Votes not elections: Reflections on the Castro regime's electoral charade in Cuba

Dictator Raul Castro votes today in sham elections in Cuba.

The Castro regime is seeking to spin a non-vote into a democratic election, but there are some basic facts that exposes the true nature of what is going on. 

"Cuba holds National Assembly elections Sunday, but there are only 470 candidates running for the 470 seats, with no opposition challengers and no campaigning," reports the Associated Press. 

Why go through this political circus?

Professor Jaime Suchlicki of the Cuban Studies Institute offers an explanation of what the dictatorship's actual objective is:

"Like in most communist countries, elections in Cuba are not aimed at changing previously selected officials, but rather at highlighting existing polices and mobilizing the population to support the communist system." 

 This is not a secret, but established in existing regime rules. 

Cuba's 2019 constitution declares that the country is officially a one-party system with the Communist Party serving as the "superior driving force of the society and the state" and "orienting the communal forces" toward the creation of a "communist society." 

Internal democracy does not exist in the Cuban Communist Party.  It is a top down process.

Despite this, the Cuban dictatorship finds itself in a crisis. Cubans are losing their fear, and refusing to go along with the regime's charade.

Reuters, in their March 22, 2023 article "As Cuba Election Day Nears, Some Voters Ask, 'Why Bother?'" offers anecdotal evidence of voter apathy.

Like a growing number of Cubans, 77-year-old Havana resident Humberto Avila says he will likely sit out Sunday's legislative elections. The retired university professor says he's done the math - 470 candidates, 470 open seats - and sees no point in voting. "That's the same number of candidates as open seats," he told Reuters. "There are no choices."

Cuban dissidents in the island are calling on citizens not to take part in the sham. "Not attending the electoral farce orchestrated by the regime is an act of elementary consistency with truth and justice. No to tyranny," tweeted from Cuba Eduardo Cardet, national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement on March 24, 2023. 

"Not attending the electoral farce orchestrated by the regime is an act of elementary consistency with truth and justice. No to tyranny," tweeted from Cuba Eduardo Cardet, national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement yesterday. https://t.co/pJ3z0ojS2e 14/

— Center for a Free Cuba (@cubacenter) March 25, 2023

As Professor Suchlicki observed above, this is not a question of electing representatives in a democracy, but measuring the communist dictatorship's ability to influence or coerce mass support for the system in a vote.

This is why the regime is threatening Cuban citizens with consequences if they do not participate in the regime's vote today.

This is also why they do not allow independent international observers, or independent domestic observers for today's vote, despite recognizing in law the ability of citizens to observe elections.

T @CubaDiceNO Since the early hours of the morning, the political police in #Cuba have prohibited several observers from leaving their homes with a patrol at the door. Among them, Zealandia Pérez, coordinator of #COCUDE, the #Cuban Electoral Defense Commission. https://t.co/CF2YRUMyXC

— Center for a Free Cuba (@cubacenter) March 26, 2023

Cubans that had wanted to observe the elections today found police cars outside their homes, and were told that they were under house arrest, and could not leave.

 The dictatorship has reason to be concerned.

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project in their March 23, 2023 report "Political Repression in Cuba Ahead of the 2023 Parliamentary Elections" predicted that "unaddressed grievances and repression might lead to lower voter turnout in the upcoming elections, which could, in turn, further undermine the legitimacy of Cuba’s next government." 

With no observers agents of the dictatorship can stuff the ballot boxes, and claim whatever result they want, but internally they will know the true level of dissatisfaction within the populace.

This dissatisfaction was observed on July 11-12, 2021 when tens of thousands of Cubans, knowing what dangers openly defying the regime entailed, took to the streets of Cuba in protest. 

Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1923 commented the following about elections,“I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this - who will count the votes, and how.” 

The effort to stop the poll watchers, though poll watching is permitted under current electoral law in Cuba, hearkens back to that principle of control alluded to by Stalin 100 years ago.

This is why Cubans should stay home, and abstain from taking part in this charade.

