Oppose US attacks on Cuba: statement by Jeff M and comment by Fred F

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This statement in defense of Cuba  was sent to me by Jeff Mackler, a
fighter and socialist on the
West Coast who has played a leading role in such battles as the antiwar
movement and the fight to free Mumia  Abu-Jamal.

He makes many useful factual explanations and his analysis of what is wrong
with the various petitions being circulated against the Cuban regime are
valid in my opinion.  This is a useful contribution to getting out the truth
about Cuba.

But I think that we need now to step beyond getting out the truth, and think
about what steps need to be taken next in the fight against the US attack.

Fidel Castro has shown some leadership in this area.  In his May 1 speech to
about a million people, he pointed to the petition to the conscience of the
world initiated in Mexico and now circulating around the world. The petition
has been signed by more than 1,600 people, including by people like Howard
Zinn and Noam Chomsky who signed the statements that Mackler rightly
denounces. Fidel made a point of  praising Eduardo Galeano, who had
criticized the trials and executions, for signing the statement.  The
statement proposes a political thrust for the defense of Cuba right now that

I think has broad appeal to millions around the world who are opposed to
U.S. bullying, U.S. acts of war (including economic blockades), and U.S.
wars and war threats.  The statement declares:

TO THE CONSCIENCE OF THE WORLD

The international order has been violated as a consequence of the
invasion against Iraq. A single power is inflicting grave damage to
the norms of understanding, debate and mediation amongst countries.
This power has invoked a series of unverified reasons in order to
justify its invasion. Unilateral action has led to massive loss of
civilian life an devastation of one of the cultural patrimonies of
humanity.

We only possess our moral authority, with which we appeal to world
conscience in order to avoid a new violation of the principles, which
inform and guide the global community of nations. At this very
moment, a strong campaign of destabilization against a Latin American
nation has been unleashed. The harassment against Cuba could serve as
a pretext for an invasion. Therefore, we call upon citizens and
policy makers to uphold the universal principles of national
sovereignty, respect of territorial integrity and self-determination,
essential to just and peaceful co-existence among nations.

Mexico, April 2003

To sign onto this petition, which I strongly urge everyone to do, send an
e-mail stating your support to:
porcuba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/

The statement has been met by a coordinated campaign of redbaiting, slander,
and misrepresentation in the U.S. media.
The US rulers had expected to have the propaganda field to themselves, and
it's little wonder they are angry.  The petition aims its fire at the
warlike actions and threats of the U.S. government as demonstrated by the
invasion of Iraq, and rightly places the attack on Cuba as an integral part
of this imperialist war drive. The petition requires noone to support the
specific actions Cuba took to defend the country against the new escalation
of U.S. aggression, but defends Cuba's right to independence and
sovereignty -- won in a revolution -- against the new attacks.

On this basis, supporters of the Cuban revolution and other opponents of the
imperialist war drive are reaching out around the world to oppose the new
and old crimes against Cuba.

In my opinion what is needed today is not simply rallies in defense of the
Cuban revolution by ardent supporters of the revolution and its leadership,
but broader protests in the streets and public meetings -- including such
things as teach-ins on Cuba with a range of antiwar points of view
represented.  We should march against what the US is doing  -- against the
intensifying blockade and  the occupation of
Guantanamo and the transformation of this stolen land into an imperialist
Devil's Island for those it labels terrorists or enemy combatants.

Without panic or exaggeration, we need to take seriously the steady drumfire
of hints and even open threats of military action, particularly if  the
heightening pressure on Cuba forces the government to allow a sizable
migration to the United States.  Around these antiwar demands aimed against
the U.S. government and its criminal actions, supporters of the Cuban
revolution can reach out widely to everyone who is opposed to the U.S. war
machine and its war drive, opposed to the occupation of Iraq, and opposed to
any more Iraqs, whether in Iran, Syria, North Korea, or Cuba -- regardless
of whether they consider themselves supporters of the revolution and the
government, and including people who may not know enough yet to have formed
a
firm opinion..

This would be an important step on  the road to making the war drive against
Cuba and other countries
more costly  for the US rulers, and  doing everything we  we can to defend
the Cuban revolution.  This is a step toward  winning a new generations of
fighters to
identify with the Cuban revolution and the importance of the example of
Cuba's revolutionary determination  for the oppressed and exploited of the
whole world.

