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                                    EDITOR:  Néstor García Iturbe

".... the sensation of fulfilling the most sacred of duties: fighting against
Imperialism wherever it is…. "Che

 
   
   

A thousand-faced monster called the CIA
Dr. Néstor García Iturbe – October 22, 2009

A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
(Spanish original below.)

As part of the CIA’s efforts to overthrow the Cuban Revolution is a new thing called “Freedom Socialist Party”, which last October 19 published an article titled Cuba’s fate: balanced on a razor’s edge, signed by one Susan Williams.

The operation includes a number of mutually complementing covert actions primarily designed to torpedo the Cuban revolutionary process with a view toward a so-called “transition” and the establishment in the Island of a government that follows to the letter what instruction comes from the U.S. We will deal with this operation at a later date, as now I would like to refer specifically to these Actions.

It’s the kind considered by the CIA as “diversionary”. While the author claims to be worried about Cuba’s fate and makes a pretense of being revolutionary, the article is aimed mainly at recruiting individuals who, without being opposed to the Revolution, are somewhat averse to some of the decisions made by the Cuban government and keep complaining about our current difficulties. These are mostly brought about by the strict blockade that the U.S. has set up against us. These elements try to capitalize on the objective, necessary improvement-oriented criticism regularly promoted by the Revolution itself through the Communist Party, the mass organizations and the overall state apparatus.

It’s about creating a faction whose members can act as “spokespersons” on behalf of those who prefer to use this new institution rather than the established channels to voice their various grudges.

The article starts out by saying that “the Cuban people have valiantly defended their goal of socialism against economic, political and military pressure”, a good opener that leads the revolutionary readers to lower their guard and welcome the message as a whole. Beginning with an objective truth probably helps take in the lies that follow.

Another message, also intended to reinforce the reader’s positive reception of what comes next, appears in the second paragraph: “How much longer can the island stave off capitalism’s return?”

What lies behind this article becomes clear by the third paragraph, which mentions steps to protect the gains of the Revolution from the threat of capitalist restoration in Cuba. According to the author, the reason for this involution is that
“the bureaucracy headed by Raúl Castro is accelerating in the wrong direction.

Here begin the attacks on the Cuban Revolution and particularly on comrade Raúl, our president. It’s the same message sent by the U.S. intelligence services when they have tried to set in motion what they describe as “transition”, basically the same as in the so-called “Bush plan for a free Cuba” back when comrade Fidel was in charge. As per these gentlemen, all those who fight for our sovereignty and independence and defend the Cuban people’s rights go “in the wrong direction.

Further on the article takes to praising everything the Revolution has done in the last few years, again to try and get the reader’s attention. once the “seed” of discord has been sown. It revisits the style of blaming what they tag “bureaucracy” for our hardships, saying our people were never the makers of crucial decisions, but
a bureaucracy politically similar to Stalin’s regime in the USSR, although it never installed the bloody police state that Stalin did.”

This new attack on “bureaucracy” overlooks our people’s involvement in the most important decisions made in Cuba and casts sly doubt on our electoral system, the one that elects the people’s representatives to our National Assembly, where they discuss the laws and policies governing the fate of our nation. Any reference to Stalin’s regime in the former USSR is totally unfortunate and placed in the wrong context, a fact our people have repeatedly confirmed.

Even the Communist Party of Cuba is accused of being treacherous and Stalinist, a charge the author bases on the old Trotskyist theory that it’s not possible to make a revolution in a single country.

No mention is made of the time at this stage of the Revolution when Cuba was left almost completely isolated following the collapse of the socialist countries and we had to do everything we could to save the revolutionary state. The intention is to disregard the dialectical development of revolutionary struggle in Latin America and how it’s taking place these days without acknowledging Cuba’s role in fighting the main enemy and its solidarity with Latin American and other governments now seeking full independence and holding a position of confrontation, or at least sovereign, vis-à-vis the United States.

