In Argentina there are many people who idealize the Cuban political system. My first reaction is to tell them: go and live in Cuba—at least go and spend fifteen days there, if you can’t move there permanently. It’s ignorance, first and foremost. The left believes Cuba is a paradise
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Laura Tedesco is an Argentine political scientist. She first visited Cuba in 1987 to attend a course—her first trip outside Argentina—which allowed her to contrast her country’s emerging democracy with Cuban reality prior to the Special Period. Since 2008, she has conducted research on the role of the Armed Forces in Cuba’s political and economic life. In the course of her academic work, she came into contact with artists and “artivists” critical of the regime and witnessed the emergence of a more visible internal critique, as well as various mechanisms of repression, including the denial of exit permits and the infiltration of State Security into academic activities. Tedesco challenges the idealization of the Cuban regime, particularly prevalent in academic and left-wing circles in Latin America and Europe, arguing that such views overlook the system’s dictatorial nature. She advocates support for Cuban youth in their struggle for a free and democratic country and criticizes the international community’s passivity regarding the situation on the island.