Cuba has recently been designated a ‘State Sponsor of Terrorism’ by Trump/Pompeo in an attempt to further starve the economy and people of Cuba.
Not satisfied with promoting regime change and subverting democracy at home, the US government (one of the world’s leading sponsors of terrorism in itself) recently re-designated Cuba as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’. This is part of a wider effort to solidify the Trump administration’s ‘maximum pressure’ strategy, strangling the Cuban economy and stifling any attempts at normalisation under the Biden administration.
Cuba, a country which has been subjected to decades of terrorist attacks & invasions (often launched from Florida) as well as US economic sanctions designed to starve the population into submission, has managed to survive and in many ways thrive. For example, Cuba maintains some of the highest literacy & healthcare standards in the world. During the pandemic, while the US was busy subjecting the people of Syria, Venezuela, and Iran (to name just a few) to harsh economic sanctions ensuring scarcity of even the most basic of goods, Cuba was sending thousands of doctors around the world to help fight the spread of COVID. This is nothing new, Cuba has been sending doctors, nurses, and other forms of aid, abroad for decades. However, this would appear to be what Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, describes as “malign interference in Venezuela and the rest of the Western Hemisphere”. One presumes that this “malign interference” refers in the Venezuelan case to Cuban support for the democratically elected Maduro government as opposed to the Washington-appointed, Juan Guaido, whom even the European Union has pulled their support for.
In 2015, the US under Obama, restored diplomatic relations with Cuba and removed the country from the ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ list. This paved the way for closer relations and a move towards normalisation of how these nations interact, as well as opening tourism, business, and trade opportunities. Cuba had originally been designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 1982 under Reagan. This was, in part, a response to Cuba’s first defeat of the South African apartheid army (a close US ally) in the 1970’s. As part of Cuba’s foreign policy of supporting independence struggles against colonial forces (a foreign policy which had started to diverge from that of the Soviet Union in the ’60s and ‘70s), the Cuban army was key in the successful independence struggles of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde against Portugal, as well as supporting the Soviets in the Congo and Ethiopia.
As Cuba’s foreign policy became increasingly independent of the Soviet Union, one of the most admirable instances of Cuba’s overseas endeavours was the country’s involvement in the liberation of Angola and the downfall of apartheid in South Africa. Cuba was the only country in the world to send its soldiers to fight against the forces of apartheid South Africa during the Angolan civil war and win decisive victories in both 1975/76 and again in 1988, ushering in the end of apartheid. Indeed, Nelson Mandela was unreserved in his gratitude to Cuba and Fidel Castro, saying that “the decisive defeat of the aggressive apartheid forces destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor,”. He continued, “the defeat of the apartheid army served as an inspiration to the struggling people of South Africa.” Keep in mind that the US and UK were staunch allies of the racist, apartheid regime in South Africa up to the very end.
While Cuba can no longer help militarily in these struggles, it continues to send 10’s of 1000’s of doctors, nurses, dentists, etc. to some of the most impoverished nations across the world. Indeed, during the pandemic, Cuba also assisted developed nations such as Italy and Andorra when the rest of Europe turned their backs and even argued over the distribution of medical supplies. This must be what Pompeo describes as Cuba’s ‘support for international terrorism and subversion of US justice’. As I have written previously –
“In Cuba, where economic sanctions, re-introduced under Trump, continue to destroy the economy, and make life as difficult as possible for the Cuban people, there is a clear opportunity for Biden to reverse course. Under Obama, there was a period of attempted reconciliation and efforts to open trade, travel and communications and Biden has already announced his intention to follow through on this. For 6 decades the Cuban people have suffered through attempted invasions, coups, assassinations, economic sanctions, and terrorist attacks — through no fault of their own. Let us hope under Biden, this suffering ends”.
The designation of Cuba as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ will make it more difficult, but not impossible, for Biden to reverse the economic sanctions which are slowly starving the Cuban economy.
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