Friday, December 24, 2010

The Cuban Perestroika, cultural impact

Authors:
José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri
www.morochos.net

The Berlin Wall fell down, the Soviet Union disappeared, the United States won the Cold War, China opened up to capitalism, the standard of living in South Korea is better than in North Korea and, generally, socialism proved to be a failure in all regions where it was tested. But in Latin America, many of these events were seen as distant stories that had nothing to do with local realities.

Like a teenager in love, many continued to believe in the myths of the fantasy, so for politicians, intellectuals, businessmen and ordinary Spanish speakers, the dictatorship of Fidel remained the same paradise of freedom and social welfare that existed only in the heads of the hippies. "In Cuba, health care is free, people are really happy and roses are redder", phrases like these could be heard in Latin American universities and centers of power even at the beginning of the XXI century.

Unfortunately for the regional communist thought, denial is a psychological defense mechanism that is not very reliable for keeping secrets. The truth has begun to explode in the Mecca of the Latino communism, so the re-structuring of the Cuban model will be something so close that would teach Latin American what they should have learned long ago about socialism. And as one day Castro's Cuba influenced many to insist on Communist system's error, it should now provoke the discredit of that ideology in the area.

Unlike the twentieth century, this socialist collapse is not happening in Europe or Asia, but in one of the most important symbols of the Latin American culture, so its impact should be greatest in the island and its sphere of influence.

Cuba is a small country geographically and economically, but ideologically, this nation affects the region like no other, even more than States such as Mexico, Brazil or Argentina. A lot of Latin American politicians wait for Fidel before expressing any opinion, only that this time, the philosophy of the Cuban government points to anti-Communist reforms (privatization and economic liberalization), which could mean an ideological earthquake for the left in Brazil and Spanish America.


Related articles:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Warning: Comments are fully moderated. If you use language that is vulgar or inappropriate, your comment will not be published.