The institution – that emerged amidst defamatory media campaigns, airplane hijackings and terrorist attacks on a Revolution that was defending itself and taking the first steps in its emancipatory project – issued a statement on its anniversary recognizing “Cuban doctors who are fighting today against the pandemic in more than 20 countries. They risk their lives, as they have done on so many times, to save others, and they leave a moral example that is intolerable for neoliberal politicians and ideologues.”

The document denounces the U.S. government which continues the same script and relentlessly deploys “its powerful machinery to produce and disseminate lies to attack the generosity of the Cuban Revolution and its heirs.”

As inspired, today as on the first day, by Bolívar, Martí and Fidel, and nurtured by the luminous personality of Haydée Santamaría, the anti-colonial thinking of Roberto Fernández Retamar and the vanguard vision of Mariano Rodríguez, and the best creators of the region: Martínez Estrada, Galich, Benedetti, García Márquez and many others, the Casa reaffirmed its vocation for justice.

The anniversary statement condemned the reality that “Blacks and Latinos lead statistics on infections and deaths in the United States. The indigenous people of the North and South of the Americas, traditionally deprived of their rights, are extremely vulnerable. Informal workers, the homeless, those living in precarious housing in the suburbs of cities, immigrants without documents or destination and a long etcetera seem predestined to certain death, even if they do not appear in official figures.”

In the text, the renowned cultural institution supports the open letter entitled “Simply, Enough” from the Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity, which, among other crucial issues, rejects the cynicism of those who promote the campaign against Cuba’s vocation for solidarity and internationalism and do not say a word about the blockade that prevents the acquisition of supplies needed in the COVID-19 battle.

“We are celebrating this anniversary in an emergency situation for the region and for the entire planet. A double pandemic is raging among the poorest: the new coronavirus and neoliberalism,” the Casa states, adding, “Many artists, victims of the dismantling of cultural policies and of the current circumstances, today find themselves total unprotected.”

The statement notes that the coronavirus has exacerbated the barbarity: the violent, fascist, xenophobic, racist culture of hate. “In the face of these dark tendencies, the Casa, as the honorable representatives of the Latin American and Caribbean peoples, is committed to a culture of peace, of brotherhood among human beings. A culture, moreover, that lives respectfully with Mother Earth.”

As the cradle of regional integration for the intellectual vanguard, and as in the difficult times of its foundation, the Casa insists that it continues to work “day by day, in the midst of the current crisis, to maintain its links with those who defend, the authentic culture of emancipation in Latin America, the Caribbean and within the United States itself.”

In a statement to Prensa Latina, Díaz-Ca nel stated that a long time ago Europe proposed to establish a relationship of equality with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, but that this has yet to be achieved.

Thus, he noted, the growing disparities and differences linked to development. There also exist different points of view on how we regard the issue, above all those relating to the implementation of development policies.

There is dissatisfaction among the nations or our region in regards to what has been achieved through this bioregional alliance, noted Díaz-Canel, in Brussels to attend the Second CELAC-EU Summit, June 10-11.

(Granma)

As usual, the Bolivarian leader was gracious and respectful to all those present. When anyone asked for the floor to make a clarification, he granted it as soon as possible. When one of the members of parliament, who had warmly greeted Chavez as did other opposition members, asked to speak, in a great political gesture Chavez interrupted his report presentation and gave her the floor. What surprised me was the extreme severity of the rebuke, launched against the president with words that really put to test Chavez’ chivalry and cold blood. The MPs statement was undoubtedly an insult, although this was not her intention. He alone was capable of calmly responding to the offensive word ‘thief’ that she had used to judge the president’s conduct in terms of the adopted laws and measures.

After verifying the exact term that was used, Chavez responded to the individual challenge for debate with an elegant and sedated phrase, “An eagle does not hunt flies,” and without adding another word he calmly proceeded with his report.

It represented an insurmountable test of mental agility and self control. Another woman, of unquestionable humble origins, expressed her astonishment in moving and heartfelt words over what she had just witnessed and the overwhelming majority present broke out in applause. Judging by the sheer volume, the applause seemed to be coming from all of Chavez’ friends and many of his adversaries as well.

Chavez’ report lasted more than nine hours without the people ever losing interest. Maybe because of that incident, his words were heard by an immeasurable number of people. Many times I have given extensive speeches on difficult topics, always striving to make the ideas I was transmitting understandable. And I was really at a loss to explain how that soldier of humble origins was able to keep his mind so agile and his incomparable talent to deliver such an address without losing his voice or strength.

To me politics is an extensive and decisive battle of ideas. Publicity is the work of publicists, who perhaps know the techniques to get listeners, spectators and readers to do what they are told to do. If that science, or art, or whatever they call it is employed for the good of human beings, they deserve some respect; the same respect merited by those who teach people how to think.

