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Interview With The Cuban Ambassador

By Siddharthya Swapan Roy

18 November, 2012
Blog.siddharthya.com

Excerpts from a conversation between Cuban Ambassador to India His Excellency Mr. Abelardo Rafael Cueto Sosa and Siddharthya Swapan Roy

SSR : When preparing for this interview I was reading up on whatever’s available in similar interviews. And that put me in a quagmire. I just didn’t know where to begin and how to proceed. Because what struck me was whenever we read or hear anything about Cuba it inevitably is about the animosity it has with the United States of America. That seems to be all there is to the identity of Cuba for the world. Why is it so?

ACS : Because of the simple reason that it is a historical reality. And when I say history I do not mean the one that began from the Cuban revolution. I mean from the very beginning of the United States of America.

Thomas Jefferson had in no uncertain terms declared that in the interest of its own existence, the USA must control Cuba. They said “America for Americans” in which the first America referred to the entire two continents and the second one the United States of America or its government. Meaning he wanted the United States to own all the land and all the people and all the natural resources the continents have to offer.

Do you know that USA wanted to buy Cuba from its Spanish colonial rulers when Cuba was fighting for its independence?

SSR : But if that is so then why didn’t the USA colonise it after independence or during the tumultuous times? That wouldn’t have been very difficult.

ACS : That was a change of doctrine not a change of heart. They found out that it is a better investment to allow weak puppet regimes to run colonies and take only the profit or strategic advantages that they have to offer.

SSR : Are you alluding to the Batista government?

ACS : Not just the Batista government – which very much was a puppet regime – but also the time before that.

The Spanish colonisers had been considerably weakened in the global battle for colonies between the big colonial powers such as Portugal, Britain, France and others. Save a few dots on the map they had lost control of all their colonies across the world. On the other hand under the leadership of our national hero Jose Marti the Cuban people had launched a valiant struggle for national independence.

It was at that time that the USA provided direct support to the Spanish colonisers. They gave food and intelligence and ammunition.

In those times they followed a policy metaphorically phrased as “Let us keep the Cuban fruit in weak hands”.

SSR : But these are historical accusations…

ACS : No not historical accusations but historical reality. In his Last Will of martyr Jose Marti clearly states that our (the freedom fighters) first endeavour will be to get independence to the Cuban people and to stop the control of USA.

So the animosity which you referred to, or should I say has historically been the defining character of the USA government itself. It’s obsession with wanting to own and control Cuba.

SSR : Leaving history and tis metaphors aside, surely the Communists coming to power after the Cuban revolution has been the biggest contributor to this animosity.

ACS : Our revolutionary war not a personal endeavour of a few people who were out to take control of Cuba from the hands of the USA. Over 20000 combatants died fighting for the Revolution. The Cuban revolution was fought by the people of Cuba for themselves.

Before the Cuban Revolution or the Communist Party coming to power the United sates literally owned Cuba. 60% of Cuban land belonged to USA. 100% electricity generation and distribution and telephone system belonged to them. They owned all of Cuba’s sugarcane farming – which was the single biggest part of our economy. They owned all our ports.

The Revolution won these back for the people who rightly own them – the people of Cuba. If that leads to animosity who will we blame?

Right after the Revolution they tried to overthrow the popular government by overt and covert means. US President Kennedy built a special office of the CIA with 5000 employees under it just to fight Cuba. They cut off supply of spares to our industries right after the Revolution in a bid to cripple our machines and factories and farms. A bad economy will mean people will rise up against the government and the revolutionary government would fall they thought.

The USA was very clear in its aggression. They said either independence under our control or no independence.

SSR : Even if we do agree that the USA nurses animosity towards Cuba is the Cuban government doing anything else?

ACS : We have always categorically stated that we do not have any hatred at all towards the people of USA. We have even repeatedly asked the government of USA to have fraternal relations with us.

SSR : Then why doesn’t peace move ahead?

ACS : Because the government of USA doesn’t want to make peace with us.

The USA has practiced the worst form of economic persecution against us. They didn’t allow any country to exporting steel rich in nickel to us. How can we make machines and build infrastructure without that? If any person or company wishes to pay us in US dollars, they money gets frozen forever. How civilised is that?

Recently they bought over a company which supplied cancer medicines to children in Cuba and stopped supplying them. We said, OK we can do little if this company does not sell us medicines for our children. We will have to look for someone else. We said give us some time before we can look for another source. But they refused. The new management is not even ready to honour its contracts with us and supply the medicines for which we have paid or have a contract.

In fact while on the bio war topic you must note how the USA has always been vile in its attack.

Even though Cuba has mosquitoes there was no “Dengue” here. That was introduced. Then there was swine fever. There were diseases introduced in sugarcane and tobacco – our two main crops.

SSR : But are you saying under the Cuban government everything’s hunky dory?

ACS : No we are not. We are no paradise and we don’t claim to be one. Like any other country we have our set of problems. But we are working on them and we will solve our problems in our way.

