Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau

Prime Minister of Canada

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau

Office of the Prime Minister

80 Wellington Street

Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2

November 14, 2016 

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,

Re: Canada-Cuba Relations

I am writing to you on behalf of the Canadian Network On Cuba (CNC), which represents more than 20 Canada-Cuba friendship and solidarity organizations from Vancouver to Halifax. One of the CNC’s principal objectives is advocating that Canadian foreign policy regarding Cuba remains based on equality and respect for the island's sovereignty and right of self-determination.  

Prime Minister Trudeau, we welcome your November 15-16, 2016 visit to Cuba, which occurs at an opportune moment given recent political developments in the United States. You have the opportunity to clearly and unequivocally call on the incoming U.S. president to respect Cuba’s right to independence and self-determination, and not to return to the previous policy of open hostility. 

Canadians welcomed and celebrated the change in U.S-Cuba relations initiated on December 17, 2014.  Nevertheless, while Canada, the Americas and the world were encouraged by Washington’s departure from previous flagrant bellicose acts, the new policy and the reopening of embassies do not equate to the normalization of relations between the two countries. Washington’s illegal and immoral economic embargo – tantamount to a blockade - of Cuba continues, as does its ongoing campaign of subversion.  Moreover, the U.S naval base sits on the illegally occupied Cuban territory of Guantanamo Bay. 

On October 26, 2016 for the twenty-fifth successive time, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted overwhelming and unanimously by a vote of 191 to 0 (with 2 abstentions, the United States and Israel) to condemn Washington's more than five decade long economic war against Cuba. Representing the largest rebuff by the international community of Washington's efforts to asphyxiate the heroic people of Cuba, the United Nations October 26 vote not only demonstrates the unflinching opposition of the world to the criminal U.S. policy, but also the depth of global support and respect for Cuba. 

We are pleased that Canada was once again counted in the ranks of the world’s nations resoundingly rejecting the coercive, unilateral and extra-territorial U.S. policy.

Such is the isolation of the United States in the world that it was forced to acknowledge and accede to this reality by abstaining. However, while the abstention is a positive development, the principal architecture of the economic blockade remains intact. Washington still continues to zealously pursue and implement the extensive series of economic sanctions arrayed against the island nation, with the objective of negating and extinguishing Cuba’s right to self-determination and independence. 

Prime Minister, with the conclusion of the U.S. Presidential elections and as you set foot on Cuban soil, you have the historic opportunity to insist that this most regrettable page in the relations amongst the nations of the Americas can finally and permanently be turned by asserting that Washington’s relations with Cuba should be based on mutual respect and equality, not on outmoded colonialist ideas and practices. This necessitates ending the economic blockade, ceasing subversive acts against the Cuban government and returning the Guantanamo base to Cuba.

In closing, I wish to note that Canadians have traveled to Cuba in vast numbers (more than 1.4 million in 2015) and witnessed Cuban reality for themselves; they have come away with a profound respect and admiration for the Cuban people and their efforts to build a society centred on independence, justice and human dignity. Irrespective of their political or ideological positions, Canadians stand for the building of genuine friendship with the island nation: relations based on mutual respect, equality and recognition of Cuba’s right to self-determination and sovereignty. 

We wish you a productive and successful visit to Cuba. 

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Respectfully,

Isaac Saney,

Co-Chair and National Spokesperson

Canadian Network on Cuba

Cell: 902-449-4967

Email: isaney@hotmail.com

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Counting The Cost Of The Cuban Blockade

Rob Miller,Morning Star, October 1, 2016

Cuba has once again been forced to present its annual motion to the United Nations protesting against the illegal US blockade, which continues unabated despite all the early promise of the restoration of diplomatic links and President Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba. ROB MILLER has the story

Cuba has once again presented its annual motion to the United Nations. This will be the 25th year it has been forced to protest against the illegal US blockade against its country.

It’s titled: “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” and sets out in detail the US laws that support the blockade, the limitations of the recent changes in US policies by the Obama administration and a huge list of examples illustrating the full and pernicious impact of the blockade on the lives of the people of Cuba.

Having seen Cuban and US embassies opening and President Barack Obama himself visiting Havana many people across the globe believe that the blockade is now over and all is well between the two countries.

The truth is in fact very different.

The US has just renewed its designation of Cuba as an “enemy” under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, thus using its foreign policy interests as the foundation for the laws and regulations that underpin the extraterritorial blockade that continues to hinder Cuba’s economic development. In Havana on March 22 2016, Obama called on the US Congress to put an end to the policy of blockade. Yet the economic, commercial and financial blockade remains in force and the restrictions imposed by this policy continue to be applied.

Despite the US announcement that Cuba would finally be allowed to use the dollar in international transactions this has still not taken effect. At the same time US banks have so far refused to provide loans or credits to Cuban importers of US products that have supposedly been authorised by the US government for sale to the island. The biggest obstacle, however, is the long list of multimillion-dollar fines — and the threats of such fines — levied by the US Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) against international banks and financial institutions that are exploring engagement with Cuba. These massive penalties are an insurmountable block on any major institution from even examining the Cuban option.

The motion states that “since this policy began to be applied over 50 years ago, the blockade has caused damages of over US$125,873,000,000 at current prices.” That is over £97 billion.

The report accompanying the motion includes many of the hundreds of examples of the application of blockade policies that have occurred in the last 12 months alone. They range from the malicious to the absurd and cover companies in every corner of the globe including Britain, Spain, Denmark, China, France, Venezuela, China, Australia, Namibia, Turkey, Argentina and the US.

