Cuba
Noam Chomsky on Terrorizing Cuba: Tom Dispatch (8/14/2011) The US Blockade of Cuba Is Pure Punishment for Cuban and American People (8/10/2010) Endless Double Standards on Cuba (1/2010) Supreme Court will not review the Cuban Five Case (6/2009) Note: Following text is courtesy of the Greater Hartford Coalition on Cuba, P.O.Box 330161, West Hartford, CT 06133 Fifty Years of the Cuban Revolution: 1959-2009Now, more than ever, it is time · to end the U.S. embargo of Cuba · to lift the travel ban · to restore normal diplomatic relations Brief HistoryCuba fought two wars of independence (1868-78 and 1895-98) to free itself from Spanish colonial rule. In 1898, after the battleship “Maine” exploded in Havana harbor, the U.S. militarily intervened and Spain was quickly defeated and the United States became the new occupying power. In 1901 provisions known as the Platt Amendment were incorporated into the Cuban Constitution, thereby making Cuba essentially a protectorate of the United States. In 1902 Cuba was declared a republic and the U.S. withdrew its forces except for the base at Guantánamo Bay, which it leased “in perpetuity.” The U.S. army returned to Cuba in 1906, 1912, and again in 1933 to “establish order.” Meanwhile U.S. corporations gained near total control of the Cuban economy, especially the sugar industry. Colonel Fulgenio Batista first came to power in 1933 through a military coup. Later he was elected to the presidency for four years (1940-44), went into exile, and returned in 1952 to stage another coup and establish a brutal dictatorship. On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro and 125 other opponents of the dictatorship attacked the Moncada barracks in Santiago. They were defeated. Castro was tried and convicted but released from prison in 1955. In 1956 Castro and 81 other revolutionaries including Ernesto “Che” Guevara sailed from Mexico to Cuba to begin the war of liberation. Aided by the July 26th movement in the cities, revolutionary forces gained strength throughout 1957 and 1958. Batista was forced to flee on New Year’s Eve 1958. Castro arrived in Havana on January 8, 1959 and proclaimed the triumph of the revolution. Five Decades of HostilityAs the new revolutionary government began to take steps to address the needs of the Cuban people, it faced a series of hostile acts on the part of the United States, the imperial power to the north. In January 1961 the Eisenhower administration broke diplomatic relations. Three months later, President Kennedy backed the unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by counter-revolutionary exiles at the Bay of Pigs. In 1962 the United States imposed the embargo on trade with Cuba, which is still in effect today. In the 1960’s the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency carried out numerous plans to destabilize the Cuban economy under the code name “Operation Mongoose.” These included at least eight attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro between 1960 and 1965. When the Soviet Union placed missiles in Cuba in 1962, the United States brought the world to the brink of nuclear war in the “October Crisis.” On October 6, 1976, a Cuban airline flight from Barbados to Jamaica was brought down in a terrorist attack, killing 73 people. Anti-Castro Cubans linked to the CIA were implicated. Two of the perpetrators, Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, continue to live with impunity in Maimi, Florida. Restrictions on trade with and travel to Cuba were tightened with the Torricelli Act (1992) and the Helms Burton Act (1996). The latter imposes sanctions on companies from other countries that conduct business with Cuba. It also authorizes the U.S. government to channel funds to “democratic and human rights groups” and explicitly states that the U.S. desires to promote “regime change” in Cuba. Accomplishments of the RevolutionIn spite of the impediments placed in its way by its powerful neighbor to the north, revolutionary Cuba is proud of the accomplishments of the past 50 years. In 1961 a literacy campaign was launched. Within a year virtually every adult in the country learned to read and write. As the decades progressed the level of education of the entire population was raised in stages, first to the sixth grade level, then ninth grade. Today, through television, university- level courses are available to everyone. In spite of the fact that most doctors in 1959 left Cuba, the country rebuilt its medical system. In 2001 the World Health Organization reported that there was one doctor for every 183 inhabitants. Primary care physicians live in the communities they serve and emphasize preventive medicine. As a result Cuba has among the lowest rates of infant mortality in the world. In addition, Cuban doctors serve in dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and Cuba trains thousands of students from these countries at the Latin American School of Medicine. Cuban troops helped defend newly independent Angola when it was invaded by South Africa in 1975. They played a major role in the decisive defeat of the apartheid regime at the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1988, which rapidly led to independence for Namibia and the freeing of Nelson Mandela in 1990. Heavily dependent upon trade with the Soviet bloc, the Cuban economy was devastated by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Nevertheless, Cuba emerged from the “special period” of the 1990s with a stronger, more diverse economy. Free the Cuba Five!In September 1998 the FBI arrested five Cubans living in Miami, Florida. In 2001 they were convicted on trumped up charges of conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States, and in one case conspiracy to commit murder. In fact, the five were gathering information on the activities of violent, counter-revolutionary groups of Cuban exiles who operate with impunity on U.S. soil. These five men—Gerardo Hernández, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Fernando González—have been held in U.S. prisons ever since. Their conviction is on appeal to the United States Supreme Court on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct, admission of illegally obtained evidence, and the impossibility of receiving a fair trial in Miami, a city where right wing Cubans hold sway and easily intimidate jurors. An international campaign to win release of the Five has received widespread support. In addition, there have been international protests against the fact that Olga Salanueva Arango, wife of Gonzalez, and Adriana Perez O’Connor, wife of Gerardo , have been denied permission by the U.S. government to visit their husbands in prison. To learn more about the case and join this campaign, visit www.freethefive.org. Greater Hartford Coalition on CubaThe Greater Hartford Coalition on Cuba was founded in 1993. Our goal is to work for an end to the U.S. government’s 50-year policy of hostility toward and isolation of Cuba and to promote greater understanding and awareness of Cuba among people in the United States. We are affiliated with the National Network on Cuba (www.cubasolidarity.com). We also support Pastors for Peace, an organization that delivers humanitarian aid to Cuba in defiance of the U.S. embargo (www.ifconews.com). We have sponsored delegations of students and youth to Cuba through the U.S.-Cuba youth exchange, and talks by Cubans visiting the United States. We have videos on the role of women in Cuba, the Cuban health care system, the case of the Cuba Five, and other Cuba-related topics available to show to churches, community organizations and campus groups. (For more information, call Alex Koskinas at 860-930-5615.) Ten U.S. presidents from Eisenhower through G.W. Bush, have pursued a failed policy of attempting to undermine and overthrow the Cuban revolution. Join us in writing to President Obama and the Connecticut congressional delegation to demand a real change: an end to the embargo, lifting the ban on travel to Cuba by U.S. residents, and the restoration of normal diplomatic relations. Above all the U.S. must respect the right of the Cuban people to determine their own future, free of outside interference! To keep up-to-date on the
activities of the coalition and news from Cuba, send a message to Travel To CubaYou, as a free American, are not permitted to travel to Cuba. Could this be the reason ? Here's an eye-opening letter to the editor of The Economist, Jan 22, 2009 issue:
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