By Geraldina Colotti on January 8, 2024.
photo: Bill Hackwell
In January 2021, already at the end of his term, Donald Trump included Cuba in the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT). In this way, the U.S. administration once again suffocated the revolution a little more, canceling Obama’s “openings” and exacerbating the effects of a blockade that has lasted more than sixty years.
In addition, this year Cuba and Nicaragua were once again included in a list of countries, unilaterally created by Washington, which according to the US government have “participated in or tolerated particularly serious violations of religious freedom”.
For Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the repeated inclusion of Cuba in the unilateral relations of the United States “responds to the need to justify its inhumane measures of siege and economic war against the island”. A purpose also openly confessed by former President George W. Bush’s chief of staff, Colin Powell, who defined the inclusion of Cuba in the list as “a fiction created to strengthen the justification of the blockade”.
That the SSOT is a fiction is clear to the world, considering that Cuba exports doctors and culture and not bombs. And, in fact, almost all the countries of the world oppose the blockade year after year, voting against it in international institutions. 99% of the member countries of the United Nations voted against the blockade more than 30 times.
However, equally evident is the damage that the SSOT causes to the island’s economy by extending US financial restrictions internationally, separating the Cuban people from the global financial system. This was seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the U.S. government did not allow the sale of oxygen to Cuba.
One aspect highlighted in a letter written to Biden by a group of Democratic U.S. Senators from Massachusetts, who are calling for the repeal of the SSOT. The signatories also highlight that “in fact, Cuba and the United States have signed a bilateral anti-terrorism cooperation agreement, which is still in force”, and remind Biden that, during the election campaign, he promised to review some of the coercive measures adopted by Trump (2017-2021).
The senators consider that, “while there are multiple reasons for the economic crisis in Cuba, undoubtedly a major contributing factor is the international financial restrictions and other measures, because Cuba was included in the SSOT list.”
A few months ago, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calculated that, had the blockade not existed, Cuba’s GDP could have grown by 9% in 2022. From March 1 to February 22 to 28, 2023, the blockade caused damages of 4,867 million dollars on a monthly basis, more than 13 million dollars per day and more than 555,000 dollars for each hour of blockade. It is estimated that, in more than six decades, the blockade caused damages of 159,84.3 million dollars. If we consider the evolution of the dollar in comparison with the value of gold on the international market, the blockade caused damages of more than 1,337,57 billion dollars.
Therefore, we should not minimize the consequences of the blockade, as the anti-communist propaganda would like to do, nor should we hide “the errors resulting from the relentless quest to get us out of the brutal siege”, stated President Miguel Díaz-Canel in his speech at the celebrations of the Cuban Revolution, which began on January 1, 1959. A speech of “passion and joy” and with a deep conviction, expressed with forcefulness by the Cuban president: “We revolutionaries have not arrived at this 65th anniversary to give up and surrender the flags,” he said.
Lucid, moving, encouraging was also the speech of Army General Raul Castro Ruz, historic leader of the Cuban Revolution and former president, who recalled the triumphal entry of the guerrillas after the fall of dictator Batista and the popular enthusiasm, and all the strength and courage needed to face what was to follow.
“We have reached the 65th anniversary of the triumph of our socialist revolution”, Raúl affirmed. “There have been many challenges we have had to face to get this far; but it was worth it, the work of the Revolution and its social conquests, even in the midst of difficulties, confirm it.” This, he recalled, “was possible, in the first place, thanks to the resistance demonstrated and the self-confidence of our heroic people; by the wise leadership of the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro Ruz; by the existence of a Party, which has become a worthy heir of the trust placed by the people in their leader, and by the unity of the Nation.”
A strength that has been transmitted to the younger generations. “There are no generational contradictions in the Revolution for a simple reason: because there is no envy or craving for power among its children,” Raul said, echoing Fidel’s words. This, he added, does not mean “in any way to ignore our weaknesses and mistakes, which are never of principle”. The leadership of the Revolution has been characterized, during these 65 years, “by its transparency and self-critical spirit, by discussing with the people the shortcomings, aware that only together we can eradicate them,” he said. Then, quoting Fidel again, he warned: “We must avoid that, in the huge sea of tactical criteria, strategic lines are diluted and non-existent situations are imagined”.
Analyses that show why Cuba continues to be a beacon in the world, despite Washington’s constant hostility and its repeated attempts at destabilization, and despite the difficulties it faces. According to official data, in 2023 the economy grew less than 2% when 3% was expected, inflation reached 30%, salaries presented purchasing power problems, there was a 4% decrease in the employed, and “deep distortions” in management plans. Data that were thoroughly discussed during the last National Assembly of People’s Power – the Cuban Parliament.
“In a kind of perfect storm”, Díaz-Canel said on that occasion, “the desire to overcome the adverse situation, the correlation between economic variables, the commitment to preserve social achievements and the very scarce and sometimes non-existent availability of foreign currency come together very frequently. . . All this has been fertile ground for the taking of non-integral decisions, which cause logical misunderstandings and negative impacts due to their application in unfavorable conditions”.
The president, however, wanted to clarify: “I firmly affirm that there is no neoliberal package against the people, nor a crusade against small and medium enterprises, nor the elimination of the basic food basket, as the counterrevolution is already saying in social networks. In Cuba no one will be left helpless”.
200 years after the nefarious Monroe Doctrine, U.S. imperialism has devastated the continents with the idea that the United States (and its most faithful vassals) was a chosen nation destined to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts and impose its own hegemony. How morally we see it now in Palestine. In these 200 years, the United States has confirmed Simon Bolivar’s prophecy, written in 1829: “The United States seem destined by providence to infest America with misery in the name of freedom”.
To the words of the Liberator we could add those of his teacher, Simón Rodríguez: “The wisdom of Europe and the prosperity of the United States are two enemies of freedom of thought in America”. And, undoubtedly, the pages written by José Martí, Apostle of Cuban independence, on the nascent U.S. imperialism and its hegemonic ambitions continue to be a compass to guide the peoples of “Our America” to raise a common flag.
Latin America and the Caribbean have never been the same since the Cuban Revolution, which demonstrated in practice the need for socialism. And they would certainly not be the same if the Cuban Revolution were to succumb to the blockade, military aggression or the “policy of maximum pressure” that tortures an entire population and uses millions of dollars to manipulate and misinform it and transform Cuba from being under attack into an aggressor.
For the peoples of the world it would not be the same without the example of Cuba. The Caribbean nation also plays an important role on the world stage, as it did during its presidency of the Group of 77 plus China, and the holding in Havana of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of this bloc, and as we see in the various initiatives to disseminate, together with Venezuela, a concept of peace with social justice.
Cuba is the heritage of humanity. “An error in Cuba is an error in America, it is an error in modern humanity” said Martí. And he added: “Whoever stands up today with Cuba stands up for all times”.