The examples include:

In October 2015, the French bank, Credit Agricole agreed to pay a fine of $1.1bn for violating the US regulations against Cuba. The bank had purely processed transactions between international accounts and the Cuban government or its nationals. Over a four-year period the bank had transferred a total of around $97 million of transactions yet was forced to pay a fine over 10 times bigger.

In November of 2015, PayPal blocked the account of the German ticket agency Proticket, which had been used by customers to pay for tickets for the musical comedy Soy Cubano and a concert by the Cuban singer Addys Mercedes.

In January 2016, OFAC levied a fine of $140,400 on the UK subsidiary of design company WATG Holdings which had worked on the design of a proposed hotel project in Cuba.

In February 2016, a branch of the British Standard Chartered Bank in Uganda informed Cuban doctors working at Mbarara University that they had to withdraw their money due to the fact that as Cubans they were not able to continue holding accounts in said bank. The university suggested that the Cubans open accounts in the British bank Barclays. After they did so, the bank advised them that they would not be able to make any transactions to or from Cuba.

The report highlights the real effects of the blockade on the Cuban people themselves in health, education and social provision.

In January 2016, Cuba received a delegation from the US corporation Medtronic, which supplies cerebral stimulators for the treatment of neurological diseases. While the Cuban Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery went ahead to purchase the much-needed specialist equipment, the US company has not been authorised to make the sales. Consequently Cuban patients suffering from Parkinson’s and various neurological disorders cannot receive a treatment that could improve their quality of life.

In education effects are widespread. One small example given was the extra $56,000 Cuba was forced to spend on string instruments for the 414 elementary level students enrolled last year. Cuba guarantees an instrument for every music student at this level yet they were forced to buy the instruments from countries other than the US, where they were charged premium rates for their efforts to circumvent the blockade. Such extra costs place a huge burden on the state when trying to provide the necessary equipment for all students.

The report estimates that because of the higher costs of buying products from countries other than the US, the Ministry of Education suffered losses of $1.2m in the last 12 months alone.

The report shows how the blockade can also negatively affect people in other countries.

The Cuban Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology developed Heberprot-P, a new medicine that is unique in the treatment of severe ulcers of the diabetic foot which can lead to amputations. This therapy has benefited over 230,000 patients throughout the world and has 21 health registrations and over 30 patents worldwide. Yet it cannot be sold in the US where diabetes affects some 29 million people and an estimated 200,000 could benefit directly from Heberprot-P. 

As well as medical products Cuba is unable to realise the value of likely exports to the US of many of its products including rum, tobacco, nickel and foodstuffs. The Asda supermarket chain based in Britain is owned by the US Walmart Group and it has been instructed to remove from sale all Cuban products — this includes rum and tobacco products which are now no longer available in Asda stores.

The Cuban report to the UN even includes the example of the impact of the blockade on our own work of solidarity.

In November 2015 the bank accounts of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC) in Britain were forcibly closed by the Co-op Bank. In March 2016, the bank confirmed that said closure was due to the risks derived from sanctions applied by OFAC.

Virtually every international body from the UN to the Union of South American Nations, the African Union and even the Vatican have called for an end to the blockade — yet it is still kept in place by the United States.

The report shows once again that the blockade is not merely a bilateral matter between the US and Cuba — it is extraterritorial, affects third countries and is applied with ruthless and total impunity in open violation of international law. As the report makes clear: “It is the most unfair, severe and prolonged system of unilateral sanctions ever applied against any country.”

There has been much said over the past two years about “normalisation.” Yet there is a very long way to go before the welcome “restoration” of diplomatic relations will bring anything like a normalisation of relations.

The report concludes by reiterating that: “The US blockade constitutes the greatest obstacle for the development of all the potential of the economy and the wellbeing of the Cuban people, as well as for the economic, commercial and financial relations of Cuba with the United States and the rest of the world.” While the illegal blockade continues the struggle against it and for the rights of the Cuban people to develop their society free from such aggression must be fought for by us all.

Rob Miller is director of the Cuba Solidary Campaign in Great Britain.

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FIDEL ES FIDEL (FIDEL IS FIDEL): CELEBRATING FIDEL CASTRO'S 90th BIRTHDAY

Halifax Premiere of the film:

Fidel Es Fidel (Fidel is Fidel)

Photo Exhibit & Panel Discussion

6:30 pm, Thursday, August 11th, 2016 

At: Halifax Central Library 

Room: 301

5440 Spring Garden Road

Come and celebrate Fidel Castro's 90th Birthday.

More than one hundred countries around the world have joined forces to celebrate the life of one of the most influential leaders of all times.

Sponsored by the Nova Scotia Cuba Association and Canadian Network On Cuba

¡Fidel 90 y más!: A Revolutionary Legacy

- Isaac Saney, National Spokesperson, Canadian Network on Cuba -

"There are men who struggle for a day and they are good. There are men who struggle for a year and they are better. There are men who struggle many years, and they are better still. But there are those who struggle all their lives: These are the indispensable ones." -- Bertolt Brecht

"Fidel! Fidel! Que tiene Fidel que los americanos no pueden con él!"
(Fidel! Fidel! What is it that he has, that the U.S. imperialists can't defeat him!) -- Cuban Revolutionary chant

On August 13 Fidel Castro, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, turns 90. Progressive, anti-war and social justice forces across the world will join in the celebration of the life of one of the world's most influential and significant leaders. It is especially worthwhile and necessary to mark and valorize the life and times of a man whose heart, without missing a beat, has withstood more than 600 assassination attempts by U.S imperialism.

