Cuba

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Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Thu Nov 18, 2021 3:05 pm

Cuban 15N Leader Yunior Finally Marches, As a Tourist to Madrid

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| Photo: Twitter/@

Published 17 November 2021 (16 hours 14 minutes ago)

The political operators of the failed provocative march of last November 15 are living from one piece of paper to the next.

In the last few hours, the Facebook group that gathers the provocateurs and all the anti-Cuba mud-slinging machinery based in Miami or Madrid made a fuss about the alleged disappearance of the leader of the provocation and his wife and "demanded proof of life."

It was a new episode of the media escalation to keep alive a non-existent flame after Monday's resounding defeat.

But the lie has short legs. Europa Press has just unraveled the mystery of the disappearance of the art dealer in chief:

Yunior Garcia, main promoter of the marches against the Cuban government, has arrived in Spain.

Government sources have informed Europa Press that Garcia, founder of the Archipelago movement that called for the 15-N protests, has landed in Madrid after applying for a tourist visa.

"Another fiasco of the empire in Cuba on 15N! Nothing happened! Look at this farce! They said that "the regime" had kidnapped Yunior and Dayana, and it turns out that both left unbothered on an Iberia flight and are in Madrid. Now they will speak ill of the Cuban "dictatorship"!"

The sources have specified that the Cuban oppositionist, who has traveled on a commercial flight, has arrived in Spain accompanied by his wife, without it being clear for now what his future plans are.

Garcia had to cancel his solo march through the streets of Havana on Sunday after suffering a "cruel, illegal and inhuman blockade."

Cruel, illegal and inhuman blockade? Better to ask 11 million Cubans what that is.

Epilogue from Madrid for this actor's play.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cub ... -0014.html

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How is the play called?

Behind the scenes, the business owners begin planning a new casting. Another leader is needed. If you are an artist, better

Author: Michel E. Torres Corona | internet@granma.cu

November 17, 2021 11:11:26 PM

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Cyberclaria meme.

The curtain goes up. A playwright creates a group on Facebook and there begins to articulate a "movement." The end? Call a "lawful and peaceful" march to protest very noble and endearing things, such as freedom, justice, prosperity ... Win many followers on social networks. People start sharing his posts, he starts getting a lot of likes, they talk about him. Already the leader of the "movement," he makes his "master move": requesting authorization from the decision-makers to allow the march. Perhaps asking is not the best term; rather demand. It is a win-win situation, it does not matter if the government allows it or not. There is no possible defeat.

Lower the curtain. Go back up.

The mayors of each municipality where the permission for the demonstration was requested, which was projected throughout the country, refused to grant it. The march concealed some not so noble goals: they intended to use it as a platform for change, to transform the system according to their interests. In short, they invoked a right regulated in the Constitution to go against the Constitution, against the socialist status quo endorsed in the current legal system. And then there were the companies.

It turns out that the group created by the playwright had alliances with other "movements" that openly advocated capitalist restoration and even military intervention in Cuba. Of course, the "lead artist" denied all that: they appreciated anyone's support, without any commitment.

Lower the curtain. Go back up.

The Cuban government fights back. The first devastating blow comes with the revelation of a phone call between the playwright and a notorious Miami-based terrorist. The artist denies that this was a serious relationship. And the second blow comes: one of those who attended, together with the playwright, a certain training workshop for "leaders of the democratic transition in Cuba" turned out to be an agent of State Security. At the third blow, the "movement" after the "lawful and peaceful" march staggers, like a boxer about to be knocked out: evidence is shown on national television of financing from abroad, either by remittances or top-ups. The "lead artist" had many godmothers, and they consented to it.

Lower the curtain. Go back up.

The playwright no longer wants to leave. Now he says that he will walk alone, for a couple of blocks, with a flower in his hand. It does not come out at the end, according to him, because the police prevent it. "My house is blocked (SIC)," he writes on a sign sticking out the window. However, a foreign correspondent comes to his home the next day, the date agreed for the "lawful and peaceful march." The artist's mother-in-law reports that the leader of the "movement" is asleep, that he will not come out, he is very tired. His desperate acolytes summon a cacerolazo, a simultaneous applause, to wear white: no initiative is successful. The "movement" has no people.

Lower the curtain. Go back up.

The playwright is dead, some say. Kidnapped, others say. The dictatorship disappeared him. Assassins! Repressors! We want our leader alive! But the missing appears. He is in Spain, safe and sound, with his ideas "intact", at a prudent distance from the country he intended to take with "powerful civic action." His followers do not know what to say: some do not even believe the news. His colleagues from the anti-government business attack him, for making them look bad. A political corpse is what runs through Europe.

Behind the scenes, the business owners begin planning a new casting. Another leader is needed. If you are an artist, all the better.

Lower the curtain. How is the play called?

https://www.granma.cu/mundo/2021-11-17/ ... 1-23-11-26

Google Translator

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The World Stands with Cuba

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on NOVEMBER 17, 2021
Tanya Wadhwa

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Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel with college students at a peaceful sit-in organized in Havana on Nvember 14. Photo: Miguel Díaz-Canel/Twitter

Social movements and organizations around the world organized demonstrations in solidarity with Cuba and in rejection of the US-backed opposition protests planned in the country for November 15

The US-backed counter-revolutionary protests planned for November 15 in Cuba fell flat as the Caribbean country reopened its borders to tourists and its schools on the same day. The Cuban people blatantly rejected being a part of the US destabilization attempt and proved that they are more concerned about the reopening of the economy and the return to normalcy after a year and a half of restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A small number of people in a few cities took to the streets as a part of the “Civic March for Change”, called for by an NGO called Archipiélago in 10 cities across Cuba. Videos shared on social media showed that these “organized protests” were quickly overshadowed by pro-revolutionary supporters. Meanwhile, local media reported that the economic activities ran normally across the country.

Since Sunday, Cubans have also been organizing actions in defense of the Cuban Revolution and against the US sabotage attempts. On November 14, a group of college students organized a peaceful sit-in in the capital Havana’s Central Park as a part of the “Red Scarves” event. The young communists also organized concerts, poetry readings, documentary screenings, book presentations, and speeches related to the Cuban Revolution and the country’s future. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel also joined the event following the student’s invitation.

Con #PañuelosRojos, compartimos sentada ecuménica por la Patria este domingo. Me sentí parte de ellos. También quiero un mejor país en Revolución. De la sentada a la @CasAmericas, donde #CubaVive pic.twitter.com/xfVryzM6yP

— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) November 14, 2021


In addition to the rejection expressed in Cuba, thousands of people associated with hundreds of social organizations around the world held numerous demonstrations in solidarity with Cuba and in the rejection of the US-backed opposition protests.

The people of the US reject attacks against Cuba

In Washington, DC, organizations such as CodePink, Answer Coalition, DC-Metro Coalition in Solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, the Democratic Socialists of America and the Communist Party of the United States organized a solidarity action in front of the Cuban Embassy. The activists and political leaders celebrated the reopening of the borders of the island nation and rejected the continuation of the US’ hostile policy against the socialist country. They demanded that Joe Biden’s administration end the commercial, economic and financial blockade of Cuba that has been suffocating the Cuban people for over six decades.

In New York City, the representatives of the New York-New Jersey Cuba Sí Coalition, New York Young Communist League, and other organizations organized a demonstration in front of the headquarters of the Cuban mission to the United Nations. The activists demanded an immediate end to unilateral coercive measures against the country. The activists chanted slogans such as “Let Cuba live,” “Lift the blockade,” “Cuba yes, blockade no,” among others.

The NY YCL and @communistsusa were out with many other comrades standing in solidarity with the Cuban people against the provocations of US imperialism.

The Cuban Revolution will not be defeated! 🇨🇺 #CubaVive #CubaNoEstaSola #HandsOffCuba pic.twitter.com/zrXkWwfgJE

— New York Young Communist League (@YCLUSA_NY) November 15, 2021


Additionally, on November 15, the members of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) or Pastors for Peace arrived in Havana in the 31st US-Cuba Friendship Caravan to reiterate the support of American people for the Cuban people.

Gail Walker, executive director of the caravan, said that the caravan represents the countless people in the United States who oppose the blockade against Cuba and are disappointed with the foreign policies of the Biden administration. She condemned that Biden has done nothing to eliminate the 243 unilateral coercive measures and sanctions against Cuba imposed by former US president Donald Trump in the midst of the pandemic, and that he has maintained the same hostile policy.

The group, consisting of some 74 people from about 20 American cities, will remain in Cuba until November 26. During their stay, they will hold meetings and workshops with different organizations and tour the educational institutions, historical and cultural centers.

#CubaVive Caravana lista para viajar a #Cuba desde EEUU #CubaLightsTheWay pic.twitter.com/G3VXCl3sfT

— Siempre con Cuba (@siempreconcuba) November 15, 2021

🇨🇺A diverse group from TPF & @peoplesassembl_ in the US have joined the @ifcop4p Friendshipment Caravan to #Cuba

❤️We’re traveling with 70 caravanistas in solidarity with Cuba. We’re also carrying humanitarian aid for Cuban people. #CubaCaravan2021 #CubaVive #EstamosConCuba pic.twitter.com/SnoHkxykeq

— The People’s Forum (@PeoplesForumNYC) November 15, 2021


Europe

In the UK’s capital London, the members of the solidarity movement with Cuba and the Communist Revolutionary Group of the United Kingdom took to the streets in defense of the Cuban government and against the attempts promoted by the US to destabilize it.

#AHORA #CubaVive 🇨🇺 en Londres 🇬🇧.

Gracias a todos los amigos por su tradicional apoyo, en contra del bloqueo y de las injerencias de cualquier tipo en los asuntos intentos de nuestro país.@CubaMINREX @NacionyEmig pic.twitter.com/HROZ11hhFu

— EmbaCuba-UK (@EmbaCuba_UK) November 15, 2021


The representatives of solidarity groups with Cuba in Spain held rallies in support of the Cuban Revolution and in rejection of the US blockade. Hundreds of people gathered in the vicinity of the Cuban Embassy in Madrid and at the Cuban Consulate General in Barcelona to extend their support.

In Ireland, the members of the Connolly Youth Movement (CYM) and the Workers’ Party of Ireland mobilized in different parts of the country in support of the Cuban people in their continued fight against US imperialism. They also celebrated Cuba’s successful vaccination campaign, which led to the reopening of schools and international tourism in the country.

Belfast standing with Cuba, against the blockade & US aggression & interference. Tonite one loud voice declares #CubaVive #NoMasBloqueo #UnblockCuba 🇨🇺 https://t.co/IG2iZj4FTC

— CUBA SOLIDARITY FORUM IRELAND (@CubaIreSol) November 15, 2021


In Italy and Greece solidarity actions were organized. The Communist Party of Belarus, the Communist Party of France, the Austria-Cuba Friendship Association, the Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity -Serbian Chapter-, among others, issued statements rejecting the US attacks against Cuba. Activists, intellectuals and human rights defenders from Portugal and Russia also sent messages of solidarity to the Cuban people and denounced the US attempts to disturb Cuba’s tranquility.

Desde Italia llega el apoyo incondicional a la revolución #cubana una muestra más de que #CubaNoEstaSola #CubaVive #CubaEsUnContinente #VivaCubaSocialista @DiazCanelB pic.twitter.com/5YpcWg5HuZ

— Dany🇨🇺 (@Dany53908508) November 14, 2021

15/11 Protest in front of US Embassy in Athens in support of Cuba, Greek friends reiterate their support and solidarity with the Cuban people #CubaNoEstaSola #CubaVive #UnblockCuba @CubaMINREX Facebook : DiploCuba Cuba Grecia y Embacuba Grecia Web page: https://t.co/ui0j0sVqzq pic.twitter.com/FCrUQTMWli

— Embacuba Grecia (@EmbcubaGrecia) November 15, 2021


Latin America

Social movements across the region went to the Cuban diplomatic missions in their respective countries in support of the socialist government in Cuba and demanded an end to the US interference and its smear campaign against the country.

In Argentina, over a thousand members of social and political organizations such as the Territorial Movement for Liberation, the Argentine Autonomous Workers’ Center (CTA-A), the Evita Movement, the Communist Party of Argentina, the Argentine-Cuban Fraternity Space, among others, gathered with flags in the vicinity of the Cuban Embassy. They extended their solidarity with the people of the sister nation and shouted slogans calling on the Cuban people to stay strong in the face of the US aggression. Slogans such as “Cuba is not alone,” “Hands off Cuba,” among others were heard loudly.

#Cuba no está sola: La CTAA abrazó la embajada para exigir el fin del bloqueo

Organizaciones solidarias con la Revolución Cubana abrazaron ayer las embajadas de Cuba en más de 80 países del mundo, y también en distintas ciudades de Argentina.

Más: https://t.co/03YNc2BmRY pic.twitter.com/C7KqYwzIiy

— CTA Autónoma (@CTAAutonoma) November 16, 2021


In Mexico, the members of the Communist Party of Mexico along with Cubans living in Mexico, outside the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City, danced for hours, celebrating the country’s achievements such as a successful mass vaccination drive with its own vaccines, the return of 1.7 million children and adolescents to the classrooms without danger of contagion and an influx of tourists in the country.

Con alegría la solidaridad mexicana con la Revolución Cubana. La vacuna que vence al Covid-19 #Soberana. La vacuna que vence al capitalismo y la explotación, al hambre y la miseria: pueblo y obreros unidos con #Socialismo.

Esta calle es de Fidel !! pic.twitter.com/W2iZsFwF5L

— Partido Comunista de México *☭ (@comunistamexico) November 15, 2021


In Venezuela, the members of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and social movements organized a solidarity action outside the Cuban Embassy in Caracas. The leaders ratified the solidarity of Venezuelan government and people with the government and people of Cuba. They condemned the disinformation campaign and the destabilization plans promoted by the US against the Cuban government.

Desde la Tribuna Antimperialista que se realiza frente a la Embajada de Cuba en Venezuela el pueblo solidario reivindica el derecho de nuestro país a construir su proyecto socialista sin injerencia extranjera. #CubaVive pic.twitter.com/CZcAQD8LqZ

— EmbaCuba_Venezuela (@embacubaven) November 15, 2021


Social movements in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, among others, also organized actions in support of the Cuban Revolution and against the US interference and attacks. The Communist Party of Colombia, the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front of El Salvador released statements rejecting the US attempts to manipulate Cuba’s reality and promote violence and destabilization in the country. Political leaders from Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela also rejected the US blockade and its recent attempt at regime change.

The Azerbaijan-Cuba Friendship Association and the Palestinian-Cuban Friendship Association also condemned the destabilization actions promoted by the US to damage the social peace of the country.

President Díaz-Canel, in a tweet, thanked the international community for their support and solidarity actions organized in more than 80 cities across the globe.

Acciones de solidaridad en más de 80 ciudades respaldan voluntad del pueblo cubano de construir su propio futuro. #CubaNoEstaSola #CubaViveyAbrazahttps://t.co/vzG2GmWsAy

— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) November 14, 2021


https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/11/ ... with-cuba/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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blindpig
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Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:39 pm

Cuban FM: US Regime Change Plot Failed Due to Popular Rejection

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After presenting evidence about the failed operation vs Cuba on social networks from the US, Cuba's FM Bruno Rodriguez said that Washington will be responsible for the consequences and challenged them to deny their involvement. | Photo: Twitter @EmbacubaNZ

Published 18 November 2021

What did happen on the 15N and previous days was that civil society came to public spaces and reaffirmed their support for the Revolution, to celebrate the reopening of schools after the control of the COVID-19 pandemic and to celebrate the 502nd anniversary of the foundation of Havana.

Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez ratified this Thursday that the political-communication operation promoted by the U.S. government against this country failed due to widespread rejection.

In his official Twitter account, the Foreign Minister explained that the announced Internet outage in the Caribbean nation did not occur. Neither did repression, marches, and militarization promoted by foreign media.

According to the platform, these points were discussed in a recent interview with the AP news agency. He condemned Washington's instigation and financing of subversion against Cuba with millions of dollars, as well as the use of internal agents.

"It gives the impression that Cuba is the only country in the world in which a protest that did not exist becomes international news," stressed the head of diplomacy on the island.

Also, in the dialogue, the official denied having established an agreement with Spain to provide for the departure to that nation of the alleged missing Yunior Garcia, promoter of a destabilizing call scheduled for last Monday.


The trip of Garcia and his wife, Dayana Prieto, is not the result of an agreement between the two countries, nor a decision of the Cuban government or a judicial determination, he assured.

"I suppose (Garcia) is exercising the right that any Cuban has to travel and move freely," he added.

As AP recalled, on Monday, no one went dressed in white to the intersection of the capital's Prado and Malecon streets (as planned) or in the places called in other provinces. The suggested clapping and banging of pots and pans never took place, nor were white sheets laid out as a protest sign.

What did happen on the 15N and previous days was that civil society came to public spaces and reaffirmed their support to the Revolution, to celebrate the reopening of schools after the control of the COVID-19 pandemic and to celebrate the 502nd anniversary of the foundation of Havana.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cub ... -0018.html

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November 15 in Cuba: A Brief Report
November 18, 2021

Through what anti-Castroism called the “Civic March for Change,” elements of the soft coup carried out against the Cuban government since 2018 were visibly reactivated. Neither the movements financed from exile in Miami nor the characters who led the calls for protests received the expected outcome. Compared to the events of July 11, 2021, Cuba experienced a calm November 15 (15N), while significant sectors paralyzed by the pandemic were reactivated.

New actors: Archipiélago, a platform created after the protests last July, displaced the San Isidro Movement in the media. Its leader, the playwright Yunior García, denounced alleged government pressure after the planned demonstration was forbidden by authorities. Garcia announced that, to prevent the protesters from being repressed, he had decided to march alone in Havana on Sunday. He did not. The explanation for his absence came from the hands of a journalist from Spanish state news agency EFE, Atahualpa Amerise, who reported through Twitter that García was well, “at home and sleeping.”

A key piece of information about the promoters of the protest was provided by the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in a speech before the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba in October: “their public projections and links with subversive organizations or agencies financed by the United States government have the open intention of changing the political system of our country,” he said.

Containment: Protests in Cuba have been highlighted by the deployment of agents trained and financed by the United States, who in turn use apply the strategies of color revolution and unconventional war to provoke “regime” change. On this occasion, the actions that sought to repeat the results of July 11 were clearly contained.

Repeated script: As in all destabilization processes in countries that do not conform to US demands, in Cuba Archipiélago activists claimed that there were “systematic violations of civil and political rights,” in addition to “the worsening of the humanitarian situation, the… economy, and the continued gentrification of the population,” Therefore, the march aimed to demand democratic reforms to the political system of the Caribbean nation.

The contrast: While mainstream media networks prepared to project the protests internationally and allege that repression was taking place, most of Cuba’s regions reported the restart of the school year, the reopening of borders and tourism, progress in vaccination, the Havana Biennial, and other events that marked the transition to the new normal.

