Turmoil in Cuba

[onawah]

Uprising in Cuba
Hannity: Another lie from 'gutless' Joe
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"Sean Hannity reacts to the uprising Cuba seen this weekend."jj6t_zUIXcw


Marco Rubio 'embarrasses' Biden into answering questions on Cuba
45,300 views Jul 12, 2021
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"Florida Republican discusses the president's response to Cuban freedom protests on 'Hannity' "
cAp0NURREbE

[ExomatrixTV]

Cuba's Communist Regime: The Beginning Of The End:

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[Gracy]

I wonder how Cuba would fare, if the U.S. were to finally lift its 60 year embargo on those people that we claim to care so much for? That is after all the goal of these things, make the people miserable enough, for long enough, and they will rise up and do the job of overthrowing the country for them.

It never works but we keep on doing it to countries (Iran and Venezuela being two other notables) who have governments that the U.S. government doesn't like. And when conditions deteriorate as expected, they blame that government, call them evil, murderous, terrorists, the list goes on and on.

I'm hearing a lot in right wing circles, as above, that the embargo doesn't even matter, Hannity won't even mention it like it doesn't even exist. So the question is then why have it at all if it's irrelevant?

[Mashika]

I wonder how Cuba would fare, if the U.S. were to finally lift its 60 year embargo on those people that we claim to care so much for? That is after all the goal of these things, make the people miserable enough, for long enough, and they will rise up and do the job of overthrowing the country for them.

It never works but we keep on doing it to countries (Iran and Venezuela being two other notables) who have governments that the U.S. government doesn't like. And when conditions deteriorate as expected, they blame that government, call them evil, murderous, terrorists, the list goes on and on.

I'm hearing a lot in right wing circles, as above, that the embargo doesn't even matter, Hannity won't even mention it like it doesn't even exist. So the question is then why have it at all if it's irrelevant?

We can look at other country that was devastated by Us sanctions in the same way as Cuba, but, once the sanctions were removed, it has been recovering, without having to change much their ways of government or ideologies


Vietnam’s GDP expanded 5.64 percent in the first half of the year, marking a jump from 1.82 percent in the same period a year ago

https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/vietnams-economy-fdi-show-steady-growth-but-fourth-wave-a-concern.html/

[Mike]

Well, Cuba can trade with virtually any other country it pleases. And it does. Even US allies. So there's really no excuse for the conditions there.

The US embargo certainly doesn't help matters, but it isn't responsible for them either. Not primarily anyway.

[Gracy]

Well, Cuba can trade with virtually any other country it pleases. And it does. Even US allies. So there's really no excuse for the conditions there.

The US embargo certainly doesn't help matters, but it isn't responsible for them either. Not primarily anyway.

You sure about that Mike? Empire shows no mercy to those who defy it, or refuse to play ball. Here are just two quick examples out of many:


A Ban on Subsidiary Trade-Beginning in 1992, the Cuban Democracy Act imposed a ban on subsidiary trade with Cuba. This ban has severely constrained Cuba’s ability to import medicines and medical supplies from third-country sources. Moreover, recent corporate buyouts and mergers between major U.S. and European pharmaceutical companies have further reduced the number of companies permitted to do business with Cuba.


Shipping-Since 1992, the embargo has prohibited ships from loading or unloading cargo in U.S. ports for 180 days after delivering cargo to Cuba. This provision has strongly discouraged shippers from delivering medical equipment to Cuba. Consequently shipping costs have risen dramatically and further constricted the flow of food, medicines, medical supplies and even gasoline for ambulances. From 1993 to 1996, Cuban companies spent an additional $8.7 million on shipping medical imports from Asia, Europe and South America rather than from the neighboring United States.
https://medicc.org/ns/documents/The_impact_of_the_U.S._Embargo_on_Health_&_Nutrition_in_Cuba.pdf

They're not still driving cars from the 1950's, and constantly scrambling to scrounge up spare parts for decades old X-Ray machines, because of their form of government.

Vietnam for example is full blown Communist, why are they thriving if this is the case... It's a decades old, and still running drumbeat of a foreign policy propaganda machine aided by a complicit U.S. media, that makes this appear to be so.

[Mike]

Well, Cuba can trade with virtually any other country it pleases. And it does. Even US allies. So there's really no excuse for the conditions there.

The US embargo certainly doesn't help matters, but it isn't responsible for them either. Not primarily anyway.

You sure about that Mike? Empire shows no mercy to those who defy it, or refuse to play ball. Here are just two quick examples out of many:


A Ban on Subsidiary Trade-Beginning in 1992, the Cuban Democracy Act imposed a ban on subsidiary trade with Cuba. This ban has severely constrained Cuba’s ability to import medicines and medical supplies from third-country sources. Moreover, recent corporate buyouts and mergers between major U.S. and European pharmaceutical companies have further reduced the number of companies permitted to do business with Cuba.


Shipping-Since 1992, the embargo has prohibited ships from loading or unloading cargo in U.S. ports for 180 days after delivering cargo to Cuba. This provision has strongly discouraged shippers from delivering medical equipment to Cuba. Consequently shipping costs have risen dramatically and further constricted the flow of food, medicines, medical supplies and even gasoline for ambulances. From 1993 to 1996, Cuban companies spent an additional $8.7 million on shipping medical imports from Asia, Europe and South America rather than from the neighboring United States.
https://medicc.org/ns/documents/The_impact_of_the_U.S._Embargo_on_Health_&_Nutrition_in_Cuba.pdf

They're not still driving cars from the 1950's, and constantly scrambling to scrounge up spare parts for decades old X-Ray machines, because of their form of government.

Vietnam for example is full blown Communist, why are they thriving if this is the case... It's a decades old, and still running drumbeat of a foreign policy propaganda machine aided by a complicit U.S. media, that makes this appear to be so.


No, it's not just their form of government, though that plays a major role. It's also incompetent leadership, from the top down. But perhaps the leadership wouldn't be so incompetent if it was democratically elected. After all, where's the motivation to do right by the people when you're never held responsible?

Yes the cars are from the 50's and a bag of rice costs $200 or something. And that's kind of my point. One could expect the embargo to have an impact, but not to the extent it has, regardless of all it's tentacles. The country is in shambles. The Cuban government, despite the US embargo, still has more than enough wiggle room to at least provide their people with a reasonable standard of living. And they've failed miserably

[Mashika]

Well, Cuba can trade with virtually any other country it pleases. And it does. Even US allies. So there's really no excuse for the conditions there.

The US embargo certainly doesn't help matters, but it isn't responsible for them either. Not primarily anyway.

Sure Cuba, you can trade with anyone you want! *IF they want to trade with you of course

On a separate meeting later on "Listen here pals, if anyone of you trades with Cuba, we're going to break your knees, you have been warned"

Later on: "Oh, but no one wants to trade with Cuba, must be because Communism and failed government"

That pretty much explains the strategy to hurt as much as possible, without being the source of the hurting, or problem

Same happens in Iran and Venezuela by the way. Remember the oil tankers that suddenly disappeared on their way from Iran to Venezuela? And then later it was found the US military had confiscated them, and sold the oil! That's just plain robbery

And as said, if the sanctions do nothing, the just lift them and let's see. Most of the world agrees to lift them, then why not just do that? Let them fall on their own, if that's what's going to happen anyway

And Vietnam is starting to do better than some Latin American countries that are full capitalists, without giving up on Communism, so that's definitely not the problem that kept them in misery for so long. The only thing that changed is that the sanctions were removed

ETA: The only reason some trading is allowed is because otherwise it would become obvious who and how the sanctions are killing people, if hundreds of thousands were to start dying all over Cuba. So it's a game of keeping them alive, but suffering as much as possible, so they can rebel and ask for external help. The people are being used in such a way that they go through hell, just so they can claim for it to stop, but no use for dead people, so let them survive a bit

Just give them the chance to prove themselves without any handicaps, if they will go down, then that's what will happen anyway, just let them try, but it's obvious that's not the end goal

[Mashika]