Fidel's life and legacy loom large in world history and development. Fidel is part and parcel of the wave of the anti-colonial, national liberation and social emancipation struggles that swept Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean in the second half of the 20th century. Fidel is integral to the Cuban-born and international revolutionary and anti-imperialist tradition, theory and practice, stretching through the Taino cacique, Hatuey, Toussaint L'Overture, Simon Bolivar, José Martí, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh, among others.

Fidel does not transcend Cuba and history, as some have opined, but, instead, is ineluctably and organically bound to the deepest aspirations of the Cuban people and the demands of the times. Fidel belongs to the world. He does not stand above or outside life. Flesh and blood, brain and bone, he exemplifies the finest traditions of humanity.

His life encapsulates the struggle of the exploited and oppressed, epitomizing, as articulated by U.S. political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, "their historic power to transform our dull realities."

The significance of Fidel extends beyond the geographical boundaries of Cuba. Since its inception, the Cuban Revolution has made an invaluable contribution to the global struggle for justice, social development and human dignity. Under Fidel's leadership Cuba has established an unparalleled legacy of internationalism and humanitarianism, embodying the immortal words of José Martí: "Homeland is Humanity. Humanity is Homeland." In southern Africa, for example, more than 2,000 Cubans gave their lives to defeat the racist apartheid regime in South Africa. Mandela never forgot. After he was released from prison, one of the first countries outside of Africa and the first country in Latin America that he chose to visit was Cuba.

Today this commitment to humanity is mirrored in the tens of thousands of Cuban medical personnel and educators who have served and continue to serve around the world. This service sees them battling in the trenches against disease and illiteracy, running the gamut from combating the Ebola outbreaks in west Africa to beating back other challenges to public health in southern Africa. No less important is the training inside Cuba of medical cadres from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as North America (including African-American communities from the largest U.S. cities).

Fidel was only 26 when on July 26, 1953 he led a group of courageous young men and women in the attack on the Moncada Barracks in the city of Santiago de Cuba, and the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Barracks in Bayamo, an unsuccessful but valiant effort to overthrow the U.S.-supported puppet dictator Fulgencio Batista. Moncada was a catalyst for the revolutionary struggle to free Cuba from U.S. tutelage and establish authentic independence. Fidel has epitomized the unbending commitment to justice, dignity and independence that has characterized Cuba since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959, leading Cuban resistance against the unjust and genocidal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on the island by Washington.

No words can adequately convey the singular meaning of Fidel. By holding aloft the banners of Socialism, Justice, Peace, Internationalism and Human Dignity, the Cuban Revolution, led by Fidel, demonstrates that a better world is possible. On October 16, 1953 at his trial following the Moncada attack, Fidel laid out his vision of national independence and social justice, declaring, "Condemn me, it does not matter, history will absolve me." Since those historic words and the subsequent unfolding of events, in a world fraught with intense challenges and dangers, history has not only absolved Fidel but also vindicated the meaning and legacy of his life.

¡Viva Fidel!¡Fidel 90 y más!

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 CUBAN ARTS

Andrew Porter is a Canadian who lives on the Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. He is an expert on Cuban Art and he makes a living organizing exhibits of Cuban Art and selling paintings by well known Cuban artists around the world.

He is in Halifax for 10 days visiting and he is interested in putting on a show of Cuban Art here in Halifax. 

He has organized exhibitions around the world. In 2010 he loaned many Latin American artworks to the Arty Gallery Nova Scotia here in Halifax. In 2011 he was part of the British West Indies in Cayman Island. In 2012 he presented Panorama of Latin American Art in Montreal and a valuable piece of Cuban Art was exhibited at the UK Embassy residence with Ambassador Diane Melrose. In 2013 he exhibited at the Lasalle College International, "Colombia y sus vecinos del Caribe." In 2015: Art Cuba at the Galeria Aura in Montreal Canada and at UNEAC in Nueva Gerona, Cuba. This year again at UNEAC Arts Council of Cuba: "Genio y figura."

Cuba-US Relations: the View from the Other Side

by JOHN KIRK – STEPHEN KIMBER (cOUNTERPUNCH)

On Dec. 17, 2014, President Barack Obama went on television to declare the United States was unilaterally ending America’s “outdated approach [to Cuba] that, for decades, has failed to advance our interests.”

So why do so many American politicians and commentators still persist in arguing the U.S. has been “giving and giving” in dealings with Cuba, and insisting the Cubans reciprocate by… well, changing their government to suit American demands?

Let’s start with simple truths. Cuban did not impose a stifling, 55-year economic embargo on the United States that has failed to advance anyone’s interests. Cuba did not put the United States on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Cuba did not try to assassinate American presidents. Cuba did not attempt to overthrow the U.S. government.

During President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba this week, Americans need to at least consider the perspective from the Cuban side of the Florida Straits divide.

The U.S. embargo — the Cubans call it a blockade — is still the law of the American land. According to the United Nations, the embargo, which has been virtually universally condemned internationally, has cost the Cuban economy over $116 billion.

Ending the embargo is, not surprisingly, Cuba’s sine qua non for normalizing relations with the United States.

To be fair, President Obama has used his executive powers to mitigate some of the embargo’s impact, including, most recently, permitting the use of U.S. dollars in transactions involving Cuba. There is more he could do but, thanks to the Helms-Burton Act, the embargo’s deleterious effects will not finally disappear until Congress votes to scrap it.

