Obama’s words could foster change among Cuba’s youth
“Cultivo una rosa blanca …” With these words, President Obama opened one of the most important speeches ever delivered by an American president in Havana.
These are the firstwords of Cuban poet and patriot Jose Marti’s most famous poem about his offering of friendship to friends and enemies alike. It is a poem that all Cuban students learn in elementary school. It is part of the Cuban soul. When I heard the American president deliver these profound words, my eyes watered. Obama had indeed come “to bury the last remnants of the Cold War.” He had also come to cultivate the seeds of change.
Obama addressed the Cuban people directly. He challenged the Cuban youth to “look to the future … that they can choose, shape and build”. Obama challenged them to “build something new”. In a country where state rights trump individual rights, thiswas a call to reshape the Cuban political and economic model. It is the youth in Cuba thatwe must influence and give hope to. Cuba’s youth will one day transform the country’s government and economic system into a free market democracy. After Obama’s speech, this evolution nowseems inevitable.
Obama also spoke directly to the Cuban government. He quoted Marti a second time, when he said, “Liberty is the right of every man to be honest and to speak without hypocrisy.” Cubans on the island often have an indoor opinion of the government when speaking with those who agree with them and a government-friendly outdoor opinion for fear of being overheard and questioned by state police. Hypocrisy is very much a part of living in Cuba today. In a country that defines itself with the pride of being Cuban, the label of hypocrisy is hard to accept except when looking at yourself and the reality of your life in a mirror.
In a historical hall where Raul Castro and Cuban government dignitaries sat grim faced, Obama looking solemn and determined, declared that “Citizens should be free to speak their minds without fear, to organize, to criticize their government, to protest peacefully and the rule of law should not include arbitrary detention of people who exercise those rights.” Then, talking directly to President Castro, Obama challenged him to “not fear the different voices of the Cuban people and their capacity to meet and assemble.” Words like these delivered by a foreign head of state on Cuban soil are unheard of. To address Castro in this manner during a nationwide televised event in Cuba was previously unthinkable. In a country where arbitrary detention is the rule of law, and scores of Cuban dissidents are arrested routinely, Obama’s statementwas the light and soul of freedom and liberty. It will have a prolonged life of its own as Cuba evolves.
Obama’s speech reached the hearts and minds of all Americans, Cubans in exile and island Cubans. He spoke eloquently, honestly and forcefully for all of us. Although no one anticipates immediate major changes, the seed has been planted for the cultivation of Cuba’s economic and political evolution. Most Cubans saw him, applauded his courage, cried at the enormity of the moment and left inspired with hope for the future. I know I did.