Cuba’s Defiance of US Imperialism

The New York Times reported “[Trump’s] military actions and coercive economic warfare against a handful of nations — Iran, Venezuela and Cuba — are aimed so far at decapitating leadership to put in power someone who will accede to U.S. demands.”

This was “part of a greater project of resurrecting empire.” The Times didn’t question our right to overthrow any government of our choosing, or Washington’s 67-year-old policy of continuously trying to overthrow the government of Cuba.

You wouldn’t know from the lack of media coverage, but last Friday was the 65th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Cuba on 17 April 1961— the Bay Of Pigs Invasion. Six months prior, Washington began its economic blockade of Cuba. The State Department admitted the purpose of the blockade: “To bring about hunger, desperation, and the overthrow of [the Castro] government.” The U.S. has maintained that blockade for 64 years.

The National Security Archive revealed Washington started, “ramping up… covert operations after the April 1961 failure at the Bay of Pigs.” The Kennedy Administration approved Operation Mongoose, a campaign of “terrorist attacks” against Cuba with “specific CIA and Pentagon plans for infiltrations, sabotage, espionage, and regime change.”

In Operation Mongoose, the CIA recruited “‘mercenaries’ and ‘reactionaries’ associated with the former dictatorial regime of Fulgencio Batista,” with “the main goal of overthrowing Fidel Castro.” While the Batista dictatorship was a friend of Washington, Castro had to be overthrown by all possible means.

President Kennedy’s Cuba Task Force decided the best policy was “attacking civilian targets inside Cuba: ‘our covert activities would now be directed toward the destruction of targets important to the [Cuban] economy.’” That brings us to Trump and the humanitarian crisis the administration created in Cuba. The Wall Street Journal admitted that Cuba is experiencing an “economic implosion amid a damaging U.S. oil blockade.”

ACAPS documented “nine million [Cubans] have been affected… hindering food availability… worsening health conditions, disrupting livelihoods.” Even the Times admitted in a rare article about Cuba that the U.S. blockade is “causing blackouts, food shortages, canceled classes and deaths in hospitals and clinics.”

The Times explained the goal was “to choke Cuba’s government into submission,” and “gradually open its economy to American businesspeople and companies.” For the past four months, Washington deliberately blocked fuel from entering Cuba— which keeps the lights on and hospitals functioning— in order to overthrow the Cuban government and benefit U.S. corporations.

The World Food Programme documented “Cuba’s long-standing policy of providing free and universal access to basic services.” U.S. aggression is a direct assault against Cuba’s right to food, free healthcare, and free education.

The State Department admitted that Cuba represented a “successful defiance of the US.” The 65th anniversary of the failed U.S. invasion is an example of Cuba’s successful defiance. Cuba’s resilience in the face of a 64-year-old U.S. blockade is successful defiance. Cuba refuses to submit to U.S. imperial aggression.

Washington uses economic warfare to choke Cuba into submission, and taxpayers fund the strangulation.

-Anton Porcari

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