Santiago Álvarez

"Communism is a utopia. Leaders with totalitarian ambitions use it to pursue their arbitrary will, which they call dictatorship of the proletariat. To many people, such an idea is attractive. In many countries including Cuba, it all began with the revolution. Fidel Castro spent over a year claiming he wasn't a communist while undertaking an agricultural reform. My family used to own a large prosperous farm. We haven't lost it due to the reform. They confiscated it as a punishment of my father who was a member of several previous governments. These were their ways, and they had never had enough. They always took more. Communism is the best weapon for exploiting people. It is used by authoritarian leaders to consolidate their power forever."

"It is very hard to predict the future. I assume the Cuban government will not change. It had succeeded in achieving its goal. It had even brought up a generation of successors formed by a group of men a bit younger than the suite which is in power now. They are just as dangerous. What is needed in Cuba is a change of the way of governing, not just a modification of the current government. This will only happen if people present their dissent peacefully but persistently. In Cuba, we have experienced the same thing happening in Venezuela now. In Venezuela, the reason was that Chávez's government got to power on the basis of a popular vote. They manipulated the ballots so that they could make constitutional changes and secure power forever. It destroyed the richest country in America. Back in the day, Cuba was the third wealthiest country of America. There is nothing left today because communists only use money to clinch to power, not to ensure prosperity of the people. Their only goal is to stay in power. This line of thinking can only be done away with by changing the form of government; not just making some cosmetic changes."