Russia sends 88 tonnes of aid to Cuba, and Mexico plans to send a few more, including medical aid, like the syringes they desperately need but the US gov has blocked them from buying

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/russia-sends-covid-19-aid-cuba-defence-ministry-2021-07-24/

Meanwhile, some government officials in the US claim to be "very worried" about Cuban, so they apply more sanctions in response to the failed attempt at yet another coup in Cuba, but send basically 0 help in any other way

NEWS: Turns out that the protests were planned and executed from within the US by Rosa Maria Paya, who has been exposed as the person paying desperate people in Cuba to go protest. But as usual, this won't be on your news
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Pay%C3%A1_Acevedo

She created an organization that revolves entirely around hurting Cubans as much as possible, in order to cause upraising. She also built the entire campaign we saw days ago, and then disappeared from view after people in Cuba turned against her and marched in favor of the current Cuban government. Turns out that people once paid, and once learning they won't get paid again, march against the "client", and she was not able to handle it and had to take a step back. That's why very suddenly, protests dried up in Cuba

She is a religious fundamentalist, willing to sacrifice as much people as needed in order to take revenge over the death of her father, which she blames on the Cuban government. She never proved it in any way, but she claims they killed him somehow, even if he died in a car crash. We may never know the truth, but this person is crazy and nothing excuses causing the death/suffering of thousands of innocents just so you can get revenge. As usual, fundamentalists are the perfect tool

[Mashika]

Very ironically, there are current protests in Paris, and people getting arrested after clashes between protesters and the police. I'm still waiting to hear the US government asking for regime change, and sanctioning top level government officials because of cops detaining/repressing protesters. Something must be done against that repressive French government, right? Actually i am not waiting, it will never happen

[Gracy]

Very ironically, there are current protests in Paris, and people getting arrested after clashes between protesters and the police. I'm still waiting to hear the US government asking for regime change, and sanctioning top level government officials because of cops detaining/repressing protesters. Something must be done against that repressive French government, right? Actually i am not waiting, it will never happen

The only time I've ever seen the U.S. get really upset with France, was when they refused to go along with the invasion of Iraq back in '03. Anyone remember the ridiculous bill passed that changed the name of french fries to freedom fries LOL? And soon they showed how deeply they cared about the Iraqi people, by lovingly bombing the living s**t out of their country, turning it upside down/inside out, and killing hundreds of thousands of them.

Merica cares :)

There are often massive protests at any given time around the world at any given time, including our very own just last summer, and France 2 years ago, but that's different...

The U.S. government only really cares about one big thing so far as foreign policy is concerned, full spectrum world domination. If you're on our side, we'll overlook anything and everything, just look at our good buds the Saudi royals, who still have women's rights activists in jail, publicly behead people for things like adultery, drug use, sorcery etc. - yet we continuously lend them every aid for the ongoing genocide in Yemen, and in spreading their radical Wahabism throughout the world to suit both our needs.

But take your ball and go home as Cuba did in '59, as Iran did in '53, or Venezuela did in '98, and you and your people had best stand the f**k by until you come back around to our way of thinking, and let us continue enriching ourselves at your expense.

This is the standard mantra for countries not in near lockstep: "U.S. good/China Bad - U.S. good/Russia bad - U.S. good/Cuba bad - U.S. good/Venezuela bad - U.S. good/Syria bad - U.S. good/Libya bad - U.S. good/Iraq bad - U.S. good/Iran bad - U.S. good/Afghanistan bad.

Did I miss any?

Most of South America is in our hip pocket now, currently anyway, so they're pretty much good to go.

Unless...

Getting back to Cuba. What would happen if we did ease, or even eliminate the blockade, and they slowly but surely begin to flourish? Well we can never ever take the chance, because that would blow the "Capitalism good/Socialism" bad narrative, clean out of the water.

[Mike]

It's not that ironic that the US doesn't care what's going on in France. If France were a communist island a mere 500 miles off its shores, it would care alot more. And for obvious reasons. Any American politician would freely admit that.

Capitalist "good" and socialist "bad" isn't a narrative. It's a reality. You cannot, with any kind of intellectual honesty, even begin to compare the 2.

Human history (dating way back, not just a hundred years) has been one long game of Empire. The US didn't invent this game of Empire. And the US didn't invent the game of meddling. But having emerged as a world power quite quickly, it's obliged to play those games to not just maintain it's position in the world, but to survive. If the US were merely seeking world domination, I'd say it was doing a pretty poor job at it. It's policies and behaviors, both legal and not so legal, are every bit as defensive as they are offensive. And they are no more diabolical than those of most other countries who are doing the exact same thing.

You seem to be arguing that we care more about our position in the world than we do humanitarianism. And the answer is, of course we do! Our values and our way of life have to be preserved, firstly, before we can hope to encourage others to adopt them

Of course we swing and miss sometimes! Freedom fries, OUCH. Very embarrassing, yes. The mess in Iraq, also very embarrassing. And of course there are others. We will never be immune from corruption. But you have to consider the picture in its totality.

As far as Cuba is concerned, it's important to consider the history between the 2 nations. Castro came around in the late 50's or early 60's, took over, slaughtering all political dissidents. And then he went around and nationalized all business, including US business, on the island. Just stole our sh!t. So he got off to a bad start with us!:) How willing would you be to help people who just stole all your sh!t?

I don't know who our president was then, but I believe he put some version of the embargo in place. And that's how it began.

Of course the then U.S.S.R. sent missiles to Cuba, resulting in the Cuban missile crisis and all that. And it didn't help when Cuba shot down a couple of our planes in the late 90's..planes that were flying in international waters I believe

They have an inept government. They have a failed socialist system. And they've been ruled by incompetent dictators. The Cuban citizens are prevented from expressing themselves politically, artistically, economically. It's a disaster. Cuba is one big prison. A gulag. You have to escape if you want to leave. It's run by brutal thugs. That's why it's in the state it's in today, mainly.

How much would conditions improve if we lifted the embargo? I don't think too much, because it's so ineptly run and saturated with corruption. It would be like giving a bunch of broke drug addicts several million dollars. They don't need money and supplies as much as they need a total makeover, in my view. If they'd agree to the makeover, it would be my hope that we'd end the embargo.

[Mashika]

You seem to be arguing that we care more about our position in the world than we do humanitarianism. And the answer is, of course we do! Our values and our way of life have to be preserved, firstly, before we can hope to encourage others to adopt them


I don't think i need to quote more than this, , even if could write an entire book about all the other misconceptions, half truths, narratives and selective history rewriting i can see

First: "Our values and our way of life have to be preserved". What about the values of other's, those are not worth anything? To preserver your values, you must destroy others? Then those values are not as valuable as you think, if to preserve them you must kill indiscriminately around the world

Second: "before we can hope to encourage others to adopt them". But nobody asked to be forcefully "converted".... Should be personal choice to follow... And the use of "encourage" is incorrect here, as a hard historical line of facts can prove easily, it should be "before we demand and enforce others to adopt them, one way or another, or else"

You are selectively ignoring hundreds of historical facts about Cuba, specially about the Castro revolution and the true nature of the initial refugees in Miami. It's like the very minimal version used to explain newcomers so they follow the narrative. And that's disappointing, very honestly, because the full historical truth is not hard to reach out there, it's on the web

This thread is just going to keep in circles like it just happened, unless real research and analysis of the facts and evidence is done, going back to the 'official narrative' for arguments is pointless

[Mashika]

https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/06/1094612

I have three questions, which requires analysis before replying

1. If the Cuban embargo, doesn't exist, as i keep seeing people mentioning all over the place, then why 184 countries in the UN votes in favor of lifting it? Are they dumb? Don't they have capable people that understands how the embargo is affecting people on Cuba? What's going on in the UN then?

