BY FELICITY COGGAN
AUCKLAND, New Zealand - In figuring its way out of the
current economic crisis, the Cuban government has one
essential weapon, the support of the Cuban people, said
Alejandro Herrera at a meeting of 40 Auckland University
students June 8. The Cuban youth leader was welcomed to the
university by Student Association president Brendon Lane.
Replying to a student who asked why people leave Cuba, Herrera explained that there has always been emigration from Cuba. Some leave because they oppose the revolution, always hoping to see it overthrown. Such people began to "rub their hands" at the beginning of the economic crisis, thinking the revolution was finished, but now they have "worn their hands out," because it has kept going, he said.
Some people leave for economic reasons. Those are not enemies of the revolution, he explained. Herrera pointed to how the United States government has welcomed illegal immigrants from Cuba, while repatriating those from other countries.
One member of the audience blamed the government of Cuban president Fidel Castro for the economic crisis and described the policies of the Cuban leadership as being "based around Stalinism" and an "attempt to build socialism in one country."
"What similarities do you find between Castro and Stalin?" Herrera responded. "What similarities are there between the Cuban revolution and what happened in the USSR? How many revolutionaries have been assassinated in Cuba? How many Cubans left the country last summer? There were 40,000, and they left freely. What do you think would have happened if Cuba had had Stalin at its head?"
The help from the former Soviet Union was important, Herrera explained, but the Cuban revolution owes its success to the efforts made by the Cuban people.
Herrera described how in the mid-1980s the central leadership of the Cuban Communist Party, noting that Cuba was committing some errors by copying structures from the Soviet Union, launched a process of economic and social "rectification" to avoid the economy "sliding into obsolescence and inactivity." This strengthened the capacity of the revolution to survive the current crisis. "Only a revolution loyal to the people, only a revolution that had nothing to do with what Stalin did in the USSR, could have withstood this," he said.
While on his tour, Herrera issued an open invitation to everyone to come to Cuba to continue the exchange through taking part in the Cuba Lives International Youth Festival in Havana August 1-7.
BY JAMES ROBB
AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Fifty people heard Alejandro
Herrera at a public meeting here June 9.
The meeting was opened with a welcome by Grant Hawke on behalf of Ngati Whatua, the local Maori tribe. It was chaired by Matt Robson, deputy leader of the Alliance, an opposition parliamentary party. Robson pledged that the Alliance would "add its voice to those calling for an end to the criminal U.S. blockade of Cuba."
Herrera told the meeting that "when the economic crisis hit Cuba, our enemies took advantage of the situation to tighten the embargo. They thought this would be their opportunity to finally destroy our revolution. Their mouths watered at the prospect. But the Cuban revolution has an immeasurable strength, and we are still here today."
He added that the vast majority of Cubans support the revolution. "The day that we don't have the support of the big majority, the revolution will be dead."
Asked about the status of women and homosexuals in Cuban society, Herrera gave examples of the progress women have made toward equality through the revolution. "There is no one more feminist than us," he said.
The economic crisis and the consequent fuel shortages had forced the Cuban government to cut back on the number of political congresses organized. "This year there have been only two, a congress of workers and one of women. That is a measure of how important we consider this question."
Homosexuals, Herrera said, "have access to all the social services available without discrimination." However, he added, "the discrimination that does exist is anti- homosexual prejudice."
Herrera also met with the president and international affairs officer of the Auckland University Students Association and with Helen Clark, the parliamentary leader of the Labour Party.
BY JANET ROTH
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Questions on the current
economic situation in Cuba dominated discussion at a public
meeting with Cuban youth leader Alejandro Herrera held here
June 5.
The first question was what difference had last year's increase in industrial production in Cuba made.
"The Cuban economy grew by 4 percent in 1994," Herrera replied, "but in completely frank terms that 4 percent does not mean anything when you are trying to put food on the table. It is the equivalent of 5 or 6 more beans each for 12 million Cubans.
"For the economy and the Cuban revolution, however, it means a lot. The worst year for the revolution was in 1993, but in 1994 the economic decline stopped and we began to go up. It meant we had found our economic direction again, although we had never lost our political direction."
What caused this turnaround? This came about "through the effort that people made," Herrera explained. "Many of the steps we've taken are not attractive, for example, investment in tourism that generates social vices like prostitution, trafficking, diseases. We've opened up investment to foreign capital. But these would not be enough if the people hadn't made a special effort.
"We have builders who don't get enough food, agricultural workers cutting [sugar] cane without shoes, other industries where there aren't the tools. Only with a profound elevated consciousness by the people could the economic course have changed."
But won't foreign investment undermine the gains the revolution has made, someone asked? "These investments," Herrera responded, "have to be made to save the revolution. We have the choice of taking milk from children or opening the economy to foreign capital.
"If we deny this investment to reactivate the economy we could one day become a country where children are naked, without milk, and die of curable diseases, where infant mortality is 50 per thousand not 9 like it is today. If Cuba is again reduced to that status, what would we have done with the revolution?"
A recent visitor to Cuba said agriculture in Cuba seemed to be 300-400 years behind New Zealand.
"It could be 500 years behind," said Herrera. "Before the revolution sugar cane was cut by hand, it became mechanized, but now with the economic crisis we're back to cutting by hand again.
"But don't just look at agriculture when comparing the two countries. Look at the differences in health care and education, which are free in Cuba but not in New Zealand."
Herrera pointed to the low infant mortality rate in Cuba and high life expectancy in comparison to New Zealand. "We don't have the richness of New Zealand, but I wish we had - we would do a lot better things than filling the country with cars."
Why did the United States succeed in undermining the Nicaraguan revolution, but fail to destroy the Cuban revolution, another asked.
"It's not precise to say that it was the United States that triumphed in Nicaragua. In Nicaragua they lost support from the people," Herrera replied. "A revolution is made by the people, when the people abandon it the revolution dies. We have to study and read why the people abandoned it. The thing the United States did was to take advantage of the right moment."
BY EUGEN LEPOU
HAMILTON, New Zealand - A meeting to hear Alejandro
Herrera at Waikato University in this city drew 27 students
June 7.
What is the situation for young people in Cuba, one participant inquired.
"Health, education, and culture are all free," Herrera responded. "Education is free from kindergarten to university. This is one of the major conquests of the revolution."
Can the average Cuban leave the country, asked another.
"Very few Cubans can afford to buy a plane ticket,"
Herrera explained. "If there were more economic
opportunities for Cubans, there would be more Cubans
visiting other countries."
Herrera pointed to another obstacle confronting Cubans who travel. "When I arrived in New Zealand, Customs officials searched me for 40 minutes," he told his audience. "But they did not discover the weapons I have, which are in my head and my heart," he added.
Another questioner asked why the U.S. government has been hostile to Cuba for so many years.
"The U.S. never forgave us for making a revolution 90 miles from their coast. The revolution is considered by the U.S. government to be a huge crime. But Cuba has always been willing to enter into dialogue with the U.S."
Herrera pointed out that the Cuban revolution "has resisted the U.S. embargo for 35 years," and has just begun to ease "a harsh five-year economic crisis. The only way Cuba has been able to survive all this pressure is because we have an invincible weapon, which is the Cuban people."