Cuba - the threat of a good example

Operation Miracle

April 2011, marked the 50th anniversary of Cuba’s victory over CIA backed forces at the Bay of Pigs, or Playa Girón as it is known throughout the island.

This violent and unprovoked attack is the most overt and widely known of all the US government’s attempts to destroy the Cuban Revolution. Less commonly known are the subsequent 50 years of US blockade, covert interference, aggression and propaganda.

Since Robert Kennedy declared that removing the Cuban government ranked as “top priority of the United States” in 1961, twelve successive US administrations have funded or turned a blind eye to aggression launched from their shores including chemical warfare, bombing campaigns, assassination plots, and attempting to fund and stir up internal dissent. Attacks which have seen 3,478 Cubans slaughtered since 1959.
 

Most brutal of all of these acts remains the blockade which has been tightened and intensified every decade since its introduction in 1962 to strangle the economy and wear down the Cuban people.

The blockade and associated legislation has been expanded to include not just US companies but other country’s ability to trade with Cuba. US-initiated restrictions on banks, business and shipping mean that it is impossible for many companies to trade, whilst those that do can face penalties from the US.

In 2009, Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan, wrote: "The US embargo against Cuba is immoral and should be lifted…it's preventing millions of Cubans from benefiting from vital medicines and medical equipment essential for their health."

Why are US governments obsessed with causing such suffering in Cuba? What danger can Cuba possibly pose to them to justify such inhumanity?

Nothing but the threat of a good example. Since 1960, when Cuba first dispatched thousands of volunteer teachers to help eradicate illiteracy in remote parts of the island, the US has feared that other Latin America citizens might look across the water and aspire to the social gains that the Cuban revolution had delivered to its people.

According to a CIA in the 1960s:“If Cuba succeeds we can expect most of Latin America to fall.” Brutal US backed repression throughout Latin America during the 70s and 80s and the imposition of neo-liberal economic policies in the 90s gave the US confidence that their nightmare scenario of a continent following Cuba’s example could not come true. But today, the failure of these policies sees a new Latin America breaking free from US economic and political control. Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua are following the beacon that Cuba first lit by championing policies of health, education, social justice and internationalism, and many other countries in the region are benefiting from the new alliances.

Just as with its own literacy brigades in 1961, Cuba’s ‘Yo, Si Puedo’ literacy method has helped to teach more than 4 million people in 30 countries to read and write in since 2004. Three countries have gone on to declare themselves illiteracy free.

Cuban doctor in Haiti

In Haiti, Cuban health workers have saved more than 250,000 lives since they started working in the country in 1998, and were the first on the ground setting up field hospitals and treating patients in the aftermath of the earthquake in 2010. This year, Cuba signed a tripartite agreement with Brazil, whose resources will fund Cuban doctors and materials to rebuild and train Haiti’s health service and workers benefiting 75% of the Haitian population.

Cuba has never sought to gain or exploit in its international commitments. Speaking in a solidarity conference in 1995, Nelson Mandela said: “Cubans came to our region as doctors, teachers, soldiers, agricultural experts, but never as colonizers. They have shared the same trenches with us in the struggle against colonialism, underdevelopment, and apartheid. Hundreds of Cubans have given their lives, literally, in a struggle that was, first and foremost, not theirs but ours. As Southern Africans we salute them. We vow never to forget this unparalleled example of selfless internationalism.”

And what of the US government response to such selfless internationalist efforts to provide health, education and social care for worlds poor? Wikileaks cables released this year show their policy is to trawl for stories which might dispel Cuba’s “myth of medical prowess”, and try to lure away Cuban doctors volunteering on international missions by offering preferential treatment and entry visas to the US.

Like most other countries, Cuba is not immune to the world economic crisis. Unlike others, it suffers twofold as the crisis falls on top of an economy already struggling under 50 years of blockade and still recovering from the effects two hurricanes in 2008 which decimated the economy. Despite this, Cuba continues to prioritise health and education, and maintain internationalist commitments. While students march against cuts on streets of UK, Cuba still provides its young people with free lifelong education including at higher and university levels.

It is a testament to the determination of the Cuban people that they have defended their independence and the achievements won by their revolution despite relentless attacks from world’s greatest superpower for more than 50 years. And it is testament to the international solidarity movement that the country can count on so many friends around the world to speak out against the illegal blockade and for Cuba’s right to self determination free from foreign interference.

You can show your support Cuba by joining the Cuba Solidarity Campaign today.

Natasha Hickman, Communications Manager at the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. Please email for more information.