This is the added benefit of President Donald Trump’s Operation Absolute Resolve in early January. It resulted in the capture and imprisonment of Maduro and the deaths of 32 Cuban secret police enforcers protecting the dictator-drug lord. So, with Cuba now cut off from cheap Venezuelan oil, it quickly became clear that the days of Communist rule would be numbered. And over the weekend, widespread protests broke out against the regime. What had long been unthinkable took place in Morón, a city of 70,000, where the Communist Party headquarters was set on fire. Nighttime darkness with blackouts that have reportedly affected 60% of the country empowered the bold arsonists. Meanwhile, many have taken to banging pots and pans at night — a protest tradition called “cacerolazo” — to express anger over the lack of food. And students at the University of Havana held a sit-in on March 16 after their classes were suspended due to energy restrictions.
Considering that the three rulers of the country — Fidel and Raúl Castro and now Miguel Díaz-Canel — have never tolerated even minimal dissent, these protests and the government’s inability to shut them down signal that the end is nigh for the brutal oppressors. And you can bet the mortgage that President Trump, as is his wont, will not take his boot off their necks until the long-suffering people of Cuba, like those of Venezuela and Iran, have been provided with a pathway to freedom.
Considering that the three rulers of the country — Fidel and Raúl Castro and now Miguel Díaz-Canel — have never tolerated even minimal dissent, these protests and the government’s inability to shut them down signal that the end is nigh for the brutal oppressors. And you can bet the mortgage that President Trump, as is his wont, will not take his boot off their necks until the long-suffering people of Cuba, like those of Venezuela and Iran, have been provided with a pathway to freedom.
The Long, Painful History of the United States and Cuba
For as long as they have held power, the communists governing Cuba have been a nasty thorn in the side of the United States. The Bay of Pigs fiasco and the Cuban Missile Crisis under President John F. Kennedy threatened world peace and led to decades of tension between the two countries. The only temporary thaw came in 2014, when President Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations, reopened embassies, eased travel and trade restrictions, and removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. But in 2017, President Trump put an end to Obama’s normalization, announcing, “I am canceling the last administration’s completely one-sided deal with Cuba … The previous administration’s easing of restrictions on travel and trade does not help the Cuban people. They only enrich the Cuban regime.”
The leadership in Havana has been on Trump’s hit list from the moment he descended that golden escalator, and now, 11 years later, the president says “something will happen with Cuba pretty quickly … Cuba’s a failed nation. Cuba also wants to make a deal. And I think we will pretty soon, or either make a deal, or do whatever we have to do.”
In another sign of his desperation and Trump’s near-total command of his fate, the Cuban president did something rarely seen over seven decades. He reached out to initiate negotiations with the American president. And after years of spouting vitriol against the United States, President Díaz-Canel made public remarks in recent days showing that, unlike the mullahs running Iran, he understands his country can no longer survive without help from the United States. “These talks have been aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences we have between the two nations,” Díaz-Canel said in a strikingly dispassionate video aired on state television.
The End Is Nigh
Make no mistake. The Cuban government is running on empty and can no longer survive unless it makes a deal with President Trump. This is not a hope but a reality. And as dealmaker-in-chief, the president will squeeze as much blood from the communist rock as possible. The golden goose will be a return to market capitalism and the repatriation of those among the estimated two million Cubans who have fled the country since the revolution and desire to return to their native land.
Beyond the rebirth of freedom and happiness in the island paradise, the benefits of a free Cuba are numerous. A land that once prospered may prosper again with the well-documented entrepreneurial spirit and determination of Cubans unleashed after 67 years of darkness. Its newfound coziness by necessity with the United States will eliminate another base of operations for Iran, China, and Russia in the Western Hemisphere, just as with Venezuela. And unbeknownst to most Americans is that, in addition to its stunning coastal landscapes and its well-known sugar, cigar, and coffee industries, Cuba is rich in natural resources, including nickel, cobalt, chromium, and iron ore. It also produces petroleum and natural gas, though not nearly enough to operate the country.
The historical consequences of liberating Cuba can hardly be overstated. As with Trump’s previous operations in Iran and Venezuela, generations to come will read and study about this turning point for Western civilization. The president says he will resolve the situation in Cuba once he completes Operation Epic Fury in Iran in the coming weeks. And whatever the plan, it will stand as the third leg of Trump’s trifecta designed to change the course of history.
