The crisis does not distinguish species
September 28, 2022
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n last September 25, the vote was carried out
vote to endorse the new “Family Code”. As has been mentioned in various press releases, including some of the publications that have been made on the Food Monitor Program portal, this family code includes some new provisions that are quite innovative in terms of recognizing various types of family and, in addition , recognizes socio-affective relationships that include same-sex couples, which allows the establishment of relationships between family members in the second degree of consanguinity, despite having custody disputes, and determines the co-responsibility of food among the different members who have purchasing power to meet this need.
At first glance, both the content of the new code and its submission to a popular referendum give the impression of a renewal of the so-called "popular democracy", a product of the Revolution, although it is not, however, as had already been noted in editions previous acknowledgments of the situation of many family nuclei that are not made up in the manner of the traditional family, is a de jure Recognition, of a de facto situation already established for a long time.
These "advances" in terms of legal recognition of part of the population in Cuba do not solve the most crucial problem of family composition. Despite recognition of people in vulnerable conditions: minors, the elderly, people with disabilities, etc., to whom sections are dedicated, there is no effective provision in terms of assistance.Despite including the word "disability" 92 times in the new Code, as well as including the word "food" 92 times, for practical purposes, this code recognizes the inability of the guardianship of the State to provide a service that from the beginning of the Revolution was one of the greatest flags of the Regime: nobody goes hungry in Cuba.
And it is that the situation of food insecurity does not give up. The rise in the price of the dollar on the international currency market, which is due, among other things, to the increase in interest rates proposed by the United States Federal Reserve, _cc781905-5cde -3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ya has a strong impact on the chicken and flour market for Cuban households that translates into price inflation.The exchange rate exceeded the indicators of the Special Period, reaching 150 Cuban pesos (CUP) per dollar, affecting the exchange rate of the MLC and the Euro, which is dizzyingly close to 200 CUP in both cases.Despite the fact that there are apparently favorable provisions for Cuban families, what the new Family Code actually manifests is the State's inability to provide the right to food. In a more or less direct way, the State transfers the problem of food to society, but it still does not grant the openings and freedoms necessary to be able to guide a free market or mixed economy that has the necessary conditions to be sustainable.
It is worth saying that the State has begun to have new measures so that small and medium-sized companies in the non-state sector (euphemism to say private) can produce and export some staple foods. Thinking about the future, the regime is looking to create the conditions so that these companies can compete on an equal footing with State exporting companies. In reality, as CubaNet reported last month, it is a reconversion of established companies, most of them state-owned, and the implementation of a cumbersome process for private companies, which surely will not have the possibility of participating on equal terms. conditions due to the procedures to which they must be submitted.
And the endorsement of the Code comes with sinister omens. Material responsibilities are transferred when the capacity of the State will face the greatest tensions to its diminished power. Already with an approval of 66%, its own supply remains in the hands of society. In the middle of the cyclone season, Ian is approaching the western part of the island, already with "lethal for people" winds and with the certainty that it will make landfall near the capital, according to the report of theNational Hurricane Center from United States. According to this analysis, floods, landslides and heavy rains are expected in this part of Cuba. It will be necessary to add, then, to the power cuts, difficulties for the terrestrial supply, of drinking water and other essential services for the Cuban society. This, without counting the forecast of material damage and the potential loss of life, human and animal, that hurricane winds can bring.
This symptom of trying to resolve material situations through legal means is a sign of the weakening of the State and, eventually, it could be the door for more demonstrations in the remainder of 2022.
Una idea poderosa de Chantal Delsol que podemos aplicar a Cuba es su análisis del folclor como herramienta de control, donde la cultura se reduce a manifestaciones superficiales. Según Delsol, en muchos regímenes autoritarios el Estado permite ciertas expresiones culturales (rituales, tradiciones o festividades) siempre y cuando no se amenace el orden establecido. Estas expresiones folclóricas se convierten en caricaturas de una identidad controlada, restringidas a lo decorativo y vacías de contenido crítico o subversivo. El verdadero significado cultural es suprimido, diluyendo la diversidad en una simulación. En Cuba, el régimen ha permitido manifestaciones folclóricas que sirven para construir una imagen de identidad nacional manipulada, mientras se aplastan las voces que podrían usar esa misma cultura como plataforma de crítica.
En manos del Estado cubano, el folclor es instrumentalizado para proyectar una imagen de unidad cultural hacia el exterior, cuando en realidad aplasta cualquier forma de disenso. Tradiciones, festividades y símbolos culturales que no desafían el poder se presentan como muestras de la fortaleza de un pueblo resistente; pero, en la práctica, son expresiones controladas que ocultan las verdaderas tensiones y carencias que vive la población. La cultura, en lugar de ser un espacio de pluralidad, se convierte en un elemento más del aparato de control estatal.
Este vaciamiento cultural se complementa con otro fenómeno aún más corrosivo: la romantización de la pobreza. En Cuba, el régimen ha construido un relato en el que las privaciones económicas se presentan como un sacrificio noble, una parte del orgullo revolucionario. Las carencias materiales no son tratadas como el fracaso del sistema, sino como una demostración de resistencia heroica. La falta crónica de alimentos y bienes básicos es disfrazada como un emblema de la dignidad del pueblo cubano, que, según el discurso oficial, soporta estas privaciones por una causa superior.
Este relato se entrelaza con la representación del folclor cubano. Al presentar un teatro cultural en el que la pobreza se romantiza y la cultura se reduce a símbolos inofensivos, el Gobierno asegura que la miseria se vea como una parte inherente de la vida cubana, algo casi admirable. La pobreza, lejos de ser criticada o combatida, se glorifica como una virtud, mientras el sistema permanece intacto. Bajo esta visión, el pueblo cubano es atrapado en una trampa doble: su identidad se reduce a manifestaciones controladas, mientras se les priva de las condiciones materiales necesarias para prosperar.
La instrumentalización de la cultura y la romantización de la pobreza son formas de asegurar que no haya cuestionamientos. Al vestir la miseria con un manto de orgullo nacional, el gobierno cubano justifica la opresión, despojando a su pueblo de aspiraciones legítimas de mejora. Se niega la posibilidad de reconocer que la pobreza no es una virtud, sino el resultado de un sistema fallido. Al mismo tiempo, la cultura se convierte en una herramienta de manipulación, más que en un espacio de verdadera diversidad. Este ciclo perpetúa el estancamiento, donde la pobreza y la falta de pluralidad cultural se entrelazan para mantener el control absoluto del Estado.
En lugar de temer la pluralidad, el régimen debería abrazarla. La diversidad cultural, política y económica es la única vía hacia un desarrollo sostenible y una verdadera libertad. Las naciones que han reconocido este principio han logrado salir de crisis similares. El régimen, temeroso de perder el control, mantiene a la población cubana en una torre de homogeneidad que, lejos de llevarla al cielo, la deja anclada en ciclos de escasez y represión, de desabastecimiento y carencias, en la miseria y la desesperación. La población cubana, diversa a pesar de esa uniformidad forzada y libre no obstante su cautiverio, mantiene la esperanza de poder reconocer al otro, de reconocerse a sí misma; mantiene viva la cubanidad y la identidad que no conoce límite ni freno institucional alguno.