I hope Jeff Mackler and other liberation fighters who support the Cuban
revolution will sign the declaration -- now signed by 1,600 people around
the world -- and consider the ideas I presented here about how to take the
fight to defend Cuba to the streets, campuses, workplaces, and elsewhere  in
the United States.

Fred Feldman

Dear Friends,
I hope you find this contribution to the defense of beleaguered Cuba
helpful. If so, please circulate it on the net. Should the U.S. government
move to attack Cuba, we will need an anti-interventionist movement the likes
of which the world has never seen.


In solidarity,


Jeff Mackler


CUBA RESISTS U.S. PROVOCATIONS WHILE U.S. LIBERALS RETREAT


By Jeff Mackler

On April 11, 75 Cuban "dissidents" received prison sentences ranging from
six to 28 years for receiving clandestine funds from the U.S. government and
U.S. government-sponsored agencies and, for collaborating with U.S.
officials for the purpose of undermining the sovereignty of the Cuban state.


In addition, 10 others were convicted of hijacking a Cuban ferry boat and
attempting to take it to the United States. Three hijackers were executed.

The decision of the Cuban government to apply the full force of Cuban law
and move against the U.S.-backed "dissidents" was carefully considered and
follows a series of U.S. provocations designed to prepare the groundwork for
a possible second U.S.-organized invasion of Cuba.

The new U.S. doctrine of "preemptive war" was first implemented in
Afghanistan and Iraq, where U.S. imperialist policy is today enforced with
impunity. Cuba has often been included - along with Iran, North Korea and
Iraq - among the so-called axis of evil nations that are slated as future
targets of U.S. intervention.


The U.S. Congress has declared that U.S. troops would unilaterally intervene
against any government it charged with possessing "weapons of mass
destruction." Cuba was accused by Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard
Bolton, with no evidence, of manufacturing biological weapons that
represented a direct threat to the U.S.


On April 10, Hans Hertell, U.S. ambassador to the Dominican stated, "I think
what is happening in Iraq is going to send a very positive signal, and it is
a very good example for Cuba."

With the effective encouragement of the U.S. government, seven Cuban planes
and boats have been hijacked in the past seven months. With guns at the
heads of their victims and knives at their throats, the hijackers that reach
the United States are treated as heroic and welcome guests. None are in
prison.

The last hijacked Cuban plane to arrive was confiscated by U.S. authorities
and auctioned off to pay the "debts" of Cuban rightists who applied for
compensation under U.S. legislation that recognizes Cuban exile claims on
Cuban property going back to the 1959 revolution. The U.S. is the only
nation on earth that still claims rights to Cuban property.


In violation of U.S.-Cuban agreements and international law, neither the
Cuban hijackers or their captive passengers were returned to Cuba despite
repeated demands of the Cuban government to do so.

The actions and policies directed against revolutionary Cuba take place in
the context of a 43-year illegal embargo/blockade that has been condemned by
virtually every nation on earth. The context also includes U.S. funding and
open collaboration with Miami-based and CIA-trained terrorist groups, which
in 1976, for example, exploded a bomb on a Cuban airliner, killing 72
Cubans. The leader of this atrocity was formally pardoned by George Bush
Sr., while the present President Bush dines with him at state functions.

When Cuba moved to defend its sovereignty by taking legal action against the
paid agents of the very power that has placed it on its "axis of evil" hit
list, it was condemned and threatened by Secretary of State Colin Powell,
who oversaw the U.S. slaughter of 250,000 Iraqis in 1991. Powell called the
arrested Cubans, "prisoners of conscience" and demanded their immediate
release.


Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher expressed U.S. "outrage" at the
arrests. The U.S. House of Representatives, the bi-partisan body that
declared war on Iraq and maintains an illegal blockade of Cuba, voted 414-0
to denounce the actions of the Cuban state and threatened retaliation.


Cuba reacts to U.S. war threats


Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón, aptly described the
meaning of U.S. foreign policy today. "Under this [so-called preemptive war]
doctrine," said Alarcon, "U.S. military forces will be perpetually dominant
and may operate outside international sanctions.


Quoting from the "National Defense" policy adopted by the U.S. Congress,
Alarcon continued, "They will be 'strong enough to dissuade potential
adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or
equaling, the power of the United States,' and, 'will not be impaired by the
potential for investigations, inquiry, or prosecution by the International
Criminal Court (ICC), whose jurisdiction does not extend to Americans and
which we do not accept.'"