The threats: The Biden administration warned the Cuban government that if it prevented the march from taking place, the island could face new economic sanctions. “By refusing to allow such demonstrations, the Cuban regime clearly demonstrates that it is unwilling to honor or defend the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Cubans,” the State Department said in a statement on October 16.

Why it is important: Every “regime”-change operation attacks legitimacy above all else, be it political or legal, but also historical and cultural. In May 2021, the Samuel Robinson Institute published a detailed report on the actors who at that time were leading the call for protests in Cuba. The report warned about the manipulation of the damaging consequences of the blockade on Cuba. According to this classic narrative, economic difficulties were used to disparage the viability of the socialist model, a narrative expanded by the architects of Western propaganda in the wake of the events of July 11 in the island.


Featured image: In Cuba, an attempted color revolution is underway, although it does not appear to be succeeding.

(Misión Verdad)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

https://orinocotribune.com/november-15- ... ef-report/

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This people has the right to defend itself
Granma reporters visit Yunior Garcia’s neighborhood: Not on November 14, or the 15th, did the people of Cuba allow anyone spoon fed by a foreign nation to disrupt our tranquility with the airs of war

Author: Yisell Rodríguez Milán | informacion@granmai.cu

november 18, 2021 11:11:03

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The Havana neighborhood of La Coronela where Yunior Garcia resides. Photo: Granma

Not at 3:00 pm on November 14, or at any time on the 15th did the people of Cuba allow someone - spoon fed by the foreign nation that has most harmed the homeland - to disrupt our tranquility with the airs of war, or replace our peace with revenge, festering over more than 60 years as a result of our irreverence, a few miles from the same Yankees who, using similar pretexts and similar plans, have bombed peoples in the Middle East and encouraged hatred and violence in Our America.

The fact that events announced for Monday, November 15, bear not a trace of authenticity or improvisation has been made clear by the 29 public statements from U.S. authorities, logistical support, courses for the training of agents of change, and a media operation mounted on social networks, from U.S. territory, using bots to falsify reality.

We arrived in the La Coronela neighborhood of La Lisa, where Yunior Garcia lives, the latest manufactured ringleader attempting to lead a process of political destabilization in Cuba, on Sunday afternoon. This was the day on which he had announced plans for a performance in which José Martí’s anti-imperialist, loving rose was to be sullied.

"Nobody is paying me to be here," stated young Eduardo Guisado Castellanos, a self-employed worker, speaking with us live on Granma's Facebook page, who firmly insisted that he was there to defend the Revolution, into which he was born and in which he intends to die.

"I came to tell Yunior García, the mercenary, who is hiding many things behind the pacifism he claims to defend: the homeland is being given away, the tranquility we have always had, our unity as Cubans," said the young man who, in reference to the news circulating about what might happen in the community, said that he was no soldier, not "repressing" anyone, only "a resident who is defending his neighborhood and supporting his people."

"We’re not fascists, we are the people; people who defend our conquests, true to Fidel, to the death. They brag that they are willing to shed their blood... from Miami. There are young people here who are willing to give our own lives for the homeland. Let them be very clear about that," he added.

He reported that the foreign press had interviewed him, asking what he is doing there, to which he answered: "We know that there are people, wage earners, who may join him, and we are avoiding a people-to-people confrontation."

"There is an atmosphere of tranquility here," Solangel Arró La O, another resident, told our cameras, from a site near the building displaying the most flags in all of La Coronela.

Arró La O warned us about the effect posts circulating on social networks might have on citizens, which is why she made sure to convey security to the parents of the children attending the local elementary school, sending them a message of confidence in the reopening of schools, protected by their teachers and the entire community.

Teacher Yulexi Aponte Mendoza told us that he came out to remind the agent Yunior Garcia of Fidel's teachings, those that have allowed our people to reach this November 15 with the pandemic under control, having developed several vaccines, and children returning to school.

During our live interview, a doctor, dressed in white, a color the counterrevolutionaries have attempted to misappropriate and add to their 15N symbols, addressed the construction of Yunior Garcia's leadership, nonexistent in the community where she has lived for more than 25 years.

Barbara Corrales Arce is the family doctor who, based on her life experience, warned young people not to let themselves be manipulated by what they see on social networks, assuming that what may not be real is real.

https://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-11-18/th ... end-itself

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The art of media warfare

We must ensure that any coup attempt, destabilizing, demoralizing or manipulative action - economic, military or financial - financed by the CIA or its planetary network of accomplices, is immediately reversed and returns to them like a boomerang that explodes in their faces

Author: Fernando Buen Abad Domínguez* | internet@granma.cu

november 18, 2021 11:11:55

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Photo: Ventura de Jesús García

Let us put the dispute for meaning on the agenda of all our struggles. We must go deeper in the grassroots debate about its means and ways, the agenda of the communicational war (monopolistic and global) but we must develop methods of deepening and argumentation far removed from the hegemonic logic and pedagogy infiltrated in what we understand by communication and by war. It is neither about communication in its generic bourgeois use (almost platonic), nor is it about conventional war. This is where the challenge begins.

In more than one sense, the first skirmishes of a semiotic guerrilla war must take place in our own heads. It is necessary to extract the bourgeois ideological devices that force us to think about communication as it suits the enemy. We must rid ourselves of the ideological subtleties of foolish skepticism - and Superman individualism - from which no one is safe (with due exceptions), given that the vast majority of us have lived exposed, 24 hours a day and for decades, to radiation from the bourgeois ideological Chernobyl in the mass media.

We must get out of our heads any petulance that leads us to believe that we know it all, and that we are common sense experts in media management. This has produced an untold amount of confusion, chaos and wasted time, as a result of the assumption that there are geniuses who are naturals in manipulating the masses. Betting on the charisma formula in addressing the multitudes. A messianic ideology.

Neither its logic, or its aesthetics, can be imitated. It cannot be assumed that by copying their artifices, we will achieve the successes they have. The key lies not in copying them but in fighting them, defeating them from the very heart of their semantic, syntactic and pragmatic contradictions, with our feet planted firmly in the soul of the class struggle and concrete battles, where these are manifested most sharply. They attack us with seductions of all kinds; they attack us with argumentative missiles disguised as slogans; they attack us with enormous repertoires of temptations and luxuries under the cloak of an ideologized aesthetic around commodities and the accumulation of wealth at any cost. Their technological and ideological arsenal has created the semantic spheres of consumption, and moreover, as they attack us by seducing us, they strengthen their arsenals and their fields of meaning, which are nothing more than concentration camps full of kidnapped consciences.

Our social bases need a methodology for self-criticism. There is an urgent need for a deep, decisive assessment of the consequences of the media violence suffered by our peoples. We need a map, or an x-ray of the disaster, reproduced with all subjectivities. We urgently need a thorough effort to evaluate and systematize the keys to our great semiotic victories, from the October Revolution to the present day. This should be a new Universal Charter for the media and cultural emancipation of our peoples, but we need resolute organization and coordination to close the path to the imperial arsenal which is systematically updated to attack more ubiquitously and rapidly. We need tactics and strategies to respond, in real time, to the offensives, but with our own theoretical-practical tools for revolutionary symbolic planning.

If we only produce lamentations (however scientifically based), we are only producing reports on our casualties, losses and setbacks, which the class enemy values highly. We do the work for them of explaining how they harm us. We urgently need a "What is to be done?" in terms of concrete answers for the short, medium and long term. We need the inter, multi- and trans-disciplinary participation of all experts committed to emancipation and ending capitalism. Talented specialists in the struggle against symbolic manipulation and creative forces in the sciences and the arts.

We must ensure that every coup attempt, destabilizing, demoralizing or manipulative action (economic, military or financial) financed by the CIA or its planetary network of accomplices, is immediately reversed and returns to them like a boomerang that explodes in their faces. We need vaccines against bourgeois ideological viruses, and we need a method of symbolic production that advances in the territory of critical, emancipatory, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist thought. "Fighting Capital", as the Peronist hymn advocates, for example, and as the entire history of the Greater Homeland demands. There is no time to lose. The art of media warfare must be re-conceptualized, rewritten and consolidated as a new and central instrument for the democratization of information and communication. Or we will continue facing the dangers and paying a very high price in the form of absolutely unjust consequences.

https://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-11-18/th ... ia-warfare

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ACTORS AND SCENES IN THE HEAT OF THE IMPERIAL OFFENSIVE: BOLIVIA AND CUBA
17 Nov 2021 , 12:49 pm .

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Cuban police cars were rammed by violent protesters in Havana on July 11, 2021 (Photo: Yamil Lage / AFP)

<snip>

CUBA: THE MARCH (OR STAGING) THAT WAS NOT

The siege of Cuba, which has been going on for more than half a century, has unlocked a new level of soft-hitting in which the White House has made little effort to disguise its leadership and funding. Perhaps what is new is the increasing prominence of the so-called Big Tech such as Twitter and Facebook, which have operated directly in the course of the last conspiratorial wave that had as its peak episode the failed march of last Monday, November 15.

On October 12, a Cuban playwright named Yunior García Aguilera, leader of the Archipelago platform, requested permission from the authorities of Old Havana to carry out a march for "peaceful purposes." This request was based on article 56 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, as well as other demands for a civic and simultaneous initiative that would be carried out throughout the country.

It was " The March for Change " that has been described by Cuban media as an attempt to generate a climate of insecurity, destabilization and ungovernability, just the day the country would open its international borders and more than 1,600,000 students they returned to schools.

Although the aforementioned article 56 establishes that "the rights of assembly, demonstration and association, for lawful and peaceful purposes, are recognized by the State as long as they are exercised with respect for public order and compliance with the requirements established by law", Article 45 also determines that "the exercise of people's rights is only limited by the rights of others, collective security, general well-being, respect for public order, the Constitution and the laws", therefore the request was denied.

It was through the testimony of a Cuban State Security agent, named Carlos Leonardo Vázquez , that the intention of the promoters of the march was made public. The agent, who was "Fernando" for 25 years, revealed the links between terrorist organizations and their representatives based in the United States with the organizers.

Together with García Aguilera, Vázquez participated in a training workshop that Saint Louis University (United States) scheduled in 2019 on "the role of the armed forces in a transition process." There was Richard Youngs, an expert from the Carnegie Fund for International Peace, based in Washington, in public protests as a method of change, political and social, who presented the "new forms of civic activism in search of the establishment of a fundamentalist capitalism and privatizer ", as published by the Cubadebate media .

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TITLE TEXT:
Yunior García Aguilera with the agent "Fernando" in the workshop on "The role of the armed forces in a transition process", sponsored by the Saint Louis University, in its branch in Madrid
CREDITS:
Cubadebate

Regarding the failed mobilization (or staging), which maintained its convocation despite not having the approval of the island's authorities, Vázquez affirmed on November 1 that "he is calling for a march that he says it is peaceful, but he knows it is not. Because in the paramilitary workshop where we participated there were two generals. Yunior García Aguilera is looking for the confrontation of the Armed Forces with the people and we will not allow that. "

On Wednesday the 10th, the Cuban Foreign Ministry affirmed that the Biden administration had been directly involved in promoting future mobilizations, despite the fact that its embassy on the island "has not fulfilled any diplomatic office for years" and its officials act "as babysitters of the counterrevolutionary and provocative exponents ".

García Aguilera formed a group on Facebook that has more than 33,000 followers, including those who denounce harassment for their activism, complain of being followed by state security agents in civilian clothes, and of receiving threats from government officials. government. While others emit threatening and violent messages that are rarely censored by the social network.

During the events of last July 11, García Aguilera went to the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television to make a 15-minute public intervention, complying with the unconventional warfare manuals applied in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Yugoslavia. On that occasion, anti-Castro groups, encouraged via social networks from Miami, took to the streets to protest "due to the lack of food and medicine", while the country is going through a serious economic crisis due to the intensification of the "sanctions" of the United States. instrumented by the Trump administration (supported by Biden) and aggravated by the covid-19 pandemic.

The Cubalex group , managed from Miami, has denounced that at least 1,175 Cubans were arrested after those protests that asked the government to abandon power and threatened to generate violence until this happened. The government has stated that they detained protesters who attacked police and looted shops while many media operators complain that they were violently arrested for marching peacefully or simply filming the protests.

Supporters of the virtual group also accuse Cuba's state telecommunications company of preventing them from sending text messages with the word archipelago in Spanish or the date of their planned protest.

Last October, the United States government rejected the Cuban government's decision to deny permission for a "peaceful protest" on the grounds that "by refusing to allow such demonstrations, the Cuban regime clearly demonstrates that it is not willing to honor or defend rights. human rights and the fundamental freedoms of Cubans. "

In another address, State Department spokesman Ned Price said, at the risk of sounding sarcasm, that "the Cuban regime is not meeting the most basic needs of the people. That includes food. That includes medicine. Now it is a opportunity to listen to the Cuban people and make a positive change, "while warning the Cuban government that if it prevents the march from taking place, the island could face new economic" sanctions. "

At the end of Monday 15, the media posters denounced the failure of the mobilization supported by well-known far-right figures such as Marco Rubio , María Elvira Salazar and Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, always from the victimizing epic that accompanies them when they fail but is revitalized when the White House It implements another genocidal measure.

OPERATORS OF THE SOFT HIT

García Aguilera traveled to Argentina at the beginning of 2018 to participate in an event coordinated by the project "Time for changes and the new role of the armed forces in Cuba" whose objectives, according to the website of the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, were:

"To give continuity to the study of the FAR, both through interviews, analysis of circulating information, contacts by mail to be able to adequately convey possible scenarios and supposed future allies to activists," he said.
"Cooperate with Cuban actors so that they can generate activities that allow them to link with members of the FAR open to processes of change."
"Encourage civil society actors to disseminate knowledge and activities about the FAR."
The website Razones de Cuba revealed that in this meeting the leader of the Archipelago exchanged with the leaders of the "Dialogue on Cuba" project, the academics Ruth Diamint and Laura Tedesco. Vázquez also reported: "In September 2019 we participated in an event on the role of the armed forces in a transition process," adding that "the participants were all Cubans from different sectors, doctors, journalists, historians."

"Yunior García Aguilera was there in that workshop (...) In this workshop where I participated, it is due to a project that is carried out by experts from different parts of the world. There are many organizations that are financed by the United States such as the NED , Institute for Freedom (IPL), People In Need, CADAL , whose objective is to overthrow the Cuban Revolution ".


The mentor of coup movements in the continent and former Spanish president, Felipe González, participated in the same workshop, sponsored by the University of Saint Louis, with a branch in Madrid, the same one that in 1983 created the Antiterrorist Liberation Groups (GAL), responsible for kidnapping, torture and murder against civilians.

Also Manuel Cuesta Morúa, who has worked for the NED since 2014 and orchestrated the provocative plans against the summits of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in Havana, and the Summit of the Americas in Panama, in 2015, García Aguilera confessed to this that "he admired his figure as a political dissident and that they could be in contact at some point to address some issues."

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TITLE TEXT:
The operator Yunior García Aguilera presents himself as a promoter of peaceful mobilizations but both his ties and agendas maintain a violent and interventionist nature
CREDITS:
File

In November 2020, the leader of the Archipelago appeared in front of the Ministry of Culture, within the framework of the mobilization promoted by the San Isidro Movement , to "summon creators and intellectuals dissatisfied with the management of the sector's institutions to disrespect the law ", shielded after an alleged artistic positioning. In addition, his eagerness to deny links with subversive organizations or agencies financed by the US government is as evident as his identification, since 2017, with the Carnegie Fund for International Peace, led until last March by William Joseph Burns, current director of the CIA. .

García Aguilera even recognized his relationship with the charge d'affaires of the Washington embassy in Havana, Timothy Zúñiga Brown, but not his ties with a regular visitor to Cuba: Alexander Augustine Marceil. It is about a Cuban Affairs official from the State Department who has visited the island three times between 2019 and 2021 to meet with chips from the anti-Castro oppositionism.

There are more actors:

*Ramón Saúl Sánchez Rizo, president of the Democracy Movement linked to terrorist organizations such as Alpha 66, Omega 7 (considered by the FBI as "the most dangerous terrorist organization in the United States"), Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU) and the National Front of Liberation of Cuba, accused in 1982 of participating in the attack against Raúl Roa Kourí, Cuban ambassador to the United Nations.
*Saily González Velázquez, spokeswoman for the Archipiélago platform in Villa Clara, who in an interview with ADN Cuba said that "what I am doing is informing myself with people like Omar López, other people who are advising us on the issue of peaceful resistance and non-violent struggle ".
*Omar López Montenegro is the director of human rights of the Cuban-American National Foundation , protector of the terrorists Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosh Ávila, authors of the bombing of the Cubana de Aviación plane in which 73 passengers lost their lives, including the team fencing youth.

SYNTHESIS OF THE IMPERIAL OFFENSIVE

The flow of funds, coup agendas, interventionist agents and multifactorial pressures are the metabolism of the hybrid war that seems to take a long time and does not stop before elections or legislation, however genuine and legitimate they may be.

In the case of Bolivia, the "Mother Law" constituted a threat to this dance of money for interference, a curious aspect that they delay the fight against corruption while the United States "sanctions" countries for alleged corruption schemes in their governments.

For its part, Cuba does not seem to end the parade of actors and operators added to subversive agendas that cost thousands of dollars and in which they have innovated by adding cultural movements in organizational and leadership roles.

The abandonment of the exercise of politics in the territory to take refuge in chaos and violence is perhaps the most critical data of this new coup doctrine to which the States assumed as sovereign in an integral way are subjected.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/ac ... via-y-cuba

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Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Tue Dec 28, 2021 2:43 pm

Archipiélago’s Cuban Protest Failure: Repression, Suppression, Intimidation, Detention – or Revolution?
December 27, 2021
By Arnold August – Dec 23, 2021

This article contains the following sections:

The Biden December “Democracy Summit”: Ominous Message for Cuba?

Manufacturing Dissent

Repression, Suppression, Intimidation and Detention: Universal Values?

If Not “Repression,” How About “Revolution”?

Conversations with Cubans: Why Did 15N Fail?

Canadian-Cuban Archipiélago Coordinator Confesses: Revolution and Not Repression



The Biden December “Democracy Summit”: Ominous Message for Cuba?

Two days after the failed subversion effort on November 15, Yunior García, leader of the Archipiélago Facebook group that organized it, fled to Madrid in “order to escape repression.” There is more than meets the eye about the buzzword “repression,” which we deal with extensively in two sections: Manufacturing Dissent and Repression, Suppression, Intimidation and Detention: Universal Values?

From Madrid, Yunior called for “an alliance of opponents from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to confront the ‘same dictatorship.’” Furthermore, on November 30, came the following: “In the wake of the Cuban regime’s actions targeting peaceful demonstrators on November 15, the [US] Department of State … imposed visa restrictions on nine Cuban officials.” In addition, the White House-sponsored “Summit for Democracy” took place on December 9, with a selective list of countries invited from around the world. Taking into account only the Western Hemisphere, the orientation of the Summit can be determined by the fact that invited guests included right-wing pro-US imperialist governments such as Canada, Colombia and Brazil. Excluded from the Summit were Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

There is a direct link between the failure of 15N in Cuba, the Democracy Summit and other international events running through to 2022, with the common denominator being “repression” in Cuba. Yunior provided the outline for this in his call for an alliance of “opposition” in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, while also affirming that he intends to continue his activities against the Cuban government. At Biden’s Democracy Summit, the stage was set when Juan Guaidó was invited as the representative of Venezuela. At this point, Rosa María Payá, another Cuban dissident who had supported 15N, was catapulted onto the scene from the US (Washington and Miami) where she is mainly based.

