Saturday, April 30, 2011

Sixth Congress of the CPC: Paper socialism

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

In the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, the guidelines that will govern the economic model of this Caribbean nation in the coming years were agreed. To maintain the facade of a dictatorship that still endures despite Fidel's convalescence, and the pride of not admitting internal idealogical conflicts, the discourse that graced the event was "socialism, revolution and more socialism", without making a stop at the anti-communist reforms of Raul Castro, or openly discussing the increasingly evident crisis of faith of the upper levels of government in the Marxist philosophy.

The previous Congress had occurred in 1997. At that meeting, the final document mentions the word "socialism" only three times, while the same word is invoked 26 times in the document prepared in 2011; demonstrating the Cuban leadership's desire to emphasize the socialist character of the post-Fidel era.

But the repetition of the word socialism, more than before, does not help if the signs that the Cuban regime shows illustrate serious internal contradictions. Fidel told the world few months ago, "the Cuban model no longer works even for us", while the Communist Party shouted the "continuity and irreversibility of socialism" at the past week's convention. Who should we believe?

Although Cuban politicians tried to keep the revolutionary rhetoric, the final document coyly warns a socialism that is unlike that of Fidel. The text says, for example, "the economic system will continue to prevail based on the socialist ownership of all the people over the fundamental means of production". We note the intentional inclusion of the word "fundamental" in the declaration, which leaves the door open for private sector participation in non-strategic areas of the Cuban economy, as Raul has been allowing in the small farming and other business.

Classical Marxism, in which Fidel believed, has among its ideological pillars the collective ownership of the means of production and the abolition of private property, regardless of whether these resources were fundamental or not. They may include 26 times more the word socialism in the conclusion of the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, but the socialist ownership of some means of production, the fundamentals, sounds more like a mixed economy model than a socialist one.


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Friday, April 22, 2011

Humala, like Chavez or like Funes?

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

Ollanta Humala and Hugo Chavez came from the military, they reached the same rank of lieutenant colonel, and are those who believe that yelling at a battalion is the same as governing a country. Ideologically, they seem to agree on several things, at least in words, because Humala also wants to come to power by talking about Constituent Assembly, referendum, nationalization, "a great transformation," and praising past military regimes. However, Humala's intentions and discourse are not entirely sufficient to assume that, if this ex-coup leader becomes president in Peru, we will see the consolidation of another Chavez in the Andes.

Humala's time is different. For 2011, the social, economic and democratic crisis in Chavez's Venezuela is well known; while the former governments of Lula and Bachelet, in Brazil and Chile respectively, are considered the two best examples for Latin American leftists.

The last imitator of the Venezuelan comandante appeared in 2007 in Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega. Since then, almost all leftist groups in Latin America have tended to resemble their Brazilian and Chilean comrades.

Mauricio Funes came to power in El Salvador in 2009, with the help of radical leftists and former guerrilla combatants. Chavista style policies were also feared in El Salvador in that moment, but Funes was wise enough to realize that following the Chavez path would be a mistake. Today, Funes is one of the most prestigious Latin American leaders because he is not ignoring democratic principles.

If he wins the presidency, Humala will have to choose in similar circumstances to those of Funes. Will he be so foolish as to copy the political crises caused by Chavez imitators in Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua?


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