WHO IS MARIELA CASTRO ESPIN?

Mariela is the 47 year old daughter of President Raul Castro and Vilma Espin. Her mother was a leader of the Cuban revolution in Oriente Province and assisted the guerilla movement in the Sierra Maestra mountains. She was President of the Federation Of Cuban Women from 1960 to her death in 2007. She was always a fighter for the rights of women and sexual minorities. Mariela often says she is a rebel in a family of rebels.

She is the Director of CENEX (Cuban National Center For Sex Education) This organization campaigns for effective AIDS education, recognition and acceptance of homosexuals, bisexuals, transvestites and transexuals. She sponsored the 2008 resolution which approved sex change operations within the Cuban State Health System (free of charge)

Recently she has been speaking out about larger issues. She is now speaking out about the future of Cuba and a continuing revolutionary process. She is well known in Cuba and recently she has been traveling around the world. She is often invited to speak at Gay Pride rallies but always conducts interviews about a range of subjects. In the last three months she has been to Russia, Italy and Great Britain. She often talks about Cuba's "Blockade Culture" which means blaming all of Cuba's problems on the blockade. And she speaks of the need for more participatory opportunities for Cuban youth.

Here are some excerpts from recent interviews she has given in Cuba and around the world:

"Many people think that when Fidel and Raul disappear, the revolution will disappear. This is a very bad mistake. It is great to see the achievements of the Cuban Revolution, with full national sovereignty and the search for social justice. But we still have a long way to go in broader terms...For me, a participatory socialist democracy is essential, not just at the level of proclamations or at the theoretical level, but in creating social mechanisms in actual practice. Socialism based on the dialectical approach means that we deal with contradictions as they crop up. The only way that young people will feel a part of this project is by participating in it, contributing their opinions, concerns and criticisms...

Cuba is an authentic, original, delightful and contradictory country. If participation mechanisms are developed in Cuban society, they will greatly enrich our revolutionary process, as well as international socialism. This has been one of our weaknesses..."

"The day the blockade is lifted will mean the removal of a huge burden imposed on our survival. But dismantling the blockade alone will not bring prosperity. We must perfect the mechanisms of socialist democracy. We have developed a culture of the blockade. We will have to assimilate the lessons of how to be Cuba without the blockade. Everything we do must serve the purpose of our sovereignty. But we must disregard internal mechanisms, which should be less rigid than they have been."

Last week in an interview with BBC she further defined what she meant by "democracy". The interviewer asked her about a multi party system.."I don't believe in multiparty systems. I believe in having diverse ideas, and in a participation in which we all contribute. Multiparty systems are a fiction to make one believe that he lives in a democracy. The United States has two parties - the Republicans and the Democrats - but neither of them responds to the most dispossessed classes. Europe has copied the American model. In the end their multiparty systems have not guaranteed democracy. So we have to keep thinking up new ways to bring about real democracy."

And we should all keep an eye on Mariela. She is an important part of the future of Cuba