SSR : Which is another way of saying you don’t accept USAID. If I’m not wrong the US government has time and again offered to help Cuban citizens and the Cuban government is saying no simply because of political differences.

ACS : We have never said no to humanitarian aid. But money – no. We do not take that from the USA because we want it on our terms. We don’t want money on terms that go against the interest of our citizens or jeopardise their future in the long run.

Besides there are some things where we are far better at than the USA itself. Medical care for example. We have the highest number of doctors per person and we can proudly say that despite our economy not even being a fraction of the American one, we give one hundred per cent free health care to our citizens. Can you get a free heart transplant in the US simply by being a citizen of the country? You can get it in Cuba.

SSR : What about growth and prosperity? Are those unimportant?

ACS : We too believe in growth. But we must ask what is good growth. Growth for whom? We stimulate people to do more. We create an environment for them to be creative and productive in fields of their choosing. That’s growth. That encourages growth.

SSR : But everything’s nationalised. If you don’t allow people to own what they earn or build how can people grow?

ACS : Earlier Cuba had a completely nationalised system. Everyone from the President to a barber or a man who runs a restaurant, was paid a salary by the government.

Not anymore.

We realised that we do not need to do that and we opened up the individual sector. Later we opened it up more and encouraged individuals with entrepreneurial skills to chart their own lives and careers.

Now, other than the core industrial and commercial sectors like Power, Minerals, Energy etc, nothing is closed.

SSR : So are you suggesting the US feels threatened because Cuba’s a counter example to its self? A harsh and failed capitalist “for profit” State in face of one which is open and practices welfare? An image risk to its world domination?

ACS : It’s more than image actually. Do you for example know that the USA’s commerce and trade department does this fiscal tracking of enemies and potential enemies to stay in the loop of what they may be up to? Well they do it for Al Qaeda and they do it for Cuba. Only the number of people tracking Cuba is double those tracking Al Qaeda and has bigger budget too.

Image or otherwise Cuba’s a serious problem to them.

SSR : But why would the USA go through all this trouble of waging proxy and covert wars? Why not just militarily occupy Cuba?

ACS : Because they know they’ll regret it. Regret it deeply.

SSR : Why? Their military might is for all to see.

ACS : Yes they are mighty in terms of military capabilities. But that means nothing to the patriotic Cuban citizens.

SSR : Are you implying that unlike say Iraq or Libya where the US won militarily, because the Cuban government enjoys popularity they’ll not win?

ACS : I won’t compare or take any names of any countries because it’s against the ethics of international politics and I’m an ambassador. But what I will say is if they attack they may win, but not until the last Cuban is standing.

SSR : But why this patriotism? From travel shows to political analyses that’s carried in major media outlets, we see young Cubans disillusioned with the Communist regime. Why will they stand up and fight for you?

ACS : No they will not fight for us the government. They’ll fight for themselves. Their own freedom and their own rights.

SSR : Young Cubans surely don’t have the freedom or rights their American or other western counterparts have do they?

ACS : That depends on what you mean by the word freedom and what you would call a real right. If you call choosing a brand of jeans or beer in a supermarket as a right or which narcotic you want as a right, I’m not sure what conclusion you may arrive at. But if you talk about the right to get an education or the right to get a healthy and happy life, then the Cuban youth has ample of that.

And they’ll fight to keep those freedoms and rights. The right to get education from kindergarten to PhD without ever paying a single peso as fees; the right to be healthy and happy and be a free thinking person. Those are the rights they‘ll fight for.

SSR : But most Cuban youth are known to be directly and vocally critical of your government’s policies

ACS : That’s because they have the freedom to be so. Not only do they have the freedom to be critical they are encouraged to be. We don’t train our youngsters to be robots. We teach them to question and think for themselves.

That makes them demanding and difficult. But we don’t see it as a bad thing. If the youth isn’t critical who else will?

I’ll tell you a story from my own life.

I became a member of the revolutionary Cuban Young Communist League when I was 13 years old. Those were difficult times and we had to fight to keep our Revolution intact. I first took a gun when I was 15.

I was told by a senior officer that I had to do guard duty at a spot outside the village. He gave the order and went away. Nobody came and I stood there for three days. I did not move because I knew my orders and was committed to my discipline. Taking pity on me villagers got me food and water.

Three days later another senior officer came by and said – who gave you the gun? You’re too young to do this – and sent me off to the office for clerical work. I went away. I was told to take the gun I did it, I was told to put it down I did it. I did it for duty and I did it for discipline.

Today my daughter is a member of the Young Communist League of Cuba but if she’s given and order to stand guard the first thing she’ll ask is why.

SSR : Do you allow them access to media that is critical of the government?

ACS : There is a 24×7 TV channel and a radio station run by the US government. As an insult to our nationhood they’ve named it after our national hero and call it TV Marti and Radio Marti. It has a declared purpose of inciting the people against Fidel Castro and his government. Declared mind you not implied.

