The Cuban Revolution turns 65. It broke Cuba, but not its people
As 2024 dawns, we mark an anniversary that is especially difficult to stomach for many in Miami’s historic Cuban-exile community: The 65th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.
It is, incredibly, the longest existing political revolution in the modern world, followed by the American, French, and Russian revolts, which were replaced by true democracies. Not Cuba’s, which turned out to be secretly Marxist-Leninist inspired.
If it were a human, the revolution might be ambling into retirement. However, Cuba’s authoritarian government clings to the hollow glory of the revolution, even though it did little but condemn the island to isolationism, constant economic shortages and repression, sending 1 million Cubans into exile.
With the revolution, Cuba has never enjoyed times of plenty. Still, it has managed to keep its people believing that they must sacrifice for the “good of the revolution,” those who don’t are considered traitors — impressive psychological warfare on its populace.
ONCE VIBRANT
“The Cuban Revolution sought to crush Cuba’s vibrant economy to make Cubans controllable, and it did. This destructive process has turned Cuba into a land of poverty and need, a country unable to feed itself,” Orlando Gutierrez Boronat, spokesperson for the Cuban Democratic Directorate and a member of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, told the Editorial Board.
Ironically, the original promise of the evolution was to end poverty on the island by equalizing wealth. Now, most everyone is poor, all the buildings are decrepit and few have plenty. International figures show 88% of Cubans live at the poverty level, a jump of 13% from the previous figures.
“The Cuban Revolution is the greatest fraud ever committed against the Cuban people. It is an enduring crime,” Gutierrez Boronat said. He’s right.
So could the revolution celebrate another birthday? We hope not., thought it has shown staying power.
Most of the bearded, fatiguewearing rebels that rolled into Havana from the countryside in the first days of 1959 are dead.
Alive from the original group are rebels Raul Castro, 92, and Ramiro Valdes, 91, who were part of the group that led strongman Fulgencio Batista and his men to leave the palace and jump on private planes to go into exile on New Year’s Eve, 1958.
Six decades later, can the Cuban government keep the idea and promise it continues to sell to the Cuban people afloat?
SPEAKING OUT
Deep cracks are showing. Young Cubans seem less enamored of an event that happened long before they were born and are more outspoken about their unhappiness with the country than their parents ever were. They want a better life, and Miami remains a beacon of light.
“Are there cracks in the system? Definitely, the cracks are generated by the resistance of the Cuban people, on the island and in exile,” Gutierrez Boronat added.
And Cubans are still fleeing, as they have since the revolution’s inception. In the past two years alone, 425,000 Cubans
have migrated to the United States, more than during any previous exodus. That’s sobering, and telling.
Capitalism, a dirty word on the island, is creeping in with permission from the government. Cuban entrepreneurs are being allowed to purchase food and goods from the outside world and resell them to Cubans for profit they can keep.
Another failure of the revolution is that politically, the revolution did not spread, as the rebels had hoped, to destroy the “imperialist Yankees” Fidel Castro hated so much.
“The Cuban Revolution is a beacon of light for all of Latin America,” said Ernesto “Che” Guevara, an Argentine who became an architect of the revolution
along with Castro. Guevara was wrong then, and wrong now.
Not until recently have Latin American countries democratically elected left-leaning presidents — so many years after Cuba’s example.
One thing the revolution did as the 1950s were ending was tragically and dramatically alter the course of life for 11 million Cubans, separate families, execute Cubans considered enemies — not to mention impact U.S. politics, the city of Miami and the entire hemisphere itself.
For those in exile, we mark the anniversary with heavy hearts about lives irrevocably interrupted by a revolution they never believed would last this long.