Intrepid Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez has made an interesting observation about the emblem of the CDRs (Committees for the Defense of the Revolution), featuring a machete wielding Guajiro (peasant).
The guajiros’ hat can be seen as a big eye staring straight at you, which is the main job of these organizations. Practically every urban block in Cuba has a local CDR entrusted with keeping a vigilant eye out for enemies of the revolution among their neighbours. 135,000 CDR units form a vast repressive network in which people’s movements and words are closely documented. Whom you meet with and how often, if you skip the rallies, if you participate in the underground economy, there are many ways to gain the label of being “dangerous” The subjective term “Dangerousness” is defined in the Penal Code as a pre-delictive state in which individuals are seen as prone to act antisocially, against “Socialist Morality” It’s a in practice a legalized way to prosecute someone for their future crimes.
The impression of constant surveillance in an effective way of getting people to police themselves and each other, greatly assisting the State in maintaining control. Neighbours are encouraged to spy on one another and to fill out “Opinion Collection Forms” documenting the political opinions of others on the block. Informants are often rewarded with household appliances and other objects of desire if a denouncement results in prosecution. To prevent people from protecting each other, it is a crime not to report political crimes. Every person has a file assigned to them at the CDR, who passes it on to the police and Ministry of Interior should someone be singled out as “dangerous”
This oppressive system of surveillance invites comparisons to the Stasi in East Germany and Orwell’s Thought Police from “1984.” Thankfully, an insidious wave of disillusionment and political apathy appears to have weakened these organizations somewhat in recent years. In a country where so much is prohibited, from selling a car to associating with foreigners, you’ll have people breaking numerous laws everyday to survive, to get ahead, to maintain some dignity in life. When everyone’s a criminal it becomes harder to point fingers.
Below a video report on the repressive systems at work in Cuba.
Neighbourhood Vigilantes – Cuba
For those of you with sufficient time and interest, World Policy Institute has posted a thorough look of the repressive system in place in Cuba, with lots of documentation.
[...] the opposition. In Cuba candidates are preapproved by organizations run by the government like the CDRs. According to the UN, “the electoral process is so tightly controlled that the final phase, [...]