We do not censor it. Any young Cuban is free to listen or watch to what is said on the anti-Cuban broadcasts. Despite being a democratically elected government and despite our right to sovereignty, we allow the insidious channels to run freely. Why?

Because we believe in the power of truth and the weakness of lies. Because we believe in the Revolution and what it has and can do for the people.

SSR : But belief by definition is blind. You have a Communist government when world over Communism has been declared dead. You have a single party government in a time when democracy has become irreversibly plural. Isn’t this a blind import of USSR? And logically aren’t you headed where the USSR finds itself?

ACS : Jose Marti, the man who died with a weapon in his hand fighting for the independence of Cuba, had a single party – the Cuban Revolutionary Party. He used to say it is a party of the White and the Black, the poor and the rich. A party that’s not a monolith but plural and variegated and representative of different people and different groups. And this was much before Lenin’s party in Russia.

The one party rule is a historical aspect of Cuba not a Russian import. Multiparty rule was an imposition of USA on us.

SSR : But running a government of selected people from one party is just another name for dictatorship.

ACS : That’s just disinformation.

100% of those who hold offices in our local self-governments are elected directly by the people. The Communist Party has no say. Provincial Assemblies, which are like your state assemblies, have 50% candidates directly elected by the people and 50% come from mass organisations like trade unions, women’s groups, student’s groups and the like. That helps our democracy be balanced and well represented as and not merely a matter of chance.

We have voting percentages in the 90’s. And we’ve been having it since years. Clearly ours is not only a democracy but a very vibrant one.

SSR : But what is the use of elections if the power lies in the hands of the Communist Party and only the Communist Party fields candidates.

ACS : But it doesn’t field candidates…

SSR : The Communist Party of Cuba does not field candidates?

ACS : No it does not. Let alone fielding candidates it does not even officially propose or back candidates.

SSR : Even then, democracy and inclusivity is not just a numbers game because democracy and elections can become a majoritarian game. How we treat our minorities and the numerically weak or give representation to them is an important indicator.

ACS : Absolutely so. And that is why we believe in giving dignity to our minority citizens.

We dignified the Black people of our nation and made them equal partners. We actively encourage gay people come out openly and to become part of the Party and the Revolution. More than 60% of the high skilled workforce of Cuba are women . 45% of our elected MPs are women.

In the previous party congress (2010) we passed a resolution that seniors will not hold more than 2 terms in the Party. We need fresh blood. We need to make way for youngsters to come in and take control of the Party, the government, the country and the Cuban future.

SSR : Then why did Fidel Castro’s younger brother Raul Castro take over as president? If you are opening up, then why this dynastic power transfer?

ACS : It has nothing to do with dynasty. He isn’t there because he’s Fidel’s brother. Raul was a fighter and has been a Party comrade all his life.

When Fidel was the president Raul was the Vice President. And as per the Cuban constitution when the President leaves office the VP takes over and has to have the backing of 50% of the MPs which Raul did and is hence the president.

Fidel has several sons and not one is a prominent political office bearer. Raul has daughter and sons, neither are they any prominent office bearers or government functionaries.

And even more importantly unlike the norm in most capitalist countries our industries are non-dynastic.

SSR : Clearly India and Cuba are very different nations. You are continuing with your agenda of socialism while we have clearly switched over to neo-liberalism. Do you see any synergy between the two?

ACS : India may be internally neo-liberal or whatever it chooses to be because that is for the people of India to decide. And we respect that decision.

For us what matters is what India has done outside.

People say India is an emerging super power. I say India already is. It is a moral superpower. Despite being a giant and having one of the world’s largest militaries it has, to my knowledge, never invaded any nation.

India supported Bangladesh in its fight for freedom. It fought the apartheid regime.

We are partners in the Non Aligned Movement. Both nations believe in strengthening the UN and support a multilateral world order. India is celebrated for its commitment to international norms.

SSR : I mean direct relations between India and Cuba

ACS : Directly too India and Cuba have a very warm and cooperative relation. For example compared to India Cuban economy is nowhere but yet India gives it credit. It gives scholarships to Cuban students and we reciprocate with scholarships to Indian students.

Most importantly India has consistently opposed the anti-Cuba sanctions.

SSR : But all this is political. What about culturally? People to people…

ACS : The Cuban Youth League has direct fraternal relations with the Democratic Youth Federation of India – which as per my knowledge is the largest youth organisation in the country and one of the largest in the world. The two organise common programs and share so many dreams.

Do you watch movies Sid?

SSR : Err…not too much…

ACS : Well you should. Cause then you’d know that recently Indian superstars Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif shot their movie Ek Tha Tiger in Cuba. So many people in India watched it. That’s a part of cultural exchange don’t you think?

SSR : I’m sure it is. Comrade Ambassador, thank you so much for your time and this wonderful talk.




 

 


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