New Cuban Left Position on Syria

Isbel Diaz Torres

HAVANA TIMES — A statement [in Spanish] by the Critical Observatory Network (CO) has defined the position of this young left Cuban group on the current crisis in Syria. It is describing the actions of that country’s government as “acts of repression” against its civilian population.

“The crimes committed by soldiers of the Syrian regime have meant the murders of hundreds of civilians in that country. These horrific events have been attested to and verified by the United Nations,” reads the note on the group’s website.”

The text (published on Monday, July 9), points out that in addition to the government of Bashar Al-Assad, “other political opposition forces have also intervened in the matter, contributing to the violence in that nation.”

According to the Critical Observatory statement, continuous protests demanding the end of the government of Al-Assad have been exploited by the “great powers,” who “have played their cards in supporting — in their own interests — various governments that are violators of human rights.”

Cuba’s official media have focused their coverage on the participation of the US and the other NATO member nations as key players in this situation of regional destabilization.

However, the Critical Observatory believes that maintaining a “news blackout on the situation in Syria is preventing us from accessing contrasting information as well as the positions of our left counterparts in the area.”

As relates to the Syrian crisis, the Cuban news almost exclusively echoes the officialist version of the government of Bashar Al-Assad, who is referred to as the “constitutional president.”

The organization’s statement also denounces those Latin America governments that “have confused always-necessary anti-imperialist solidarity with the justification of dictators speaking in the name of a perverse realpolitik,” which cannot “take precedence over the dignity of people.”

In early March of last year, the Critical Observatory issued a statement [in Spanish] on the popular rebellions occurring in several Arab countries, a statement that remains valid.