By Alejandra Garcia on July 22, 3021 from Havana
June 17, Cubans in Pinar del Rio come out in defense of their revolution. photo: Ronald Suarez Rivas
Today the US government announced new sanctions against Cuban officials for alleged human rights violations. This political move proves that, almost eight months after coming to power, President Joe Biden follows Donald Trump’s footsteps in his policy against the island. Nothing has changed so far.
The measures, which are added to the other 243 sanctions applied during the Trump era (2017-2021), were implemented by the U.S. Treasury Department on the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) Álvaro López, and the National Special Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT). Both institutions that guarantee citizen security on the island.
“Today’s action is for those in connection with the repression of peaceful, pro-democracy protests taking place in Cuba,” Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen cynically justified while alluding to the riots that took place in the country on July 11 that were promoted from Florida.
The White House insists that the protests, which first broke out in the Havana neighborhood of San Antonio de Los Baños and then spread to a few other areas of the Cuban capital, continue even though they only lasted about 12 hours on that day.
In tune, CNN, The New York Times, and other “sacred cows” of the North American press continue to broadcast images of June 11 as if they were recent and still happening so that the world believes Cuba has collapsed and that the “Diaz-Canel dictatorship” has come to an end.
The region’s right-wing media are spreading lies on behalf of the type of freedom and democracy that some people demand for Cuba. “One spectacular falsehood was the publication of images of pro-government demonstrations characterizing them as if they were protests against President Miguel Díaz-Canel,” Spanish researcher Pascual Serrano pointed out.
Sensationalism has been a must for corporate media attack: bloodied people (without it being clear whether they were opponents or citizens attacked for taking to the streets in defense of the government), women holding Cuban flags in full cry without supplying any detail of what she was crying about.
It is no coincidence that the protests began after days of the toxic campaign blasting in social networks. The right-wing saw a unique opportunity after people mobilized with the hashtag #SOSMatanzas, which originally had the sole purpose of supporting and standing in solidarity with the people of that Cuban province heavily affected by the pandemic.
“Although the U.S. insists on saying otherwise, Cuba is at peace and standing firm in the face of hostilities. We are now facing a new episode of sanctions to support lies and add other countries’ governments to the anti-Cuban crusade,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel tweeted this morning after learning of the Treasury Department’s decision.
Biden’s stance towards Cuba continues to be erratic. A few days ago, he promised to evaluate the reopening of the embassy in Cuba and the reestablishment of remittances from the United States, something he had already promised during his electoral campaign one year ago.
Today, the only new development between Washington and Havana is the onslaught against the government and the Cuban people, who are always the ones most harmed.
“If the White House were concerned about the welfare of our people, it would put an end to the blockade with which it tries to suffocate us. It must stop interfering in Cuba’s internal affairs and end the misinformation campaigns with which they seek to justify their aggression against us,” Cuban Foreign Minister (MINREX) Bruno Rodriguez tweeted on Thursday.
The U.S. President has time to stop repeating his nefarious predecessor’s steps by respecting Cuban sovereignty and ceasing to stimulate hatred and resentment towards the island, ideological intolerance, extremism, the use of slander, and media sabotage.
It is time for a regime change, not in Cuba, but in the way Biden looks at the island from the comfort of the Oval Office.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English