2. If 184 countries voted "Yes" and only 2 voted "No", and the embargo remains, then is the UN useless?

3. "A total of 184 countries on Wednesday voted in favour of a resolution to demand the end of the US economic blockade on Cuba, for the 29th year in a row, with the United States and Israel voting against." In an total honest way, what do you think this means? Democracy? or DemoCrazy

[Mashika]

I don't know why these things have to be pointed out, when the information is freely available, but more importantly, can be independently verified by history books and more

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution


Prior to the Communist revolution, Cuba was ruled under the elected government of Fulgencio Batista from 1940-1944. Throughout this time period, Batista's support base consisted mainly of corrupt politicians and military officials. Batista himself was able to heavily profit from the regime before coming into power through inflated government contracts and gambling proceeds.[30] In 1942, the British Foreign Office reported that the U.S. State Department was "very worried" about corruption under President Fulgencio Batista, describing the problem as "endemic" and exceeding "anything which had gone on previously." British diplomats believed that corruption was rooted within Cuba's most powerful institutions, with the highest individuals in government and military being heavily involved in gambling and the drug trade.[33] In terms of civil society, Eduardo Saenz Rovner writes that corruption within the Police and government enabled the expansion of criminal organizations in Cuba.[33] Batista refused U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt's offer to send experts to help reform the Cuban Civil Service.

Later in 1952, Batista led a U-S backed military coup against Prío Socarras and ruled until 1965. Under his rule, Batista led a corrupt dictatorship that involved close links with organized crime organizations and the reduction of civil freedoms of Cubans. This period resulted in Bastista engaging in more "sophisticated practices of corruption" at both the administrative and civil society levels.[25] Batista and his administration engaged in profiteering from the lottery as well as illegal gambling.[25] Corruption further flourished in civil society through increasing amounts of police corruption, censorship of the press as well as media, and creating anti-communist campaigns that suppressed opposition with violence, torture and public executions. The former culture of toleration and acceptance towards corruption also dissolved with the dictatorship of Batista. For instance, one citizen wrote that "however corrupt Grau and Prío were, we elected them and therefore allowed them to steal from us. Batista robs us without our permission.”[34] Corruption under Batista further expanded into the economic sector with alliances that he forged with foreign investors and the prevalence of illegal casinos and criminal organizations in the country's capital of Havana.

The will of the people means nothing, once it affects US companies, right? Democracy means nothing as well. Those people did not take anything from the US, it belonged to them in the first place, they were being robbed shamelessly, from all their richness and resources by the corruption of the government imposed by the US government back then. The took they rights and land/resources back, so now they are bad. Corruption was perfectly allowed by the US government as long as American companies got their share. And this as very hard historical facts

Is not a time to selectively remove the true but inconvenient facts from history just to fill a narrative and make it go longer, as unsustainable as it is. *Everybody knows the truth*, as proven by the ridiculous difference in votes on the UN

It is time to accept the facts, and not revised story that conveniently ignores what happened prior and what caused the revolution in the first place. It is time the US government stops being "3 kids stacked on each other under a trench coat"

[Mike]

You seem to be arguing that we care more about our position in the world than we do humanitarianism. And the answer is, of course we do! Our values and our way of life have to be preserved, firstly, before we can hope to encourage others to adopt them


I don't think i need to quote more than this, , even if could write an entire book about all the other misconceptions, half truths, narratives and selective history rewriting i can see

First: "Our values and our way of life have to be preserved". What about the values of other's, those are not worth anything? To preserver your values, you must destroy others? Then those values are not as valuable as you think, if to preserve them you must kill indiscriminately around the world

Second: "before we can hope to encourage others to adopt them". But nobody asked to be forcefully "converted".... Should be personal choice to follow... And the use of "encourage" is incorrect here, as a hard historical line of facts can prove easily, it should be "before we demand and enforce others to adopt them, one way or another, or else"

You are selectively ignoring hundreds of historical facts about Cuba, specially about the Castro revolution and the true nature of the initial refugees in Miami. It's like the very minimal version used to explain newcomers so they follow the narrative. And that's disappointing, very honestly, because the full historical truth is not hard to reach out there, it's on the web

This thread is just going to keep in circles like it just happened, unless real research and analysis of the facts and evidence is done, going back to the 'official narrative' for arguments is pointless


I don't know if you've been paying attention or not, but the Cuban people are waving American flags:) We don't need to impose or destroy anything. They want what we have. There's a reason they're marching the streets. And it's not because they're happy with their government.

If you want to talk Cuban history lets do it! Enlighten us. But there's nothing in that article you linked that says the US is preventing supplies from reaching Cuba

And who's saying the embargo doesn't exist?

[Mashika]

When the US government, designed the embargo against Cuba, they did not consider one thing... :)

They basically said:

Any ship that carries goods or makes business with Cuba, can't continue to make business with the US, or dock on the US ports, therefore putting the entire world on lock down and enforcing the embargo with Cuba, but still being able to say "anyone is free to do business with them, IF they want to"

However, they forgot, in their tremendous arrogance, one simple thing.. Military ships, don't dock or do business with the US...

So Mexico and Russia sent military ships with all the help they could send on a single trip, basically breaking through the embargo. :P LMFAO!

*Think fast, think smart*

What will the US do if China sends more help? The US government is basically shooting themselves in the foot right now, and they don't get it

Let's see if the US is going to apply sanctions to Mexico now :)

And again, i must make a note:

NOTE: The government, and the people, are NOT the same thing, in any country on earth. And very rarely their interests are the same. What the US gov is doing, has *nothing* to do with the will of the US people, as far as Cuba goes. Except for a certain group in Miami, which is corrupted to the very core of their souls

[Mashika]

You seem to be arguing that we care more about our position in the world than we do humanitarianism. And the answer is, of course we do! Our values and our way of life have to be preserved, firstly, before we can hope to encourage others to adopt them


I don't think i need to quote more than this, , even if could write an entire book about all the other misconceptions, half truths, narratives and selective history rewriting i can see

First: "Our values and our way of life have to be preserved". What about the values of other's, those are not worth anything? To preserver your values, you must destroy others? Then those values are not as valuable as you think, if to preserve them you must kill indiscriminately around the world

Second: "before we can hope to encourage others to adopt them". But nobody asked to be forcefully "converted".... Should be personal choice to follow... And the use of "encourage" is incorrect here, as a hard historical line of facts can prove easily, it should be "before we demand and enforce others to adopt them, one way or another, or else"

You are selectively ignoring hundreds of historical facts about Cuba, specially about the Castro revolution and the true nature of the initial refugees in Miami. It's like the very minimal version used to explain newcomers so they follow the narrative. And that's disappointing, very honestly, because the full historical truth is not hard to reach out there, it's on the web

This thread is just going to keep in circles like it just happened, unless real research and analysis of the facts and evidence is done, going back to the 'official narrative' for arguments is pointless


I don't know if you've been paying attention or not, but the Cuban people are waving American flags:) We don't need to impose or destroy anything. They want what we have. There's a reason they're marching the streets. And it's not because they're happy with their government.

If you want to talk Cuban history lets do it! Enlighten us. But there's nothing in that article you linked that says the US is preventing supplies from reaching Cuba

And who's saying the embargo doesn't exist?

I hope the messages i sent to you, explain this part about "Cubans people are waving American flags". Perhaps not me, but you, should eventually update this thread, since if i post that here, it won't change much around perception of other Americans, but if you do, it may actually help to change and improve things, for the people on Cuba who are truly suffering. I just hope you understand what i mean and why i said the things i said, and look them up and figure out what really is going on right now, and in the past decades.

[Mashika]

_nFK71Qw0uo

[Ravenlocke]

Putting this here, the only thread I could find about Cuba but it’s a small positive news.

https://twitter.com/TheIntlMagz/status/1562092895343357953
1562092895343357953

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/TheIntlMagz/status/1560638200930250753
1560638200930250753

https://twitter.com/TheIntlMagz/status/1560638207351730176
1560638207351730176

[Ravenlocke]

https://multipolarista.com/2022/11/03/un-vote-blockade-cuba-us-israel/

Entire world votes 185 to 2 against blockade of Cuba – US and Israel are rogue states at UN

2022-11-03

For the 30th year in a row, almost every country on Earth voted at the United Nations to oppose the six-decade US blockade of Cuba.

