Once Again, Cuba Contributes Its Dead Abroad
HAVANA TIMES – It’s not the first time that Cuban blood is spilled in far-off places for no reason whatsoever, purely due to the whims and grandiose ambitions of the dictatorship.
Hundreds of thousands of young people were forced to risk their skins in Africa so that Fidel Castro could indulge his delirium of igniting the flame of rebellion everywhere. Likewise, hundreds of Cubans found themselves in the middle of a war in Grenada, and now, in Venezuela, 32 of them have fallen during the US operation to capture Nicolas Maduro.
The harsh reality—denied for years at all levels (even at the UN) by Cuban authorities—is that thousands of our compatriots were on Venezuelan soil not only to provide literacy training, medical or sports aid, but also military assistance, specifically in the protection of that country’s top leaders.
Especially after April 11, 2002, during the failed military coup against Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan high command saw the need to seek Cuban help in the innermost circles of power.
What can you expect from a president who doesn’t even trust his fellow countrymen? Maduro walked proudly over the bodies of those 32 Cubans, and then had the gall to try and come across as charming in front of US cameras.
What happened in Venezuela bears significant resemblance to what occurred in Grenada, where, through no fault of their own—as we say in good Cuban—a large group of ordinary citizens was guided by a handful of soldiers into a suicidal confrontation whose only real objective was self-immolation.
On that small Caribbean island, there had been a coup against the communist administration of Maurice Bishop, and around a hundred Cubans—mostly construction workers—were building the national airport when they were caught by surprise in the crossfire, as the United States sent a military convoy to evacuate US students in that country at any cost.
From the outset the US Americans were clear: they had nothing against the Cubans. But Havana’s delusion prevailed, and the Cubans were ordered to face that uneven battle against expert troops. Fortunately, the mission chief disobeyed the absurd orders and prevented a much larger massacre, although he was later publicly shamed for the rest of his life.
The difference now is that those who guarded Maduro did know exactly what they were doing, and what fills us with helplessness is not that they were saints, but that they were miserably sold out—by whom, we still don’t know exactly.
Only thus can it be explained that in an operation of such magnitude the US forces did not suffer a single casualty, while on the other side the toll surpassed fifty, and the main objective did not suffer even a scratch.
It’s infuriating, regardless of your political leanings, that in exchange for oil someone risks their life and then is stabbed in the back by the very people they went to defend. While Havana decreed national mourning and spoke of heroism, the Venezuelan government remained silent about its own dead, eventually putting the number at 24—eight fewer than the Cubans.
Once again, Cuba provides the dead for someone else’s cause, and it hurts even if, deep down, they are mercenaries like those who join the Russian army to fight in Ukraine, with the difference that here they’ve been brainwashed and there nobody shoots them in the back.
From the Anti-Imperialist Tribune, a valiant Diaz-Canel proclaims he would shed his blood for Maduro, but neither he nor his son have ever fired a bullet in their lives, and the only time he wears green is to tour areas ravaged by a hurricane or during a “Meteoro” civil-defense drill.
His voice trembled, because he knows that if Maduro lasted less than a cake at the door of a school, he wouldn’t even make it to the cake. He has no choice but to stage his spectacle of indignation to see if anyone will put the brakes on Trump’s offensive, as Trump continues believing that Cuba will fall on its own through economic pressure.
As always, it’s the sons of the people who give their lives, and although they are not victims, because they knew exactly what they were doing, it is sad to witness such sacrifice in vain for a tyrant.
Humanity and empathy now being requested by Cuba’s authorities for the deceased, may have its logic and can be understood, but it should also be demanded when people like these (and I don’t doubt that some of them actually did so) used violence against political dissidents and their relatives, or brutally repressed the July 11, 2021 protesters in dozens of Cuban cities.
It remains to be seen how events unfolded exactly—who died for being in the wrong place, who died heroically—but what is clear is that these are senseless deaths.
Interim President Delcy Rodríguez has promised an exhaustive investigation into what happened on January 3rd, but everything seems to indicate that despite the patriotic bombast of her official speeches, she may well be behind that betrayal.
That still cannot be confirmed or denied, but we shall see whether Maduro behaves like a true patriot (as he has marketed himself in recent years) and refrains from revealing sensitive information about Cuba, or whether Delcy herself hands over the South American country, dragging Cuba along with it.
As I wrote in a previous article, here on the island the entire top nomenklatura is keeping its head low, aware that they are no match for a large-scale operation—and not even certain that those around them would be willing to sacrifice themselves on their behalf.