By Omar Pérez Salomón on April 19, 2023
graphic: Lacoste
The history of Cuba and what is happening on the island, written under the orders of the centers of power of U.S. imperialism is full of falsehoods and lies, far from the truth and ethics. It is true that digital platforms and social networks have added new channels of communication and ways to manipulate and distort the Cuban reality; but it does not mean that this is something new.
One of the most miserable chapters in the incessant campaign of deceit, slander and misdeeds against the Cuban Revolution was Operation Peter Pan, carried out between December 26, 1960 and October 23, 1962. It was one of the cruelest subversion actions developed by the CIA, the State Department and religious institutions of the United States, with the support of counterrevolutionary organizations inside Cuba, where the main victims would be defenseless children and parents deceived or confused by illusory rumors, with destabilizing purposes.
Astonishingly, the capitalist media referred to this operation as one of the most moving stories of Cubans fleeing communism, and magnified the supposed humanism of its executors. Similar treatment is currently being carried out by newspapers, press agencies, radio and television stations, media and digital networks to instill in people’s minds that Cuba is a failed state and that is why emigration and other negative phenomena have increased in Cuban society, with the characteristic that the character of these manifestations is overstated and decontextualized.
These days we are celebrating the 62nd anniversary of the first great defeat of U.S. imperialism in Latin America, when in less than 72 hours the mercenary Brigade organized, equipped and trained by the CIA was defeated at Playa Giron. Their plan included a propaganda and disinformation campaign in which Radio Swan stood out, offering tactical support to the mercenaries and misrepresenting what was happening. It reported, “The invaders are advancing steadily on all fronts. Across Cuba, people are joining the invaders, along with underground rebels, Castro’s forces are surrendering en masse.”
The Associated Press reported on April 17 from Miami, “most of the 400,000-man militia recruited by Castro has already deserted and the decisive battle will be fought within hours”. There were those who made their contribution to Cuba’s geography. This is the case of the UPI news agency which published the following news on April 18: “Invading forces today isolated the port of Bayamo on the southern coast of Oriente province”. Anyone who knows even a little about the geography of Cuba knows that the city of Bayamo is not on the southern coast and has no port.
It is common that as part of the unconventional war that is being waged against us, certain counterrevolutionary sites publish news to confuse and create unfavorable positions of opinion. In recent days, one of them reported that some twenty Cuban doctors, who are part of the brigade that provides services in Mexico, were rejected for lacking a professional license. He reported that “despite the fact that the doctors do not practice, they continue to pay the Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos of the island”. In reality they were Cuban doctors living in Mexico, nothing to do with our Brigade.
Currently, there is an unparalleled bombardment by digital platforms aimed at highlighting our difficulties in the construction of socialism, in an attempt to demonstrate the “non-functioning” of the system, to question the capacity and integrity of the Communist Party and the Cuban leaders, particularly President Miguel Diaz-Canel to lead the country, with the purpose of sowing distrust and rejection in the masses, trying to create a state of discontent, as a first step to promote internal subversion and give way to a direct military intervention coming from the northern neighbor. Let us not forget that there are training bases in that territory and that several characters have declared in the digital networks that they are preparing to invade Cuba.
Added to this panorama is an increase in cyber attacks on Cuban portals and sites, with greater articulation and organization, and the complicity of the owners of the digital social networks that allow the attackers to recognize on their platforms and get fed up with committing these acts, which constitute crimes punishable by law in any country.
In recent years, the enemies of the Revolution have used digital social networks, especially Twitter, to offer the world a false image of government opposition. U.S. government agencies such as the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, to which Radio TV Marti belongs, have participated in these operations.
It is also known that Twitter massively blocked accounts of agencies, press media and professionals in this sector, especially on dates and events crucial for Cubans such as the Constitutional Referendum, in appearances of leaders before the media and coverage of the plane crash in Havana in May 2018, to cite just these cases.
If Playa Giron was the confirmation that the U.S. government was determined to prevent at all costs the realization of social and structural transformations in Cuba, the crushing defeat of the invaders demonstrated the invincibility of a people when it conquers its independence and fights to preserve it.
Source: La Pupila Insomne translation, Resumen Latinoamericano – English