CDMX, Mexico. – The announced Nuestra América flotilla, promoted by the Progressive International coalition, counts in its management structure with a key figure of the Cuban regime: Mariela Castro Espín, deputy to the National Assembly of People’s Power, director of the state National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) and, also, daughter of the dictator Raúl Castro Ruz.
Castro Espín is not a peripheral supporter of the Progressive International, but rather a member of its “advisory council,” the body in charge of setting the strategic direction of the coalition.
Neither she nor the Cuban regime – which has not yet made an official statement on the Our America flotilla, but which has already launched its propaganda apparatus – will ignore the “progressive” (meaning anti-embargo) discourse of the International. It would probably be more juicy for Havana to project to the world, once again, the old story of little David against the giant Goliath.
In addition to Castro Espín, among the names associated with the coalition are political profiles clearly identifiable for their anti-embargo stance, such as the former British Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn. Also listed as a member CODEPINKa strong supporter of the island’s regime.
What we know, because it is a script repeated a thousand times, is that none or almost none of the crew members – or anyone who wears the label “progressive” – will ever utter a word against the repression or the violation of individual freedoms on the Island. Who should care?
But, when the flotilla arrives on the Cuban coast, its good crew members will have to be reminded that the same regime that calls itself “progressive” – it is not and never has been – prevents the entry of thousands of doctors, athletes, artists, independent journalists and human rights activists.
Cuban pro-democracy activists have questioned the nature of the mission and the context in which it occurs. On social networks, the Cuban exile Salomé García Bacallao launched the hashtags #DerechoARegresar and #SiEllosEntranNosotros Too.
In a message which has been replicated by dozens of accounts, García Bacallao denounces the double standard of the Havana regime: the opening of the Cuban State to foreign expeditions while maintaining restrictions against citizens considered dissidents or uncomfortable.
“After causing the departure of more than a million Cubans (…) and denying many the right to return to their own country, they are now open to a foreign humanitarian expedition,” notes the young activist.
Although Washington would be violating international law with the siege of Cuba, Havana violates and has been violating the rights of Cubans for decades. But, those do not matter to any flotilla: no one will sail from any port to make visible the almost 70 years of oppression on the Island.
We, Cubans, have to resist under the yoke of a regime that colonizes us, as they say the United States colonizes the global south, so that those who call themselves “progressives” still have a beacon in the Caribbean.