On November 3, the UN General Assembly voted an overwhelming 185 to two to condemn Washington’s suffocating embargo

The only countries that supported the illegal blockade were the United States itself and the Israeli apartheid regime.

Just two nations abstained: Brazil’s far-right Jair Bolsonaro administration, and the NATO client regime in Ukraine.

Moreover, the real number of member states that would have voted against the blockade is 186. However, Venezuela was unable to do so because its UN voting rights were temporarily suspended, due to Venezuela’s inability to pay member fees to the United Nations, ironically because of the illegal US blockade and sanctions against it.

There are 193 members states of the United Nations. This means that 96% of the countries on Earth voted to condemn the US blockade of Cuba.

In June 2021, the vote was almost exactly the same. The only difference was that Colombia’s previous right-wing government had abstained, whereas its new left-wing President Gustavo Petro opposes the blockade.

Explicitly stated goal of US blockade: ‘to weaken the economic life of Cuba’ and ‘bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government’

The US embargo was officially declared in 1962, but in reality Washington began imposing illegal unilateral sanctions almost immediately after the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

Why has the United States waged such relentless economic war on Cuba for so many decades? An internal State Department memo from 1960 clearly explains Washington’s imperial intentions.

In the document, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Lester D. Mallory admitted that the “majority of Cubans support [Fidel] Castro” and there “is no effective political opposition.”

“The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship,” he concluded.

The top State Department official insisted that “every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba.”

Washington’s goal, Mallory wrote, was to make “the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.”

On October 28, there was a similar UN General Assembly vote in which the United States and apartheid Israel once again showed themselves to be rogue states on the international stage. An overwhelming 152 member states voted against just five to tell Israel to give up its illegal nuclear weapons and abide by the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

UN commission: US blockade has starved Cuba of $144.4 billion and is ‘the most severe and prolonged system of unilateral coercive measures ever applied against any country’

In the 2022 General Assembly resolution, the UN Development Program (UNDP) stated clearly that the US “embargo limited the acquisition of medicines and medical equipment and supplies, it affects the external economic relations of Cuba, and its impact can be observed in all spheres of the country’s social and economic activities.”

“The embargo has an impact on the population’s most vulnerable groups and on human development in general,” the UNDP wrote, adding that it “affects opportunities for national and local development and creates economic hardship for the population.”

The UN body cited official estimates that the illegal US blockade caused Cuba’s economy to lose $144.4 billion from the early 1960s to 2020.

In the resolution, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) added that the US blockade also affect third countries and companies, not just Cuba, writing, “The embargo imposes strict limitations on the Caribbean nation, with extraterritorial effects that hinder its relations with third countries and affect the well-being of the Cuban population.”

The UN commission noted that the Donald Trump administration imposed an additional 240 unilateral sanctions on Cuba, and that the Joe Biden administration has renewed the criminal economic measures.

“The numerous United States sanctions produce real harm that obstructs the access of Cuban citizens to basic goods and violates their rights,” the UN ECLAC wrote. “These policies are an obstacle to economic, social and environmental development.”

“In short, the numerous United States sanctions constitute the most severe and prolonged system of unilateral coercive measures ever applied against any country and continue to hinder the development of the potential of the Cuban economy,” the UN commission concluded.

United Nations bodies condemn the illegal US blockade for harming Cubans

The UN resolution A/76/405, officially titled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba,” was voted on at the 77th session of the 28th plenary meeting of the General Assembly.

The document received more than 170 pages of responses from dozens of member states and UN bodies explaining why Washington must end its illegal blockade.

Numerous international organizations explained how the US embargo greatly harms the Cuban population as a whole.

The UN Development Program wrote:

In pandemic conditions, the embargo remains in place, and its negative impact has been more specific and significantly larger than in previous years, particularly on commerce and financial activities.

The embargo limited the acquisition of medicines and medical equipment and supplies, it affects the external economic relations of Cuba, and its impact can be observed in all spheres of the country’s social and economic activities.

The embargo also maintains the restrictions on the use of the United States dollar and on imports from Cuba. It affects opportunities for national and local development and creates economic hardship for the population.

The embargo has an impact on the population’s most vulnerable groups and on human development in general.

According to official estimates, the cumulative direct and indirect losses for the Cuban economy owing to the embargo from the early 1960s until March 2020 amount to $144.4 billion at current prices.

The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean wrote:

During the Administration of President Donald Trump, over 240 coercive measures were activated against Cuba in the framework of the United States embargo against the island, and these still remain in force.

In fact, on 7 September 2021, the President of the United States, Joseph Biden, extended the law regulating the embargo against Cuba under the so-called Trading with the Enemy Act, until 14 September 2022.

In a memorandum addressed to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury, the President ordered the extension of the sanctions that heavily limit trade with Cuba under these rules. Former President Trump had renewed these in September 2020.

The embargo imposes strict limitations on the Caribbean nation, with extraterritorial effects that hinder its relations with third countries and affect the well-being of the Cuban population. These restrictions deepen the multiple challenges imposed on the island by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and multiply its adverse socioeconomic, health and financial effects. On several occasions, they have hindered the arrival of humanitarian aid in Cuba.

…

The numerous United States sanctions produce real harm that obstructs the access of Cuban citizens to basic goods and violates their rights. These policies are an obstacle to economic, social and environmental development.

…

In short, the numerous United States sanctions constitute the most severe and prolonged system of unilateral coercive measures ever applied against any country and continue to hinder the development of the potential of the Cuban economy.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) wrote:

The embargo has intensified in recent years and has significantly constrained development possibilities in Cuba, greatly impacting the living conditions of the Cuban people. Among the effects, just to name a few:

• Restrictions on the transfer of remittances still imply a higher indirect tax burden on salaries legitimately earned abroad and sent for household spending on basic human needs such as food, clothing, education, housing, water and sanitation.

• Limitations on commerce and financial transactions still represent a serious bottleneck and an additional cost for business development and job creation, especially in sectors like agriculture and tourism, as decent work largely depends on productive investment and access to financing.

• Limited access to technology transfer implies further difficulties for enterprises, as well as for social and economic development.

The implementation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act intensifies the embargo by affecting business and investment opportunities in Cuba for third-country investors; the creation of new job sources; and decent work in Cuba.

The direct and indirect effects of the embargo on the Cuban economy and people affect not only the enterprises, but even more their workers and the population in general. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is particularly concerned about the impacts on children, workers and the elderly. Ending the embargo would turn the overall loss into an opportunity for productive investment, employment generation and new business opportunities, as well as for achieving the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social hasta 2030 and other reforms aimed at improving the economic and social system, for example monetary unification and the expansion of self-employment schemes.

In the context of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic recovery, the embargo is limiting the possibilities for the country to implement jobs and economic recovery strategies.

The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) wrote:

Given that Cuba is subject to an embargo, projects implemented by FAO in the country are affected with regard to the procurement of equipment and supplies that complement the technical assistance because the resources that could be imported from the United States have to be imported from far more distant markets, at much higher prices and higher freight costs. If acquisitions could be made in the United States, it would be much cheaper and more activities could be supported through the available budget.

The most recent embargo measures against Cuba, under which third-country companies trading with Cuba can be sued in United States courts, have had a negative impact on Cuban trade by drastically reducing the commercial partners that operate in the country. This has had a direct impact on the procurement operations that FAO carries out in Cuba in the framework of its technical cooperation projects.

…

Under the embargo, conditions hinder the processes of payments and banking transactions to and from suppliers who provide services for cooperation projects and to the FAO country office. This is demonstrated by banks’ rejections of transfers from FAO for sales to Cuba; the impossibility for suppliers to offer products to Cuba obtained from other North American companies; and the inability of suppliers to transfer funds to Cuba for payment of services contracted in the country.

In addition, banks reject commercial and financial transactions by Cuban enterprises in United States dollars and in other currencies, which hinders payment for certifications of Cuban products with a high potential to be commercialized in Europe.