In the meantime, even strategically renewing the 1917 Trading With the Enemy Act, as Obama did in September to give him wiggle room around the embargo, is not only insulting — you claim to want to normalize relations with a country you designate an “enemy”? — but that law continues to ban many aspects of trade with Cuba. In 2012, an American businessman was even charged with violating the act for investing in Cuban real estate.

Thanks to extra-territoriality provisions in 1992’s Torricelli act and 1996’s Helms-Burton Act, foreign companies trading with Cuba and many international banks have been slapped with multi-million-dollar fines for conducting otherwise ordinary financial transactions.

How far can extra-territoriality go? In December, a senior executive with the Canadian mining company Sherritt had to be Skyped into anEconomist-sponsored New York conference on “new opportunities for American companies interested in doing business” in Cuba after the U.S. government refused to allow him into the country because his company does business with Cuba.

While the Cubans view the embargo as the most serious impediment to re-establishing normal relations with the U.S., there are others.

Guantánamo? Although the naval station no longer has any American strategic or military significance, the U.S. continues to occupy those 45 square miles of Cuban territory under a 113-year-old neo-colonial treaty from Theodore Roosevelt’s day. Cuba, which hasn’t cashed an annual American $4,085 “rent” check since 1960, wants its land returned. Washington says no.

Giving and giving?

Or consider the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, a Bush-era initiative still in place and offering speedy entry into the United States for any Cuban medic who defects. Its sole purpose is to undermine Cuba’s highly successful medical internationalism initiative, which has over 50,000 Cuban medical personnel in 60 countries, delivering care to poor people who otherwise wouldn’t have access.

And then there are the ongoing U.S. attempts to promote Cuban “regime change.” From overt and covert support for violent terrorist attacks against Cuba, to beaming propaganda radio and television signals into Cuba in violation of international law, to current State Department and USAID support for anti-government groups in the name of “robust democracy assistance.” You can understand why Cuba sees that as a threat.

Although Cuba scores well on cultural and social human rights — health care, education — it does have a poor record in providing individual citizens with civil and political rights.

If Washington is really serious about improving those, however, it could start by stopping meddling in Cuba’s internal affairs. How can Havana begin to liberalize its economy or political structure when the most powerful country in the world — 90 miles away — funds groups that seek its downfall?

Relations between the U.S. and Cuba have improved enormously since December 17, 2014. It is in the interests of both countries to continue this process apace. But first it is important for both countries to understand the position of the other, to walk in their shoes.

To date there has been little evidence Washington understands the Cuban concerns — and that is too bad.

John Kirk, a professor of Latin American Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, is the author or co-editor of 16 books on Cuba, most recentlyHealthcare Without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism.Stephen Kimber, a professor of Journalism at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Canada, is the author of What Lies Across the Water: The Real Story of the Cuban Five.

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Rejecting Colonialist Mentality

Rejecting Colonialist Mentality

Re: Why is Obama visiting Cuba? by Konrad Yakabuski, Globe and Mail February 25

Konrad’s Yakabuski’s “Why is Obama visiting Cuba?” is a slander against Cuba, parroting the disinformation of the U.S. State Department about Cuba. Canadians repudiate this alignment with these long-discredited falsehoods against Cuba. Rather than promote lies about Cuba, the Globe & Mail should highlight that Cuba holds an admirable place in the international community regarding the protection and promotion of the rights of its citizens. In Cuba everyone is guaranteed an education and access to universal and free healthcare. In Cuba there are no homeless roaming the streets eking out an existence in a dog-eat-dog society. This is the country that Yakabuski slanders. This is the country that Obama will visit.

Obama is visiting Cuba because Washington has been forced to change its policy due to the resilience of the Cuban Revolution. But, perhaps, this is the crux of the matter. Cuba refutes the colonialist mentality and practice of foisting on independent countries imperial arrangements that they do not want or accept. Havana has refused to renounce its right to self-determination and the principles upon which the Cuban Revolution is founded. Perhaps, what irks Mr. Yakabuski and the editorial board of the Globe & Mail is Cuba’s successful resistance of the diktat of empire.  For them Cuba is the unforgivable example, illustrating that so called "small" or "less powerful" nations do not have to subordinate themselves to the so-called great powers as long as their peoples are organized and determined to defend and strengthen their nation-building projects centred on independence, justice and human dignity. 

Isaac Saney
Chair, National Spokesperson
Canadian Network On Cuba

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What Konrad Yakabuski ignores

Dear editors,

Having just returned from a research trip to Havana, I was astonished at the selective indignation of Konrad Yakabuski and his article “Why is Obama visiting Cuba?”

There are several reasons he ignores…

Having seen the UN General Assembly condemn the US embargo 191-2 (the US and Israel being the only opposition) in October, President Obama is trying to save some international face. At the same time he is trying to improve the US role in Latin America, which has condemned en masse the traditional isolation of Cuba by Washington.

He is attempting to find a solution to the disgraceful treatment of political prisoners at the Guantánamo torture centre. (At its height there were 800 prisoners there. There are 91 left, of whom just 10 have been charged. The waterboarding and other examples of torture have been well-documented).

He is trying symbolically to make amends for the murder of some 3,400 Cubans since 1959, killed in acts of terrorism--at times the result of US funding to counterrevolutionary groups.

