THE U.S. war against Cuba dates back a long way. It began last
century, and is now being intensified almost daily. The goal has
always been the same: to appropriate the island of Cuba and
convert it into a new kind of colony, like they did with Puerto
Rico.
This is what led the United States to intervene in the Cuban
struggle for independence back in 1898, when the colonial power,
Spain, was all but defeated and the patriots' victory was close
at hand. They occupied Cuba by force for four years, and imposed
the infamous Platt Amendment, which granted them the territory
for establishing the naval base at Guantanamo and the right to
send troops to any part of the country whenever they saw fit. In
short, they converted Cuba into a neo-colony, which lasted until
the Revolution led by Fidel Castro triumphed in 1959.
The mercenary invasion at the Bay of Pigs on April 17, 1961,
which was organized, financed and armed by the U.S. government,
was one more link in the chain of aggression, terrorism, crime,
subversion, psychological warfare, and the introduction of
plagues and diseases affecting people, crops and livestock. The
pretext used to justify the invasion was the series of
far-reaching social measures adopted from the very beginning of
the revolutionary process. These measures included a radical
agrarian reform program, through which large tracts of fertile
land were confiscated from U.S. companies and large local
landholders, to be distributed among those who worked it.
Contrary to all of the forecasts made by the CIA, the
Pentagon and the White House, the 1961 invasion was defeated in
just 72 hours, despite the enemy's superior aerial capability and
the sophistication of their weapons. The mercenaries who had
neither died in battle nor managed to flee were captured. In
spite of the fact that they had served a foreign power against
their own homeland, a classic case of treason, they were freed
close to one year later. On April 16, 24 hours before the
fighting commenced, Fidel had proclaimed the adoption of
socialism in Cuba; at the Bay of Pigs, we fought for socialism,
and triumphed.
The invasion was followed by the establishment of the
blockade, a measure aimed at strangling the country. Over the
last 35 years, the blockade has brought about material losses
estimated at more than 60 billion dollars. This blockade has been
almost unanimously condemned on numerous occasions by the UN
General Assembly, and under the circumstances of the current
economic difficulties, it has had a marked effect on the Cuban
population's quality of life and standard of living. With the
collapse of socialism in Europe, they assumed that the Cuban
Revolution would be the next to fall, like a house of cards. The
fact that Cuba has remained independent and sovereign in spite of
everything is a source of great irritation, and they have
resorted to legislation aimed at total strangulation, like the
Helms-Burton Act. They have adopted other tactics as well:
fomenting division, subsidizing counter-revolutionary groups,
attempting to force the rest of the world to join in the
blockade, and approving plans for a transition from socialism to
capitalism. With incredible arrogance, they are demanding that
Cuba implant another political regime in order to certify that it
is truly democratic. They are calling for changes that would
signify privatizing the economy and public services, seizing the
people's lands, homes and workplaces, and undoing their social
achievements: free health care and education, the right to sports
and culture, freedom from discrimination on the basis of sex and
race. They plan to do away with the forces of the Ministry of the
Interior, which over the years has foiled hundreds of attempts to
destroy the Revolution and assassinate its leaders, particularly
President Fidel Castro. They hope to convert our people's army
into a mercenary force to take part in their "peacekeeping" and
intervention operations in other Third World nations. They claim
that elections in Cuba are not free and that human rights are
violated. These are the accusations they make against a country
where in 1993, during the most recent general elections, 99.5
percent of the eligible voters cast their ballots, and 95.6
percent of them did it in favor of the candidates put forward by
the people. These are the accusations they make against a country
where at the beginning of the Revolution there were one million
illiterate people, 3000 doctors, three universities, one medical
school and an infant mortality rate of 60 per 1000 live births,
while today there are 60,000 doctors, a school enrollment rate of
over 97 percent for children up to 12 years of age and 92 percent
up to 16 years of age, 40 universities, 21 medical schools and an
infant mortality rate of 7.9, comparable to any developed nation.
Moreover, Cuba occupies 20th place in terms of medals won during
the first century of the modern Olympic Games (1896-1996), with
46 gold, 36 silver and 34 bronze. The Cuban people have remained
undefeated by the United States' war against them during these 37
years of Revolution, and every day they prove that they are
prepared to defend themselves time and time again. They say,
together with their political leaders: "There will be no return
to the yoke of slavery."
Rodolfo Casals
(Granma International staff writer)
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