T @RosaMariaPaya
The route where #CubaDecides:

1. MOBILIZATION for Rights & Conditions
2. COMPLIANCE with Rights & Conditions
3. BINDING PLEBISCITE to change the system
4. TRANSITION
5. FREE ELECTIONS#IDoNotVote with the dictatorship's rules. Mobilization for #SystemChange https://t.co/l7TOrQzfru

— Center for a Free Cuba (@cubacenter) March 26, 2023

 

One last, but important observation that many have gotten wrong. Cuba has not entered the post-Castro era.

Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado and Miguel Díaz-Canel

President Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado held the title of president from July 17, 1959 through December 2, 1976. Cubans called him "president spoon" (because he neither pricks [like a fork] nor cuts [like a knife]). It was their way of saying he had no real power because it resided with Fidel Castro and his brother Raul.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, the current president of Cuba is another Dorticós Torrado, a figure head without any power. Raul Castro remains the strong man, and his son Alejandro Castro Espin, the heir apparent.

Succession Watch: Fact checking Raul Castro's cheerleaders

Fake news on Cuba

Big factual error
It has been a painful month reading the "news" on Cuba, and basic factual errors that could be corrected on a major story continue to be repeated as fact.  CNN, The South China Morning Post, NBC6,  and many more outlets are repeating the falsehood that "It's the first time in nearly six decades that Cuba is being led by a man not named Castro."

For the record: Raul Castro handed over the office of the presidency to his hand picked successor Miguel Díaz-Canel on April 19, 2018. The Castro regime is using this to give the impression that there is a transition underway in Cuba. This is not the case. General Raul Castro will remain head of the communist party and in control of the military. General Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas, Raul's son-in-law, runs the Cuban economy. Raul Castro's son, Colonel Alexandro Castro, who negotiated the normalization of relations with the Obama Administration is an intelligence officer with close ties to the secret police. Diaz-Canel, like Osvaldo Dorticos who was president of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, will most likely be a puppet controlled by the Castros.The succession is not to make Miguel Díaz-Canel the new dictator but to maintain the Castro dynasty in control of Cuba.

The press has also been far too kind in the assessment of Raul Castro's tenure as President. No mention of the murdered dissident leaders, increased violence, and a dramatic increase in arbitrary detentions.Nor any mention made of Amnesty International prisoner of conscience Eduardo Cardet, whose life hangs in the balance today or that 10,000 Cubans petitioned the Castro regime to free him.

Misrepresentation
On April 16, 2018 Michael Weissenstein and Andrea Rodriguez of the Associated Press's Cuba bureau reported on Raul Castro's legacy a couple of days prior to the communist dictator's departure from the presidency and the arrival of communist apparatchik Miguel Díaz-Canel and made a number of claims that need to be placed in context or risk misrepresenting the reality on the ground.

Claim: "In 2008 Raul Castro took over a country where most people couldn’t own computers ..., leave without permission, run most types of private businesses or enter resort hotels."

Context: The Castro regime banned the sale of computers in 2002 in Cuba.  The restriction was lifted by Raul Castro in 2008.

Context: The Castro regime altered regulations to allow Cubans to travel without requesting prior permission in 2013.  However restrictions are still in place, that violate international rights standards to the right to enter and exit your homeland, and many Cubans are restricted from traveling abroad or being allowed to return. This includes cases where a family member is dying or having died refused entry to attend their loved ones funeral service.   

Claim: "Cuba has nearly 600,000 private entrepreneurs, more than 5 million cellphones, a bustling real estate market and one of the world’s fastest-growing airports."  

Context: Castro regime drafted new rules in February of 2018 curtailing the private sector. This would not be the first time. In the 1980s and 1990s following economic crises the private sector was temporarily expanded only to once again be restricted when the economic need to subsidize political objectives subsided.

Claim: "Limited internet use is expanding fast, with thousands of Cubans installing new home connections this year."

