{"id":3646,"date":"2021-01-29T23:49:37","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T23:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/?p=3646"},"modified":"2021-01-29T23:49:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T23:49:39","slug":"cuba-a-matter-of-principle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/cuba-a-matter-of-principle\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba: a Matter of Principle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Think tanks in the United States and Cuban researchers agree on one thing: the policy of more sanctions and the extension of the U.S. blockade will not change the socialist course of Cuba. In the case of the island, punishment produces the exact opposite of weakness. It has been that way for more than 60 years and nothing indicates that it will change, just because Donald Trump wants to win Florida in 2020 and satisfy the Cuban-American right by raising his fist against the government of Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resumption by the Trump administration of the hegemonic presumption that contemplates punishment and hostile policies will not change Cuban policy. On the contrary, it will again polarize foreign relations with other countries, both inside and outside the Western Hemisphere, while negatively affecting jobs in both the United States and Cuba, concludes a study just published by U.S. lawyer Bruce Zagaris for the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, where he addresses the excessive use of sanctions by the U.S. government and how they produce unintended consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most informed analysts on relations between the two countries, Cuban Jes\u00fas Arboleya, acknowledges that successive administrations in the White House have not succeeded in making the Cuban revolution yield or betray its principles, and will not do so now in the face of Washington\u2019s decision to insist on conditions for Cuba\u2019s relationship with Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In spite of the deployment of forces carried out,\u201d Arboleya states, \u201cneither the intelligent power of Obama nor the \u2018counter-intelligence\u2019 of Trump have achieved the purpose of altering Cuba\u2019s alliance with Venezuela and, much less, defeating their respective revolutionary processes. This calls into question the real capacity of the United States to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would add an additional reason exposed by Arboleya. The U.S. government has already gone through similar situations of blackmail and conditioning of the island, and it failed miserably. For example, the government of Gerald Ford put an end to clandestine talks with Fidel Castro\u2019s envoys to normalize relations, when it became known that Cuban troops were confronting the racist South Africans, then allies of the United States. Nelson Mandela would remember learning of the Cuban victory in Angola while he was imprisoned on Robben Island, \u201cI was in prison when I first heard of the massive aid that Cuban internationalist forces were giving to the people of Angola. \u2026We in Africa are used to being victims of other countries that want to tear apart our territory or subvert our sovereignty. In African history, there is no other case of a people that has risen up in defense of one of our own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1980, the Democrat government of Jimmy Carter also proposed lifting the blockade if Cuba withdrew its fighters from Angola, as documented by Johns Hopkins University researcher Piero Gleijeses. Cuba did not give in and history rewarded the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of Cuban soldiers who returned victorious and with no reward other than the remains of their comrades who had fallen in combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence of Cuban troops in Africa not only guaranteed the independence of Angola and Namibia, but, in Mandela\u2019s words, \u201cdestroyed the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor and inspired the fighting people of South Africa\u2026 The battle fought by the Cubans in Cuito Cuanavale (Angola) marked the turning point in the struggle to rid the continent and our country of the scourge of apartheid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, day-to-day life in the Caribbean has begun with one consistent premise; Cuba remains determined not to change its system, not because of stubbornness, but because this boldness has been and continues to be the driving force that makes the nation\u2019s existence viable in the face of the obsessive hostility of its powerful northern neighbor. Modifications are being introduced, such as those that were recently made to the Constitution, but they are those that Cubans want to give themselves freely, in the exercise of their culture, their interests, their dreams, their projects and their sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the ordinary citizen, the blockade means that you can spend an hour and a half in line to buy detergent or to get on public transport, but socialism guarantees the right to receive an education and an organ transplant free of charge that only a millionaire could afford anywhere else in the world. Everyday life on the island makes it clear that it is hard to break out of the capitalist mold\u2013that it is hard to put a new system in place when you are 90 miles off the coast of the United States. We are not forgiven for being a country that has tried to build an ideal, which may be the one that the U.S. government does not want, but it is our ideal, President D\u00edaz-Canel said as much in this week in dialogue with the foreign press accredited in Cuba during a tour of the island\u2019s east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was standing in line this Wednesday for detergent at a small shop in front of the port of Havana, I was struck by a woman who was standing very tall while carrying a bulky backpack, with things she had bought elsewhere. In the hour and a half she waited, she never laid her luggage down, as if it were a matter of principle. I ended up asking her why. The answer was brutally simple and it comes to the point: You don\u2019t let go of what you have if you have the strength to hold it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0ROSE MIRIAM ELIZALDE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source:\u00a0La Jornada.