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George Bush seeks to spread capitalism and not democracy in Cuba
by Jose Rodriguez
Various media organizations have reported that U.S.
President George Bush administration, is looking
forward to a "post-Fidel Castro era" so that the
United States can "assist" Cuba toward "democracy".
However, it is apparent that the U.S. President George
Bush administration does not seek democracy in Cuba,
or anywhere else in the world, including the United
States itself. Indeed, America does not function as a
democracy, in which the American people control the
direction of the society.
In America, the direction of that society is currently
controlled by a commercially wealthy clique which
operates a political-military-industrial complex. In
the last two U.S. Presidential elections, many
Americans have questioned the legitimacy of elections
in which ballots were not counted, and were
susceptible to electronic manipulation, when millions
of anti-Bush African Americans, and other communities,
were reportedly intimidated from voting. In the
United States, U.S. President Bush is also destroying
the U.S. Constitution under the pretext of a seemingly
made-in-Hollywood "War on Terrorism", under the
direction of a political-military-industrial complex.
The typical American also experiences growing
exploitation, and oppression, in a societal milieu of
worsening economic disparity, in a Bush-led
neo-McCarthyistic context which is undermining basic
'free speech'. The U.S. President Bush has created a
path of societal disintegration. from his foreign
policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon, to his
ignoring of genocide in Sudan, and to his very
reactionary and negligent domestic policies.
Mr. Bush seeks a Bastista-like "puppet government"
in Cuba
It is apparent that Bush-led neo-conservatives seek to
re-establish a Fulgencio Bastista-like puppet
government in Cuba, which will serve not democracy,
but instead fascistic U.S. Big Business interests.
Indeed, in a similar spirit to allegations by many
Americans against Mr. Bush's regime, Batista had
abandoned the Cuban constitution by allowing only
staged elections in which his victory would be
guaranteed.
Batista's government was on good terms with the United
States. This meant that large American corporations
were allowed to grow rich off Cuba's resources, while
the people of Cuba remained very poor. Batista
offered neither health care nor education to his
country's people. The bulk of the people lived in
great poverty while a corrupt Batista and his friends,
including a U.S. based mafia lived wealthy lifestyles.
Many Cubans resented this foreign control over their
country. It created a context for poverty and mass
social political disenfranchisement, which is
reminiscent of the current state of Iraq.
The Cuban Revolution
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Cubans carry a national flag with the image
of late revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara
during a protest march past the U.S. diplomatic
mission in Havana January 24, 2006. Several hundred
thousand marchers waved little red, white and blue
Cuban flags. They chanted "Bush: fascist! Condemn the
terrorist!".
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The Fidel Castro led Cuban Revolution in the late
1950's was a reaction to the social injustices of
capitalism which had been supported by the United
States. Such anti-democratic social injustices
continue to be supported by the U.S. Bush
administration's domestic and foreign policy agendas.
America's elites pursuit of commercial profit and
venal power, at the expense of the Cuban people did
not go unnoticed, and hatred towards Batista and the
then prevailing situation, united Cubans with the
rebel group that was led by Fidel Castro.
If the United States had supported the substantive
operation of a democracy for Cuba, where its people
were joint owners of their society (in which all
members of the society enjoyed basic human rights
associated with access to food, clothing, shelter,
housing, healthcare, education, and opportunities for
Human Development), there would have arguably not been
a revolution in Cuba. However, Mr. Bush does not now
seek such a democracy in Cuba. What he seeks is the
kind of so-called "democracy" like that which he has
been responsible for establishing in Iraq, in
association with a U.S. "puppet government", under
continuous U.S. military occupation, in a state a
chaos and violence. Mr. Bush's regime thus seeks a
Cuba, in which U.S. corporations linked to the U.S.
political-military-industrial complex, can steal
resources like they now seek to do in Iraq, in order
to enable the commercial prosperity of elites.
The context of the U.S.-led Embargo against Cuba
The U.S. led Embargo against Cuba, has been an attempt
by elites associated with a capitalistic
political-military-industrial complex to undermine the
ability to Castro's "socialist" experiment to flourish
in contradistinction to the experience of the growing
economic disparity, and poverty in the United States.
Such an successful socialist experiment after all,
might further inspire Americans to seek to experiment
with "socialist" innovations, like public healthcare,
and other such "socialist" innovations. U.S.
opposition to Cuba has nothing to do with any claims
of human rights violations in Cuba. Indeed, the U.S.
has had a long history of abusing basic human rights,
which has only worsened under the pretext of a
contrived "War on Terrorism". The numerous violations
of human rights by U.S. military and other related
political activity internationally, and the continued
marginalization and oppression of U.S. citizens in
their own country, shows that the U.S. governments
have executed much more of a systematized lack of
respect for human rights, than any claim that could be
made against Mr. Castro. Indeed, U.S. negligence
continues to be criticized both for genocide in
Africa, and other parts of the world, and ecocides
which now threaten the whole human species on Planet
Earth -- in areas which include Global Warming. These
executions are among other much worse violations of
international law, than that which could ever be
compiled against Mr. Castro.
Personal experiences
A responsible traveller has commented that, I have
gone to Cuba 4 different times under licensed travel.
My experiences completely flew in the face of what I
expected from what I now know as U.S. propaganda. The
results of the revolution are powerful and wonderful.
Cuba is a place where you can experience a society
without the racism that still plagues much of American
society. The population is literate, nearly 100% --
much higher than in the United States. Education is
free -- tuition, books, and a stipend -- for all
levels, including medical school, law school, art
school, whatever. Even adults who want to change
careers re-enter the university mid-life, free. I
experienced freedom of religion -- Mr. Castro has
shown an openness to societal innovations, as long as
they are not against the values of social justice that
are the heart of the Cuban Revolution.
Cuba is, ONLY a threat to the U.S. way of doing
business in the world -- the threat of "a good idea",
said one international scholar.
Cuba IS a model socially progressive "ownership
society"-- everyone has a home, there are no homeless.
They pay the government 10% of their income toward
ownership. Of course, there is economic poverty, the
result, they believe, of America's 40+ years of
blockade and economic warfare. The U.S. Government
has refused to let the Cuban government pay reparation
for the land they nationalized -- yet all other
nations have done so, and now have business
partnerships on the island. The bottom line -- that
Cuba has the lowest infant mortality rate and the
highest literacy rate in the Western Hemisphere --
speaks well for Mr. Castro's leadership.
When the U.S. stops trying to undermine foreign
political systems including Cuba's in favour of
objectives of greed-driven Big Business interests; and
also stops sending millions of dollars to fund
mercenaries on the island to work against the Cuban
Revolution, then Cubans will be able to have greater
political freedoms. Cubans, now enjoy a human rights
context of democratic social justice (education, jobs,
food, shelter, health care) -- now they wait for
greater political rights, when the U.S. begins to
respect Cuban sovereignty.
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