Forces from within are demanding changes

By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
The Miami Herald, February 15, 2008

Was Eliécer Avila -- one of the students who questioned Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón in a widely circulated video -- arrested on Feb. 9? An independent journalist filed a report to that effect. Though the arrest was never confirmed, the ''news'' moved quickly via e-mail, and some foreign media picked it up. On Monday, Cuban media broadcast a new video of Avila denying his arrest and stating his commitment to build ``a better socialism.''

What really happened?

My guess is that the video's wildfire circulation in Cuba forced the government to take action. Emissaries were dispatched to Puerto Padre -- a rural town in Eastern Cuba where the Avilas live -- to ''persuade'' the 21-year old student to ''denounce'' the foreign media's manipulation of the exchange with Alarcón. While Avila wasn't technically arrested, and he might have returned to Havana somewhat willingly, how much of a choice did he really have?

Nowhere is news pristinely objective. Reporting an unconfirmed arrest as news surely contravenes journalistic ethics. But, let's keep our eyes on the ball: the sorry state of Cuban media and, in general, official Cuba.

To some extent, the second video may reflect Avila's views. He and his fellow students spoke up as revolutionaries. The University of Information Sciences (UCI) is an elite institution that filters students for their political trustworthiness and their high IQs. About 80 percent are Communist Youth members.

At the same time, the questions raised in the exchange with Alarcón are on the minds of all Cubans no matter their political leanings:

• Why can't Cubans freely travel abroad? Why are consumer prices set in convertible pesos backed by hard currency when most Cubans earn their salaries in nearly worthless pesos due to the Cuban economy's poor productivity?

• Why are so many hotels and restaurants off-limits?

• What's the significance of the so-called united vote for National Assembly deputies when most citizens never set eyes on the candidates?

Alarcón fumbled and stumbled, yet would anyone else in the leadership have done better? I don't think so. We may soon see a lifting of travel restrictions and an end to the two-faced peso. Unless the government sanctions markets more forcefully than it has ever done, these measures will lack heft for most Cubans. While salutary, a long-awaited agricultural reform will not be enough to revalue the peso for citizens to pay for airfare and other expenses abroad.

Tackling the united-vote campaign in January's elections is another matter altogether. Havana may be ready for some market reforms. A political opening? Not a chance, at least for now. That's why Cuban media paraded the second video while never showing the public the exchange with Alarcón. Talk about manipulated ``journalism''!

The same thing happened in early 2007 when intellectuals protested the public recognition given to two former cultural commissars. Rich e-mail exchanges and numerous meetings followed, which went unreported. The public saw only the Writers and Artists Union statement, which, officially at least, closed the matter. Last fall, Cubans assembled to discuss Raúl Castro's July 26 speech. Official media gave perfunctory accounts of these assemblies, which were anything but. Cuban journalists and writers posted vivid chronicles on foreign blogs. Could it be that the official media weren't interested in publishing reality-based articles?

That the video of Alarcón and the students surfaced may reflect an elite power struggle to inflict political damage on Alarcón. We will know soon enough. On Feb. 24, the newly elected National Assembly will meet to elect its president as well as the Council of State. Nonetheless, let's not get carried away.

While the UCI falls under the purview of Communications Minister Ramiro Valdés, a long-standing hard-liner, the university has had a rather troubled political trajectory. In 2005, a group of students and professors established a network of e-mails and blogs to bypass the official fire walls. About two dozen were expelled. See www.lanueva cuba.com for a full account.

That's why the government is worried. Forces from within are demanding changes that are nearly impossible to meet within official confines.

The second video may be a short-term victory. In the end, Havana will run out of tricks. Then, Eliécer Avila will tell us exactly what happened.