The Cuban writer, poet, and babalawo Axel Presas argues that U.S. policies aimed at forcing change in Cuba have been ineffective for over six decades, and that a fundamental shift in this approach of "failed policies" is necessary. He made these remarks in an interview with Tania Costa, where he cautiously and critically analyzed Washington's role in the island's fate.
Presas, assistant professor of Spanish at Eckerd College (Florida) and Ifá priest, chooses his words carefully when addressing the subject. “I don’t want to approach this topic from the perspective of the United States because I might be disrespectful to people who have chosen a political platform here.” Nevertheless, he does not shy away from his fundamental assessment.
"I believe that those changes are not truly helping the people of Cuba because we can see it. I think they are changes that are not yielding results, that are based on a certain idea that is completely outdated," he states.
The writer and babalawo distinguishes precisely between opinion and appreciation. For him, an opinion lacks grounding in knowledge, while an appreciation is built on verifiable facts. From that foundation, he concludes: "If we study the political history of this country and its relationship with Cuba, and we see that all these policies aimed at perhaps forcing a change have not worked for 67 years. In other words, something needs to be done, something needs to be changed."
That history, in his view, accumulates failures of various kinds. From the embargo established by Kennedy in 1962 to the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, including the thaw initiated by Obama between 2014 and 2017, no strategy has produced a regime change on the island. The debate remains open in Washington. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated in September that the Cuban regime "has failed" and advocates for a transition with simultaneous political and economic freedoms, although he denied that there is a fixed timeline to achieve it.
Presas does not attack those within the Cuban community in the United States who support pressure policies. She acknowledges that each person has their reasons, and these deserve to be heard. However, she insists that any process of real change must be built "from a position of integrity and from a position of mutual understanding of who we are and who we want to be as a nation."
In the broader context of the interview, the babalawo warns that emotions cannot guide this process: "We cannot involve our emotions in the process of defining what Cuba will do or in the process of future reconstruction or future reconciliation, because then we would be failing."
Regarding whether there is space for hope, Presas is categorical: "Of course, of course. But hope is for good things. Hope must always be linked to goodness."
The question underlying all of his reflection —why Cuba has gone 67 years without change— does not have a simple answer for him, but it does have a starting condition: that those who participate in this future process do so with good intentions, integrity, solidarity, and what he calls "good nature."
Filed under: