Comités de Defensa de la Revolución

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CDR logo

The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution , abbreviation CDR ( Spanish : Comités de Defensa de la Revolución ), are neighborhood organizations that exist and operate nationwide at the local level in Cuba and are subject to the state government. They are the eyes and ears of the party and serve as a close-knit information and safety network and, at the same time, to ensure social tasks of the state such as the distribution of food in the residential areas. The CDR has been built up since September 28, 1960 as part of acts of sabotage and terrorism directed against the government in defense of the revolution and has around 8.5 million members (2010).

Membership is formally voluntary. 92.6 percent of Cuban citizens with a minimum age of 14 are organized in one of the 779,000 committees. Cubans who do not join the CDR are socially marginalized and often subjected to harassment and even severe reprisals.

Shortly after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 , domestic and foreign policy tensions with the USA and the internal opposition increased. Expropriations, the non-admission of free unions and the failure to keep the promise of free elections on the one hand corresponded to increasing counterrevolutionary activities in Cuba itself and the support of such groups from the USA by the US secret service CIA . There were bombing and arson attacks against civil institutions, especially in Havana, the capital of Cuba. These were directed against economically important objects such as ships and factories, but also against cinemas, department stores and social institutions, preferably at times when a large number of visitors could be expected.

With the establishment of the CDR, the population should be protected against such attacks. In addition, the mobilization of the population for the revolution also corresponded to the political concept of the revolutionaries, who wanted to create a grassroots democratic organization.

The CDR's motto is: “Revolution in every district!” (“En cada barrio revolución!”).

After its establishment, the main activity of the CDR was the security service, in which all cederistas (members of the CDR) participate. The CDR patrols have no executive function and are not armed. In the event of suspicious incidents, their only task is to notify the police.

As the bombings subsided after the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles on behalf of the US government, the area of ​​activity of the CDR shifted. While the patrol service now served to contain crime , social tasks were added:

CDR sign in Pinar del Río , 2009
  • Organization of comprehensive vaccination campaigns and health care (hygiene)
  • Elderly care
  • Designing and improving the neighborhood and the living environment according to ecological criteria
  • political discussion of legislative proposals and decision-making
  • Forwarding of complaints from the population to the responsible state organs (e.g. defective water pipes or power failure)
  • Mobilization of the population for the political goals of the revolution

On rare occasions and within narrow limits, the organizational structure of the CDR has also been used to consult citizens. For example, at the end of 2010 all over Cuba, the guidelines for a new economic policy presented by the leadership of the Communist Party were put up for discussion and at CDR meetings (as well as at meetings in factories and party committees), comments and additional suggestions were collected and about the various hierarchical levels forwarded to the national party leadership. The resulting opinion was not made public, but the party leadership justified numerous changes in the draft resolution with information received from the population when they published the guidelines adopted at the party congress in a commented version in May 2011. Already after the parliamentary elections in 2008 (in which the electorate had no democratic choice), the government had asked the population to suggest improvements in all areas that were collected via the CDR structure - but without giving concrete to the ideas brought to the leadership in this way political initiatives.

criticism

CDR poster in Old Havana, 2002

Critics inside and outside of Cuba often accuse the CDR of being a spy system. This view is borne out by the fact that the police often turn to the CDR in their investigations into crimes, both with a criminal and a political background. It is said that the CDR (that is, above all: their respective presidents and secretaries) kept lists of all residents of the district and their lifestyle, organized "spontaneous" protests and political rallies, controlled "voluntary" social work and acted as a kind of block waiting system .

In contrast, the supporters of the Cuban revolution point to the positive function of the CDR in the control of crime and the promotion of public health and firmly reject the comparison with the block attendants of fascist systems. The practice of social exclusion and ostracism of dissenters, in which the Cuban CDR were actively involved on various historical occasions, can be regarded as at least fascistoid . The most prominent example are the violent intimidation measures ( Acto de Repudio ), which z. For example, in connection with the Mariel boat crisis in 1980, they were directed across the country against tens of thousands of fellow citizens who had applied to leave the country and were therefore publicly insulted by President Fidel Castro as "scum" (escoria) and "worms" (gusanera) .

Other revolutionary movements have tried with varying degrees of success to transfer the CDR system to their country, such as the Sandinista in Nicaragua ( Comités de Defensa Sandinista - Sandinista Defense Committees ), Angola or, more recently, Venezuela .

Web links

Commons : Comités de Defensa de la Revolución  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Bert Hoffmann: Cuba. 3rd edition 2009, Verlag CH Beck, page 89 f.
  2. ↑ Raimund Krämer: The Metamorphoses of Power and the Return of the Caudillo. In: Ette / Franzbach: Cuba today. P. 225
  3. ↑ 50 Years "Eyes and Ears of the Revolution" in Cuba , report by the AFP news agency of September 28, 2010, accessed on June 23, 2011
  4. ↑ ¿Qué usar para otra cita con la juventud? (PDF; 694 kB), Granma of March 14, 2013, p. 8
  5. ^ Edgar Göll: Environmental and Sustainability Policy in Cuba: Overview and critical appraisal of a path to sustainability. (PDF; 1.36 MB) Workshop report 83. In: IZT - Institute for Future Studies and Technology Assessment. December 2006, p. 13 , accessed May 9, 2010 .
  6. ↑ La Defensa de la Revolución Cubana, según la Agencia EFE , Libertad Digital.es of September 27, 2007 (article by the EFE agency)
  7. ↑ Continuarán cederistas debates sobre el futuro del país ( Memento of August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ). In: La Calle, January 7, 2011, accessed June 23, 2011 (Spanish)
  8. ^ Economic reform blueprint is on-line . In: The Cuban Triangle of May 10, 2011, accessed June 23, 2011
  9. ↑ Renate Fausten: Cuba in Times of the Party Congress: New Socialism in Cuba? In: Cuba Libre 1/2011, accessed June 23, 2011
  10. ^ Fidel Castro: Discurso Pronunciado por el Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz . Speech of May 1, 1980, accessed March 16, 2012 (Spanish)
  11. ^ Cuba: Law of the Strong . In: Der Spiegel of May 12, 1980, accessed on March 16, 2012
  12. ↑ Dariela Arquique: Cuba's CDR Troops Morale Is Low . In: Havana Times of September 30, 2011 (English, original Spanish here ), accessed on March 16, 2012