Bush’s New Aggression Against Cuba
[The US administration is hatching new plans to overthrow the Government of Cuba, against which thousands of progressive and anti-war personalities in the US have signed a statement “Stop Bush’s New Aggression Against Cuba”. However, some friends of Cuba have expressed their doubts about the real possibility of an aggression against Cuba. To dispel such doubts the Department of International Relations, Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba has issued on 14 May 2003 a note “To Parties and Friendly Organisations”. Excerpts from this note are given below. ]
The policy of hostility and aggression of US governments against the Cuban Revolution is not new. It began in 1959, is more than 40 years old and has been implemented, with different shades in some cases, by nine successive US Republican and Democratic Administrations.
On 1996 this policy was codified as Helms Burton Act, which explains why and how the Revolution must be overthrown and describes in detail how the US will arrange for Cuba’s “transition to democracy” with the presence of an Administrator, a project that, by the way, seems to have been used as a guide for what has been established in Iraq….
What is new in the US government’s policy towards Cuba that has brought about a qualitative change in its projection?
1. The first factor is the universally known issue. The ultra-conservative team nowadays in power in the US has decided
* To impose its world hegemony by resorting to the use of force.
* To divide the world between those who are with the US and all the others that automatically became enemies and, therefore, can be punished.
* To adopt the pre-emptive war doctrine.
* To ignore international law and to decide when it can “change the regime” of a country if it does not adjust to its parameters.
2. The second factor is Bush’s debt of gratitude to the Cuban terrorist mob in Miami that supported him in the electoral fraud in Florida, which finally made him win ... We know about its fascist ultra-right plans against Cuba and Bush’s commitments to it.
3. More than 20 Cubans, who are either members of these extremist groups or are linked to them, in key posts of the US Administration and the White House. The conjunction of these factors has brought about a leap in the hostility against Cuba.
4. There has been an increase in all kinds of accusations against Cuba … like existence of a programme for development of biological weapons and transfer of such technology to “hostile states”, or Cuban authorities’ links to international drug traffic … etc. Cuba is indeed in the list of states which sponsor terrorism, and … on 30 April the US State Department ratified such status in its Annual Report.
5. The head of the US Interests Section in Cuba has gone beyond all previous experiences and have violated the most elementary diplomatic norms in his declared objective of organizing a kind of “unique party of the opposition, which will be manufactured, financed and manipulated by the United States.
6. The deliberate un-fulfillment of the Migratory Agreements signed between Cuba and the US … is a deliberate plan to encourage illegal immigration so that those who want to leave the country will become desperate and especially people with criminal records will look to the attacks and hijackings of aircraft and vessels as an alternative, thus creating a complex situation which world bring the Migratory Agreements to an end and could even provoke an incident which would “justify” an aggression… In a recent meeting at the US State Department, the Head of our Interests Section in Washington was informed that the Homeland Security Office, attached to the National Security Council, considered that the continued hijackings of aircrafts and vessels from Cuba were a serious threat to the national security of the United States. This information leaked to the press and caused the euphoria of the Miami anti-Cuban mob that has been publicly raising the slogan “After Iraq, Cuba”.
7. With the beginning of the campaign for the 2004 presidential elections in the US, Cuba becomes a domestic policy issue, basically in the state of Florida.
8. The expulsion of 14 Cuban diplomats from our Mission in the United Nations and from our Interests Section in Washington last May 13, who were accused of “carrying out activities out of their official status, considered as detrimental to the USA” is another step to strengthen in the public opinion the image of Cuba as a hostile country…
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11. To those who, in good faith, believe that such an aggression does not seem to be included among those options and even say that no mobilization or deployment of military troops is observed, we remind that unlike Afghanistan or Iraq, Cuba is just 90 miles away from the United States, the headquarters of its Armed Forces Central Command are located in the State of Florida, just a few minutes flight to our country, and that there is a US military base located in our own country.