Alzugaray explores Cuba in the '90s
March 31Critical of current US policy toward Cuba, former Cuban Ambassador to the European Union Dr. Carlos Alzugaray told students Wednesday that Cubans "have a different way of looking at democracy." Almost 50 students and faculty members gathered to hear the former Ambassador's first-hand perspective about life on the island in a lecture entitled "Cuba in the '90s: the Aftermath of the Collapse of the Soviet Block." Saying that Cuba was "uncomfortable" with the political structure popularized among socialist countries by the USSR during the Cold War, Alzugaray attempted to distinguish the modern Cuban form of communism from the older Soviet ideology. Even though Cuba is just 90 miles offshore from Florida, many Americans are unaware of the internal workings of the country, Alzugaray said. The US government has severely restricted American travel to the country and placed a strict embargo on Cuban imports for many years. Alzugaray's talk focused on the ability of the socialist economy to withstand external shocks in the last decade, and where he sees the future of American-Cuban relations heading. Alzugaray said that Cuba is the only economy to suffer "two major economic upheavals in a 30-year period." Before 1959, Cuba depended largely on American imports. But when Castro took power the US imposed a strict embargo, cutting off almost all trade with the country over a three-year period. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Cuban economy lost significant Soviet subsidies, creating a decline in gross domestic product of at least 35 percent between 1989 and 1993. "In the face of absolute American hostility towards Cuba, the only choice was to find support somewhere else," Alzugaray said. When the Soviet Union fell, Alzugaray said, Cuba had to overcome significant structural changes to its economy. In a very short period of time, the country lost almost all of its foreign investments. Alzugaray cited the growth of the Cuban oil industry as an example of Cuba's ability to recover. "We realized we had things in Cuba we were not exploiting," he said. Cuba's oil and natural gas industry produces 60 percent of the oil used in the country today, which was all previously imported. Alzugaray said it was surprising that the US continues the embargo with Cuba, even though the Soviet Union no longer exists. The relationship Cuba shared with Russia was highly criticized by various US administrations, and contributed to the American animosity towards the country. Alzugaray jested that the US and Cuba have striking cultural similarities. "You love baseball, we love baseball. You love jeans, we love jeans," he said. Recently, the US has lifted part of the embargo against Cuba, allowing the country to import from the US but not export. Alzugaray said Cuba now buys 60 million dollars in food and 60 million dollars in medicine from the US. Former US president Jimmy Carter will soon visit the country in the hopes of improving relations. Alzugaray says it is a step in the right direction, though he is not sure what the ultimate effect will be. "When he returns, I don't know if the present administration is going to pay any attention to what he has to say," Alzugaray said. After speaking, Alzugaray stopped for nearly an hour of questions and debate. When one student asked what would happen when Fidel Castro - the man who has held an iron grip over the country for the last 43 years - was dead, Alzugaray joked, "Well the first thing we are going to do is have a funeral." He followed that by saying he expects that Castro, 75, will die in power- even though the past ten US administrations have tried to oust him- and that this will cause some change in the structure of the country. "Never when such a leader has died in power has there been an upheaval," he said citing other leaders like Stalin and Lenin. He also said the Cuban people have worked hard to maintain their socialist government. "The 11 million Cubans in Cuba have had something to do with what Cuba is today," Alzugaray said. "It is the work of many people, a generation." In contrast to the US, Alzugaray said that Cubans enjoy free healthcare, free access to higher education, and low-cost food and housing. Cuba has one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates. When asked about human rights in the country, Alzugaray said Cubans enjoy the same freedom of speech and freedom of religion as US residents but that there are strict punishments for those who do something against the government. "It's a way that we have to defend ourselves," he said. Alzugaray said that if US attempts to overthrow the government were relaxed, Cubans would enjoy more freedom. Students said that while Alzugaray was informative, they felt the former ambassador gave a view of the country that was hard to believe. "As a child of Cuban-American exiles, I felt he portrayed several fair points but he didn't answer questions fairly about human rights and political dissidence," sophomore Dan Perez said. "Those are important issues as to why Cuba hasn't achieved better status with the US." Sophomore Joe Bodell agreed. "I thought he addressed American perceptions and misperceptions well, but he did kind of skirt political issues," he said. The event was co-sponsored by the International Relations, Latin American Studies, and Political Science departments as well as the Latino center.@s:Former Ambassador says Cubans enjoy similar speech and religious freedoms as Americans