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think tanks in the United States and Cuban researchers agree on one thing: the policy of more sanctions and the extension of the U.S. blockade […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101011,"featured_media":3647,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2930,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/americas-presidential-election-and-what-it-means-for-cuba\/","url_meta":{"origin":3646,"position":0},"title":"America\u2019s presidential election and what it means for Cuba","author":"Editorial Team","date":"October 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0Keith Bolender Frist published by Progresoweekly This coming November\u2019s presidential election is generally considered to be one of the most important in the nation\u2019s history. Cuba\u2019s history, that is. While the election of either incumbent Donald Trump or former vice-president Joe Biden will have a dramatic impact on the direction\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/trump-biden.jpg?fit=710%2C399&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/trump-biden.jpg?fit=710%2C399&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/trump-biden.jpg?fit=710%2C399&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/trump-biden.jpg?fit=710%2C399&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2785,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/trump-unveils-new-sanctions-targeting-cuban-rum-cigars-hotels\/","url_meta":{"origin":3646,"position":1},"title":"Trump unveils new sanctions targeting Cuban rum, cigars, hotels","author":"Editorial Team","date":"September 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed new curbs on imports of Cuban rum and cigars and banned Americans from staying at properties owned by the Cuban government, as he sought to lock in the Cuban-American vote in the swing state of Florida ahead of November\u2019s presidential election. The moves\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/TRUMP-.jpeg?fit=760%2C542&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/TRUMP-.jpeg?fit=760%2C542&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/TRUMP-.jpeg?fit=760%2C542&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/TRUMP-.jpeg?fit=760%2C542&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2186,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/trump-hammers-cuba-while-cuba-cures-the-sick\/","url_meta":{"origin":3646,"position":2},"title":"Trump Hammers Cuba While Cuba Cures the Sick","author":"Editorial Team","date":"June 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0MEDEA BENJAMIN A team of 85 Cuban doctors and nurses arrived in Peru on June 3 to help the Andean nation tackle the coronavirus pandemic.\u00a0That same day, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced another tightening of the sanctions screws.\u00a0This time he targeted seven Cuban entities, including Fincimex, one of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/trump-cowboy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C820&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/trump-cowboy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C820&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/trump-cowboy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C820&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/trump-cowboy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C820&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/trump-cowboy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C820&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8490,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/u-s-policy-toward-cuba-three-years-on-from-july-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":3646,"position":3},"title":"U.S. Policy Toward Cuba Three Years on from July 11","author":"Editorial Team","date":"July 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"By Reed Lindsay and Daniel Montero Three years ago this Thursday, thousands of people took the streets in Cuba\u2019s largest anti-government demonstrations in decades. The historic protests lasted only one day, but Cuba is still facing ruinous fallout in the form of unrelenting economic warfare waged by the Biden administration.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-10.32.25.png?fit=675%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-10.32.25.png?fit=675%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-10.32.25.png?fit=675%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3701,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/time-for-political-initiatives-against-the-illegal-u-s-blockade-on-cuba\/","url_meta":{"origin":3646,"position":4},"title":"Time for Political Initiatives Against the Illegal U.S. Blockade on Cuba","author":"Editorial Team","date":"February 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a9 Photo: Flickr\/eric It is time to unify and take a collective diplomatic route to calling out the U.S. illegalities against Cuba, Ramona Wadi writes. 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