The U.S. and sanctions: Another Instrument of Aggression

very time honest people think about the statement of President Joe Biden on the civil unrest —brief, unusual, manipulated and vandalistic— that occurred in Cuba, their blood boils! In his words, the U.S. policy on Cuba is right and before his Vice President Kamala Harris, he stated that the blockade will be only lifted under the approval of the “gusanera” (NT: group of Cuban exile people opposed to the Cuban Revolution) and Cuba will no longer post a threat to the U.S. national security.

This is how Biden is justified, since he did not live up to his word to lift the 432 additional measures to the blockade issued by Trump. He actually added several more and Cuba, always in solidarity, was included in a list of countries that sponsor terrorism by the main terrorist State on Earth.

Emphasis has been on the fact that the U.S. has used sanctions as an instrument of warfare. But it has been that way for years, and the blockade that for more than 60 years has been imposed on Cuba —a nation that has endured criminal actions, sabotage, a mercenary invasion at Bay of Pigs, and criminal actions carried out by bands of outlaw who assassinated farmers and professors— proves it.

Taking advantages of its military might, the U.S. sanctions multiply against governments not in tune with them, but the U.S. drones still assassinate innocent people. These “collateral damages” are very common and reach —at least— 22,000 deaths in the last few years.

The sabotage perpetrated to a Cuban plane —Flight 456— near the coast of Barbados was more than a sanction. The assassinations of Cuban diplomats and hundreds of other bad actions, which multiplied in Latin America with the unfortunate Condor Operation and military dictatorships used by the empire as slavery-like and plundering-like instruments against the peoples.

The main excuse is to fighting terror, even before the Twin Towers and the Pentagon attacks back in 2001 —not too much details on them have been released— and there is the suspicion that Zionism, which controls U.S. communications, banks, and finances, was behind such attacks. Despite not being a public holiday, nearly 200 workers who work at the upper floors were given a day off.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATED

The U.S. always says that the sanctions imposed are mostly to punish violations of human rights. But, as Iran recently stated, they are new forms of warfare to punish peoples, especially in times of a pandemic.

That is particularly important, especially if it is added that sanctions imposed on doomed nations are in force because they do not do allegedly enough to fight terror. This basically belies the U.S. Department of Defense reports, which give tons of details about the correlation between the U.S. behavior beyond its borders and the increase in terrorist attacks against the U.S.

The truth is that if the U.S. is really interested in winning “the war on terror,” is by stopping giving terrorists the pretext and the resources to attack the U.S.

Terrorism is the symptom; the U.S. imperialism is the cancer. In short, the war on terror is actually terrorism; except that this time the war is handled by a group of people with jets and missiles.

But this is a wide and very diverse subject. Therefore, we must emphasize on the fact that the U.S. imperialism itself gave cause to the emergence of the main terrorist organizations worldwide. And here are two examples:

Al Qaeda, accused of being behind the Twin Towers attacks; and the Islamic State, a terror machinery created to divide and conquer the Middle East, rich in oil, counteract the rising influence of Iran in the region, and fight the Taliban, winner in Afghanistan.

It is not propaganda or a lie that the U.S. has a long track record of supporting terrorist groups, which would only surprise those ignorant of reality, victims of the mass media paid by the empire.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff