Today a group of pro-democracy Cubans will gather to meet publicly in Havana. The Miami Herald editorial is here.
Most of the media are talking about divides within the opposition and it seems that some of the people showing up are the extremes of the anti-Castro movement whose tactics I generally disagree with.
But just for today, they deserve all the attention and credibility we can give. They are going to hold the largest political demonstration in Cuba's 40 years of dictatorship. The organizers are risking arrest, torture and possibly death. Today's demonstration isn't about whether to work with Castro or push for regime change. It's not whether US policy and sanctions have been effective or not. It's about people's basic right to organize a peaceful political opposition.
If all goes successfully, my guess is that by next week I will read complaints of how the Cuban media spun the protest or how the opposition is divided or how the EU chickened out and didn't back the opposition. Let's hope that's the story. It will mean that several hundred people took a big step forward, walked onto the streets of Havana, proclaimed their opposition to the government and are safely back in their homes planning their second meeting.
UPDATE: About 200 people showed up today. Several EU diplomats were expelled.
3 comments:
Do you mean the EU (European Union), or the EEUU - Estados Unidos?
Good question. In this case I meant the EU as in European Union. However, several EU diplomats to their credit tried to attend only to be turned away by Cuban authorities. I was giving it as a hypothetical situation anyway.
If I mean the United States, I'll generally stick with US, USA or EEUU, I never use EU because it gets too confusing. I have a hard enough time using UE in Spanish...
Well, you can always use the Brazilian Portuguese version which is EUA.
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