Dear Friends and Comrades,
The following note sent on Wednesday by a US student at the
medical school in Havana gives a good idea of the situation in Cuba right
now in the aftermath of the new Bush offensive. The fear of a direct US
attack in the event of a Bush victory in November is something I was
hearing last week when I was in Havana. It is clearly a time to mobilise
not only in Cuba.
in solidarity,
michael
I wanted to send this email to all so that you can be aware of what is
going on. Some may already know some of this, but things here are getting
a little hectic and we will wait and see how everything turns out. The
government here thinks that Bush will try to attack this country in order
to win the election. The news which we are getting here is that Bush is
trying to appease the Cubans in Miami and also because of the upincoming
elections and all of the problems which he is presently receiving
regarding the war in Iraq, the economy, etc. He has taken measures in
order to put even more economic pressure on this country. As a result,
this government is also taking measures to counteract this, meaning that
it is preparing itself for a possible attack. Also, measures were taken
where prices on all products will be raised or no longer sold so that they
can be stored in reserves and distributed during a possible attack or
war. All of this began on Monday night and so there is alot of
speculation and uncertainty about everything. Yesterday I was able to buy
a few necesities at a store and I can tell you that it was completely
chaotic. Also within 4 hours, the store sold out of all of its products,
because people wanted to have emergency items.
(This is a huge store which not only sells food, but also sells clothes
and many other things.) This chaos also spread to the banks. Maybe the
government here knows something about plans others don't, but one thing is
certain is that life here will be somewhat unstable at least until the
elections in November and depending on what happens (meaning if Bush wins)
things will probably get worse. It is said here that Bush needs to scare
people in order to get them to vote for him. This could mean an attack there
(in the States) or in another country. Or the other possibility is that
he will find bin Ladam right before the elections.
Hate to bring you the bad news but unfortunately this is the way things
are at least over here.
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at
Residencias Anauco Suites
Departamento 601
Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1
Caracas, Venezuela
(58-212) 573-4111
fax: (58-212) 573-7724
