Sanctions are a tool to pressure the Cuban rulers

Dear Editor,

I refer to a special feature article titled, “The vote at the UN on Cuba’s resolution against the US embargo”, by David Abdulah (KW Nov 1st)^[1] that contains this abstract:

The US actions against Cuba are unilateral, illegitimate and illegal. They amount to collective punishment, which is an international crime. In fact, what the US is doing is tantamount to genocide. ( David Abdulah).

I respectfully disagree with the point of view of David Abdulah. He has set out to do not an objective evaluation of the Cuban matter, but a partisan one. I wish to comment as follows:

These sanctions on Cuba were put there since 1960-61. The world was caught up in the Cold War. The main objective of the sanctions was to put pressure on the leaders of Cuba and the Cuban people not to go full blown Communist [dictatorship of the proletariat, command economy, one-man rule etc.]. Had the sanctions been successful to help Cuba move to multiparty democracy and free market economy, the sanctions would have ended long ago.

Why are the sanctions still on and in place today, 75-years later? Partly, because of the resilience and determination of one-man Fidel Castro and the fact that USSR had been subsidizing Cuba to the tune of $1 billion a year; partly, to the powerful lobby of almost three million Cubans who live in the United States. Politicians in America need that Cuban vote and they will do what that Cuban lobby wants them to do. Put it down simply to the power of the Cuban lobby.

Is it genocide of the Cuban people? Is it collective punishment of the Cuban people? I don’t think David Abdulah had set out to do an objective analysis of the Cuban problem. It is not genocide. Embargoes on a nation that lead to lack of food and fuel are inevitably punishment on the whole population – but you cannot deny this started out as a Cold War political problem. Sanctions/embargoes did not happen in a vacuum.

The sanctions are a tool to pressure the rulers to loosen up their control over the Cuban state. It is no different from glasnost and perestroika in the USSR – which made it possible for the Communist system to collapse.

Look, Burnham had set-up a dictatorship in Guyana. Let us imagine the Guyanese-diaspora lobbied the U.S. Govt for help, and the latter placed sanctions on Guyana (no trade, no foreign aid) – and it worked; if it leads to the collapse of the Burnham dictatorship, you will say the sanctions worked. Would David Abdulah characterize the sanctions on Guyana as “genocide”, “collective punishment”?

If sanctions worked to achieve their objective, that’s great. Even Abdulah would agree, if he is a reasonable man. If sanctions do not work to achieve its objective, then according to David Abdulah, that’s genocide, collective punishment.

References

1. The vote at the UN on Cuba's resolution against the US embargokiskadeewatch.com ↩