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Freedom Does Not Exist
As
first published 2/18/2008 on Cubanology.com's
Cuba Report
For nearly half
a century the Cuban Diaspora has fought against the oligarchic tyranny
in Cuba
that has oppressed and denied the citizens of the island the most basic
of human rights. From the battlefield to the halls of the UN, Cubans
that have escaped the island prison have struggled to restore freedom to
their homeland and bring an end to the reign of terror imposed by a vile
dictatorship. On the island, however, very few are willing to lift their
voice in dissent. The regime’s extensive and brutal repressive machinery
is justly to blame for this, but there is another tactic used by the
regime that has proven to be just as effective in silencing opposition.
Many years ago I
had a discussion regarding the situation in
Cuba with an older Jewish man from
New York. A successful and wealthy businessman,
this gentleman had traveled the world and had seen and experienced
things many could only read about. He commented that although he admired
my passion for freedom in Cuba,
he did not believe that the majority of
Cuba’s 11-million plus inhabitants felt
the same way. He explained that he came to this conclusion based on the
fact that the most often voiced complaints he had heard from residents
on the island had been regarding the lack of consumer goods, clothing,
and food. Few were the times, he added, that he had heard a Cuban
complain about the lack of freedom. Based on this he surmised that
Cubans were happy with the police state they lived in—they just wanted
to enjoy some of the luxuries the rest of the world enjoyed.
I listened
respectfully to this man because I could tell his opinions were not
based on politics but on what he deemed to be a logical assumption. When
he finished, I asked him a simple yet pointed question: How can a Cuban
on the island that has never known freedom, let alone what it
represents, know he does not have it? He knows he wants food because his
stomach is growling. He knows he needs clothes because he is naked and
cold. But if he has never experienced a free moment in his life, how
would he know he is missing it?
The man raised
his hand to his chin and looked to the side while he pondered my
question. After a few moments of silence he looked back at me. He
struggled at first to find the words to form a response, but in the end
he acknowledged the reality of what I had just told him. The same logic
that had helped him form his original opinion of the situation in
Cuba had now given him a different
outcome.
It is often said
among those of the Christian faith that the most harmful lie the devil
has ever told humanity is that he does not exist. Much of the same can
be said for the despotic dictatorship in
Cuba. The cruelest and most evil lie
the regime has ever told its victims is that freedom does not exist.
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