In reference to the world scene and particularly to the political situation in Latin America, criticism is leveled at Chávez and other rulers who defend the interests of their peoples, including the Bolivarian Alliance for Our America (ALBA). These statements are on a par with others that members of the Obama administration make every day against the progress of independence on the continent, no different from those of the “opposition” organized and funded by NED and USAID, who are in charge of distributing the money delivered by the CIA.

One of the last paragraphs demands that the Communist Party of Cuba allow internal factions, an idea the author ascribes to two of her followers. Obviously, the enemies of the Revolution deem our Party’s unity a major strength, hence their efforts to create dissension in our midst. This alerts us to the need of making our Party work stronger to preserve internal democracy, unity of action and democratic centralism.

The article ends with an appeal for the support of the “advocates of socialist workers’ democracy within Cuba” and the “building of a revolutionary U.S. movement powerful enough to win an egalitarian society in the heartland of imperialism.”

This final note reflects the CIA’s attempts through some of its campaigns to give the wrong impression that our workers, peasants, black people and women live in a state of repression and lack of opportunity. Anyone who knows nothing about Cuba might believe all this, but it’s just the image our enemies try to portray in order to divide our people. That this is their real purpose is clearly shown in the actions of the self-appointed “dissident” groups, which are a perfect match for the spirit of Susan Williams’ article.

The CIA is a thousand-faced monster that shows up everywhere under a variety of costumes to spread ideas and plant agents who, in this case, go so far as to dress up as revolutionaries in order to win the support of the unwary and turn them into traitors to their homeland.

It’s so easy to spot, the CIA: when it states its goals, stands up to any true-blue revolutionary or has recourse to the worn-out campaigns it has orchestrated in the last times, THERE’S THE MONSTER!


================
Nestor García Iturbe, born in Havana in 1940. Doctor in Historical Science. B.A. in Political Science,  Author of various books. Represented Cuba at the U.N. as Counsellor of the Cuban Permanent Mission from 1974 to 1988. Professor at the Instituto Superior de Relaciones Internacionales, MINREX, Havana.

 

Cuba's fate: balanced on a razor's edge
Susan Williams, M.D.
October 2009

A worker in a Cuban cigar factory.
Credit: Pierre Langlois

For five decades, the Cuban people have valiantly defended their goal of socialism against economic, political and military pressure. Today, however, their revolution is in danger as never before.

With an economy that's been on life support since the 1990s, Cuba is trying to survive the current global crisis while it copes with $10 billion in damage caused by last year's hurricanes. In these circumstances, how much longer can the island stave off capitalism's return?

There are steps that could be taken within Cuba to protect the gains of the 1959 revolution until workers' victories in other countries make mutual aid possible. But the bureaucracy headed by Raúl Castro is accelerating in the wrong direction, sharpening the threat of capitalist restoration and the need for a 180-degree change of course.

At risk: all the revolution has gained. The stakes are great - for Cuba, and for the rest of the world. Generations have been inspired by seeing what's possible when the profiteers are sent packing.

Cuba launched campaigns that made healthcare, education and housing universal. Serious inroads were made against the poverty, racism and sexual exploitation created by centuries of colonization and dictatorship.

Pushed by U.S. aggression into nationalizing foreign holdings, banking and other key industries, Cuban leaders were able to plan centrally and control trade, improving life vastly.

But the new workers state suffered from the outset from a major deformity. The people were never the makers of crucial decisions: which goods would be produced and how; what social benefits would be provided; whether to aid sister and brother rebels in other lands. Instead these decisions were made by a bureaucracy politically similar to Stalin's regime in the USSR, although it never installed the bloody police state that Stalin did.

The Cuban Communist Party (CCP) adopted the treacherous and deceitful Stalinist policy of building "socialism in one country." Using this as justification, the CCP repeatedly betrayed proletarian struggles throughout Latin America, abandoning them to Cuba's perceived self-interest in negotiating ddétente with world imperialism.