Cheapest home internet connection in Cuba costs $15 per month (which is more than half the average monthly salary) and according to PanAm Post you get " 256 kilobits per second, similar to the internet services offered in the United States in the late 1990s; ... "The fastest connection price offers a download speed of four megabits per second and will cost US $70. That’s two and half times the average Cuban salary." Not to mention that it is all run through a government monopoly and censors web sites critical of the government.

Claim: "Foreign debt has been paid."  

Context: Mark Frank of Reuters offers a more accurate picture on October 18, 2017: "The Paris Club agreement forgave $8.5 billion of $11.1 billion in official debt Cuba had defaulted on through 1986, plus charges. Repayment of the remaining debt was back-loaded through 2033, with around $40 million paid last year and nearly $60 million due by Oct. 31."The Castro regime still owes $2.5 billion dollars to the Paris Club. The "foreign debt" has not been paid off.

 
An old problem
Sadly, this is not a new problem. In September of 2011 Cuban opposition activist Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas called attention to important information omitted by reporters from the Associated Press bureau in Havana. This caught my attention at the time and led me over the years to take a closer look at AP reporting and possible bias or omissions over the next seven years. In 2014, Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez raised the concern that news bureaus in Havana, in order to maintain their presence in Cuba, compromised their ethical obligations. and risked crossing the line to become regime collaborators. In 2017 while reporting on the mystery of what is harming U.S. diplomats in Cuba the Associated Press, once again left out pertinent information regarding the expert they selected to interview who downplayed the significance of what was going on.

These are not elections: Reflections on the electoral farce in Cuba

Poll watching a non-election in Cuba

Raul Castro at ballot box in Cuba

The Castro regime is seeking to spin a non-vote into a democratic election, but there is a basic fact that exposes the true nature of what is going on. Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez explained it succinctly over twitter, "#TheseAreNotElections Did you know that today Cubans do not elect parliamentarians but can only ratify 605 names written on the ballots for the 605 seats in the National Assembly? They do not select or discard because "selection" was already made by 'up there'."

#EstasNoSonElecciones ¿Sabía usted que hoy los #cubanos no eligen parlamentarios sino que solo pueden ratificar los 605 nombres escritos en las boletas para los 605 escaños de la Asamblea Nacional? No seleccionan ni descartan porque la "selección" ya se hizo por "allá arriba". pic.twitter.com/ckVSJNWpJS

— Yoani Sánchez (@yoanisanchez) March 11, 2018

Rosa María Payá reported from Havana that in polling stations where they could observe the counting of votes, an average of 37% of Cuban citizens had the courage to show their rejection of the electoral system and the government. In a tweet she gave a more detailed breakdown. "In all polling stations where we were able to carry out the independent observation of the vote count, percentage of rejection of the regime and support for the Plebiscite CUBADECIDE ranged from 18% in Río Cauto, Granma, up to 90% in Songo La Maya, Santiago de Cuba."

De todos los colegios electorales donde pudimos realizar la observación independiente del conteo de votos, el por ciento de rechazo al régimen y de apoyo al Plebiscito @CUBADECIDE osciló de entre 18% en Río Cauto, Granma, hasta un 90% en Songo La Maya, Santiago de Cuba.

— Rosa María Payá A. (@RosaMariaPaya) March 12, 2018

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez tweeted this morning, "[d]id you know that all possible independent candidates who tried to be nominated in their neighborhoods were subject to arrests, acts of repudiation, house arrest and even legal irregularities in the assemblies to prevent their candidacy?" She was referring to the campaign Otro18 (Another 18), organized by social democrat Manuel Cuesta Morua and Candidates for Change organized by Julio Antonio Aleaga Pesant. Both initiatives sought to field candidates for 2018.