These stages are (conveniently for the US and its allies) much closer to the centre of anti-Cuba counterrevolutionary power than Madrid. Just who is this Payá personality? In this video, during a meeting with the then-President Trump, she said: “July 10, 2020, the promoter of Cuba Decide, Rosa María Payá asked President Trump to directly help the Cuban people and designate the Communist party, the G2 [intelligence] and the Cuban military as a terrorist organization.”

She was invited to attend the Democracy Summit as part of the Venezuelan delegation. As we can see on Guaidó’s imaginary “government stationery” below, Payá was designated as one of “10 honorable men and women fighting for liberty in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.”

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Payá declared in a tweet that “it was an honour to be part of the Venezuela delegation,” while deploring the fact that the Cuban counterrevolutionaries [in Miami] were not invited to represent the Cuban delegation. In another tweet, she thanked Secretary Blinken for mentioning Cuban “political prisoners in his address to the Summit,” reiterating her complaint that “Cuban dissidents were not invited,” but expressing the view that it would be “crucial that this behaviour be corrected for the next Summit of the Americas.” The US-sponsored Summit of the Americas is organized every few years, with the next one (the 9th) to be held in summer 2022 in the US, due to the pandemic).

It’s necessary to go back to the seventh Summit of the Americas, to understand Payá’s desires. It was held in Panama in 2015, taking advantage of the massive international media presence, dissidents from Cuba tried to take over the civil society meetings being held in parallel, but as “representatives” of Cuba, a move that was opposed by the revolutionary Cuban representatives who had also travelled to Panama, and resulting in clashes.

This type of media-enhanced conflict is already on the agenda for the ninth Summit in 2022. This plan-in-the-making constitutes yet another indication that the US and its allies have not abandoned their regime change objective for Cuba, despite the 15N flop.

As part of the research for this piece, I held several interviews online and by phone with some of my colleagues in Havana. The interviews, which took place from November 15 to 25, are interwoven into this article. One of the colleagues is the multiple-award-winning journalist and author Luis Toledo Sande (scroll down to Toledo Sande). It is notable that the exchange with Toledo Sande took place prior to Yunior’s appeal for “an alliance of opponents from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua” and the belated statement from the State Department on November 30. Here is an excerpt from the transcript (my translation from Spanish):

Arnold August: Can you please explain, expand on, the following two mentions of “naivety” from your article on “Cuba: From July to November,” one of them being: “did their farces end with the departure for Madrid of their most visible vernacular ringleader, helped by the complicity of Spanish authorities? It would be another act of naivety to think so. The enemies of the Cuban nation, even when they know they are historically doomed to failure, will not be satisfied without getting Cuba to wear itself out by responding one by one to their maneuvers, and neglect the work it should continue to do for the good of the people and their quality of life.”

Luis Toledo Sande: God forbid! [ironically] Even honest atheists will say this in the face of this danger. The Empire does not sleep, it does not cease, not for a single moment does it stop plotting traps. It is an insatiable and giant tarantula, in decline, yes; but with a survival power that can still be prolonged. Cuba knows it. And it is essential to know that, although deep down the Empire – US imperialism – knows that it has no possibilities to triumph in its aspirations to crush Cuba, to overthrow the Revolution and erase its example, as long as it is what it is and it will not cease in its desire to harm this country, to lead it to respond to successive specific aggressions, to distract it from its duty to continue advancing and developing for the good of the people. Not knowing how the imperialist machinery works – still today with enormous economic and military resources, with the power of the media that allows it to manufacture and sell lies after lies as if they were truths, with financially sound international allies and with mercenaries at its service – would be perhaps the greatest imaginable naivety. God save us!”


What can we learn from this? The current post-15N situation confirms Toledo Sande’s apprehension as expressed before the 15N defeat, namely that, even if the US still had no chance to triumph, it will not cease in its desire to harm Cuba. For example, the latest statements by Yunior, the State Department and the Democracy Summit in December have unveiled more provocative actions already being planned from now through 2022. They point to the danger of entertaining any naive views on Yunior and his allies as being fostered by middle-of-the-road Cuban “experts” on the island and abroad who sympathize with him and the colour revolution.

Nevertheless, to get a better understanding of the current situation and its implications for the future, let us delve into the context that led to Yunior setting up his headquarters in Madrid and the convergence of events and statements in December. On November 27, 2021, as the photos show, a massive march took place in Havana on the occasion the 150th anniversary of Cuba’s iconic anti-colonial cause, that is, the assassination of eight medical students by the Spanish colonialists. The 200,000-strong march in Havana was not of course recognized by Western governments or their media. At the other pole of the political spectrum, November 27 was also the first anniversary of the so-called artists’ “San Isidro November 27 Movement,” on the issue of the Cuban government’s Decree 349 on culture.

US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken issued a supportive statement on the anniversary. The “San Isidro Movement” was the antecedent to Archipiélago’s aborted November 15, 2021 mega-spectacle, regime-change colour revolution, with the same actors, including Yunior García. However, for the vast majority of Cubans, the annual November 27 march took on a completely different dimension in 2021: it was their victory lap, completely overshadowing the 15N march, which failed to materialize. Numerous revolutionary bloggers and journalists were quick to take the opportunity to rub this in the noses of the US and its anti-Cuban allies. Nevertheless, some important words of caution were also expressed. For example, on December 12, Iroel Sánchez wrote an article on his blog—which was republished in Granma, the official organ of the Communist Party—with the ominous title “Excessive enthusiasm is a difficulty when facing frustrations”:

“[It is not triumphalism that should guide the work of Cuban revolutionaries after this 21st century Bay of Pigs… Not to rest in the battle for the truth, [we must] face decisively in confronting inequality where the disadvantages for the humblest have accumulated very significantly. [We must] create and enhance new economic, social, legal and cultural instruments against any inequality and discrimination, to intensely involve the people, and especially the youth, in the new and old fights. [That] has been the Fidelista response of the revolutionary leadership to the challenges of the present. And it has done so by listening to many, accepting criticism and speaking modestly, while working with intensity and transparency… So only the broadest culture and the most intense work can be our vaccines against an empire that, in its decadence, and worried about losing its hegemony at the global level, wants to gain a foothold in a territory it considers its backyard.”

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Manufacturing Dissent
On November 14–15, as soon as it was evident that the march was to be a monumental failure, as nobody would show up, the US government and international mainstream media provided the main buzzwords as to the cause of the failure: repression, suppression, intimidation and detention. The US set the tone by manufacturing the narrative. For example, there is the Statement by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Cuba’s November 15 Protests, November 15, 2021 on intimidation and detention. We also have the Head of Latin America at the US State Department, Brian Nichols, speaking on November 16 and enunciating the keywords suppression, detention and intimidation. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on November 14 pointed to intimidation and repression. State Department spokesperson Ned Price on November 16 referred in his statement to intimidation, repression and detention. All of these US officials singing the same song in unison!

This narrative was taken up by the international mainstream media. The right-wing Spanish-language outlets in Madrid and CNN in Spanish led the charge by targeting their audiences in Spain, the US (the Latino communities) and Latin America. In English, there was, of course, the Miami Herald. However, as far as the English language, the most effective of the evils was CNN’s Havana correspondent Patrick Oppmann. His role was (and is) to flesh out the “repression, suppression, intimidation, detention” keywords by “reporting” from the ground. Every word he wrote bristled with these accusations. Examples of his posts include:

“..unlike the 11th of July, authorities are ready today. Any small group of protesters will likely be arrested very quickly.”

“The street where Yunior García Aguilera lives has been closed off. Cuban police have surrounded his block and a group of men just hung a large flag over his window. He said earlier he would march by himself today but not clear if he will be allowed to leave.”


Oppmann posted the position of the local authorities in Spanish, rather than laying out in English the constitutional and legal basis of the refusal to march, as I have done here: On the Cuban Authorities’ Decision to Prohibit Marches. This is not an insignificant caveat, since the entire international drama leading to November 15 was based on this refusal. Of interest, the following July 29 post is still pinned to the top of his Twitter feed at the time of writing: “After historic protests, defiant Cubans face mass trials.” Oppmann did not even unpin it after his own November 17 post, in which he confirmed that, far from being repressed and a prisoner in his own home, “Yunior García Aguilera and wife have arrived in Spain after the Cuban government thwarted his attempt to hold island wide protests.”

CNN and conglomerate media ignore all the evidence of US direct involvement through their agents. This US subversive engagement has been pointed out by many commentators in the West, such as in my piece here in The Canada Files, “Inside Cuban dissidents’ November 15 plot,” and from the US Mint Press’s Alan MacLeod, “The United States is Organizing a Color Revolution in Cuba for November 15.”

Repression, Suppression, Intimidation and Detention: Universal Values?
US-centrism is the outgrowth of Eurocentrism, adapting the latter to the conditions of the US. This US-centric outlook is historically based on the premise of God-given privilege that the US has assumed from the time of the 17th-century Pilgrims as the chosen people and the “beacon on the hill” to bring light to the peoples of the world. Thus, by its very nature, this superiority complex is multiplied manyfold since this elite in the US is based on the current white supremacist state as a vestige of the genocide of Indigenous nations and then expanding this state to incorporate slavery.

From this vantage point of the biblical hill, the principal targets are the peoples of the south. Therefore, ipso facto, this “light” is defined exclusively by the ruling circles. Their concepts are presented as universal truths that cannot be challenged. Perhaps the most notorious example is “democracy.” In my 2013 book dealing with a comparative study of democracies in the US versus Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia, I drew heavily on the foremost expert on Eurocentrism, the late Samir Amin (1931–2018), whose warning is perfectly applicable to the current Cuban situation:

“The issue of Eurocentrism and its offspring, U.S.-centrism, is very complex and ingrained, operating, as Samir Amin warns, ‘without anyone noticing it. This is why many specialists, historians and intellectuals can reject particular expressions of the Eurocentric construct without being embarrassed by the incoherence of the overall vision that results.’ For example, while certain academics may distance themselves from some of the most grotesque features of Eurocentrism and U.S.-centrism – such as their claims to be the defenders of a superior political and economic model for the world – they may still fall prey to the main ideological and political underpinnings of the U.S-centric model.” (pages 7–8)

If this is true for the preconceived views on “democracy,” it is infinitely more valid as applied to the current highly-charged controversy swirling around Cuba regarding “repression” “suppression” stories. Is Amin’s cautious warning of an incoherent — pick-and-choose cherry-picking — appreciation of US-centrism, much more applicable to the current Cuban “repression” controversy in comparison to the “democracy debate?” I believe so.

Both “suppression” and “democracy” are of course linked, based on the US-centric optic. A country that is tagged as being “undemocratic” is ipso fact one that exercises “repression.” One can assert that in the case of Cuba, the US has distilled and refined “repression” from the cauldron of democracy to hammer away at “suppressive Cuba.”

There is no denying that “democracy” as a universal value is highly controversial. However, it is a positive affirmation with which everyone “agrees” as being desirable. Ten countries have “democratic” as part of their name, such as People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, Democratic Republic of the Cong, and Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

At the same time, the international image of the US as a democratic country has been increasingly questioned both inside the country and abroad. Even The Economist, a typical mainstream media, has challenged the US as a judge for democracy in the context of Biden’s Democracy Summit. While it is the increasingly discredited US democracy that prompted Biden to hold his Democracy Summit in the first place, its very deliberations backfired to a large extent, as The Economist testified.

On December 15, 2021, Friends of Socialist China was invited by the International Department of the Communist Party of China to participate in a virtual meeting entitled “Democracy, Justice, Development and Progress.” Co-editor Carlos Martinez presented:

“In recent years, the idea of the socialist countries being ‘backward’ or ‘undeveloped’ has started to lose any of the resonance it once had, even among people in the West. The People’s Republic of China in particular has emerged as a powerhouse in science and technology; it is among the world leaders in 5G, in artificial intelligence, in quantum computing, in nanotechnology, in space research, and more. China’s successful campaigns to suppress Covid-19 and to eliminate extreme poverty have caught the world’s attention, and the ‘backward’ label just does not stick….As a result, the propaganda campaign against socialism has had to shift somewhat. Its emphasis has moved away from questions of development and progress, and towards questions of democracy and justice. This is consistent with the Biden administration’s attempts to differentiate itself from Donald Trump, who had a negative impact on the image of the US as the upholder of ‘liberal democratic’ values.”

This appreciation of the evolution of socialist countries also applies to Cuba to a certain extent, but not of course, given the unprecedented 60-year-old blockade, limited natural resources and other factors, as spectacularly as China. Today, the alleged violation of democratic norms against Cuba does not deal with elections and governance. It is rather concentrated on the activities in the streets such as allegations that the Cuban government and its millions of supporters arbitrarily “represses” and “supresses” opponents, “intimidates” them in front of their homes and detains them in jail “with no legal justification or rights.”

On the one hand, unfortunately this idea of “repression” and “suppression” finds a certain resonance among some on the left and academics both in and outside of Cuba. On the other hand, the US accusation of “democracy” is largely discredited among these same individuals. This “soft on repression” constituency is actively sought by the US. For example, Yunior, playing the repression card, specifically appealed to “the left worldwide” to support their cause. Thus, we are obliged to deal with “repression” as a concentrated expression of alleged violation of democratic norms.

Do these friends of Cuba, some on the left and certain academics, notice this intrusion? It brings to mind Samir Amin’s justified apprehension of how Euro- and US-centrism take hold in the mentality, as he says, “without anyone noticing it.” Thus, to break out of the narrow confines of the one-size-fits-all “repression,” requires an effort and some uncomfortable soul searching. Just as democracy, “repression” is weaponized by the US to serve its interests.

Thus, to remain within the confines of “repression” serves only the interest of the US. It invariably results in debating the extent to which the Cuban state and the revolutionaries are “supressing,” thus, inadvertently or not, to play into the US game plan. The talking point “Cuba is not as repressive as the US” reduces it to a question of degree, a sliding scale of repression, and thus unwittingly obscures the reason why November 15 failed; even worse, the acceptance, even unconsciously, of the “repression” framework negligently provides credibility to the US-led narrative on “repression.”

Keep in mind that none of these conglomerate media that ridiculed the Biden Democracy Summit would challenge the US on the “repression” accusation thrown against Cuba. This allegation gets a pass from the ruling circles, while they are increasingly dubious about the US democracy credentials, in the US itself and internationally, as the self-proclaimed “beacon on a hill.” These are some of the ideas that weigh heavily on the movement to support Cuba against the US and its colour revolution allies.

If Not “Repression,” How About “Revolution”?
The July 11 protests were “organized by the counterrevolutionaries and confronted very little planning or apprehension from the revolutionary forces,” as related by Luis Toledo Sande in our interview. Right after July 11, the government activated virtual daily activities, many featuring the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel. These involved meeting and exchanging with the people in the streets about their concerns. The seed of this, which is not unprecedented in Cuba’s political history, was actually July 11.

On that day, the President, having heard about the demonstrations in the small town of San Antonio de los Baños, west of Havana, went to meet with the people in the streets. However, very significant is the work of Gerardo Hernández, one of the Cuban Five heroes who was jailed in the US for having infiltrated terrorist groups in Miami planning attacks against Cuba. Since released in 2014 as part of the US–Cuba deal to re-establish diplomatic relation and reopen embassies, Gerardo (as he is affectionately known by Cubans) has held various positions. In September 2020, he was elected as the new National Coordinator of the neighbourhood mass organization Committees in Defence of the Revolution, or Comite de Defensa de la Revolución.

What are they? Based on the research I carried out when I lived in Cuba (on and off for a year and a half during 1997–1998 to witness all the steps of the elections and the political system), the CDRs are local committees comprised of citizens living within a few square blocks, about 100 to 150 people. However, what is significant for our purposes here is their role at the time in combating counterrevolution, though the Revolution’s political and ideological strength and integrity, as my 1999 book points out:


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These neighbourhoods and their corresponding block-based CDRs are stable and change very little over time. In fact, in a November telephone conversation with Elena Martínez, who headed the local CDR where I lived in 1997–1998, she confirmed that the basic structure and population remain the same today where she still serves as the head of that CDR. The vast majority of Cubans own their own homes or apartments. As result of this and other factors, there is very little mobility in cities. They are often very tightly knit neighbourhoods, ideal for combatting counterrevolution.

So, what has changed since 1997–1998? The counterrevolution has vastly increased its capacity to subvert the Revolution with the help of powerful social media (which did not exist in 1997–1998), both inside Cuba and abroad. What happened in November 2021? Let us dive into the present day CDRs.

From the Gerardo Hernández Twitter feed, the following constitutes just a few examples (translated from Spanish), especially during the days leading up to November 15. It is pertinent to point out for non-Cubans that the counterrevolutionaries live in these neighbourhoods like any other citizens, and thus were aware of what was occurring.

This tweet by Gerardo reflects the tone, posted on November 11, “Making Revolution in the neighbourhoods” with this hashtag #SomosDelBarrio (We are from the neighbourhood), implying that Revolution represents the neighbourhood and not the counterrevolution and featuring a video of President Miguel Díaz-Canel mingling and exchanging with the people in the streets. All of his posts contain #SomosDelBarrio. On November 9, Gerardo posted a video and pictures showing students receiving medical donations and handing them over to the CDR.

In a November 10 post, Gerardo features a video from a small town west of Havana with residents dancing a congo, chanting “Yo Soy Fidel” (I am Fidel) clogging its main street. Also on the same day, with photos of crowds in the same small town with Gerardo in the very centre of this, his post challenging “watch out anti-Cuba disinformation media, have a look today, we are all the CDR militants,” taunting “you know why I say this…: #SomosDelBarrio.”

A November 11 post was dedicated to a meeting of the local municipal government in the same small town convened to underline the 45th anniversary of People’s Power in Cuba. In 1976, the current political and electoral system was established, and, despite its shortcomings, the local municipal level remains its foundation. This is an important point. According to Iroel Sánchez in his July 26, 2021 panel presentation on Cuba (for which The Canada Files was the media sponsor), for more than one and a half years, almost all local grassroots organizing was put on hold as result of the pandemic. This virtually froze the normally vibrant local social and political fabric in the neighborhoods. However, according to a recent telephone conversation with my colleagues in Havana, these activities started to function again in early November as part of the reopening of the country after successfully combatting the pandemic. This opening reignited the neighborhood activities, thus contributing substantially to the CDR momentum cited above.

