In May 2004 and July 2006, George Bush approved the report of the 'Commission for the Assistance to a Free Cuba', a plan to overthrow the legitimate government of Cuba and to recolonise the country.
The plan imposes measures on Cuba now, designed to bring an end to the revolution. The economic blockade has been tightened: the US Treasury has seized Cuban assets frozen in the US since the Cuban revolution; there is US pressure on international banks to stop handling Cuban accounts; remittances from Cuban Americans to their families have been cut off; and visits by them banned, using the device of redefining "family".
$80 million is being distributed to counter revolutionaries on the island and the radio-electronic war has been stepped up with more transmitters pouring out counter revolutionary broadcasts.
US citizens face jail for visiting the island, and sales of medical equipment to Latin American countries have been banned if there is a possibility that the equipment may be used by Cuban doctors.
This last ban would affect Operation Miracle, which is restoring sight to millions of low income Latin Americans. Products containing Cuban nickel are also banned from import into the US. The recent eviction of a Cuban trade delegation from a Hilton Hotel in Norway and a worldwide ban by Hilton on Cuban guests is another manifestation of this policy.
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Black flags in Havana: the flags, in Anti-Imperialism Park opposite the US Interest Section, obscure the US's electronic billboard propaganda.
Photo: Workers
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The Cuba Coordinator
There is even a US government official known as the "Cuba Coordinator", one Caleb McCarry, who would presumably become the Colonial Governor once he has secured regime change. He has the same duties and title as Paul Bremmer had in Iraq.
McCarry has an interesting background. He played a key role in the US-funded destabilisation campaign designed to overthrow the democratically elected president of Haiti, President Aristides. The former Republican Party official, linked closely to the US intelligence services, directed his placeman in Haiti, Stanley Lucas, to meet up in the Dominican Republic with Convergence, the anti-Aristides coalition comprising the organisers of a previous military coup and remnants of the hated Tonton Macoute.
It would appear that McCarry and Lucas were hand picked by the US State Department to link US funding to the opposition they were manufacturing. The rest is history. As the band of killers, criminals and mercenaries from former regimes took Cap Hatien in the north of Haiti, US embassy officials in the capital Port au Prince gave Aristides the choice of remaining unprotected against McCarry and Lucas's band of killers or board a US plane to Africa and exile.
Planned recolonisation
So this is the man the US has appointed, not only to tighten up the blockade to overthrow the Cuban government, but to organise the recolonisation of the island.
His remit from the US government is that the blockade will continue until certain conditions are in place inside the island: all properties would be returned to former owners within one year, including all the homes from which millions would be dislodged; all nationalised property would be returned to previous owners such as the Mafia and companies such as United Fruit or their successors, overseen by the US government via a US Commission for the Restitution of Property Rights.
All aspects of the economy would be privatised, including health and education; all cooperatives would be dissolved and the grand estates of old restored; social security and pensions would end and a special work programme for the elderly would be introduced forcing them to work as long as their health holds out. This would be overseen by the US government through the Standing Committee for Economic Reconstruction.
Maximum priority would be given to repression of Party members, trade unionists, members of other mass organisations and those 'government sympathisers', under the direction of the US State Department. Maybe the US base at Guantanamo Bay would have a new purpose!
Now, you may think that this will never happen, that the EU would condemn the plan for what it is – a gross violation of a country's sovereignty and unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation. Surely, after the calamity of Iraq, the British government would not support it. Think again!
Top-level meetings
Workers has learnt that unelected EU Commissioners have met several times with McCarry, the US Cuba Coordinator. The issue was raised at last years US/EU summit with a view to securing US/EU coordination on the US strategy.
The EU has already banned all high level diplomatic contact with Cuba. From last June to date, the EU and the US have been negotiating to achieve a plan of action to bring EU policy on Cuba in line with that of the US.
The Finnish President of the EU at the time would not agree to the plan, but with Germany, whose Chancellor is so close to Bush, now holding the Presidency, it is expected that in June 2007, when a reviewed EU policy on Cuba is to be announced, the new policy will be identical and integrated with US policy.
All this is being done without the knowledge of most national parliaments in the EU countries by the unelected EU Commissioners. It is being led by Britain, the Czech Republic and Poland, with opposition coming from Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Ireland with other EU members in between.
Not only does this represent a gross violation of Cuba's sovereignty and independence as well as interference in Cuba's internal affairs, but it demonstrates how, not just British, but EU foreign policy is now being determined in Washington. It also represents interference in the internal affairs Britain, as it takes away from our country the right to determine our own foreign policy.
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Out of their own mouths...
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The following is an extract from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's briefing with Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and "Cuba Transition Coordinator" Caleb McCarry, held in Washington, DC, on 10 July 2006. The full transcript is available on http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/68776.htm.
QUESTION: A draft of the report mentions classified annexes. Is there a part of this report that will not be made public?
MR. MCCARRY: Yes, there is.
QUESTION: And – okay. Could you also address – your colleagues spoke earlier about helping a transition government keep security in Cuba. That implies, possibly, some sort of American military or police assistance. Can you talk at all about what sort of military security plans you have in place? And do you envisage any possible, sort of, confrontation with Venezuela over Cuba in that respect?
MR. MCCARRY: Well, the report, in terms of perspective recommendations, does include a recommendation regarding providing support during a transition, as authorized by U.S. law, to assist the Cuban security forces in making the transition to working under a democratic government. That –
QUESTION: Does that involve the deployment of U.S. forces?
MR. MCCARRY: That's – I just gave you the – recited the part of the report that does refer to, prospectively, in the future with a transition government, the kinds of assistance that might be provided.
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