“Cuba has never done an act of terror to nobody! If anything they have sent doctors, they have sent medical brigades, they’ve always done humanitarian help for anyone who needed it regardless of their political stand!”
– Melissa Peralta, from this episode.
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When former Cuban President Fulgencio Batista ran for office in 1952, his political party found itself in last place behind the Orthodox Party and the Authentic Party during the election. So he ended up taking power by a coup d’etat, forcing the current President Carlos Prio Socarras into exile. He consequently ran the country with an iron fist. Between 10,000 and 20,000 Cuban died in the years following Batista’s rise to power. [1]
Washington instantly recognized Batista as leading the country. As it did for countries enduring similar undemocratic injustices such as in Iran in 1953 and in Guatemala in 1954. [2]
In January of 1959, the revolution against Batista succeeded and Castro’s committment to high quality health care for all, improving literacy to among the highest in the world and confiscating land owned and operated by U.S. businesses while sponsoring anti-U.S. military movements, the giant state famous for “fighting for freedom and democracy” put the Head of the Cuba’s Revolutionary movement in the centre of its cross-hairs. [3]
From John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden, U.S. presidents have subjected the biggest island in the Caribbean Sea to a trade embargo. In late 2020, President Donald Trump made sanctions even worse by placing Cuba on his list of “state sponsors of terrorism” as well as banning Cuba from purchasing important medicines and imposing sanctions on oil imports from Venezuela. [4]
We, in Canada, heard about the country being in rough shape as a result of heavy rains from Hurricane Oscar and the plague of power outages threatening the most basic needs within a twenty first century civilization. But seemingly muted in all talk about the woes of this beleaguered communist enclave is the vice on its economic engine with the hand of Uncle Sam tightening it.
We are within a month now of Donald Trump once again occupying the White House throne, his agitated fingers ready to prepare for his next round of executive orders. With now Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban immigrant known as the leader of the anti-Castro ex-pat community in Florida, taking the reigns as Secretary of State at Trump’s side, the stage is set for the worst experience of the Empire Strikes Back ever conceived.[5]
As Cuban people and their allies abroad brace themselves for more sanctions from hell, and for all we know, even something worse than that, the Global Research News Hour is taking stock of the islands situation on an important anniversary date in the revolution’s history.
Journalist Michael Welch visited Cuba from November 24th to December 18th to try to get an assessment of the situation. How is the healthcare system fairing five years after Trump’s sanctions and the advent of COVID? Are Cubans flocking abroad to gain support for themselves and their families? Is it finally time to scrap socialism and embrace the kind of policies that America will embrace? We try to get some answers in this year-end episode of the Global Research News Hour.
Welch’s associates for much of the stay are members of a Canadian group of solidarity activists known as the Calixto Garcia Solidarity Brigade, named after the general who fought in three uprisings during the Cuban War of Independence in the late 19th century.
CGB supports the revolution as does the Institut Cubano de Amistad con Las Pueblos (Cuban Institute for the friendship of the People, or ICAP.) Within that context, we inquired about the many issues facing Cuba today, including the arts and education programs, the health care system, the tactics and heroism during the 50s Revolutionary War, and the impact on the culture and economy generally across four provinces in the East – Holguin, Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, and Las Tunas.
Video recorded by fellow Calixto Garcia Brigade member Alok Mukherjee
If you wish to help the Calixto Garcia Brigade in their efforts to assist the Cuban people, or to find out more about them, join them on Facebook (Calixto Garcia Solidarity Brigade) or email them at [email protected].
(Global Research News Hour episode 454)
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