The Cuban political scientist Julio Shiling debunked one of the most frequently cited arguments by the Cuban regime to curb popular support for change: the fear of losing one’s home in a post-Castro Cuba.
He stated this in an exclusive interview with CiberCuba while discussing the conclusions of the symposium "The Helms-Burton Law and Cuban Democracy", held this week in Miami.
Shiling was categorical: "I have not seen any project, no project about the future of Cuba that talks about removing Cubans who do not have their hands stained with blood, directly or indirectly, from their homes. None."
The political scientist, director of the Martí Homeland project, described that fear as "part of the great lie of the Castro dictatorship," which uses it to keep the population demobilized in the face of any prospect of change.
The symposium, organized by Patria de Martí, The CubanAmerican Voice, and Alianza Democrática at the Westchester Regional Library, brought together attorney Nick Gutiérrez and international banking expert Alberto Luzárraga, who also analyzed the odious debt and the exploitation of Cuban workers by Spanish hotel companies such as Meliá.
Shiling explained that the studied transition experiences —including those in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism— demonstrate that the issue of confiscations can be resolved without evictions: "In all of them, there was a process of reconsideration that had to address this type of process regarding the confiscation of properties, not just housing, businesses, etc., and it was carried out harmoniously... and in no case were people mass-evicted."
This position aligns with that of other experts. Jordi Cabarrocas, from 1898 Compañía de Recuperaciones Patrimoniales, proposed in March monetary compensation or land exchanges without evictions as a solution to the issue of confiscated properties during a transition.
Luzárraga, for his part, proposed the immediate dollarization of the Cuban economy following the models of Ecuador and Panama, and denounced that Cuban workers in foreign chain hotels receive between 11 and 16 dollars monthly in Cuban pesos, according to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights.
Shiling also rejected the so-called theory of "anthropological damage," which claims that decades of communism have incapacitated Cubans to live in democracy: "Those of us who went abroad ultimately live in democracy and we are not oddities."
The political scientist was emphatic that the elimination of Castroist institutions is an essential condition for any progress: "Communism promotes vices. Therefore, with a rule of law, in freedom, in democracy, Cuba will have a great future, but we must cleanse Cuba of communism."
He added that "no democratic movement will be able to compete if the Castroist institutions are still somehow present in Cuba," in line with the debate over the regime's lies regarding the Helms-Burton Act that the regime itself has used for decades to intimidate the population.
There are 5,913 certified claims for confiscated properties in Cuba under the Helms-Burton Act, valued at approximately 8.5 billion dollars with interest, which illustrates the magnitude of the problem that any transition process will need to address.
Filed under: