[NYTr] US imperialism intensifies hostilities against socialist Cuba
 
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:33:06 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Workers World - Oct 25, 2007 issue
http://www.workers.org/2007/world/cuba-1025

U.S. imperialism intensifies hostilities against socialist Cuba

By Teresa Gutierrez

Stop a minute and consider this: socialist Cuba has survived against
all odds. It inspires people around the world, and for millions
revolutionary Cuba represents a David vs. Goliath victory against the
greatest enemy of humankind, U.S. imperialism.

It can therefore be easy to forget sometimes how difficult life can be
for the Cuban people. It can be easy to forget the tremendous amount of
effort it must take the revolutionbs leaders to not only defend Cubabs
sovereignty but to struggle to construct a socialist society amidst an
ocean of capitalism.

It can be easy to forget the difficulties because the tenacity of the
Cuban people themselves is known so well. As acting head of state Raul
Castro stated on July 26, bThose who are amazed at our peoplebs
capacity to rise to the level of every challenge, no matter how great,
do not know them very well.b

One who does not live in Cuba can only imagine the challenge.

Friends of Cuba must therefore keep abreast of all the maneuvers,
schemes, machinations and intrigues the U.S. government carries out in
its historical and nonstop attempts to sabotage and overturn the
revolution.

Current and new information on the effects of the U.S. blockade against
Cuba show the damage imperialism is attempting now against
revolutionary Cuba. The Bush administrationbs plots require that the
movement in solidarity with Cuba intensify its solidarity work against
the U.S. blockade as well as to free the Cuban Five.

Effects of blockade since 1960

When the revolution triumphed in 1959, U.S. imperialism learned a
valuable lesson very early on.

Imperialist attempts to militarily overthrow the revolution were
defeated by the Cuban people at the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. The
imperialists learned that the Cuban Revolution would not be easily
defeated.

Internally, the revolution was strong despite its youth. The people
were united; the leadership was ideologically sound and confident.
Fidel, Che, Raul, Camilo and the many other figures of that era were
leaders, thoughtful and revolutionarybnever were they mere iconsband
they quickly consolidated the revolution.

Immediately they set out on the road to genuine sovereignty,
constructing a society built on the needs of its people, not on the
dictates of the transnational corporations.

No longer a playground for U.S. capitalists, Cuba began to be an island
of hope, health and dignity. It inspired oppressed and progressive
people worldwide and it earned the eternal wrath of the imperialists.
History was in the making.

This is when the strategy to strangle Cuba through hardship began to be
implemented by the U.S.

This July the Cuban government issued an important report to the United
Nations General Assembly that is particularly revealing. It is not new
information but it is important to remember.

The report states: bIn a document that was declassified in 1991, it was
revealed that on April 6, 1960, a year before the U.S.-organized
invasion of Cuba, the then Assistant Secretary for Inter-American
Affairs, Lester DeWitt Mallory, submitted a memorandum for discussion
at a meeting chaired by the U.S. president, stating that there was no
effective political opposition in Cuba and that consequently the only
means open to Washington of undermining internal support for the
revolution was through disenchantment and discouragement, based on
dissatisfaction and economic difficulties. It advocated taking prompt
action of every conceivable kind to weaken the Cuban economy, and deny
funds and other supplies so as to reduce real and monetary wages,
thereby causing hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the
government.b

Take note: there was no effective political opposition in Cuba.

The U.S. effort to create one failed then and it is failing now. But
the economic effects of the U.S. blockade continue, bringing
unnecessary and untold hardship to its people.

Furthermore, the Bush administration continues its war of aggression
and military threats. Its Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba
(CAFC) contains ominous plans to, among other things, attempt to
politically and economically isolate the island.

Hardship rooted in Washington, not Havana

For the past 15 years, the U.N. General Assembly has voted almost
unanimously against the U.S. blockade.

Salim Lamrani of Global Research writes that since then the blockade
has bcost the Cuban economy more than $89,000 million [$89 billion]. In
2006, Cuba lost nearly $4,000 million as a direct consequence. Not only
can Cuba not export any product to the U.S., nor import anything, but
it does not even have the authorization to establish commercial
dealings with U.S. companies located in other countries, which is in
flagrant violation of international law.b

Lamrani reminds us that the blockade has been increasingly tightened
over the years: the Torricelli Act in 1992, Helms-Burton in 1996, the
first report of the CAFCbBushbs plan to overthrow the revolutionbin
2004 and a second edition in 2006.

The Bush plan would be laughable, an Orwellian scenario almost with
comic relief; but it is much too dangerous to dismiss.

The Cuban Mission to the U.N. reports that the bsectors most vulnerable
to the negative impact of the blockade have been food and health care,
having a direct impact on the quality of life of all Cubans.b

The damage to health service is estimated at over $30 million. bMedical
institutions that provide treatment free of charge have been affected
in several departments: emergency services, care of critically ill,
surgical units and other specialized adult and pediatric services,b the
Mission press release continues.

Because of the blockade, for example, Cuba cannot acquire Sevorane, the
standard drug for administering general anesthesia to children.

U.S. pressure has forced other firms to suspend sales to Cuba as well
as cancel licenses. This happened with the company Medtronic, which was
forced to stop selling external pacemakers to Cuba. This affected many
children with congenital or acquired arrhythmia who needed the device.