He is seeking trade opportunities for U.S. companies to invest in and export to. Among these are the first-rate biotechnology products which could benefit the American population. The lung cancer drug CIMAVAX has been particularly successful, while Heberprot-P has reduced amputation of limbs among diabetics by 80%. Sadly the embargo—introduced in 1960—means that Cuba cannot sell even an Aspirin to the US market.

According to Amnesty International there are some 50 prisoners of conscience. While there should be no political prisoners at all, Yakabuski forgets that the US recently renewed the “Trading with the Enemy” Act with Cuba, and through USAID and the State Department continues to provide extensive funding to opposition groups in Cuba that seek to bring about regime change. Indeed just this week Obama renewed the 20-year old state of national emergency decree, which strengthens the embargo. Perhaps Washington should stop meddling?

In sum, some more balance would be helpful in dealing with this complex situation.

Best,
John M. Kirk,
Professor of Latin American Studies, Dalhousie University
Tel: 902-423-3325 (H); 902-494-3679 (W)

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Anti-Communist Fairy Tales about Cuba, Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights
Anna Di Carlo, National Leader, Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada

Re: Op-ed in the Globe and Mail February 25

Certain things are well known when it comes to the U.S. For instance, the U.S. contains only 4.4 per cent of the world's population but it has the dubious prestige of incarcerating 22 per cent of the world's prisoners, not to mention a largest number of political prisoners. It is also infamous for its arbitrary detentions and Guantanamo-type torture camps. In 2015 alone police in the U.S. killed 1,140 people.

Even though U.S. abuses of human rights at home and abroad are so staggering as to boggle the mind, one of the Comment writers for the Globe and Mail, a Mr. Konrad Yakabuski who was based in Washington, DC from 2009 to 2013, seems oblivious to the facts which count in life. Of course, it is his prerogative to prefer a system where the leaders sell their souls to rapacious international money-lenders who are known swindlers and the basest creatures the American style of inhuman democracy has given rise to. But why he thinks that others think like he does is surely beyond reason.

Mr. Yakabuski badmouths Cuba over what he calls "repression," "democracy," "human rights" and "succession." He mocks the attempts of others to solve problems facing their economies and to ensure a stable succession for their people. He calls himself a journalist but is so blinded by anti-communist dogma that he seems to think his fairy tales about Cuba are believed by everyone else. All this does is discredit himself.

Far from sowing doubt about the Cuban revolutionary process, Mr. Yakabuski's turgid op-ed in the February 25 issue of the Globe and Mailmore aptly reveals how paltry has become the spectre which inhabits his own pathetic imagination. He is to be pitied for being so concerned about Cuba's economy rather than that of his own country which is on the eve of announcing a $30 billion deficit blamed on, amongst other things, the collapse of the price of oil. Workers laid off from Canada's oil patch who are now unemployed and in dire straights may surely sympathize more with the plight of Venezuela than wishing, as does Mr. Yakabuski, for that country's collapse as well.

This is the 21st century and the world is facing serious problems but Mr. Yakabuski sees fit to arise as a kind of Rip Van Winkle who has been hitting the snooze button for so long that he missed the fact that the Cold War anti-communist method of arguing "totalitarianism" versus "democracy" ended nearly 30 years ago. The fall of the Soviet Union deprived the U.S. of its bogeyman leaving no one to blame but itself for the crimes committed everywhere in the name of its "freedom," "democracy" and "human rights."

As for his concern about the Cuban succession, are we really to believe that the destruction and havoc wreaked upon Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and now Syria provide a "succession" for Mr. Yakabuski's own cherished notions of "freedom," "democracy" and "human rights"? As the world is plunged into the abyss by the U.S. striving for domination and Canada is hitched to its war chariot, Canadians are in no mood to pay heed to his anti-communist fairy tales.

To the chagrin of Mr. Yakabuski, Cuba is very much part of this world and it enjoys the heartfelt support and good wishes of Canadians and the peoples all over the planet. When speaking about "succession," perhaps Mr. Yakabuski will consider writing his next op-ed on the circus that passes for politics in the USA which looks like lantern slides from another planet. The players are a Mr. Trump and his fellow champions of U.S.-style human rights, freedom and democracy. A sordid succession indeed!

To quote one of the Cuban dissidents whose cause for "democracy in Cuba" Mr. Yakabuski champions, "The vote was clean. The count was clean. People don't want change. They still want revolution." - Hildebrando Chaviano, a lawyer who ran and lost in the 2015 local elections in which more than 7.7 million people voted out of a registered electorate of 8 million people.

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February 25, 2016 

Dear Sir or Madam:

Re: Why is Obama visiting Cuba? by KONRAD YAKABUSKI. The Globe and Mail. Published Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 6:00AM EST

From this article it is hard to decide whom Mr. Yakabuski dislikes the most, US President Barak Obama or Cuban President Raul Castro. He is equally critical of the two. The former, for his “foreign policy flip-flops” and for not being “Reaganesque” enough; the latter, for “head[ing] the longest-running dictatorship in the Western hemisphere.”

What really transpires is that Mr. Yakabuski still lives in the political stone age of the Cold War era. The repetitive litany of “evil-doing” of the Castros is baseless and quite insulting to the intelligence of most Cubans and Canadians alike. Many of us have travelled to Cuba, not as romantic visitors, but for academic research purposes and have seen the real Cuba without rhetoric that Mr. Obama will see. I welcome his visit.

Nino Pagliccia,  Global Health Research (Retired),  University of British Columbia,  7089 Mont Royal Square,  Vancouver, BC,  V5S 4W6,  604-831-9821

Why Doesn’t Obama Use His Executive Power to Close Guantánamo?

