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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="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/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Can Washington Think of Cuba’s
Government as Something Other Than Needs to Be Overthrown? <br>
</h1>
<span class="post_author_intro">by</span> <span
class="post_author"><a
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/author/nestamustuba2ey/"
rel="nofollow">Rosa Elizalde</a> - February 12, 2021</span></div>
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<p>On February 1, 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony
Blinken <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/msnbc-andrea-mitchell-reports-/hx46s4/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">spoke</a> to
MSNBC about the new U.S. government’s “<a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/llenge-to-the-u-s-100353605713/hx46s6/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">foreign
policy challenges</a>.” 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.”</p>
<p>The “all of them” is the series of decisions that
Donald Trump <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/msnbc-andrea-mitchell-reports-/hx46s4/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">took</a> in
the last four weeks of his presidency including the <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/sgp-crs-row-IF10045-pdf/hx46s8/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">bundle</a> of
sanctions on Cuba as a poisoned gift for Joe Biden. The <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/sgp-crs-row-IF10045-pdf/hx46s8/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">sanctions</a> by
the Trump administration against Cuba that began in the
spring of 2017 under the <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/3jmLSiE/hx46sb/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">pretext</a> 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.</p>
<p><strong>U.S. Against the Cuban Revolution</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ldocuments-frus1958-60v06-d481/hx46sd/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">document</a> 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 <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/wiki-Bay-of-Pigs-Invasion/hx46sg/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">failed</a> invasion
of Cuba in 1961 at the Bay of Pigs (Playa Girón).</p>
<p><a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/wiki-Richard-M--Bissell-Jr-/hx46sj/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">Richard
Bissell</a> 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 <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/rrior-Yalta-Pigs-dp-0300064306/hx46sl/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">book</a>, <em>Reflections
of a Cold Warrior</em>. He said that the CIA’s main
task in Cuba was to “<a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/y3aru5st/hx46sn/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">fabricate</a>”
an opposition that was “<a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/y62mv54u/hx46sq/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">responsible,
appealing, and unified</a>.” Bissell planned the Bay
of Pigs invasion under Eisenhower (a Republican
president) and conducted it under John F. Kennedy (a
Democratic president).</p>
<p><strong>Failed Opposition</strong></p>
<p>The U.S. government has failed time and again to <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/y62mv54u/hx46sq/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">create</a> 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.</p>
<p>Failure has not stopped the U.S. government from
pursuing the same shameless policy. Trump’s State
Department officials <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/tatus-1331341828860354563-s-24/hx46ss/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">called</a> “dissidents”
their “colleagues.” The <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/relationship-charge-daffaires-/hx46sv/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">chargé
d’affaires</a> of the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Timothy
Zúñiga-Brown, <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/uba-status-1329920172929523713/hx46sx/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">received</a> 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 <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/vices20until20further20notice-/hx46sz/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">suspended</a> 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 <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/visas-immigrant-visas-/hx46t2/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">Guyana</a>.
Zúñiga-Brown went further than previous U.S. officials:
he began to act as <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/o-provoke-a-soft-coup-in-cuba-/hx46t4/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">driver</a> and <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/--twrLsMKf40-feature-emb-title/hx46t6/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">advocate</a> for
these “opponents,” who are members of the San-Isidro
Movement (MSI) and have proclaimed their <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/o-provoke-a-soft-coup-in-cuba-/hx46t4/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">sympathies</a> for
former U.S. President Trump—including MSI leader <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-fighters-pawns-erlich-201218-/hx46t8/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">Denis
Solis</a>.</p>
<p>Zúñiga-Brown reminds us of a previous U.S.
administrator, <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/wiki-Romulus-Mitchell-Saunders/hx46tb/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">Romulus
M. Saunders</a>, 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 <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/0001-001-rgn-mainview-fulltext/hx46td/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">buy</a> Cuba
for $100 million; the story about the negotiations,
however, got leaked and Saunders failed to secure a
deal. Polk’s <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/history-people-buchanan-james-/hx46tg/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">Secretary
of State</a> James Buchanan <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/0001-001-rgn-mainview-fulltext/hx46td/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">said</a> 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.</p>
<p>One of Cuba’s most important intellectuals of that
period, <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/wiki-Domingo-del-Monte/hx46tj/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">Domingo
del Monte</a>, <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/y3t5rrzn/hx46tl/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">called</a> 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.</p>
<p><strong>Cuba’s Refusal</strong></p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/o-provoke-a-soft-coup-in-cuba-/hx46t4/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">rejected</a> all
attempts to overturn the Revolution and to fabricate an
opposition for this purpose.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/onavirus-vaccine-idUSKBN27S1OX/hx46tn/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w">two</a> of
Cuba’s vaccines carry the name Sovereign 1 and Sovereign
2.</p>
<p><em>This article was produced by </em><a
href="https://go.ind.media/e/546932/globetrotter-/hx46tq/780422461?h=aGIiWcGUz9nRCgl32ZVIntkLYl5YBeMNP3E-2JNOq2w"><em>Globetrotter</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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