An April 29 speech by Alarcón, reprinted in Granma International, the
official publication of the Communist Party of Cuba, is instructive.
Entitled "No longer a problem," Alarcón clearly identifies the nature of the
beast that Cuba confronts.


 "It was January 28 of this year. George Bush spelt it out so that everyone
would understand," said Alarcón.. "He didn't hide away where no one could
hear him. At a formal session of Congress he openly proclaimed it, in a
State of the Union address - the most important speech given by U.S.
presidents."

Alarcón then presented the following paragraph from Bush's address to the
nation. "All told," said Bush, "more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have
been arrested in many countries. Many others have met a different fate.
Let's put it this way - they are no longer a problem to the United States
and our friends and allies. (Applause.)"

The Cuban leader continued, "The joint session of the U.S. Congress
applauded, according to the official record, when their President Bush
proclaimed that suspected terrorists had been summarily executed and
therefore posed no further 'problem to the United States.'"

Summary execution, that is - without charges, trial or other legal
formality - is the official, but unwritten policy of the United States.
Twenty-two million dollars have been officially allocated for the specific
purpose of constructing an internal political opposition to lay the basis
for the removal of the government of Cuba. Billions have been spent for
clandestine military operations against Cuba not to mention funds for the
1962 U.S.-sponsored invasion.


U.S. funding of "dissidents"

The U.S. State Department characterizes its organization of the internal
opposition as American "outreach" to the Cuban people.


A well-researched April 26 "CounterPunch".article by Robert Sandels, "Cuba
Crackdown: A Revolt Against the National Security Strategy details the
illegal funding of Cuban "dissidents." Sandels writes:


"Evidence supporting the Cuban claim that dissidents are mercenaries of the
United States is available on U.S. government Web sites. The Web site of the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) lists recipients of U.S.
funds to support dissidents, independent journalists, independent
librarians, and human rights organizations in Cuba.


"In 2000, USAID gave $670,000 to three organizations to support "the
publication abroad of the work of independent journalists from the
island...and to distribute their writings within Cuba" (USAID report,
Evaluation of the USAID Cuba Program, 2001).


"The State Department's 2003 review of the Cuba Program, set up to carry out
the regime change directive in the Helms-Burton Act, notes that the Cuba
Dissidence Task Group "was created to support the activities of dissident
groups in Cuba," especially the Group of Four--the group led by Marta
Beatriz Roque. The task group received a $250,000 grant in 1999.


"$280,000 went to the Cuba Free Press between 1998 and 2000, for "giving
voice to independent journalists and writers inside Cuba.'


"USAID official Adolfo Franco said earlier this year that the agency had
spent $20 million carrying out Helms-Burton mandates [regime change] since
1997. Nevertheless, another USAID official, Alfonso Aguilar, denied that the
agency funded dissidents, though he claimed it was legal to do so. He
admitted that USAID gives money to non-governmental organizations that in
turn pay dissidents. But he argued that [Cuban Foreign Minister] Perez
Roque's accusations were "outrageous," because the payments did not come
directly from the U.S. government.


"Part of the case against [writer] Hector Palacios,Ssentenced to a 25-year
prison term, was that he had received $3,000 in remittances from
organizations in the United States as well as computers and other equipment
donated by the Interests Section. Investigators found $5,000 in cash hidden
in a medicine bottle in his house.

"Another of the prominent writers arrested was Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who
received a 20-year sentence. Interviewed on the Pacifica network's radio
program Democracy Now (04/09/03), Miriam Leyva, Espinosa Chepe's wife,
denied he had collaborated with the United States. She said he had only
received $15 per article from CubaNet in Miami. During the April 9 news
conference, Foreign Minister Perez Roque displayed receipts indicating that
Espinosa Chepe had received $7,154 in such payments during 2002S Perez Roque
said that investigators found $13,660 in Espinosa Chepe's closet and that he
had not held a job in 10 years."

A simple, useful and formal conclusion that could be drawn from Sandels'
material is that under Cuban law the specific actions that the "dissidents"
have been convicted of undertaking are equally illegal in the United States.


 If Socialist Action, or any other socialist organization, or for that
matter any political group in the U.S., received funds from the Cuban
government for any purpose, not to mention for the undermining and seeking
to overthrow the U.S. government, they would undoubtedly be subjected to the
full force of the law and long terms of incarceration.


