Forgive them, Lord

Claudia Marquez Linares, Grupo Decoro

HAVANA, APRIL (Claudia Marquez Linares, Grupo Decoro) - In Europe after the fall of the socialist camp, information in the Cuban media has disappeared as if by magic, particularly of the political evolution of the nations which composed it and have had success in the transition from communism to democracy. Among them are the Czech Republic, about which, intentionally or not, our people have very little or no knowledge.

That ignorance kills people I was made aware when a journalist interviewed several youths who were getting ready to march in front of the embassy of the Czech Republic in Havana. The motive was "to protest against the lackey government (Czech), a puppet of imperialism," a phrase which, as faithful automatons of the Supreme Leader, each one of the interviewees repeated. The students were referring to the old socialist Czechoslovakia as if time had stood still, and the Velvet Revolution had not taken place. Naturally the Resolution presented at the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva has not been divulged, which is why the demonstrators did not know the basis of the condemnation.

It must not surprise those who have been educated in a democracy that according to official figures, 120,000 citizens of Havana had marched, because totalitarianism is characterized by its excellence in manipulating its citizens, exaggerating feelings of nationalism and ideological superiority. For example, the most eloquent of the interviewees, Hassan Perez, president of the University Students Federation (FEU) assured that Cuba is the nation where human rights are most respected in the whole world.

Our people have been educated in intolerance and the pretext or backdrop is the United States. That is to say, every protest is based in accusations towards this nation, and beyond the positive or negative attitude toward this nation, the maintenance of communism in Cuba cannot be based on anti-Americanism. The legitimacy of the Cuban government must be based on respect for liberty and not in disproportionate attacks on North America.

Throughout the media the intention is to blame the U.S. for the Resolution of the Czech Republic, which is patently false. But they cannot find a more effective justification to convoke the masses than to blame imperialism for the attitude of the Czechs to freely say what they believe.

Thank goodness the Czechs know communism only too well, not to say its stratagems. I imagine those who were in the embassy the day of the march looking at the inflamed demonstrators saying, "Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do."

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