{"id":181982,"date":"2021-07-16T11:13:48","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T15:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/z3news.com\/w\/?p=181982"},"modified":"2021-07-17T16:49:24","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T20:49:24","slug":"us-concern-for-cuba-latin-america-is-spin-for-intervention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/z3news.com\/w\/us-concern-for-cuba-latin-america-is-spin-for-intervention\/","title":{"rendered":"US Concern for Cuba, Latin America Is Spin for Intervention"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States government says it is going to help Central America fight corruption, combat the \u201croot causes\u201d of migration in Mexico and Central America\u00a0and help the Cuban people with freedom too.<\/em><\/p>\n

But the US\u2019s domestic and foreign track record demonstrates that it isn\u2019t qualified to teach anyone about democracy, combating poverty, ending corruption, or anything related to human rights. Instead, its recent discourse regarding Latin American countries is aimed at dressing itself \u2014 the bully \u2014 as the savior.<\/p>\n

By manufacturing problems (i.e. by directly causing hunger and medicine shortages), as well as by magnifying or distorting existing problems and combining those with real hardships, the US has been framing its intervention and dominance in certain countries as help that no one can reasonably oppose. The help discourse makes it hard for many people to perceive the US\u2019s real agenda and political interests, and it makes it very easy for the mainstream media to cover up the US\u2019s desire to increase it\u2019s exploitation of Latin America.<\/p>\n

In US \u201chelp speak\u201d, financial support for anti-government (read pro-US agenda) groups is spun as aid, particularly through USAID. Bringing a pro-US leader to power is framed as toppling a cruel dictator. Building towns where US corporations and manufacturing plants can do whatever they want \u2014 such as the Zones for Employment and Economic Development (ZEDEs) in Honduras\u00a0or industrial parks in Mexico. Imposing privatization policies on poor countries is called \u201cfreedom\u201d, \u201cdemocracy\u201d, \u201cinvestment\u201d or \u201ceconomic support\u201d.<\/p>\n

While the US\u2019s blockade of Cuba for the past six decades has caused more than US$144 billion in losses<\/a>\u00a0to the country\u2019s economy, US President Joe Biden<\/strong> sided<\/a> with protests there, and called for \u201crelief from the tragic grip of the pandemic \u2026 and economic suffering\u201d. The blockade is what is causing severe shortages in Cuba, an oil crisis, and making it hard for the country to manufacture enough vaccines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Daniel Monterro, an independent journalist in Havana who was arrested during the protests, told Democracy Now!<\/em> the media had skipped over the fact that most people arrested were released the same day, and that there was violence by both police and protesters. He said the sanctions were the main cause of economic hardships, and Cubans in Florida calling for a military intervention in Cuba was \u201csome of the most colonial behavior I\u2019ve seen in my life\u201d.<\/p>\n

Biden called on the Cuban government to \u201crefrain from violence\u201d \u2014 a hypocritical stance given the police murders and repression in his own country. \u201cWe are assessing how we can be helpful to the people of Cuba,\u201d said White House spokesperson Jen Psaki, using the savior discourse, but not considering repealing the sanctions.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, US Vice-President Kamala Harris<\/strong> has been making a show of helping Central America and Mexico by ostensibly addressing corruption and the \u201croot causes\u201d of migration in the region. Seven months into the year and no actual help has arrived, but she did tell<\/a> migrants fleeing for their lives not to come to the US, and the US has kept its border closed \u2014 in stark violation of human rights and its own asylum seeker laws.<\/p>\n

The White House declared<\/a> a \u201cfight against corruption\u201d in Central America in June, and made it a US national security interest. In general, a security interest is code for war, intervention and attacks on countries that don\u2019t conform to US interests.<\/p>\n

Further, the State Department was involved<\/a> in the Car Wash anti-corruption operation in Brazil which saw pro-poor president Luiz Inacio Lula arrested. \u201cA gift from the CIA,\u201d said one US prosecutor of Lula\u2019s imprisonment. The main liaison for the FBI at the time, Leslie Backschies, boasted<\/a> that it had \u201ctoppled presidents in Brazil.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a press conference in May, Harris hinted at the US\u2019s real intentions with the latest so-called fight against corruption, \u201cIn the Northern Triangle, we also know that corruption prevents us from creating the conditions on the ground to best attract investment.\u201d Even the White House statement admits<\/a> the anti-corruption efforts are about securing \u201ca critical advantage for the United States\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US government recently released its list of powerful corrupt figures in Central America who will be denied US visas. The list<\/a> includes former Honduran president Jose Lobo, whom the US helped bring to power by supporting a coup in 2009, and a current legal advisor to the Salvadoran president. But it doesn\u2019t include proven criminal and current Honduran president Juan Hern\u00e1ndez \u2014 suggesting that political interests underlie the chosen figures.<\/p>\n

