By Alejandro A. Tagliavini *
According to a metaphysical principle, already known to the Greeks like Aristotle, evil has no existence of its own, it is the absence of good. As the color black does not exist, it is the absence of light, while white light is the sum of all. That is, white light is the sum of electromagnetic waves of all colors while black is the absence of waves and disappears by turning on a light.
So, to eliminate evil, it is enough to put good where there is none, the more the better, but a little is enough for the evil to disappear. Corollary: if evil does not disappear, it is because we are not doing good.
Communism, as violent – police, military – repression of people, of their freedom, is an evil. Ergo, if it did not disappear it was because the «anti-communists» – the «good» ones – in the end were not so good. The cold war between the USSR and the West and, finally, the USSR itself fell when some actors knew how to put well where it was lacking.
At the age of one hundred, George Schultz, former US Secretary of State at the end of the Cold War (1982-1989), passed away. On his 100th birthday, The Wall Street Journal published an article by Paul Wolfowitz claiming that «His diplomacy allowed for a peaceful end to the Cold War.» His vocation for peace, good as opposed to the violence of communism characterized his career.
«If in a moment of danger, we had to choose in whom to place US security, that man would be George Shultz,» said Henry Kissinger, making it clear that peace is the efficient weapon to achieve security.
Why did communism last so long in Central Europe and persist in some parts? Because, now it is clear, Western Europe was also, and is, quite communist.
Beyond the discussion about the severity of Covid 19 or not, the people in freedom, the market, could handle it efficiently. But when it appeared in Wuhan, communism opted for its typical recipe: repress as in Tiananmen Square. And the West copied communism: confinements and all kinds of violent restrictions on freedom.
Continuing with metaphysics, good grows, like everything that exists, while evil does not. The corollary is that, in time, good will necessarily take the place of evil.
While China, practically, has already lifted all restrictions, becoming one of the few economies that grows, Western Europe insists with confinements and all kinds of violent restrictions on freedoms. And, while the Chinese leader talks about freeing international trade, the US under Trump did the opposite.
But not only that, among others, it imposed a blockade on Cuba that, strictly speaking, is against US citizens who are prohibited from interacting with these Caribbean people, which has served to further isolate, within this Prison Island, the Cubans.
But, as in the long run the good expands, although slowly Cuba is moving towards a less repressive society. In 2010, there were 157,000 self-employed workers, in 2014 there were already 478,000 and today they exceed 600,000 (13% of the workforce). And now the current list that authorizes only 127 activities will be eliminated, leaving about 2,000 released. Excluding, partially or totally, 124 activities considered «priority issues or national security», such as medicine, education, defense, or the exploitation of «natural resources».
* Senior Advisor at The Cedar Portfolio and Member of the Advisory Council of the Center on Global Prosperity, de Oakland, California
Alejandro A. Tagliavini 
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