“One Limited Step in the Right Direction”

Declaration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba

Today, the government of the United States announced several measures, which are positive but of a very limited scope, regarding Cuba associated to the granting of visas, regular migration, flights to Cuban provinces, remittances and adjustments to the regulations governing transactions with the non-state sector.

Taking into account the nature of such measures, it would be possible to identify some of the promises made by President Biden during the electoral campaign of 2020 to alleviate the inhumane decisions adopted by President Trump’s administration, which tightened the blockade to unprecedented levels and increased the “maximum pressure” policy applied ever since against our country.

These announcements in no way modify the blockade or the main measures of economic siege adopted by Trump, such as the lists of Cuban entities subject to additional coercive measures; nor do they eliminate travelling restrictions for US citizens.

They do not reverse either the arbitrary and fraudulent inclusion of Cuba in the State Department list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism, one of the main causes for the difficulties Cuba comes up against in its commercial and financial transactions in many parts of the world.

However, this is a limited step in the right direction, a response to the denunciations made by the Cuban people and government. It is also a response to the claims made by the US society and the Cubans residing in that country. This has been a demand by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and virtually all members of the United Nations, expressed in the overwhelming vote against the blockade. These are just demands which have been ignored by the government of the United States at a very high cost for our people.

Since 2019, the blockade has been tightened to the extreme, taking advantage, in an opportunistic way, of the context of the pandemic, the international crisis and the consequent economic depression. It would be no exaggeration to affirm that the consequences of this siege could be described as devastating. The increase in migration is an evidence of that.

In taking these steps, the State Department uses an openly hostile language, accompanied by traditional slanders and new fallacies that have become fashionable in the last few months, which show that neither the goals pursued by the US policy against Cuba nor its main instruments have changed

Understanding the true dimension of this announcement would require waiting until the implementing regulations are published.

The Government of Cuba reiterates its willingness to establish a respectful dialogue, on an equal footing, with the government of the United States, based on the UN Charter, without any interference in the internal affairs of States and with full respect for independence and sovereignty.

Havana, May 16, 2022

Neither internet nor kites
According to the United States government, any and all examples set by this proud island, persevering, despite all obstacles, must be erased
Author: Elson Concepción Pérez | internet@granma.cu
september 20, 2021 16:09:40

Photo: Endrys Correa Vaillant
According to the United States government, any and all examples set by this proud island, persevering, despite all obstacles, must be erased. It could be increasing access to the internet or the fact that Cuba dares to guarantee vaccines against COVID-19, products of the intelligence and the determination of technicians and scientists to reach the entire population this year.
They have bet on the losing team and continue to do so.
It turns out that the U.S. Senate have passed a document demanding that the government of President Joe Biden establish a fund that allows this service be provided freely and uncensored in Cuba.
The member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla wrote in his Twitter account, “I denounce the aggression of the U.S. Senate by the amendment on the internet that contributes to the lucrative business of the political-subversive machinery from Florida. The blockade is the main obstacle to a free and sovereign access of the Cuban people to the internet.”
EFE news agency reported on the amendment but it never mentioned the U.S. blockade on Cuba and the new 243 measures imposed by Trump’s administration that have remained untouched under Biden’s.
And here is my question: if we were to use the same ‘democratic’ elements than the U.S. government and, let’s say hypothetically, the Cuban parliament meddled in the internal affairs of the United States and passed this amendment, requesting the Cuban president to facilitate funds to subvert the order in the neighboring country, something Cuba would never do, what will be the charges, what legal or illegal action would they impose against us?
I think it would be more realistic, objective and serious to research and describe the reality of the access to the internet, what are the real economic and technological limitations imposed by the U.S. blockade and how those sanctions affect and restrain Cuba. In that way, they would be able to clear that pattern of lies imposed by the U.S. governments and that is used in anti-Cuban campaigns in internet.
The amendment, tainted from birth, was introduced by Republican Senators for the State of Florida Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, and it requests the creation of a reserve fund “to facilitate free, open, and uncensored access to the internet for the people of Cuba,” who, in his words, have been deprived of the free flow of information by the illegitimate Cuban regime.
In addition, our regime is an ‘illegitimate’ one, according to these people who seem to have kidnapped U.S. foreign policy as long as they have to do with our country.
For them, the only solution is to end Cuba, be it with internet or with kites flown from Miami. Nevertheless, they are betting on the losing team, there is no doubt about it.
Translated by ESTI

Photo: Illustration by Elnur Amikishiyev
To outline his administration’s national security strategy, President Joe Biden released the Interim Strategic Guidance report, thus announcing his objectives. The most recent public antecedent to the plans presented is his article published in the magazine Foreign Affairs, in which he proclaims the intention to take action to ensure that, once again, the United States leads the world.

In the same tone, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in his inaugural address that the world is incapable of organizing itself alone, and that when the United States withdrew from any location, another country attempted to occupy it, and certainly not to promote U.S. interests. He likewise asserted that at no other time in his career had distinctions between domestic and foreign policy disappeared, as they have now, given the renovation and power of the United States.

Without even feeling the necessity to question the validity and viability of the above statements, the reader will agree that such ideas are not new, but rather totally consistent with the old, long-promoted “American” myth that presents the U.S. as the champion of equal opportunity and the exceptionality of a people who, chosen by God, received from the creator, as “manifest destiny.” the gift of ruling the world, to shape it in His image and likeness.

But it turns out that the world the U.S. presumes to lead, with its policies (domestic and foreign) and its priorities, is now characterized by the crisis of neo-liberal, post-globalization capitalism, made clear by its systemic crises and accelerated decline.

It is a world in which market fundamentalists lived (and some still live) convinced of the system’s self-regulation via Schumpeter’s “creative destruction” and “new monetary theory.” They underestimated the damage their policies caused the economy, creating deficits they assumed could be covered by “quantitative easing,” that is, issuing money and taking on debt, so much so that deficits are several times higher than the Gross Global Product, with predictably catastrophic results. To give readers an idea, citing the case of the USA, it is enough to point out that the country’s federal debt has reached 28.7 trillion dollars, while its Gross Domestic Product is 21.6 trillion. Moreover, total debt, including mortgages, student loans, credit cards, etc, has reached almost 82.7 trillion, figures that are increasing every second.