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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://resumen-english.org/2022/09/the-us-keeps-betting-on-cuba-surrendering-out-of-hunger-and-desperation/">resumen-english.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">The US Keeps Betting on Cuba Surrendering Out of Hunger and Desperation</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits"></div>By Gustavo A Maranges on September 4, 2022</div><div class="gmail-content"><div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-wrapper2">
<div id="gmail-attachment_21291" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-21291" src="https://i0.wp.com/resumen-english.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/c_6994.jpg?resize=300%2C199&ssl=1" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="300" height="199"></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-21291" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">photo: Bill Hackwell</p></div>
<p>Last week, US President Joe Biden extended for one more year the
sanctions on Cuba, arguing the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. This
mechanism has been used for the last 60 years to back the countless
sanctions that make up the US blockade against Cuba.<span id="gmail-more-21290"></span></p>
<p>This time, Biden only limited himself to saying that it was a “matter
of interest to the United States.” By a stroke of the pen, he condemned
the Cuban people to continue to suffer all the economic shortages
caused by the blockade. Sanctioning and playing with the welfare of
millions of people, with their very lives, seems to be a reflex action
of US political class.</p>
<p>For Biden, it was just one of the hundreds of documents he signed
last week. Although, for Cubans, this one is a critical signature that
has a direct impact on their health, food for their families, working
conditions, possibilities to enjoy their country, and everything they do
to see their country flourish. The blockade is, without a doubt, the
main obstacle to Cuba’s development.</p>
<p>Many of our readers know about all the scientific and social
achievements of the island despite the sanctions. Meanwhile, Cubans only
think of how much more they could have done without a blockade. The
annual losses to the Cuban families’ economy are estimated at billions
of dollars, but this is not nearly the worst damage. Enjoying a full
childhood or further progress in gender equality or women’s empowerment
is hindered by the sanctions, something recognized by UNESCO and NGOs
such as OXFAM.</p>
<p>Today, Cuba is going through the worst economic crisis in decades,
which is the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the deficiencies of the
national business system, and the so-mentioned US sanctions. It is not
possible to explain Cuba’s reality without understanding the effect of
the blockade, since it catalyzes every mistake or wrong internal
decision while inhibiting any loophole of development.</p>
<p>However, it has been a long time since the blockade, based on an
archaic Act, ceased to be only economic aggression; it now includes the
psychological level. This is no coincidence since it was its main
objective, as the State Department official Lester Mallory clearly
stated in a memorandum: the blockade main’s intention is to “(…) provoke
hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the government.”</p>
<p>The Trading with the Enemy Act was the legal basis found by the
Kennedy administration in 1962 to sustain sanctions against Cuba by
considering it a “hostile state.” Despite the Cold War scenario, it was
not true then, and it still is a lie now. A lie repeated many times
becomes truth, the saying goes, although this is the exception that
proves the rule. No matter how often they repeat it, no one can believe
in such absurdity.</p>
<p>A country that sends doctors to the poorest places in the world,
offered assistance to Americans after Hurricane Katrina, fought cholera
in Haiti and Ebola in Africa, and sent doctors to over 56 countries amid
the COVID-19 pandemic, cannot be a foe. How can Cuba be so hostile if
there are eight bilateral cooperation agreements in force since Obama’s
administration?</p>
<p>Cuba’s response was not long in coming. President Miguel Diaz-Canel
and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, as well as several high-ranking
Cuban diplomats, criticized Biden’s cowardly decision and ratified
Cuban’s will of not kneeling down before the extortions of any foreign
government. Cuba is socialist because we decided so in 1961 and ratified
it after every Constitution.</p>
<p>Today, despite Cuba’s complex economic situation, those who continue
fighting for their social and political project are more than those who
abandon it. The US government thought it was impossible to survive
without its help in the sixties, then they got ready to return during
the special period. They thought everything would end after Fidel Castro
left his government position or later when he passed away. They bet on
breaking us during the COVID-19 pandemic, and today, they continue to do
everything possible to achieve the long-standing goal. All this shows
the Machiavellian character of the US policy towards Cuba and its
shameful historical amnesia.</p>
<p>Biden has maintained his predecessors’ bet, which confirms his memory
is not the best. Perhaps his case is even more reprehensible, not only
because it goes against his electoral promises, but also because his
long years in politics have allowed him to see all these failures with
his own eyes.</p>
<p>Ratifying Cuba as a “hostile state” says more about the current
administration than about the Caribbean island itself. If someone sees
Cuba as a “hostile state”, it is because they feel threatened by its
example, by what it means to Latin Americans and many Americans who want
a fairer US. Cuba has never been hostile to Americans and they will
never be. Only those seeking to crush their neighbors’ sovereignty,
stand for imperialist policies, and this profoundly unequal world order,
can see Cuba in that way. For Democrats and Republican administrations
alike, Cuba has always been a thorn in their side.</p>
<p>Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – US</p>
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