The US also wants to raise the financing, resource support and \u201cpolitical assistance\u201d to actors in foreign countries who \u201cexhibit the desire to reduce corruption\u201d (conveniently vague phrasing) and promote<\/a>\u00a0\u201cpartnerships with the private sector\u201d. An Anticorruption Task Force will provide<\/a> \u201ctraining\u201d to Central American authorities and US law enforcement experts will be deployed to \u201cprovide mentoring\u201d. Here, it is worth noting the US\u2019s long record in training coup leaders, repressive military leaders, and counter-revolutionaries.<\/p>\n

A frequently used strategy to ensure compliance<\/strong><\/p>\n

For at least a century, the US has had an abusive relationship with Latin America, using it as a source of cheap labour, gutting its land for minerals, pillaging its resources, and demanding in an authoritarian way \u2014 ironic, given its overtures to \u201cfreedom\u201d\u00a0\u2014 total compliance with its self-benefiting trade policies.<\/p>\n

When countries refuse to obey, when they assert their identity, strive for dignity, and combat poverty \u2014 and, therefore, reduce that cheap supply of labour\u00a0\u2014 the US reacts. It supported the counter-revolution in Nicaragua with money and training, the CIA carried out a coup to remove Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz<\/strong> and end the revolution there, the US sided with the coup plotters recently in Bolivia, it repeatedly supported anti-democratic movements to overthrow Venezuela\u2019s Hugo Ch\u00e1vez,<\/strong> and time and again it has tried to kill or remove the Cuban president.<\/p>\n

It systematically supports repressive, conservative governments because they are the ones that protect its business interests. And despite its current discourse on the \u201croot causes of migration\u201d, the US consistently and violently opposes movements and governments that side with the poor and could actually lower inequality and prevent forced migration.<\/p>\n

The US, and the US-centric mainstream media, have two sets of standards: one for rebellious countries, and another for pro-US countries. That\u2019s why the US and the media are speaking out about arrests in Cuba, while staying silent about disappearing activists and journalists in Mexico. It\u2019s why the US State Department\u00a0recently talked<\/a> about the \u201cviolence and vandalism\u201d of the protesters in Colombia instead of criticizing the brutal repression. Biden has publicly supported Plan Colombia (currently called Peace Colombia), which makes the country one of the largest buyers of US military equipment.<\/p>\n

The two sets of standards are also why US Secretary of State Antony Blinken<\/strong> talked<\/a> about Cubans being allowed to \u201cdetermine their own future\u201d \u2014 something he would never call for in most other countries of the world where the majority are excluded from economic and political decision-making.<\/p>\n

What we\u2019re seeing at the moment regarding the US\u2019s attitude towards Cuba is nothing new. I witnessed very similar tactics being employed in Venezuela. It was #SOSVenezuela placards and tweets when I was there, then #SOSEcuador was used against Correa while I was working in Ecuador, and now it\u2019s #SOSCuba.<\/p>\n

The formula also includes versions of the following: causing or worsening food and medicine scarcity through blockades and hoarding; a media campaign portraying the government as a dictatorial regime; marches by mostly white and upper-class people; media and social media coverage of anti-government marches that exaggerate their size with selective visuals or even photos from other countries (or in the recent case of Cuba, using pro-government rallies as photos<\/a> of opposition rallies); and a total media boycott of any pro-government marches. There is a focus on \u201cfreedom\u201d and an absence of any context, historical causes of problems, or any real solutions, while everything is blamed on the government the US seeks to change.<\/p>\n

The #SOSCuba social media campaign began<\/a> just a week before the marches. The first tweets came from an account in Spain (with more than a thousand tweets in a few days and automated retweets), which was then supported by other bots and recently-created accounts. The tweets coincided with a rise in COVID-19 cases in Cuba, though the figures (about 40 deaths a day) are well below the US\u2019s current death rate.<\/p>\n

