HAVANA, Cuba – I have seen on social networks that more than one of us have been struck by the “curious coincidence”, in the same day, of two impactful news stories about Cuba, and both very discouraging, frustrating (for those of us who very briefly had the hope that this time the change, or the fall, would come), but precisely they were two news items released hours after the conclusion of Donald Trump’s speech in Congress (where he did not mention Cuba even when he referred to the military operation in Venezuela) and even when some we remembered the downing of the small planes from Brothers to the Rescue.
Two pieces of news—the vessel detected in the Villa Clara keys and the granting of licenses to “private individuals” for the purchase of Venezuelan fuel—both with enough weight to grab headlines—something that in itself is extraordinary in any context—but, as expected, one ended up swallowing the other, dissolving it in minutes, so that, at the end of the day, very few of us were talking about the offensive and perverse “naivety” that is hidden in the claim of prevent the fuel from reaching the hands of the Cuban military once it hits island soil, especially when the regime itself does not hide what the requirements are. to import fueland which state companies are the mandatory intermediaries in the process, which begins with them and ends in the same place.
Of course, a decision like this, so obviously disconnected from reality, and which therefore makes one suspect that “something” is already being “agreed upon” rather than “conversed” between both shores, is not a headline that some want to leave for a long time, attracting ridicule, questioning and making it evident that if an issue is negotiated somewhere and by whoever they are, it is not exactly the freedom of Cuba or the end of the dictatorship but something worse than what happened in Venezuela – where a kind of of Chavismo 2.0—and the evidence does not have to be sought in any secret document or leak from the CIA or the G-2, but simply in the message left by the reactions (from those here and there). around the crossfire between the Cuban military and the group from the United States, where it is presumed that there is more than one North American citizen.
Not to mention that the issue of the “killed mercenaries” was the news that the communists were eagerly awaiting to clean up the disgrace of the operation in Caracas (they were also waiting for the good news of the fuel. So much so that the “contingency” plans were calculated from the beginning of the “blockade” on fuel for a maximum of a month or two), in the Cuban press and in the social media profiles of people very close to the main leaders of Castroism there have been plenty of mockery towards the dead civilians, bravado and offensive messages even against the North American government itself, as if instead of being reckless and defiant they were confident that, at least this time, absolutely nothing will happen.
Because there are no indications that, despite the severity, the situation will escalate beyond diplomacy. Likewise, the latest statement from the Cuban Foreign Ministry makes it very clear that there were and have been contacts between Havana and Washington, before and after the incident of the intercepted vessel, and specifically referring to the action. So the regime would have felt completely confident to act, and even made the mistake of including among those arrested someone who was never in the operation, which is another sign of improvisation, but in addition to the fact that the published information was not being generated within the Ministry of the Interior itself but somewhere else (outside of Cuba?). By the way, they have taken a long time not only to show the evidence but to show us that classic video in which the “mercenaries” thank the regime for having gotten them back on the “right path.”
There is no way for the reactions to go unnoticed. Both the fury of the Castros and the passivity in Washington’s statementsAt the convenience of the parties? There is no Cuban soldier or official who I have asked and who has answered no, or who has doubted that all this is just more smoke for the same curtain. Everyone believes that it is very likely that on both shores they were aware of what would happen. It is the only way possible to understand that incredible passivity in the reactions of the side over there, as well as the euphoria of the side here. And the thing is, if there are no consequences, but there are licenses, then with complete certainty there will be a dictatorship for a while.
Precisely this “passivity” is what will keep us waiting for a few more days, that is, for long enough for the pure science fiction news about fuel licenses to get old, and then we process the “coincidence” of the matter as “normal”, and that means stopping questioning whether in reality OFAC, the White House and the State Department believe the story that it is possible to prevent oil, gasoline and gas from entering the Island without the military benefit from those licenses. Of course not, but the show must go on.
