HAVANA, Cuba. – The Castro press welcomed with joy, and of course published, the open letter that journalist Ignacio Ramonet sent to President Joe Biden, in which he requested the exclusion of Cuba from the list of nations that sponsor terrorism.
Considering Mr. Ramonet’s ideological affinity with the Cuban regime, no one should be surprised by the initiative to make such a request. And if it were not for the superficiality or the tendentious nature with which the author of the letter deals with issues of great importance to Cubans, it would not have been worth commenting on such a pompous document.
First of all, it is worth clarifying to the author of the open letter that what he calls “terrorist actions committed by organizations based in the territory of USA“They have been recurrent in the history of Cuba, although, of course, interpreted in a different way than how the Cuban ruling elite does it now.
Due to its geographical proximity to our archipelago, the United States has been the site of the main actions carried out from abroad by fighters against the tyrannies that settled in our land. Let us recall the expeditions that brought men and weapons to the mambises who fought against the Spanish metropolis; the work of Jose Marti to organize the emancipatory feat of 1895; and even some skirmishes in North American lands of those who opposed the government of Fulgencio Batista.
So, Mr. Ramonet, and considering such precedents, the term “terrorists” should be eliminated for those from our northern neighbor who oppose the Castro tyranny.
The Spanish-French journalist mentions the “blockade” of the United States, which according to him prevents Cubans from accessing food, medicines and other supplies that the national industry needs. But is Mr. Ramonet so misinformed that he does not know that in recent years Washington has become one of the main suppliers of food to Cuba? Chicken meat and coffee, among others, have been present on the tables of Cubans thanks to the purchases of the regime from American producers. In the end, it is very likely that it is not a matter of misinformation, but of bad intentions.
And regarding the growing exodus of Cubans to other lands, which Mr. Ramonet attributes to the “strengthening of the US blockade,” the author of the open letter must be reminded of the departures from the Island through the port of Mariel in 1980. At that time, the “Soviet pipeline” compensated for the material limitations that the blockade could have caused. This confirms that Cubans have not only left Cuba due to economic problems. They have also left because of the lack of freedoms.
And while the joy grew among the left-wing forces over Ignacio Ramonet’s open letter, another fact spoiled the party for those who call themselves “progressives.” We are referring to Call from former Colombian President Andrés Pastranasupported by 30 former Ibero-American presidents who request that the International Criminal Court issue an arrest warrant against Nicolás Maduro and other officials of the Chavista regime, accused of state terrorism against the people of Venezuela.
The Castro press, so pleased with Ramonet’s letter, is now silent in the face of the clamor of a good part of the personalities who have governed the peoples of our region. Silence to which the “combative” author of One hundred hours with Fidel.
Obviously, both Ramonet and his Castroist friends belong to the group of those who mercilessly criticize the right, but look the other way so as not to see the excesses of the left.