Continuing on the path of Gerardo and others, on November 11, Gerardo tweeted the following with a video: “The President and his people” in neighbourhoods at the other end of the country, in Bayamo, the eastern province of Granma. As November 15 was approaching, the Cuban government crafted the slogan “No one is going to spoil our party,” referring to the long-awaited November 15 full return to classes for all students after more than a year and a half of online classes. Gerardo added that “this was made clear in the exchanges between the citizens and the President” in a neighbourhood in Granma, a barely veiled message to the counterrevolution. A look at this video reveals yet another glimpse of the Cuban Revolution from the inside, this one in Cienfuegos (central/southern Cuba) and where Gerardo mocked the Biden comment that Cuba is a “failed state,” with the Cuban President getting out of the car to mingle freely with the people, implying that his could never happen in the US. All this was also broadcast by Cuban TV and newspapers.

The movement at the grassroots level through the CDRs was picking up steam. Yet another factor came into play, this one spontaneous. A Facebook group comprised of youth called “red scarf” issued a sort of manifesto: “Today I also wear the #pañuelorojo [red scarf] to accompany the eternal anti-imperialist cause, to protest against the blockade and the war against us. To protest against bureaucratism and idleness, to protest against any attempt at capitalist restoration, whether it comes from declared enemies or from those who call themselves friends.” They started a sit-in located in one of Havana’s main squares, Parque Central, picked up by one of its activists whose November 13 video showed Gerardo with a red scarf in the middle of the crowd and the slogan “Long Live the Revolution!” On November 13, Gerardo posted a video of himself with the red scarf among the young activists and yet another with more youth activists.

All of these activities confirm the importance of concentrating on the “battle for the streets,” and its accompanying litany of “repression,” etc.

This is speculation, however, news reports indicate that Yunior started to negotiate with Spain for his unceremonious flight to Madrid several days before November 15. These back-channel discussions may very well have been taking place around November 11–13, when it was clear that the colour revolution was up against a wall of moral resistance. Moreover, the forces of the Revolution seemed to have adopted a wide variety of inspirational mobilizing tactics. On November 13, one of Cuba’s most popular musical groups, Buena Fe, joined the musical sit-in with Gerardo, as did another classic group (enjoy their music in this video) Moncada and their musicians. On November 15 at 9 a.m., Gerardo tweeted with confidence that “our 15N” has arrived with photos of schoolchildren on their way to school.

In a complicated and controversial situation such as the reason for the failure of 15N to achieve anything like a soft coup, let us look to the classics for much-needed assistance. In the course of striving to document and conceptualize the Cuban resistance, Karl Marx came to mind, even if in a different context. He wrote, “Theory … becomes a material force as soon as it has gripped the masses.” In the concrete conditions of the Cuba nation, whose political outlook is based on the leading role of the Communist Party of Cuba, Marxism-Leninism reflects itself (among many other features) in defence of the Cuban Revolution.

This ongoing political program includes all the social, economic and ethical features that provide the Revolution’s underpinning. In addition, the CPC’s principle of sovereignty and national dignity, which also includes the heritage of José Martí, is an integral part of Cuba’s project. My experience in Cuba has shown me that the vast majority of Cubans are fully conscious of all these facets, including the attempts to overcome their own shortcomings. It is a highly politicized society.

All the features mentioned above existed in the minds of Cubans before the July 11 protests, but were not put into play. In the period from October 12 when Archipiélago announced it was going ahead with the march on November 15, despite it being declared illegal, resistance to the colour revolution spiked. It culminated in the series of neighbourhood activities described above. They proved to emerge as a sort of “mini revolution” within the Revolution.

The ideas were sharpened and became more vocal, determined and widespread throughout the country. This especially occurred in the Havana neighbourhoods as the epicentre of the battle between counterrevolutionary forces and the Revolution. As conversations with my colleagues in Cuba revealed below, an atmosphere of the Revolution being rekindled became part of the political landscape.

The official Cuban narrative at the time was that the country was being “reborn” again after the epidemic with the return to normal life on November 15. However, based for example of the work and related tweets by Gerardo cited above and what my colleagues related, one could also affirm that the Revolution was “reborn,” at least at the neighbourhood, level as result of this movement. If this is the case, the seed of this rebirth was sown on July 11 when the President went to discuss with the population in San Antonio de los Baños, followed up by what seemed to be almost daily meetings by the President at the grassroots level across the country.

This experience in the weeks and days leading up to November 15 was palpable, according to the email exchanges and telephone conversations with some of my colleagues, about which I elaborate in the next section. This is what Marx described as theory, or in our current Cuban context, “ideas becoming a material force.” Add to this the fact that the dissidents live in the neighbourhoods, face to face with the Revolution’s moral cause. In November 2021, it was ideas converted into matter that created the condition for the November 15 victory over the counterrevolutionary forces. This is why the hoped-for crisis and resulting chaos, designed as a pretext for further US intervention, did not take place. It had nothing to do with physical “repression,” “intimidation,” etc. It was a battle of ideas, and the Revolution won.

Conversations with Cubans: Why Did 15N Fail?
As is customary in my work on Cuba, I always test my ideas with the views of Cuban colleagues. I asked several of them about my views presented above, namely that it was the Revolution and not repression or suppression that defeated the 15N subversion effort, with sub-questions on some occasions. Some answered directly and others did not; however, this latter response is as telling, if not more, than the direct responses. In fact, as will be explained, it confirms my view. Here are the unedited transcripts in full of the email and telephone conversations.

Jesús García Brigos, researcher and author, Institute of Philosophy, Havana
JGB: What is certain, clearly, is that there would have been confrontation had we resorted to force, as we were entitled. We turned to “moral force,” distributed via the media, about the nature of these provocateurs. I also think that showing a lot of what was being done about neighbourhood material issues helped. Gerardo Hernández is making a very good effort to revitalize the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR), and people respect and like him.

AA: And physical force?

JGB: We could use legal force. Because, according to the Constitution and our penal code, everything that guy and his “followers” were doing amounts to punishable criminal offences. That’s why I told you in an earlier conversation that all of them, legally, could have been put in prison some time ago for collaborating in the destruction of our society.

I would say that moral force was what quashed the attempt of those who once again showed their mercenary nature: a mercenary does not dare to confront anything that might cost him his income. And that’s what happened to these people, especially the ringleader, who surely is now devoting himself to spreading whatever lies he likes now that he’s outside Cuba… until he’s no longer useful to his enemies, because that’s how it is in the end. Finally, for now, I think we dealt with the attempt successfully. But the struggles will continue. They won’t stop.

Dr. Juan Azahares, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Havana, active member of the CDR in his neighbourhood in East Havana
JA: The proposed march had been completely discredited among the people prior to November 15 because of the dissemination on Cuban news on their connections to notorious counterrevolutionary figures outside of Cuba. Key operators in the eastern provinces had withdrawn from participation As a result, the expectation prior to November 15 was that no counterrevolutionary march would take place on November 15. So, the CDRs did not plan any action for November 14 or 15; the members went about their normal activities on these days. They were simply on alert for any possible phenomenon.

Frank Miló, Documentarian, Cuban Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC)
FM: I believe what you think is right. Your ideas are correct. In general, November 15 was much ado about nothing, as they say. As I told you before, it was more hullabaloo than anything. I also told you there wouldn’t be a march. Only a few people in Cuba are dissidents, not the majority. For example, my family is totally revolutionary, and doesn’t agree.

AA: Could you explain?

FM: How could their leader leave the country in 24 hours? It was all orchestrated. Nonetheless, the economic situation, services and infrastructure in the country are problematic here. Principles above all at the defining moment was the cause of their defeat. In the days before, the television was talking more about November 15 than people were. Word in my circle was that there wouldn’t be any march.

Liset García, Journalist, Bohemia
LG: I think your interpretation of the facts is along the right lines. The Revolution lives through its people. There was an awakening among the country’s leaders of the necessity to take care of people more at a micro level. The pandemic forced a shift to deal with the health emergency and organizations that were demobilized.

As I explained, what I saw was people struggling to survive. Average people didn’t place any importance in the movement. They were not thinking about what might happen. The effect was the opposite: that day, everything was quieter than ever. I was surprised to go out in my busy neighbourhood and not see anyone in the streets. At the bank and the ATM [cash exchange outlets], where there is always a huge lineup, there were three people. I commented on it to the bank employee, and he set me straight. I asked, “People stayed home?” A friend said that, in her neighbourhood, there was no line at the bank either. And, later, I went to Bohemia [where she works as a journalist], and the buses were empty.

AA: Has the Cuban government improved its credibility since July 11?

LG: Although we have shortcomings, many problems piled up, and there are unhappy people, people are fundamentally anti-imperialist, and they know that internal problems get fixed internally. I think our communication won out. We are gaining space and credibility. We’re informed about everything, good and bad. Díaz-Canel has developed a solid method for communication with people. And he’s seen with his team in the street and with people. Not all together but spread out across the provinces. He himself is in two or three places daily, and everything is published. This is a preferred technique. Explain, guide, listen. The Fidel method. In my opinion, consensus in favour of the Revolution has strengthened. Despite everything.

On Monday [November 15], the only thing that was the same in my neighbourhood was the bread line. There have always been lineups for bread, but the pandemic has made it worse. There’s no rice to buy freely, just the normal ration, and other supplies are limited. So, people eat more bread. You know, here rice and beans are the main dish on the table. And the ration isn’t enough. People are anxious to buy anything. And bread is the only thing there’s no shortage of. I’ve stood in line up to seven hours to buy bread for my dad. I bring it to his house. He’s 85 years old. This worries people. Along with the fear of catching COVID. And the vaccination was a success. The scientists are heroes. And this has raised people’s self-esteem.

Luis Toledo Sande
LTS: I fully agree with you that the Revolution, the strength of the masses and understanding were decisive in the failure of the counterrevolutionaries. This case was very different from July 11, which was organized by the counterrevolutionaries, and we had very little planning, no warning from the revolutionary forces. This meant those who staged the July 11 protests were mobilized by the American empire and by a few people who are dissatisfied with material issues, power blackouts, food scarcity, lineups, the anxiety of the pandemic. All of this spurred confused people to join in the protests, although I think in quite a few cases – more than confused – people were hostile to some extent toward the Revolution, or insufficiently ideologically prepared.

Remember that July 11 had its antecedents in November 27 and other events later on associated with that day. The counterrevolutionaries came and prepared the ground and, gaining momentum and mobilizing, and letting it be seen that they could rebel and do what they wanted, and nothing happened to them. I think that’s essentially what happened on July 11. However, this was a serious warning. This time there was meticulous informational and ideological preparation. The Cuban people knew who was planning the allegedly peaceful November 15 march, where they were organizing, getting their funding… Ample information was deployed.

AA: Was there intimidation?

LTS: You ask if there was intimidation. I think so: the worms got cold feet, Yunior García chickened out and fled to Madrid. No one turned out on the streets or with the little white flower in their hand. After, it was said that there had been police threats. However, it was neighbourhood women and young people who went and told them, “You’re a counterrevolutionary, and we’re not going to allow you to attack our homeland,” and they backed off. There was intimidation because the annexationists were intimidated. They don’t have the ideological or moral strength to face a people who were prepared. They weren’t afraid of a beating, because the revolutionary force was ready and knew that they shouldn’t attack with balows. Unless it was in self-defence, of course.* If the worms attacked you in the street, you had to defend yourself. But let’s keep in mind that on July 11, it was the police who were assaulted not the demonstrators. The order was to not use arms against the demonstrators. Recall that, not long ago, in 2019, the people voted by a very wide margin to approve the Socialist Constitution in order to guide the country. They voted for socialism. This is clear. This vast majority embraced our political project, despite the difficulties. Is there disenchantment? How could there not be disenchantment, disgust, sadness, anxiety after a 60-year-long blockade put in place to create just that?

AA: Was there a preparatory ideological and information campaign?

LTS: Yes. The revolutionaries, anti-annexationists, anti-imperialists and sensible people in general, knew and know – and understood better because of the ideological and information campaign based on truth and documentation – that it wasn’t a peaceful protest. It was announced, directed and designed to create an atmosphere of unrest that would provide the enemies of the Cuban nation, the United States and lackeys of whatever nationality – Cuban, American, wherever – a pretext to intervene in Cuba. This remains clear. So, no one turned out to protest because of blackouts, although now there are fewer, or because of lineups. They didn’t come out to protest because there is little to eat, even though scarcity continues. In Cuba, there is no hunger or famine, but there are shortages. It’s hard to get food. But people knew the protest wasn’t to get food or to vaccinate Cubans, because Cuba is in an advanced stage of vaccination. The protest wasn’t about confronting the pandemic, because Cuba has dealt with it better than many countries, better than the United States, for example, and has children vaccinated, unlike other countries.

AA: How do people see November 15?

LTS: People know that this demonstration wasn’t about making demands. None of that. It was about creating an environment ripe for US intervention. The disgust toward the United States, the bitterness toward its leaders and mercenaries – especially as witnessed in Miami – faced with the failed march, and the cowardice of the protesters, what it revealed is that the project to have pretexts to intervene in Cuba didn’t work. And who was leading the call from Miami to mobilize? Terrorists, assassins, vile people.

AA: Are the Cuban people homogeneous?

LTS: The Cuban people, the large majority, what we could call the Cuban people – are not homogeneous, but they do share a series of common traits, like defence of the homeland – they knew exactly what was being cooked up. And the delinquents knew the oven wasn’t for cookies. Things weren’t so that they could launch into the streets and commit atrocities, then go unpunished. Some who committed misdeeds and acts of vandalism on July 11 are paying for their delinquency, and those who may have been planning something similar on November 15 thought better. What is certain is that there was peace in Havana and across the country. And there are many pictures of the disappointment of the counterrevolutionaries in Miami and elsewhere, including ones of that guy Sullivan from the United States Embassy in Havana, showing how anxious he was to see protests in the city’s streets.

I venture to say that Toledo Sande’s comment in response to my question (which purposely intended to provoke his well-known sense of journalistic irony and ability to use terms intended to damage Cuba into its opposite) (i.e. “There was intimidation because the annexationists were intimidated. They don’t have the ideological or moral strength to face a people who were prepared. They weren’t afraid of a beating because the revolutionary force was ready and knew that they shouldn’t attack with blows. Unless it was in self-defence, of course”) means that the revolutionary resistance in the neighbourhoods constituted “intimidation,” because the counterrevolution was too cowardly to stand up for its views. Ironically, the fact that some of my colleagues who did not answer my queries directly also amounts to a confirmation of my supposition. For revolutionary Cubans, the strength of collective ideas in defeating counterrevolution is a natural quality of the Revolution. While I had to resort to Marx to establish that more fully, it is second nature for Cubans. However, there is no regret in drawing from the classics; on the contrary it deepens our understanding, as some who had reviewed this article before publishing mentioned.

Canadian-Cuban Archipiélago Coordinator Confesses: Revolution and Not Repression
As mentioned in my previous article, I applied to become a member of the Archipiélago Facebook group in order to reveal, for the first time anywhere, its real nature by means of a series of screenshots. Surprisingly, it was accepted no doubt due to the fact that that they were desperate to increase the number of members. My article deconstructing Archipiélago was widely disseminated in English, Spanish and French from the time of its publication right up to and including November 15. However, the inevitable took place. One of the coordinators, a Canadian-Cuban, Giselle González García, spotted me and thus I was expelled from the group. (The screenshots, on the other hand, are preserved forever.)

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In rebuttal to the expulsion, three points:

1. In the first article, I showed how the US and its media allies, such as CNN, portray Archipiélago as “left” in order to win over supporters from the left among others in Cuba, the US and Canada (with a certain amount of success, it must be admitted). In her post above, we must thank García González for confirming what some may have doubted about my allegation concerning an appeal to the left.

2. While the fatal attraction by dissidents to the “American Dream” is well known, the Canadian Dream remains largely in the shadows. Thanks for exposing the “Canadian Dream.” However, we ask the Archipiélago coordinator how the Canadian Dream matches up to this, yet more proof of an ongoing genocide against Indigenous nations:

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3. Seeing Canada as offering pluralistic values, how do you deal with the fact that when it comes to Cuba, the mainstream media only quote the Cuban dissidents, residents here in Canada or Canadian and US “experts” who repeat the buzzword “repression” in order to be cited and thus solidify their academic careers? On the other hand, many Canadians—such as myself, with over two decades of experience on Cuba, including living there—are never consulted.

In this next post, García González unwittingly ratifies my contention that it was not “repression” that scuttled their 15N debacle but rather ideas. She accuses me of aiding the Cuban government. Thank you. Mission accomplished. However, it could not have been physical repression, as I was in Canada and could not have participated in any physical confrontation in Cuba against the mercenaries, which I would never do as a Canadian.

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Shame? No, pride. Here is how at least one other Canadian, Owen Hughes, responds.

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The same Archipiélago coordinator, a day later, on November 16, still licking their wounds, frustratingly reminds us:

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I am quite sure that some so-called left outlets in the US and Canada will appreciate this, as it comes “from Cuba.” “They should know!” However, as for myself and The Canada Files, I stick to Marx as a useful guide to explain why 15N failed. Fidel is also very good, as Iroel Sánchez pointed out and cited above.

https://orinocotribune.com/archipielago ... evolution/

Nice summation.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Sat Jan 01, 2022 3:09 pm

President Diaz-Canel Sent Congratulations to Cubans on New Year

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Cuban President congratulated Cuban people on the New Year. Dec. 31, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/@DiazCanelB

Published 31 December 2021

On Friday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel congratulated the Cuban people on the New Year and encouraged the people to celebrate 2021's victories with responsibilities.


Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba's President, congratulated the Cuban people on Friday on the eve of the New Year, encouraging them to celebrate with responsibility 2021's victories.

“On behalf of Army General Raul Castro Ruz, of our historic combatants, of our Government team and our Party, I embrace you and ask you to take care of yourselves and take care of yours. The Homeland needs everyone,” posted the president on his social media.

In the message, the President makes reference to the great challenge the country is facing, saying that the economic recovery “will only be possible if we keep Covid-19 at bay and take advantage of everything that the country has transformed in search of efficiency.”

He continued to say that “nobody knows what it (2022) will be like. Personally, there is only one certainty that accompanies me: each and everyone together can do better.”


FidelPorSiempre: "These people, which have mapped out its destiny and will carry it forward, are unperturbed, nor scared, do not even renounce their joy, and laugh; do not abandon their traditions, greater emotions, because the new year is also a new year of the Revolution ".

He noted that there are no signs of the ending of the U.S blockade to Cuba, so he called to work with our own forces.

He expressed, “2021 ends. A year of losses and hard learnings, but also of victories. Together with my family, I want to send a hug to all of you, inviting you to embark on the New Year’s journey together, with optimism and joy.”

To conclude his message, he called on Cubans to shout together “the joy that brought us here.”

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cub ... -0015.html

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Pre ... -0008.html

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Inflation in Cuba: The Signal
December 30, 2021
By Omar Everleny – Dec 17, 2021

Hyperinflation has reached Cuba, and we must try to lower it. But that means boldness and doing away with dogmas.

