By PAUL HAVEN (AP) – 1 hour ago
HAVANA — Corruption at the highest levels of government — not the
meddling of a small band of dissidents — is the greatest threat to
Cuba's communist system, a leading academic said in a highly unusual
opinion posted Thursday on a state Web site.
The article by Esteban Morales — a historian who has written extensively
on race and relations with the United States — crossed a number of red
lines in tightly controlled Cuba, including openly discussing corruption
rumors surrounding the dismissal of a top government aviation official
who had fought alongside Ernesto "Che" Guevara and the Castros in the 1950s.
Morales said some top Cuban officials are preparing to divide the spoils
if Cuba's political system disintegrates, like the shadowy oligarchs
that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.
"In reality, corruption is much more dangerous than so-called internal
dissent," Morales wrote in the piece, which appeared on the Web site of
the state National Artists and Writers Union of Cuba. "The latter is
isolated ... but corruption is truly counterrevolutionary because it
comes from within the government and the state apparatus, which are the
ones that really control the country's resources."
Members of the artists union have been surprisingly critical of the
government in the past, but often with little effect. Criticism can also
appear in government newspapers, but rarely on such hot-button issues as
corruption among senior officials.
Morales is a prominent intellectual who only Monday appeared on a state
television program defending the government on another topic. The frank
assessment on the Web site went far further than what is normally tolerated.
Morales never singled out Fidel or Raul Castro for blame, but he said
cronyism is rampant in the system that has developed 51 years after
their revolution won power and said some officials are waiting for a
chance to grab the country's resources.
"It has become evident that there are people in government and state
positions who are preparing a financial assault for when the revolution
falls," Morales wrote. "Others likely have everything ready to produce
the transfer of state property into private hands, like what happened in
the former Soviet Union."
Morales brought up the abrupt March 9 firing of veteran revolutionary
Rogelio Acevedo, who had overseen the country's airlines and airports
since the 1980s. The government gave no reason for his dismissal, but
the island has been awash with speculation that he has been placed under
house arrest for corruption.
Exile Web sites have reported that a large amount of cash was found
hidden at Acevedo's house and that he is suspected of operating a
private airline, among other things. The government has not commented on
the allegations.
"There must be some truth to these reports, because this is a small
country where everyone knows each other," Morales wrote of the
speculation over Acevedo. He said the government owed people a fuller
account because the same sort of corruption is happening in other
state-run institutions.
"Whether it be to vindicate or condemn Acevedo, the people must be told
what happened," he said.
While complaints of low-level corruption are not uncommon in state
media, allegations of wide-scale, top-level malfeasance are very unusual
and the fall of party officials has usually been seen as an anomaly
rather than a symptom of broader rot.
When Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Vice President Carlos Lage
were dismissed last year, Fidel Castro wrote that "the honey of power
... awoke in them ambitions that led to an undignified role."
Officials gave few public details of what they had done wrong, though
Communist Party members said they were shown a video showing both making
disparaging comments about the government and Miami journalist Maria
Elvira Salazar released photos showing them partying with a Spanish
business representative.
Morales appeared to refer to that case Thursday, when he complained of
"favoritism, cronyism, certain acts of corruption" that led to
information being passed to Spanish intelligence.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gyF8FuuuEpTumbCfiTfLbNVO4LVAD9F3M2G81
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