FAO staff continue to be affected by expensive and long formalities in banking processes.

A summary of the negative effects caused by the embargo in some of the sectors in which FAO is providing technical support and other sectors included within its country programming framework is presented below.

The losses originated mainly in:

(a) Price differences owing to changes in the import market;

(b) Additional costs related to freight insurance;

(c) Additional costs owing to a freeze of assets;

(d) Monetary damages;

(e) Losses owing to lack of access to the latest technology from the United States;

(f) Relocation of exports.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) wrote:

the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) continued to express concern regarding the negative impact that extraterritorial sanctions have on human rights.

…

Seven United Nations human rights experts reiterated this in a message, requesting the United States of America to lift its economic and financial embargo on Cuba that is obstructing humanitarian responses to help the country’s health-care system fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

…

Particular difficulties were reported in countries subject to unilateral coercive measures, including Cuba, to obtain medical equipment vital to fight the pandemic, including oxygen supply and ventilators, protective kits and spare -parts software

…

The Human Rights Council expressed its grave concern that, in some countries, such measures impede the full realization of social and economic development and hinder the well-being of the populations, with particular consequences for women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

…

the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reiterated her call for the lifting of unilateral sectoral sanctions, given their negative impact on human rights, including the right to health.

…

four mandate holders of the Special Procedure of the Human Rights Council stressed that unilateral sanctions impinge on the right to development and called on countries that impose unilateral sanctions to withdraw or at least to minimize them to guarantee that the rule of law and human rights, including the right to development, are not affected.

They explicitly referred to Cuba as a targeted country and pointed out that owing to the unilateral sanctions some countries sink into poverty because they cannot get essential services like electricity, housing, water, gas and fuel, let alone medicine and food.

…

the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that sanctions can create severe and undue suffering for individuals who have neither perpetrated crimes nor otherwise bear responsibility for improper conduct. When sanctions target an entire country, or address entire economic sectors, it is the most vulnerable people in that country – those who are least protected – who are likely to be worst harmed.

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[Ravenlocke]

Text:
Cuba received a ship from Russia with more than 90,000 tons of oil to ease the energy crisis.

Cuba's Ministry of Energy and Mining said the ship had arrived at the Matanzas base in the west of the country and would be the second shipment of crude oil from Moscow to Havana after the one sent on March 17, which delivered 31,000 tons of crude oil worth almost $50 million.

Cuba is experiencing an energy crisis, reflected in power outages, which is likely to subside in the coming days. - FRWL reports

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Text:
Cubans are chanting “power and food” during protests due to power outages and food shortages throughout #Cuba. 🗣️🪧

Cubans are without power for up to #10hours a day. #AbelSantamaria resident #YoniMena told Reuters, “Living without electricity is primitive.… The mosquitoes, the heat, sometimes there is no water. People are losing their minds. And that leads to other problems, like violence.” 👀

Santiago’s Luz Perez stated, “I love Cuba. But this situation is terrible. No one can live like this.”

#News #trendingnews #TheNewAmericanMagazine #TheNewAmerican #cubanos #Cubans #FoodShortages #BreakingNews #trendingtopic #TrendingNow2024 #Viral #fypviraltwitter

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https://thenewamerican.com/news/power-and-food-shortages-spark-protests-in-cuba/


Power and Food Shortages Spark Protests in Cuba

Cubans are chanting “power and food” during protests due to power outages and food shortages throughout Cuba.

Cubans are without power for up to 10 hours a day. Abel Santamaria resident Yoni Mena told Reuters, “Living without electricity is primitive.… The mosquitoes, the heat, sometimes there is no water. People are losing their minds. And that leads to other problems, like violence.” Santiago’s Luz Perez stated, “I love Cuba. But this situation is terrible. No one can live like this.”

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel blamed U.S. sanctions, telling NBC News, “We are free, sovereign and independent, and we are going to continue building our revolution, despite the tightening of the blockade, despite the fact that we have been included on a spurious list that can only be invented by a government as genocidal and as hegemonic as the government of the United States.”

Díaz-Canel accused the U.S. blockade of being genocidal, stating on X, “We thank the people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and our brother Ralph Gonsalves, for the donation of flour they sent to #Cuba to help alleviate the difficult situation we face as a result of #BloqueoGenocida from the United States government. #CubaNoEstáSola”

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Text:
🇨🇺The US blockade of Cuba has plunged the country into darkness.

As of Friday, October 18, Cuba has been suffering an unprecedented national blackout. The cause of this is the lack of fuel and maintenance to keep the electrical grid operating properly. Cuba has been severely restricted from purchasing fuel and crucial supplies because of the tight US blockade on the country. Cuban officials have repeatedly called for Washington to lift some of these suffocating sanctions (and the blockade as a whole) and allow the country to purchase lifesaving supplies, yet once again their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Read the account of this blackout from journalist
@ldejesusreyes
, direct from Havana.

📸 Luis de Jesús.


https://x.com/peoplesdispatch/status/1847694108619346351

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https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/21/cuba-in-the-dark-but-not-defeated/


Cuba, in the dark but not defeated

The following is a personal account of the blackout in Cuba by journalist Laura Prada.

It has been more than 72 hours without electricity. The last time I spent so many days without electricity was in Venezuela, in March 2020, when an attack on the national electric power system left the country without electricity for a week.

The origin was the same: a tangled regime of sanctions and blockade; the refusal of a powerful country to accept the will of independent peoples determined to forge their own path.

At that time we were on the ground, informing Venezuela and the world about what was happening there, regardless of sleep, hunger, fatigue….

Today, four years later, a similar attack, a consequence of a blockade put in place more than 60 years ago, has caused Cuba’s electric power system to collapse and disconnect the country from one end to the other. Just as then, we are ready for whatever comes. The only worry, now we have a three-year-old child in our care.

The fire you have inside to go out and show what is happening burns you. You feel that the walls of the house oppress you. You know that your duty is to inform and go out to dismantle the lies that are being constructed about what is happening. Meanwhile, I hear in the background the occasional casserole pan looking for others to join in a chorus and the cries of those who bet on the lottery and lost.

A “Mom, I want water” breaks the lethargy. I run to the kitchen to satisfy the thirst of Ernesto, the three-year-old who has been asking for two days “what time does the power come back on?”

Outside it rains and the wind swirls, I go back to the living room to check that no water enters, I go back to check that the food is not burning, I climb to the top of a ladder to look for signal and data. In the distance I hear the echoes of power plants. They say that the island is gradually lighting up. A map with green and yellow dots circulates in social networks and is shared in groups.

Uncertainty sometimes takes over me, the desire to go out and tell what is happening outside is overshadowed, annulled, in light of the greater responsibility of protecting that child. While he rests, I resume my tour of the house in search of a point of connectivity.

There is something that does not leave my mind and I have been repeating it for hours. This is the reality of the f***ing Yankee blockade. This is one of its many faces and today we are looking it in the eye.

For more than 72 hours Cuba is in the dark, but not defeated.

Down with the blockade! Carajo

Laura Prada is a Cuban journalist based in Havana.

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https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/21/power-is-gradually-restored-in-cuba-hurricane-oscar-downgraded-to-tropical-storm/

Power is gradually restored in Cuba, Hurricane Oscar downgraded to tropical storm
After several false starts over the weekend, the efforts to recover Cuba’s electrical system began to make headway on October 21. Meanwhile, authorities have declared that Oscar has become a tropical storm.

Following a severe collapse of the national power grid on October 18, Cuba continues to make great efforts to restore electrical service to all homes and institutions on the island.

The Electric Company of the capital, Havana, reported that close to 90% of the clients in the capital have been reconnected and announced that “There will be no rest until the Electric System is fully restored.”

In this regard, President Miguel Dïaz-Canel said “We were at the National Load Dispatch since very early in the morning. The microsystems in the country are being strengthened and Havana is gradually receiving energy. It is a complex job, but we are taking sure steps. We said that we will not rest until the total reestablishment.”