The extraterritorial nature of the blockade is exemplified with the
Finnish firm Datex-Ohmeda, a manufacturer of anesthesia and monitoring
equipment. When General Electric acquired the company, the firm
announced that it was banned from supplying equipment or spare parts to
Cuba under the threat of prosecution by the U.S. Justice Department.

On the issue of food, the Cuban government reports: bBetween May 2006
and April 2007, the sanctions caused losses in the food sector
exceeding $258 million. ... With [this] sum, Cuba would have been able
to buy, for domestic consumption, about 180,000 metric tons of
soybeans, 72,000 metric tons of soy oil, 300,000 metric tons of maize
and 275,000 metric tons of wheat.

bMeanwhile, Washington blocked communications between the Cuban firm
Alimport and its U.S. suppliers of food and other agricultural
products, preventing the proper functioning of the
earthlink@abuse.earthlink.net server and throughout 2006 creating extra
difficulties for transactions between the two countries.b Internet
users in Cuba cannot access Google Earthbs free services nor access the
most current anti-virus programs.

If Cuba had access to the U.S. market, it could sell about 1.1 million
cases of Cubabs delightful and much-loved rum, representing potential
revenue to the economy of some $47 million.

Rising prices on the international capitalist market have serious
consequences for Cuba. When Cuba has to buy oil in the market it must
pay $80 a barrel. Four years ago it was $28 a barrel. Powdered milk was
$2,100 a ton in 2004; it now sells for $2,450 a ton.

In every aspect of lifebeconomic, cultural, political, social,
educationalbthe U.S. blockade of Cuba has had heavy ramifications.

Cuba has weathered it all, even the collapse of the socialist camp in
the 1990s. The loss of trade with the Soviet Union resulted in an 85
percent drop in imports and a decline of 35 percent in the overall
economy between 1988 and 1993. Any capitalist society experiencing such
a loss of oil, food and other necessities would have seen mass
rebellions in the streets. But the Cuban people pulled together and
weathered the Special Period.

This July, however, Raul Castro pointed out that Cuba still faces hard
times, since it has bnot yet come out of the Special Period.b

All this takes place while the Bush administration plots to find means
on and off the island to undermine the revolution at this critical
time. Bushbs CAFC includes a secret section on undercover operations
for Cuba.

The Cubans detail that bno other administration has gone to the
maniacal extremes of aggressionb adopted by the Bush administration.

Caleb McCarry is a name solidarity activists should memorize. McCarry
is the person in charge of re-colonizing Cuba. He has been, among other
things, intensively lobbying in various countries for support for the
further internationalization of the blockade. Wikipedia describes
McCarry:

bCaleb McCarry is the Bush administrationbs bCuba Transition
Coordinator,b tasked with assisting in the removal of the Communist
government of Cuba. The position developed out of the Commission for
Assistance to a Free Cuba. McCarry described the Commissionbs purpose
as to put forth ban intelligent, generous and above all respectful
offer of support to the Cuban peopleb in efforts to end bthe
dictatorship [that] has willfully and cruelly divided the Cuban family.b

bMcCarry was previously staff director for Rep. Henry Hyde, chairman of
the House International Relations Committee. He is the son of former
CIA agent Charles McCarry. McCarry worked in the office of Sen. Jesse
Helms, co-sponsor of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996. This act was
financed by several leading Cuban emigre figures and companies,
including the Bacardi company, whose lawyer was Otto Reich.

bWhile a congressional staffer, McCarry was known for his opposition to
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. An anonymous State Department
source told a Salon.com journalist that McCarry was involved in
funneling money to Aristidebs opposition via the International
Republican Institute, which is funded by the United States government.b

This is the kind of odious Bush administrator that oversees U.S./Cuban
policies.

U.S. will never reconcile to revolutionary Cuba

Comrade Raul Castro on July 26 said: bIn the forging of effort and
sacrifice, the morale and consciousness of this people has reached new
heights; sons with the stature of Gerardo HernC!ndez, Antonio Guerrero,
RamC3n LabaC1ino, Fernando GonzC!lez and RenC) GonzC!lez [the Cuban Five]
have been born, able to assume with valor and dignity the duress of an
unjust imprisonment, scattered in different prisons of the United
States.b

bThey are examples,b he continued, bbut they are not exceptions.b

This is why the U.S. will never give up trying to overturn the Cuban
Revolution. The imperialists will never reconcile to Cuba, but the
Cubans will never give up either. The enemies of humanity might have
succeeded in killing Che Guevara 40 years ago, but the ideas and values
of Che live on every day in Cuba. They live every day in the Cuban
Five, who refuse to sell out the revolution or give up.

Today, one could say that Cuba is at a crossroads. The blockade
continues to bring untold hardship. Cubabs beloved leader, comrade
Fidel Castro, is recuperating from a long illness unable to play the
same role he had for so long, although he continues to write and lead
the revolution ideologically and politically.

It is a new period in Cuban history. In fact, every day is a page in
history when a revolutionary socialist society is being built against
all odds.

The Cuban leadership along with its heroic and class-conscious people
continue to not only weather a special economic period; they are right
now evaluating every aspect of Cuban society in order to defend its
socialist gains. Could this evaluation and rectification take socialism
further?

That is exactly what imperialism fears and what the oppressed masses
from Venezuela to the Philippines to Somalia to the Bronx desire. The
workers and oppressed of the world are confident of revolutionary Cuba.

Articles copyright 1995-2007 Workers World. Verbatim copying and
distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved.

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Email: ww@workers.org
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