Published 12/09/2024 17:37 | Edited 12/09/2024 18:13
On September 4, 2024, the newspaper Folha de São Paulo published an editorial full of falsehoods about Cuba and the political, economic and social system that the majority of Cubans sovereignly chose.
It is not surprising that those who defended US-sponsored dictatorships or flaunt their admiration for Milton Friedman vilify the Cuban Revolution.
The Cuban Revolution eliminated illiteracy; for everyone and for the good of all, it ensured the universal right to education, health, culture, sport, as well as housing and land. Its scientists developed five vaccines against COVID-19, which immunized the island’s population.
Cuba has made the consistent practice of solidarity a practice. More than 3,000 Cubans have given their lives in the liberation efforts in Africa. The end of apartheid, the independence of Namibia, the struggle for the independence of Angola saw Cubans and Africans fight together. Millions of people around the world have learned to read and write or regained their sight thanks to Cuban collaboration programs. Its doctors have fought Ebola and Covid-19 in 42 countries. Cuba has trained 30,000 doctors from 105 countries. We share what we have, not what we have left over.
For the sake of decorum and respect for the truth, a little history:
– In February 1962, President J. Kennedy instituted the economic, financial and commercial blockade against Cuba that continues to this day.
– In January 2021, 9 days before leaving office, Donald Trump added Cuba to the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism. In total, he adopted 243 new blockade measures against Cuba.
– On April 6, 1960, Lester D. Mallory, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, defined, in a secret memorandum, the philosophy of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba:
“The majority of Cubans support Castro…the only foreseeable way to diminish his domestic support is through disenchantment and dissatisfaction arising from economic malaise and material hardship…every possible means must be rapidly employed to weaken the economic life of Cuba…a course of action which, being as skillful and discreet as possible, will achieve the greatest progress in depriving Cuba of money and supplies, in reducing its financial resources and real wages, in bringing about famine, desperation and the overthrow of the Government.”
In November 2023, the United Nations General Assembly approved by 187 votes to 2 (USA and Israel) the demand that the US government lift the blockade on Cuba. This resolution has been adopted since 1992 by an overwhelming majority. This is not the “continental left”.
The blockade is not a pretext; it is a reality and the main obstacle to the development and well-being of the Cuban people. The blockade denies the inalienable right to self-determination. It is a genocidal policy designed to cause hunger, deprivation of all kinds, malaise and despair among the population, with extremely high human and material costs over the more than 60 years of its ruthless application. The United States persecutes any activity that could generate investment for Cuba. Did Folha know that 350,000 European citizens were formally notified that they would not be able to enter the United States due to the ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) Visa Waiver Program? Their crime: they traveled to Cuba as tourists.
It is not the Cuban government that is archaic, it is the American blockade. The resistance of the dignified people of Cuba, supported by international solidarity, will prevail.
Embassy of the Republic of Cuba – Brazil, September 9, 2024
Source: vermelho.org.br
