66 Chapter 3
attempt to clarify those “principles” (quoted in Judt, 2007: 422). Fifty years
ago, Cubans had not yet experienced many of such teaching moments. The
rhetorical question by Cuban intellectual Desiderio Navarro, quoted above,
would have been topical in 1961; it seems naïve and possibly disingenuous in
- After all, if such a fundamental question has not yet been answered
properly, chances are that it cannot be, and perhaps Navarro could consider
drawing lessons from that. What is striking here is the mix of certainty (La
Revolución) and uncertainty (what is within it and what is not?) that charac-
terizes the regime, as well as the ambivalence of an important Cuban intellec-
tual, who manifestly wants to do his job and ask tough questions, but
without crossing a line-ironically, the same elusive line that is the object of
his question. In this paper I propose some conceptual tools to analyze this
strange mix of uncertainty and ambivalence, with the objective of contribut-
ing to knowledge on possibilities of political participation (especially by art-
ists and intellectuals) in non-democratic regimes.
Un c er t a in t y
To analyze the authoritarian regulation of uncertainty in Cuba, I propose to
revisit and theorize the concept of “parameter,” which designates formal
and informal political constraints on participation. Cultural agents in Cuba (I
mean artists, writers, academics, intellectuals and cultural bureaucrats), are
familiar with both the term parameter and the practices of parametraje or
parametración. I argue that parameters are not created equal. Navarro and
other intellectuals conceivably know that one set of parameters is unmistak-
able in Cuba: the ones shielding the meta-political (foundational) narrative of
the regime, which I call primary parameters. These parameters shield three dog-
mas: a) La Revolución is an ongoing process or movement (i.e. not a past
event); b) La Revolución is Fidel Castro (and Raul) and vice versa; and c) La
Revolucíon is a unifying force (e.g. what fosters divisions is counter-revolu-
tionary). The past, present and future of La Revolución are in movement, sub-
ject to redefinition by itself, which practically means by the Castro brothers.
If in other communist countries the state is the administrative agency of the
Communist party, in Cuba the state and the party are the administrative
agencies of La Revolución/the Castro brothers. Primary parameters directly
shield top leaders from criticism coming from lower ranks. In that pyramidal
scheme, however, only one leader, at the top, is beyond criticism (not count-