Dear Editor,
Sunday 12 April, I was part of a solidarity march from St Andrew’s Church to the Square of the Revolution, and later a rally at Guerrilla Bar. During the proceedings a video showing past and present conditions in Cuba, was shown.
This included a statement by a US citizen from Colorado, who claimed that treatment in the US did not help his wife who was suffering from Alzheimer, but after six months in Cuba, using a drug that Cuba has recently developed, there was marked improvement in her cognitive skills.
At the rally at the Square of the Revolution, we were reminded of the horrors of apartheid and the plight of orphans in Southern Africa. It was Cuba that provided shelter, food and education for these displaced orphans, on the Isle of Youth, giving them hope and a reason to live.
When the Cuban Ambassador, who spoke in impeccable English, described the hardships facing ordinary Cubans, tears came to my eyes, and I wondered if someone could say what did the Cuban leadership and people do to deserve this punitive embargo for several decades.
Guyanese must not distance themselves from this unfolding human tragedy, and again must pose the question why? For brevity and for the benefit of young readers I remind us of the following; when Dr Fidel Castro Ruz took charge of Cuba in January of 1959, it was in the wake of Batista turning Cuba into the playground of wealthy Americans and Cubans.
A place of immorality, similar to the present Epstein revelations. In April 1959, when Castro visited the US, he met with prominent leaders including the vice president, there included a meeting in Washington, he made it clear he was no communist, but wanted to give every Cuban black, brown, and white a better life. This is significant in the light of the heat and height of an all-consuming cold war.
However, the beneficiaries of the Batista, banalities in Cuba and parts of the United States were unhappy, and unforgiving, refusing to accept the validity of the 1959 popular uprising. So, this very month in 1961, aided by certain elements there was the “bay of pigs” invasion, an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Cuban government.
And, of course there is the well-known but incorrectly described Cuban missile crisis, the following year November 1962, when the two ‘Ks’ Kennedy and Khruschev brought us back from the brink of disaster. What the western media do not say is that part of the deal was not only for the soviets to remove their missiles in Cuba pointing towards the US, but for the Americans simultaneously removing their missiles in Italy and Turkey aimed at parts of the Soviet Union.
We in Guyana must not forget the Cubana Air disaster in 1976, intended to intimidate and, as the boys say “manners” independent thinkers. In other words, we are seeing today a repeat of a level of intolerance at several levels, inconsistent with the underpinnings and meaning of democracy, independence, and the international rule for people to choose their own path to liberty and love.
It is unnecessary for me to burden this letter with more details but, save again to pose the question; what crime, what deed, have the people of the Republic of Cuba done to deserve this inhumane punishment.
I appeal to all Guyanese, irrespective of religious or political beliefs and background, to speak up and let your voices be heard to support the people of Cuba.
I believe they are on the right side of history and we must fearlessly stand by them, fearless, because on Sunday many friends were afraid to show their faces.
In all this we ought not to ignore the influence of ideology; remember England 1642-49, America 1776, France 1789, Russia 1905, Mexico 1910 -1919, Vietnam 1946 – 1975, and South Africa 1948-1994.
Yours truly,
Elder Hamilton Green
