Distributed by The Cuba Free Press Project.

Havana, December 22, 1997, Cuba Press

CUBA, 1998: Happy New Year......? The Opinion of the Dissidents. By Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso, Cuba Press.

Some years, more than new, transcend time. They break into history with irreversible events. It is its hours. And there have been many from Christ's birth to 1989.

Nearly a decade since this last date, there isn't a single shaman apprentice capable of re-building the Berlin wall. There have been as many arguments about the durability of the Great Wall of China as there are inhabitants in the Celestial Empire. However, what's been happening to Cuban walls, there is no doubt: They are crumbling! Only socialism prevails amidst their ruins, against all reason, desperation, and hope.

In the largest of the Antilles, the shaman's apprentices are the government officials, who, with measured ingenuity, look for gold within a rainbow of shadows.

Cuba Press, with the certainty of the many shades of the political spectrum, interviewed five leaders of the dissident movement, who believe in diverse ideologies, and residents of the eastern, central, and western sectors of the island. To the question: What do you expect in 1998 in personal terms? politicians and common citizens, replied:

From Santa Clara, in the center of Cuba, Luis Ramon Hernandez Rodriguez, the president of the Democratic Action Movement, stated: "I trust that this New Year the Cuban leaders will come to understand the need to appeal to reason, to create room for civil society and respect for human rights. Towards this end I feel very hopeful for the visit of the Holy Father to our Motherland."

This opinion contrasts with the one held by Aguileo Cancio Chong, from the municipality of San Miguel del Padron. He is the president of the Nationalist Action Party. He stated: "For the New Year I expect to see the same political stagnation, and the economic situation to worsen. With regards to the Pope's visit, I expect that he will arrive and say Glory. As for the rest, I only expect work and more work ahead".

Blanca Nieves Cruz Rivera, the president of the National Civic Movement Maximo Gomez, from the westernmost province, Pinar del Rio, stated: "In my personal life I expect nothing, at least nothing that will be an improvement. As a dissident I expect that in 1998, due to the circumnstances, the re-election of Dr. Fidel Castro as the President of the Council of State is imminent, strengthening him in power for another five more years, after the "clean" elections in January. As a citizen I expect much more hardship and hunger for the poor sectors".

At the other extreme of the Caribbean island, in the city of Manzanillo, the delegate for the eastern region of the Pro Human Rights Party, joined to the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, stated: "The only good thing that I expect for 1998, is the Pope's visit; and later much more vigilance over us, more harassment, and more prison time for the peaceful opposition members throughout the country. Time will tell. As a citizen I believe that the solution for Cuba to be free is a military intervention from the United Nations. The future of our country is sad, as it is today. I say this with much pain. Here we have to continue our struggle against all odds".

Finally, in the city of Havana, Adolfo Fernandez Sainz, the secretary for international relations for the Democratic Solidarity Party, stated: "We must look at 1998 through the prism of John Paul II's visit. The most important visit in Cuba's history. Our motherland needs a miracle. We must all take part in it. We Cubans should have the goal of learning how to struggle for our civil rights. I believe that the Pope's visit will work towards this goal; because liberty is earned step by step. I am certain that, if we work earnestly, this will be a year of moving forward".

History is like a clock through which pesimist minutes and optimist seconds pass. A sui generis clock. We know not when the next hour will take place. That's why the when the hour strikes, it is always surprising.

Shaman's apprentices: with their philosophical cornerstones of Marxism they build the Berlin Wall. The shadows are useless. The rainbow is not gray; it's in color. Or they aren't rainbows.

Happy New Year, believers in the light!.

The end. By Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso, Cuba Press