Under Title 18, section 951 of the United States Code, however, any person
"who agrees to operate within the United States subject to the direction or
control of a foreign government or official" is subject to criminal
prosecution and 10 years in prison. The Anti-terrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act (AEDPA) signed by President William Clinton in 1996 provides for
extreme penalties and long-term imprisonment for any American who
collaborates with any organization or state the U.S. deems terrorist.


The U.S."list" includes organizations that the American left might rightly
consider national liberation movements established to oppose U.S.-backed
corrupt dictatorships whose death squad rule protects U.S. imperial
interests. The Patriot Act provides for additional measures against
individuals the U.S. considers a threat to its "national security."


"Leftists" weigh in against Cuba


These recent U.S. government denunciations of Cuba were to be expected. What
came as perhaps a surprise to the Cubans and to some on the socialist left
were the accompanying denunciations of Cuba's legal actions by a band of
self-proclaimed human rights activists who also describe themselves as
representative of the U.S. "democratic left"

The denunciations hurled by fainthearts and liberals in the early 1960s when
Malcolm X declared, "We believe in self-defense by any means necessary"
provide an apt starting point to evaluate the charges of these modern day
"left" critics.


Like revolutionary Cuba, intrepid Malcolm was pilloried by a wing of the
civil rights movement, summer soldiers and defenders of the status quo, who
believed that non-violence was the only legitimate response when racist
police, White Citizen Council-led mobs and Klansmen mercilessly beat and
sometimes murdered civil rights workers with impunity.

Today's band of liberals, and "democratic leftists," and a few who should
know better, have signed on to two separate petitions condemning Cuba for
defending itself against the rising wave of U.S. provocations. With a
"democratic left" and anti-interventionist twist, Cuba is charged with
persecuting and otherwise denying democratic rights, due process, and free
speech to the 85 Cuban "dissidents."


One group of critics in their "Statement on Cuba" assert, "The democratic
left worldwide has opposed the US embargo on Cuba as counterproductive, more
harmful to the interests of the Cuban people than helpful to political
democratization."


This revealing statement implies that is in need of "political
democratization" to be brought in from abroad, and if the U.S. embargo were
not "counterproductive" it might be "helpful" in this regard. The statement
was initiated by United Federation of Teachers, New York Local 2 leader Leo
Casey and, among others, a host of "third camp socialists" who have always
condemned Cuba as a "Stalinist-led capitalist dictatorship."

The politics of these "helpful" democratizers of Cuba are mindful of a dark
joke that Malcolm X's friends and supporters were fond of repeating when
faced with similar advise from critics who charged that Malcom's "extremist"
militancy and attacks on white racism were akin to "racism in reverse."

"It was in the days of the Roman Empire," so the "joke" began. "The
slavemasters had assembled a vast crowd in the Coliseum where a Black man
was to be pitted against a hungry lion in a fight to the death.

"A fair fight required that the Black slave's hands first be tied behind his
back
and that he be buried up to his chin with the dirt firmly packed down around
him.

"All things now being equal, the lion was then released for combat and
proceeded in full gait toward his Black opponent. Rearing up on his hind
legs with a blood-curdling roar the lion's jaws were positioned for the coup
de grace. But as his uncontrolled tail whipped through the air it
inadvertently descended into the open mouth of the subdued slave who
proceeded to impart to it a mighty bite. As the momentarily stunned lion
retreated a step before returning to the battle an outraged slavemaster rose
tall in the Coliseum's front row seats. 'Fight Fair Nigger!,' he screamed."


A left-sounding hit piece

The second petition attacking Cuba, titled, "Anti-War, Social Justice and
Human Rights Advocates Oppose Repression in Cuba," asserts, "We condemned
the brutal Saddam Hussein regime, and we oppose the United States occupation
of Iraq. We support civil liberties and democratic rights everywhere
regardless of the country's economic, political or social system."

This Campaign for Peace and Democracy-initiated petition charges that the
arrested Cubans were denied due process and imprisoned for their ideas, that
what is really in question is the right to dissent in Cuba and to free
speech. And finally, they postulate that perhaps the convicted Cubans were
justified in collaborating with U.S. officials in Cuban and in accepting
funds from the U.S. government, because of the "repression" in Cuba.

For the record these "antiwar advocates" did NOT state in their text that
they opposed the U.S. WAR in Iraq. They limit themselves to criticizing the
present "U.S. occupation." Given the breadth and political composition of
the signers this omission is not surprising. What conclusion can we draw
from it other than the intention was to include signers who felt that this
unmitigated slaughter might be justified to remove the Saddam Hussein regime
and institute "democracy," American style, or perhaps U.N. style?


