Gloom and doom

“We are the kings of commerce and business. We came to Miami in the 1960’s when it was a country town and we converted it into a metropolis. But except for Jorge Mas Canosa [deceased in 1997], no one here has an idea how to confront castrismo, nor do we know how to project a measured image internationally. Nor are we able to explain how we are going to achieve a genuine national reconciliation in a future Cuba.”

– Columnist Nicolas Perez, in El Nuevo Herald

“Mr. Farrar is mistaken when he places all hopes in the youth. Today’s young generation suffers from a crisis of interest in social problems, and in Cuba it is even more serious because of the fear that is sown right from the cradle. When they awake they think of fleeing clandestinely, others enter the opposition with the same purpose. Students are under control and although they do not believe in the regime, they go to any length to avoid problems and secure their careers. The hip-hop movement takes an encouraging posture of talking back [to the government], the same applies to bloggers although they have even less influence because they depend on a technology that is accessible to very few people. Both are peripheral and lack sufficient weight to be a factor of change.

“The opposition’s lack of connection to the people is real; we are apochryphal leaders for the very reason that we stay out of the game. Many among the public admire us, the majority without knowing us; but the fact that they do not follow us is what counts.”

– Dissident and former political prisoner Francisco Chaviano González, via Miscelaneas de Cuba