Cuban International Terrorism? What!?

On Jan. 11th, the New York Times and the AP reported that Trump’s State Department lead by his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated Cuba as a U.S. deemed state sponsor of terror. The label was applied to the nation from 1959 to 2015; the time between the Socialist Revolution of the Castro Brothers, Che Guevara, and the countless members of the People’s Socialist Party, and the détente under Barack Obama. In 2015, Pres. Obama took Cuba off the list and renewed diplomatic relations with the Socialist experiment that is Cuba, and Joe Biden is expected to thaw relations even further.

The Socialist Caribbean island-state is designated by Pompeo as a terror-supporting state for three reasons:

Cuba has taken in several members of the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN) and defied extradition requests from the leaders’ home country. Peace talks between the ELN and the Colombian government took place in Havana beginning in December 2015 and lead to the ELN leaders never leaving. The Colombian government wants them to pay for an ELN bombing of a police station in Bogota that took place in 2019. Cuba refuses to send them back because it would violate protocols established between the two groups during peace efforts that were broken off after the bombing.
Cuba is the protective home of Joanne D. Chesimard, a.k.a. Assata Shakur. Shakur is a former member of the Black Liberation Army and is still wanted for a killing of a New Jersey state trooper in the 1970’s. Two other fugitives now call Cuba home along with Shakur, and they have never been extradited back to the U.S. for over some 50 years now.
Cuba is a strong ally of Venezuela and Nicolas Maduro; the U.S.’s biggest Latin-American boogey man right now (probably the biggest since Fidel Castro.) Despite crippling sanctions on this oil-rich nation of South America, the U.S. government, and most of the media, blame socialist reforms implemented during the time of Pres. Hugo Chavez as the source of every Venezuelan ill. It’s never the sanctions, always the radical left ideology.

The State Department says Cuba has, “…provided support for acts of international terror.” Therefore they join only three other countries on the list: Iran, Syria, and North Korea. (Cuba’s a little out of place, don’t ya think?)

According to a Reuters report, Cuba has already got a cash-strapped economy that shrank 11% in 2020 due to the pandemic, tougher U.S. sanctions, and domestic inefficiencies, according to Economy Minister Alejandro Gil. And the NYT reports, Cuba has began having shortages of both medicine and food, as the article describes,

“…Cubans have been forced to stand in line for hours in the hope of getting their hands on the meager stocks that exist.”

If you go back into the past posts of STL. you will see my obvious sympathy for the nation of Cuba. There are terrible, terrible lies that are spread about Socialist Cuba all over regarding accusations of large executions, brutal forced labor camps, and any and everything Che Guevara related (If you can stomach it, check out this short YouTube clip of Joe Rogan stating on his popular podcast that Guevara was a “mass murderer.”) And most of these lies come from former rich Cubans who were not interested in showing any humanity towards the country’s poor after the Revolution. They all packed their bags, headed north for Florida, and they still cry for their exploitative businesses, like their sugarcane plantations where the peasants did all the work, living in ignorance and filth. This is why Trump won Florida in 2020. “Little Havanna” knew that both Trump’s and Pompeo’s massive egos cannot handle this little island shaking it’s fist at the monolithic United States.

My point, finally, is that it is ridiculous for Cuba to be designated as state sponsor of terror. And second, these sanctions only hurt the people there. The long lines, lack of food, and absence of electricity and cooking fuel in Cuba (and in Venezuela) are a result of sanctions. And now there are new one’s levied by our ruler on his last days in office.

Tell me, have sanctions worked in North Korea, Iran, Iraq under Saddam, Venezuela, or Cuba? No, they have not. They have just hurt the people.

And on a lighter note, check out this comedy sketch about Cuba’s designation as a terror-supporter at the State Dept. from Breakthrough News:

Venezuela’s Pres. Maduro Interview and Article

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro A great piece in The Guardian on recent Venezuelan unrest with a print and video interview with Pres. Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro claims that the U.S. is almost directly involved with the middle- to upper-class revolt their in an effort to procure Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

I am not backing that assessment but the U.S. has had a century of destabilizing activity in Latin America. The evidence is clear.

But what is important to take away from this piece, and the protests in general, is that it’s the revolution of the rich. U.S. political assessments of it are wrong. It is not a “Spring” revolt.

Now there are problems in Venezuela, and The Guardian lists them, but they are getting better as The Guardian also reports. It’s like Maduro said in the interview: “What country doesn’t have problems?”

There is no justification in these protests which are a coup attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government without major crime.

Read Here.