More than a year ago, more precisely on July 2, 2020, I published in Progreso Semanal “La inflación en Cuba: una señal a atender” (Inflation in Cuba: a signal to pay attention to). I don’t know if it was attended to or not, but then the country was far from having the inflation rates it has today.

It is quite complex to have a figure for the real inflation rate in Cuba. Several markets coexist, highly segmented, all with different prices and currencies…. But what is understood by inflation?

Inflation is nothing more than the generalized increase in average prices in a country during a given period of time. Like other economic indicators, they are usually calculated for one year. The inflation rate provides the annual percentage change in consumer prices compared to the previous year.

There are many calculation methods. One consists of establishing a basic basket of products and services necessary for the livelihood of an average household. In the Cuban case, there is a minimum basic basket that is sold monthly to all households, today at prices without subsidies. But their amounts are insufficient to cover the monthly needs of the people. It is estimated that, on average, this basket lasts for about ten days.

The rest of the days of the month are completed with the markets in CUP or freely convertible currency or with the markets of free supply or demand, both agricultural and industrial, and even with the informal markets that satisfy certain needs.

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Photo: Archive.

Economic theory holds that it is good for any economy to keep inflation low. A high level of inflation distorts market signals and also creates inefficiencies and makes people’s lives more expensive.

A structural crisis such as the one experienced by the Cuban economy, together with external factors such as the U.S. blockade, the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of foreign exchange due to imbalances or decreased exports, among others, has affected the supply of goods and services. And it has resulted in an increase in the prices of products in some markets accessed by the population, such as the agricultural and informal markets. But the problems derived from the so-called Task of Reorganization have been added to this hyperinflation.

The inflationary crisis that currently exists in Cuba is nothing new. The country has already gone through a Special Period, derived from the disappearance of the socialist market, when GDP fell by more than 35% during the first years of the 1990s, as well as a decline in exports, added to the shortage of monetary resources due to the cancellation of the credits received from those former socialist economies. Today, however, the moment is more complex.

It is known that at the beginning of the 1990s there was an increase in prices due to the shortage of products and that wages were maintained, although enterprises were paralyzed. That is why the population came to have 73% of monetary liquidity with respect to GDP. That liquidity diminished when Cuba began to reap the fruits of its economic reform. In 2018 that liquidity was 58.9%. Figures that already showed inequality: there was an important group of workers whose income was not enough for basic consumption, among other factors due to the excessive prices in CUC — which are not the product of inflation, since they are stable prices, only stable and high —, and by the increasing price increase in CUP.

The complexity of measuring Cuban inflation lies in the existence of double monetary circulation (Cuban pesos and freely convertible pesos through banks). It is an interesting exercise to see how in October 2021 the consumer price index showed a cumulative 63.4%, while on the same date in 2020 it was 5.17%.

During the Special Period, the exchange rate from the dollar to the Cuban peso reached up to 160 pesos to the dollar in the absence of a formal market — few people received or earned dollars. And that currency was also necessary to buy in the new stores created for this purpose: there were products that were only sold in dollars. With the creation of the CADECAs (exchange houses), the exchange rate, despite ups and downs, stabilized at 24 pesos per dollar. The government decision was to establish that fixed exchange rate.

With the arrival of remittances in increasing amounts, contradictions began to operate again. A part of the population can pay for certain products at hyperinflationary prices, but those who live (survive) on state wages have strongly suffered from those high prices.

In 2021, based on the increase in prices derived from the devaluation of the Cuban peso at the business level due precisely to the Task of Reorganization, and since the scarcity of basic need products is present once again, and the great speculative level, prices have shot up to levels much higher than previous periods.

At the beginning of the new century, the basic food basket of Cubans underwent certain changes. Before, the permanent monthly rationed products per person could be purchased for around 9.05 Cuban pesos — soap, bread, oil, coffee, rice, eggs, chicken meat and beans —, it could be somewhat higher if another product was added.

In 2005 that same basket was worth 17.45 pesos, an increase of 148%. In addition, the rise contrasted with the 8% increase in pensions, 6.72% of the increase in the minimum wage and 11.9% of the increase in the average wage. The new price of the basket only included 2 pounds of rice and an additional two eggs. There was also a price hike for coffee, although in this case the price increase, for the same amount, had been 1.600%. A small bag of mixed coffee started costing about 4 pesos. Before, its price was about 25 centavos.

The basic basket foreseen by the Task of Reorganization was 1,528 CUP. I imagine it was calculated taking into account the official CUP rate at USD 1 per 25. But recently it was reported that this basket now amounted to 3,250 CUP in Havana and 3,057 CUP in the eastern provinces, while the country’s average salary was 3,838 CUP. My colleague Pedro Monreal recently commented that in 2019 the cost of the basic basket represented 46.6% of the salary, but according to the Cuban authorities, in 2021 it is almost 85%.1

The Monetary Reorganization brought with it a significant increase in salaries, but these today represent less purchasing power than the salaries of previous years due to the excessive increase in prices, although one cannot be absolute. A not inconsiderable group of workers are receiving high amounts for the distribution of profits in their institutions.

Let us remember that as society and its components are more developed, the cost of reproduction of the labor force increases. It does not cover only the essentials to feed and clothe workers and their families. It also includes more leisure time, a more guaranteed health, the payment that allows enjoying vacations, going to the theater and the movies, buying books, electrical appliances, etc.

Just as an example, I include here some data, without much sophistication in its calculation, just to demonstrate the exponential increase in prices taking as a point of reference some areas of Havana and Santa Clara. Some products and their prices are appreciated and, above all, the indicator that sets the trend in the country: pork meat. The unit of measurement is expressed in pounds:


Fruits or vegetables were not added, since it is understood that with only those essential products in the Cuban diet, hyperinflationary prices are demonstrated. In addition, non-luxury items were not included for a Cuban family (let’s say school tennis shoes, which exceed 3,000 CUP) and other clothing that the population needs. Neither cleaning products, among others.

Not all the population can stand on long queues to buy certain products necessary for everyday life: oil, meat, toiletries and cleaning products, which are in short supply. It is a gap that certain intermediaries are occupying to profit from the shortage. Consequently, prices have risen dramatically in that informal market. In another sense, if the State does not sell freely convertible currency and they are only bought in the informal market, those prices of 80 CUP for a freely convertible currency are later reflected in the costs of those who offer goods and services, making the final price higher.

It is only possible to attenuate the current Cuban inflation, which is on the rise, with higher production. For this, it will have to be related to the solutions devised and to the national government plan that has been announced. It is insisted that the obstacles that hold back production be removed, but the results have not yet been seen. As long as decisions are made gradually, the economy continues to decline.

Let’s hope economists are offered the powers given to epidemiologists and health personnel, who have achieved a good management of the health situation in the face of COVID-19. It would be highly desirable that the task of dealing with the economy, mired in a complex structural crisis, could fall into the hands of specialists or that at least some of their proposals were taken into account, regardless of their institutional link in the country or abroad.

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Photo: Reuters.

The Task of Reorganization and the external situation are leading to a decrease in the purchasing power of society, with the corresponding displeasure that the fact brings with it from the political point of view. The population’s questioning of policy makers continues and will grow each day that the current inflation manifests itself. Economists generally point to two reasons for losing a government: high inflation and high unemployment.

Ultimately, hyperinflation has reached Cuba, and we must try to lower it. But that means boldness and doing away with dogmas. Obviously, the will and the exhortations are not going to solve it. They are economic problems that can only be overcome with economic solutions.


Note
1 Pedro Monreal Tweet @pmmonreal 01/11/2021

Featured image: Agricultural products in state markets. Photo: Cubadebate.

https://orinocotribune.com/inflation-in ... he-signal/

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Changes in Cuban Economy Favor Cooperation with Russia

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Russian Deputy PM YURY BORISOV during his visit to Cuba in October 2021 held a meeting with President Miguel Diaz-Canel. They discussed ways for boosting trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Cuba. | Photo: Twitter @RusEmb_Malaysia

Published 31 December 2021 (15 hours 0 minutes ago)

The transformations in Cuba's economy provide new opportunities for Russian exporters and
in general for cooperation, Russian diplomatic sources reported on Friday.


Russia’s trade representative in this capital, Aleksandr Bogatyr, told TASS news agency
that, although trade turnover between the two nations in 10 months of 2021 was around 100
a million dollars, 14.5 percent less than the same period of 2020, joint projects are
maintained.

He acknowledged the impact of Covid-19 on Cuba’s performance, but also the gradual recovery of different sectors, and said that business will continue in the metallurgical sector,
electric power, oil production, transportation, communications, and telecommunications.

Bogatyr expressed confidence that in 2022 Russian commercial and economic cooperation will contribute to Cuba's consolidation of its positive trends in economic development and help the island enter a path of sustainable growth.

Meanwhile, the Consul General to Havana, Nana Mgeladze, commented to the agency the increase in the arrival of Russian tourists in Cuba and airlines and tour operators’ interest in this destination.


This year, Russia became Cuba’s main tourism market, with around 170,000 tourists up to the
end of November, according to Cuban Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Garcia.

At present, companies such as Aeroflot, Azur Air and Nordwind operate flights to Cuba,
while another airline has permission to do so, but has not started them, Mgeladze said and
added that an increase in the frequency of trips is expected as of the new year.

The diplomat pointed out that the opening of borders and the increase in the tourist flow
is mainly due to the fact that the island nation has vaccinated almost all its population from two years upward, which makes it a safe scenario for world travelers.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cha ... -0010.html

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Photo taken on Dec 8, 2021 shows wind turbines at Changma wind farm in Yumen City, Northwest China’s Gansu province. [Photo/Agencies]
Cuba eyes cooperation with China on clean energy

Originally published: China Daily by Sergio Held (December 28, 2021 ) | - Posted Dec 30, 2021

Facing the challenges of an aging energy infrastructure, Cuba is looking to new energy sources with help from the Belt and Road Initiative to strengthen its power production capacity and move away from fossil fuels.

The Latin American country joined the Belt and Road Energy Partnership, or BREP, in October. The program aims to strengthen connectivity in infrastructure and energy investments, and push for more clean energy and efficiency.

For Cuba’s energy system, participating in the BREP could be an important lifeline. The country’s energy infrastructure is aging, and 95 percent of electricity comes from fossil fuels, mostly from eight thermoelectric plants that are all more than 30 years old.

Cuba is one of many countries in the region aiming to switch to clean energy with China’s help. By 2030, the country’s goal is to generate 24 percent of its electricity from renewables. It will need substantial amount of investment for this to happen, and Chinese private and public companies are becoming the largest and main partners for the endeavor.

“Cuba, like so many other countries in the global south, faces both the basic needs of the population for access to electricity, as well as the global demands to transition to more sustainable energy sources,” said David Castrillon, research professor in international relations at the Externado University of Colombia.

It is in this context that cooperation with a country like China is so important, as China not only has the experience and expertise in developing these high-quality sustainable energies, but also the willingness to work hand in hand with other countries.

China has been sharing its energy production and renewable energy creation capabilities with countries in the Latin American region for the past decade. In the far south in Argentina, China will finance 85 percent of a nuclear plant to produce clean energy. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China National Nuclear Corporation are involved in the turnkey project.

“China seeks to lead the shift toward clean energy and has been preparing the ground in Latin America for at least a decade,” said Diego Marcos, founding member of the Civil Association for Argentina-China Cooperation.

(China) has promoted change in the region’s energy matrix toward one that is less dependent on fossil fuels. Between 2005 and 2021 a greater proportion of investment has gone to energy projects, and some $80 billion has been allocated to this sector.

Significant step

Victor Gao, chair professor at Soochow University in Jiangsu province, noted recently that China is a major power country in the world, especially in new and renewable energy like wind and solar. “And in this regard, China can definitely share its experience with Cuba in many ways, including very interestingly in oil and gas exploration and production,” he told CGTN America.

“Cuba is very geographically located in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, and we believe that Cuba actually has large reserves in oil and in gas, but new and renewable energy will be more important because of the climate change impact.”

In May 2015 the Chinese Export-Import Bank approved a $60 million loan for Cuba to build a biomass plant, which Shanghai Electric took over in 2017. The plant is already connected to the national grid. It is just one small but significant step toward clean energy transition in the country.

Shanghai Electric and its joint venture partner Hive Energy also received $160 million from the Export-Import Bank to salvage a photovoltaic park project in Cuba.

Venezuela, Bolivia and Suriname have also joined the 31-member BREP.

https://mronline.org/2021/12/30/cuba-ey ... an-energy/

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Mexico Authorizes Emergency use of Cuban Vaccine Abdala—the First Latin American Vaccine
December 31, 2021

On Wednesday, December 29, Mexico’s Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS) authorized for emergency use the Abdala COVID-19 vaccine developed by Cuba.

The authorization for emergency use of the Abdala vaccine was “ruled appropriate,” as reported in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.

With this decision, COFEPRIS has approved 10 drugs against COVID-19 for use in the country. These also include Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, CanSino Biologics, Sputnik-V, Sinovac, Covaxin, Janssen (from the pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson), Moderna, and Sinopharm.

Cuban vaccines are based on a recombinant protein, the same technique used by US Novavax and the French Sanofi, and are over 90% effective in preventing the disease with symptoms, according to scientists.

Outside of Cuba and Mexico, Abdala has also been approved in Nicaragua, Vietnam, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela, which signed a supply contract for 12 million units.

Cubans surprised by approval of BigPharma-backed Argentinian and Mexican vaccines
Last week the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the approval of a regionally manufactured version of the controversial AstraZenaca vaccine. Numerous experts pointed at the decision as new evidence of how multilateral organizations like WHO are influenced by the interests of large corporations.

The Cuban vaccine Abdala has been already applied on millions in Nicaragua, Vietnam, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela. Mexico is still waiting for WHO approval. At the same time, some mainstream media like BBC have referred to the Argentinian and Mexican-produced AstraZeneca vaccines as the first COVID-19 vaccines made in Latin America, when in reality the first were the Cuban Soberana 01, Soberana 02 and Abdala.

https://orinocotribune.com/mexico-autho ... n-vaccine/
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Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:43 pm

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Viral propaganda: In the social media age, the U.S.’ anti-Cuba efforts have to keep up with the way people get their information (and disinformation). Here, protesters in Key West, Fla., use their phones to photograph and video a flag reading ‘SOS Cuba’ from atop the Southernmost Point buoy, July 13, 2021. | Rob O’Neal/The Key West Citizen via AP

U.S. government pays big money for bad news about Cuba
Posted Jan 28, 2022 by W. T. Whitney, Jr.

Originally published: Peoples World (January 25, 2022 ) |

The cruder U.S. methods for destroying Cuba’s revolutionary government—military attacks, bombings of hotels and a fully-loaded airplane, violent attacks on officials, biological warfare—did not work. Nor has economic blockade, which of course continues. A more subtle approach also exists. Like the blockade, its purpose is to cause despair and then dissent.

U.S. officials pay for the collection of bad news about Cuba’s revolutionary government and for its dissemination within Cuba and to news outlets abroad. U.S. paymasters provide money to agents for delivery to opponents of Cuba’s government, real or imagined, in Cuba and elsewhere. The recipients find or devise information unfavorable to Cuba’s image and spread it. Cubans’ well-founded complaints about shortages, bureaucracy, low wages, and living with the pandemic become news items.

The groups transferring the money from the United States to disgruntled elements in Cuba and elsewhere are key to the entire operation. One recalls the “bagman” who in certain U.S. cities deliver pay-offs from point to point within a criminal network. These groups transferring money—as authorized by the Helms Burton law of 1996—are bagmen for imperialism.

An odor of criminality is sensed. To interfere with Cuba’s conduct of its own affairs violates norms of international law relating to national sovereignty. And it turns out that, as of 2011,

Accusations of fraud, reckless distribution of funds, and diversion of monies to stateside anti-Cuban groups have prompted temporary stays in disbursement of funds.

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is one of two big U.S. paymasters. Founded in 1983, it’s a non-governmental organization funded exclusively by the U.S. Congress. The projects funded by the NED are similar to those formerly undertaken by the CIA.

The Cuban Communist Party’s Granma newspaper on Jan. 18, 2022 presented a list published on the NED website on Feb. 23, 2021. Groups are named “which received funding to intervene in Cuba during the year 2020, with sums ranging from 20,000 to 650,000 dollars.”

The list includes 42 groups; the total amount dispensed was $5,077,788. Below appears a short list. It contains the names of groups receiving $146,360 or more, the amount of money each one did receive, its home base, and the supposed shortcoming in Cuba needing to be fixed.

The top recipients of NED funds were:

*Cubalex: $150,000–Memphis, Tenn. (human rights)
*National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI): $500,000–Washington, D.C. (gender rights)
*Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos: $150,000–Madrid (human rights)
*Asociacion Diario de Cuba: $215,000–Madrid (access to information)
*Instituto Cubano por la Libertad de Expresion y Prensa: $146,360–Hialeah, Fla. (access to information)
*Cuban Democratic Directorate: $650,000–Miami (access to information)
*Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE): $309,766–Washington, D.C. (private sector needing support)
*Clovek v tisni, o.p.s. (People in Need): $150,882–Prague (access to information)
*Grupo Internacional para la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa en Cuba: $230,000–Miami (labor rights)

The State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is another paymaster. On Oct. 23, 2021, journalist Tracey Eaton’s “Cuba Money Project” website reported on disbursements USAID announced during the previous month. The total being delivered to 12 organizations was $6,669,000. The list, constructed like the list above, includes:

*International Republican Institute: $1,006,895–Washington, D.C. (human rights)
*Pan American Development Foundation: $800,000–Washington, D.C. (labor exploitation)
*Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba: $717,000–Miami (medical workers exploited)
*Digital News Association: $604,920 (military abuse)
*Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia: $625,000–Miami (political prisoners)
*International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights: $546,00–Washington, D.C. (human rights and racism)
*Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation: $545,573–Washington, D.C. (democracy)
*Directorio Democrático Cubano: $520,179–Miami (tourist workers exploited)
*Outreach Aid to the Americas: $500,000–Miami (humanitarian crisis)
*Cubanet News: $408,003–Coral Gables (tourist workers exploited)
*Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos: $250,000–Madrid (political prisoners)
*Libertatis: $166,430–Houston, Texas (human rights)

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The U.S. has expanded its anti-Cuba information offensive, spreading the dollars around to groups that stretch well beyond the older means like Radio and TV Marti, whose studio is seen here in 2007. | Alan Diaz / AP

Cubans in many cities, predominantly young people, took to the streets on July 11, 2021. They were protesting shortages of medical supplies, food, and other goods; the failure of remittances from abroad to arrive; and, in some instances, racial discrimination. Arrests and detentions followed and, more recently, trials and prison sentences. Social media played a major role in mobilizing the protesters and subsequently in disseminating news of arrests, injuries, property damage, and reaction from abroad.

As with social media trial runs in earlier anti-Cuban propaganda campaigns, some of the U.S. government funds delivered by the intermediaries were undoubtedly earmarked for expanding the role of social media in recruiting protesters and in publicizing adverse fallout.

