Cuba: Trump Once Again Threatens Attack; Havana Vows to Resist

US President Donald Trump has spoken out again about Cuba. According to the president, once the conflict in Iran is over, his administration will be able to focus on Cuba. 

In addition to the historic economic and commercial blockade that Washington has imposed on the Caribbean island for more than 60 years (and which has caused indescribable economic hardship for Cuba), an energy blockade has now been added, through which the United States hopes to strangle the island’s economy.

The most recent sanctions have been imposed since January 31, but was in effect since US military forces attacked Venezuela, captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and transported them to the United States.

The attack, which killed more than 100 people on South American soil, resulted, among other things, in Cuba losing its main energy partner, compounded by Trump’s threat to sanction any country that sends oil to Cuba.

The only country that has managed to send oil to Cuba was Russia, on a single occasion. And while the 100,000 barrels of crude oil have temporarily alleviated some problems, the energy crisis provoked by Washington has caused severe hardships for the local population.

Several experts have stated that the recent sanctions imposed by the Trump administration are causing a humanitarian crisis in Cuba. They have undermined the Cuban energy system, and thus impacted Cuba’s ability to care for the sick, pregnant women, newborns, and people requiring surgery, not to mention the millions affected by the paralysis of the productive, commercial, and food systems on a small island of just over 10,000,000 inhabitants that bears the brunt of pressure from the world’s most powerful country.

On several occasions, Trump has insisted that his recent actions against Cuba are intended to bring about a transformation on the island – that is, to bring down the revolutionary government in Havana.

To that end, he has opened up a range of possibilities, including potential military aggression. “Cuba is a nation in collapse. We are going to carry out this initiative (to prevent it from receiving oil regularly), and we may make a stop in Cuba once we have concluded this (referring to the war against Iran),” Trump said.

Meanwhile, some US government officials who spoke with USA Today stated that the Pentagon is finalizing plans for a military strike and is awaiting orders from Trump to intervene in Cuba. And while the Department of Defense in Washington itself called for caution, it also assured that it would be ready to obey Trump’s orders.

The statements by Trump and some officials were made while talks continue between the governments in Washington and Havana.

For his part, on April 16, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded to Trump in a speech commemorating the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution: “No, you masters of manipulation and lies, Cuba is not a failed state; Cuba is a besieged state, Cuba is a state facing multidimensional aggression: economic war, an intensified blockade, and an energy blockade. Cuba is a threatened state that does not surrender! And despite everything, and thanks to socialism, Cuba is a state that resists, creates, and – make no mistake – a state that will prevail!”

“This is an extremely challenging time, and it calls on us once again – just as it did on April 16, 1961 – to be ready to face serious threats, including military aggression. We do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare ourselves to prevent it and, if it is unavoidable, to win! We believe in dialogue and in the extraordinary power of peace to sustain life on the planet. The history of the dispute between Cuba and the United States has shown that this is possible. We must consider all the human suffering it would cause our two peoples if they were dragged into a senseless, illogical conflict for which there are neither pretexts nor justifications when there is so much we can do together,” Díaz-Canel declared before thousands of Cubans.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch