Download CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES

CUBA
AND THE UNITED STATES
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John F. Kennedy initiated a major terrorist campaign designed to bring the “ terrors of the
earth ” to Cuba , the goal of Robert Kennedy, who was put in charge of the operation,
according to his biographer Arthur Schlesinger. The basic thinking was expressed by
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory in April 1960 : Castro would be
removed “ through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and
hardship ( so ) every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the
economic life of Cuba ( in order to ) bring about hunger, desperation and ( the )
overthrow of the government.
US leaders could not tolerate “ Cuban refusal to submit to the United States, ” the
reaction of “ a people still convinced that they have a right of self-determination and
national sovereignty. ” Cuban independence would encourage others, who might be infected
by the “ Castro idea of taking matters into their own hands, ” Latin American adviser
Arthur Schlesinger warned incoming President Kennedy. President Eisenhower had already
expressed his concern that Castro had “ gained great prestige in Latin America, ” which
meant that “ governments elsewhere cannot oppose him too strongly since they are shaky
with respect to the potentials of action by the mobs within their own countries to whom
Castro’s brand of demagoguery appeals.”
The Batista dictatorship was overthrown in January 1959 by Castro’s guerilla forces. In
May, the CIA began to arm guerillas inside Cuba. “ During the Winter of 1959 - 1960,
there was a significant increase in CIA - supervised bombing and incendiary raids piloted
by exiled Cubans ” based in the United States. We need not tarry on what the U.S. or
its clients would do under such circumstances. Cuba, however did not respond with
violent actions within the United States for revenge or deterrence. Rather, it followed the
procedure required by international law. In July 1960, Cuba called on the UN for help,
providing the Security Council with records of some twenty bombings, including names
of pilots, plane registration numbers, unexploded bombs, and other specific details,
alleging considerable damage and casualties and calling for resolution of the conflict
through diplomatic channels. U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge responded by giving
his “ assurance ( that ) the United States has no aggressive purpose against Cuba.” Four
months before, in March 1960, his government had made a formal decision in secret to
overthrow the Castro government, and preparations for the Bay of Pigs invasion were
well advanced.
Kennedy implemented a crushing embargo that could scarcely be endured by a small
country such as Cuba. He also ordered an intensification of the terrorist campaign : “ He
asked his brother, Attorney - General Robert Kennedy, to lead the top - level interagency
group that oversaw Operation Mongoose, a program of paramilitary operations, economic
warfare, and sabotage he launched in 1961. In August, terrorist attacks were intensified,
including speedboat strafing attacks on Cuban seaside hotel “ were Soviet military
technicians were known to congregate, killing a score of Russians and Cubans ”; attacks
on British and Cuban cargo ships ; the contamination of sugar shipments ; and other
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atrocities and sabotage, mostly carried out by Cuban exile organizations permitted to
operate freely in Florida.
On November 8, “ a Cuban covert action sabotage team dispatched from the United
States successfully blew up a Cuban industrial facility, ” killing 400 workers, according
to the Cuban government.
Ten days before Kennedy was assassinated, he approved a CIA plan for “ destruction
operations ” by U.S. proxy forces “ against a large oil refinery and storage facilities, a
large electric plant, sugar refineries, railroad bridges, harbor facilities, and underwater
demolition of docks and ships. ” A plot to kill Castro was initiated on the day of the
Kennedy assassination. The campaign was called off in 1965, but “ one of Nixon’s first
acts in office in 1969 was to direct the CIA to intensify covert operations against Cuba. ”
Terrorist activities continued under Nixon, peaking in the mid - 1970s, with attacks on
fishing boats, embassies, and Cuban offices overseas, and the bombing of a Cubana
airliner, killing all seventy-three passengers.
U.S. economic warfare against Cuba has been strongly condemned in virtually every
relevant international forum, even declared illegal by the Judicial Commission of the
normally compliant Organization of American States. The European Union called on the
World Trade Organization to condemn the embargo.
Carlos Salinas, former director of government
relations for Amnesty International, “ know better
than perhaps most people that the United States
government is one of the biggest sponsor of
terrorism. ”
FROM THE BOOK
FAILED STATES
BY
NOAM CHOMSKY
PAGE - 113
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HEGEMONY OR SURVIVAL
BY
NOAM CHOMSKY
PAGE - 80 - 81 - 82 - 83 - 84 - 85 - 89
COMPILED
BY
FLAVIO CODARIN