Socialism, however, can only exist as an international system, with sharing and coordination of global goods and resources. As long as capitalism controls most of the world market, the fate of any workers state remains precarious. Capitalism's recapture of the Soviet bloc and China is a harsh proof of this.

Peril from without and within. When the USSR collapsed, Cuba lost its key trade partner, one that bought sugar and other exports and sold industrial technology and other vital imports on favorable terms. Cuba's economy fell into desperate straits. Ever the humanitarian, the U.S. escalated its embargo, trying to starve out the revolution.

In response, the CCP initiated measures to attract the desperately needed hard currency it could use on the capitalist world market. The reforms brought foreign capital to Cuba. With it came the danger of reversion to the dominance of the profit system, with its inevitable exploitation and oppression.

As foreign business expanded in Cuba, so did inequality, as some groups of people gained access to more income, benefits and outright bribes. Black Cubans experienced greater racism, particularly in the fast-growing tourism industry. Prostitution reappeared.

No one could live on the average state salary of $20 a month, so the black market flourished, as did corruption. Everyone is frustrated by the lack of consumer goods. Many young people are becoming alienated from the revolution their grandparents made.

Events of the past year are alarming. President Raúl Castro has opened the door to even more intense inequality by removing salary caps and instituting production incentives, saying that workers in favored positions should “make as much as they can.” Untilled state land is being turned over to private agriculture.

On the world scene, Cuba has thrown its lot in with popular-front governments in Latin America. These are governments like Venezuela's, whose leaders talk a good pro-worker line, and come to power with the support of workers and the poor, but offer no real challenge to capitalism. These countries are trying to improve their position in the world economy through a trade bloc called the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

For an isolated workers state, trade alliances with capitalist countries are unavoidable. The harm done by Cuban officials is in painting these deals as part of the road to socialism rather than a hazardous but necessary detour.

Keep the revolution alive! Cuba's great potential saving grace is that the voice of the people, while muffled, was never silenced. Vibrant discussions are taking place in the streets and on the Internet.

An array of militant voices in Cuba are calling for the very steps that would breathe new life into the revolution: decision-making power in the hands of workers' and peasants' councils; tightened state control of foreign trade and the reversal of privatizations; freedom of speech, association, travel and Internet access for workers; autonomy for unions and mass organizations; and foreign policy guided by revolutionary internationalism.

One example is a program circulated by former diplomat Pedro Campos and co-thinkers that calls for workers' democracy and demands that the CCP allow internal factions. The program was circulated on the Spanish-language www.kaosenlared.net and widely discussed during the past year. Proponents hoped to present it at the CCP's upcoming sixth congress, making it "the trigger for a national democratization."

But Raúl Castro seems determined to tighten bureaucratic control rather than let the people be heard. Some revolutionary critics, like kaosenlared contributor Miguel Arencibia Daupés, have been harassed and lost their state jobs. And, on July 31, Raúl announced the postponement of the party congress. Days later came the news that more state companies would be put under the management of the army, which Raúl has headed for decades and which plays a major role in the joint enterprises that brought foreign capitalists into Cuba.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama announced in August an end to limits on travel and money sent to families in Cuba by U.S. relatives. But his real interest is in opening a door to Cuba for U.S. corporations.

Sympathetic working people across the world should look for ways to support the advocates of socialist workers' democracy within Cuba. At the same time, the fight to keep the U.S. boot off Cuba's neck must grow stronger. This means demanding an end to the embargo and to all U.S. interference - military threats, undercover CIA-type action, and economic coercion.

Just as only workers' democracy can force the necessary course change on the island, Cuba cannot survive alone forever. The final chapter of this epic struggle must be the building of a revolutionary U.S. movement powerful enough to stop U.S. aggression around the globe and win an egalitarian society in the heartland of imperialism. Start it up!

Susan Williams, a cofounder of Doctors Council Local 10MD, SEIU, can be contacted at drsusan@nyct.net.

www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/?q=node/248

Este artículo en español/ This article in Spanish



LA CIA, EL MONSTRUO DE LAS MIL CARAS
Dr. Néstor García Iturbe
22 de octubre del 2009.

