By Hedelberto López Blanch *
An incorrigible mythomaniac like U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a press conference commemorating May 20, 1902, the date on which a neo-colony controlled by Washington was established in Cuba.
Rubio, who during his time in Congress, the Senate, and now at the State Department has promoted more than 300 new measures that reinforce the blockade that has lasted for more than six decades, dared to repeat that Cuba is a failed nation and even threatened military aggression to try to change the island’s system of government.
Cuba’s so-called independence, on that May 20th, was born tied to the Platt Amendment (approved by the U.S. Congress on March 2, 1901), which was imposed as an appendix to the Cuban Constitution and limited the country’s sovereignty.
The Platt Amendment was an imposition, a mechanism that severely limited Cuban sovereignty. Its directives stipulated that the Cuban government could not enter into certain treaties without the consent of the United States and that U.S. military intervention was justified if the provisions of the amendment were not met in the Cuban Constitution.
The Platt Amendment remained in effect until 1934, when it was repealed amidst growing popular pressure and the revolutionary forces. However, the legacy of dependence it left was profound, and the conditions of the naval base at Guantánamo were not negotiated, leaving Cuba in a state of persistent vulnerability.
The regime of Fulgencio Batista, allied with and controlled by the United States, continued the tradition of subordination that characterized Cuban history. Only with the triumph of January 1, 1959, did true independence begin to emerge.
What was Cuba’s situation at the beginning of the Revolution?
Sugar monoculture accounted for 80% of exports and was the foundation for sustaining large landholdings.
American investors controlled, among many other things, 90% of the telephone service, 70% of oil refining, 100% of nickel production, and 50% of the railroads. In other words, they practically ran the entire economy of the country.
Furthermore, American pharmaceutical companies owned 70% of the national market for medicines.
Only 3% of Cuban peasants owned land.
The infant mortality rate was 65 per 1,000 live births; life expectancy at birth was 62 years, and government health service coverage was only 6%.
There was a 30% illiteracy rate, and barely 55% of children attended school; the unemployment rate was 35%. Twenty-two percent of homes were owned by their inhabitants, and 72% of houses lacked sanitation services, while 42% lacked electricity.
This was the reality of Cuba in 1959, a country that was radically transformed for the benefit of its people.
Examples abound: current infant mortality is between 4% and 9% (it increased due to the embargo); life expectancy is 78 years; primary school enrollment is 98%; more than one million people hold university degrees; 14 infectious diseases have been eliminated and another 9 have low incidence rates; the UN ranks Cuba among the countries with High Human Development, etc.
Now Washington wants to seize control of Cuba again to reimpose a neocolony in which big U.S. capital and Cuban-American capital (the latter having enriched themselves through the drug trade, corruption, money laundering, and the perks offered by U.S. administrations) run the country to further enrich themselves at the expense of the people.
Despite all the difficulties and destabilizing actions from the United States, which has imposed a reinforced blockade lasting more than six decades, the Cuban people, united with the country’s leadership, know that resistance is fundamental to maintaining the sovereignty and independence achieved on January 1, 1959, and to avoid falling once again into the neocolonial clutches of the empire.
(*) Hedelberto López Blanch is a renowned Cuban journalist. He writes for the newspaper Juventud Rebelde and the weekly Opciones. He is the author of “Cuban Emigration to the United States,” “Secret Stories of Cuban Doctors in Africa,” and “Miami, Dirty Money,” among others.
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE AUTHOR: Hedelberto López Blanch
[ SOURCE: RESUMEN LATINOAMERICANO Y DEL TERCER MUNDO CUBA / EN RESUMEN ]
