Havana Cuba. — In English, the phrase “not to see the big picture” is often used to refer to the frequent mistake of getting lost in the details without observing the issue in its entirety and scope. In Cuba it happens the other way around: people get dizzy with the statement without considering what is behind it, the small print, the trap.
This has happened with the announcement that Cuba and Russia will resume a level of relations similar to the one that existed when the great udder of the USSR was at the disposal of the stupid Caribbean daughter, then governed by Fidel Castro. As the media, both official and independent, elaborate on this new phase of dependency, people have begun to include the issue in their daily discussions.
About what Cubans think about being supported by Russia again, CubaNet Took out a vox populi which, with a couple of exceptions, shows the lack of expectations that the PCC’s concubinage with the Kremlin has generated. At this point, thinking Cubans expect nothing for the benefit of the people. Neither Russia is the USSR, nor Díaz-Canel is Fidel Castro, nor are we in the era of the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance).
In Bayamo, a Mipyme manages the red square restaurant, where the shop assistants come and go dressed in typical Russian clothes. The Cuban government has just extended the license of fourteen Russian companies that produce or process food for export to the island, and not a day goes by without talking about joint projects, that this or that will be done, while the stores in MLC they are still deserted, with the same cans of peas from a year ago, and a lot of beer of mediocre quality.
The Cuban is right that in the vox populi He believes that nothing positive will come of the rapprochement, and also those who say that the Cuban government is “inflating” so that people believe that there is hope, especially those who turn to the eighties as a reference to “prosperity thanks to the Russians.” . Those, lost in the statement, are unaware that in May 2022 it was said that Russia would export food to the Island, including seafood, canned meats and dairy products. Little more than a year has passed and these products are conspicuous by their absence, while hunger in Cuba rages and children over the age of seven have breakfast with Zuco sodas, junk that is harmful to their health.
The regime inflates so that Cubans believe that things are going to improve, because there are always enthusiasts who believe that the solution must come from outside, like the subject of the vox populi who says he admires Putin and esteems him, as if he were his lifelong partner, the spark and restraint colleague. The Cuban dictatorship is interested in reproducing that archetype of a citizen who talks nonsense, does not think or resist. That is why there is rum in bulk in all the state clubs, and hunger multiplies until it quenches the senses, reducing the Cuban to a confused, passive, and half-crazy bundle of nerves.
Such is the reality of a Cuba where all projects with foreign capital are just that: projects that continue to be postponed because something does not work out, bureaucratism is still there, encouraged by the fuel crisis that is not resolved despite so much coddling with the Putin regime.
What has happened is the unexpected audacity of Josep Borrell —High Representative of the European Union— stating that Cuba could be the Majorca of the Caribbeana nonsense that could only come out of the mouth of someone pressured by European capital, which surely views with concern the advance of Russia on the Island and the concessions made by the Cuban government to other countries.
While the Russians receive land to exploit for three decadestax-free, and hand over Cayo Largo del Sur to Canada to manage at will, Spain only has the hotels of the Meliá and Iberostar chains, most of them dumpy, half-destroyed and lacking in attractive offers.
With so much hype and cymbals in favor of Russia, Cuba is putting pressure on old Europe to get its act together or be left out of the cake. So Borrell came in tow, to celebrate MSMEs and make it crystal clear that he will not impose guidelines on the regime regarding the political dialogue agreement, that the issue of political prisoners is secondary —even tertiary— for the European Union, and that the priority is to talk business.
Thus, the regime gloats in its impunity and approves a Expropriation Law for reasons of public interest, which will allow any citizen to take home and business. At the same time, the Minister of Economy has declared that the owners of MSMEs are getting rich and that such a thing cannot be tolerated, so that a raid is coming against the “evil” that they themselves authorized, and that has not contributed to improve the unsustainable situation of Cuban homes.
The plans with Russia are the vanishing point of public opinion, because in Cuba too many things have to be changed whose execution does not depend only on money. Taking on the catastrophic infrastructure of this Island is too much for the Eurasian giant, which can impress the children of an extremely poor country like Cuba; but, compared to other powers, it has a relatively small economy and is engaged in a war that has gone on much longer than expected.
OPINION ARTICLE
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