By Lilliam Oviedo
In September, Donald Trump stated at the United Nations that the United States could “send Iran to hell,” while also announcing that he would overthrow the government of Cuba and seize Greenland and other parts of the world. It is no surprise that on October 23, in Florida, he threatened to recolonize Cuba. This is how Trump operates, and the power he serves exploits his ambition and megalomania.
He seeks to expand his base of conservative voters, as it appears unlikely that the Republican Party will retain control of Congress following the November elections. Consequently, he offers to place Cuba in the hands of the far-right.
“What we’re going to do with Cuba is, we’ll come back from Iran—with those beautiful ships—and pass by Cuba, stopping one of them about 50 yards (45 meters) off the coast. They’ll throw up their hands, and then we’ll send Marco Rubio in to close the deal,” he remarked during a campaign event in Fort Myers, on the west coast of Florida.
And he says this with total impunity!
An international order that fails to punish genocide—and, conversely, enables abuse and attempts to trample upon the sovereignty of nations—does not deserve the name.
Insolence is a defining characteristic of both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio — the very man who, less than a decade ago, accused Trump of being a con artist, yet today serves as his top foreign policy official and national security advisor. Both act with impunity as sponsors of genocidal actions.
The intensity of threats against Cuba fluctuates based on factors such as the internal political situation in the United States and the specific emphasis placed on various aspects of policy toward Latin America. At present, the intensification of the blockade — along with increased restrictions on companies and governments seeking to supply the country with fuel, medicine, and other goods — has created severe shortages and daily hardships. Marco Rubio and Donald Trump present themselves as potential saviors, when in fact they are the executioners.
In this context, solidarity is no longer merely an attitude driven by revolutionary conviction; it has become an act of dignity. Such dignity demands the rejection of subjugation and a fight to preserve the social gains that the people earned fairly and legitimately.
The Mallory Memorandum, drafted by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester DeWitt Mallory in 1960, was declassified in 1991. It contains a conspiratorial recommendation to target the Cuban economy in order to undermine popular support for the Revolution.
It is shameful that, thirty-five years later, Marco Rubio — a man of Cuban origin with an ultra-right-wing background — would call upon the Cuban people to collaborate with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), affixing his signature to a statement circulated on social media and in the press. By what right does an official — who has been dishonest even regarding his own biography — call upon the people of Fidel to cast aside the very dignity that defines them? It is the height of insolence!
The call against Cuba bears Marco Rubio’s signature, while Trump has voiced the plan to transform Cuba into a Yankee colony.
Furthermore, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have made no secret of their interference in installing right-wing and ultra-right-wing governments across Latin America.
Abelardo de la Espriella, Keiko Fujimori, Laura Fernández, and Rodrigo Paz, for instance, benefited from their logistical support and overt sponsorship. They have also provided backing and encouragement to Nayib Bukele, who currently serves as a secondary voice and a key instrument for Trump in Central America. Others, such as the Dominican Republic’s Luis Abinader, have been steered toward adopting ultraconservative positions, handing over strategic natural resources to the Southern Command, and following a path of obedience dictated by Washington on key aspects of foreign policy.
One of the consequences of this policy of subjugation — which was a primary objective — is the erosion of solidarity with Cuba, ensuring that governments across the continent remain willing to isolate Cuba and support the hardline, authoritarian agenda of Marco Rubio.
Aggressors, puppets, and a significant segment of the press—committed to political regression—have created the conditions for figures like Marco Rubio and Donald Trump to intensify their aggression and brazenly display an imperialist sense of entitlement.
Under the Joe Biden administration, Laura Richardson, as head of the Southern Command, openly declared the United States’ interest in lithium and other minerals. Last September, at the UN, Trump spoke of the oil belonging to a besieged and trampled-upon Venezuela, asserting that “the spoils go to the victor.”
The Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton captured this sense of entitlement and abuse in a very brief poem:
I SWEAR I HEARD IT SAID
“Except in a completely just society,
the best thing in life
is to be the boss.”
In this brief statement, the poet conveys a very clear message: bosses live in fear of an awakening of consciousness — for with it will come justice, laying bare their illegitimacy.
Today, the whole world has heard it said: “the spoils belong to the victor.” It is painful to paraphrase the late, ill-fated Salvadoran poet at a time like this. It is shameful — and that shame can only be remedied by a consistent and firm condemnation of plunder and aggression.
Marco Rubio calls on the Cuban people to join the CIA, and Donald Trump brandishes ships and agents; yet these are not displays of courage, but of fear — fear that political progress might expose them as servants of a criminal power that exploits their ambition and delusions of grandeur in an attempt to perpetuate political backwardness and submission — a project destined for defeat.
[ SOURCE: Rebelión ]
