Radar was a deterrent to U.S. aggression
Behind Putin's move to close base in Cuba
By Gloria La Riva
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Oct. 16 that
Russia would abandon its electronic radar station in Lourdes,
Cuba, and its naval base in Camranh Bay, Vietnam. His
announcement was timed to present the news of the base closures
to U.S. President George W. Bush at the summit of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Shanghai, China,
later in October.
The Lourdes radar station, located in Havana Province, has
never served an offensive purpose. Rather, it has had immense
strategic military importance for the defense of Russia, Cuba
and any country that faces being a target of U.S. imperialism's
expanding wars.
The Lourdes base was the principal intelligence-gathering
station for the former Soviet Union, as it has been for Russia.
The information gathered has enabled that country to verify
U.S. compliance with anti-ballistic missile treaties.
Today, the United States is trying to abrogate those
treaties and build a national "missile defense" system in
space.
When the base was established in 1964, it was part of a
military-defense alliance between two socialist countries.
The unexpected decision to close the base signifies a
serious capitulation to the U.S. government by Russia. It also
raises security risks for Cuba and the peoples of the former
Soviet republics.
This move, undoubtedly made after tremendous U.S. pressure,
must be seen in light of the massive U.S. war in Afghanistan
and the U.S. drive to occupy the military bases of the former
Soviet republics of central and south-central Asia.
While Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was concluding
his recent arm-twisting tour of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan,
meant to open the way for a U.S. takeover of former Soviet
military bases in the region, U.S. military officials were
stating their intent to also examine bases in Kyrgyzstan and
Kazakhstan.
The capitalist media are reporting that Putin's opposition
to changing the existing U.S.-Russia anti-ballistic missile
agreements, which for decades helped to stay the hand of U.S.
imperialism, has weakened.
Cuba: 'We do not agree
with closure'
The Cuban government immediately protested Russia's decision
to close Lourdes. In a statement published in the daily
newspaper, Granma, on Oct. 18, it said it will not accept such
a move by Russia.
"At this very moment, the U.S. government's stance is more
aggressive and belligerent than ever, many countries are
threatened in light of the U.S. president's speech on Sept. 20,
and military operations have already begun in Afghanistan.
"Under such circumstances, the withdrawal of the station
would be a message and a concession to the government of the
United States, which would constitute a grave threat to Cuba's
security, and therefore we were not in agreement with its
closure. ... Consequently, the agreement on the Lourdes
Electronic Radar Station has not been cancelled, since Cuba has
not given its approval."
For months the Cuban and Russian governments had been
negotiating over the terms of the agreement, which has been
overdue for renewal since 1999. According to Cuba, only small
differences remained to be ironed out. In recent months Russia
had stopped the periodic payments required for the base
operations.
In Soviet times when Cuba and its former socialist ally had
close economic, political and military relations, Cuba charged
nothing for the base use. The Soviet Union in turn provided
Cuba with free military aid and other valuable assistance.
After the USSR collapsed, Russia and Cuba signed agreements
over Russia's continued operation of Lourdes, through financial
and logistical arrangements.
Putin admitted he was anxious to present the news to Bush at
the summit. Accompanying the decision was a series of
self-exculpatory excuses and lies in Russian media. Cuba in
turn responded in all its media with a detailed explanation of
the truth behind Russia's move.
Justifying the closure, Army Commander Anatoly Kvashnin,
chief of the general staff of the armed forces of the Russian
Federation, said Russia would redirect the $200 million in
annual rent for the Lourdes base, and instead purchase
satellites. He claimed satellites could give more reliable and
up-to-date information about U.S. military operations.
Cuba answered that "Kvashnin's optimistic plans for
gathering intelligence from outer space, as well as supplying
the Russian Armed Forces with new submarines and planes, are
simply that: optimism. Over a period of almost 10 years, not a
single new satellite has been launched, nor have the armed
forces been equipped with any new submarines or planes; in many
regions, they even lack uniforms and boots."
But Russia is willing to send tanks and uniforms for
thousands of Northern Alliance soldiers to collaborate with the
United States.
Inhibited U.S. aggression
A number of important Russian military experts gave a grim
assessment of Putin's moves, saying that Russia is endangering
its security and surrendering its status as a "world power" by
abandoning bases that are geopolitically strategic. They were
quoted in Cuba's press.
In the Oct. 19 Granma, Igor Rodionov, Russian defense
minister until 1997, explained his shock at the base
closing.
"At first, I thought it was a Cuban initiative, that is,
withdrawing the base in return for the lifting of the blockade.
But it is in fact a continuation of the concessions made by
Russia.
"The monitoring center in Cuba covers the entire Western
Hemisphere; it can actually keep track of all telephone
conversations in the U.S. territory, except Alaska, along with
many other things.
"This was a colossal means of containment. The Americans
felt that they were constantly under surveillance and that it
was very difficult to do anything secretly."
The closure of the Lourdes base is not only a break by
Russia with Cuba vis-à-vis military and defense matters.
It is part and parcel of the Putin government's increasing
surrender to U.S. imperialism and a betrayal of the monumental
sacrifices that the peoples of the Soviet Union undertook to
battle the Nazi imperialist invasion during World War II.
Now the United States is encroaching more and more on the
region of Central Asia for geopolitical control and its immense
oil and gas reserves, taking over the very republics that were
once protected from Wall Street's exploitation by the existence
of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Cuba for its part remains firm in its determination to
defend its people and the socialist state against any U.S.
designs. Cuba's Oct. 17 statement said in part: "There is
something that should be clearly understood by everyone, and on
which no one should entertain false illusions: in Cuba there is
not and there never will be either panic or fear. This is the
perfect atmosphere for serenity, cool-headed wisdom, integrity,
dignity and unlimited courage."
Reprinted from the Nov. 15, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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