Comment
Cuba I read NACLA's Cuba report (August 1990) with great pleasure. My first comment concerns the evident consensus among the authors in favor of a multi-party system as the only path to the...
...My first comment concerns the evident consensus among the authors in favor of a multi-party system as the only path to the development of democracy in Cuba...
...nevertheless Stoll's explanation of the support fo Rios Montt does not take into accoun the strong commitment among Guate malans for the peace process...
...Its claim is that, to assure stability Latin societies often prefer that the military assume control...
...Stoll is certainly correct that work ing class Guatemalans mistrust partie: and the political process...
...Stoll speaks o Rios Montt's hostility to the parties an( his charismatic stress on "law and au thority" as having great appeal fo "ordinary Guatemalans" disgusted with chronic corruption and unpredict able abuse...
...A second comment: Indeed, the Manichean dichotomy of "revolution/ counterrevolution" does not do justice to the complexity of Cuban society...
...A brief article cannot cover al major political aspects...
...To try to calculate what percentage of the Cuban population supports the revolution is probably a waste of time...
...We have to bear in mind what Rafael Hemrnndez has called the "new civic identity" in Cuba, a mixture of traditional and new values instilled by three decades of intense political socialization...
...The Cuban Revolution is made up of a range of goals that include social justice, national independence, and democracy...
...This identification with socialism, however, does not preclude opposition to certain policies, political apathy, or even the desire to emigrate to thi United States...
...Again, let me reiterate my satisfac tion with the articles NACLA has pub lished, articles whose merits outweigh their weaknesses, and whose weal points are to a fair degree the result o the failures of the Cuban academic community, more concerned with spout ing dogma than with illuminating the complex reality of contemporary Cu ban society...
...I believe that this new civic spirit has incorporated the socialist ideal...
...Stoll's analysis however, does not mention key event: such as the national dialogue between guerrilla forces and various social sec tors...
...The Cuban Communist Party enjoys broad legitimacy in contemporary Cuban society, and not only because of the charisma of Fidel Castro...
...Haroldo Dilla Alfonse Centro de Estudios sobre Am6rica Havana Guatemala David Stoll's well-written presenta tion, "Guatemala: Why They Like Rio: Montt" (Dec/Jan 1990/91), published just before the presidential victory o Rios Montt's quasi-surrogate, evangeli cal Jorge Serrano, unfortunately buy: into the old corporatist version of poli tics...
...Thei primary hope must therefore rest witl mechanisms that might change army attitudes and behavior...
...This, of course, does not mean that the PCC exercises its political role in the best way...
...The average Cuban is well aware that the type of capitalism we have known is not the Swedish or Canadian kind, but a far more malignant version, such as in Peru or Guatemala...
...Guatemalan: know that the army is in charge...
...Rathe than another strongman, they back the dialogue to achieve army reform an( bonafide juridical attention to humar rights abuses...
...anti-socialism...
...Henry J. Frundt New Jersey...
...But political pluralism could be achieved by renovating the PCC itself-by giving greater autonomy to the social organizations which for decades have functioned merely as transmitters of government policy...
...I do not share that view...
...The public debates leading up to the fourth party congress could be a first step in this direction...
...In fact, the leadership role of the PCC needs renovation to overcome excessive bureaucracy and centralism...
...This program is expressed through concrete policies which themselves can generate support or opposition without turning the debate into one of socialism vs...
Vol. 24 • May 1991 • No. 6