Tim Donner is a radio talk show host, former candidate for the US Senate, and longtime entrepreneur, conservative policy advocate, and broadcast journalist. This article was first published HERE
5 comments:
So where exactly is the threat to the United States from the existence of Cuba. Seems to me Donald Trump is more concerned with retaining the latino vote in Florida than helping the long suffering people of Cuba. So help is on the way is it? Just like the help he promised to the people of Iran, who died by the thousands when it didn't arrive. How many Cubans will have to die under American bombs to allow Trump to instal Rubio as his puppet. People like Donner make me sick.
Cuba's problems are of a mixed making. Yes, state-run farming and business is cumbersome and fails to meet targets and deliver what is needed, especially in farming. However, decades of blockades at the behest of the Cubans in the USA, who have many wacko extremists at the other end, have not helped. This column's opening description of Cuba is way OTT. The writer would prefer the likes of Batista under whose regime Cubans suffered and saw their country turn into a playground for US perverts and sex explotation, all of course ignored by the RC Church. There was a good and valid reason for the revolt but the solution went off track and the US saw any shade of pink as red. Donner would prefer Trujillo, Papa Doc, Stroessner, the Somozas and other compliant servants of US big business. Turn a blind eye to their evils because, hey, they are not lefties. I am not a ''leftie'' but I am 70 and in my youth was very much so until I learned through my own travels and experiences that communism of varying forms, just like religion, is deeply flawed. That does not make the other extreme right.
Is Tim a puppet?
150 dead Iranian schoolgirls, hundreds more innocent injured / killed / homeless. Thousands or Iranians no doubt radicalised against an invading foreign nation. No change in government. Yeah imagine what a beautiful world, if only Cuba could experience such liberation.
I remember the overthrow of Batista by Castro. I hadn't yet reached high school age, but I grew up in an Irish Catholic family: politics was discussed at the dinner table, going right back to as early as I can remember. Moreover, the clerics who taught us made sure that we knew what was going on in the world.
"Poverty. Hunger. Disease. Darkness. Misery. These have, for 67 years, been the defining characteristics of life in Cuba, a beautiful island nation 90 miles from American shores, brought to its knees by communism."
No. It hasn't been communism (with all of its flaws) which has destroyed Cuba, but rather the comprehensive trade embargo and economic blockade imposed by the US since Castro came to power. The author may not know this, but I surely do. I was in the academic system when the Helms-Burton Act was passed in the 1990s. This piece of legislation moved further the goalposts for the lifting of trade and other restrictions. The US is currently blockading Cuba's access to fuel, as the author ought to know.
It's of note that, throughout Fidel Castro's life, the CIA waged an ultimately unsuccessful assassination campaign against him.
"The Bay of Pigs fiasco and the Cuban Missile Crisis under President John F. Kennedy threatened world peace..."
I recall both of these incidents. The Bay of Pigs invasion was (wisely) called off by Kennedy himself. As I remember, it didn't create much of a stir at the time. But the Missile Crisis certainly did. That was, of course, due to the relentless propagandising of the whole affair. The USSR was being demonised, and the US generals were urging Kennedy into nuclear war. They couldn't help themselves, but luckily, Kennedy, bless him, stared them down and took the path of negotiation with Krushchev. We here were comprehensively propagandised, of course. It wasn't until the 1990s, that Noam Chomsky read the newly-declassified State Dept documents, and very helpfully told the rest of us what had actually happened.
With regard to that bogey "communism": it's worth pointing out that NZ was for many decades almost completely socialised. Socialism is just communism, but with elections. This country has been mostly transformed by the Rogernomics neoliberal steamroller, from the early 1980s onward. But our health system remains socialised, despite the efforts of the neolibs, back in the day.
Almost 30 years ago, NZ endured an epidemic of meningococcal septicaemia, which affected many unfortunate people. Australia also had an outbreak, but a different strain, so they had an effective vaccine. We here did not. But Cuba - that sink of poverty and misery - had the same strain as that in NZ, and they developed a vaccine which was effective against it. As I recall, NZ wasn't allowed to have access to it, because it came from Cuba.
"...the president says “something will happen with Cuba pretty quickly..."
I'll bet. Will it be "freedom and democracy" Iraq-, Syria-, and Afghanistan-style? Or perhaps even Iran-style: unfolding in all of its awfulness in front of the world, as we watch helplessly. God help the poor people, who - just like all of those other citizens - have never done anything to the US.
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