Trouble in Venezuela

I was hopeful when I first read that the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ was flirting with socialist ideals and policies. He allied with Castro and socialized oil refineries across his country. But in my heart I believed it wouldn’t work. Chavez led his people into too many economic and social problems (like the 56% inflation rate and the high crime rate.) Also the movement was driven by one charismatic leader, not a political sect. His faithful Red Shirts are facing an uphill battle.

So what we have now is Chavez’ successor, Nicolás Maduro, battling with street protesters demanding change at the government’s highest level. In response, Maduro is constricting certain Venezuelans’ freedoms in an effort to suppress the unrest. He is cutting off internet access in areas and refusing to ship oil to certain municipal locations controlled by the opposition. (These tactics should be scary to all liberty-loving people around the world.)

But yet it seems that, according to the reporting, the protesters are the upper-class members of society, such as college students and the oligarchs who tried to overthrow Chavez in the 2002 coup d’etat, not the people.

So who to trust?

Read the latest on the situation here at The Guardian.

The latest report from Venezuela’s political unrest and street violence amidst protests.

Venezuela’s President’s New Law-Making Powers

A good article in The Guardian about the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro’s, new powers to rule by decree without having to consult the national assembly. This new system was approved by the assembly in an effort to install a Cuba-like form of a socialist economy to combat corruption, retail mark-ups, and exploitation by foreign companies.

But critics claim that Maduro’s policies, which are the legacy of Hugo Chavez, will not stop the inflation problem, the corruption problem, and will hinder investments in the Latin American nation.

Read Here.

Goodbye, Presidente Chavez

With the death of Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez, I have asked myself why I have been so supportive of his administration over the years. Here’s a list why I compiled with an important criticism at the end:

First, I must admit, that like Mr. Chavez, I am quite critical of capitalism, especially when ran in third world countries where much of the land and other resources belong to outside owners. He socialized many industries and much land in an effort to bring more control of the Nation’s resources for the people.

Secondly, I love a leader from a small country who lives shaking his fist at a much larger nation which opposes it, much like the relationship between Venezuela and the United States or Cuba and the United States. I love an underdog.

Thirdly, and perhaps superficially, I liked his charismatic style which at times could be clown-like and at other times be inspirationally moving. I’ll never forget Comandante Chavez speaking at a leftist rally on an Argentine soccer pitch about 10 years ago. The crowd started to spontaneously “pogo” (jump straight up and down) like they were at a rock concert. Then soon enough, about 10 seconds after the crowd began jumping, Chavez began to do the same behind the podium in an effort to identify with the gathered peoples that went crazy. It was both entertaining to see a 50-some-odd year old man pogoing like a 20-something in the crowd, which quickly built a bridge with the attendants that the other speakers did not.

Fourthly, he consolidated power under himself as much as possible during his three terms as President. Now as an American democrat, I hate any limitations on democracy in my home country, but in Venezuela, things are different. Venezuela, before Chavez won his first election as President in 1999, was ruled by oligarchs and foreign industry that kept the masses extremely poor without much hope for bettering their condition. His opponents even conducted an (as The Guardian reports) Bush-administration supported failed coup in 2002 in an effort to regain power and go back to the pre-Chavez status-quo. So since the “Chavista” movement was so fragile in the face of its critics, he had to consolidate power. The same thing could be said about Cuba and North Korea for the first 20 years of their leaders’ reign as supreme leader. I know this sounds like outright heresy in face of the U.S. constitution but other countries are not America. They do not have the same equal rights that we have here. There are nefarious parties connected to outside powers who want to economically occupy that nation. Sometimes consolidating power is the only way for a leader/party is the only way to maintain control for the better.

Fifthly, the overall reason I admire Chavez so much was for his revolutionary vision even though the nuts and bolts never worked out during his time as leader. Most people in the mainstream media will make big of this fact as they should, but he tried his best as a great ideologue in an effort to help the masses in Venezuela who had been forgotten by the oligarchy for so very long.

And finally, a criticism I have of Mr. Chavez is since Venezuela was turned away by the United States during the Bush years and labeled as anti-American, Chavez made friends with other ostracized leaders. Now his friendship with both Qaddafi and Ahmadinejad to me, despite the Venezuelan hard times, is serious black marks on his record and should be recognized.

Chavez Succeeds Despite Lack of Homes

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan President who’s often demonized by American politicians, has brought much hope to his people with his promises of a brighter future through socialism.

This article in the CSM outlines that a movement towards a better future is sometimes all that is needed, instead of immediate results, when a country as poor as Venezuela is the subject.

Read Here.

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: