By RENATO NUCCI JR.*

Since the Island defied imperialism it has become a besieged citadel

It is unavoidable that Cuba, since the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, has been buffeted by the determined opposition of US imperialism. Suddenly, because of the Revolution and the social energy released by it, Cuba ceased to be a semi-colony of the United States and gained the right to become a truly independent nation. For White House tenants this is unforgivable. How could a poor island in an underdeveloped Latin American country want to challenge the greatest imperialist power on the planet? Don't these people know the place reserved for their country? How do you want to become independent?

It is impossible, therefore, to want to seriously analyze the contradictions and dilemmas of the Cuban Revolution without considering its relationship with the United States. This has been trying, for 60 years, to defeat Cuba's independence project in every way. The menu of actions used by imperialism is large. It went through the frustrated military invasion attempt in Baía dos Porcos in 1961; resorted to biological warfare, with the spread of dengue hemorrhagic fever in 1981 and African swine fever in 1971; and even supported terrorist attacks, such as the one that caused the explosion of Cubana Aviación flight 455, in 1976, claiming the lives of 73 people, most of them Cuban athletes from the national fencing team, who were returning from a tournament in Venezuela; as well as several attacks on Cuban hotels in the 1990s, to scare away tourists.

But among the actions taken by imperialism against Cuba, the most perennial and which, for this reason, has caused more damage over time, is the economic blockade against the country since 1962. The blockade is a set of measures of an extraterritorial nature, supported by exclusively US laws, which in the name of wanting to bring democracy to Cuba, actually try to stifle the country's economy. Companies and US citizens who violate the blockade rules can face 10 years in prison and be sentenced to fines ranging from 1 million dollars for companies and up to 250 thousand dollars for citizens.

The blockade imposes punitive measures against any company doing business with Cuba. Any ship passing through Cuba cannot dock in US ports for 6 months. And any product that uses Cuban raw materials, such as nickel, if it exceeds a certain percentage can be barred from marketing or even punished by the United States. In 1996, the US Congress passed the Cuban Freedom and Democracy Solidarity Act, better known as the Helms-Burton Act, which penalizes with sanctions in the US courts any company that does business with Cuban properties that previously belonged to US citizens. of the Revolution.

While the Soviet Union and the socialist camp lasted, Cuba managed to circumvent the effects of the economic blockade. But after the dissolution of this socialist camp, the blockade was tightened, as a way of deepening the economic chaos and leading the country to collapse. However, Cuba bravely resisted despite the serious social and economic scenario. At the beginning of the 2014st century, the island's situation again experienced a relative improvement, with the change in the Latin American political scenario. The electoral victory of left and center-left parties allowed Cuba to improve its economic exchange with countries in the region. The situation reached the point where the then president of the United States, Barack Obama, announced in XNUMX the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba and the relaxation of some measures of the blockade.

However, this scenario of easing was short-lived. In 2016, with the victory of Donald Trump, the blockade was absurdly aggravated. In his 4 years in office, Trump enacted around 240 measures that further aggravate the blockade against Cuba. Not even the pandemic has eased the economic stifling measures against the small but brave Caribbean nation. Cuba has faced difficulties in importing medical and nursing material, items that are more than ever needed at this time, to serve its population. Another consequence brought about by the pandemic was the drastic reduction in tourism, a major source of funds for the Island.

This brief history is necessary because, as we have already indicated a few paragraphs above, it is impossible to analyze the Cuban situation without ignoring the disastrous consequences of the blockade on its economic life. And more: it is impossible to analyze Cuba's current problems ignoring the decisive action of US imperialism in defeating the Revolution. Last weekend, Cuba faced some protests that complained about the high cost of food, the blackouts and, by extension, the “communist dictatorship” on the island. Immediately, in Brazil, analyzes appeared in the field of the left that ignored or tried to minimize the role of imperialism in the production of economic suffocation and in the organization of protests. Such analyzes pointed out errors in the application of the economic order as the basic cause of the manifestations.

