Cubans call for governmental change through protests amid economic crisis

LONGWORTH: SO YOU’VE BEEN BACK TO CUBA A NUMBER OF TIMES, YOU’VE DEDICATED YOUR LIFE’S WORK TO THIS AS WHAT HAS HAPPENED BETWEEN THEN. AND NOW THAT HAS GOTTEN US TO THIS POINT WHERE WE’RE SEEING THESE PROTESTS THAT ARE SO SERIOUS. 

GOMEZ: SHANNON, THAT IS SUCH A VERY, THAT’S SUCH A GOOD QUESTION. THERE’S 11 MILLION PEOPLE IN CUBA. 9 MILLION WERE BORN AFTER THE START OF THE REVOLUTION. SO THIS IS THE ONLY THING THEY’VE SEEN. AND MANY OF THEM OR MOST OF THEM HAVE NOT TRAVELED ANYWHERE. AND CUBA IS AN ISLAND. SO IT HAS AFFORDED FOR THOSE IN POWER TO CONTROL WHAT COMES IN AND GOES OUT. AND SOMETHING HAPPENED A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, THE INTERNET, AND ACCESS TO THE INTERNET, THE SHOW, PARTICULARLY THE YOUNG GENERATION, THE YOUNG PEOPLE, THAT THE IDEOLOGY THAT THEY WERE BROUGHT UP IN SCHOOL, BASICALLY HAVE FALLEN APART ACROSS THE WORLD. AND MOST OF THEM BEGIN TO QUESTION THE MARXIST IDEOLOGY, AND BEGIN TO ASK FOR RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.

LONGWORTH: SO WE’RE SEEING THESE PROTESTS RIGHT NOW AS THE RESULT OF A BROADER CULTURAL AWARENESS INTERNATIONALLY, BECAUSE OF THE INTERNET, YOUNGER GENERATIONS, KNOWING ABOUT OTHER THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN THE WORLD, THE PANDEMIC, A LACK OF RESOURCES, AND JUST THIS BUBBLING FRUSTRATION WITH THE GOVERNMENT.

GOMEZ: THESE ALL THESE THINGS ARE COMING TOGETHER. AND ONE MORE THING I WOULD ADD, AND YOU SUMMARIZE THAT EXTREMELY WELL. AND ONE MORE THING, LET’S REMEMBER THAT DURING PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION, THERE WAS AN OPENING A NEW OPENING IN CUBA, WHICH GAVE CUBANS ON THE ISLAND HOPE FOR CHANGE. BUT NOT NECESSARILY POLITICALLY, BUT HOPE FOR CHANGE ECONOMICALLY, THAT THEIR DAILY LIVES WERE GOING TO IMPROVE, TO A GREAT EXTENT. THOSE DISAPPEAR, BECAUSE THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT WAS NOT GOING TO LET GIVE UP THEIR POLITICAL CONTROL BY ALLOWING AMERICAN FOREIGN INVESTMENT TO COME IN, OR EVEN CUBAN AMERICANS INVESTMENT TO COME IN AND HAVE AN IMPACT ON WHAT THEY CONTROL ON A DAILY BASIS.

LONGWORTH: SO YOU THINK THAT MORE CUBANS ARE GOING TO TRY TO FIND THEIR WAY TO THE US AND THAT’S GOING TO COMPOUND OUR PROBLEM AT THE BORDER?

GOMEZ: WE HAVE SEEN THE NUMBER IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS INCREASE DRAMATICALLY. YOU KNOW, RIGHT NOW, AS YOU AND I ARE SPEAKING, THERE ARE OVER 3,000 CUBANS AT THE BORDER BETWEEN MEXICO AND TEXAS TRYING TO GET IN.

LONGWORTH: INTERESTING, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE SOLUTION IS? HERE, AT LEAST IN CUBA, IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU THINK DEMOCRACY IS THE SOLUTION, CORRECT?

GOMEZ: I DON’T KNOW. I DON’T KNOW. AND I’LL EXPLAIN TO YOU, OKAY. WHEN YOU LOOK AT OUR BROTHERS AND SISTER COUNTRIES IN LATIN AMERICA, DEMOCRACY IS VERY DIFFICULT, NOT ONLY TO IMPLEMENT, BUT TO SUSTAIN WHEN THE ECONOMY IS VERY LOW, AND THE EDUCATION LEVEL ARE VERY POOR. DEMOCRACY IS ABSENT. AND MOST OF THESE COUNTRIES SOMETIMES ARE WORSE FOR SOME OF THESE COUNTRIES. AND I HATE TO SAY THIS, AS AN ACADEMIC IS A POPULAR DICTATORSHIP. ONE THAT THEY CAN PROVIDE EDUCATION, ONE THAT THEY CAN PROVIDE ECONOMIC NEEDS TO THE PEOPLE. IN OTHER WORDS, CUBA, DEMOCRACY IN CUBA SINCE 1902, WHEN WE BECAME INDEPENDENT DEMOCRACY IN CUBA, IF YOU LOOK AT THE HISTORY HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABSENT WITHOUT ONE BIG DATA TO ANOTHER DICTATOR, SOME MORE POPULAR THAN THE OTHER. BUT WHAT I’M DETERMINED TO ACCEPT NOW ALMOST 67 YEARS OLD AND A WEEK AND A HALF, WHAT I AM WILLING TO ACCEPT, I LEASE THE CUBAN GIVING THE CUBAN PEOPLE ON THE ISLAND, THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE AND WHATEVER THEY CHOOSE ON MY LIFE, SOME OF IT I MIGHT NOT LIKE THAT, BUT I WOULD LIKE FOR THEM TO HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE AND BE GIVEN THEIR VIEW MY RECORD EYES TO PURSUE WHAT IS IT THAT THEY WANT IN THE FUTURE?