Dear comrades,
As you might be aware, the Castroist crackdown on dissent has been stepped up and toughened up over these past few months in Cuba. Even so, transition from dictatorship to bourgeois democracy seems increasingly inevitable, albeit that, as in the Spanish precedent, there is every indication that this Transition will not be fully activated until after the physical demise of the dictator. As you will appreciate, until such time as that happens, the prospects for an opening-up and liberalisation of the regime are virtually nil, so the opposition (excepting that segment relying upon institutional support abroad) will have to grapple with enormous risks and difficulties. Especially Cuban libertarians and any who are open about their opposition to authoritarianism in any guise.
You will know too that the states of the European Community and the USA are doing all they can to ensure that this Transition results in a regime that offers guarantees as to their own economic interests and integrates Cuba fully into the worldwide capitalist order. That their pursuit of that end is increasingly brazen and intense, which is why only dissident groups of like ideology are in receipt of their support and assistance. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that libertarian dissidents and all who are truly independent of ties to those states or to the political parties taking part in the representative farce known as Democracy have to grapple with this situation in very unfavourable circumstances, if they are to make their voices heard and propose alternatives other than those being tendered to the Cuban people today by the Castroists or those who expect to take over the reins from them.
The object of this letter is to inform you of our intention of drafting a letter of appeal to libertarian activists worldwide to set up a support group for Cuba’s libertarians and independent trade unionists. So that, ultimately, all libertarian and anarcho-syndicalist organisations will affiliate to this group or establish one that attracts and represents us all.
We therefore invite your opinion on the formation of such a group and your suggestions regarding the drafting of this letter of appeal, as well as the names and addresses of libertarian militants likely to be supportive of this venture.
All replies should be sent to:
Octavio Alberola
4 rue de l’Atlas
75019 Paris (France)
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Find more articles on the Fifth Estate’s Cuba Resource Page.