----- Original Message ----- From: Walter Lippmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Change Links <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; IRL32-ACTION list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; CubaNews <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2000 2:04 PM Subject: [CubaNews] Neighborhood watch turns 40 Neighborhood watch turns 40 By ISABEL GARCIA-ZARZA Web-posted: 10:13 p.m. Oct. 20, 2000 HAVANA -- Hailed by President Fidel Castro as the savior of his revolution but decried by others as a Big Brother spy network, Cuba's neighborhood watch system, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, is marking a 40th anniversary. "In every neighborhood, Revolution!" reads the slogan on walls and banners in every neighborhood across the Communist-run island of 11 million inhabitants. [SEE NOTE AND END] Created amid the revolutionary fervor of the early years after the fall of dictator Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959, the system aimed to bind neighbors together in a collective and constant task of vigilance against "counterrevolution." It quickly became the biggest grass-roots structure in Cuba from large cities to rural backwaters and a defining aspect of local society under Castro's rule. Currently, 8 million Cubans are members of the more than 121,000 individual committees in an organization Castro formally established on Sept. 28, 1960. State media, giving great prominence to the anniversary, said the committees were "the first trench in the people's fight to confront and denounce anti-Cuban plans." Castro himself, in a three-hour speech marking the occasion, told thousands of loyal members -- Cederistas, as they are known here: "The best work the CDRs have done ... is to have saved the revolution itself." The members keep a detailed register of each neighborhood's inhabitants, not only listing each occupant by house but also recording such information as academic or work history, spending habits, any potentially suspicious behavior, contact with foreigners and attendance at pro-government meetings. "The CDRs know exactly who lives in each block, who they are, what they do, if they work or not ... and keep a registry in coordination with the Interior Ministry," said Humberto Carrillo, who is in charge of ideology for the group's national committee. The massive membership of the committee's network is due either to genuine revolutionary conviction or political expediency, according to the testimony of Cubans. When asked why they are members, some fervently back the system, while others complain they have little option if they want to avoid problems. The committee's influence over people's lives is shown by the fact that employers normally turn to a committee to check on a job applicant's record. The committees also play a big social role and even critics admit the system of street vigilance, including night guards, has helped keep crime down in Cuba. Members also spearhead important social campaigns like vaccinations, aid for single mothers, evacuations during hurricanes and natural disasters, and the recycling of waste materials. And thanks to the system, Cuba has one of the highest blood-donor rates in the world -- more than half a million donations, or one per 19 inhabitants, in the last year. Despite all that socially useful work, however, there is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for the committees among some Cubans, while others, notably dissidents, are more openly critical of the system as a network of busybodies and spies. "They are only there to control things. They don't sort out any problems, they just keep an eye on who participates in revolutionary activities," said one Havana resident who asked to remain anonymous. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary, Cuba's small and fragmented internal dissident movement, viewed as U.S.-paid "counter-revolutionaries" by the state and thus a prime object of committee vigilance, denounced the system as "home espionage." "They represent the defense of Castro, of an arrogant and totalitarian regime. They are not the defense system that the people deserves," said a statement by one tiny opposition group called the July 13 movement. The system, which other nations tried to copy without much success, remains a unique characteristic of Castro's style of communism. "The totalitarian system here is very creative," commented wryly prominent local dissident Elizardo Sanchez. "Stalin would never have thought up of something like the CDRs." Copyright 2000, Sun-Sentinel Co. & South Florida Interactive, Inc. SEE THE VERY POSTER REFERRED TO HERE: http://www.egroups.com/files/CubaNews/CDR+Poster.jpg -------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> eGroups eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/15/_/_/_/972220006/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Post comments to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send an email to subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this CubaNews group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
