless, them project that correspond more with the international priorities, like the related ones to the democratic governability, in our case the Municipalities of Opposition, has not been taken into account to receive financings.

The Project of Cuban Rural Civic Development, that groups the main organizations of the rural civil society has presented/displayed an endless number of requests, repeatedly being denied, which demonstrates that it is not of interest of the North American Agencies.

The paradoxical thing is that the North American Congress was flexible, at the time of selling agricultural products to him and foods to the Cuban Government and are not able to support the private independent farmers, so that they produce his own cultures. That blockade to the private producers is that it must be risen, first by the Cuban Government and soon by the North American Government.  

The one that has doubt or some restlessness exceeds what here it considers can contact with Pedro Antonio Alonso Perez, Director of the Cuban, Promotional Rural Project Civic of the Municipalities of Opposition and Founder of the National Alliance of Independent Agriculturists of Cuba in 1997 and still stays in the fight without leaving the country. Cellular telephone: 53 53 340 145