By Arnold August, Global Research

February 25th, 2016

The closing of Guantanamo prison and the return of Guantanamo Bay to Cuba is one of the most heated subjects of Cuba–US relations. It is taking on even more significance as Obama’s trip to Cuba on March 21–22 approaches.

On February 23, 2016, President Barack Obama announced, in a prepared statement to the press, that he is taking measures to close the notorious Guantanamo facility through Congress. He did not evaluate the possibility of using his executive power to do so. He did not entertain questions from the journalists, who perhaps may have raised this issue.

What is this executive option to close the prison?

Thomas B. Wilner is one of the most important lawyers in the US dealing with the Guantanamo issue. A timely interview with Wilner by Cuban journalist Rosa Miriam Elizalde was published on February 23, 2016 in CubaDebate. In response to her question as to whether Obama can use executive power to finally shut down the prison even if Congress opposes the plan, Wilner said:

I am not absolutely clear if he will do this. I think he has the power, as President, to close the Guantanamo prison and transfer detainees to the US, even if Congress opposes. I think he has this power.

Gregory B. Craig is a prestigious lawyer who served as White House counsel to Obama in 2009. Cliff Sloan was the special envoy for Guantanamo closure in 2013 and 2014. In a co-authored article published on November 6, 2015 in The Washington Post they wrote:

Some maintain that the congressional ban on transfers from Guantanamo to the United States prevents closure without congressional approval. But that is wrong. Under Article II of the Constitution, the president has exclusive authority to determine the facilities in which military detainees are held. Obama has the authority to move forward. He should use it…. The question is whether Congress can tell the president where military detainees must be held. The answer is an emphatic no. One need not accept a particularly broad view of executive authority – let alone the Bush administration’s sweeping view that the president has ‘exclusive and virtually unfettered control over the disposition of enemy soldiers and agents captured in time of war’ (an extravagant assertion with which we disagree) – to see that the restrictions Congress has imposed are unconstitutional.

There are different views at this time as to why Obama does not use the power he has at his disposal to close Guantanamo. This will be an ongoing debate as the situation develops in the coming months.

One possible consideration relates to domestic politics. A lot is being said about Obama’s legacy. Let us forego for the moment the notion of his legacy as seen negatively by others. Perhaps not enough emphasis is placed on the importance of a Democratic Party victory in the November 2016 presidential elections. This is an absolute condition in assuring the credibility of a positive endowment. In the case of Obama, a Republican victory would put into question his legacy. If his policies and actions could not even result in his party electing the next president, then what value would his heritage hold in the broader political spectrum of US politics?

For example, George W. Bush’s Republican Party lost the presidential elections in 2008. As a result, even though the potential of a positive legacy was far inferior to Obama’s, any chance for a positive endowment was eliminated. George W. Bush was left with his brother candidate Jeb Bush repeating in the latest phase of his campaign that “George W. Bush has ‘been a great president’ and that his father, George H. W. Bush ‘is the greatest man alive.’” Shortly after that, Jeb Bush had to abandon the campaign, as the result of a complete lack of support among the Republicans.

The Republican-controlled Congress strongly opposes the closing of the Guantanamo prison, even though some individual Republicans are in favour of shutting it down. Thus, by refusing to use his power to close Gitmo and relying instead entirely on the Republican-dominated Congress, Obama can blame the Congress for blocking it. This would, according to the logic, place the eventual Democratic presidential candidate in a positive light while reflecting poorly on the Republican candidate.

This red-herring approach (i.e. blaming the Republicans) is also used with regard to lifting the blockade against Cuba. In the January 2016 State of the Union address, Obama called on Congress to lift the blockade. He knows full well that, for the moment, Congress will not vote to do so, even though there is growing support – including among some Republicans – for eliminating this obstacle to trade, commerce and travel. However, while insisting that Congress lift the blockade, Obama has not used the enormous executive powers he has at his disposal to implement the many measures that could render much of the blockade ineffective. In fact, in 2015–2016, some companies outside of the US have been fined for violating the blockade. Will Obama change course and use his powers to mitigate the effects of the blockade on the Cuban people? Perhaps he will do so before and during his sojourn to Cuba on March 20–21, 2016.

The second possible angle to take into account regarding his refusal to use his power to close Guantanamo prison is related to the trip to Cuba, followed by his visit to Argentina. Obama has stated on many occasions, from 2014 to present, that his Cuba policy is designed to improve relations with Latin America. Immediately following the Cuba visit, the Argentine leg of his March 2016 trip to Latin America is a key element in this plan. This was confirmed by Ben Rhodes, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting.

One cannot underestimate the damage Guantanamo has done to US credibility on human rights, especially in Latin America. A very politically conscious region, many countries have suffered under US-imposed military dictators using torture and assassinations to remain in power. One of these countries is Argentina. Perhaps the White House has to consider this. Already the Plaza de Mayo grandmothers – family victims of these atrocities – are planning a demonstration against the Obama visit. The prestige of this Plaza de Mayo movement is so high that President Macri had to meet with the organizers on February 23, 2016 to deal with their complaints about his dictatorial methods.

These types of activities in Buenos Aires can have repercussions in other countries of Latin America, whose people also have a very negative perspective on US respect for human rights. Flying into Argentina with the dead weight of Guantanamo on Obama’s back will definitely not help as far as the people are concerned, even though the newly elected right-wing Argentine President Macri does not have any issues regarding Guantanamo. Perhaps Obama believes he can arrive in Argentina with his head high, carrying the February 23 statement as a badge: his attempt to close Guantanamo despite Congressional opposition.