In other parts of the country, reconnections continue while attempts are made to repair the damages suffered by the thermoelectric power plants, which, due to the difficulties of access to spare parts and technological elements that help to repower the system (caused fundamentally by the criminal economic blockade suffered by Cuba on the part of the US government), the repair tasks are very complicated.

Tropical Storm Oscar

Amid the critical situation with the collapse of the power grid, Hurricane Oscar made landfall on the Caribbean Island late on Sunday. Fortunately for the inhabitants of eastern Cuba, the storm downgraded its intensity and hit the island as a tropical storm, though still unleashing heavy rains and wind in the eastern region. The level of damage that Oscar can produce is still uncertain.

According to experts, the storm is now headed to the Bahamas, though authorities have called on the population to not lower their guard and to be alert to official communication channels.

The world stands with Cuba

Amid Cuba’s blackout, the member states of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP), expressed in a communiqué their support to the Cuban government and offered their help to overcome the difficult times the island is going through: “The complex situation that [Cuba] is experiencing today is a consequence of the economic war, financial persecution and [the refusal to sell] fuel supplies by the US administration, which seeks to asphyxiate Cuba in its commitment to the well-being of the Cuban people”.

Furthermore, the communiqué adds “The policy of maximum pressure through unilateral coercive measures and the blockade against the nation is cruel and inhuman and has been categorically rejected by the majority of the countries of the world, since […] it only seeks a change of regime, in open violation of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and the norms of International Law.”

In a press conference on October 21, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, Lin Jian, also expressed support to Cuba as it faces unprecedented challenges, “[The] US blockade on Cuba has been catastrophic for Cuba’s socioeconomic development and people’s lives. China once again calls on the US to fully lift the blockade and sanctions on Cuba at once and remove Cuba from the list of ‘state sponsors of terrorism.’”

In a statement, the platform of social movements of Latin America and the Caribbean, ALBA Movimientos, categorized the current situation on the island as one of “anguish and tension, a product of the suffering induced by the criminal blockade.” ALBA Movimientos argues that the US-imposed blockade ultimately seeks to “undermine the role of the Cuban State in satisfying the basic needs of the population, while trying to privilege an incipient private sector, incapable by its condition of providing the levels and extent of social justice achieved by the Revolution.”

In the statement, the movements also warn that this latest episode of blockade-induced hardship on the island could be seized upon by reactionary, counter-revolutionary forces. “At this moment, all the psychological pressure apparatus is being used to induce a social outburst of unforeseeable consequences, using as a basis and pretext the legitimate expressions of social unrest resulting from the current situation, its accumulated and possible solutions,” it warns.

The only viable solution which would respect the sovereignty of Cuba and guarantee the possibility of dignified life, is the immediate and irreversible lifting of the blockade on Cuba, concludes ALBA.

Meanwhile, the White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre claimed in a press conference on October 21, that the US is “not to blame for the blackouts on the island or the overall energy situation in Cuba.”

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https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/22/amid-cubas-blackouts-activists-urge-biden-to-reverse-devastating-sanctions/

Amid Cuba’s blackouts, activists urge Biden to reverse devastating sanctions
Open letter in New York Times urges Biden to reverse Trump-era sanctions against the socialist state

Cuba solidarity activists, organized by the People’s Forum, published an open letter today in the New York Times, urging US President Biden to overturn devastating Trump-era sanctions on Cuba. This letter comes as the island is experiencing blackouts driven by the energy crisis—the direct result of such sanctions.

“Cuba is currently experiencing a nationwide blackout, exacerbated by the cruel sixty-year-long US embargo,” the letter reads. “This embargo has prevented the country from purchasing fuel, accessing essential goods, and obtaining spare parts for its power grid- leaving millions of people in the dark.”

Next week, the UN will take its annual vote to lift the US blockade against Cuba, which historically has resulted in UN member nations voting nearly unanimously against the blockade. Last year, 187 nations voted for a UN resolution to end the over-60-year-long blockade. The only states to vote against the resolution were the US and Israel. Ukraine was the only state to abstain.

Biden has upheld former president Trump’s harsh measures against Cuba, which reversed Obama-era policies towards normalization. These include maintaining Cuba on the US’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, as well as Trump’s 243 additional sanctions against the socialist state.

“In the past sixty years, the embargo has cost over $164 billion in damages, with more than $5 billion in losses in the last year alone (March 2023-February 2024). Each year, the United States stands virtually alone before the UN General Assembly as the word condemns this policy,” the letter states.

“This devastating blackout is just one aspect of the United States’ legacy of facilitating suffering on the island through the embargo. Trump’s brutal policy should be reversed. It’s not too late to do the right thing.”

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[arwen]

Cuba is having a hellish time of it lately - blackouts, hurricanes and now 2 earthquakes:

6.8 magnitude earthquake shakes Cuba after hurricanes and blackouts (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/68-magnitude-earthquake-shakes-cuba-after-hurricanes-and-blackouts/ar-AA1tPFd9)

https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1tPRgE.img?w=768&h=512&m=6


HAVANA (AP) — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 shook eastern Cuba on Sunday, after weeks of hurricanes and blackouts that have left many on the island reeling.

Shaking felt in Florida after powerful earthquakes strike off Cuba’s coast (https://www.foxweather.com/extreme-weather/strong-earthquakes-cuba-tsunami-threat)


MIAMI – Residents in Florida reported feeling the ground move after two powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of Cuba late Sunday morning, prompting brief fears that a tsunami could impact areas closest to the epicenter in the Caribbean.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the two earthquakes were reported within an hour of each other.

The first was a magnitude 5.9 that was reported just before 11 a.m. ET approximately 22 miles south of Bartolomé Masó, Cuba, at a depth of about 9 miles.

The second earthquake, which was the stronger of the two, was reported an hour later just before noon ET. That earthquake was a magnitude 6.8 and was centered about 25 miles south of Bartolomé Masó at a depth of about 8 miles.

Shortly after the second earthquake was reported, the National Weather Service Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Honolulu issued an alert stating that while there was no significant threat of a tsunami, "there is a very small possibility of tsunami waves along coasts nearest to the epicenter."

[Ravenlocke]

🇷🇺🇨🇺 Russia to Begin Diesel Fuel Deliveries to Cuba

Cuba and Russia are set to strengthen their partnership with an imminent contract for diesel fuel supplies, according to Cuban Ambassador to Russia Julio Antonio Garmendia Pena. Speaking to Sputnik, the ambassador confirmed that the agreement has been finalized, with deliveries expected to begin in the coming days.

The deal will provide Cuba with 80,000 tonnes of diesel fuel worth $60 million, aiding the island’s recovery from its recent hurricane-induced energy crisis. This development follows Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko’s November 2024 announcement of Moscow’s commitment to supporting Cuba’s energy stability in challenging times.

❗️This is more than just a fuel contract, it’s a signal of solidarity. As Washington tightens its sanctions noose, Moscow and Havana are writing the next chapter in a long-standing alliance built on resilience and defiance. While the empire isolates, the multipolar world bridges gaps, delivering lifelines where others sow chaos.

@TheIslanderNews

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https://thegrayzone.com/2025/01/01/cuban-revolution-survive-2025/

Will the Cuban revolution survive the storm of 2025?
Danny ShawJanuary 1, 2025

Danny Shaw has been traveling to Cuba since 1995 in support of the country’s socialist revolution. Unsatisfied with the official proclamations and guided tours for international leftists, he embarked on a project of first-hand ethnographic research across the country over the decades. With a command of Cuban Spanish, Shaw wandered off the beaten path, independently evaluating conditions in the country. Surveying the perspectives of some of the most marginalized populations in Havana, he assesses their responses to the US unilateral blockade and Cuba’s isolation.

On Jan. 1, Cuba officially joined the international grouping known as BRICS, as one of 13 nations incorporated as “partner states.” The date, which coincides with the 66th anniversary of the triumph of their revolution, could mark a turning point for the beleaguered socialist state. But unless the country’s leaders embrace a strategic fiscal shift in the face of an asphyxiating US blockade, the prospect of state collapse – and the unraveling of over a half century of revolutionary social development – can not be dismissed.

