Many Cubans, including leaders of opinion in our society, have expressed their solidarity with those who have recently suffered the painful, deplorable poisoning of their pets.
The necessary clarification of the facts surrounding these cases has been demanded, along with laws to punish anyone causing harm to the species with which we share the planet, including those that accompany us in our immediate environments – about which positive reports have appeared recently in official media, indicating forthcoming implementation of new legislation.
Several of articles published following these events, including one in Granma, made clear that allegations that State Security is “responsible for the death of dogs, as retaliation for the activism of their owners,” are widely rejected.
We must continue to ask ourselves where this thesis came from, no matter how far-fetched it may seem, since it has been widely disseminated by the private media system financed by the United States, with a long track record of fake news and distortions about Cuba.
The Internet allows us to determine the first time something is said about a given issue: if you search Twitter, you will find that it was U.S. Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, a member of the anti-Cuban mafia in that country, who on February 2, when no one had launched the theory blaming Cuban authorities for the poisoning of pets. She quoted a tweet from the owner of a private U.S. funded media outlet that regularly contributes to smear campaigns against Cuba, who gave her the scoop on this opportunistic slander.
Nothing unusual. A quick look at Ms. Salazar’s profile features repeated calls for more blockade against Cuba and opposition to the new President’s removal of our country from the spurious, absurd list of state sponsors of terrorism, something that harms all of us who live on the island, regardless of our political positions. “I strongly reject any attempt by this administration to remove the murderous regime of Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism,” she stated, just a few days ago.
On February 6, following a second case of poisoning, the same author of the tweet that María Elvira Salazar quoted, took up her thesis, which was re-tweeted by none other than Frank Calzón, who has a long history of participation in CIA-sponsored terrorist organizations, like Alpha 66 and Abdala. He has reappeared in “human rights struggles” financed by the U.S. government through USAID, directing an anti-Cuban propaganda project from Freedom House, an entity Washington has used for decades to attack countries and organizations not to its liking.
In the wake of the poisonings, more than a few people have asked themselves who would be interested in disrupting the dialogue underway between state institutions and animal protection groups in Cuba, when an important step is about to be taken: the entering into effect of desired animal welfare legislation. The answer is obvious: individuals like Calzon and Salazar, the same people who have no qualms about lying, as long as it adds grist to the mill attempting to produce unrest and division among Cubans.
I sincerely hope that this type of brutal behavior toward animals that deserve our affection and solidarity will cease, once and for all, that regulations will be established and that a culture will be promoted to prevent it, but these changes will not come from people like María Elvira Salazar or Frank Calzón, true peddlers of poison. Solidarity is the opposite of hate. Justice and truth will never be advanced by those who call for more blockade and endlessly fabricate lies to justify their dream of a Cuba bloodied by violence.
(Taken from Granma)