Como parte de la Operación que la CIA ha diseñado para tratar de destruir la revolución cubana, aparece ahora un llamado Partido Socialista por la Libertad (“Freedom Socialist Party”) que el 19 de octubre de este año publicó un artículo titulado “El destino de Cuba se balancea en el filo de la navaja” escrito por una persona que dice llamarse Susan Williams.

La Operación a que hacemos referencia está compuesta por varias Acciones Encubiertas que se complementan una con la otra y cuyo fin principal es revertir el proceso revolucionario cubano para lograr la llamada “transición” e instaurar en Cuba un gobierno que obedezca al pie de la letra las instrucciones de Estados Unidos. De la Operación hablaremos próximamente, pues ahora quisiera ocuparme en concreto de esta Acción.

Este tipo de Acción es de las que la CIA califica como “diversionista”. El contenido del mensaje trata de aparentar ser revolucionario y preocupado por el destino de Cuba. Su objetivo es agrupar bajo la dirección de sus agentes un grupo de personas, que sin estar en contra de la revolución, manifiesten cierta inconformidad con algunas de las acciones que el gobierno revolucionario lleve a cabo o de las dificultades que afrontamos, en su mayoría provocadas por el férreo bloqueo a que nos tiene sometidos Estados Unidos.

Es tratar de capitalizar a su favor la crítica objetiva y necesaria que promueve la propia revolución para mejorar el proceso y a la que nos convocan periódicamente el Partido Comunista de Cuba, las organizaciones de masa y el aparato estatal en su conjunto.

La idea es crear una fracción que se convierta en el “vocero” de aquellos que quieren plantear distintos problemas y que en vez de utilizar para eso las vías establecidas, lo hagan agrupándose en esta nueva institución.

Al inicio del citado artículo se plantea que “
el pueblo cubano ha defendido valientemente su meta de crear el socialismo a pesar de presiones económicas, políticas y militares”. Un buen comienzo para que los lectores revolucionarios bajen la guardia y el mensaje pueda ser aceptado en su conjunto. Comenzar con una verdad objetiva debe ayudar a la asimilación de las mentiras que le sigan.

El segundo mensaje también va dirigido a fortalecer la recepción positiva del lector revolucionario sobre lo que posteriormente se plantea. El contenido de este aparece en el segundo párrafo, cuando dice “¿cuánto tiempo más podrá la isla evitar el regreso al capitalismo?

Ya en el tercer párrafo del mensaje se deja ver claro el propósito de este artículo, cuando se argumenta que existen pasos para proteger los logros de la revolución cubana, contra la amenaza de la restauración del capitalismo en Cuba. Esta involución, según el artículo es consecuencia de que “la burocracia dirigida por Raúl Castro está acelerando el paso en la dirección
equivocada.”

Aquí comienzan los ataques a la revolución cubana y en especial contra la figura de nuestro presidente, el compañero Raúl. Este mensaje es el mismo que han repetido los órganos de inteligencia de Estados Unidos cuando han tratado de instaurar lo que ellos califican la “transición”. Es en esencia lo mismo que se plantea en el llamado “Plan Bush para la libertad de Cuba”, estructurado en momentos en que era el compañero Fidel nuestro presidente. Todo el que luche por nuestra soberanía e independencia, todo el que defienda los derechos del pueblo cubano, según estos señores se encuentran “en la dirección equivocada.”

En los párrafos siguientes el artículo retoma el estilo de alabanza sobre todo lo que ha realizado la revolución en estos años, nuevamente trata de ganar la atención del lector después de haber dejado sembrada la “semilla” contra nuestro gobierno. Se retoma el problema de culpar de nuestros males a lo que ellos llaman “la burocracia” cuando se plantea que el pueblo no ha sido quien ha tomado las decisiones principales sino “
una burocracia políticamente similar al régimen de Stalin en la URSS, aunque nunca creó el sangriento estado policíaco como Stalin lo hizo.”

