As before, we spoke through a translator, a supporter of the Cuban cause here in the United States. I asked René whether he thought our conversation was being monitored by the regime. He said that it surely was, but that this was to be expected, and we should just forge on.
He recounted what he had been doing since his release from prison on July 5. He, of course, had gone right back to his opposition activities. They all do. It's an amazing thing about these Cuban dissidents: The second they get out of jail, they go right back to what they were doing before, knowing they will be rearrested and imprisoned. René has been in and out of jail all of his life.
I asked him, "What motivates you to take the risk of being imprisoned once more?" He answered, "I've lived in a prison for 40 years." (René was born in 1963.) He did not mean it glibly; his words were self-evidently sincere and honest. He cannot keep still while his country is under this brutal fist.
He had spent the two and a half months since his release shoring up the Human Rights party, and he seemed especially pleased about a committee of mothers who do what they can to aid political prisoners. He further noted that, every Wednesday night from 7:30 to 8, he and many other Cubans hold "la vela," a type of ceremony at which they light a candle and pray for the prisoners. This Wednesday-night "vela" has been going on across Cuba - and among their supporters in the United States - for about two years.
René very much irked the authorities when he denounced the visit of Brazilian president Lula da Silva to the island. "Lula," as he is known throughout the world, is a great friend and supporter of Castro. As I mentioned in a column of mine the other day, Lula said about Castro - in 2001 - "In spite of the fact that your face already is marked with wrinkles, Fidel, your soul remains clean because you never betrayed the interests of your people. . . . Thank you, Fidel, thank you because you continue to exist." Da Silva also smeared Armando Valladares - the great Cuban dissident and memoirist - as a "picareta," which is Portuguese for "liar" or "fraud."***
Moreover, imperialism and the other highly developed capitalist countries have established a world system of exploitation and domination. They support one another financially when any of them has a crisis. The system has been set up to provide mutual support, but who helps out the Third World?
So, there isn't any world-wide political or economic democracy and equality.
In a world in which peace truly reigns, democracy can take more forms of expression in a fair society. In a world in which the world hegemony of the mightiest imperialist power reigns and the people's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence are threatened, democracy won't have many different forms of expression.
And Cuba has found its form of expression of democracy, and they believe that it suits their conditions. Its effectiveness has been shown for more than 40 years, and we think that no country could have stood firm against the blockade, the threats, acts of aggression and the terrible blows of toppling of the socialist camp and the disappearance of the Soviet Union if its people weren't politically aware and united - not split into a thousand parts. Therefore, unity is the main thing here.***