The 51st Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution was celebrated on 1
January, 2010
Cuba. Again. Still. Forever.
William Blum, Anti-Empire Report, USA, 6 January 2009
More than 50 years now it is. The propaganda and hypocrisy of the
American mainstream media seems endless and unwavering. They can not
accept the fact that Cuban leaders are humane or rational. Here's the
Washington Post of December 13 writing about an American arrested in
Cuba:
"The Cuban government has arrested an American citizen working on
contract for the U.S. Agency for International Development who was
distributing cellphones and laptop computers to Cuban activists. ...
Under Cuban law ... a Cuban citizen or a foreign visitor can be
arrested for nearly anything under the claim of 'dangerousness'."
That sounds just awful, doesn't it? Imagine being subject to arrest for
whatever someone may choose to label "dangerousness". But the exact
same thing has happened repeatedly in the United States since the
Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. We don't use the word "dangerousness". We
speak of "national security". Or, more recently, "terrorism".
Or "providing material support to terrorism".
The arrested American works for Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), a
US government contractor that provides services to the State
Department, the Pentagon and the US Agency for International
Development (USAID). In 2008, DAI was funded by the US Congress
to "promote transition to democracy" in Cuba. Yes, Oh Happy Day!, we're
bringing democracy to Cuba just as we're bringing it to Afghanistan and
Iraq. In 2002, DAI was contracted by USAID to work in Venezuela and
proceeded to fund the same groups that a few months earlier had worked
to stage a coup — temporarily successful — against President Hugo
Chávez. DAI performed other subversive work in Venezuela and has also
been active in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other hotspots. "Subversive"
is what Washington would label an organization like DAI if they behaved
in the same way in the United States in behalf of a foreign government.6
The American mainstream media never makes its readers aware of the
following (so I do so repeatedly): The United States is to the Cuban
government like al-Qaeda is to the government in Washington, only much
more powerful and much closer. Since the Cuban revolution, the United
States and anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the US have inflicted upon Cuba
greater damage and greater loss of life than what happened in New York
and Washington on September 11, 2001. Cuban dissidents typically have
had very close, indeed intimate, political and financial connections to
American government agents. Would the US government ignore a group of
Americans receiving funds or communication equipment from al-Qaeda
and/or engaging in repeated meetings with known leaders of that
organization? In the past few years, the American government has
arrested a great many people in the US and abroad solely on the basis
of alleged ties to al-Qaeda, with a lot less evidence to go by than
Cuba has had with its dissidents' ties to the United States, evidence
usually gathered by Cuban double agents. Virtually all of
Cuba's "political prisoners" are such dissidents.
The Washington Post story continued:
"The Cuban government granted ordinary citizens the right to buy
cellphones just last year."
Period.
What does one make of such a statement without further information? How
could the Cuban government have been so insensitive to people's needs
for so many years? Well, that must be just the way a "totalitarian"
state behaves. But the fact is that because of the disintegration of
the Soviet bloc, with a major loss to Cuba of its foreign trade,
combined with the relentless US economic aggression, the Caribbean
island was hit by a great energy shortage beginning in the 1990s, which
caused repeated blackouts. Cuban authorities had no choice but to limit
the sale of energy-hogging electrical devices such as cell phones; but
once the country returned to energy sufficiency the restrictions were
revoked.
"Cubans who want to log on [to the Internet] often have to give their
names to the government."
What does that mean? Americans, thank God, can log onto the Internet
without giving their names to the government. Their Internet Service
Provider does it for them, furnishing their names to the government,
along with their emails, when requested.
"Access to some Web sites is restricted."
Which ones? Why? More importantly, what information might a Cuban
discover on the Internet that the government would not want him to know
about? I can't imagine. Cubans are in constant touch with relatives in
the US, by mail and in person. They get US television programs from
Miami. International conferences on all manner of political, economic
and social subjects are held regularly in Cuba. What does the American
media think is the great secret being kept from the Cuban people by the
nasty commie government?
"Cuba has a nascent blogging community, led by the popular commentator
Yoani Sánchez, who often writes about how she and her husband are
followed and harassed by government agents because of her Web posts.
Sánchez has repeatedly applied for permission to leave the country to
accept journalism awards, so far unsuccessfully."
According to a well-documented account7, Sánchez's tale of government
abuse appears rather exaggerated. Moreover, she moved to Switzerland in
2002, lived there for two years, and then voluntarily returned to Cuba.
On the other hand, in January 2006 I was invited to attend a book fair
in Cuba, where one of my books, newly translated into Spanish, was
being presented. However, the government of the United States would not
give me permission to go. My application to travel to Cuba had also
been rejected in 1998 by the Clinton administration.
"'Counterrevolutionary activities', which include mild protests and
critical writings, carry the risk of censure or arrest. Anti-government
graffiti and speech are considered serious crimes."
Raise your hand if you or someone you know of was ever arrested in the
United States for taking part in a protest. And substitute "pro
al-Qaeda" for "counterrevolutionary" and for "anti-government" and
think of the thousands imprisoned the past eight years by the United
States all over the world for ... for what? In most cases there's no
clear answer. Or the answer is clear: (a) being in the wrong place at
the wrong time, or (b) being turned in to collect a bounty offered by
the United States, or (c) thought crimes. And whatever the reason for
the imprisonment, they were likely tortured. Even the most fanatical
anti-Castroites don't accuse Cuba of that. In the period of the Cuban
revolution, since 1959, Cuba has had one of the very best records on
human rights in the hemisphere. See my essay: "The United States, Cuba
and this thing called Democracy".8
There's no case of anyone arrested in Cuba that compares in injustice
and cruelty to the arrest in 1998 by the United States government of
those who came to be known as the "Cuban Five", sentenced in Florida to
exceedingly long prison terms for trying to stem terrorist acts against
Cuba emanating from the US.9 It would be lovely if the Cuban government
could trade their DAI prisoner for the five. Cuba, on several
occasions, has proposed to Washington the exchange of a number of what
the US regards as "political prisoners" in Cuba for the five Cubans
held in the United States. So far the United States has not agreed to
do so.
William Blum is the author of:
Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2 Rogue
State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower West-Bloc Dissident: A
Cold War Memoir Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American
Empire
Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at
www.killinghope.org
Previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read at this website.
To add yourself to this mailing list simply send an email to bblum6
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From: http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/aer77.html
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