In 1962, the Cuban troubadour Carlos Puebla sang patriotic songs of a hopeful future in the smoky La Bodeguita del medio in Old Havana. In one song he proudly proclaims: “Cuba is not alone. The entire world stands with socialist Cuba. Cuba will win.”
Carlos Puebla died in 1989, and it would break the old man’s heart to learn of how alone his dear islanders have become.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost its main source of support and has since relied heavily on Venezuela for petrol and other essential resources. The strict American-led embargoes and blockades saw a short period of easing as President Barack Obama believed more in liberalisation through exposure to the West rather than economic pressure. With the first election of Donald Trump, however, the policy of freezing Cuba out of American trade was back. After a Biden term without much focus on Cuba policy, the second coming of the Trump administration seems determined to crush Cuba once and for all.
Much of the administration’s Cuba policy is inevitably the brainchild of the Cuban American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. He is ready to wince his way through painful Trump rants and go along with tyrannical ICE raids and burning diplomatic bridges with Europe as long as he gets to fulfil his lifelong dream — “freeing” Cuba from a communist dictatorship and reestablishing an island built on investment and free enterprise. On this point, Trump seems ready to give Marco Rubio free reign to succeed where seven decades of American foreign policy has failed.
In many ways, the hostile takeover of Venezuela and the extraction of Nicolas Maduro was both a goal in itself and a means to an end. By cutting off Cuba from Venezuelan support, the prospects for ordinary Cubans look worse than ever before. Cuba is now completely isolated, and the vultures are starting to circle.
Petrol has long been the ‘Achilles’ heel’ of an underdeveloped Cuba where much of the system still relies on oil for its industry and electricity. Countries like Mexico have protested the harsh treatment of Cuba but dare not step out of line and break the strict embargo. The United Nations is pushing for humanitarian exceptions to the energy cutoff in order to power human essentials such as hospital generators. The Americans, however, seem committed to not flinch as they tighten the vice — they were the only nation to vote against UNICEF’s country programme for Cuba on February 11.
Ironically, America and Rubio seem to be going full Chernyshevsky in its approach to sparking Cuban resistance. The Russian socialist philosopher is credited with arguing “the worse, the better”, meaning that it is in the interest of radical change for poverty and famine to accelerate. This approach is as brutal as it seems and would be called a Stalinist disregard for human lives if it was not the United States doing it. Extreme pressure may eventually break the Cuban regime and bring change to a desperate people, but at what cost? Who will be left to reap the reward? Will the masses or merely a lucky few be saved by Rubio’s capitalist dream?
In January 2023, in an antique flat in Old Havana, I sat down for one of the more interesting coffees in my life. My hostess Carmen poured the strongest coffee imaginable into three colourful mugs as the 20-year-old black market currency exchanger sat down next to me on the sofa. We discussed Cuba’s fate, and I tried to follow along with the rapid Cuban Spanish as well as I could. Carmen was nostalgic for the decade under Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, and believed the new regime was as corrupt and decadent as they get. The young man next to me seemed apathetic as he polished his round glasses and told us of how many of his friends and peers had given up on Cuba and left for Mexico or the United States. Neither of them exhibited much resentment for the American blockade. Our wellbeing is the responsibility of our government, they said, not the one across the Gulf.
I shed no tears for the Cuban regime if it were to fall. I do, however, feel for the Cubans. It is depressing to see innocent civilians being used as pieces on some geopolitical chessboard. To see famine be used as a tactic. To conclude with some more Carlos Puebla: “We do want peace. But peace with dignity.”
“Carlos Puebla” by ProtoplasmaKid is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Is Cuba Finally Alone?
In 1962, the Cuban troubadour Carlos Puebla sang patriotic songs of a hopeful future in the smoky La Bodeguita del medio in Old Havana. In one song he proudly proclaims: “Cuba is not alone. The entire world stands with socialist Cuba. Cuba will win.”
Carlos Puebla died in 1989, and it would break the old man’s heart to learn of how alone his dear islanders have become.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost its main source of support and has since relied heavily on Venezuela for petrol and other essential resources. The strict American-led embargoes and blockades saw a short period of easing as President Barack Obama believed more in liberalisation through exposure to the West rather than economic pressure. With the first election of Donald Trump, however, the policy of freezing Cuba out of American trade was back. After a Biden term without much focus on Cuba policy, the second coming of the Trump administration seems determined to crush Cuba once and for all.
Much of the administration’s Cuba policy is inevitably the brainchild of the Cuban American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. He is ready to wince his way through painful Trump rants and go along with tyrannical ICE raids and burning diplomatic bridges with Europe as long as he gets to fulfil his lifelong dream — “freeing” Cuba from a communist dictatorship and reestablishing an island built on investment and free enterprise. On this point, Trump seems ready to give Marco Rubio free reign to succeed where seven decades of American foreign policy has failed.
In many ways, the hostile takeover of Venezuela and the extraction of Nicolas Maduro was both a goal in itself and a means to an end. By cutting off Cuba from Venezuelan support, the prospects for ordinary Cubans look worse than ever before. Cuba is now completely isolated, and the vultures are starting to circle.
Petrol has long been the ‘Achilles’ heel’ of an underdeveloped Cuba where much of the system still relies on oil for its industry and electricity. Countries like Mexico have protested the harsh treatment of Cuba but dare not step out of line and break the strict embargo. The United Nations is pushing for humanitarian exceptions to the energy cutoff in order to power human essentials such as hospital generators. The Americans, however, seem committed to not flinch as they tighten the vice — they were the only nation to vote against UNICEF’s country programme for Cuba on February 11.
Ironically, America and Rubio seem to be going full Chernyshevsky in its approach to sparking Cuban resistance. The Russian socialist philosopher is credited with arguing “the worse, the better”, meaning that it is in the interest of radical change for poverty and famine to accelerate. This approach is as brutal as it seems and would be called a Stalinist disregard for human lives if it was not the United States doing it. Extreme pressure may eventually break the Cuban regime and bring change to a desperate people, but at what cost? Who will be left to reap the reward? Will the masses or merely a lucky few be saved by Rubio’s capitalist dream?
In January 2023, in an antique flat in Old Havana, I sat down for one of the more interesting coffees in my life. My hostess Carmen poured the strongest coffee imaginable into three colourful mugs as the 20-year-old black market currency exchanger sat down next to me on the sofa. We discussed Cuba’s fate, and I tried to follow along with the rapid Cuban Spanish as well as I could. Carmen was nostalgic for the decade under Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, and believed the new regime was as corrupt and decadent as they get. The young man next to me seemed apathetic as he polished his round glasses and told us of how many of his friends and peers had given up on Cuba and left for Mexico or the United States. Neither of them exhibited much resentment for the American blockade. Our wellbeing is the responsibility of our government, they said, not the one across the Gulf.
I shed no tears for the Cuban regime if it were to fall. I do, however, feel for the Cubans. It is depressing to see innocent civilians being used as pieces on some geopolitical chessboard. To see famine be used as a tactic. To conclude with some more Carlos Puebla: “We do want peace. But peace with dignity.”
“Carlos Puebla” by ProtoplasmaKid is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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