** ** *Yes Washington has been repeating many of these same type of posts released by Wikileaks for years and it is no surprised except maybe to Walter Lippmann about the fast track program the US has for medical personnel( Walter deny it was happening and then said maybe it was just a little bit almost a year ago when I wrote about it) but why does Cuba still import trade with the US even in its limited way it does with Ag and some medical products.* ** *Stop trading with the enemy and No to the return of Capitalism in Cuba with Chinese characteristics, forward to real socialism under Workers Control!* ** *Cort* ** ** *- Havana Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org -*
*Cubaleaks* Posted By *the editor* On December 9, 2010 @ 7:03 pm In *Fernando Ravsberg,Lead Articles,Opinion,Recent Posts* | *1 Comment<http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=34325&print=1#comments_controls> * *Fernando Ravsberg * <http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mundo/cartas_desde_cuba/> [1] Photo by Ihosvanny HAVANA TIMES, Dec. 9 After the revelations by Wikileaks, Ive come to realize that I live in one of the few regions of the planet where sincerity still predominates. Here, the politicians from Cuba and the United States say what they think in public and face to face. When I looked for those revelations concerning Havana, I found the same things that Washington has always accused it of: protecting terrorists, negatively influencing the rest of the continent and leading Hugo Chavez down the wrong path. The official Cuban media complains that the Wikileaks cables have revealed a plan to sabotage the islands international medical assistance program. But who needs such a revelation when Washington has a program of fast-track visas to tempt Cuban doctors who work in third countries. Perhaps the only news is that one of the women supposedly sexually assaulted by Julian Assange has a history of recognized anti-Castro activism a coincidence that is now arousing the mistrust of some. (1) (2) Apart from this, there is not anything as surprising as the questions about the mental health of the Argentinean president, suspicions that Putin works for the Russian mafia, Sarkozys difficult character, or those private little parties of Berlusconi. Its that American politicians are much more frank when it comes to Havana, so much so that *their ambassador in Mexico, Carlos Pascual, openly said that its not necessary to worry about Cuba because the environment will eliminate the problem for us.**(*3) What bigger scandal could be revealed by the WikiLeaks cables after an American diplomat said with complete sincerity that the solution to the bilateral dispute is that the island and its residents disappear under the sea? Before 1959 there had indeed been secret messages, such as that of Ambassador Benjamin Welless in which he complained of fatigue because the Cuban president and his ministers consulted him daily about decisions concerning all types of aspects of the Cuban government. (4) This relationship between the US ambassadors and the islands political leaders was one of the causes that Radio Bemba (a form of oral transmission that preceded WikiLeaks) spread the rumor that Cuba had a certain level of dependence on its neighbor to the north. But sincerity was mutual with Fidel Castro. Once he was established in the Sierra Maestra, the *comandante *wrote a letter in which he asserted that his lifes destiny would be the war he would initiate against the US after defeating the Batista dictatorship. We need not even mention his subsequent speeches following the revolutionary victory, those in Cuba as well as those around the rest of the world. It would be difficult to find one that didnt have at least one reference to Yankee imperialism, to which he attributes all the evils that humanity suffers. Therefore, in the Cuba-US dispute, the secret cables can contribute little to what we all already know. However, the Cuban leadership seems quite satisfied that the double talk of their mortal enemy is naked before the world. They are so happy that theyre saying WikiLeaks deserves a monument. Notwithstanding, instead of spending the money on statues, they might do better by investing in the creation of a Cubaleaks that would give some transparency to the countrys own political, economic and social life. I believe this would work marvels. I know journalists who would love to be able to write about those issues and many citizens willing to provide information about current-day cases that remain mysteriously in the shadows. Care would of course be required in relation to any secrets having to do with national security, but we could speak about tons other issues (such as the gross inefficiency of some ministries, acts of corruption by one businessperson or another, or the strange voting by Cuba in the UN). As a friend of mine who is conversant in the matter once said: Transparency is not a striptease in which everyone else gets undressed; the true commitment to transparency begins when we too are willing to take off our own clothes. (1) http://www.telesurtv.net/secciones/contexto/85376-NN/wikileaks-behind-del-scandal-sexual-againstassange-unite-collaborator-Cuban-of-the-cia<http://www.telesurtv.net/secciones/contexto/85376-NN/wikileaks-behind-del-scandal-sexual-against--assange-unite-collaborator-Cuban-of-the-cia> [2] (2) http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/2065-the-Swedish-presumably-violate-for-assange-attempt-break-the-arch-progressive [3] (3) http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5ig9LfKrrzQnxUKIdDOK00d5I-nCw [4] (4) Tony Guiteras, un hombre guapo. Author: Paco Ignacio Taibo II *An authorized Havana Times translation of the BBC Mundo<http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mundo/cartas_desde_cuba/> [1] original post.* ------------------------------ 1 Comment (Open <http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=34325&print=1#> | Close<http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=34325&print=1#> ) 1 Comment To "Cubaleaks" *#1 Comment* By *grok* On December 10, 2010 @ 8:36 pm WikiLeaks or CubaLeaks could or would exist only because of a criminal lack of transparency in government and business. And since socialism is *de facto* (by definition) a form of government with a high degree of transparency i.e., democratic input the fact that there really is a pressing need for such a means of expressing political dissent in Cuba today is a statement on the failure of the present cuban regime to live up to many of the goals and standards of socialist praxis at a, really, fundamental, basic level. Cubans shouldnt really want to establish a CubaLeaks but they *should* do it, if this government is not quickly forthcoming with REAL, substantial POLITICAL reform to accompany the now much ballyhooed economic ones which have been announced and which are apparently being opened to official, [well-controlled and well-rehearsed] debate in government, Party and society. ------------------------------ Article printed from Havana Times.org: *http://www.havanatimes.org* URL to article: *http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=34325* URLs in this post: [1] *Fernando Ravsberg *: * http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mundo/cartas_desde_cuba/* [2] http://www.telesurtv.net/secciones/contexto/85376-NN/wikileaks-behind-del-scandal-sexual-againstassange-unite-collaborator-Cuban-of-the-cia<http://www.telesurtv.net/secciones/contexto/85376-NN/wikileaks-behind-del-scandal-sexual-against%E2%80%93assange-unite-collaborator-Cuban-of-the-cia>: * http://www.telesurtv.net/secciones/contexto/85376-NN/wikileaks-behind-del-scandal-sexual-against--assange-unite-collaborator-Cuban-of-the-cia * [3] http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/2065-the-Swedish-presumably-violate-for-assange-attempt-break-the-arch-progressive: * http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/2065-the-Swedish-presumably-violate-for-assange-attempt-break-the-arch-progressive * [4] http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5ig9LfKrrzQnxUKIdDOK00d5I-nCw: * http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5ig9LfKrrzQnxUKIdDOK00d5I-nCw * -- *A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified. (Also quoted as "The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.") Leon Trotsky Their Morals and Ours (1938)* [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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