The right-wing social democrats who initiated the petition, including the
Campaign's co-director, Joanne Landy, have previously supported U.S. wars of
intervention. And few, if any, signers on the Campaign's petition are
representative of the central leaders, steering committee members or leading
organizers of the recent mobilizations to stop the U.S. war of conquest and
plunder.


But the names of the antiwar movement's most prominent red-baiters-Todd
Giltin, Marc Cooper, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Katha Pollitt, et. al-are well
represented on the Campaign's left-sounding hit piece. For these modern-day
cold warriors, condemnation of "communists" and "anti-Semites" in the
present antiwar movement was a priority.


Undoubtedly, signers of the petition, including Noam Chomsky, did oppose the
Iraq war but chose to ignore the fact that the petition they signed didn't.
Chomsky's proud antiwar record has been marred by his anarchist bent toward
equating the heinous deeds of the oppressor imperialist state to the
defensive actions of its victims in the Cuban workers' state.


The Campaign signers disregard the fact that the arrested and convicted
Cubans were represented by legal counsel and were presented with detailed
evidence to prove the charges against them. Their family members, friends
and others attended the judicial proceedings. And finally, the accused were
convicted of violating the laws of the sovereign Cuban state.


Cuba's Foreign Minister Perez Roque responded well to the charge that civil
liberties and democratic rights were denied to the U.S.-funded "dissidents."

"It has been said that these are prisoners of conscience, that they have
been charged for thinking or for speaking. I categorically reject this
notion. What have been judged here are actions and conducts typified as
crimes by the law; we have not judged ideas. We win battles of ideas with
ideas, as Jose Marti said, and we are very strong in the field of ideas. We
punish actions and conducts.


"We have much experience in the defense of our sovereignty. We know that
subversion is fabricated from abroad, that they are attempting to create a
Trojan Horse here. Thus, we are exercising our sovereign right to legally
confront it, abiding by the law and ethics, never resorting to such things
like kidnapping and assassination, never creating death squads, never
violating anyone's physical and moral integrity."


Oppressed and oppressor nations


In the abstract, the "Campaign for Peace and Democracy" petition statement,
"We support civil liberties and democratic rights everywhere, regardless of
the country's economic, political or social system," may seem  reasonable.
In the concrete, however, it is fundamentally flawed.


We cannot use the same standard of judgment to assess the policies of the
world's imperialist superpower(s) that we employ to judge the policies of
Cuba, or any other oppressed nation. This distinction between the oppressor
nation and the oppressed, between the plunderers of the world and their
victims, is essential.


The same principle holds true if the nations attacked are led by reactionary
regimes, as was the case with Iraq. It is for the Iraqi people only to
determine their future. This fundamental principle, the right of oppressed
nations to self-determination, lies at the heart of the struggle for
democratic rights.


Indeed, were it not for imperialist intervention and colonization, the
oppressed people of the world would have long ago rid themselves of their
dictatorships. The latter, with few exceptions, are the installed
representatives or the literal or political heirs of the colonizers.


Hussein was the armed creation of the U.S. as were the blood-soaked
dictatorships of Somoza, Batista, Pinochet, Duvalier and their counterparts
in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, the Dominican
Republic and Uruguay when U.S.-sponsored or supported coups decided these
nation's fates.


In regard to revolutionary Cuba, we stand in solidarity with the Cuban
people and its government against any and all imperialist assaults. We
support free speech without qualification in the United States where the
state power continually seeks to limit its expression. But we distinguish
between free speech and U.S. organized counterrevolution in Cuba.


Working class fighters under capitalism often instinctively understand that
the laws regulating social relations are in large part designed to protect
the interests of the ruling classes. Workers defend their picket lines
against the scab-herding boss class and its government supporters who
proclaim that "everyone has a right to work."

In revolutionary Cuba, the state power of the capitalist class was broken
with the 1959 revolution. The land and wealth of the ruling rich, backed to
the hilt by the armed force and violence of U.S. imperialism, was
nationalized by the new revolutionary state and put at the service of the
majority classes, the workers and peasants of Cuba.


This is the only explanation for the undeniable fact that Cuban society,
despite an embargo/blockade akin to a war that would have crippled and
brought down any other nation on earth, has been able to advance the
standard of living and overall culture of the Cuban people to levels that
surpass virtually every Latin American country and many of the advanced
capitalist countries.


