Viva Cuba

Recently Fidel Castro resigned as the leader of Cuba leading Raul Castro to take the reigns. Cuba has welcomed the change as more freedoms have become available to all of its citizens. In his short time in office Raul has, “legalized cell phone use for ordinary Cubans; granted Cubans access to previously off-limits tourist hotels; and legalized the sale within Cuba of microwaves, DVD players and personal computer.“ 

 The changes in Cuba’s government fits perfectly with our semester long topic and with this week’s topic of democracy. Many people take for granted in heavily industrialized nations the basic freedoms that we all possess. Something so simple such as booking a hotel room for a night out, is something that some nations accross the globe do not allow their citizens to do. The punishment for doing something we all do daily, such as using a cell phone, was previously extreme. Many of the qualities of democracy that Schmitter and Karl discuss in their piece “What Democracy Is…And Is Not” were not previously present that allowed Cubans to protect their rights and to not be punished for expressing basic freedoms. Schmitter and Karl site, participation, meaning “all citizens may not take an active and equal part in politics, although it must be legally possible for them to do so,” as one item that makes democracy successful. Democracy was not previously  present in Cuba under Fidel’s control, which allowed citizens to be punished for basic rights.

 Cubans have been living under conditions of extreme punishment for expressing common freedoms that are found in most developed parts of the world. Without basic parts of democracy such as federalism, checks and balances, and responsiveness, according to Schmitter and Karl, countries like Cuba are able to restrict their citizen’s rights. With a change in power and a shift towards more democracy in Cuban the country is already experiencing better conditions. Cuban are generally happy about the changes, and hopefully with an increase in even more deomcracy Cubans will be able to finally enjoy the same rights a majority of the world has been experiencing for years.

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