“Ataca Sabroso” (Attack With Sweetness)

Throughout my decades of firsthand research in Cuba, few figures seemed to embody the revolution — and all its contradictions — like “Sumy,” the boxer. A slender 6′ 2,” at 60 years old, he could still pass for 39. Known for a long, stiff jab that snapped heads back, the retired fighter turned long-time high school principal still has his dazzling punching combinations. For two decades, Jesús Miguel Rodríguez Muro, known by his nickname Sumy, glided through cruiserweight boxing competitions across Cuba. Internationally, he made a name for himself as well, fighting in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries.

A dedicated member of the Cuban Communist Party, Sumy resides in Arroyo Naranjo, an outer municipality of Havana. The retired athlete lived as all Cubans do: modestly. During a recent visit, his feet swung off a small ramshackle bed. He had a collection of books and notebooks stacked on a bookshelf that was on its last leg. His bedroom, which moonlit as a living room, was furnished with a tiny TV straight out of the 1980s and a transistor radio that one might see in a Vietnam war movie. At night time, when hunger stirred and no protein was available, Sumy grabbed two pieces of cheap cake and tossed them into an empty loaf of bread. He devoured the make-shift stuffed gyro, winking at his boxing students: “Sabroso, sabroso!”

US intelligence exploits Cuban youth’s malaise

The Cuban Revolution once guaranteed every citizen health care, education and basic social and economic rights. In Sumy’s case, the shift could be clearly delineated by generation. Sumy’s parents’ generation made the revolution. Sumy’s generation benefited from the social transformation and fortified it. But Sumy’s children’s generation, who came of age in the 1990s, have had a different experience. In the words of one mother and communist militant in Marianao: “The new generation has only lived in a period of sacrifice and more sacrifice. They don’t remember the struggle against Batista nor the first decade of the revolution, with those marvelous debates and experiments we had at that time. They only know austerity.”

The collapse can be felt throughout Cuba’s economy, and perhaps nowhere more acutely than its critical sugar industry. Initially, collectivization proved immensely successful, with Cuba under Castro reaching a peak of 8.5 million metric tonnes of sugar between 1969 and 1970. In the early 90s, before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuban farmers still produced 7 million metric tons, accounting for a whopping 30% of global sugar exports. But the number fell by half virtually overnight as Cuba’s friends abroad disappeared, and continued to dwindle in the intervening years.

The decline has become more pronounced in recent years, as the number of functioning sugar mills in Cuba has dropped to just 16, with US sanctions continuing to make repairs near-impossible. In 2019, the island managed to produce 1.3 million metric tons of sugar. By 2023, that number dropped to 350,000, with the island failing – for the first time since the 1800s – to produce enough sugar to provide for domestic consumption. As economist Juan Triana explained, it’s difficult to overstate the significance of the massive dropoff in sugar: “For more than 150 years, the industry of sugarcane was both the main export income and the locomotive for the rest of the economy. That’s what we’ve lost.”

Tourism, which overtook sugar as Cuba’s top industry in 1997, has nearly evaporated in the same recent span. Following the appearance of COVID, the island’s visitors dropped from over 4,000,000 per year to just 356,500 in 2021.

Now, Cuba has neither the foreign revenue nor a self-reliant economy to feed its people. The island has been teetering on the brink of disaster since 1990; the start of the pandemic only exacerbated the situation. There are routine blackout crises. Gas shortages are frequent. A trip across Havana on public transportation can take three hours or more. Residents, fatigued by six and a half decades of a Cold War, are demanding “electricity and food.” The imperialist Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) forecasts that this reality will spurn more protests. Rations are down to a bare minimum and even those are often not available. According to one doctor and Cuban Communist Party leader known by his nom de guerre, Oldanier: “We live like Palestinians minus the bombing. Malnutrition is everywhere. Inflation has skyrocketed. The state cannot pay our salaries. Child mortality is way up. More and more people are fleeing.”

Cuba, like many nations targeted by the US for regime change, has seen a major exodus in recent years, with nearly half a million Cubans – representing a full 5% of the Cuban population – reportedly attempting to immigrate to the United States between 2021 and 2023.

The end of rations?

Before the aggravated crisis that began with the pandemic, every month, each member of a household in Cuba received a monthly “canasta básica” (basic basket) consisting of an allotment of rice, chickpeas, black beans, cooking oil, salt, sugar, coffee, soap, bread, eggs, chicken, tobacco, and toothpaste. Now, residents complain that portions have dropped significantly, rice arrives late, and chicken has vanished, replaced by cans of potted meat. If a family wants fruit, vegetables, or anything beyond la libreta (the ration book), it is up to their own individual spending ability. Families describe the creative artform of stretching a meager amount of food for the entire month, with one explaining how they saved up extra eggs for New Years Eve in order to be able to give their children some type of treat that night.

Cuba’s internationally-renowned medical sector, once the pride of Latin America, hasn’t been immune to the downturn either. “We cannot provide what is required for those with diabetes and other sick people,” one nurse lamented.

Due to shortages deliberately caused by the intensification of the trade embargo, Cuba’s inflation rate is an astronomical 39.1%. Access to dollars is the only way many people can eat. They can access the private Micro and Small Enterprises stores (MYPIMES) which sell food and other products at prices pegged to the dollar and euro. This means that to buy a pound of chicken in “the free market,” a Cuban will spend up to 20 percent of their monthly salary. For two weeks of milk, they may spend two weeks of their salary. Many Communist Party vets say these are their worst economic conditions yet. One community leader lamented: “We don’t have medication. I am a diabetic. We just keep losing weight. Look at these 25 pounds I have lost. Carlos Lazo’s Bridges of Love (Puentes de Amor) program helps us but it is not enough.”

With no indication that things will improve anytime soon, many Cubans – specifically, young adults – want out. Meanwhile, their blockaded futures provide fertile soil for the next color revolution attempt.

The younger generation of Cubans are mostly singing a different tune than Sumy and the revolutionary old guard. US intelligence is doing all it can to exploit the resentments of those elements which USAID branded as “desocialized and marginalized youth” from Afro-Cuban communities. As Max Blumenthal reported for The Grayzone, US intelligence has invested millions in a Cultural Cold War-style program to boost counterrevolutionary rappers, artists and activists.

The first wave of weaponized Cuban artists emerged from the so-called San Isidro Movement. I first met San Isidro founders Amaury Pacheco, Omni Zona Franca and some of the collective’s future activists in 2001 at poetry and music festivals in Alamar, Havana del Este. While these dreadlocked, anarchist-oriented performers claimed to be “non-ideological,” it was clear they were the kind of “dissidents” the CIA was courting to lead the counterrevolution. They were fiercely dedicated to toppling the Cuban state and eager to work with any foreigners who could help them travel internationally and advocate for a Western-style color revolution in Cuba.


Destitution by design

The destruction of Cuba’s economy represents an undeniable success of decades of US foreign policy. The Trump and Biden administrations ultimately remained faithful to the original objective of the 1960 blockade – as have those that preceded them, including that of Barack Obama, who only slightly tweaked certain stipulations restricting travel. A year after the revolution’s triumph, Eisenhower calculated: “If the Cuban people are hungry, they will throw Castro out.” Four months later, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Lester D. Mallory agreed: “Every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba… to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of the government.”

Drafted in 1960, the US government’s “Program of Covert Action” continues to inform US policy towards Cuba. For six decades, the US has sought to suffocate and destroy Cuba’s self-determination.

More than 3,400 Cubans have been killed by US state terrorism since the revolution. US intelligence plotted and organized 638 known attempts on Fidel Castro’s life. Biological warfare has been used such as the intentional infection of the island’s pig population with the swine virus. It is more difficult to calculate the human cost of sanctions. Hunger and migration are the two most common results. Over 200,000 Cubans have been forced to leave their homeland in the past year and a half, a figure even larger than previous migrations such as the Marielitos and the 1994 “rafters.”

