52 Chapter 2
increase in relative autonomy. Party functions and state ones will be very clearly
separated-harmonizing the unity of power with the widest separation of functions.- Publication of a synthesis of the proposals made by the Cuban people in the
assemblies of 2007 and discussion of a tentative timetable for adopting these pro-
posals. - Intensive development of NGOs and significant pluralism in the media, opening
more spaces for media not dependent on the state. - Effective civil-military collaboration.
- Increasing influence for the social sector-both businessmen and workers-linked to
foreign investment, as members of the party and of the mass organizations, on the
political life of the country. - A higher profile and role for trade unions in the life of the nation.
- Clear definition of the limits of the political system in favor of the increased
autonomy of the economic system and civil society. - Informative transparency and guarantted access to information for all citizens,
especially through facilities for the use of the Internet and of communication and
information technologies. The "secret syndrome" must not justify managing infor-
mation as a closed estate from which the masses are excluded. This means reliable
and systematic information concerning the use of financial resources and access to
information produced worldwide.
These features will contribute to a new foundation for consensus
and increase the legitimacy of the system and its pluralism while its
behavior adjusts to a new system of institutionalized procedures.
The model just described will be favored by the following scenar-
ios: (1) The current consensus concerning policies with regarded to
young people and religious and intellectual sectors is maintained and
widened. (2) Appropriate control, primarily preventive, is achieved
over antisocial behaviors that tend to increase delinquency. (3)Dissi-
dent and other antisystem groups continue to lack a sizable social base
(as they do now) and their activity decreases. (4) The massive antisys-
tem demonstrations of August 4, 1994, the result of the difficult living
conditions at the beginning of the Special Period, are not repeated. (5)
- In the first decades of the revolution, managers and personnel with administrative
posts of a certain importance were appointed according to their capabilities in the field
and their revolutionary merits. This gave them legitimacy according to the prevailing
values. Nevertheless, in the new stage of the revolution with new incoming generations,
democratic election could be a way of motivating workers and providing them real parti-
cipation.