Global Learning
  • Home
  • Defenders of Cuban Socialism
    • UN Charter
    • Declaration of Human Rights
    • Bandung
    • New International Economic Order
    • Non-Aligned Movement
  • Substack editorial column
  • New Cold War articles
  • Friends of Socialist China articles
  • Global Research articles
  • Counterpunch articles
  • Cuba and the world-system
    • Table of Contents and chapter summaries
    • About the author
    • Endorsements
    • Obtaining your copy
  • Blog ¨The View from the South¨
    • Blog Index
    • Posts in reverse chronological order
  • The Voice of Third World Leaders
    • Asia >
      • Ho Chi Minh
      • Xi Jinping, President of China
    • Africa >
      • Kwame Nkrumah
      • Julius Nyerere
    • Latin America >
      • Fidel Castro
      • Hugo Chávez
      • Raúl Castro >
        • 55th anniversary speech, January 1, 1914
        • Opening Speech, CELAC
        • Address at G-77, June 15, 2014
        • Address to National Assembly, July 5, 2014
        • Address to National Assembly, December 20, 2014
        • Speech on Venezuela at ALBA, 3-17-2015
        • Declaration of December 18, 2015 on USA-Cuba relations
        • Speech at ALBA, March 5, 2018
      • Miguel Díaz-Canel >
        • UN address, September 26, 2018
        • 100th annivesary, CP of China
      • Evo Morales >
        • About Evo Morales
        • Address to G-77 plus China, January 8, 2014
        • Address to UN General Assembly, September 24, 2014
      • Rafael Correa >
        • About Rafael Correa
        • Speech at CELAC 1/29/2015
        • Speech at Summit of the Americas 2015
      • Nicolás Maduro
      • Cristina Fernández
      • Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations >
        • Statement at re-opening of Cuban Embassy in USA, June 20, 2015
        • The visit of Barack Obama to Cuba
        • Declaration on parliamentary coup in Brazil, August 31, 2016
        • Declaration of the Revolutionary Government of Cuba on Venezuela, April 13, 2019
      • ALBA >
        • Declaration of ALBA Political Council, May 21, 2019
        • Declaration on Venezuela, March 17, 2015
        • Declaration on Venezuela, April 10, 2017
      • Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) >
        • Havana Declaration 2014
        • Declaration on Venezuela, March 26
    • Martin Luther King, Jr.
    • International >
      • Peoples’ Summit 2015
      • The Group of 77 >
        • Declaration on a New World Order 2014
        • Declaration on Venezuela 3/26/2015
      • BRICS
      • Non-Aligned Movement
  • Readings
    • Charles McKelvey, Cuba in Global Context
    • Piero Gleijeses, Cuba and Africa
    • Charles McKelvey, Chávez and the Revolution in Venezuela
    • Charles McKelvey, The unfinished agenda of race in USA
    • Charles McKelvey, Marxist-Leninist-Fidelist-Chavist Revolutionary
  • Recommended Books
  • Contact

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Recommended books on Amazon.com; click on image of book to connect

Trump’s speech on Cuba

7/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Posted on June 17, 2017

Note: This is the first in a serious of six posts, posted from June 17 to July 5, 2017, reflecting on Donald Trump’s announcement on June 16, 2017 of a change of policy toward Cuba.

     Donald Trump announced a new policy toward Cuba on June 16, 2017 in the “Little Havana” section of Miami.  The speech was broadcast in its entirety on Cuban educational television (with high quality simultaneous verbal translation) the same evening, so I had a chance to view the spectacle.  I was astonished at the profound ignorance of Cuba that the speech displayed.  Trump’s view of Cuba appears to have been shaped by the distorted views of the extreme Cuban-American Right, which have been constructed to advance a political agenda of a sector of the Cuban-American community in Miami, and they have little semblance to actual Cuban reality.  Trump, for example, seems to believe that Cuban “dissidents” have some level of influence or viability in Cuba, when in fact high officials in the U.S. government have acknowledged on various occasions that the “dissidents” have no influence and are more interested in making money from their U.S. connections than in building any kind of credible opposition.  The anti-communist rhetoric of Trump, focusing on repression and so-called political prisoners, seemed to be uttering a discourse that was discovered in a time warp.

      Barack Obama also wanted to undermine the Cuban Revolution.  But he had the intelligence to listen to some people who knew something about Cuba, and he thus concluded that it was political folly to continue to speak of repression and “dissidents.”  Appreciating that Cuba was expanding opportunities for small-scale private entrepreneurship and was expanding Internet, Obama hoped to take advantage of these changes in order to expand the middle class, which eventually would form a viable political force in support of capitalism, and perhaps would form useful alliances with U.S. capital (see various posts in March 2016 on the Obama policy with respect to Cuba, found in the category Cuba Today).  Given that Cuban leaders at all levels and in a wide variety of institutions understood that such was Obama’s intention, the success of the plan confronted serious obstacles. Nonetheless, it certainly was more intelligent that continuing a dysfunctional blockade that damages U.S. prestige throughout the world.  
       
