The Cuban-American artist Coco Fusco emphatically stated that Cuba is in a "disastrous" situation and that the regime will not be able to sustain itself for much longer, although she acknowledged that the course of change remains uncertain.
The statements are part of an interview with CiberCuba in which Fusco reflects on the structural crisis of the Island in the context of her curatorial work surrounding the political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, whose work will be exhibited in the exhibition "States of Confinement. The Relational Art of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara," which opens on May 28 at the Galería Metropolitana in Mexico City.
"Cuba cannot remain as it is without change. I don't know what that change will look like, I don't know where it will lead," declared Fusco, dismissing the idea that the Venezuelan model could serve as a direct reference for understanding what might happen on the Island.
The artist who has exhibited at MoMA, the Venice Biennale, and MACBA highlighted a key structural difference between the two countries. "If one uses the model of what has happened with Venezuela, it doesn’t exactly work, because Venezuela has endured 27 years of Chavismo, while Cuba has been under it for over 70 years."
Fusco also pointed out another fundamental distinction. In his opinion, while Venezuela had a real private sector that could be reactivated after a transition, in Cuba that possibility does not exist in the same way.
"In Venezuela, although Maduro's government was dominant, there still existed a private sector that can be revived. In Cuba, the so-called private sector is basically GAESA, the business conglomerate of the Armed Forces, which means it is the Government; it is not a real private sector," he explained.
Regarding the regime's ability to endure, she was categorical: "The State does not have the human, technological, or financial resources to sustain that country for much longer."
One of the scenarios that Fusco suggests as possible is that of looting and fleeing, a pattern that, according to her, other dictators have followed throughout history.
"What is unknown is whether they will simply do what other dictators in history have done, which is to steal and take all the resources of the country, leaving the population with nothing," he warned.
In this regard, he cited information about the money of GAESA abroad. «It was reported a few months ago that GAESA has 18 billion dollars in reserves outside of Cuba. Who will that money be for? I don't believe it will be used for the Cuban people; I don't believe that money will be used to rebuild the country.»
Leaked financial documents reported by the Miami Herald revealed that GAESA operates as a parallel bank without institutional oversight, with over 14.467 billion deposited in international banks, a figure that surpasses the reserves of countries such as Panama, Uruguay, or Costa Rica.
Fusco was direct about the likely fate of that wealth. "I believe it will remain in the hands of the same military, and they simply have to leave; they will take a lot with them, meaning they will take all that wealth and leave the Cubans with nothing."
Exhibition in Mexico
The exhibition that Fusco is inaugurating in Mexico on May 28 includes works by Otero Alcántara prior to his imprisonment and a collective project based on instructions that the artist sends from prison. Essentially, seven Cuban artists interpreted the descriptions of drawings he creates in jail, which he cannot bring to the outside.
Otero Alcántara, detained during the protests of July 11, 2021 and sentenced to five years in prison, undertook a total hunger strike of eight days in April of this year after receiving death threats from State Security agents. He still has 60 days left to serve in prison.
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