Annulled ballots in Cuba earlier today

 Press accounts of the "vote" in Cuba on Sunday claimed that this was the beginning of a post-Castro era and France 24 reported that it was "a key step in a process leading to the elevation of a new president, the first in nearly 60 years from outside the Castro family."  This is incorrect for two reasons because the last President without the last name Castro was 42 years ago and his name was Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado and he held that title from July 17, 1959 through December 2, 1976. Cubans called him "president spoon" (because he neither pricks nor cuts). It was their way of saying he had no real power because it resided with Fidel Castro and his brother Raul. Secondly, Miguel Díaz-Canel, the named successor to Raul Castro for the presidency of Cuba in all probability will be another Dorticós Torrado, a figure head without any power. Raul Castro will remain head of the Communist Party and de facto head of the military.

Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado and Miguel Díaz-Canel

The CubaDecide campaign on March 10th announced that they were organizing a poll watching effort today across Cuba and presented their results this evening. Over the course of the day irregularities were reported by poll watchers, and citizens attempting to vote.  Rosa María Payá Acevedo tweeted below on measures taken by State Security to shut down the poll watchers and block dissident voters from going to the polls. "Agents of the Cuban political police persecute sympathizers and promoters of the Plebiscite CUBADECIDE while we go to the polling stations to annul our ballots. It is not only an electoral farce, but one that violates its own rules."

Agentes de la policía política cubana persiguen a simpatizantes y promotores del Plebiscito @CUBADECIDE mientras nos dirigimos a los colegios electorales para anular las boletas.

No sólo es una farsa electoral, sino una farsa electoral que viola brutalmente sus propias reglas.

— Rosa María Payá A. (@RosaMariaPaya) March 11, 2018

Rosa María Payá also tweeted that "MININT - PNR police forces in Havana show the observers of @CUBADECIDE handcuffs as a threat so that we do not go to the polling stations to exercise our right, according to the law. Zero transparency in the Cuban Electoral farce." 

Fuerzas policiales MinInt - PNR en La Habana nos muestran las esposas a los observadores de @CUBADECIDE como amenaza para que no vayamos a los colegios electorales a ejercer nuestro derecho, según la ley.

Cero transparencia en la farsa electoral cubana.@JuventudLAC#PorCuba

— Rosa María Payá A. (@RosaMariaPaya) March 11, 2018

Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1923 commented the following about elections,“I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this - who will count the votes, and how.” 

The effort to stop the poll watchers, though poll watching is permitted under current electoral law in Cuba, hearkens back to that principle of control alluded to by Stalin 95 years ago. Reports of mistreatment also appeared on social media. Ladies in White leader Berta Soler tweeted that Cuban State Security "tortured Lady in White Aymara Nieto [placing her] under the sun, handcuffed inside a patrol car."

Torturan bajo el sol,esposada y dentro de la patrulla @DamadBlanco Aymara Nieto #NoAlVotoFraude #RevolucionEsRepresion @ForoDyL

— Berta Soler (@bertasolerf) March 11, 2018

Rosa María Payá described how "Cuban political police assaulted with electric current Abel Melcochini in Manzanillo, Granma, observer and activist of CUBADECIDE  and UNPACU, to coerce him and prohibit him from going to vote."

Policía política cubana agrede con corriente eléctrica a Abel Melcochini en Manzanillo, Granma, observador y activista de @CUBADECIDE #UNPACU, para coaccionarlo y prohibirle ir a votar.

— Rosa María Payá A. (@RosaMariaPaya) March 11, 2018

Rosa María reported that the following activists were arrested and or disappeared today by the Cuban regime to prevent them from reaching the polling stations: José Díaz Silva, Lourdes Esquivel, Adonis Milan, Zaqueo Báez, Sonia de la Caridad, Roberto Pérez, Aimara Muñoz, Abdel Estévez, Lázaro González Matamoros, Dairon, Alberto de la Caridad, among others.

Cubans "get" to approve the 605 pre-selected candidates with no other option. Poll watching, although legal, led to poll watchers being threatened, harassed and detained. Cubans are dissatisfied and a significant percentage engage in protest votes or refuse to take part. Despite the media hype, Raul Castro will maintain control from his position as head of the Cuban Communist Party and other Castro family members are in key regime posts.