U.S. ‘Caligula’ Has No Standing to Advocate for Cuban Freedom

Many Americans are unaware that most of the world considers Washington’s decades-old blockade and general treatment of Cuba to be – if not a war crime – certainly a case of human rights abuse.

For those interested in sampling the general mood, this article written by a former member of the Mexican Congress is a good place to start.

Comparing President Bush alternatively to the Roman emperors Caligula and Nero, Jaime Martínez Veloz writes for Mexico’s La Jornada:

“As he has done repeatedly, U.S. President George W. Bush – so discredited in his own country and in some ways bordering on mental retardation – persists in harassing the Cuban people under the ridiculous pretext of advocating liberty in that nation, which has for almost half a century endured terrorist attacks financed and supported from the highest spheres of the U.S. government.”

Highlighting a historical item often repeated in Latin America but unknown to most people in this country, Veloz writes:

“Years before they popularized the concept of weapons of mass destruction so hypocritically applied against the enemies of the empire (Saddam Hussein is the best illustration of this), U.S. leaders used such weapons against the island. From U.S. military laboratories along the Panama Canal, originated biological cultures destined to contaminate pig farms, destroy Cuban foodstuffs and reduce resistance from the people with hunger. What is was, then, was an attempt to punish Cubans for supporting the Revolution. In a broader context, what better example of the use of weapons of mass destruction is there than the U.S.-imperial economic blockade of Cuba?”

In regard to the U.S. presidential campaign and the positions of the candidates, Veloz writes:

“although the conditions imposed by economically powerful U.S. interest groups will try to bind the hands of the next president of that country, the truth is that with the approach of almost-Democratic-candidate Barack Obama, the situation can turn and give way to a stable relationship between the two countries. Rebuilding U.S. relations with Latin America is necessary for us and for the U.S. itself, and this will be impossible without rebuilding relations with Cuba. Already John McCain, in an attempt to discredit Barack Obama, has accused him of lacking expertise in international affairs. This remains to be seen; but the truth is that the Republicans – and especially Bush – are expert only in leading their people into wars they cannot win.”

By Jaime Martínez Veloz*

Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

May 23, 2008

Mexico – La Jornada – Original Article (Spanish)

As he has done repeatedly, U.S. President George W. Bush – so discredited in his own country and in some ways bordering on mental retardation – persists in harassing the Cuban people under the ridiculous pretext of advocating liberty in that nation, which has for almost half a century endured terrorist attacks financed and supported from the highest spheres of the U.S. government.

The oligarchy of that country says it is very-much worried by the constraining living conditions under which Cubans have for so long had to safeguard their integrity and sovereignty, while simultaneously they have done everything possible to destroy the many (few, some say) achievements in the areas of education, health, welfare and dignity of Cubans – the very indicators of development in the name of which U.S. hypocrisy perpetrates the atrocities it commits.

It’s fitting to recall that for many years, successive U.S. administrations have engaged in criminal terrorist activity to undemine the morale of the Cuban people, with the supposed objective of “liberating” them.

READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. election.