As bad news from Cuba makes its way to anti-Cuban politicians in the United States and Europe, it takes on added value. New pretexts crop up for administrative actions and legislation that, aimed at destabilization in Cuba, imposes sanctions and tightens blockade rules. These in turn generate reports of new grief in Cuba.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently responded to the trials of some of the July 11 protest leaders and the resulting prison terms by announcing visa restrictions against eight Cuban officials. A legislative proposal recently introduced by South Florida congresspersons calls upon President Joe Biden to urge the United Nations to issue sanctions against Cuba. The bill’s title is “Atrocities and Genocide in Cuba.”

The story here is about siege socialism. In his Blackshirts and Reds, Michael Parenti shows Russian revolutionaries under Lenin cutting back on their aspirations due to pressures of civil war and invasion by capitalist nations: “n May 1921, the same Lenin who had encouraged the practice of internal party democracy and struggled…to give the trade unions a greater measure of autonomy, now called for an end to the Workers’ Opposition and other factional groups within the party.”

Fidel Castro once offered a vivid characterization of a socialist society faltering under enemy attacks while being advertised, by those enemies, as the best that socialists can do—as if peaceful circumstances did prevail. He declared that,

For 40 years you try to strangle us. And then you criticize us for the way we breathe.


https://mronline.org/2022/01/28/u-s-gov ... bout-cuba/

See, not all your tax dollars go to the Pentagon.......
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Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Tue Feb 01, 2022 2:58 pm

Replacing imports to guarantee greater biotechnological sovereignty in the production of medicine

Interview with president of Cuba’s leading pharmaceutical enterprise group, BioCubaFarma, working to strengthen the country’s technological sovereignty and contribute to the population’s quality of life

Author: Laura Mercedes Giráldez | informacion@granmai.cu

january 26, 2022 11:01:28

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Photo: Granma

BioCubaFarma produces 58% of the medicines Cubans consume, which means they supply more than 900 products to the national healthcare system. These products include medicines, medical devices, diagnostic systems and a group of reagents for laboratory tests.

BioCubaFarma also conducts over 40 research and development projects, continuing this work during the pandemic and despite the tightening of the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba, making clear the fact that health is a priority in our country and that we have technological sovereignty.

In an interview with the Cubavisión Internacional television channel, Dr. Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of the enterprise group, key in the scientific development of the country, spoke of the origins of this situation and work by BioCubaFarma to strengthen the country’s biotechnological sovereignty, and contribute to the population’s quality of life.

In the last two years, there has been a significant shortage of Cuba’s basic drug registry and the supply instability reached critical levels in 2021.

Martínez explained that the causes of the lack of supply include the lack of raw materials required for production. In 2021, more than half of the funds the group could use – which were below what was needed, he said – was used in the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines and medications recommended in the protocols for treatment of SARS-COV2 infections, allowing BioCubaFarma to supply 85 % of these medicines.

“In many cases, we had to increase the production four to six times over, due to the number of cases in the country,” he added.

Another phenomenon that has consistently affected the industry is the tightening of the blockade. In this regard, he said that the enterprise group achieved high levels of exports of its products, mainly vaccines. However, due to the fact that an important number of international banks chose not to process the company’s operations, for months they were unable to deposit more than 60 million dollars from these exports, which affected payment for raw materials to our suppliers.

The President of BioCubaFarma highlighted the work carried out by this enterprise group in the production of raw materials and active ingredients, in collaboration with Cuban universities, as well as the cooperative projects with other groups such as AzCuba and Labiofam, to replace imports of components for the medicines they manufacture.

Regarding the substitution of imports of medical equipment and components, conducted in collaboration with the military industry, he expressed his satisfaction and recalled the mechanical ventilators that had a important impact during the pandemic’s peak in our country.

Martínez added that BioCubaFarma continues to work on the biotechnological sovereignty Party First Secretary and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, has called for. "Our goal for 2030 is to be able to manufacture 80% of the medicines on the country’s basic list, and to continue working on the manufacture of medical equipment," he said.

Achieved and producing the vaccines in a very short period of time, breaking production records in the year 2021 - more than 60 million doses in a few months - is great accomplishment for our country, which has had two great protagonists: first Fidel, who conceived and created this sector; and the Cuban people from where many scientists, technologists, doctors, nurses have put their shoulders to the wheel to prove that the vaccine is safe. This is a strength of a country," emphasized Martínez.

At the same time, he highlighted the effectiveness of Cuban vaccines against COVID-19 and the successful vaccination campaign conducted.

Other candidate vaccines have shown equally satisfactory results, mainly Mambisa, which can become a sterilizing vaccine; a vaccine that can definitively control the virus, since it induces mucosal immunity, and the entry route of COVID-19 is precisely the mucous membranes.

As to the more than 400 research and development projects currently led by BioCubaFarma, the specialist pointed out that a portion are aimed at replacing medicines currently imported with domestic products, while another is focused on the development of novel proposals in the fields of agrobiotechnology and medicine.

In the latter case, he explained, they are currently working on a product to treat macular degeneration, a disease that causes blindness mainly in the elderly, and for which few treatment options exist.

Martínez also mentioned the development of a new drug to treat Parkinson's disease and strokes, a collaborative project between the Center for Research and Development of Medicines (CIDEM) and the University of Havana.

In the field of rheumatoid arthritis, he referred to Jusvinza, a drug that will soon enter Phase III of clinical trials, which he described as very safe and effective within a short period of time.

BioCubaFarma also has a program of 14 studies on production and innovation related to cancer treatment, one of the main causes of death in Cuba and the world, and an area in which other countries are also involved, he pointed out.

"For about ten years, we have been developinga new therapeutic vaccine against cancer with an anti-angiogenic effect. We are pleased to say that, of the 30 patients who participated in the Phase I clinical trial, with a life expectancy of around six months, many have now returned to work," he said.

Martínez also spoke of the impact of the recently inaugurated CIGB Mariel plant, "one of the most modern facilities in our country, which meets the highest standards of good manufacturing practices," he said.

He emphasized that the plant was initially conceived with the objective of introducing a number of new drugs that were under development, some of which already have sanitary registrations, including Cuba’s COVID vaccines, although they were not part of the picture when the investment was first made.

"This is the first product we are going to produce in the facility. The first batches, called adjustment or test batches, have already been manufactured," he reported.

The start-up of CIGB Mariel will be a continuous process with several production lines in various pharmaceutical formats, i.e. liquids, solids, production of recombinant molecules, among others. He likewise foresees the introduction of other drugs.

Plans for the facility include production of drugs developed by the CIGB and other research centers, including the Molecular Immunology Center’s NeuroEpo, for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, dementia and Parkinson's, he added.

Although Cuba has several vaccines prequalified for certification by the World Health Organization (WHO), an atmosphere of political manipulation has been created around the issue.

In this regard, Dr. Martínez z reiterated that our country is closely following the prequalification process and continues to work on it. "We have good communication with the WHO and PAHO. This process has already begun and we are discussing the complete schedule to achieve prequalification," he confirmed.

https://en.granma.cu/cuba/2022-01-26/re ... f-medicine
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Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Tue Feb 15, 2022 1:59 pm

Prosecutions stemming from July 11-12 disturbances advance
All defendants attended their trials with the representation of a lawyer, either one they hired or one appointed by the court as needed

Author: Yaditza del Sol González | yadidelsol@granma.cu

february 14, 2022 10:02:39

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Photo: Courtesy of the People’s Supreme Court

An overturned police car, garbage containers thrown on top of the vehicle and, perched on top of that were those who believed, in the midst of the euphoria, that they were leading "a victory” is one of the images demonstrating conclusively how far these individuals were willing to go, in their eagerness to disrupt the country’s constitutional order, July 11 and 12, 2021. This was not, however, the only criminal act that took place during the disturbances…
Near the Tamarindo People’s Council Police Station, in the municipality of Diez de Octubre, an unarmed officer was assaulted and injured by thrown stones that were collected in the vicinity.
A crowd advanced in the direction of the National Capitol, randomly launching blunt objects and homemade incendiary devices. Seven individuals who got in their way, all unarmed, were injured.
Elsewhere, near the Malecon, the Federation of Cuban Workers’ provincial secretary, helping a police officer who had been knocked to the ground, was attacked with a piece of wood that had a nail strategically placed on one end and suffered two serious head injuries. His attacker, an allegedly "peaceful" demonstrator, left him with a wound of more than seven centimeters and cranial trauma.
***
After a confused, aggressive group gathered in front of several government institutions in the municipality of Cárdenas, Matanzas, individuals, armed with rocks and sticks, moved into an area where stores and a gas station are located. They attacked the forces of order from the Ministry of the Interior (Minint) protecting the facilities, thus paving the way for looters.
Police cars that converged on the area were met with hostility, and ended up being stoned along with the officers inside.
***
In Holguín’s provincial capital, “protesters” gathered along streets close to government headquarters, and began arming themselves with rocks and paving tiles which they threw at the premises and security staff guarding the area.
One participant threw a brick into the glass door of a store, breaking it; while two police officers carrying out their duties were the victims of violent attacks.
Continuing this aggressive behavior, after breaking through the human cordon which spontaneously formed at some distance from the government premises, the crowd tore paving tiles from the driveway, broke them and threw them at those who were protecting the site, injuring eight individuals.
***
On July 12, in the La Güinera neighborhood, of the Havana municipality Arroyo Naranjo, several citizens walked in the street, shouting insults and expletives at authorities, while broadcasting their acts live on social networks.
On their way to the nearest police station, on the road to Bejucal, these individuals were confronted by citizens who they physically assaulted, along with National Revolutionary Police forces protecting the site. They threw rocks, bottles, Molotov cocktails and set fire to garbage containers.
One of the accused has admitted having received a message from abroad announcing what was about to happen, inviting him to join the events. Another, according to his own statement, was promised 1,500 cup to participate in the protests.
***

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On July 11 and 12, 2021, attempts were made to disrupt the country’s constitutional order; forces of the public order were attacked; stores and commercial establishments damaged; and acts of vandalism committed. Photo: AFP

This is how "peaceful" the July 11 and 12 “protesters” were; far removed from the image many have attempted to sell the world.

SENTENCES REQUESTED REFLECT THE SEVERITY OF EACH CRIME

Lisnay María Mederos Torres, chief prosecutor of the Directorate of Criminal Proceedings of the Attorney General's Office of the Republic (FGR), explained to Granma that, as a result of events which occurred during the disturbances last July, charges within their competence were submitted to municipal courts, within the time limits established by law, relating to crimes against the public order that disrupted the peace.
Once investigations were concluded of acts considered more serious given the manner in which they were carried out and their consequences, charges against those involved were filed in competent courts.
During the investigations, she pointed out, evidence was obtained revealing the promotion, organization and direct engagement in acts which Cuban penal law categorizes as crimes and which, in addition, seriously endanger citizens and state property.
"For Cuba, as for any other country, facing the severe conditions created by the pandemic and its consequences, the seriousness of the acts committed is clearly understood and consequently, the need to enforce criminal laws."
Likewise, the Chief Prosecutor noted, the trial evidence submitted in these cases made clear the participation of the accused in acts that are defined as the crimes of disrupting the public order, instigation to commit crimes, damage, robbery with force and robbery with violence, assault and sedition, and, in the case of the latter, Cuban criminal law stipulates severe sentencing parameters.
According to the law, the crime of sedition is defined as an act committed with the use of extreme violence, blatantly and by express or tacit agreement, in an attempt to seriously disturb the public order.
Furthermore, the Attorney General's Office took into account the fact that defendants acted with extreme violence, caused injuries and endangered the lives of citizens, officials and members of the forces of law and order, attacked government institutions, in particular persons and property representing or owned by People's Power bodies and the Ministry of the Interior, Mederos Torres explained.
Hence, "The sentences requested by the prosecutor's office are severe, in correspondence with the seriousness of the acts, the level of participation and the damage caused to society, considering the level of individual responsibility and concurrent circumstances, among these, the aggravating circumstances of the criminal responsibility."
Beatriz Peña de La O, lead attorney in the Department of Investigation and Supervision of the Attorney General’s Directorate of Criminal Proceedings, commented that these events required the immediate attention of law enforcement and judicial bodies.
Attorneys were present in detention centers at that time, and from that moment on, to ensure proper supervision of the investigations, to keep track of the cases from the beginning, intent on individualizing every action and responsibility, and that rights guaranteed by law were respected.
The pertinent analyses were conducted, applying provisions of the Criminal Code with respect to defendants between 16 and 20 years of age who have special protection, and were provided the differentiated, individualized treatment required by law. All this allowed the Attorney General's Office to make accurate, objective decisions in accordance with the law, prior to submitting these cases to the courts.
After the required analyses, many individuals who had been initially detained were not brought before the courts. In compliance with provisions of current legislation, alternative law enforcement measures were adopted, without submitting charges to a judicial body, Peña de La O stated.
In Havana, for example, Yojanier Sierra Infante, president of the People's Provincial Court, reported that when the events of July 11 and 12 took place, several different scenarios emerged.
Charges have been filed in a total of 28 cases, 22 of these in municipal courts -which implied sentences of up to eight years in prison - and six that were processed at the provincial level. In these cases, he said, we are talking specifically about the events in Toyo and La Güinera, which, taking into account the seriousness of the crimes, the Attorney General’s Office decided to charge these individuals with the crime of sedition.
With the realization of these trials, which began in December and should conclude in February - the president of the Provincial People's Court of Havana commented - there is a core of public opinion influencers operating on social networks that directly attacks the transparency of the processes. "They say these are sham trials, that there are no guarantees in place, that the accused are not able to defend themselves, that the sentences have been unjust, that this (the disturbances) were a demand made by the people against the police and the government, when we are all the people."
First, we - from our position as judges - must respect, in everything we do, the principles established in the law and comply with due process, he said.
Although these prosecutions were extraordinary in that that the accused were charged with the crime of sedition, something new for us, the truth is that we acted as we always do in conducting any process, studying the cases thoroughly, and respecting each one of the established guarantees, he stated.
“As is established, all defendants attended their trials with the representation of a lawyer, either one they hired or one appointed by the court for those who did not do so themselves," he reported, adding, “Likewise, defendants had the opportunity to communicate with their attorneys for the purpose of establishing the basis for the defense and, during the judicial proceedings, lawyers were able to conduct the defense, with no principle violated."
Another sign of transparency is that, on the day of the trial, the president of the court - as determined by law - asks all those present in the courtroom if anyone has reason to challenge any judge’s participation in the process that would constitute cause for his or her recusal. "And in none of the trials conducted has this challenge been expressed."
Likewise, he said, defendants had the opportunity to defend themselves and state whatever they considered appropriate, since they are not obliged to testify.
Yojanier Sierra Infante pointed out that the most important thing in a trial, to determine if a person committed a crime and establish a sanction, is the evidence, "And this we had; the rulings were based on meeting the burden of proof."
He added, along these lines, that a great deal of documentary evidence was provided, as well as other expert and witness testimony, by both the Attorney’s General's Office and the defense. "Everyone had an equal opportunity."
Within the documentary evidence, he mentioned, were many videos. The forensics work was excellent, he said, since each individual captured in the images was analyzed, to carefully identity the person, using the description of external features to prove that the defendant was the person appearing in the video and no other.
Each party, be it the prosecution or the defense, could also call witnesses they considered necessary, including citizens who were not directly involved in the events, but who lived in the neighborhood and experienced, firsthand, the fear generated during those days.
A man testified that he had hidden under a staircase, adding that those were the saddest 15 minutes of his life; and a district People’s Power representative commented that, since the events in the Güinera, she has not able to sleep, tormented by the anguish she felt when she went out into the street during the days following the events.

HAVE THE RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED BEEN RESPECTED?

The truth can be heard in the words of a defendant’s mother, who, with the pain she bears inside evident in her eyes, tells you that the process has been difficult for the family, but that she has never felt helpless, or alone, that she has always had the opportunity to communicate with her son, and feels that the lawyer handling the case is doing a good job, even though she is far from happy about what happened. Her point of view is ignored, or distorted, by those who insist on seeing a different Cuba.
This mother, Eudanis Campos Ramirez, who apologizes for her son's mistakes and is confident justice will be done, since everyone is being judged individually for their behavior, is not the only one expressing such an opinion.
Keyla Dominguez Hernandez also states, during a pause in her husband’s oral trial, that is was the “crowd” factor that led him to throw a rock, and that they “had nothing against” the process, saying that her husband has always had access to his lawyer, that he has been treated well. "The lawyers are doing the best job, they are defending them well."
In fact, one of the defense attorneys spoke with Granma about due process and how this principle has been respected from the beginning.
Defense attorney Manuel Alonso Díaz emphasized that attorneys have been able to exercise the right to defense at all times, have had opportunities to interview the defendants, who are our clients, he said, as well as submit evidence and present our defense in and oral trial with no obstacle, adding, “For example, my defendant, by virtue of his right, has been able to modify his statement.”
"On my part, there has been no incident whatsoever, neither in the trial, or during the process, and the family has not informed us of any disagreement.”
This process, he emphasized, involves two laws of criminal procedure, something sui generis. When it began, last July, he explained, the Criminal Procedure Law stipulated that access to a lawyer was not available to a defendant until a ruling was made on precautionary measures; today we have a new regulation that does allow this access from the beginning, but we must remember that, when the events occurred, what was legal, what was established, was within seven days, he pointed out. Nonetheless, from the beginning, defendants were guaranteed the right to defense.
When asked if the connotations of these events – at a political and social level - had negatively impacted the defense, he insisted that in no way had this reality led him to modify anything, or act differently during the process.
"Sincerely, it has had major media implications, but this, in my opinion, has not influenced in the least our work as lawyers…We have done everything in our power to defend the interests of our clients, with no intermediation."
This same attorney strongly objected to evidence presented by the Prosecutor's Office during his client’s oral trial.
The law, he stated, gives us the right to challenge evidence, to present information that contradicts it... this is a lawyer's role. "And in my case, I have been challenging all the Prosecutor's evidence, because my client has been denying his participation in the events and, by virtue of this position, I must defend him."
These same opinions were, in general, shared by defense attorney Ronmy Ruiz Gutiérrez.
She reports being personally involved in this issue since the arrest of the three defendants she represents and, from the beginning, was able to interview them in the penitentiary center where they were held. She had access to the preparatory phase file and to findings of the investigation that was being conducted, to prepare her defense brief challenging the prosecution's accusations, as well as the videos that were brought in as evidence, and the rest of the evidence presented, she emphasized.
Attorney Francisco Javier Tapia Pacheco addressed the “news” posted on social networks and presented to the world as “truth," that in Cuba children and minors under 16 years of age are being prosecuted, emphasizing that, in our country, the law is categorical regarding the issue: the minimum for criminal responsibility is 16 years of age.
"There is no person under that age involved in this process," he insisted.
In addition, he pointed out, the law takes an even broader approach, establishing a degree of leniency and considerations in sentencing for persons up to 20 years of age. "For example, up to two thirds of the minimum and maximum limits of the sanction may be reduced," noting that these options are also available to defendants over 60 years of age.

