“Is there actually a limit? Will the United States ever stop trying to overthrow the Cuban government? Entire books have been written documenting the unrelenting ways Washington has tried to get rid of tiny Cuba’s horrid socialism – from military invasion to repeated assassination attempts, to an embargo that President Clinton’s National Security Advisor called “the most pervasive sanctions ever imposed on a nation in the history of mankind”.
Thus, with the irony and humor characteristic of his writings, William Blum begins the editorial in the latest edition of his Anti-Empire Report, entitled “Cuba … Again … Still … Forever”.
“But nothing has ever come even close to succeeding. The horrid socialism keeps on inspiring people all over the world. It’s the darnedest thing. Can providing people free or remarkably affordable health care, education, housing, food and culture be all that important?”
“And now it’s the “Cuban Twitter” – an elaborately complex system set up by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to disguise its American origins and financing, aiming to bring about a “Cuban Spring” uprising similar to those orchestrated in Egypt, Syria, and Libya.”
"It’s too bad it’s now been exposed, because we all know how wonderful the Egyptian, Syrian, Libyan, and other “Arab Springs” have turned out.”
According to Blum, USAID sought to first “build a Cuban audience, mostly young people; then the plan was to push them toward dissent”, hoping the messaging network “would reach critical mass so that dissidents could organize ‘smart mobs’ –mass gatherings called at a moment’s notice– that might trigger political demonstrations or ‘renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society’.”
“Here’s USAID speaking after their scheme was revealed on April 3: ‘Cubans were able to talk among themselves, and we are proud of that.’ Is the US National Security Agency working for the Cuban government now?” asks Blum.
The Associated Press, which broke the Zunzuneo story, asks us further to believe that the “truth” about most things important in the world is being kept from the Cuban people by the Castro regime, and that the “Cuban Twitter” would have opened people’s eyes.
“But what information might a Cuban citizen discover online that the government would not want him to know about? I can’t imagine. In any event, this isn’t a government plot to hide dangerous information. It’s a matter of technical availability and prohibitive cost, both things at least partly in the hands of the United States and American corporations. Microsoft, for example, at one point, if not at present, barred Cuba from using its Instant Messenger service.”
“Cubans in the island are in constant touch with relatives in the US. They get television programs and news from everywhere including CNN and TELESUR; international conferences on all manner of political, economic and social issues are held regularly in Cuba. What –it must be asked– does USAID, as well as the American media, think are the great dark secrets being kept from the Cuban people by the nasty commie government?
“Cuba and Venezuela have jointly built a fiber optic underwater cable connection that –once completed– they hope will make them less reliant on the gringos.”
“What is clear is that USAID, the CIA, the National Endowment for Democracy (and the latter’s subsidiaries), together or singly, continue to be present at regime changes, or attempts at same, favorable to Washington, from “color revolutions” to “spring” uprisings in the style of those in the Middle East, producing a large measure of chaos and suffering for our tired old world.”
William Blum is a former U.S. State Department employee, journalist, writer, critic and political activist specializing in issues of terrorism and about Cuba. Blum severely criticizes the United States and its foreign policy, especially in the context of terrorism.
For Blum, who has investigated the case of Cuba after the 1959 Revolution and U.S. policy toward this nation, Washington considers that "just as the Revolution of the Thirteen Colonies and the French Revolution were good, the Cuban Revolution should be fought and destroyed because it is bad. It is an "unforgivable revolution."