A VERY SMALL STUDY IN HYPOCRISY
By M Lacey
Many of the places where both Americans and Europeans go on holiday have far worse governments and human rights records than Cuba. The US government continually blabbers on about Cuba's human rights abuses and sponsoring "terrorism", while at the same time completely ignoring and denying is own abuses and "sponsoring" throughout the world.
Did not President Clinton recently apologize to the people of Guatemala for the deaths of 200,000 peasant Indians at the hands of the CIA and US sponsored right wing death squads ? Does not the "School of Americas" SOA train the majority of right wing death squads in that same country, and have done the same in El-Salvador, Honduras, Columbia, Panama etc, etc, etc.
The Apartheid police state of South Africa was far more brutal and repressive than Cuba ever was under Castro, yet the US opposed at every turn any kind of sanction or restraining measure against them. But hey, that was OK, they were only black people after all. They even grassed up Nelson Mandela to the South African Security forces. Take a look at the US-UN voting record on South Africa, link at bottom of page to how how pro Apartheid the US really was.
And who was the major backer of that awful tyrant Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, the US. After getting rid of Congos best hope for any sort of stability (given the constant interference of western governments and mining corporations) Patrice Lumumba (chopped up in the jungle) the CIA put Mobutu into power. And, like many other US (CIA) installed regimes, the people lived in poverty and fear for years to come and, still do.
I seem to remember a Gulf war being fought against a certain Saddam Hussein who had also been helped into power and supported with US Arms, and money.With US encouragement he attacked Iran, starting the biggest land war since WW11. Then they sold him chemicals with which he gassed the Iranians and, his own people. After the war UN inspectors found these chemical weapons to be of US origin and component.
Does the name Papa Doc Duvallier ring any bells? he was another US installed dictator in Haiti. Papa Doc fled the island, probably the poorest on the face of the earth, with a reputed $900 million in his back pocket. After the US invasion to "restore" democracy the poor Haitians now find themselves working for slave labour wages for massively wealthy corporations like Disney and Nike.
The same went for Nicaragua when the people got pissed off with the US and their long time puppet dictator Anastasio Somoza. He also fled to the US with around $900 million in his pocket leaving a poverty stricken country and people. The US then formed, what can only be described as a terrorist army to destabilize the country and drive it back into the waiting arms of corporation crazy America. It did not work so the US applied a severe embargo. The problem was a certain lack of personnel quality in it's mercenary army, since a majority of the Contra forces spent a lot of time and effort arranging for Cocaine to be smuggled into the US, AND, the CIA actually knew about it. When the Contra found some spare time they would go off into Nicaragua from US supplied bases in Honduras and El-Salvador and blow up health centres and schools with information provided by US spy satellites. On the way back they would indulge themselves in a little rape, torture and mutilation. When the US blabbers on about human rights they should take a look in their own back yard first. The true history of US good will in the world runs dark and deep.
Then the US, with complete and utter duplicity invaded Panama, to restore democracy of course! Under the holy banner of the multi faceted and multi purpose "Drug War" Manuel Noriega, a long time buddy of G Bush Sr (ex CIA head) and fellow drug runner was taken prisoner. Of course it had nothing to do with replacing him with yet another compliant puppet dictator and reasserting control over the Panama Canal! in the process the US army killed 4,000 Panamanians.
The US government has a long and dirty history of aggression and manipulation against the tiny island of Cuba. Long before the US came up with the excuse of the "Cold war", which had largely been encouraged and invented by the US military- industrial complex, the Cubans had been occupied and repressed by US interests in the Region. The need to control Cuba was nothing more than economic and military imperialism. Cuba became a republic in 1902 but it was no more than another clever US illusion of "democracy". In the 1930s, Havana in Cuba was hailed as the capital of a banana republic. Washington exercised power through installing a series of puppet presidents and through it's ambassador in Cuba. From 1933 to 1959 in "one way or another" Fulgencio Batista directly or indirectly ran the country with the help of the US and the Mafias. Cuba developed the reputation of being the whorehouse of America where Americans went to get drunk and indulge in carnal pleasure and gambling. The brothels and casinos were funded by the Mafias who helped Batista fill his bank accounts to the tune of $300 million, ( think what that would amount to today!!!!)This was while his own people lived in poverty. It was also not only acceptable to the Americans, they endorsed it as the means to hold on to power in Cuba. The US corporations were also getting extremely rich. This is not an isolated incident, take a good honest and truthful look at most Latin and Central American countries and you will find the same pattern. If you look hard enough you will also find the omni present skeletal hand of the that massive and devious organization of walking death and coup d'etat, the CIA. The CIA tried for years to regain control of Cuba after Fidel Castro and the Cuban people liberated their country from US domination and control. From the blatant military invasion of the Bay of Pigs, by proxy as usual, to the poisoning of water supplies, germ warfare on animal livestock, to bombs and assassination plots, trying to change the weather to destroy the sugar crop and a multitude of other nefarious activities that still remain a secret to most Americans themselves. And, after all of this you will still not find in Cuba the same vociferous and rabid hatred of Americans that the Americans seem to have for Cuba, it's people and leader.
AMERICA OUT OF STEP
Listed below is a selection of UN votes on Cuba who, is a fellow member !!!
Voting at the United Nations for the necessity of ending the massive and crippling US embargo on Cuba.
Date . . . . . . . . . Resolution . . . . . . Voting for ./ .Against
1992 Nov 23 . . . . 47/19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 - 2 (US, Israel)
1993 Nov 3 . . . . . .48/16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 - 4 (US, Israel, Albania, Paraguay)
1994 Oct 26 . . . . .49/9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101- 2 (US, Israel)
1995 Nov 2 . . . . . N/A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 - 3 (US, Israel, Uzbekistan)
1996 Nov 12 . . . . N/A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 - 3 (US, Israel, Uzbekistan)
1997 N/A . . . . . . .N/A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143 - 3 (US, Israel, Uzbekistan)
1998 N/A . . . . . . .N/A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157 - 2 (US, Israel)
For the first time in 1996 all European members voted to lift the embargo on Cuba.
In the year 2000 the US still refuses to lift it's insane and irrational embargo on the Cuban people and has actually strengthened the embargo.
Note the ball game played by Israel and the US. In other voting, the tactic would be for the US to abstain and Israel to vote against. Israel actually has trade with Cuba !!! that's how much the whole affair stinks. The Israeli govt has to do what the US ( it's protector ) tells it to do, often using a barter system. You can bet the shirt on your back that is the case with Uzbekistan ! The history of the UN voting system is one of blackmail, arm twisting and self interest by the more powerful nations. Occasionally something good does manage to squeeze it' s way out of the UN.
If you want to see just what else the US votes against at the U.N. go here ( For the so called leading light of "freedom and democracy" in the world ) this list should make you wonder just what sort of a nation the US really is. The US versus the World at the United Nations WARNING ! IF YOU GO TO WILLIAM BLUMS " THE AMERICAN HOLOCAUST" HOMEPAGE OFF THE ABOVE LINK YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY OPEN YOUR OWN FILE AT FBI HEADQUARTERS ( HOW SCAREDY PANTS ARE YOU ? ) IT'S STUFF THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND, THAT'S WHY THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE IT !!