‘U.S. hands off Cuba, Venezuela’

Anti-war demonstrators and immigrant rights marchers should add May 20 to their calendars. They can bring their struggles together on that day in Wash ington, D.C., and Los Angeles at demo n strations to demand “U.S. hands off Cuba and Venezuela.”

Working together, these two countries of Latin America are providing advanced medical care, not only to the citizens of their own countries, but to all who need it. Together, they have restored vision to tens of thousands and brought basic health care and immunization to villages from Haiti to Ghana. Together, they are lifting the cloud of illiteracy, helping young and old alike to participate more fully in their societies.

This human development aid is offered free, without debt or conditions.

At a time when so many young people in the U.S. graduate from universities burdened by a lifetime of debt for school loans, 100 students from this country are studying medicine in Cuba on full scholarships—which include tuition, books, room and board. Four hundred scholarships are still available.

In the United States, the Venezuelan national oil company, CITGO, was the only oil company to respond when home heating oil prices spiked after Hurricane Katrina. CITGO currently provides discounted fuel in cold weather states from Maine to Illinois.

Cuba and Venezuela both offered immediate aid to the Gulf states after the hurricane. Cuba mobilized 1,586 doctors and 36 tons of supplies. Washington turn ed their offers away, condemning many poor Gulf Coast residents, most of them Black, to unnecessary death and suffering.

Targets of U.S. aggression

Cuba and Venezuela are beacons of hope for the poorest people throughout Latin America and in the United States. At the same time, they are targets of overt and covert U.S. military and economic aggression.

The unsuccessful CIA-backed coup attempt against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in April 2002 and the 45-year-long U.S. economic blockade of the island of Cuba are the most infamous examples.

The May 20 demonstration in Wash ington, D.C., will march past the office of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). In its “Review of U.S. Policy Toward Venezuela,” the U.S. Depart ment of State admits that NED “and other U.S. assistance programs provided training, institution building, and other support to individuals and organizations understood to be actively involved in the brief ouster of the Chávez government.”

The coup attempt was followed by a 10-week oil production boycott organized by the Venezuelan equivalent of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. By choking off oil revenues, these bosses attempted to undermine and stop the Bolivarian programs that are uplifting the poorest Venezuelans. But in the next attempt to stop the Chávez leadership—a recall referendum in August 2004—a massive turnout of voters overwhelmingly supported their president at the polls.

Struggle of Bolívar still lives

The present-day machinations against Venezuela and Cuba are a continuation of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine defining the Western Hemisphere as the United States’ “sphere of interest.”

During that same era, the Spanish colonizers were defeated in this hemisphere —not by the U.S. but by the great liberator Simón Bolívar, who led the struggles to create republics in Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia.

The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela today not only takes its name from this independence fighter but continues the struggle to unite and liberate the Americas.

Today Cuba and Venezuela represent a continent-wide movement to break away from the hardships and unemployment created by neoliberal free-trade agreements like NAFTA and the harsh demands of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. This economic suffering—combined with the bloody U.S.-trained military dictatorships that have suppressed Caribbean, Central and South American workers and peasants—gave rise to northward emigration.

Now some of these same women and men are marching in the streets of the U.S., rightfully demanding full rights for immigrant workers.

The date of the May 20 demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles is itself significant.

The U.S. wrested control of Cuba from Spain on May 20, 1902. As a condition of nominal independence, Cuba was forced to include the Platt Amendment in its constitution, allowing the U.S. the right to intervene at will and to lease Guantanamo Bay in perpetuity.

This date has traditionally been used by Washington to announce anti-Cuba measures. In 2002, President George W. Bush announced the reactionary “Initi ative for a New Cuba.” Each year at this time threats are made to overthrow the gains of socialist Cuba and restore vicious capitalist exploitation. New measures are anticipated this year.

May 20 also coincides with African Liberation Day (ALD). In Washington, D.C., marchers will gather at 10 a.m. at Malcolm X Park—the site of the ALD celebration later that evening.

Marchers will begin by greeting the Cuban Interests Section and then proceed to the Sheraton Hotel and National Endowment for Democracy (NED) on their way to Lafayette Park, across from the White House. The Sheraton Hotel in Mexico City refused accommodations to Cuban representatives, caving in to the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

In Los Angeles, demonstrators will gather at the downtown Federal Building at noon for a 1 p.m. march and rally. Volunteers are needed: please call (213) 383-9283 or (323) 936-7266.

For more information, check the website www.may20coalition.org.