Cuba exposes U.S. role behind terror campaign
By
Teresa Gutierrez
During 40 years of hostilities against the people of
socialist Cuba, the U.S. ruling class has come up with a number
of schemes in its attempt to destroy the Cuban Revolution.
Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, U.S. imperialism has carried
out countless assassination attempts, sabotages, biological
warfare and--probably the most deadly--has imposed a harsh
economic blockade against Cuba.
It has also used those who fled Cuba in 1959, the year
revolutionary forces ousted the repressive pro-U.S. regime.
These Cubans were the ruling class--the privileged elite who
had exploited the Cuban masses. For decades, they had done the
bidding of the U.S., creating a literal playground for U.S.
transnational corporations.
But revolutionary forces in the early 1960s began to build a
society that put the interests of the workers and peasants
before the interests of the rich and the giant corporations.
The Cuban elites lost their property and class status. Known as
"gusanos" (worms) in the progressive movement, they fled Cuba
to the U.S. where they festered as counter-revolutionaries.
They never got over the fact that they could no longer get fat
off the backs of the Cuban people.
They would have grown old and withered away had it not been
for the U.S. government, which welcomed these immigrants as it
has welcomed no others from Latin American or the Caribbean.
They became one of the main tools at imperialism's
disposal.
A decade ago, relations between Cuba and the U.S. took a
historic turn. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba no
longer had a fair trading ally it could count on. The world
geopolitical situation had changed and the relation of forces
was unfortunately in favor of imperialism.
But Cuba held on. It was able to weather the economic
turmoil, despite the tightening of the blockade. It held on
ideologically as well. In every forum, in all its statements to
the Cuban masses, the revolutionary leaders upheld the
principles of self-determination. They consistently defended
the oppressed against the oppressor and stood up to the
imperialist beast like David against Goliath.
As a result, revolutionary Cuba has continued to win the
hearts and minds of millions of people around the world. All
those struggling against the greedy Wall Street banks and the
bloodthirsty Pentagon look to Cuba for inspiration and
leadership.
In 1981, when reactionary Ronald Reagan took office, a new
chapter in relations between the U.S. and the Cuban
counterrevolutionaries began. Billions of dollars were allotted
to the Cuban American National Foundation. For what
purpose?
Widely publicized confessions of its agents have shown their
mission was to carry out terrorist acts against Cuba on behalf
of the U.S.
A climate of terror and reaction was cultivated, especially
in Miami, the seat of this counter-revolutionary activity, just
90 miles from Cuba.
They were trained by the CIA, nurtured by the corporations,
and funded by the politicians. They were allowed to grow, make
contacts around the world, run guns and drugs throughout Latin
America. They were allowed to carry out sabotage and war
against the people of Cuba.
Two terrorists tried
Last year, two Salvadoran men, Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon and
Otto Rene Rodriguez Llerena, were caught after having placed
explosive devices in public places in Havana. An Italian
tourist was killed and several Cubans were hurt when one bomb
exploded in the Copacabana hotel.
At an extensive trial in March of this year, it was shown
that the Cuban American National Foundation organized and
financed their actions, in complicity with the U.S. government.
The prosecution called for the death penalty.
Anyone who has visited Cuba knows that it has nothing like
the repressive police apparatus in the United States. Cuban
culture, unlike television and movies here, does not glorify
police violence. The government, installed by a revolution
supported passionately by the workers and farmers, has no need
to keep Black and Latino people or the poor down. They are the
very ones who have benefited the most from the revolution. So
its sentencing policy has not been punitive or racist or
anti-poor.
But Cuba does need to guarantee its security against
imperialist attacks. The socialist island is in a virtual life
and death struggle to defend its system. The revolution is at
stake. That's why the death sentence was pronounced against
these two terrorist agents of imperialism.
Unlike the U.S., which carries out more executions per
capita than any other industrialized country in the world, Cuba
has used the death penalty only a handful of times since
1959--once against a general found to be involved in drug
running.
The progressive movement has to make sure the U.S. never
succeeds in destroying Cuba, just as we must stop the execution
of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Solidarity with the Cuban Revolution is needed more than
ever. One way is to go to Baltimore on Monday, May 3rd, to
cheer Cuba's baseball team to victory when they play the
Baltimore Orioles. Whatever the outcome of that game, the Cuban
people have already hit the ultimate home run: they have kicked
U.S. imperialism way out of the ballpark in revolutionary Cuba.
And it will never be allowed to return.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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