By Andras Simonyi
I was on the island nation 47 years ago. I saw a beautiful country. I saw a beautiful people. I also saw a dictatorship.
I remember the US made fridge in the hotel still working, the pictures on the wall marked “Hotel Hilton” and the old Dodges, Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles on the street. And I remember the empty stores, the food-tickets, buildings falling apart. And (bravely) wondering into the poor neighborhoods of Havana, I also remember people randomly asking if I had a bar of soap, a bottle of shampoo or a pair of jeans to spare. I fondly remember the music of Irakere, with the great Arturo Sandoval ( who later defected to the USA with the help of Dizzy Gillespie). However, perhaps most importantly ,I remember being followed, people being hesitant to engage in a conversation unless we were out of sight of others and the omnipresent posters of Fidel Castro and the Communist Party. The overall impression was that of sadness of a talented people, doomed to live in a dystopian system of oppression and deprivation for the masses and privileges for the few.
The problem [not the only one] with socialism is that it is not just a theory, but that they tried it out on actual people. Cuba’s tragedy is that, except for North Korea, socialism has lasted longer than in any other country, a total of 67 years. The longer it lasts the deeper the scars it leaves on a nation. Arguably, even Hungary that has had to endure a “mild” kind of socialism, a relatively benign form of dictatorship, aka “Goulash Communism” named after the traditional national dish, a soup of “unknown” ingredients, has been deeply impacted by the regime imposed upon it by Russia for 40 plus years. The greatest and most enduring damage though was not to the physical infrastructure, as bad as it was, not the the standard of living of the population lagging behind its western neighbors, but to the fabric of society, to the human relationships and most importantly the damage to the ability of society to think and act freely and independently. The centralized political and economic space of the communist state deprived generations of bold decisions, educated risk taking, prevented the individuals from taking responsibility for their own fate. Arguably, Central Eastern Europe still to this day is suffering from the impact of the long years of Communist rule which has damaged the DNA of society. What a shame the USA did not make good on its promise to help the Hungarian freedom fighters in 1956, when the country rose up against the Soviet-Russian occupation, against hard core Communism. It extended the shell life of the Communist regime by more than 30 years, making the scars deeper and more difficult to heal.
In 2002 I was named Hungarian Ambassador to the United States. It was just a decade after the country became free, ended Soviet-Russian occupation and communist rule, to establish a democracy. We had lessons to offer to others still under dictatorship. I initiated an engagement with the Cuban community in the US, encouraged by President Bush, Secretary of State Rice, Governor Bush, my dear friends Congressmen Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart and my friend Frank Calzon. I had a vision: what was possible in Central Europe, will be possible in Cuba. Cubans deserve to be free, just as much as Central Europe deserved to be free. Ambassador Mark Palmer, former U.S. ambassador to Hungary, a champion of freedom, who coined the phrase “axis-of-evil” of dictators, who played a critical role in support for change in Hungary and Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky supported my initiative. Our idea was simple: share the experiences of transition from communist dictatorship to democracy, good or bad, with the Cubans. Help Cubans shorten the learning curve. To tell them to focus on the economy, so that the people will feel the benefits of a free society in their daily lives as soon as possible. To tell them transition will be hard and messy, but it can be done, that today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow will be better than today. Tell them young people must feel a future, that they have a chance to fulfill their dreams, but also to tell them that the scars left by communism will be harder to heal than they think.At that time I was not aware of the difficulties of that transition. Of the possibility of setbacks. Of backsliding of democracy in the process. Still, any democracy is better than the best dictatorship.
The impending change I anticipated twenty years ago did not come. As an American, I regret the decisions taken in the following years, the messages of false hope that only prolonged the suffering of the Cuban people. But today I see a chance that Cubans, like Hungarians, Czechs,Slovaks, Poles thirty six years ago, will walk free. And this time, America cannot let the Cuban people down. My message to my Cuban brothers and sisters: your friends will be there to support you. We know you are terrified of change. But change is a sign of life, while standing still is death.
Can’t wait to show up on main square Havana with my band the “Coalition of the Willing” , pull out my guitar and play Hymn to Freedom.
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Andras Simonyi is a Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council.