Este nuevo ataque a “la burocracia” trata de desconocer la participación de nuestro pueblo en las más importantes decisiones que se han tomado en el país.  Solapadamente se cuestiona nuestro sistema electoral, donde se elijen a los representantes del pueblo que son los que en la Asamblea Nacional de Poder Popular participan en la discusión de leyes y políticas que rigen los destinos de nuestra nación. La referencia al régimen de Stalin en la antigua URSS es totalmente desafortunada y traída a un contexto que no corresponde, precisamente nuestro pueblo puede dar constancia de eso.

También al Partido Comunista de Cuba se le acusa de traicionero y de stalinista en el mencionado artículo. Para ello el autor del artículo se apoya en la vieja teoría trotskista de la imposibilidad de realizar la revolución en un solo país.

Al hacer referencia a esta etapa de la revolución, para nada analizan el momento en que Cuba se quedó casi totalmente aislada al desaparecer el campo socialista y que fue necesario tomar cuanta medida se pudo para garantizar la subsistencia del estado revolucionario. Se trata de ocultar el desarrollo dialectico que ha tenido la lucha revolucionaria en América Latina y el estado en que la misma se encuentra en nuestros días. No se quiere reconocer el papel de Cuba en el enfrentamiento al enemigo principal y en el fortalecimiento, con su ayuda solidaria, a los gobiernos latinoamericanos y de otras regiones del mundo que ahora luchan por su total independencia y que mantienen una posición de enfrentamiento o al menos soberana ante Estados Unidos.

Cuando el artículo hace referencia a la situación política mundial y en especial de América Latina, se critica a Chávez y a otros países que se encuentran defendiendo los intereses de sus pueblos, incluyendo en esto la Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (ALBA). Estas manifestaciones son similares a las que diariamente realizan los personeros de la administración Obama en su lucha por cerrarles el paso a los gobiernos independientes de América Latina. Es lo mismo que dice la “oposición” organizada y financiada por la NED y la USAID, encargadas de repartir el dinero que la CIA les entrega.

En uno de los párrafos finales el autor plantea que deben permitirse fracciones dentro del Partido Comunista de Cuba, atribuyendo esta idea a dos de sus seguidores. Evidentemente la unidad de nuestro Partido es considerada por los enemigos de la revolución como una de sus principales fortalezas, de ahí que por todos los medios tratan de introducir el fraccionalismo. Esto nos alerta ante la necesidad de fortalecer los métodos de trabajo del partido, continuar garantizando la democracia interna, la unidad de acción y el centralismo democrático.

El artículo termina haciendo un llamado al apoyo a los “defensores de la democracia obrera socialista dentro de Cuba” y la “edificación de un poderoso movimiento revolucionario en Estados Unidos para construir una sociedad igualitaria en el corazón del imperialismo.”

La nota final del artículo es un reflejo de lo que plantea la CIA en varias de sus campañas, tratando de hacer ver una situación inexistente de represión y falta de oportunidades en Cuba para los obreros, los campesinos, los negros y las mujeres. Todo esto pudiera creerlo alguien que no conozca Cuba, pero es sin duda algo que los enemigos tratan de crear con el propósito de dividir a nuestro pueblo. La ratificación del objetivo antes mencionado la tenemos en las distintas acciones que desarrollan los grupúsculos autodenominados “disidentes”, las cuales coinciden perfectamente con lo planteado en el artículo que estamos analizando.

La CIA es el monstruo de las mil caras, aparece en lugares disímiles, con un ropaje distinto, tratando de introducir sus agentes e ideas y en algunos casos, como este, llega inclusive a disfrazarse de revolucionaria para poder lograr el apoyo de los incautos y unirlos con los traidores de la patria.

Es fácil de descubrir. Cuando manifiesta sus objetivos, cuando plantea oposición a verdaderos revolucionarios, cuando hace referencia a las gastadas campañas con que ha estado trabajando en los últimos años,

¡AHÍ ESTÁ EL MONSTRUO!