The first thing is respect

By
Manuel E. Yepe                                                                Read Spanish Version

The
degree to which the imperial syndrome blinds the outlook of U.S.
politicians of every leaning and level can be appreciated in the
present inauguration of a new government that was called to rectify
the errors made by the departing administration, which have plunged
the country into the worst discredit and unpopularity. For many
reasons, the incoming president is evidence of the desire for change
that ranks foremost among the citizens of that nation.

After
half a century of relations with Cuba, during which Washington has
ignored the independence-driven decision that led to the victory of
the Cuban people on Jan. 1, 1959, after a bloody struggle that began
90 years earlier against Spanish colonialism and was crowned by the
triumph over the tyranny that watched over the interests of the
United States on the island, Cuban patriots see no possible
alternative to the absolute exercise of their sovereignty.

In
those 50 years, Cuba had to deal with an asymmetrical confrontation
that was the equivalent of a violent war, without relenting one inch
on its decision to become independent.

The
disproportion of forces is such that very few people in the world
gave any chance of success to the Cubans’ resistance in a
David-and-Goliath confrontation. However, the patriots on the island
have never weakened in their determination to achieve and vindicate
their liberty.

Cuba
has suffered the longest economic, financial and commercial blockade
in the history of mankind. It has experienced terrorist aggressions
of all kinds, including hundreds of attempts to assassinate its
leaders, and all types of pressure, threats, expulsions, prohibitions
and exclusions in international organizations, without surrendering
or admitting any damage to its national sovereignty.

Cubans’
collective heroism in defense of the national dignity and the evident
social achievements of the Cuban Revolution stimulated a growing
solidarity throughout the world. That solidarity has been expressed
in actions that have humiliated the empire, such as the almost
unanimous votes at the United Nations for a condemnation to
Washington’s blockade against Cuba.

But
it was the American people themselves who, in an act that earned them
the admiration of the entire world, spoke out against the
imperialistic foreign policy of their government by choosing as their
next president a candidate who promised changes in that policy.

The
Cubans have a right to hope that, after 50 years of the
implementation of a wrong policy against their country, those in the
U.S. who must carry out the changes announced by the new president
will speak out at all times in support of the independence of the
other countries. They should also speak out for a rectification of
the policy of abuses, arrogance, sanctions and aggression against the
countries that form the world community. And in that community, the
United States is just one country that owes respect to the others and
deserves their respect.

It
is an ill omen that some leaders and officials in the new government
team voiced, in the days prior to the inauguration of the new
president, projections about relations with Cuba that do not
acknowledge the need to rectify a wrong policy but instead reiterate
hegemonic stances.

United
States policy toward Cuba has been miscarried not because it failed
in its purpose to bring Cuba back into the corral and turn it into a
colony (as the U.S. press often states) but because it is unfair. It
is also responsible for an infinity of crimes against the Cuban
people, in an effort to prevent their independence.

The
traditional hegemonic tactics disguised as the promotion of
democracy, an insistence in funding programs for subversion, the
recruitment of traitors and defectors, and the promotion of sanctions
against Cuba by U.S. allies and subordinates are in themselves
criminal attacks against the sovereignty of the Cuban people.

To
speak at this time of exacting reciprocal concessions from Cuba, of
maintaining the blockade as an element of pressure, or establishing
conditions prior to a dialogue is to insult the Cuban people and mock
world public opinion from the United States’ condition as the only
superpower on the planet.

Only
absolute obedience to international law, respect for the sovereignty
of the other states and the principles that guarantee equality among
nations regardless of their political system, age, population size,
territorial size, military strength, economic development or any
other consideration can give the United States the place its good
people deserve, people who today are vilified by the crimes committed
by its government all over the world.

In
a peaceful world, reciprocal respect among all nations must be first
and foremost.

Manuel
E. Yepe Menéndez is a lawyer, economist and journalist. He works as
professor at the Higher Institute for International Relations in
Havana.