Remembering and thanking Cuban Revolution

As we send out New Year’s greetings all around the world, utter statements of “Peace on earth and Goodwill towards all men” (assuming women are included), as we contemplate the homestretch of the realisation of a long-cherished dream, the Argyle international airport, surely our consciences must cause us to spare a thought for the Government and people of Cuba.

January 1 is not only New Year’s Day, it is also the anniversary of a new chapter in the life of the Cuban people. I have my own views on the Cuban process since its revolution in 1959, and so do you, but there is no denying that the triumph of the Fidel Castro-led revolution ushered in a new chapter, not just in Cuba, but in the world at large.{{more}} Hardly have events in such a relatively small country had such a global impact, to the extent that they became a major foreign policy gangplank of the most powerful nation on earth.

It is unfortunate that up to this day, too many of our own people cannot arrive at independent judgements on Cuba and their outlook is shaped by the cold war rhetoric and behaviour which has characterized US/Cuba relations for more than a half a century. Disagreeing with Cuba’s policies is one thing, but continuing to cling on to the isolationist bandwagon is another.

More than 50 years ago, as the big East-West divide and the rivalry between socialist and capitalist camps saw the world enveloped in two hostile camps, the young Cuban Revolution had to choose sides for its own survival in a hostile world. For that it earned the implacable enmity of the government of the United States of America. So much so that a total trade and economic embargo was placed by the might of the USA against its island neighbour. Into this cesspit the rest of the western hemisphere was dragged, so that even today Cuba is the only country in the western hemisphere which cannot participate in the Organisation of American States.

Clearly that isolationist strategy has not worked. So much so that the prestigious New York Times, in an OP Ed last week, described US policy towards Cuba as a “senseless commitment to a failed 50-year policy”. Cuba today enjoys diplomatic, political and economic relations with the majority of the world’s states and year after year, the United Nations General Assembly passes resolutions calling for an end to the US embargo against Cuba, but the USA stubbornly refuses to budge, even under a supposedly more “progressive” Obama administration.

That same Cuba has sacrificed the further advancement of its own people to help us all. We repay with ingratitude. For all the outpourings of admiration for Nelson Mandela, it was Cuban military action which broke the back of the South African military in Angola and paved the way for Mandela’s release and his people’s liberation.

The assistance rendered to small developing nations like ours is legendary, suffice it to mention that Cuba it is, which have enabled two tiny Caribbean countries, Grenada and now St Vincent and the Grenadines, to construct international airports, placing them on the mainstream to economic development.

Perspectives on human rights in Cuba and the old bugbear of “communism” seem to matter more to us than our people’s own right to adequate medical care, to have a cadre of trained professionals and to assert ourselves in international affairs.

Criticize Cuba if you will, even husbands and wives have that right; but let us not be dragged into the politics of yesterday and into the maelstrom of backwardness. Friendship, solidarity and gratitude are more enlightened responses of a maturing people.

On the 55th anniversary of the triumph of 1959, join with me in saying a hearty THANK YOU to the Government and people of Cuba and wish them every success in their challenging social and economic reforms.

Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.