Cuba USA
- The Visit Of Raúl Castro To Mexico
by Ángel Guerra Cabrera The official visit to Mexico by Cuban President Raúl Castro inevitably brings to mind the strong and fraternal ties that bond both courtiers and cultures throughout the centuries. Mérida, capital of Yucatán where Raúl arrived...
- Cuba, Its Position Of Principles And The Blockade In Un General Assembly
by Hugo Moldiz Mercado source Cubadebatetranslation Cuba-Network in Defense of Humanity No one can prevent, as observed the tendencies within the United Nations General Assembly that Cuba again will obtain an historical victory – perhaps the largest...
- Cuba-us: Age Old Conflict Prior To The Revolution
by Angel Gueratranslation Cuba/Network in Defense of Humanity It is time to celebrate very justified the re establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States and the re opening of their embassies historically on July 20. With the...
- Cuba In The Imagination Of The United States
by Graziella Pogolotti source juventud rebeldeA CubaNews translation. The concept of collective imagination has become widespread only relatively recently. It refers to the popular view about some important issues, including how we see ourselves...
- Barack Obama Has Enough Margins To Maneuver To Make The United States Congress End Some Economic Sanctions
by Salim Lamranisource Opera Mundi translation Cuba - Network in Defense of Humanity Barack Obama has enough margins to maneuver to make the United States Congress end some economic sanctions that have been rejected by a large part of the international...
Cuba USA
Island in the Gulf
by Graziella Pogolotti
source Juventud Rebelde
translation Cuba - Network in Defense of Humanity
It is a first step. The legal mess of the blockade cannot be undone in one day or the next and will confront sectors of resistance of U.S. political groups. New perspectives are opening up but the bread and fish will not rain down immediately. This is a process of necessary adjustments to set a clean awareness of what we are, where we are from and where we are going. It is the time to study and work, to know how to look objectively inside and outside as the founders of our national culture knew how to do.
Seen in the map of the planet, Cuba looks like a narrow strip of landfacing the open jaws of the Gulf of Mexico. Columbus bumped into it on his first trip but the base of operations of the conquistadors was set up in the nearby island of Santo Domingo. Obsessed by the fever for gold the colonizers rapidly settled the first towns in our land, lush and wooded where cattle multiplied freely with so much natural fodder to feed on.
Soon, disappointed by the scarcity of that precious metal the most daring launched other adventures in Mexico and Florida. Cuba seemed condemned to agonize in incurable anemia and a dwindling demography.
With the discovery of America and the initial capitalist accumulation the Atlantic became a privileged space for merchant traffic. The Gulf current drove the ships towards the Old Continent chock full of goods.
The fleets gathered in Havana seeking protection from the hurricanes and possible pirate attacks. Havana grew on the basis of an economy of service. It offered shelter and pleasures for the seamen, officials and adventurers that surpassed in numbers the inhabitants settled permanently in the city. Sights were set on the contact between Spanish America and Europe on the other coast of the Atlantic. On the other side of the Atlantic, far from the watchful eyes of the merchants there was contraband of cattle and furs and looking back towards the Caribbean.
For economic and geopolitical reasons the Island became an object desired by rival European nations against and it found itself involved, directly or indirectly, in secular wars. Enough reason to call it the Key of the Gulf and Wall of the West Indies. Notorious was the capture of Havana by the English. To recover the city Spain had to pay a heavy price.
Consequently larger and for a longer period was the Haitian Revolution that converted it to be a mono producer and dependent on international trade while the infamous slave trade increased immeasurably and
increased the violence and conditions of transport and exploitation of the blacks. Soon the criollos began to suffer the colonial yoke that damaged their interests.
A different culture appeared, expressed in the first artistic manifestations and a social psychology that became traditions, values and styles of life. That was seen by the historian Arrate since the 18th century. Slowly a refined intellectual class appeared; open to the changes introduced by the enlightenment current, desirous to assimilate, for its local Development, the most advanced features of the world. Its contributions were reflected in the philosophy of a nascent sociological knowledge, in literature, in sciences and the
gradual introduction of new musical rhythms, Begun was the design of a nation and they sought means to shed the yoke. Reformist intents clashed with the intransigence of the metropolis. The sinister plot of slavery would delay the independence Project. Some voices considered the possibility of annexation harshly criticized by José Antonio Saco who immediately understood the essential bonds between culture and
nation and the suicidal seed of the project.
The tempting Island located at the mouth of the Gulf would be an experimental field for a long ranging project that surpassed again physical dimensions. U.S. intervention implemented the first neocolonial model. It had the despicable Platt Ammendment. With several means the economy was in a straight jacket of an implacable dependence that hindered the indispensible structural reforms, extended the sugar large estates, imposed tariffs that closed the doors to other markets, sank into a state of destitution of large sectors of the people and tried to plant the perfidious notion of geographic fatalism.
With the triumph of the Revolution, the Island took on huge proportions. Now its international presence was due to the enormous moral authority in the world that fought for the full decolonization of the limiting territories. “Stop the philosophy of plunder” Fidel Castro demanded in the United Nations to a captive audience. This demand acquires today a shocking reality.
I am not an historian. But the transit from year to year requires a moment of analysis, a balance, reflection and redesign of our personal and collective plans. 2014 closed with the immense popular joy with the return of Gerardo, Antonio and Ramon ratified by all in the concert Silvio offered. Everywhere the media focused on the news of the re establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States.
Cuba never refused to negotiate on the basis of mutual respect. Let us look back to an extraordinary dramatic effect. Fidel talked with the renowned French journalist, Jean Daniel, personal envoy of the
president of the United States when he received the news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The announcement of the renewal of diplomatic relations between both countries points to a step that favors the building of a more civilized world in which it is possible for different nations to live in peace. We do not renounce the emancipating project of our natural space; that of Latin America, open to multi directional exchanges.
It is a first step. This legal mess of the blockade cannot be dismantled in one day and will clash with sectors of resistance of U.S. political group. There are new perspectives but the bread and fish will not rain immediately. In this project of readjustment it is necessary to strengthen a lucid awareness of who we are, where we come from and where we are going. It is now time to study and work, to learn how to observe objectively from within and without, as the founders of our national culture knew how to do.
- The Visit Of Raúl Castro To Mexico
by Ángel Guerra Cabrera The official visit to Mexico by Cuban President Raúl Castro inevitably brings to mind the strong and fraternal ties that bond both courtiers and cultures throughout the centuries. Mérida, capital of Yucatán where Raúl arrived...
- Cuba, Its Position Of Principles And The Blockade In Un General Assembly
by Hugo Moldiz Mercado source Cubadebatetranslation Cuba-Network in Defense of Humanity No one can prevent, as observed the tendencies within the United Nations General Assembly that Cuba again will obtain an historical victory – perhaps the largest...
- Cuba-us: Age Old Conflict Prior To The Revolution
by Angel Gueratranslation Cuba/Network in Defense of Humanity It is time to celebrate very justified the re establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States and the re opening of their embassies historically on July 20. With the...
- Cuba In The Imagination Of The United States
by Graziella Pogolotti source juventud rebeldeA CubaNews translation. The concept of collective imagination has become widespread only relatively recently. It refers to the popular view about some important issues, including how we see ourselves...
- Barack Obama Has Enough Margins To Maneuver To Make The United States Congress End Some Economic Sanctions
by Salim Lamranisource Opera Mundi translation Cuba - Network in Defense of Humanity Barack Obama has enough margins to maneuver to make the United States Congress end some economic sanctions that have been rejected by a large part of the international...