PETERS’ PIECE
WHO IS THE REAL CRIMINAL? Part 3 of 3
As I wrap up my trilogy on the real insensitive attitude of the United States administration against the people of the Republic of Cuba, I am under no illusion that it was an epic gem of literature but I do hope that it has helped a few people to commit to researching and investigating the grim reality of this long-sustained embargo, the reason for it and the fact that the majority of the world opposes it.
Beside the criminal blockade that was imposed against Cuba 60 years ago, the United States also launched and sustained the most vindictive and insidious demonization campaign imaginable. Using a propaganda strategy fraught with deliberate lies and inaccuracies designed to cause the world to see Cuba as an evil place where people are suppressed and maltreated as an everyday norm.
In fact, based on American media, I grew up believing that Cuba was the most undesirable place in the world and Fidel Castro was a monster of a man that relished in grisly deeds including torture of citizens. In Grenada, back then, we had no access to alternative sources of news and did not yet understand the evil practice of the US media.
It was only after the Grenada Revolution of 1979 when Grenada forged close ties with Cuba, and Grenadians began to travel to that country, we began to understand the miserable untruth of those stories. We got to understand the loving, hardworking, industrious and innovative nature of the Cuban people, the fact that they love their country dearly, they love their leader and their leader loves them.
People who are genuinely familiar with the real Cuba, know that the system is designed to benefit the ordinary citizen in every way possible. In addition, despite the hardships they are facing because of this blockade, the government and people of Cuba do not hesitate for a moment, to offer any assistance they can, in whatever field, to countries in need, be it education, health, whatever area, they are ready to assist. The same cannot be said about the wealthy United States.
After the cold war was over, one assumed that there was no reason to prolong economic hostilities against Cuba. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the USused that to declare that capitalism was superior to communism. However, the US tightened the blockade in the following year.
In 1992, the US passed the Cuban Democracy Act, prohibiting ships that had docked in Cuba from docking in US ports for 180 days. It also gave the president authority to cut foreign aid to any country that aided Cuba. In 1996, the US congress passed the Helms-Burton act, which extended the embargo even further to any foreign company that traded with Cuba. Given a choice between trading with Cuba and the largest economy in the world, the US, most companies have no choice but to choose the United States, effectively barring Cuba from the world market and only able to buy at jacked-up prices, all of this from the country that constantly talks about free trade.
In 2020 the Trump administration imposed new restrictions on travel to Cuba, sending remittances, and even put Cuba back on the state sponsors of terrorism list.
After the last UN vote, the US continues to defend the blockade, claiming that it doesn’t block humanitarian aid. This, as is common with the US, turned out to be a bold-faced lie as Cuba is blocked from accessing even necessities in the medical field like oxygen and couldn’t access the US market even in the midst of the pandemic.
The reality is, America stands isolated in this evil attempt to isolate Cuba. How could they prevent a people from accessing medical supplies in the middle of a global pandemic? Only animals behave that way toward each other.
The Cuban people continue to survive under the weight of the blockade but it’s causing significant hardship. Cuba has done nothing to the US and has never posed any threat to that country. The only thing the government and people of Cuba are guilty of is seeking to develop their country under a system and policies of their choice and refuse to the demands of a bullying country.
For no sensible reason, the US continues to maintain an archaic, outdate economic blockade against the people of Cuba, promoting hardship and suffering, despite the disapproval of the rest of the world. Point out the real world criminal to me.