[News] Can Washington Think of Cuba’s Government as Something Other Than Needs to Be Overthrown?
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Fri Feb 12 10:51:35 EST 2021
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/12/can-washington-think-of-cubas-government-as-something-other-than-needs-to-be-overthrown/
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/12/can-washington-think-of-cubas-government-as-something-other-than-needs-to-be-overthrown/>
Can Washington Think of Cuba’s Government as Something Other Than
Needs to Be Overthrown?
by Rosa Elizalde <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/nestamustuba2ey/>
- February 12, 2021
------------------------------------------------------------------------
On February 1, 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/msnbc-andrea-mitchell-reports-/hx46s4/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> to
MSNBC about the new U.S. government’s “foreign policy challenges
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/llenge-to-the-u-s-100353605713/hx46s6/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w>.”
Blinken threw out, piece by piece, the world chessboard of his
predecessor, Mike Pompeo. When asked by journalist Andrea Mitchell if he
will revoke the inclusion of Cuba in the U.S. list of state sponsors of
terrorism, the new secretary of state’s response to “a series of
actions” taken by the outgoing administration was, “We’re looking at all
of them.”
The “all of them” is the series of decisions that Donald Trump took
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/msnbc-andrea-mitchell-reports-/hx46s4/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> in
the last four weeks of his presidency including the bundle
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/sgp-crs-row-IF10045-pdf/hx46s8/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> of
sanctions on Cuba as a poisoned gift for Joe Biden. The sanctions
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/sgp-crs-row-IF10045-pdf/hx46s8/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> by
the Trump administration against Cuba that began in the spring of 2017
under the pretext
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/3jmLSiE/hx46sb/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> of
sonic attacks on U.S. diplomats in Havana—which no one has been able to
prove to this day—were escalated just before the end of Trump’s
presidency, with dozens of unilateral measures and the inclusion of the
Caribbean country in the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
*U.S. Against the Cuban Revolution*
The U.S. government’s hostility to the Cuban Revolution did not begin
with Trump. Nor does it remain at the level of policy orientation of the
U.S. presidency.
Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the United States government has
helped shape the counterrevolutionary forces. It has tried to take over
the Cuban “opposition,” both inside and outside the island. In 1960,
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower circulated a secret policy document
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ldocuments-frus1958-60v06-d481/hx46sd/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> with
a chilling title: “A Program of Covert Action Against the Castro
Regime.” The paper outlined how the U.S. government was planning a
“powerful propaganda offensive” and further stated that “Work is already
in progress in the creation of a covert intelligence and action
organization within Cuba which will be responsive to the orders and
directions of the ‘exile’ opposition.” Finally, the U.S. government had
created a “paramilitary force outside of Cuba” for future guerrilla
actions, a force that was evident during the failed
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/wiki-Bay-of-Pigs-Invasion/hx46sg/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> invasion
of Cuba in 1961 at the Bay of Pigs (Playa Girón).
Richard Bissell
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/wiki-Richard-M--Bissell-Jr-/hx46sj/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> of
the CIA, who was in charge of the Bay of Pigs invasion, later reflected
on the U.S. government’s role in the attack on Cuba in his book
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/rrior-Yalta-Pigs-dp-0300064306/hx46sl/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w>,
/Reflections of a Cold Warrior/. He said that the CIA’s main task in
Cuba was to “fabricate
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/y3aru5st/hx46sn/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w>”
an opposition that was “responsible, appealing, and unified
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/y62mv54u/hx46sq/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w>.”
Bissell planned the Bay of Pigs invasion under Eisenhower (a Republican
president) and conducted it under John F. Kennedy (a Democratic president).
*Failed Opposition*
The U.S. government has failed time and again to create
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/y62mv54u/hx46sq/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> a
“responsible, appealing, and unified” opposition. Despite the
expenditure of vast amounts of U.S. taxpayer dollars by Washington, it
has not been able to create this “opposition” inside or outside Cuba.
Failure has not stopped the U.S. government from pursuing the same
shameless policy. Trump’s State Department officials called
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/tatus-1331341828860354563-s-24/hx46ss/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> “dissidents”
their “colleagues.” The chargé d’affaires
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/relationship-charge-daffaires-/hx46sv/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> of
the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Timothy Zúñiga-Brown, received
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/uba-status-1329920172929523713/hx46sx/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> a
call from the “dissidents” warmly at the U.S. Embassy. This was more
important to the U.S. than to offer consular services, which have been
suspended
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/vices20until20further20notice-/hx46sz/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> due
to the pandemic. The closure of consular services has forced Cubans with
family in the United States to request a visa for the U.S. in Mexico and
Guyana
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/visas-immigrant-visas-/hx46t2/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w>.
Zúñiga-Brown went further than previous U.S. officials: he began to act
as driver
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/o-provoke-a-soft-coup-in-cuba-/hx46t4/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> and
advocate
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/--twrLsMKf40-feature-emb-title/hx46t6/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> for
these “opponents,” who are members of the San-Isidro Movement (MSI) and
have proclaimed their sympathies
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/o-provoke-a-soft-coup-in-cuba-/hx46t4/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> for
former U.S. President Trump—including MSI leader Denis Solis
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-fighters-pawns-erlich-201218-/hx46t8/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w>.
Zúñiga-Brown reminds us of a previous U.S. administrator, Romulus M.
Saunders
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/wiki-Romulus-Mitchell-Saunders/hx46tb/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w>,
the U.S. minister to Spain during the administration of U.S. President
James Polk. Saunders tried to negotiate a secret agreement with Spain in
1848 to buy
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/0001-001-rgn-mainview-fulltext/hx46td/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> Cuba
for $100 million; the story about the negotiations, however, got leaked
and Saunders failed to secure a deal. Polk’s Secretary of State
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/history-people-buchanan-james-/hx46tg/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> James
Buchanan said
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/0001-001-rgn-mainview-fulltext/hx46td/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> of
Saunders that the minister to Spain “speaks no language but English, and
even this he sometimes murders.” Buchanan wished that a “more skilful
agent” could have been chosen, but, in fact, the problem was not
Saunders’ failures but the failure of the policy.
One of Cuba’s most important intellectuals of that period, Domingo del
Monte
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/wiki-Domingo-del-Monte/hx46tj/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w>,
called
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/y3t5rrzn/hx46tl/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> Ambassador
Saunders a “wimp” who was “very obtuse” and weak. It was almost as if
del Monte was defining not Saunders but Zúñiga-Brown, as well as the
overall U.S. policy in Cuba itself.
*Cuba’s Refusal*
The Cuban Revolution rejected the colonial depredation of Cuba, the
reduction of the island into a great brothel and a grand casino of the
United States. Since 1959, the Cuban people have rejected
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/o-provoke-a-soft-coup-in-cuba-/hx46t4/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> all
attempts to overturn the Revolution and to fabricate an opposition for
this purpose.
Che Guevara wrote that the Cuban Revolution “became Marxist” not because
of a preconceived attitude toward Marxism but as a logical solution to
the problems posed by imperialism.
If the Biden administration wishes to change Trump’s chessboard, it
should consider this simple point: on the chessboard, Cuba has always
been the queen who is proud of her sovereignty. This attitude has always
shaped Cuba’s politics. It is not by chance that two
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/onavirus-vaccine-idUSKBN27S1OX/hx46tn/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w> of
Cuba’s vaccines carry the name Sovereign 1 and Sovereign 2.
/This article was produced by //Globetrotter/
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/globetrotter-/hx46tq/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w>/./
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