Factors other than the two mentioned above may also be contributing to his refusal to close Guantanamo. Let us leave it up to others to weigh in on this important issue, so as to put pressure on Obama to close the prison and return Guantanamo Bay to Cuba.

Arnold August, a Canadian journalist and lecturer, is the author of Democracy in Cuba and the 1997–98 Elections and, more recently, Cuba and Its Neighbours: Democracy in Motion. Cuba’s neighbours under consideration are the US, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador. Arnold can be followed on Twitter@Arnold_August.

The Plight of Ana Belen Montes

The Plight 

of Ana Belen Montes

December 30, 2015

Editor's Note: The Cuban Committee for Humane 
Treatment  of Ana Belen Montes has asked us to 
alert our readers to her plight. Throughout the 
world many committees are being formed in order 
to support fair treatment for as well as freedom 
for this friend, who defied the vengeance of the 
empire in such a dignified manner, without giving 
up her love for Cuba and humanity in general. 
For more information, please contact the Cuban 
Organizing Committee,  Dr. Nestor Garcia Iturbe,  
at:sarahnes@cubarte.cult.cu.

To all our American progressive friends:
This email address is being protected
 from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled
to view it.

We are writing this note to you from Cuba with
a heartfelt desire to let you know about the
formation of the Cuba Committee, which
presently manages the campaign for a better
treatment and a possible pardon for Ana
Belen Montes. She is an American citizen
who was able to sense a different future
between our country of Cuba and the United
States. A future where both nations would
procure to conduct with each other within
the parameters of a relationship based
on friendship.

Ana Belen was able to foresee a change of
the United States government policy toward
Cuba that "would bring our government back
in harmony with the compassion and generosity
of the American people. It would allow Cubans
and Americans to learn from and share with
each other. It would enable Cuba to drop its
defensive measures and experiment more
easily with changes. And it would permit the two
neighbors to work together and with other
nations to promote tolerance and cooperation",
as we are slowly learning to do since
December 17, 2014.

However, and in spite of these changes, Ana
Belen Montes continues to be in isolation at the Fort
Worth facility in Texas where she has thus served
14 years from her original 25-year sentence,
even though her original sentencing was supposed
to allow her to have the right of supervised
communication. As we see more progress in the
United States and Cuba bilateral relations, the
isolation imposed on Ana Belen Montes' prison
conditions becomes more and more obsolete and
draconian. In obedience to her conscience, Ana
Belen broke US law and she has undergone boldly
and stoically the painful consequences of her
actions defending Cuba from attacks.

Yet, by the nature of her covert work she
prevented the triumph of extremist political ideas
purporting a supposed "danger posed by Cuba
to the US national security", and essentially
she was the American woman who, at the risk of
her own life, helped to save many of your own
young compatriots who would had died in vain
in our Cuban beaches, if the political extremists
were allowed to be successful in exciting a
confrontation, driven by uncompromising
propaganda and an error similar to the faults
of Intelligence that brought up the hostilities in Iraq.

Since a foolish and unnecessary war would have
separated us forever, you may consider that the progress
that has been made between our two countries since
December 17th, 2014, would have never had a chance
to become a reality without the vision and selfless sacrifice
of Ana Belen Montes. She is an American progressive
interpreter of the soul of America, the great nation that
emerged as a Revolution against the monarchy and
British imperialism, as it has been proclaimed in the first
declaration of the Rights of Man and in the drafting of
the first U.S. Constitution. Many Americans with her
convictions have died to abolish slavery and fighting
fascism.

When it was necessary to stand for peace, people like
Ana Belen Montes resisted the Vietnam war, where
wounded American lads and Vietnamese children lost
life and limbs unnecessarily. She, as many others
in the US, opposed the abuse and intolerance of the
nineteenth century, and the belligerent concepts of the
military-industrial complex of the twentieth and
twenty-first century.

People like her are today heirs to great figures of
American history, such as John Brown,
Frederick Douglass Levi Coffin, Abraham Lincoln,
Clara Barton, Mark Twain,Helen Keller,
Martin Luther King Jr., Lucius Walker and many
others, to name only a few. In the nineteenth century,
while Cuba was fighting for its independence,
more than 300 American volunteers came to fight
against Spanish colonialism with our Cuban
"Mambi" army.

This is why a century later, Cuba has named the doctors
brigade offered to the Unites States during the hurricane
Katrina, "Henry Reeve", in honor of this heroic American
internationalist. Cuban doctors are ready to serve
wherever they are called to serve, in remembrance of his
example.We honor those who are willing to forsake their
own lives as many of those idealists have previously done.
Acts like these shall always be a catalyst for joining,
rather than separating us.

The pace -loving and daring Ana Belen Montes has
joined us in this struggle for a better world, and
continues to unite us even more. She needs us today.
Let us fight the good fight for her, a fight which is bound
to succeed first in the improvement of more fair living
conditions in prison, and later in a possible pardon
by the US government for our latest American "Mambisa".

The Cuban Organizing Committee, 
Dr. Nestor Garcia Iturbe, can be reached at 
sarahnes@cubarte.cult.cu.

Toronto Celebrates Cuba's Contribution to Southern Africa Liberation Struggles

TML, November 28, 2015

Prof. Isaac Saney addresses the event, "Africa's Children Return," Toronto, November 13, 2015.