Any help or aid from the US always comes with conditions and ulterior motives. No matter how intricate his manipulations are, the bully isn\u2019t actually going to help anyone.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Tamara Pearson<\/a><\/strong> is a journalist, activist, and author of The Butterfly Prison<\/a>. She is based in Mexico, and her writing can be found at her blog resistancewords.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\nVisit and follow us on Instagram at @crg_globalresearch.
\n***
\nThe United States government says it is going to help Central America fight corruption, combat the \u201croot causes\u201d of migration in Mexico and Central America\u00a0and help the Cuban people with freedom too.
\nBut the US\u2019s domestic and foreign track record demonstrates that it isn\u2019t qualified to teach anyone about democracy, combating poverty, ending corruption, or anything related to human rights. Instead, its recent discourse regarding Latin American countries is aimed at dressing itself \u2014 the bully \u2014 as the saviour.
\nBy manufacturing problems (i.e. by directly causing hunger and medicine shortages), as well as by magnifying or distorting existing problems and combining those with real hardships, the US has been framing its intervention and dominance in certain countries as help that no one can reasonably oppose. The help discourse makes it hard for many people to perceive the US\u2019s real agenda and political interests, and it makes it very easy for the mainstream media to cover up the US\u2019s desire to increase it\u2019s exploitation of Latin America.
\nIn US \u201chelp speak\u201d, financial support for anti-government (read pro-US agenda) groups is spun as aid, particularly through USAID. Bringing a pro-US leader to power is framed as toppling a cruel dictator. Building towns where US corporations and manufacturing plants can do whatever they want \u2014 such as the Zones for Employment and Economic Development (ZEDEs) in Honduras\u00a0or industrial parks in Mexico. Imposing privatisation policies on poor countries is called \u201cfreedom\u201d, \u201cdemocracy\u201d, \u201cinvestment\u201d or \u201ceconomic support\u201d.
\nWhile the US\u2019s blockade of Cuba for the past six decades has caused more than US$144 billion in losses\u00a0to the country\u2019s economy, US President Joe Biden sided with protests there, and called for \u201crelief from the tragic grip of the pandemic \u2026 and economic suffering\u201d. The blockade is what is causing severe shortages in Cuba, an oil crisis, and making it hard for the country to manufacture enough vaccines.
\nDaniel Monterro, an independent journalist in Havana who was arrested during the protests, told Democracy Now! the media had skipped over the fact that most people arrested were released the same day, and that there was violence by both police and protesters. He said the sanctions were the main cause of economic hardships, and Cubans in Florida calling for a military intervention in Cuba was \u201csome of the most colonial behaviour I\u2019ve seen in my life\u201d.
\nBiden called on the Cuban government to \u201crefrain from violence\u201d \u2014 a hypocritical stance given the police murders and repression in his own country. \u201cWe are assessing how we can be helpful to the people of Cuba,\u201d said White House spokesperson Jen Psaki, using the saviour discourse, but not considering repealing the sanctions.
\nMeanwhile, US Vice-President Kamala Harris has been making a show of helping Central America and Mexico by ostensibly addressing corruption and the \u201croot causes\u201d of migration in the region. Seven months into the year and no actual help has arrived, but she did tell migrants fleeing for their lives not to come to the US, and the US has kept its border closed \u2014 in stark violation of human rights and its own asylum seeker laws.
\nThe White House declared a \u201cfight against corruption\u201d in Central America in June, and made it a US national security interest. In general, a security interest is code for war, intervention and attacks on countries that don\u2019t conform to US interests.
\nFurther, the State Department was involved in the Car Wash anti-corruption operation in Brazil which saw pro-poor president Luiz Inacio Lula arrested. \u201cA gift from the CIA,\u201d said one US prosecutor of Lula\u2019s imprisonment. The main liaison for the FBI at the time, Leslie Backschies, boasted that it had \u201ctoppled presidents in Brazil.\u201d
\nDuring a press conference in May, Harris hinted at the US\u2019s real intentions with the latest so-called fight against corruption, \u201cIn the Northern Triangle, we also know that corruption prevents us from creating the conditions on the ground to best attract investment.\u201d Even the White House statement admits the anti-corruption efforts are about securing \u201ca critical advantage for the United States\u201d.
\nThe US government recently released its list of powerful corrupt figures in Central America who will be denied US visas. The list includes former Honduran president Jose Lobo, whom the US helped bring to power by supporting a coup in 2009, and a current legal advisor to the Salvadoran president. But it doesn\u2019t include proven criminal and current Honduran president Juan Hern\u00e1ndez \u2014 suggesting that political interests underlie the chosen figures.