Supporters of self-determination and democratic rights do not put an equal
sign between the laws of the oppressor nations and the laws established by a
state that has abolished capitalism and faces the daily efforts of its would
be restorers to bring back the old system-neo-colonial rule and
exploitation.


The so-called democratic left that equally condemns the death penalty in the
U.S. and Cuba and treats the matter as a universal moral principle, again
fails to make a critical distinction.


The U.S. stands first place in the world in the percentage of its population
in prison and first in the number of prisoners on death row, 2500. The
ruling rich or even lesser capitalists are rarely, if ever, found in these
populations. The racist and classist killing machine is reserved for the
poor and oppressed and for those framed up by a state power for their
political ideas.


American prisons are largely filled with those whom capitalism has reduced
to alienated individuals who from birth have been denied access to
education, health care, decent jobs and equal opportunity.

Cuba has no such prison population. By every measure, its jails are among
the least populated in the world. Its death penalty is applied rarely. The
April 11 executions were the first in Cuba in many years. Historically, Cuba
has implemented the death penalty only in cases directly involving the
security of its revolution in the context of U.S. efforts to undermine it.


Defend the Cuban Revolution!


The world's first worker's state led by V. I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky faced
similar condemnation from "leftists" including the anarchists of that time,
who equated the violence of the oppressor with the defense measures of the
nascent revolutionary state.


The Soviet Union nationalized the land of the rich, one-third of the land
surface of the planet, and granted it to the nation's peasant poor. It was
invaded by 14 capitalist nations, including the U.S., whose declared aim was
the restoration of the former ruling class. The invading armies destroyed
much of the nation's economic infrastructure, burned its crops, killed
hundreds of thousands of its people and executed captured prisoners as a
matter of course.


When the beleaguered workers' state responded by executing some of the
offending terrorist invaders and mass murderers, the "democrats" of that era
cried foul. When a handful of Russian anarchists, in the middle of the
imperialist intervention, assassinated Soviet leaders and severely wounded
Lenin himself, these "democratic moralists" pilloried the Bolshevik-led
government for swiftly applying the death penalty to "critics" of the
revolution.

The Soviet Union at that time was governed by the world's most advanced
system of worker's democracy wherein the class power of workers, in alliance
with the peasantry, was institutionalized in councils directly elected by
and accountable to the Soviet working people. While revolutionary Cuba has
yet to create similar institutions of direct working class rule,
institutions that could prove critical in Cuba's future defense and
development, it has nevertheless made great strides in mobilizing its people
to defend their interests and the essential gains of the revolution.


In 2002 over eight million Cuban citizens participated in a secret-ballot
national plebiscite. They voted to make "irrevocable" the social, economic,
and political conquests embodied in Cuba's constitution. The vote was
initiated by the Cuban government in response to the U.S.-backed Varela
Project, a petition campaign claiming the signatures of 10,000 Cuban
citizens aimed at reversing the conquests of the Cuban Revolution.


The "dissidents" in Cuba have no social base among Cuba's workers and
farmers. They are the paid agents of a government that seeks to undermine
the fundamental gains of the revolution and return Cuba to its previous
status as a U.S. neo-colony.

The Cuban government has judged that the mounting U.S. attacks of every kind
may well be a prelude to an invasion. While they have gone to great lengths
to respond to each provocation with caution and in measured terms, avoiding
as best as possible providing a pretext for U.S. action against them, the
Cubans are far from naïve.


They have witnessed U.S. troops being sent to Colombia and the Philippines
and they have seen U.S. armies raining death and destruction in the Middle
East. They do not intend to sit by idly while the U.S. prepares another
"regime change."


Cuba's arrest and punishment of those who violated its laws with impunity is
a clear statement that U.S. paid agents and their organizations will not
flourish on Cuban soil. They have undertaken the execution of three
hijackers as the action of a nation facing unending threats of war and acts
of murder and sabotage. They have sent a clear signal to the world-be
imperialist overlords 90 miles from their shore that they will not be
bullied.


Cuba today stands as an outpost on the road to socialism and a beacon for
all those who desire to construct a society where human needs take
precedence over capitalist profit. Its defense, should the U.S. decide to
make it its next victim, will require the mobilization of the American
people on a scale that we have not yet contemplated.


Jeff Mackler is the National Secretary of Socialist Action and a National
Coordinator of the defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal. He is the author of the book,
The Cuban Revolution: Beleaguered But Undaunted. This article was originally
published in Socialist Action newspaper, May 2003.