       In his speech, Trump announced that the Obama agreement with Cuba, in which the United States gained nothing, is cancelled.  But other than invoking ill-informed tough language, it is not clear how the Trump policy will be different.  Diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba will continue, and the wet-feet/dry-feet immigration policy remains dead.  Trump announced that U.S. companies will be prohibited from doing business with companies or entities tied to the military, but there are few state companies in Cuba that have such ties. The commercial relations that have been forming under the Obama policy change, such as the Verizon agreement with the Cuban state Internet company, would not seem affected.  On the other hand, if Trump plans to clamp down on tourism in a way that reduces U.S. tourist projections, this may affect U.S. airlines that have been developing commercial flights between the United States and Cuba.  I will be studying U.S. documents and declarations in the upcoming days, seeking to discern the specifics of the new policy.

     Although Trump presented Cuba as dominated by the military forces, this is far from the case.   The great majority of Cuban state enterprises are not part of the military.  Among the largest and most important enterprises are the state-owned petroleum and telephone/Internet companies, neither of which has ties to the military. The most important sectors of the Cuban economy are tourism, sugar, mining, and pharmaceuticals.  In these sectors, the principal companies are state-owned, some in joint ventures with foreign capital (mostly from Europe and Canada), and none of which are connected to the military. One important retail chain is owned and managed by the armed forces, but this is an exception to the general pattern in the economy.

      Nor is there military dominance of the political process.  The highest political authority in the nation is the National Assembly of Popular Power, which is elected by the municipal assemblies, which are nominated and elected by the people without the participation of any political parties and without the distorting effects of campaign financing. The National Assembly elects the thirty-one members of the Council of State, a few of whom are members of the military, but the great majority of whom are not.  Voter participation is routinely in excess of ninety percent, and the political process enjoys high legitimacy among the people.  It is without question a nation with civilian rule, and the civilians come from and are elected by the people, for which they serve as delegates and deputies.  There is in Cuba nothing comparable to a military-industrial complex and to corporate influence over politicians and public discourse.

     Following Trump’s speech, the Cuban government released a statement, read in its entirety on Cuban television, and it will be printed in its entirety today in Cuban newspapers.  The Declaration noted that, although Obama’s intention of undermining the Cuban Revolution was obvious, Obama at least invoked a language that was respectful and that formally treated Cuba as an equal and sovereign state.  The Trump speech lacked these formal virtues.  Moreover, noting that Trump expresses concern with human rights in Cuba, the Declaration (correctly) maintained that Cuban has a better record than the United States with respect to human rights; it does not need to be instructed on this issue.  The Declaration affirmed in conclusion that it remains open to mutually respectful communication, with the hope of improving relations, but that Cuba will not in any way compromise its sovereignty in order to move toward the normalization of relations with the United States.

The subsequent five posts reflecting on Trump’s Cuba policy are as follows:
“What is Trump changing with his Cuba policy?” 6/19/2017;
“Cuba responds to Trump” 6/21/2017;
“Trump’s distortions of Cuban reality” 6/28/2017;
“The logic of Trump” 6/29/2017; and
“Responding to Trump’s Cuba policy” 7/5/2017.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author: Charles McKelvey

    Retired professor, writer,  and Marxist-Leninist-Fidelist-Chavist revolutionary

    Categories

    All
    American Revolution
    Blog Index
    Bolivia
    Charismatic Leaders
    China
    Critique Of The Left
    Cuban History
    Cuba Today
    Ecuador
    Environment
    French Revolution
    Gay Rights
    Haitian Revolution
    Knowledge
    Latin American History
    Latin American Right
    Latin American Unity
    Marx
    Marxism-Leninism
    Mexican Revolution
    Miscellaneous
    Neocolonialism
    Neoliberalism
    Nicaragua
    North-South Cooperation
    Presidential Elections 2016
    Press
    Public Debate In USA
    Race
    Religion And Revolution
    Revolution
    Russian Revolution
    South-South Cooperation
    Third World
    Trump
    US Ascent
    US Imperialism
    Vanguard
    Venezuela
    Vietnam
    Wallerstein
    Women And Revolution
    World History
    World-System
    World-System Crisis

    Archives

    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    January 2013

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

More Ads


website by Sierra Creation