FRFI 167 June / July 2002
Since 11 September and the ‘war on terrorism’, the ‘axis of imperialists’ – led by the US and Britain – has fostered an international climate ripe for the imposition of neo-liberal policies. In Latin America this means the absorption of national economies by US markets through the implementation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), dollarisation, greater freedom for monopolies to strip natural resources and exploit labour and increased misery in the most unequal continent in the world. HELEN BURNES and LAURIE MITCHEL report on Cuba’s resistance to US aggression.
The success of the FTAA depends on crushing opposition and resistance. Since the last issue of FRFI, the FARC guerrillas in Colombia have suffered a military assault fuelled by US weapons and personnel. The democratically elected President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez was kidnapped for 48 hours in a CIA-sponsored coup. Against this backdrop of manipulation and coercion the Cuban Revolution stands tall and resilient, condemning the war on Afghanistan, Zionist atrocities in Palestine and the Venezuelan coup. In every international forum Cuba asserts that: ‘The existing world economic order constitutes a system of plundering and exploitation like no other in history…extreme poverty has already reached 1.2 billion people in the Third World.’ (Fidel Castro, March 2002) Cuba has increased its provision of free aid and schooling to thousands of poor people around the world.
The imperialists are desperate to silence Cuba. We report on concerted attempts within the last three months to undermine Cuba’s sovereignty, dignity and reputation, in short to isolate Cuba and the revolutionary example of a socialist alternative. The attacks are led by a powerful layer of rabid Cuban exiles, politicians in the Bush administration. Labour’s Britain leads the anti-Cuban assault within Europe. But Cuba is on the offensive and has picked apart every lie and fabrication, denouncing them as the desperate aggression of imperialism in crisis.
Machinations at Monterrey
The Mexican government, under the thumb of the US, attempted to block President Fidel Castro’s participation at the International Conference on Financing for Development, in Monterrey on 21 March 2002. Fidel refused to stay away, but agreed to leave the summit early because Bush threatened not to attend if Fidel were there. Cuba did not reveal the reason behind Fidel’s departure, until he was publicly accused of running away from the US delegation.
Fidel then revealed that Mexican President Fox had demanded that he leave the summit. Fox denied this so Cuba called together 100 international journalists to hear a taped 20 minute telephone conversation in which the US-lackey Fox did indeed demand that Fidel leave the summit after lunch. Fidel said he would resign immediately as head of the Cuban state if it were proved that Cuba had fabricated the evidence.
Throughout 40 years of isolation, Mexico was the only country in Latin America to consistently maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba. The Mexican government’s complicity in silencing Cuba betrays the history of friendship between the two countries.
Human wrongs in Geneva – same story, different storyteller
On 17 April at the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the US patched together its annual condemnation of Cuba which was passed by 23 votes for, to 21 against, with nine abstentions. The resolution is always drafted by the US, but since 1998 when the resolution was defeated, the US has shopped around for any cringeing nation it can pressurise to submit it. The Czech Republic and Poland have played this role since then, but this time the dubious honour went to Uruguay. President Bush has been searching for a Latin American country to place the resolution since last October. The resolution in Geneva provides the justification for the US to continue its blockade.
Even before the vote the Cubans had exposed the resolution as a political farce and hypocrisy. In a televised speech to the people on 11 April, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Roque, read from US State Department internal documents proving the US had drafted the resolution. The Cubans were also informed about the pressure exerted on other countries to vote against Cuba. US State Secretary, Colin Powell and Secretary of the National Security Council, Condoleezza Rice threatened African countries with the loss of benefits allocated by the New Initiatives for Economic Development in Africa. Nevertheless, all but one African country refused to condemn Cuba. Seven Latin American countries voted against Cuba as did all the European imperialists, including Britain. Political support for the US buys Europe exemption from the Helms-Burton Act banning trade with Cuba.
This year’s resolution ‘invites’ Cuba ‘to implement efforts to advance in the area of human, civil and political rights’ and proposes a UN representative in Cuba to ‘collaborate’ in its implementation. On the same day that the Uruguayan government’s resolution was passed, a plane left Havana for Uruguay with 200,000 doses of meningitis B vaccine, the initial consignment of a donation from Cuba.
In a speech to over a million people in Havana on May Day, Fidel Castro said: ‘We were condemned in Geneva by those who believe that this sea of people gathered here, which can be seen from every corner of the globe, has been deprived of its human rights…
‘No freedom of expression can exist [In Latin America] where the principal and most effective media are an exclusive monopoly in the hands of the richest and most privileged sectors, sworn enemies of any economic, political or social change. The enjoyment of wealth, education, knowledge and culture are the preserve of those who, accounting for a tiny fraction of the population, receive the larger part of the goods produced in their countries.