\nThe US also wants to raise the financing, resource support and \u201cpolitical assistance\u201d to actors in foreign countries who \u201cexhibit the desire to reduce corruption\u201d (conveniently vague phrasing) and promote\u00a0\u201cpartnerships with the private sector\u201d. An Anticorruption Task Force will provide \u201ctraining\u201d to Central American authorities and US law enforcement experts will be deployed to \u201cprovide mentoring\u201d. Here, it is worth noting the US\u2019s long record in training coup leaders, repressive military leaders, and counter-revolutionaries.
\nA frequently used strategy to ensure compliance
\nFor at least a century, the US has had an abusive relationship with Latin America, using it as a source of cheap labour, gutting its land for minerals, pillaging its resources, and demanding in an authoritarian way \u2014 ironic, given its overtures to \u201cfreedom\u201d\u00a0\u2014 total compliance with its self-benefiting trade policies.
\nWhen countries refuse to obey, when they assert their identity, strive for dignity, and combat poverty \u2014 and, therefore, reduce that cheap supply of labour\u00a0\u2014 the US reacts. It supported the counter-revolution in Nicaragua with money and training, the CIA carried out a coup to remove Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz and end the revolution there, the US sided with the coup plotters recently in Bolivia, it repeatedly supported anti-democratic movements to overthrow Venezuela\u2019s Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, and time and again it has tried to kill or remove the Cuban president.
\nIt systematically supports repressive, conservative governments because they are the ones that protect its business interests. And despite its current discourse on the \u201croot causes of migration\u201d, the US consistently and violently opposes movements and governments that side with the poor and could actually lower inequality and prevent forced migration.
\nThe US, and the US-centric mainstream media, have two sets of standards: one for rebellious countries, and another for pro-US countries. That\u2019s why the US and the media are speaking out about arrests in Cuba, while staying silent about disappearing activists and journalists in Mexico. It\u2019s why the US State Department\u00a0recently talked about the \u201cviolence and vandalism\u201d of the protesters in Colombia instead of criticising the brutal repression. Biden has publicly supported Plan Colombia (currently called Peace Colombia), which makes the country one of the largest buyers of US military equipment.
\nThe two sets of standards are also why US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked about Cubans being allowed to \u201cdetermine their own future\u201d \u2014 something he would never call for in most other countries of the world where the majority are excluded from economic and political decision-making.
\nWhat we\u2019re seeing at the moment regarding the US\u2019s attitude towards Cuba is nothing new. I witnessed very similar tactics being employed in Venezuela. It was #SOSVenezuela placards and tweets when I was there, then #SOSEcuador was used against Correa while I was working in Ecuador, and now it\u2019s #SOSCuba.
\nThe formula also includes versions of the following: causing or worsening food and medicine scarcity through blockades and hoarding; a media campaign portraying the government as a dictatorial regime; marches by mostly white and upper-class people; media and social media coverage of anti-government marches that exaggerate their size with selective visuals or even photos from other countries (or in the recent case of Cuba, using pro-government rallies as photos of opposition rallies); and a total media boycott of any pro-government marches. There is a focus on \u201cfreedom\u201d and an absence of any context, historical causes of problems, or any real solutions, while everything is blamed on the government the US seeks to change.
\nThe #SOSCuba social media campaign began just a week before the marches. The first tweets came from an account in Spain (with more than a thousand tweets in a few days and automated retweets), which was then supported by other bots and recently-created accounts. The tweets coincided with a rise in COVID-19 cases in Cuba, though the figures (about 40 deaths a day) are well below the US\u2019s current death rate.
\nAny help or aid from the US always comes with conditions and ulterior motives. No matter how intricate his manipulations are, the bully isn\u2019t actually going to help anyone.
\n*
\nNote to readers: Please click the share buttons above or below. Follow us on Instagram, @crg_globalresearch. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
\nTamara Pearson is a journalist, activist, and author of The Butterfly Prison. She is based in Mexico, and her writing can be found at her blog resistancewords.com.
\nFeatured image:\u00a0This Associated Press photo of a pro-government protest in Havana was used to illustrate articles on anti-government protests in The Guardian and other mainstream media. Image: @AlanRMacLeod\/Twitter<\/p>\n

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