Cuba and The Embrace of Communism

Written and Narrated by Ethan Hay

Since the overthrow of military dictator Fulgencio Batista, (1) in 1959, Cuba has been ruled by the Castro’s, and they have ruled with an iron fist. First under Fidel, (2) who then ceded the office of President over to his brother Raul in 2008 due to health concerns. He died in 2016. Raul Castro (3) then held onto power for nearly a decade, enacting some reforms in the process, until he began to yield power in 2018 to the current President, Miguel Diaz-Canel. Diaz-Canel’s ascension to power is significant due to the fact that he marks the end of the Castros’ rule.

However, the past week has seen major protests (4) take place in the country. Thousands of citizens took to the street shouting ‘libertad,’(liberty) (5) or ‘down with the dictatorship.’ (6) There has also been an outcry of support for protests from celebrities like Cuban American rapper Pitbull, who is calling the protests a ‘world event.’ (7) With that being said, Reuters (8) reports that nearly one hundred citizens have been arrested, and President Diaz-Canel has called on ‘revolutionary citizens’ to take to the streets and ‘defend the revolution.’ It’s also being reported by NPR that the Cuban government is shutting down the internet. (9) He is placing the blame of Cuba’s problems at the feet of the US, in particularly the embargo (10) that was strengthened by President Donald J. Trump. (11)

How has the Biden Administration responded to these protests? Well, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Bureau of Western Hemisphere affairs, Julie Chung, (12) put out a tweet attributing the riots to COVID-19. (13) That tweet (14) reads: “Peaceful protest are growing in #Cuba as the Cuban people exercise their right to peaceful assembly to express growing concern about rising COVID cases/deaths & medicine shortages. We commend the numerous efforts of the Cuban people mobilizing donations to help neighbors in need.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki (15) said that the Cuban people are protesting due to government ‘mismanagement, ’ refusing to attribute the protests to communism. Even then, the western world would be amiss if the leading intellectual titan in America, the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, didn’t offer her opinion on the goings on in Cuba. She called for the removal of the embargo that ‘is absurdly cruel and, like too many other US policies targeting Latin Americans, the cruelty is the point.’ (16) She was called out by a Democrat, and former congresswoman Debbie Murcasel-Powell, (17) who said:

“It’s the failed policies of a communist regime that has violated human rights, imprisoned & killed dissidents.”

AOC isn’t the only one who blames the US for Cuba’s current predicament. Black Lives Matter also released a statement on Instagram (18) calling for an end to the ‘cruel and inhumane policy.’

This type of talk should come as no surprise, especially since socialism is becoming more popular with the younger generation and the ruling elite, as was seen when Fidel Carto died when the mainstream media, presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders, (19) and even world leaders praised and fawned over the ‘reformers,’ ‘one hundred percent literacy rate,’ and the ‘free healthcare.’ (20) Despite the fact that these are inherently flawed observations, (21) the leftists (22) of the western world seem hellbent to follow the pattern of the Communist regimes. In particular in the area of public health, and ‘disinformation,’ as was expressed by US Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, (23) and Jen Psaki (24) who talked about ‘flagging’ posts that promote what the government deems as false information.

As the world burns, literally in the case of civil liberties as is exemplified by the churches that are being burned in Canada, (25) the lovers of freedom must stand and pushback. They must push back against the incursions of governments and companies that have been infiltrated by activists who have no qualms about destroying the liberties and lives of anyone who deigns to think critically. Cuba is proof of this, and the powers that be are terrified of the people. We have the momentum, and we cannot stop now.

Sources:

Ethan Hay

Ethan Hay is a retired Navy veteran, who is one of the cofounders of Truth Matters. He is an author, and student at Utah Valley University, who is studying communications with the intention of furthering his career as a journalist.

Cuba and The Embrace of Communism

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