Every policy of today’s most powerful empire has been calculated and designed to inflict regime change in Cuba, a euphemism for the complete overhaul of class relations. Ignoring these external pressures, the legacy media hyper fixates on repression in Cuba instead. The constant threats, harassment and US intelligence-backed terrorist campaigns have successfully instilled a level of paranoia in Cuban leadership, which has had to focus precious resources on national security. This defensive posture plays right into the hands of Cuba’s would-be colonizers in Washington and Miami.

Whether it is framed as Biden’s last hoorah or Trump’s opening salvo, the US national security elite, drunk off its genocidal rampage across the Middle East, still wants to overthrow the Cuban government. On the island, rumors swirl that the US is planning another San Isidro-style color revolution attempt in hopes of provoking state repression. This would naturally pave the way for Elon Musk-aligned influencers and the corporate media to frame “Communist Cuba” as a bastion of repression and provide Washington with a justification to finish off the recalcitrant state.

Multipolarity: Cuba’s only hope

The Cuban leadership, seasoned by six decades of resistance, is searching for a response to the hybrid war and its impact on morale. They respond as any fighter who is fighting above their weight does: aggressively and desperately. Now, it’s become clear that their only way to break the blockade is multipolarity.

Visits back and forth between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Cuban counterpart highlight Cuba’s increasing resolve to build up their own Chinese style competitive state companies which would put an end to the food shortages. Cuba hosted the Group of 77 last year, the largest international organization after the United Nations itself. 134 countries, or 80 percent of the world population, are currently represented in the now misnamed “Group of 77.” From Havana, chairman of the Group of 77, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, insisted: “After all this time that the North has organized the world according to its interests, it is now up to the South to change the rules of the game.” Cuba, along with 34 other countries, has applied for membership in BRICS. The addition of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Argentina (contested by the new president Milei) at the beginning of 2024, means the BRICS bloc nations now constitute 42% of the world’s population and account for 23% of gross domestic product and 18% of global trade. Cuba’s future does not run through Wall Street or the Beltway, it runs through Moscow, Beijing, Caracas, Tehran, Johannesburg and the other burgeoning centers of multipolarity.

President Diaz-Canel visited Iran to discuss mutually-beneficial ways to break the embargoes. The Deputy President Salvador Valdés Mesa travelled to South Africa to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties. On May 9th, the 79th anniversary of the Soviet Day of Victory over Fascism, the Cuban president celebrated with Vladimir Putin in the Grand Kremlin Palace. Cuba hosted a fleet of Russian warships in its harbors, just 500 miles from nuclear-powered US attack submarines which continue to occupy Guantanamo Bay.

One of Cuba’s most malicious enemies, incoming Cuban-American Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has warned of the shifting geopolitical dimensions. Alarmed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s multipolar instincts and his visits to Beijing and beyond, the neoconservative Florida senator appeared anxious on Fox News: “We won’t have to talk about sanctions in five years because there’ll be so many countries transacting in currencies other than the dollar that we won’t have the ability to sanction them.” Could the “sanction inability” theory, as the Chinese Global Times calls it, spell relief for the Cuban people or is it too late? In theory, Cuba should no longer be an isolated state standing on its own. So why is this not translating into relief for the Cuban people?

Unfortunately for Cubans, you cannot yet feed your children nor fuel your cars with multipolarity. Capitalism demands instant gratification. And the average young Cuban knows there’s far more to be found in Miami than Havana.

Argentinian sociologist Atilio Borón, analyzing the impact of Western sanctions on South American and Caribbean countries, explained that hunger was more dangerous than any weapons system that Washington could deploy. An air-tight blockade is inflicting acute hunger and despair on the over 11,000,000 people of Cuba. Supporters of Cuba and the leaders of the multipolar world have a responsibility to ask: Before the most powerful empire in history, how much longer can the revolution hold on?

Late rounds in Cuba’s fight for survival

There are two January showdowns shaping up in the Caribbean. On January 1st 2025, the 66th anniversary of the revolution, Cuba will officially become a member of BRICS. On January 20th, Donald Trump and his cabinet of billionaires will take state power in the United States. Trump enacted a further 243 coercive measures against Cuba when he assumed office in 2016. The Biden administration continued to tighten the noose around Cuba. The US has not recognized Nicolas Maduro, Cuba’s closest ally, as the president of Venezuela, instead designating right-wing opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the country’s leader. This sets up a clash for inauguration day in Caracas on January 10th, 2025—which the US is looking to exploit.

This December, the Department of Defense signed an agreement with Trinidad and Tobago which allows them “to deploy forces to Trinidad and Tobago in the event of a “conflict” in Venezuela.” And another US-supported San Isidro-style color revolution attempt against Cuba is expected in the opening months of Trump’s second term.

Fidel Castro highlighted the centrality of the ideological struggle, the showdown for the heart and soul of a people. On the 66th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, many Habaneros are gripped with an acute sense that Western leftist tourists and solidarity activists have over-glorified their reality. Something has to give. Either the expanded BRICS nations will incorporate Cuba into their multipolar economic, political and diplomatic expansion or the vultures will finish Cuba off. There is no middle ground.

Cuba’s fight for survival resembles the boxing career of Mohammed Ali. For the first three decades, the revolution was youthful, sharp, bold and invincible. Past generations of Cubans fought for Angola and Syria, stood with Grenada and the Sandinistas, admiring and emulating the heroes of the revolution. This generation faces hunger, despair and isolation, with the government outmatched by objective reality. With the collapse of the anti-capitalist rival pole of the Cold War era, Cuba has been left to fight on its own.

Multipolarity may be on the rise, but as the Western-backed genocide in Gaza and the setbacks suffered by the Axis of Resistance show, US hegemony has proven resilient. As in Ali’s final rounds, exhausted, with its vulnerabilities exposed, the island nation still somehow miraculously pushes through, paying a long-term price as it weathers one punishing blow after another. Unlike a prize fighter, the descendants of José Martí and Fidel Castro do not have the option of giving up or retiring.

[Ravenlocke]

#Cuba | Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez rejected statements by United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who announced that his country would limit the granting of visas to countries that request Cuban doctors and health workers.

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https://www.telesurenglish.net/cuba-rejects-u-s-visa-restrictions-over-medical-cooperation-programs/?noamp=available


Cuba Rejects U.S. Visa Restrictions Over Medical Cooperation Programs

Currently, over 24,000 Cuban health workers provide services abroad as part of solidarity missions.

On Wednesday, Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez rejected statements by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who announced that his country would limit the granting of visas to nations that request Cuban doctors and health workers.

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“The U.S. Secretary of State is threatening visa restrictions against governments that have legitimate medical cooperation programs with Cuba. This shows imposition and aggression, using force as the new doctrine of that government’s foreign policy. Cuba will continue providing services,” Rodriguez said.

Previously, in a message posted on social media on Wednesday, Rubio announced new measures the administration of President Donald Trump will implement to curb Cuban medical cooperation, which Washington accuses of exporting health workers under exploitative wage conditions.

“The United States is expanding its Cuba-related visa restriction policy. The State Department has taken steps to restrict visa issuance to Cuban and complicit third-country government officials and individuals responsible for Cuba’s exploitative labor export program,” Rubio said.


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“The State Department is taking steps to impose visa restrictions on several African, Cuban and Grenadian government officials complicit in the Cuban regime’s coerced forced labor export scheme. We are committed to ending this practice. Countries that are complicit in this exploitative practice should think twice,” Rubio warned.

The U.S. secretary of state also announced actions against several senior Brazilian government officials and former executives of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for their participation in the “More Doctors” program, which allowed Brazil to provide health care in its most remote communities using Cuban personnel.

During his two terms, President Trump has led a campaign to accuse Cuba of using doctors and other health workers as instruments of political influence. In June, the U.S. government announced the application of visa restrictions against several Central American government officials due to their involvement in programs to hire Cuban doctors.

Currently, more than 24,000 Cuban health workers provide services abroad as part of solidarity missions, some of which are completely free while others are compensated for the services provided.

https://x.com/telesurenglish/status/1919840842329817274

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