The US Empires Strikes Again at Cuba

Elio Delgado Legon

HAVANA TIMES – US Imperialism has attacked the Cuban Revolution on all fronts. These attacks are well-known so I don’t have to name them again, plus that isn’t what I want to cover in this article.

As all of these attacks have crashed into an impregnable wall that is the Cuban people’s resistance, the Empire on the decline uses lies to justify its wrong and unjustifiable policy against the Cuban people.

First, they put on the whole “sonic attacks” show, when some of the US embassy’s personnel were forced to return to their country and declare that they had suffered different symptoms, which were never scientifically proven. It was the perfect excuse to shut down the Consulate and withdraw nearly all of their diplomatic mission, kicking out most Cuban diplomats from Washington too, thus breaking nearly all diplomatic relations, which was what the anti-Cuban mafia in Miami wanted all along.

Later, measures were taken to intensify the economic war that the US has waged on the Cuban people for almost 60 years, hoping that desperation would lead them to overthrow the Cuban Revolution and reinstate capitalism like in pre-1959 Cuba.

Then, the waiver on Title III of the Helms-Burton Act was lifted, so as to dissuade foreign investors from investing capital in Cuba and limit the country’s economic progress as a result. As if all of this wasn’t enough, they have now banned US cruise ships from entering Cuban ports, as well as any private US ships or planes.

Even though these measures violate international Law and infringe on the rights of US citizens, they have been accepted because US citizens fear million-dollar fines, without the right to defend themselves. On top of that, they’ve tried to stop any oil carrying ship from reaching Cuba so as to create chaos and prevent economic growth.

Now, when it would seem that the US has exhausted its arsenal of attacks against Cuba, they’ve pulled another one from out their sleeve: three million dollars to anyone who presents an investigation that proves Cuban doctors violated human rights when serving in over 60 countries right now.

How absolutely ironic! The country that has soldiers and the most sophisticated weapons deployed all over the world, which has taken the life of millions of innocent people (the most valuable human right) is trying to find human rights violations committed by Cuban doctors, who have saved millions of lives and improved health indexes in many countries, as well as restoring millions of people’s eyesight, people who were unable to afford a simple cataract operation.

Ever since 1963, Cuban doctors have provided collaborative services in over 160 countries, 300,000 doctors and health professionals embarking on these missions. In addition to this, Cuba has trained up over 92,000 doctors from many poor countries and even the US’ discriminated and impoverished social group, people who would never have been able to study medicine in their countries because of how expensive university studies are there. Yet, Cuba has trained them for free so they can help their communities to improve their health indexes.

Cuban doctors have gone to wherever there is a large-magnitude earthquake, such as Pakistan, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Haiti, to mention a few, to save lives and heal the injured, at absolutely no cost.

When the Ebola virus broke out in three Western African countries and the WHO asked for help, Cuban doctors were the ones who worked the most towards wiping out the virus, risking their own llives to save the sick from certain death. Is this what the US wants to declare a human rights violation? The only place where human rights are violated in Cuba is the US naval base in Guantanamo which they still hold onto against the will of the Cuban people and government.

When the nuclear accident of Chernobyl happened and Ukraine asked for international aid to treat children who had been affected by radiation, Cuba offered to receive up to 10,000 patients and created conditions for their medical and psychological care. Many children’s lives were saved, who were declared terminally ill in their own country. In the end, over 25,000 children received medical treatment in Cuba, in spite of the US blockade, which no other country has done even in better financial conditions.

If the US really wants to stop human rights violations of the Cuban people, it needs to lift its economic, commercial and financial blockade, which it has imposed on us for the past 60 years almost, and is the greatest mass violation of human rights of a sovereign people.