In the name of an analysis free of Manichaeism, they are situated at the level of shallow superficiality. In addition to being marked by pure political opportunism, since by claiming to be exempt from this Manichaeism, what they really want is to keep dialogue open with liberal political and social sectors of a petty-bourgeois nature. It is a criticism of Cuba that wants much more to demarcate a field in the political disputes within the Brazilian left, than to contribute with a serious analysis of the effective role of imperialism in the attempt to destroy the Revolution. These analyses, by pointing out errors in the application of the economic order as causes that sparked the protests, attribute the problems faced by the Island exclusively to the leaderships of the Party and the State. And deep down, by pretending to be exempt from a supposed Manichaeism, they fall into a puerile voluntarism and work with an unreal economic normality for Cuba, historically harassed by the action of Yankee imperialism.

But there is no Manichaeism. What actually happened in Cuba last weekend was an attempt by sectors of the opposition very well paid by imperialism to create a scenario of political and social chaos that could justify a unilateral action by imperialism coated with “humanitarian aid”. . There is nothing spontaneous about the small demonstrations that took place on the Island. It is not a mere coincidence that days before these protests, a call entitled SOS Cuba, which called for the need to create a humanitarian corridor to bring aid to the Cuban people. It is also no mere coincidence that protests and attempts to invade Cuban embassies and consulates were announced for Monday across Latin America, which were duly rejected by movements of solidarity with Cuba. Perhaps it is the attempt to carry out a failed color revolution in Cuba, the key to understanding the strange visit of the CIA chief to Bolsonaro a few days ago, since the Bolsonarist base and the president himself were quick to denounce the “attacks” on social networks. of the Cuban dictatorship against the people”.

Incidentally, in such protests, it is necessary to highlight the distinct role of the Cuban State and the Communist Party. Unlike what happens in other Latin American countries, neither the police nor the army were summoned to restore order. We didn't have riot police firing rubber bullets into protesters' eyes. Not even launching tear gas against the population. The opposite happened. While Gustavo Petro in Colombia and Sebastián Piñera in Chile lowered the bar on the people, leaving a large balance of dead, President Miguel Díaz-Canel went to speak directly with the residents of San Antonio de los Baños, where the protests had more force, listen their complaints and establish a fruitful dialogue with the people. Who the State and the Communist Party summoned to the streets to defend the Revolution were the people themselves, who answered the call of their political leadership and immediately occupied the streets to prevent the color revolution from setting up a beachhead in the middle of Cuban territory.

Latin America is experiencing an extremely serious historical scenario, but full of potential. We are witnessing a resumption of social and popular struggles, which in some countries have turned into electoral and political victories over the bourgeoisie and imperialism. In Chile, a constituent can definitively bury the Pinochet neoliberal project. In Peru, a teacher and trade unionist who promises to stand up to the neoliberal agro-mining project won the election. In Bolivia, after the coup in 2019, popular forces also won the election and regained political control. In Colombia, the United States' most loyal ally in the region, popular protests against hunger and extreme poverty have been rocking the country for months. And in Brazil, there is beginning to be a timid and still incipient reaction from the popular masses against the project of social regression that we have been suffering since 2014.

At the same time, the United States, an imperialist power that faces numerous internal contradictions and sees its power and influence threatened by Russian-Chinese competition, is desperately struggling to regain control of the geopolitical situation in its closest area of ​​influence. And in this context, action is needed capable of imposing political-ideological defeats that neutralize the struggle of the Latin American peoples for their second and definitive independence. If we do not understand this scenario, any analysis of the political and social processes of our continent will be crippled. Therefore, wanting to analyze the Cuban situation and such protests as something isolated, or as an exclusive derivation of internal errors, so as not to fall into Manichaeism, is full of profound blindness and opportunism.

Cuba is a besieged citadel. Its revolutionary example, with the concrete possibility that it is possible through mass struggle to take power to overcome the contradictions that mark the reality of Latin American countries, is a nightmare for the dominant classes in the region. That's why Cuba bothers so much. And it is for this simple reason that the most reactionary and obscurantist political and social forces in Latin America are mobilized when it comes to attacking the Cuban Revolution. Ignoring this simple fact, in the name of overcoming Manichaeism, is a serious and inopportune mistake. Cuba's central problem is the economic blockade, which is not cooled by imperialism because the leadership of the State and the Communist Party does not propose to negotiate the country's independence, nor to apply adjustment measures that may represent a restoration of capitalism on the Island. .

*Renato Nucci Jr. He is a member of the Communist Weapons of Criticism and Solidarity with Cuba organization.