A lively and successful public event to mark the 40th Anniversary of Operación Carlota -- Cuba's mission to Angola from 1975 to 1988, as well as Cuba's other contributions to Africa, took place November 13-14 in Toronto. The event, "Africa's Children Return!," was held at the Steelworkers' Hall and organized by the Canadian Network on Cuba, the Chair of Black Canadian Studies at Dalhousie University, the Canada-Cuba Friendship Association (Toronto), A Different Booklist bookstore and others. The Cuban Consul General in Toronto Mr. Javier Dómokos Ruiz was also present at the event.

The opening session of the program began with a tribute to Jorge Risquet, an historic personality and member of Cuba's revolutionary leadership who played a key role in supporting the anti-colonial struggles in Africa from the early 1960s. Professor Isaac Saney, a Cuba specialist, author and lecturer at Dalhousie University, paid a moving tribute to the life and work of Risquet, highlighting his important contributions as Cuba's main diplomat and negotiator during the period Cuba was assisting the Angolan people to secure their independence in the face of war with South Africa. A minute's silence was observed to honour this great Cuban revolutionary and internationalist who passed away on September 28.

Left: Prof. Saney pays tribute to Jorge Risquet (pictured behind);
right: Nicolas Hernandez Guillen.

The other presentation at the opening session was made by Nicolas Hernandez Guillen, the grandson of Cuba's National Poet, Nicholas Cristobal Guillen (1901-1989). Nicholas Hernandez Guillen is a noted scholar and president of the Nicolas Guillen Foundation which works to preserve and popularize the work of Cuba's National Poet. The main theme of the presentation highlighted the work of the great Afro-Cuban poet to render and champion the contributions of the Afro-Cuban people to nation-building in Cuba as well as of infusing African themes, songs and rhythms into literary form. It was noted in the presentation that Guillen always sympathized with the African peoples' anti-colonial struggles, particularly after he was exiled from Cuba as a result of his political activities in the 1950s. He subsequently wrote poems such as "Mau Mau" about the Kikuyu people's fight against colonialism in Kenya. Hernandez Guillen noted that when Cuba intervened to assist in Africa it was because Cubans in general, and especially Afro Cubans, identified with Africa, their motherland. He noted that his grandfather's life and work helped forge closer fraternal ties between Cuba and Africa.

The second day opened with the screening of a film depicting some of Cuba's contributions to the African people's independence struggles in the Congo and elsewhere. Professor Isaac Saney then outlined Cuba's decisive role in supporting the independence struggles of the peoples of southern Africa, in particular, the military and material assistance provided to the Angolan people to secure their independence in 1975. The new Angolan republic was under direct military threat from the South African apartheid state which saw the nascent black "communist" government as a threat. Professor Saney highlighted the importance of Operación Carlota (1975-1988), the 15-year campaign in which Cuba assisted Angola to defeat the South African military invasion which had resulted in over 1.5 million people killed and billions of dollars of lost revenues to Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and other countries in the region. More than 330,000 Cubans served with Operación Carlota and 2,000 Cubans died defending Angolan independence and freedom. It was pointed out that Cuba bore the cost of this enormous act of solidarity entirely by themselves using their own resources and personnel.

Professor Saney drew particular attention to the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in which the combined Angolan and Cuban forces dealt a mortal blow to the South African army -- the nail in the coffin of the apartheid regime. The victory at Cuito Cuanavale raised the prestige of Cuba in the eyes of the African peoples and strengthened the movement to bring an end to the apartheid regime in South Africa. The victory also had the effect of consolidating the Cuban revolution itself. Professor Saney pointed out that the significance of the military victory at Cuito Cuanavale was acknowledged by Nelson Mandela, who in a speech in Havana in 1991, stated that it was the Cuban and Angolan victory in this epic battle that directly contributed to securing his freedom after 28 years in the prisons of South Africa and helped to bring down the apartheid system itself.

Professor John Kirk, another Cuba specialist at Dalhousie University and author of the newly-published Without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism, spoke on Cuba's enormous contribution in the sphere of public health and other forms of assistance to other nations and people around the world. He highlighted Cuba's exemplary work to confront and control the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014, as well as Cuba's overall contributions internationally in health care, literacy and other fields. While many of the so-called advanced countries were cringing at the thought of intervening in the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, Cuba simply took action as part of its social-responsibility to humanity, Professor Kirk noted. He paid tribute to the fearless Cuba health care workers who carried out their duties with skill and professionalism. He also noted that since that experience, Cuba has been providing training to large groups of people in various countries on how to contain Ebola based on their experience in Africa. Professor Kirk also noted Cuba's selfless efforts to educate and train without cost young people from around the world as doctors, surgeons and other medical professionals -- particularly those from countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean who are in need of medical professionals. Professor Kirk said that in his experience the Cuban medical system is one of the finest in the world and that Canada and other countries could learn much from how health care is guaranteed as a right in Cuba.

The final presentation of the program was an informative film about the popular mass movement in Burkina Faso that overthrew the corrupt 27-year rule of Blaise Compaoré in 2014. Compaoré took power after the assassination of President Thomas Sankara, the popular leader of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. Sankara, who defended the independence of Burkina Faso, brought in many social reforms modelled after the Cuban revolution, which he admired. The film, introduced by Amet Lo of the Justice Committee for Thomas Sankara and the Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa, shows the youth and students organizing to demand that Compaoré step down. It depicts their striving for political empowerment and a democratic government in Burkina Faso that reflects the aspirations of the people.