Confronting and Ending the US Blockade Against Cuba

[Judi Lynn]

DECEMBER 17, 2020
BY W. T. WHITNEY



Photograph Source: NatalieMaynor – CC BY 2.0

U.S. news reports rarely touch upon the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba. The blockade destroys people’s lives and threatens the island’s economy and Cuba’s economic development. Damning evidence appears in the Cuba’s Foreign Ministry’s most recent report on adverse effects. Its authors refer to “the longest-lasting trade embargo in modern history.”

How long is long? It’s been in place for 60 years. If from there you go back only five 60-year chunks of time, you might have greeted the Puritans arriving in Boston. Meanwhile, “Cuba bashing is like ordering pizza; … cheap and easy and everyone likes you for it.” – in the words of Cuba analyst and lawyer José Pertierra.

Here we try to account for the blockade’s long life; we propose a new approach toward ending it.

Anti-blockade activists have generally operated on the assumption that if public and elected officials actually understood the horrors of the blockade, they would come together and finish it off. The blockade, it’s been variously pointed out, is illegal, cruel, immoral, bad for U.S. businesses wanting to sell to Cuba, bad for potential U.S. importers, bad for U.S. tourists, and bad for U.S. fans of Cuban culture, music, and sports. Yet no large, sustained protest movement ever materialized.

. . .

The foundational purpose of the blockade was to inflict suffering and distress upon the Cuban people to induce them to overthrow their government. The blockade serves as one of many tools for protecting global capitalism and maintaining U.S. hegemony abroad. There is bonus value. Its existence cements the loyalty of the Cuban, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan exile communities to rightwing candidates in U.S. elections.

More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/12/17/confronting-and-ending-the-us-blockade-against-cuba/

W.T. Whitney Jr. is a retired pediatrician and political journalist living in Maine.

[alwaysinasnit]

1. K&R Thanks for posting.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thank you, so much, for reading. ⭐️

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I wrote to my GOP Rep. and governor about Cuba (was in

Arkansas at the time) and was surprised that both Bozeman and Hutchinson supported ending the boycott.

[Judi Lynn]

4. That's cool news. Great. Unexpected. Former Arkansas Congressperson Blanche Lincoln did, also.

I think it was mentioned that Arkansas grows a lot of rice it would love to commercially sell to Cuba, since Cubans eat a lot of rice.

I called Republican Senator Pat Roberts, a Republican, learned he had already made 2 trips there. Also called Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore. repeatedly, who was a staunch Cuba supporter.

Isn't it odd that so many people have quietly supported ending this economic war on Cubans all this time, yet didn't seem to want anyone to know because it has been a hot item politically, supported wildly by the right wing. It's something wingers would use against them, trying to claim anyone who doesn't want Cubans to suffer because of their revolution is a "commie."

I used to ponder over Blanche Lincoln's position frequently, like Jeff Flake's (Arizona) and others. I thought it made her sound much more like a thinking, strong woman.

Thanks for mentioning these other Arkansas prominent Republicanss. ⭐️