Cuban TV Assails False Unanimity, Calls for Debate

HAVANA — A Cuban state television commentator Friday criticized leaders and officials who are intransigent in their views and called for more debate and variety of opinions about ways to solve national problems.

The commentary was one of the strongest public manifestations so far of official efforts to widen debate and dialogue within the country’s one-party Communist system and its political institutions.

Omar George said his commentary, broadcast on national news, had been sparked by a visiting British journalist who had asked why resolutions adopted at meetings of local neighborhood committees were always unanimous, why there was no apparent disagreement.

“I managed to convince him of why, but in the end it was I who wasn’t convinced,” said George, a correspondent in Cienfuegos.

He attacked what he described as a false and formal unanimity that has led to double morality in political life.