Fidel Never Stopped Talking But Raul Doesn't Have a Thing to Say

We've gone from one extreme to the other. Three years ago we had a president who spoke for long hours in front of the microphones and now we rely on another who doesn't send a single word our way. I confess I prefer the restrained style, but there are a lot of explanations outstanding which, in the face of so much discontent, are urgent. Someone has to stand up and explain why the wage reform failed, the reason for delaying the handover of the so critical supply of land, and the reasons that prevented them from reducing the gap between the Cuban peso and the convertible currency.

A face must show itself to give us an account of what stopped the elimination of the need for permission to travel outside Cuba, what happened with the repeated slogan of reducing imports, or what path was taken by the so-called business improvement program. The same voice that in 2007 declared that hopefully there would be "a glass of milk within reach of everyone" needs to reveal to us now why it has become so difficult to put the precious liquid into the mouths of our children. This man who reignited the illusions of many of my compatriots, must now express himself and confess his failure or at least tell us of his limitations.

I am waiting for a clarification about why he hasn't accepted Obama's proposal for U.S. telecommunications companies to provide Internet to the Cuban people. I demand, like many around me, a convincing argument for why we are not going to join the OAS, or the reasons for not implementing, still, the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The list of unanswered questions is long and to hide from so many questions is not going to solve the problems. Please, let somebody--with answers--show his face soon.

Yoani's blog, Generation Y, is available here in English translation.

Follow Yoani Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yoanisanchez

Comments

[jmcauliff]

Ms. Sanchez is entitled to her opinion and her blog, but it should be understood as a quite political intervention in the international debate about Cuba. Foreigners who lionize her should consider that, as with other countries, the embrace of outsiders can undermine credibility with insiders.

John McAuliff
Fund for Reconciliation and Development

[sandokan1]

All the money and power cannot erase what the Castro’s brothers have done. All those henchmen of this regime know what is in store for them if they give up power. They will, while alive fear for every minute what is to happen to them.

[sandokan1]

Yoani’s post is very well written and offers much food for thought as always. The only thing that regime cares about is remaining in absolute power at the expense of the rights of the Cuban people. Nothing more and nothing less. Demanding answers isn’t going to work.

[LMPE]

Milk isn't the ideal liquid.