Cuba is not a state sponsor of terrorism (+Español)
Cuba, a country of eleven million people, has been under an illegal embargo by the United States government for over six decades.
Despite this embargo, Cuba’s people have been able to transcend the indignities of hunger, ill-health, and illiteracy, all three being social plagues that continue to trouble much of the world.
Due to its innovations in health care delivery, for instance, Cuba has been able to send its medical workers to other countries, including during the pandemic, to provide vital assistance. Cuba exports its medical workers, not terrorism.
In the last days of the Trump administration, the US government returned Cuba to its State Sponsor of Terrorism list.
This was a vindictive act. Trump said it was because Cuba played host to guerrilla groups from Colombia, which was actually part of Cuba’s role as host of the peace talks.
Cuba played a key role in bringing peace in Colombia, a country that has been wracked by a terrible civil war since 1948 that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. For two years, the Biden administration has maintained Trump’s vindictive policy, one that punishes Cuba not for terrorism but for the promotion of peace.
Biden can remove Cuba from this list with a stroke of his pen. It’s as simple as that. When he was running for the presidency, Biden said he would even reverse the harsher of Trump’s sanctions. But he has not done so. He must do so now.
Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad are the authors of The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of US Power. Noam Chomsky is a linguist, philosopher, and political activist. Vijay Prashad is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter.
From People’s Dispatch.
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Version en Español:
Cuba no es un Estado patrocinador del terrorismo
Cuba, un país de once millones de habitantes, ha estado sometida – durante más de seis décadas – a un embargo ilegal por parte del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos.
A pesar de este embargo, el pueblo cubano ha sido capaz de superar las indignidades del hambre, la mala salud y el analfabetismo, las tres plagas sociales que siguen afectando a gran parte del mundo.
Gracias a sus innovaciones en la prestación de servicios médicos, por ejemplo, Cuba ha podido enviar a sus trabajadores de la salud a otros países, incluso durante la pandemia, para prestar una ayuda vital. Cuba exporta trabajadores de la salud, no terrorismo.
En los últimos días de la administración Trump, el Gobierno estadounidense volvió a incluir a Cuba en su lista de Estados patrocinadores del terrorismo. Esto fue un acto de venganza. Trump dijo que era porque Cuba acogió a grupos guerrilleros de Colombia, que en realidad era parte del rol de Cuba como anfitrión de las conversaciones de paz.
Cuba desempeñó un papel clave para lograr la paz en Colombia, un país asolado por una terrible guerra civil que, desde 1948, se ha cobrado la vida de cientos de miles de personas. Durante dos años, la administración Biden ha mantenido la política vengativa de Trump, que castiga a Cuba no por terrorismo sino por promover la paz.
Biden puede, de un plumazo, eliminar a Cuba de esta lista. Es tan sencillo como eso. Cuando era candidato a la presidencia, dijo que revertiría las sanciones más duras de Trump.
Pero no lo ha hecho. Es el momento.