TRANSPARENCY AND COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW

Nothing that happened, not even the clear intention of these individuals to subvert the public and constitutional order, can affect something that is fundamental in this country: transparency and adherence to legality. Cuba is a socialist state governed by the rule of law, stated Dixán Fuentes Guzmán, head of the Attorney General’s office of Citizen Attention.
This implies that, regardless of the seriousness of the events, all actions and criminal proceedings must be conducted with absolute respect for the law, he emphasized.
In this sense, he added, the observance of the guarantees of due process is an obligatory premise, and the course of the investigations was carefully monitored, in order to ensure that no person was deprived of his or her freedom except by a competent authority, for only the legally established time period; that legal assistance was available from the beginning of the process; that presumption of innocence was respected until the final sentencing; and that trials were conducted in existing, pre-established courts; among other guarantees established by the Constitution, in Articles 94 and 95.
"In addition, as part of the Attorney General’s function, all citizens who came to our institution to submit questions, requests or opinions regarding the events, were attended. Among the issues most often raised were disagreements with precautionary detentions and charges filed, and in cases already tried, dissatisfactions with sanctions requested and imposed.”
He added that in all cases, based on the findings of investigations and elements expressed by the individuals themselves, solutions were found within the limits of the law, to address concerns.
"We are talking, for example, about decisions that included the release of persons who were not obliged to answer later for any crime; modification of precautionary detention; inclusion of their arguments for consideration in a specific criminal procedure; and legal orientation as to what should be done at any given stage of the process."
People's Supreme Court magistrate Joselín Sánchez Hidalgo reiterated that, among guarantees established by law, citizens convicted of a crime have the right to challenge the sentence imposed, through the appropriate appeal or cassation court.
***
A trial involves much more than imposing sentence, but it is, no doubt, this moment in the process that impacts the defendant most profoundly, the one that is never forgotten.
Minutes before the end of the trial, defendants have the right to the last word.
In this case, most have shown repentance and apologized for their actions; others ask the Court to take into account that they acted “without thinking," that "this was not my intention,” or that "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
And yes, Cuban justice is magnanimous, rational, but – consequently - also severe, as is appropriate for those who caused serious harm to the common welfare and collective tranquility, at a time when all of Cuba was engaged in a taxing battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, and especially those attempting to plunge into chaos a country that many are determined to move forward.

https://en.granma.cu/cuba/2022-02-14/pr ... es-advance
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:14 pm

Political prisoners in Cuba?
Can those prosecuted for acts of violence and recklessly endangering the public order, with no program, no proposals for positive change, be considered political prisoners?

Author: Michel E. Torres Corona | informacion@granmai.cu

february 16, 2022 09:02:21

A few days after the March 10, 1952 coup in Cuba, the young attorney Fidel Castro, "with a law office at Tejadillo, No. 57," filed a complaint in court charging Fulgencio Batista with the crime of sedition. Motivated by personal interest or cowardice, the legal team of jurists, defending Batista's coup against the 1940 Constitution, alleged that his actions did not constitute a coup, but rather a revolution, which was acceptable under the law.

To this, Fidel would respond in his arguments: "...There was no revolutionary program, no revolutionary theory, no revolutionary statements preceding the coup: (they are) politicians without people, who, in any case, became assailants seizing power. Without a new conception of the state, of society and the legal system, based on profound historical and philosophical principles, there can be no revolution deserving of the right. They cannot even be called political delinquents."

Of course, the charges did not stick. Batista remained in power; he had taken it with the use of force and the support of the United States. Fidel, in turn, understood that the legal means to fight for democracy, social justice and the people’s sovereignty had been exhausted and that it was time to turn to armed struggle. Nonetheless, in the light of recent events, this case, filed almost 70 years ago, offers us some enlightening reasoning.

Last July 11, hundreds of people came out across the country to protest, provoked by a political-communication campaign organized abroad, among other factors. Some were understandably tired of irregular electrical service and power cuts, and exhausted by the pandemic which at that time had reached the most critical period for our country. Others simply joined in to express their animosity toward the government and the socialist model in place. Among the latter, were some who resorted to violence, throwing rocks, bottles, attacking those defending the constitutional order - civilians and authorities alike - overturning cars in the public right of way.

There were also miserableopportunists who took advantage of the social commotion to sack establishments, rob household appliances, loot stores... The evidence corroborating these acts was provided by the perpetrators themselves who, intoxicated by the momentary impunity of their acts, uploaded photos and videos of their "exploits" on social networks.

By the evening of July 11, relative calm had been restored. Many citizens were arrested and charged. Once those who had behaved peacefully - or were inadvertently caught up in the events and unjustly arrested - were identified, they were released within a few days. Some filed legal complaints, turning to mechanisms of our socialist rule of law, and are today walking the streets of their respective cities, as this process advances.

But those who took advantage of the difficult hours to attack others, to destroy; those who used the confusion as an opportunity to steal; those who believed that the Revolution had collapsed and that it was time to aggravate the chaos with insults and rock-throwing, even attacking hospitals, these individuals were sadly mistaken in harboring the illusion that their actions would go unpunished, and today they face the legal consequences of their conduct.

The enemies of the Revolution lost no time in casting those accused of serious crimes as "political prisoners," even before the judicial processes had concluded. Just as in 1952, when there were those who attempted to anoint Batista with the sacred title of a revolutionary, today, the chorus of reactionary hysteria seeks to present thieves and aggressors as "victims of the Cuban regime," in a semantic war intent upon distorting concepts in an attempt to dignify the incorrigibly dishonorable.

We will respond to these pretenders with Fidel’s words in 1952, "... for Jiménez de Asúa, the jurists’ professor, only "those who fight for a social regime of an advanced nature looking to the future" deserve to be considered political criminals, “never reactionaries, never the retrograde, never those who serve the interests of ambitious cliques. They will always be common criminals, for whom taking power by force will never be justified."

https://en.granma.cu/cuba/2022-02-16/po ... rs-in-cuba

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The U.S. invests more for subversion in Cuba than it gets in return

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), just one of the arms of U.S. government interference in other countries, allocated more than five million taxpayer dollars to some 40 subversive projects in Cuba

Author: Yisell Rodríguez Milán | informacion@granmai.cu

february 4, 2022 11:02:12

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Photo: Illustration from the book, La tentación del fracaso

Some 40 subversive projects in Cuba were funded in 2020, by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), one of the key economic arms of U.S. government's interference in other countries, meant to destabilize governments that do not meet its expectations.
The NED website revealed that, in 2020, more than five million dollars (5,077,788) were invested, to which must be added funds allocated to NGOs and foundations that do not appear in the Cuba chapter of the report, but which take action against the island, as well as money channeled through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other similar organizations, notes Argentine journalist Héctor Bernardo, in an article published in Diario contexto.
On February 23, 2021, the NED published a list of those awarded between 20,000 and 650,000 dollars to intervene in Cuba during the previous year. Its publically disseminated strategy is to support "efforts" to defend two imperialist pretexts for meddling in other peoples’ affairs: human rights and democracy. On the other hand, it is clearly evident that they intend to motivate mercenaries and pro-imperialists by offering them some money for selling out the homeland.
The list is long of beneficiaries attempting to earn a few bucks generating lies and clouding public opinion about Cuba, but there is a common thread. These are projects focused on specific sectors of the Cuban population (artists, writers, journalists, the self-employed, women, the diaspora...) and address specific issues in an effort to foment dissent, some of which we have seen "explode" on social networks – especially over the past two years - gender violence, human rights, freedom of speech and the press, among other topics of interest.
Internet access, which for years was among the main issues exploited, no longer appears, although the NED continues to encourage the use of new technologies to facilitate the circulation of fake news and defamatory content meant to discredit the Revolution.
They are betting on a lack of knowledge about Cuban institutions, to promote what they call “independent thought," and resort to media tricks to make themselves heard at the United Nations.
Even our labor unions, with their deep commitment to justice, are in the crosshairs of the NED, which allocated $230,000 to a group that in theory would provide assistance to independent activists in Cuba and work to promote labor rights in the informal sector, something the state already does, and which in 2021 gained momentum with the approval of a new legal framework for micro, small and medium-sized companies.
But Cuba was not the only country subjected to NED interference in 2020. As on previous occasions, Nicaragua and Venezuela were prime targets, followed by Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil and Mexico.
Like a television series that drags on with little novelty, NED’s efforts to destroy the Revolution will continue. We are very much interested in seeing the 2021 report, to see how much they paid for the July 11 and November 15 episodes, in which they surely invested more than they got in return.

https://en.granma.cu/mundo/2022-02-04/t ... -in-return

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Notes on the ideology of the Cuban Revolution
Our ideology is defined by the guiding principles of Cuba’s struggle for national liberation and social justice, on the development of our own thought, characterized, as Martí explained, by placing universal thought within the unique, Cuban context

Author: Eduardo Torres-Cuevas | internet@granma.cu

february 7, 2022 11:02:39

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Photo: Anabel Díaz

I believe that what can give coherence to cultural, political and ideological work is a definition of the ideology of the Cuban Revolution.
Our ideology is based on the guiding principles of Cuba’s national liberation and social emancipation processes; on the development of our own thought characterized, as pointed out by José Martí, by placing universal thought within a relative, singular context, according to the specific demands of Cuba’s reality.
Fidel Castro, deeply knowledgeable of Marti's thought, was the architect of the Cuban revolutionary project and the person who gave it, in praxis and in his dialectical thought, both universal and particular content. As he stated, his contribution to revolutionary theory was uniting Marxist thought with Marti's. It follows that the Ideology of the Cuban Revolution contains two guiding components: Cuban revolutionary thought and Marxist thought, adapted to our reality.
This combination is absolutely necessary to understand Cuba’s historical processes and current complexities, as well as those of Third World countries, which have evolved in a manner very different from that of countries in the First World. While the latter are the center of developed capitalist modernity, the former constitute the periphery, the modern world’s marginal areas.
This implies a complexity emerging from the domination and exploitation by imperialist countries which characterize sour historical evolution and the current struggles we face.
In this regard Karl Marx writes, in a letter to the Russian magazine Otiéchestviennie Zapiski, addressing N. K. Mikhailovki’s attempt to schematically extrapolate contents of Capital to the Russian reality: "At all costs he wants to convert my historical sketch on the origins of capitalism in Western Europe into a philosophical-historical theory on the general trajectory to which all peoples are unavoidably subjected, whatever the historical circumstances that affect them, to finally take shape in an economic formation which, along with an expansion of the productive forces, of social labor, ensures the development of man in each and every one of his aspects. (This shows me too great an honor and, at the same time, too much contempt.)"
The characteristics of Cuban society and its evolution are based on elements very different from those of Europe and the United States, since our lot was colonizer -colonized, slave holder-enslaved, producer of raw materials within the north-south and east-west commercial network, according to Martí, "the fulcrum of America."
The study of this complexity and the evolution of Cuban revolutionary thought allow us to understand why in our country, an uninterrupted process of national liberation and social justice has unfolded, and converged in socialism as a consequence of class, social and ideological struggles.
The component added by Marti differentiates this socialism from that of Eastern Europe, by introducing typical Latin American contradictions and paradoxes, as well as the humanist aspect flowing from his confrontation with capitalist factors that structured a slave society, and later, a society that was dependent not only economically, but culturally, as well.
Lenin would call the Spanish-American War the first imperialist war. Martí, who knew the United States well, understood that Cuba would be decisive in the birth of U.S. imperialism, and devoted all the power of his thought and action to producing in our country the foundations of world equilibrium: "an error in Cuba is an error for America, an error for modern humanity. Whoever rises up for Cuba today, rises up for all time."
With regard to Marxist thought, it should be noted that this theory includes three parts: historical materialism, dialectical materialism and political economy. When communicating Marxist ideas, it is important that the concept of political economy is not an economic technicality, but a vision, a method and an essentially political concept.
As far as historical materialism is concerned, it is an essentially theoretical-philosophical analysis that should not be confused with historical science, which, like all sciences, is governed by and evolves on the basis of rigorous methods and factual investigations to ensure the best possible understanding of reality. Scientific findings produce debate and abstractions that penetrate into metahistorical fields.
A fundamental concept guiding the study of specific societies is that of socio-economic formation, created by Marx, which allows the understanding of a specific economic and social complex, with an objective assessment of differences (like those between the Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean models as compared to the Cuban, considering their historical, cultural and social evolution).This is essential to understanding contemporaneity and the richness it possesses. Even beyond the base-superstructure scheme, which Marx himself used so effectively, but should not be used casually– as is the case with any binary hypothesis. The essential feature of social-economic formation is the interrelation and interdependence of all components of a specific society, hierarchically established, to configure its unique characteristics (Engels' parallelogram of forces). Cuban complexity thus acquires cognitive coherence.
Another important aspect is that of the class struggle. It is absolutely necessary to study firsthand the characteristics of social classes and class struggles in a specific society.
In the case of Cuba, its history is linked to the presence of slavery, in its diverse modalities -ranging from patriarchal to intensive plantation slavery - and from this to a society that replaced legal slavery with racial discrimination.
The structuring of republican society further complicated the issue of social classes. To understand this complexity, one must not only consider a class in and of itself, but also intra-class divisions, among which is racist division within the same social class.
Likewise, the influence on ideology of tastes and fashion that affect middle classes, fundamentally, which, in countries like ours, are often more a half-class than a middle class, must be taken into account.
Lenin contributed two fundamental elements to Cuban ideology: the study of the imperialist phase of capital at its birth and the state-revolution relationship, which addresses the structures of power and explains the emergence of revolutionary situations at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Marxism as revolutionary theory and practice, as well as Lenin's contributions, must confront the current stage of capitalism – considering, for example, the difference between financial capital and speculative capital or neoliberal domination under alliances of capitalist powers which can overcome a period of inter-imperialist war.
Mastery of Marxist and Leninist theory, methods and concepts is fundamental to providing theoretical coherence to the Cuban Revolution’s ideology. Concepts that have been surpassed must be set aside, and experiences, new knowledge, contributed during the 20th century, and the 21st thus far, must be integrated.
Our ideological tools must be up to the task in current debates with new proposals being made, including the lessons learned through our experiences and the development of a political consciousness that has in José Martí and Fidel Castro its most profound and realistic creators.
Cuba's nature as a "privileged satellite" within the U.S. imperialist expansion created an aspiration in its bourgeoisie and sectors of its middle class, linked to the symbolic dominance and prevalence, in many, of the so-called American way of life.
This was a visible influence in our society, which originated in the 19th century and was consolidated in the neocolonial period. The Cuban Revolution openly challenged this with the traditions, customs, habits, beliefs of the most genuine of the "ajiaco" (stew) that constitute the extraordinary combination we call Cuban. It has been forged over centuries. This Cuban way of being, feeling and doing, which necessarily identifies our nation, was developed by the people in confrontation with projections that surrendered to a new style of colonialism.
The subject must be addressed in depth, without over-simplifications or vulgarization, which have emerged based on improvisation, speculation, and a lack of knowledge of critical aspects of Cuban history and culture.
There are research centers, researchers, scholars who can contribute to a better understanding of Cuban ideology, which found in Marxism a method and a practice that allowed us to channel much of previous revolutionary thought, particularly that of José Martí. These are our strengths.
The person who made the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, broke with dogmas that ruled out the possibility of a revolution in Cuba succeeding, including the theory of geographic fatalism, the idea that "a revolution can be made with the army, without the army, but not against the army" and that "for a revolution to triumph in Cuba, it must first have triumphed in the United States." He understood that change in Cuba, the road to socialism, must respond to the most pressing needs of Cuban society, and be profoundly humanist, addressing education, public health, agrarian reform, urban reform...
And moreover, it must have a vision of the future, a great humanist revolution advancing in the construction of a new socialism confronting the problems of Latin America and the Third World, with U.S. imperialism as the fundamental obstacle.
Cuban thought was also characterized by establishing, from its very beginnings, (Félix Varela, José de la Luz y Caballero, Rafael María de Mendive), the link between science, consciousness and virtue.
For the country to develop, needed were scientific thought and practice that reflected a patriotic sentiment which in turn contributed to shaping national consciousness (science to create consciousness; consciousness to do science). This was linked to ethical practices in all aspects of the country's life. It was the Cuban school that conveyed in all social spheres the aspiration to build a new, free, humanist society, with social equality.
Overcoming the orthodoxy-heterodoxy dichotomy is key to developing a true Marxist dialectical understanding of Cuba’s evolution and reality, one that allows us to understand not only the original texts that give life to a Marxist point of view, but also to appreciate the results of the contribution of Marxist thought in the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, their contradictions, and that which, through the praxis of the Cuban Revolution, led to e development of a revolutionary consciousness that was not only patriotic, but included identification with the revolutionary project, its specific content defining social classes and class struggle, in a country in which slavery, colonization, neocolonial restoration, the racial problem and its place in the expansion of U.S. imperialism (different in its evolution from the European empires) have shaped and given specific characteristics to the class struggle in Cuba.
Investigation of the development of the communist ranks and revolutionary sectors leads to the conclusion that, in many cases, exposure to texts fundamental to the ideology of the Cuban Revolution is absent or deficient.
Moreover, the absence of certain fundamental aspects of our revolutionary theory can be noted in a significant portion of the population.
In this regard, the formation of philosophers and intellectuals, who need to deepen and update theory, based on Cuban revolutionary practice, must be differentiated from what should be general knowledge of the classic works of the Cuban Revolution’s ideology.
I would recommend identifying a selection of readings of the most important works of the revolutionary theory and the dissemination of these works accompanied by seminars, courses and debate workshops.
Writing manuals is not advisable, given their customary structure, which necessarily reflect the opinions of their authors and reduce the richness, both literary and in content, of the classics of revolutionary thought. Additionally, students must have access to selections of readings to evaluate observations of the classics, which are not usually included in manuals.
In the development of Cuban revolutionaries, particularly communist militants, mastery of the fundamental ideas of José Martí and Fidel Castro, the constructors of Cuban revolutionary thought, is essential. A connection must be established with Marxist training, to create a dialectically linked whole.
Likewise, the works of important Cuban revolutionary thinkers should be considered, such as Felix Varela, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Ignacio Agramonte, Antonio Maceo, Máximo Gómez, Diego Vicente Tejera, Julio Antonio Mella, Antonio Guiteras, Rubén Martínez Villena, Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Juan Marinello, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez and Blas Roca, among others.
Also essential is the inclusion, within these studies, of figures who developed a knowledge-building body of thought, addressing who we are, whether in poetry or in the social sciences. Let us name here Fernando Ortiz, Nicolás Guillén, Alfredo Guevara, Roberto Fernández Retamar, and Fernando Martínez, who, along with a number of other essayists, have made an essential contribution to a better understanding of Cuban society.
A selection of works that allows for the comprehensive development of Cuban revolutionaries is needed. As a contribution to the realization of such a project, I submit the following:

Basic Library of the Cuban Revolutionary

Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto, Eleven Theses on Feuerbach, Prologue to the Critique of Political Economy and Critique of the Gotha Program.
Friedrich Engels: The Role of Labor in the Transformation of Ape to Man.
José Martí: Selected works from Our America, on the United States; its national and international projections; the party; and the necessary war.
Vladimir I. Lenin: Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism, plus State and Revolution.
Antonio Gramsci: Selected Letters from Prison.
Julio Antonio Mella: Glosas al pensamiento martiano y selección de otros trabajos.
Antonio Guiteras Holmes: El septembrismo and Programa de la Joven Cuba.
Fidel Castro: Selection of key texts on conceptual issues from the Moncada to his mature definition of the concept of Revolution in his May 1, 2000 speech. (The Fidel Castro Center is currently working on the selected works)
Ernesto Guevara: Socialism and Man in Cuba, Letter to Fidel Castro, March 25, 1965.

