Let’s talk Cuban about the Helms-Burton
This law is the U.S. government’s basic tool, wielded against Cuba with the goal of returning our people to colonial dependence

Raúl Antonio Capoteapril 17, 2019 10:04:43

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: internet
The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act is a vengeful monstrosity that is aimed at breaking the soul of Cuba, through whatever bloodletting is needed, causing an immense shock to leave us prostrate forever. The goal is the extermination of a nation.

Let’s imagine two hypothetical scenarios, impossible for those of us who have confidence in our ability to resist and our people’s courage.

First: The imperialist enemy and its allies, making use of their military might, manage to occupy most of the country and establish a transitional government, after proclaiming the end of the Revolution.

Second: The division, deceit, and discouragement sown by the enemy, the betrayal, force us to “let the sword fall,” as in 1878, a Baraguá cannot be ruled out. A transitional government is established and U.S. troops occupy the country to guarantee the arrival of “humanitarian aid.”

Would we then have “free and democratic” elections? No, the transitional government, handpicked by the occupation forces, cannot call elections until the United States Congress says so.

So, after who knows how many years, the U.S. Congress approves elections. What about the economic, commercial, and financial blockade? Is it lifted when the end of the Revolution is proclaimed? No, that’s not the plan; it remains intact during the transition, to keep the pressure on.Well, continuing the hypothetical story, the transition is over, we have an acceptable, Yankee style president and government. Will the blockade be lifted? One might think so, but no, that’s not what the Helms-Burton stipulates.

The U.S. President or his proconsul must certify to Congress that all properties, nationalized or confiscated in accordance with revolutionary and international law, have been returned, or compensation paid, to their former U.S. owners, including Cubans who after 1959 became Cuban-Americans.

The value of this “indemnity” or “compensation,” was estimated in 1997 by U.S. experts as approximately 100 billion dollars.

The renegotiation the Guantanamo Naval Base agreement is also contemplated, with no guarantee of its return.

To pay for this compensation, the Cuban governments would be obliged to take out loans, perhaps from the IMF, which would mean interest payments and create an endless spiral of plunder.

We would fall into the hands of holdout funds that buy distressed bonds, better known as vulture funds. Cuba would owe a practically unpayable debt. How could a devastated, depleted country, impoverished by war and occupation, pay off such a debt, a country that would have lost a good part of its children of working and reproductive age? We would remain in the hands of gangsters willing to extract every last drop of our national wealth.

We are going to talk clearly, speak Cuban, as Fidel said: The thought and work of Cuban Communists will endure, Cuba will endure, “We Cubans are made of iron and can resist the most difficult trials.” We will rise, over and over again, generation after generation, to defend our freedom.