A CubaNews translation by Will Reissner
Edited by Walter Lippmann
http://www.walterlippmann.com

“The marriage of communism with nationalism in Latin America provides the greatest danger faced thus far by the region and by U.S. interests. U.S. public and private institutions must get involved in educating community leaders and the communications media about the nature of the Marxist-Leninist strategy adapted by the nationalists to themes of underdevelopment.”
This is what the fifth Proposal of the Santa Fe II Report advocated in August 1988 under the title “A Strategy for Latin America in the 1990s,” which made recommendations for the elder George Bush administration’s policy toward the continent. The report recommended methods to turn back the advances of the Latin American guerrilla movements and it urgently called for measures to dismantle the Cuban revolution.
This document has had a palpable influence on U.S. policy under the Republican administrations of the Bushes, father and son, as well as on the Democratic administration of William Clinton, whose term fell between those two. Furthermore, the ideas in the Santa Fe II document have always been reflected in the efforts of important social sectors in the U.S. superpower who have used a variety of means and abundant resources to try to impose their fundamental views on Washington policy.
We must certainly acknowledge that the strategy, whether conscious or intuitive, of Latin American revolutionaries, as well as the fundamental achievement of the Cubans, has been along the lines of achieving what the language of U.S. propaganda calls “the marriage of communism with nationalism,”. This means advancing the understanding that the objectives of national unity, independence, and social justice can only be achieved and maintained through a revolutionary program to redistribute social wealth on the basis of universal revolutionary experiences and solidarity.
The Cuban revolution’s goals in the field of culture have moved along two main paths, with the common denominator being the quest for social justice. One path has been to raise the cultural level of the entire population, with priority given to the most disadvantaged (starting with those who were until then dispossessed). The other has been to insure that there would be no decline in the quality of those areas of art and culture that had already reached a high level within the context of the bourgeois semi-colonial society.
This orientation called for a colossal effort to level the field of culture: to take those expressions of culture that had until then been reserved for the elites and place them within the reach of a general public that would then possess a cultural level that would make it possible to appreciate them.
The literacy campaign was the first big step opening the Cuban revolution’s programs to make culture accessible to all layers of society.
Following that, basic cultural institutions were set up in every corner of the country: cultural centers, libraries, museums, folklore centers, choirs, music bands, theatrical, dance, and children’s groups. In addition, many other efforts were undertaken to make culture accessible to everyone and to bring it to all corners.
In order to bring art to even the most remote corner of each of the country’s municipalities, a national system of art education was established. The first step was to set up training schools for art teachers, followed up by specialized schools of music, fine arts, film, and other art forms, and culminating at the top in the Instituto Superior del Arte (Higher Art Institute).
In addition, in the early days of the revolution, the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), Casa de la Américas, and the National Publishing House were established. Each was headed by appropriate figures within the revolutionary process, an indication of the prominent place assigned to artistic and literary culture.
The National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) was also set up to bring together and represent the professional creators of art and literature, who receive services on the governmental level from various specialized organs of the Ministry of Culture.
Saving the culture was put forward as an essential objective of the nation under the most difficult economic conditions imaginable. The country’s prestige continued to rise despite the multi-million dollar campaigns of slanders and lies paid for by Washington. These were conducted, first covertly – through the intermediary of its spy and subversion agencies –, then later openly, with big budgets blatantly appropriated by Congress and administered by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) under the guise of supposedly non-governmental organizations.
After the period of the great crisis resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union and its closest allies, who challenged the blockade imposed by the U.S. since 1960 by maintaining normal economic relations with Cuba, the country has been able to increase its publishing activities, film production, fine arts exhibitions, concerts, and theatrical and dance presentations.
Artists and intellectuals from all over the world regularly gather in Cuba. They take part in annual events attracting large audiences that generally involve the whole island. Among these are the festivals of the New Latin American Cinema, book fairs, and ballet and theater festivals; and various literary prizes, the oldest of which being the Casa de las Américas prize.
The revolution deepened Cubans’ anti-imperialist sentiment by identifying their objectives with those of the rest of the nations of the Third World. They learned that the root of exploitation in the world today rests in the capitalist system. This leads to a clear understanding that a consistent fight for independence under the special conditions of Cuba today requires the transition to socialism.
This necessity flows not solely from the fact that socialism was the system to which its closest allies also aspired but also from the sense that capitalism– because of its natural dependence on exploitation, competition, and expansionism – is incompatible with the principles of social justice and solidarity among human beings that keep the Cuban people united.
For these reasons, working under the conditions of the broadest creative freedom and with course corrections made on each of the many occasions when they have been necessary, the broad majority of Cuban artists and authors understand that defeating capitalism and advancing toward socialism is the only feasible choice for Cuba.
December 2009
WALTER LIPPMANN
Los Angeles, California
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
"Cuba - Un ParaĂ­so bajo el bloqueo"