Cuba calls upon the governments, organizations, and social movements of the world to mobilize for peace and against U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. At a press conference on February 19, 2019, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Relations of Cuba, declared:
We convoke an international mobilization for peace, against the military intervention of the United States in Latin America, against war; above ideological and political differences, in favor of the supreme good of humanity, which is peace and the right to life. We call upon all governments, political forces, social movements, popular and indigenous movements, organizations of workers, farmers, women, students, intellectuals, and academics, and especially journalists, non-governmental organizations, and representatives of civil society.
The press conference was a response to the February 18 speech of President Trump in Florida, and it reiterated the February 13 Declaration of the Cuban Revolutionary Government that the United States is preparing a military aggression against Venezuela under the pretext of humanitarian aid (see “Cuba declares on Venezuela” 2/18/2019).
In the February 19 press conference, Rodríguez noted that the United States has set a deadline for penetrating Venezuelan territory with the “humanitarian aid” by means of force. He declared this posture to be a contradiction in terms, because aid that is truly humanitarian cannot possibly rest on violence, on the force of arms, and on the violation of international law.
Rodríguez further observed that the government of the United States has been continually pressuring members of the Security Council of the United Nations in order to force the adoption of a resolution in support of a “humanitarian intervention.” He noted that, in the past, resolutions of this kind are prelude to the establishment of “no-fly zones” and “humanitarian corridors” in order to justify the use of force, with the pretext of protecting civilians. “We hope,” he declared, “that the Security Council of the United Nations will be true to its vocation and its responsibility as the principal guarantor of peace and international security and will not lend service to military ventures. We call upon its members to act with fidelity to international law and to defend peace.”
Rodríguez described Trump’s speech as characterized by “extraordinary cynicism, extraordinary hypocrisy.” Trump speaks of democracy, Rodríguez observes, but ignores the injustice and the exploitation that are the legacy of U.S. imperialism in Latin America. He overlooks that the U.S. political system is ruled by special interests and corporate contributions, with elections that are won through the manipulation of the people. He does not mention the millions of poor persons in the United States, the five hundred thousand homeless persons, the racially differentiated system of criminal justice, and the low level of unionization among U.S. workers.
Trump proclaims that the hemisphere will be free of socialism for the first time in history. It is not the first time that the United States has decreed the “end of socialism,” Rodríguez maintains. Trump said in Florida that “we have seen the future of Cuba here in Miami.” But he is wrong, Rodríguez states, because “the future of Cuba is here” in Cuba, where “we reiterate that our loyalty to Fidel and Raúl will be invariable, and that the process of continuity headed by President Díaz-Canel is permanent and irreversible.”
In the February 19 press conference, Rodríguez noted that the United States has set a deadline for penetrating Venezuelan territory with the “humanitarian aid” by means of force. He declared this posture to be a contradiction in terms, because aid that is truly humanitarian cannot possibly rest on violence, on the force of arms, and on the violation of international law.
Rodríguez further observed that the government of the United States has been continually pressuring members of the Security Council of the United Nations in order to force the adoption of a resolution in support of a “humanitarian intervention.” He noted that, in the past, resolutions of this kind are prelude to the establishment of “no-fly zones” and “humanitarian corridors” in order to justify the use of force, with the pretext of protecting civilians. “We hope,” he declared, “that the Security Council of the United Nations will be true to its vocation and its responsibility as the principal guarantor of peace and international security and will not lend service to military ventures. We call upon its members to act with fidelity to international law and to defend peace.”
Rodríguez described Trump’s speech as characterized by “extraordinary cynicism, extraordinary hypocrisy.” Trump speaks of democracy, Rodríguez observes, but ignores the injustice and the exploitation that are the legacy of U.S. imperialism in Latin America. He overlooks that the U.S. political system is ruled by special interests and corporate contributions, with elections that are won through the manipulation of the people. He does not mention the millions of poor persons in the United States, the five hundred thousand homeless persons, the racially differentiated system of criminal justice, and the low level of unionization among U.S. workers.
Trump proclaims that the hemisphere will be free of socialism for the first time in history. It is not the first time that the United States has decreed the “end of socialism,” Rodríguez maintains. Trump said in Florida that “we have seen the future of Cuba here in Miami.” But he is wrong, Rodríguez states, because “the future of Cuba is here” in Cuba, where “we reiterate that our loyalty to Fidel and Raúl will be invariable, and that the process of continuity headed by President Díaz-Canel is permanent and irreversible.”
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