‘People’s protests are crushed with amazing violence. Tear gas, people dragged through the streets, brutality exercised against masses by the police armed with shields and swathed in the strangest helmets and outfits giving them the appearance of recent arrivals from a distant planet, are the methods used to defend that democracy and their citizen’s human rights. Similar scenes have never been witnessed in our country. Never, over more than four decades, has force been used against our people…
‘Each and every one of the Latin American countries that condemned us in Geneva or co-sponsored the draft resolution against Cuba are well below achieving the educational, cultural and social rates that are essential for a healthy, decent and just life of their citizens. Not one can match Cuba…
• Secondary education enrolment ratio: Latin America, 52%; Cuba, 99.7%
• Infant mortality per 1,000 live births: Latin America, 32; Cuba, 6.2
• Medical doctors per 1,000 inhabitants: Latin America, 160; Cuba, 590
• Hospital beds per 100,000 inhabitants: Latin America, 220; Cuba, 631.6
‘To those who so foolishly speak and repeat the imperialists’ slogan that no democracy and no respect for human rights exist in Cuba, let me repeat: no-one can question the fact that, despite being very small, our country today is the freest, fairest and most supportive country on the planet. It is also by far the most democratic. There is only one Party, but this neither nominates nor elects candidates. This is completely forbidden: it is the citizens from the grassroots level who propose, nominate and elect candidates. Our country enjoys an enviable and ever more solid and indestructible unity. The media is public and does not and cannot belong to private individuals. It carries no commercial advertisements and it does not promote consumerism; it entertains and informs, educates and never alienates’.
‘Axis of imperialists’ itching to attack Cuba
The US escalated its offensive on 6 May 2002, when Bush’s Under-Secretary of State, John Bolton accused Cuba of developing biological weapons and threatened to extend the ‘war on terrorism’ to Cuba. ‘We know that Cuba is collaborating with other state sponsors of terror’ he said, his sole evidence being Fidel’s visits to Iran, Libya and Syria last year. Cuba’s ‘sophisticated bio-medical industry’ is ‘one of the most advanced in Latin America, and leads in the production of pharmaceuticals and vaccines that are sold world-wide’, complained Bolton.
If scientific and humanitarian success in tackling the diseases which kill millions of poor people across the world is a crime, then Cuba is certainly guilty! Cuban biotechnology centres have registered 49 cutting edge generic medicines, five products for treating AIDS, 24 diagnosis systems and the world-famous vaccination for meningitis B, among other achievements.
Back in 1998 an official US government report concluded that Cuba posed no significant military threat to the US. On 10 November, 2001, John Bolton himself had made no reference to Cuba in a speech to the Convention on Biological Weapons in Geneva.
The fresh accusations came six days before former US President Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba on 12 May. Fidel responded with dignity, telling Carter: ‘you may have free and complete access – together with any specialists of your choosing – to [any of our] scientific research centres, [which have been accused] of producing biological weapons.’ The fearless invitation forced Colin Powell to retract the accusations the next day! He stated that Cuba simply ‘has the capacity and capability to conduct such research’!
Tightening the noose around Cuba
The Cuban exiles, the Miami Mafia, were instrumental in undemocratically electing US President Bush. His administration is dominated by veterans of the ‘dirty wars’ in Central and South America. Destruction of Cuban socialism is at the heart of his regime. On 20 May, Bush attended a lavish fundraiser in Miami organised by right-wing exiles to inaugurate his brother Jeb Bush’s campaign for re-election as Governor for Florida. Bush reassured the Miami Mafia that he would not relent to growing pressure within the US Congress, and from Carter to normalise relations with Cuba. ‘If Cuba begins to adopt meaningful market-based reforms, then, and only then, I will work with the United States Congress to ease the ban on trade and travel between our two countries’ he announced.
In 2001, 766 US citizens were cited for violating the blockade by travelling to Cuba, a 400% increase from Clinton’s final year. US citizens face fines of $50,000 (£34,000) just for visiting Cuba! On 3 April a Canadian businessman who lives in Philadelphia became the first foreigner to face prison under the US Trading with the Enemy Act for selling water-purification chemicals to Cuba. The Revolution has responded with intelligence and diplomacy. The visit to Cuba by former US President Jimmy Carter 12-17 May was a major victory for Cuba in the ideological battle to lift the US blockade.
Carter shows the ‘humanitarian’ side of imperialism
Carter praised the medical system and research, the Latin American School of Medicine and Cuba’s ‘extraordinary success’ in treating children with physical and mental disabilities. Carter told press that he had total freedom of movement and association in Cuba, including meetings with religious leaders and dissidents. His unannounced visits to centres revealed the serious shortages of resources caused by the blockade. He called for normalisation of relations and exchanges between Cuban and US citizens and specialists (one day after the US refused visas for two Cuban cancer specialists to attend a meeting in Florida).
Carter’s speech and question-answer session with Havana University students was broadcast live on Cuban television and printed in the newspapers the next day, his criticisms included. Carter told students that Cuba must join the ‘community of democracies’ in Latin America. Fifth-year student Daniel Garcia, asked Carter what he thought about the fact that the US ‘imposes, as a condition to normalise relations with our country, that we change our government toward a Latin American-style democracy…a democracy which in the last 30 to 40 years has brought millions of human beings into poverty, which has killed tens of millions of children with diseases by being unable to cure them, which has utterly destroyed the economies of these countries. These countries which voted against us, or which did not support us on the Human Rights Commission, have nothing to teach us’.
This was the voice of the Cuban youth, assuring Carter that the Revolution would retain its principles and outlive many more US Presidents!
