Document details U.S. plans for ‘regime change’

Even as the U.S. government embarks on more aggression in the Middle East, it is wasting no time trying to inflict harm on other nations around the world.

As part of the Bush administration’s nightmarish quest for world domination, the State Department issued a report July 5 on the plans of its “Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba.” (www.cafc.gov) It is a 93-page blueprint for increased aggres sion against socialist Cuba, written with total disregard for international law or respect for national sovereignty.

The commission is chaired by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and co-chaired by Secretary of Commerce Carlos Guti errez. The report continues and expands the U.S. administration’s hostile campaign towards the Cuban Revolution.

A first report when the commission was unveiled in June 2004 had hundreds of pages describing measures aimed at intensifying the blockade, discouraging tourism and investment in Cuba, restricting monetary flow and the visits of relatives to the island. It even redefined the concept of family. Aunts, uncles and cousins were taken off the list of close relatives who could visit their families in Cuba.

According to its own description, the new document “represents the work of over 100 participants from 17 federal departments and agencies over the course of several months.”

Obsessed with Venezuela

It expresses the preoccupation of the Bush administration and its corporate base with the revolutionary developments throughout Latin America. Cuba has always been a beacon for the people’s struggles, not only in the region but worldwide. Recently, it has made great strides in trade and international relations. Its economy is growing, and its relations with Venezuela in particular through the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) have opened new avenues for the island.

On page 24 of the document, U.S. concern over the Cuba-Venezuela relation is exposed: “This axis also undermines our interest in a more democratic [!] Venezuela and undermines democratic governance and institutions elsewhere in the region. Together, these countries are advan cing an alternative retrograde and anti-American agenda for the hemisphere’s future and they are finding some resonance with populist governments and disenfranchised populations in the region.”

The obsession with Venezuela is apparent throughout the document. Right in the opening paragraph it charges that “there are clear signs the regime is using money provided by the Chávez government in Venezuela to reactivate its networks in the hemisphere to subvert democratic governments.” In fact, Venezuela is helping Cuba withstand the U.S. blockade and build its economy.

A paragraph in the introduction summarizes the plan: “Recommendations to hasten the end of the Castro dictatorship include: measures to empower the Cuban people to prepare for change by strengthening support to civil society; breaking the regime’s information blockade; a diplomatic strategy to undermine the regime’s succession strategy by supporting the Cuban people’s right to determine their future; and measures to deny revenue to the Castro regime that is used to streng then its repressive security apparatus and to bolster the regime against pressure for change.”

The title of the first chapter also shows Washington’s blatant regime-change goals: “Hastening the end of the Castro dictatorship: transition, not succession.”

According to the Cuban Constitution, the vice-president would become president if anything happened to the commander in chief. To prevent what the U.S. sees as the continuation of the revolution, the document openly says it is working to ensure that “the Castro regime’s succession strategy does not succeed.” It continues, “This is a time for bold, decisive action and clarity of message.”

The content of the second chapter is particularly preposterous and insulting. It paints a totally false picture of life in Cuba, which has long been acknowledged by the UN as the most advanced country in Latin America and the Caribbean when it comes to providing quality health care and education free to the people.

Under the title “Helping Cubans respond to critical humanitarian and social needs,” the U.S. government, which abandoned thousands of its own poor after Hurri cane Katrina, says it wants to help Cuba overcome problems of water and sanitation, health care, nutrition and education. “Conditions will not improve as long as Fidel Castro remains in power,” it says.

This extensive document goes into detailed planning for increasing the disinformation beamed at Cuba through Radio and TV Marti, including through third countries. It establishes an $80 million fund to bolster a political opposition. Interestingly, the opposition has criticized making the funding public, knowing that openly getting money from Washington will not be in its best interest.

Under the subhead “The Rising Cuban Democratic Opposition,” the document shows who the U.S. will try to target among the Cuban people: “At the grassroots level, youth, women and Afro-Cubans are key constituencies for the continued growth of Cuba’s civil society movement.”

It tightens regulations on any exports to Cuba, specifically mentioning the Cuban Council of Churches, which the U.S. considers a “regime-administered” organization.

Some of the report is simply ludicrous. But three components cause great concern.

One has to do with what is not included. Below the first chapter title, a small paragraph in italics reads: “This is an unclassified report. For reasons of national security and effective implementation, some recommendations are contained in a separate classified annex.”

It is already known that U.S. agents over the years have carried out more than 600 assassination attempts against Castro, as well as bombings, killings and a destabilization campaign. What are they not saying? Another assassination attempt? A planned military incursion?

The second is a reference to “critical humanitarian needs and social needs.” Anyone who has been in Cuba knows this is ridiculous. The economy is now improving quickly. Does this section refer to devastation the U.S. is planning under the “secret addendum”?

Finally, the U.S. for the first time is trying to extend the blockade of Cuba to other nations through tightening control over nickel imports. Nickel is an important source of revenue for Cuba. This commission proposes the establishment of an “inter-agency Cuban Nickel Targeting Task Force to reinvigorate the existing nickel import certification and control regime.”

This latest attack cannot go unanswered. The defense of Cuba should be high on the agenda of all progressive people in the United States.