Selection of texts that provide a comprehensive overview of the complexities of today's global strategic panorama.
This selection of readings can be complemented with important works that allow a better understanding of the periods in which these classic authors wrote. Suggested readings: Marx's biography, by Franz Mahring; Lenin's, by Gerald Walter; Martí's, by Jorge Mañach and Cintio Vitier; Guiteras', by José Tabares del Real and Paco I. Taibo; Che's, by María del Carmen Ariet and Taibo; and Fidel Castro's, by Katiuska Blanco.

Additionally, Army General Raúl Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez have delivered speeches of special relevance to the ideological struggle and the strengthening of the Revolution’s ideology, at this time.
The most relevant speeches they delivered during Party, government, and public events, as well as Díaz-Canel’s comments on Fidel “Words to the intellectuals” and his speeches during the last Congress of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (Uneac), should be necessary reading, not only as a complement to the revolutionary classics, but also as key to understanding current strategies and conceptions of the battle faced today by the Cuban Revolution, on all its diverse fronts.
It is evident that the amplitude and complexity of the text selections identified as resources implies the need for adjustments in each case, taking into account the level and length of development activities in which they are used.

https://en.granma.cu/cuba/2022-02-07/no ... revolution
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Mon Feb 28, 2022 1:52 pm

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Cuba Takes Position on Ukraine Conflict: “Russia Has the Right to Defend Itself”
February 28, 2022

Caracas, February 27, 2022 (OrinocoTribune.com)—This Saturday, February 26, the Cuban government took its position on the Ukrainian conflict. This came after the Russian army launched a military operation in order to contain the advance of NATO military forces towards Russia and to protect the population of the People’s Republic of Danotsk and Lugansk, which has been under Ukrainian military attack for the last eight years.

Cuba’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez, posted an official Cuban statement through his Twitter account. Part of the statement went: “The United States’ determination to continue the progressive expansion of NATO towards the borders of the Russian Federation has led to a scenario, with implications of unpredictable scope, that could have been avoided.”

Cuba, along with Nicaragua and Venezuela have been directly named by White House advisor Juan Gonzalez, as indirect recipients “by design” of US sanctions against Russia, for its military operation on Ukrainian soil that seeks to denazify and disarm its neighbour. Many analysts see that statement as a move in Washington’s attempt to bring the Ukrainian crisis to Latin America.

Many of those analyst see a clear connection between the Ukrainian situation with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Others speculate about the possibility of Washington trying to replicate that scenario again, this time against Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, in an attempt to expand the conflict and reach its strategic objectives of only having subservient governments in Latin America.

The Cuban statement also made clear that it regrets the loss of innocent civilian lives along with its commitment to defend international law and the United Nations Charter.

Below is the unofficial translation of Cuba’s statement:

Declaration of the Revolutionary Government

The United States’ determination to continue the progressive expansion of NATO towards the borders of the Russian Federation has led to a scenario, with implications of unpredictable scope, that could have been avoided.

The military movements carried out by the United States and NATO in recent months towards regions adjacent to the Russian Federation, preceded by the delivery of modern weapons to Ukraine, which together amount to a progressive military encirclement, are well known.

It is not possible to rigorously and honestly examine the current situation in Ukraine without carefully assessing the just claims of the Russian Federation to the United States and NATO and the factors that have led to the use of force and the non-observance of legal principles and international standards that Cuba subscribes to and vigorously supports and are an essential reference, particularly for small countries, against hegemonism, abuses of power and injustices.

Cuba is a country that defends International Law and is committed to the Charter of the United Nations, which will always defend peace and oppose the use or threat of force against any State.

We deeply regret the loss of innocent civilian lives in Ukraine. The Cuban people have had and continue to have a close relationship with the Ukrainian people.

History will hold the US government accountable for the consequences of an increasingly offensive military doctrine outside NATO’s borders, which threatens international peace, security and stability.

Our concerns are reinforced by the decision recently adopted by NATO to activate, for the first time, the Response Force of that military alliance.

It was a mistake to ignore for decades the just demands for security guarantees by the Russian Federation and to assume that this country would remain defenseless in the face of a direct threat to its national security. Russia has the right to defend itself. It is not possible to achieve peace by encircling or cornering states.

The draft resolution on the situation in Ukraine that was not approved in the Security Council on February 25, which will be presented to the General Assembly, was not conceived as a real contribution to the search for solutions to the current crisis.

On the contrary, it is an unbalanced text, which does not take into account the legitimate concerns of all the parties involved. Nor is the responsibility of those who instigated or deployed aggressive actions that precipitated the escalation of this conflict recognized.

We advocate a serious, constructive and realistic diplomatic solution to the current crisis in Europe, by peaceful means, which guarantees the security and sovereignty of all, as well as regional and international peace, stability and security.

Cuba rejects hypocrisy and double standards. It must be remembered that the United States and NATO in 1999 launched a major aggression against Yugoslavia, a European country that they fragmented, with a high cost in lives, based on their geopolitical objectives, ignoring the UN Charter.

The United States and some allies have used force on multiple occasions. They invaded sovereign states to provoke regime changes and intervene in the internal affairs of other nations that do not bow to their interests of domination and that defend their territorial integrity and independence.

They are also responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians, which they call “collateral damage,” for millions of displaced people and for the vast destruction throughout the geography of our planet as a result of their predatory wars.

Havana, February 26, 2022

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba

https://orinocotribune.com/cuba-takes-p ... nd-itself/

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The Virtual Overflow of the State Department and Its Office in Havana
February 23, 2022
By José Ramón Cabañas – Feb 16, 2022

In recent months, both Cuban internet users and foreign diplomats residing in Cuba have been surprised by the unabashed way in which both the State Department in Washington and its embassy in Havana have incorporated into their daily routine the issuance of judgments and opinions on Cuba’s internal reality, which they publish and reiterate without any modesty. Although the practice has encompassed several platforms, it has greater presence in Twitter, which is supposed to be less popular than Facebook, but where government officials, academics and decision-makers of various kinds are theoretically more present.

This digital exercise, which is now more intense than it was during the Trump mess, began to have greater presence in the same way that the dreamers of the end of the Cuban Revolution felt that the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, in conjunction with the damage caused by unilateral coercive measures (blockade), would cause a social outburst in Cuba.

The State Department and its diplomatic representation in Havana left their fingerprints all over the events before and after July 11, but they still had a certain restraint in those days, to avoid being seen as the direct handlers of the “protesters.” As the days passed by and the “leaders” of those events went on buying plane tickets to settle abroad and publicly disqualified each other, the US bureaucrats from the banks of the Potomac River felt the need to consummate a greater role, which became traumatic as November 20 (which later became November 15) approached.

For the latter show they had sold tickets at high prices and faced the danger that there would be no show, as it indeed turned out to be. The situation most feared by the puppeteers occurred: the puppet show’s scenery fell down and the audience finally saw that the puppets did not have a life of their own, but were being operated by others.

To this day, it is not known whether the largest bets on the probable Antillean holocaust were made in Havana or in Washington. What is certain is that forecasts were sent from the State Department to the Office of the National Security Advisor and from there to the White House. This intense exchange of memos and proposals resulted in the opening of USAID’s coffers and, especially as of September 2021, more funds began to flow to buy videos, statements, comments in blogs and whatever other gimmickry was necessary to present to the world and to the US public opinion a virtual state of affairs in Cuba.

After all, if a high percentage of the US population still considers that the 2020 presidential elections were “stolen” from under their noses, how could we not think that a similar percentage would take as truth the headlines that the Cuban people had revolted and that those who did not were contained by the repression. If for four years the State Department insisted that non-existent sounds created undiagnosable illnesses in its diplomatic personnel in Havana, and many people believed, then how could it not be assumed that the Cuban government would attack its own people, with a little bit of reiteration.

And in this circumstance, the US authorities showed, once again, that the multilateral framework that humanity has built in order to survive is useful to them only if it endorses the existence of a single pole of power. Vienna Convention? Respecting the internal affairs of other countries? Observing the limits of the sovereignty of others? Little annoying details.

And so, as in an empty theater, State Department officials are left playing on Twitter the score that was written for others. The difference with other crises built in various countries is that in those crises the infantry has been local and the artillery has acted from afar. But in this case, the conspirators were left almost without infantry and have had to take on that role themselves, albeit virtually.

Again, in the absence of evidence, proof, recordings and photos, tweets from the State Department’s Western Hemisphere division have filled that space. By the way, the scarcity of photos to support their theories was solved in a masterful way: using as their own—to support the thesis of rebellion—the photos that massively testified the support of the majority of the Cuban people for their authorities. For the State Department, it is not theft, it is called borrowing without the owner’s knowledge.

But when someone decides to forget the rules to which the diplomatic services of all countries are bound, that reciprocity is practiced every day in this exercise is also overlooked. What would have happened if any official Cuban representative, or simply a citizen of Cuban origin had been involved in the demonstrations following the assassination of George Floyd? What a commotion would it have caused if a Cuban, whether a farmer or an artisan, had been present at the police sweep of Lafayette Park right in front of the White House, during 2020? By the way, what if there were citizens of Cuban origin present at the events of January 6, 2021 at the Capitol, but they were members of the Proud Boys organization, who before and after those events went to show their masculinity in front of the Cuban embassy with obscenities and abrasive gestures?

In other words, with their irresponsible actions on social media, especially on Twitter, the US Foreign Ministry and its employees have opened wide a door for others to do the same regarding the internal problems of the United States. But Cuba has not made use of that opportunity, nor will it do so, out of respect for the rules of international coexistence and, even more, out of respect for those who have fought for the vindication of their rights in the US for decades, in a genuine manner and without the need for guidance or direction from abroad.

But the precedent will be reflected on by the academy, or by third parties who in future may say to them: what are you complaining about if you did the same to the Cubans? These are the risks that one runs when arrogance overflows.

In addition to the occurrence of the event itself, it is interesting to appreciate its quality. When basically the same texts are mechanically reiterated, when the copy and paste between the State Department and its embassy is so evident, when the contradictions between numbers and supposed sources hardly need to be explained, then it is worth asking whether those who make such mistakes do so simply for lack of creative capacity, or to demonstrate that they are “following a direction.” And certainly that doubt remains.

Another thing to do is to construct a “timeline” for beginners, which in itself would discredit the sources of the aforementioned digital bombardments. The Western Hemisphere affairs division, which theoretically attends to and is moved by what happens in more than 30 nations and territories, has repeatedly fallen silent at times when there have been mass killings in the region, when constitutional order has been attacked in several countries, when drug cartels have shaken entire cities, when mass graves have been discovered, or when barbarities have been committed by human traffickers. Apparently these are inherent realities of the democratic system they promote together with their servants at the Organization of American States secretariat, which need not be attended to because they are not news. But for Cuba rules are different.

However, those who master the techniques to understand what really happens on the social networks notice other interesting details. How many retweets these abrasive and disrespectful messages against Cuba have generated, how many likes, how many impressions (times a content has been seen), how many interactions from internet users. All this data, taken as a whole, would show that the disrespect for the sovereignty of others has been sterile, the attention generated with the Goebblelian repetition of the contents has been minimal, if we take into account the total population in Cuba, in the US and worldwide, even in Hialeah [Florida].

The subconscious cannot help but compare this exercise with what happened months after the US defeat at Playa Girón (the Bay of Pigs for them). The CIA (and we have not spoken of the agency in this text) had installed months before in Swan Island a radio station (illegally at that), which was to guarantee with its propaganda that the attacked people of Cuba would receive with open arms the members of Brigade 2506, popularly known as mercenaries. The fact is that once they were defeated and under the custody of the Cuban authorities, Radio Swan continued broadcasting calls to “burn the sugarcane fields” and to “advance on the capital.” It is difficult not to remember the precedent.

The other thing is that the US bureaucracy on average is not well paid compared to salaries in the unofficial world. There are officials, sometimes at the end of their careers, who are concerned about their retirement and future life, which is why they sometimes put an emphasis on their actions, beyond what common rationality explains. And the fact of being very emphatic in the attacks against Cuba, with a specific enjoyment and beyond instructions, also brings to mind the case of James Cason, a former head of the US Interests Office in Havana, who at the beginning of this century was characterized by his stridency, which marginalized him even with respect to the rest of the diplomats residing in Havana. On repeated occasions, foreign officials and visitors wondered at the reason for his performance, especially when they knew that he did not have the slightest chance of promotion in the US diplomatic ranking. And the explanation came after his departure: Cason ran for and was elected mayor of Coral Gables, Florida, an emporium of the remnants of the rancid Cuban bourgeoisie and others who were not bourgeoisie but aspired to it.

And please, do not consider this case to be unique or sporadic. Several years before Cason, Mr. Dennis Hayes, who had been nothing less than the Coordinator of the Cuba Bureau at the State Department, was hired by the Cuban American National Foundation as head of its Washington office. In other words, when it comes to the “cause” against Cuba, the lines of decency are often crossed, codes of ethics (if they exist) are not enforced, and it is difficult to know who pays whose salary and to distinguish who is the boss.

https://orinocotribune.com/the-virtual- ... in-havana/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Fri Mar 04, 2022 12:49 pm

Cuba Reiterates Socialist Character

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Cuban envoy to the UN reiterated the socialist position of the Cuban people. Mar. 3, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@Rene_deMonchy

Published 3 March 2022

Cuban representative to the UN reiterates the socialist character of the nation.

The permanent Cuban envoy to the United Nations, Juan Antonio Quintanilla, ratifies the socialist course of the Caribbean Island.

The legislator noted that Cuba's decision to maintain the socialist path is a determination of the Cuban people despite the continuous aggression caused by the U.S. blockade.

The ambassador highlighted that this is principle has remained for more than 60 years; he ratified it in 2019 in a constitutional referendum. Quintanilla stated that nothing would make the Cuban people change their position, ignoring the intensification of the blockade and the most recent destabilization plans promoted by the U.S.

"The blockade constitutes the most flagrant and massive violation of the human rights of an entire people and the main obstacle to its economic and social development," he stated. He denounced Washington's opportunism during his address, taking advantage of the global Covid-19 pandemic to intensify its siege.


The U.S. administration of Donald Trump, during the period from 2017-2021, more than 240 hostile measures were applied, dozens of them in the middle of a health crisis, which were maintained by his successor in the White House, Joseph Biden.

The permanent representative remarked on Cuba's resistance, although the U.S. attempts to cause economic scarcity and deteriorate the population's living standards.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cub ... -0017.html

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Cuba's President Calls for Resizing Role of Companies

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Miguel Díaz-Canel, President of Cuba. March. 3, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@pozo1661

Published 3 March 2022

It is necessary to resize the mindset of those in charge of corporate social responsibility.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba's president, called for a change in the mentality of those at the helm of corporate social responsibility at the annual meeting of the Ministry of Economy and Planning.

The president underlined that the state-owned socialist enterprise is the prominent economic actor in Cuba and stressed that dialogue with the productive system is the main priority. He remarked that it is necessary to ensure the reduction of imports as well as to foster development at the local levels.

The Head of State pleaded to establish a design for the sector involving popular participation and control. In this sense, he drew attention to the last 36 measures taken by the government to boost agricultural production.

At the meeting, the president alerted to the difficult economic situation Cuba is going through amid a world pandemic and the U.S. blockade against the country. He emphasized the need to keep the COVID-19 pandemic under control while moving towards the new normality.


What President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said at the Balance of the Ministry of Economy and Planning. Everything we do must defend the socialist and Marxist approaches.

He called on to be creative and address actions from a socialist and Marxist approach along these lines. In this connection, the president praised the work made by Cuban scientists and health personnel in the face of the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19. He noted that Cuba is the country with the largest population immunized with a complete schedule and the one that has vaccinated its population the fastest.

For its part, Minister Alejandro Gil disclosed the objectives of the Cuban economy in 2022. He highlighted that the country is now in the second stage of execution of the National Development Plan, to be extended to 2026. He pointed out that 258 new measures have been taken intending to guarantee the advancement of the country's economy.

Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas warned that companies do not benefit from all the possibilities given by the government to move towards greater autonomy, so he asked for further development of the decisions made.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cub ... -0020.html

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Cuba advocates a serious, constructive, realistic solution to the crisis in Europe

Cuba's permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, reaffirmed Cuba's official position on the situation in Ukraine during yesterday’s emergency special session of the UN General Assembly, in New York

Author: Nuria Barbosa León | internet@granma.cu

march 2, 2022 12:03:42

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Cuba’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta. Photo: Cubaminrex

Cuba's permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, reaffirmed Cuba's official position on the situation in Ukraine during the emergency special session of the UN General Assembly yesterday in New York.
The diplomat returned to the main arguments put forward by the revolutionary government in a statement released February 26, advocating a solution that guarantees the security and sovereignty of all and addresses legitimate humanitarian concerns.
Pedroso's statement, published on the Cuban Foreign Ministry's website, describe the situation caused by U.S. insistence on NATO's expansion to the Russian Federation’s borders, leading to events that could have been avoided.
He recalled that Cuba is a country which defends international law and is committed to the United Nations Charter, which will always defend peace and oppose the use of force against any state, and threats to do so. He stated that Cubans are deeply saddened by the loss of innocent civilian lives in Ukraine.
"The Cuban people have had, and continue to have a close relationship with the Ukrainian people," he said.
He insisted that history will hold the U.S. government accountable for the consequences of an increasingly offensive military doctrine that threatens international peace, security and stability.
"Russia has the right to defend itself. It is not possible to achieve peace by encircling or corraling states," he emphasized.

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Artwork by David Alfaro Siqueiros

He likewise noted that the draft resolution on the situation in Ukraine, which the Security Council considered but did not adopt on February 25, was not intended as a real contribution to finding a solution to the current crisis.
"The text under consideration by this General Assembly suffers from the same shortcomings and lack of necessary balance. It does not take into account the legitimate concerns of all parties involved. Nor does it recognize the responsibility of those who instigated and deployed aggressive actions that precipitated the escalation of this conflict," he stated during the debate.
Ambassador Pedroso noted that Cuba welcomes the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, since this is the only way to resolve the conflict. Our nation, he said, will continue to advocate for a serious, constructive and realistic diplomatic solution to the current crisis in Europe, achieved through peaceful means, to ensure the security and sovereignty of all, regional and international stability and security.

https://en.granma.cu/mundo/2022-03-02/c ... -in-europe
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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