The United States lost an opportunity to ‘invade’ Cuba

One of the most perplexing questions in contemporary history is the reason why Washington has not decided to invade Cuba, when it has done so in dozens of other countries. Honestly, there is no other logical explanation than the fear of resistance by the Cuban people, and the domestic and international reaction that an event of this nature would bring about — without a good excuse to do so. Due to this, the objective of the U.S. government has been to take advantage of any excuse to intervene militarily in Cuba. Even counterrevolutionary organizations have been created with this mission since they have never considered overthrowing the Cuban government on their own.

In the absence of this supreme excuse, the recent explosion of four fuel storage tanks, located in Matanzas Bay, in the western region of the country, could have given them the opportunity to display U.S. might on Cuban soil.

Faced with the largest fire ever in Cuba, the Cuban side requested international assistance. Several nations, especially Mexico and Venezuela, responded quickly by sending technicians and supplies to quell the fire. The U.S. government, which has the most advanced resources in the world to deal with this type of disaster, and the one country that could have arrived here the quickest, offered modest “technical advice,” which the Cuban side says it has accepted.

It was an opportunity for the United States to deploy its powerful military, and their technical resources, on the bay of Matanzas. The area would have been flooded with planes, helicopters and boats displaying American flags, modern weapons and water cannons shooting water and chemicals against the fire, while drones and satellites would have been in charge of reporting the precision of the actions to the rest of the world. Even the Cuban press would have reported the heroism shown by the US ‘invaders,’ as well as the expressions of friendship, admiration and gratitude received from the Cuban people.

But the expression is “nada,” or nothing has been done. The U.S. lost an opportunity to show off a little and come off as winners in Cuba. For whatever the reason — a lack of style or elegance, maybe — prevented this from happening. Evidently generosity and honor are not part of the qualities that characterize the American invaders.