Saturday, 9 January 2010

Cubans Mobilise Against Imperialist Mercenaries



For half a century US imperialism has gone to staggering lengths to try and destroy the Cuban Revolution and damage the example it sets for the oppressed people of the world. This aim is embedded in the US Constitution itself. The US blockade (1961), invasion (1961), the threat of nuclear war (1962) and attempts to isolate Cuba on the international stage, have failed to destroy the Revolution.

The Obama administration is stepping up efforts to create an internal opposition among the Cuban people, ‘investing’ $55 million in 2009 alone in this endeavour. These attempts are failing miserably. Imperialist powers and their allies continue to underestimate the revolutionary strength of the Cuban people, demonstrated in December 2009 when just one neighbourhood in Havana took to the streets in response to a group of imperialist-paid mercenaries known as the Women in White.

The Women in White are the families of 75 counter-revolutionaries who were imprisoned in April 2003 for being paid agents of the US government involved in sabotaging the Cuban Revolution. For years their monthly demonstrations have been ignored by the Cuban people, who realise they represent nothing more than a photo opportunity for the international bourgeois press. However, last month a crowd of Cubans responded, surrounding the women and banging on the car of a British diplomat who was present. Diplomats from the US and German embassies were also accompanying the Women in White, in violation of international diplomacy laws. The words of the Cuban people in the video demonstrate their refusal to tolerate the Women in White’s false claims to be fighting for freedom. They are losing their patience with the self-aggrandizement of a tiny group of mercenaries who would return Cuba to imperialist domination in exchange for a few material privileges.

In the video, one of the women in white admits receiving money from the allies of the US government, linked to terrorist organisations based in Miami. Among them is Santiago Alvarez who left Cuba soon after the Revolution and has since been involved in many terrorist actions killing Cuban people as a leader of the Miami Mafia. He was arrested in the US in 2005 when found in possession of numerous weapons, including fully automatic machine guns along with ammunition. Alvarez is a key ally of Luis Posada Carriles, a terrorist who has boasted his involvement in blowing up a Cuban civilian aeroplane, killing 73 people in 1976.

Throughout their history of financing right-wing terrorist groups to overthrow progressive governments and attack revolutionary movements, the US government has often acted covertly through non-governmental organisations. Also in December 2009, an employee of a CIA front organisation was detained for illegally distributing sophisticated satellite communication technology to mercenary groups in Havana and giving free mobile phones to citizens in an effort create inequalities and destabilise Cuban socialism.

Following these events, Raul Castro said to the Cuban National Assembly of People’s Power: “The United States won’t quit trying to destroy the revolution…They are giving new breath to open and undercover subversion against Cuba…The enemy is as active as ever.” Nonetheless, as the video shows, the Cuban revolutionaries are also active and they will defend their Revolution.

Long live the Cuban revolution!
Imperialism OUT of Latin America!