Submitted by Caribbean Network for Solidarity with Cuba (CNSC)
It is now clear, beyond any doubt, that that the government of the USA and its spy
agencies are planning a new attack on Cuba’s independence which is intended to
instigate violence and insecurity in that country on Monday 15 November. US
lawmakers and government officials, including Brian Nichols, the Assistant Secretary
of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Senator Marco Rubio, Juan Gonzalez, the
National Security Council Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere and many
others, have been at the forefront of pushing for their supporters to launch
‘demonstrations’ in Cuba on 15 November in open defiance of the Cuban
constitution and Cuban law. As part of its historic effort to destabilise Cuba, the
USAID has so far distributed over $6.6 billion to organisations dedicated to
destroying Cuba’s independence and facilitating US regime change in that country.
A central part of the planned US assault on Cuba on 15 November is a wide ranging
and sophisticated information warfare campaign which employs not only the
traditional print and visual media but also social media platforms such as Facebook
and Twitter. From the slick marketing of the planned provocation as ‘15N’ to the
promotion of systematic talking points, this information warfare campaign is designed
to pollute the public information space with lies and disinformation so as to sow
confusion about events as they unfold in Cuba on that day. One of the key talking
points that has already been identified is consistently describing as ‘peaceful
protesters’ those who have been mobilised by the US and its spy agencies to carry
out acts of violence against individuals and property. Connected to this is describing
all law enforcement activities carried out by the Cuban police on that day as
‘repression against peaceful protesters’. A further talking point is that the planned
provocation on November 15 is part of an effort to gain, ‘democracy and human
rights in Cuba’ or to ‘oppose racism against Cubans of African descent’. The real
aims of the US for the 15 November provocation are very different from these
propaganda talking points.
As a country which was born in genocide against the First Peoples and enslavement
of millions of Africans and which has never deviated from adherence to those
practices, the US government is in no position to define for humanity what
democracy is, to preach about human rights to any country or to present itself as a
fighter against racism. In any event, the relentless US efforts to carry out regime
change in Cuba is an open violation of international law and the right of the Cuban
people to choose their own political and economic system without foreign
interference. In reality, the US government and its spy agencies couldn’t care less
about democracy, human rights or racism in Cuba, or anywhere else for that matter.
Their real aim is to destroy Cuba’s independence and return that country to its
position before the Cuban revolution, when it existed as a US colony run for the
benefit of the US corporations and organised crime. This goal persists regardless of
the administration in Washington. Hence, the current Biden administration has
maintained all the sanctions imposed by his predecessor Trump and, in fact, it is the
Biden administration which is organising the 15 November provocation.
Despite over 60 years of US bullying, harassment and economic suffocation, Cuba
has proved itself time and again to be a reliable and supportive member of the
Caribbean family of nations. Working within its limited resources as a result of the
US blockade, Cuba has trained hundreds of Caribbean professionals, especially
doctors, engineers and sports specialists. It has provided free eye care to thousands
of people across the region and it has sent volunteers throughout the Caribbean to
help with the provision of health care and education, and most recently, in the
struggle against Covid 19. As Caribbean people, we cannot remain silent in the face
of this US persecution of a fellow Caribbean nation and we cannot remain silent in
the face of the new attack on Cuba’s independence that the US is planning for 15
November. Evil triumphs when good people do nothing.
The Caribbean Network for Solidarity with Cuba (CNSC) strongly condemns the
planned efforts of the US and its spy agencies to instigate violence and insecurity in
Cuba on 15 November and demand that the US government end its over 60 year-
long campaign of persecution against that country. We call on individuals, social,
religious and political organisations, trade unions, governments and regional
organisations across the Caribbean to join us in this call and stand in solidarity with
the people of our sister island.
No to the new US attacks on Cuba’s independence on 15 November!
Lift the blockade and let Cuba live!
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