The Trump Administration’s “new” memorandum violates the rights of an entire nation and ratchets down every loop hole of Cuba’s right to interact with the nations of the world. They keep throwing these restrictions on the wall to see what sticks in frustration as dignified Cuba stands tall.
“Thanks to the President’s leadership, the United States is committed to promoting freedom and prosperity in Cuba. Let there be no doubt: under President Trump’s leadership, we will hold the illegitimate Cuban regime accountable and support the Cuban people in their quest for freedom and justice,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio’s “praise” followed yesterday’s announcement that “Donald Trump is reestablishing his tough policy toward the Cuban regime.” When did the current administration, or the previous one, or Trump’s first one, or any of the 12 that have passed through the White House since 1959, abandon that tough policy?
The latest presidential memorandum on Cuba, signed yesterday by the empire’s leader, is more of the same. Its guidelines are: freedom for the people, democracy, respect for human rights and human dignity, and protection for dissidents and “peaceful protesters.” It legally prohibits US tourism to the island, supports the economic, commercial, and financial blockade; prevents the reinstatement of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy; restricts financial transactions with Cuba; and grants the “dedicated” Rubio the power to identify any entity that is under the control of, or acts for or on behalf of, Cuban companies, as well as to regulate their financial transactions.
With regard to academic and other travel, it includes that travelers must “participate in a full-time program of activities that enhance contact with the Cuban people, enhance civil society, and promote the independence of the people from the authorities.”
It announces the adjustment of the regulation defining the term “prohibited Cuban government officials,” which includes ministers and deputy ministers, members of the Council of State and Ministers, members and employees of the National Assembly of People’s Power, employees of the Minint and Minfar, leaders of the CTC, members and employees of the National Supreme Court; directors, deputy directors, and superiors of all Cuban state agencies; and editors-in-chief, editors, and deputy directors of Cuban state media organizations and programs.
Who are they trying to fool? The Cuban people have suffered all this for more than 60 years. The “brand new” memorandum fails to mention that it is the same as Lester Mallory’s 1960 memorandum, which mandated the creation of chaos and despair. Now it is doing so by pursuing every Cuban transaction around the world, cutting off any source of fuel for Cuba, thereby seeking to render it inoperable. It fails to mention that it is responsible for the blackouts, for the financial speculation that has created inflation in our economy, and for the precarious situation of transportation.
He has yet to say that including Cuba on the spurious list of state sponsors of terrorism is part of that strategy to isolate it, to cut off its trade, with the aim of portraying the Greater Antilles as a failed state.
What freedom can a government talk about when it has maintained secret prisons, where it locks up anyone for any reason, without any legal protection, simply because they do not agree with its strategies of domination, or because, in its neo-fascist way, it considers them inferior because they are immigrants?
Is that democracy? Is it democracy to storm the legislative branch because you lost a presidential election?
Those who order the killing of an innocent people, with their children, their mothers, their elderly, as in Gaza, in order to build a luxury resort there, cannot speak of respect for human rights and human dignity.
Does the government that denied oxygen to the people it claims to protect in the midst of COVID-19 demand respect for human dignity? Is that what it understands when it sends the army against its own people to crush their opinion, when all they are asking for is fair and humane treatment?
Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, member of the Political Bureau and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, said in X that this memorandum only “reinforces the aggression and economic blockade that punishes the entire Cuban people and is the main obstacle to our development. It is criminal behavior and violates the human rights of an entire nation.”