“The Bush administration is planning for ‘regime-change’ in Cuba after the death of President Fidel Castro, but the Cuban people are ready to prevent any such thing from happening.”
This, in essence, was the message imparted by speaker Gloria La Riva at a public meeting in New Paltz Village Hall on Oct. 8, sponsored by the Caribbean and Latin America Support Project (CLASP), the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter and Mid-Hudson ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).
La Riva is a frequent visitor to Cuba who has met with President Castro. A prolific writer about Cuba, she is also a San Francisco union leader, national coordinator of the Committee to Free the Cuban Five, a West Coast organizer for the ANSWER Coalition, and a member of the editorial board of Socialism and Liberation magazine.
The bulk of La Riva’s discussion was focused on the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, a U.S. government agency created by the Bush administration and now headed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The commission issued a 40-page report in July that included a decision to spend $80 million in new funding, following up on earlier allocations, to finance new anti-Cuban maneuvers. In addition to demanding a change in regime, the report expressed deep concern that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was part of a “Castro-led axis.”
The single purpose of the commission, La Riva said, is to prepare the way for Washington to dismantle socialism in Cuba after the death of President Castro. The U.S. has attempted to accomplish this objective since the Cuban revolution in 1959 freed the country from dictatorship and 60 years of Yankee domination followed 500 years of Spanish colonialism.
“Cuba has never had peace from the U.S.,” La Riva said. She backed up the statement by pointing to the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, decades of draconian economic and political sanctions, scores of attempts to assassinate Fidel and other Cuban leaders, innumerable acts of CIA sabotage and terrorism including the destruction of crops, and an endless barrage of anti-government propaganda emanating from the Yankee colossus to the north, among other actions intended to destroy the only outpost of socialism in the Americas.
Now, Washington is waiting for Fidel to die, apparently believing its own propaganda predictions that the Cuban people will then rise up and demand the restoration of capitalism. “Can you imagine that Cubans are supposed to insist that their marvelous health care system be privatized?” she scoffed.
La Riva also noted that—as opposed to the period before the revolution—Cuba now has a quite well-educated, healthy and long-lived population, and that the masses of people would fight to retain the substantial social benefits that “regime change” would destroy.
Reinstalling capitalism
Privatization and reinstalling the capitalist market are key objectives of the “Free Cuba” commission, La Riva said, noting that this would mean that perhaps 70 percent of the Cuban economy would be restored to American manufacturing, agricultural, financial and service corporations who would also receive 6 percent interest compounded since their property was nationalized in the 1960s. This would utterly bankrupt the country in the process of smashing the socialist superstructure, paving the way for an economic takeover by the U.S. government and a social-political takeover by anti-communist Cubans in the United States.
The principal goal of the commission, according to its own documents, is to “ensure that the Castro regime’s succession strategy does not succeed.” This means getting rid of the Communist Party and socialism by any means necessary. The succession is already starting, La Riva said, with the temporary appointment of Cuban armed forces and Defense Minister Raul Castro, 75, as head of state during his brother’s illness. Behind him, when a full succession is required, is an entire level of political leadership that has been developing for many decades.
“Cuba has a stable government, a parliament, elections, and a cadre of very talented and trained people ready to guide the country after Fidel dies,” she said, pointing out that it was never just President Castro alone from the earliest days of the revolution until now.
“The people of Cuba have great confidence in their leadership,” she said. “Cuba is calm during this period. The masses of people are well aware of U.S. intentions. They have watched the ‘Free Cuba’ plan dissected on TV.”
The Cubans, La Riva continued, “have been through a lot together,” referring to the “special period” of grave economic difficulties that beset the island for several years after the overthrow of the Soviet Union, its principal trading and economic partner. “The U.S. predicted Cuba’s fall at that time, but the people pulled together, sharing what little they had, and after several years the country got back on its feet. They will pull together again when Fidel dies.”
The speaker stressed that the Cuban people have been undergoing military training for many decades and that the country is well-prepared to defend itself in event of a direct or U.S.-backed invasion.
At the same time, Washington’s plans for resuming its domination of Cuba must not be underestimated. The Bush administration is spending big money preparing for a change of government in Havana. The plan appears to be for the White House to move in when “requested” by counter-revolutionary elements. According to the “Free Cuba” commission website, its task is to “ensure that the U.S. government is fully prepared, if asked, to assist a genuine Cuban transition government committed to democracy and which will lead to Cuba’s reintegration into the inter-American system.”
During her talk, La Riva made special mention of the importance of CLASP and similar groups around the country in keeping the American people informed with the truth about Cuba and Washington’s plans for returning Cuba to U.S. domination. She also warned that the Bush administration has shown it is entirely willing to use armed force to gain its objectives if other forms of subversion do not work.
