Cuba must resort to creativity and solidarity to confront today’s fascists (+Español)
The (unlikely) collapse of the Cuban revolutionary government will not liquidate the Revolution, the foundation and driving force of the political project that Cuba has embraced since becoming aware of its uniqueness and historical destiny.
The Cuban Revolution, which took shape in the classrooms of the San Carlos Seminary and the schools of Mendive and de la Luz, and was refined in the jungle, reaches its zenith in the life and work of José Martí and finds its irreversible realization in the triumph of the M-26-7 (26th of July Movement) uprising, led by Fidel Castro. These events are so significant that any solution that marginalizes or undermines them is unthinkable. The restorationist dreams of the entrepreneurs—heirs of the annexationist and surrender-oriented right—and the hesitant social democratic approaches—the wayward children of the counterrevolution—are merely illusions born of excessive hatred and incapacity.
Nonetheless, it is fair (and necessary) to acknowledge that there are brewing stories within the Cuban political structure and institutions fueled by ambition and dishonesty. Although the revolution’s generals have not divided the country like Alexander the Great’s diadochi, some of their sons—the epigones—have inundated the nation with their arrogance and impunity. However, this is simply the inevitable stain that accompanies all human achievement.
The newly inaugurated U.S. administration, to confirm the lack of seriousness of the governments of this country—some worse than others—has just invalidated the exclusion of Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism. The outgoing administration, in a morally and politically questionable and ill-timed move, removed Cuba from the list, more than anything else, to cause problems for the government that would succeed them and, to a certain extent, to garner the few sympathies that their total support for the genocidal State of Israel and the open manipulation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict had taken away from them. In addition, of the damage that the government of the strongest imperialist country in the world inflicts on itself —something that I believe it does not care about at all—the worst thing is the damage that it causes the Cuban people. The State policy of the successive U.S. administrations of surrendering the Cuban Revolution through economic warfare is as genocidal as the State policy of Israel of annihilating the Palestinian people using the means of a war of total extermination.
The effects of the U.S. blockade policy against Cuba are documented in statistics and accessible to everyone on the Internet. One cannot deny the tremendous negative impact of this blockade policy, which has been tightened over the years—more than sixty years—on the daily lives of the Cuban people. To starve a people to death is ethically unacceptable, and this is the ultimate goal of this policy.
Some euphemistically refer to it as an embargo, but it is nothing less than a total blockade. This policy does not merely suspend trade between the two countries at the initiative of one; rather, it prevents any possibility of trade with third parties whose products contain even the slightest percentage of components from the United States. It also hinders financial operations to pay for services or goods and blocks any type of transaction or loan from supposedly international financial organizations. During the Cold War, the blockade impacted the Cuban economy, but it did not result in the bloodshed and impoverishment seen after the collapse of the USSR and the fall of the communist bloc. The conditions that led the Eisenhower administration to implement that policy no longer exist—Cuba does not “export” the revolution, there is no Cuban military presence in any country, and the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution has already passed away. Nevertheless, the Revolution and its resistance to the dictates of imperialists, who now openly display their lack of democratic maneuvers, continue to persist.
The likelihood that an administration will lift the blockade policy against Cuba, which has been condemned by the international community for over 30 years, is quite low, as that would represent a significant political defeat for the empire, especially now in its fascist phase. Cuba has no other option but to continue implementing the necessary diplomatic and economic strategies to, on the one hand, further isolate the oppressor and, on the other, seek the resources needed to ensure the country’s minimal functionality. However, this is an unsustainable situation in the long run and even in the medium term. The solution of facilitating emigration does not alleviate the economic decline and undermines any political efforts.
Creative policy solutions often carry a significant risk of being compromised during implementation. What if the Cuban government and its institutions took a more aggressive stance to politically reclaim Cuban emigration? Cuba has no choice but to resort to creativity and solidarity to confront today’s fascists.