Venezuela today is the site of a great battle. Internal and external enemies of the revolution prefer chaos —as Chavez has said— to the just, organized and peaceful development of the country. Being accustomed to analyzing the events that have occurred over more than half a century, and to observing, with greater foundations for judgment, the eventful history of our time and human behavior, one learns to almost predict the future development of events.

To promote a far-reaching Revolution in Venezuela was no easy task. Venezuela is a country full of glorious history, but extraordinarily rich in resources that are of vital importance to the imperialist powers that have, and continue to map out guidelines in the world.

Political leaders the likes of Romulo Betancourt and Carlos Andres Perez lack the most minimal personal qualities to carry out such a task. Furthermore, Betancourt was excessively vain and hypocritical. He had many opportunities to learn about the situation in Venezuela. As a young man he was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Costa Rica. He had a strong grasp of Latin American history and the role of imperialism, of poverty rates, and the ruthless plundering of natural resources in South America. He could not ignore that in a vastly rich country such as Venezuela, the majority of the people lived in extreme poverty. The archival footage is irrefutable proof of that reality of life.

As Chavez has explained many times, for more than half a century Venezuela was the world’s major oil exporter. At the beginning of the 20^th century, European and Yankee warships intervened to support an illegal and tyrannical government that handed the country over to foreign monopolies. It is well known that incalculable funds flowed out of Venezuela to swell the wealth of monopolies and the Venezuelan oligarchy.

I remember when I visited Venezuela for the first time —after the triumph of the Revolution, to give thanks for the support and friendliness afforded to our struggle—, oil was worth barely two dollars a barrel.

Afterwards when I went to Venezuela to take part in the swearing-in ceremony for Chavez, the day he took an oath on the “dying constitution” held by Calderas, oil was worth seven dollars a barrel, despite 40 years having passed since my first visit and almost 30 years since the “distinguished” Richard Nixon had cancelled the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold and the US began to buy the world with pieces of paper. For a century, Venezuela was a supplier of cheap fuel to the empire’s economy and a net exporter of capital to developed and rich countries.

Why did these repugnant situations dominate for more than a century?

Latin American Armed Forces’ officials went to their privileged schools in the United States, where the Olympic champions of democracies gave them special courses on maintaining imperialist and bourgeois order. Coups d’état were always welcomed if their objective was to “defend democracies,” safeguarding and guaranteeing this repugnant system, in league with the oligarchies. Whether voters knew how to read and write, whether they had homes, employment, medical services and education were unimportant as long as the sacred right to property was maintained. Chavez brilliantly explains this situation. No one knows as well as him what happened in our countries.

Even worse was that the sophisticated nature of weapons, the complex workings and use of modern armaments that require years of learning, the training of highly qualified specialists, and the almost prohibitive cost of such weapons for the weak economies of the continent created a very strong mechanism of subordination and dependence. The US Government, employing mechanisms that did not require prior consultation with the other governments, set guidelines and policies for the military. The most sophisticated techniques of torture were passed on to the so-called security agencies to interrogate those who rebelled against the dirty and repugnant system of hunger and exploitation.

Despite all this, many honest officials, tired of so many indignations, bravely attempted to eradicate that embarrassing treason against the history of our independence struggles.

In Argentina, military official Juan Domingo Peron was able to design an independent and worker-based policy in his country. A bloody military coup overthrew him, expelled him from his country, and kept him in exile from 1955 to 1973. Years later, under the aegis of the Yankees, they once again attacked the government, murdering, torturing and disappearing tens of thousands of Argentines. They were not even able to defend the country during the colonial war that England carried out against Argentina with the conspiratorial support of the United States and henchman Augusto Pinochet with his cohort of fascists officers trained at the School of the Americas.

In Santo Domingo, Colonel Francisco Caamaño Deño; in Peru, General Velazco Alvarado; in Panama, General Omar Torrijos; and in other countries captains and officers who gave their lives anonymously were the antithesis of the traitorous behavior embodied by Somoza, Trujillo, Stroessner and the cruel tyrannies in Uruguay, El Salvador and other countries in Central and South America. The revolutionary military personnel did not expound elaborate theories, nor was this to be expected. They were not academicians educated in political science, but rather men with a sense of honor who loved their country.

But how far can honest men —who deplore injustice and crime— go along the path of revolution?

Venezuela is an outstanding example of the theoretical and practical role that the military can play in the revolutionary struggle for the independence of our peoples, as they did two centuries ago under the brilliant leadership of Simon Bolivar.

Chavez, a Venezuelan military officer of humble origins, stepped into the political life of Venezuela inspired by the ideas of the Liberator of America. On Bolivar, an inexhaustible source of inspiration, Marti wrote: “he won sublime battles with soldiers barefoot and half naked [...] who never fought so much, nor fought better, in the world for freedom …”

“… Of Bolivar, he said, you can talk only after climbing up a mountain to use it as a platform [...] or after freeing a bunch of peoples united in one fist …”

“… what he did not do, still remains undone today, because Bolivar still has things to do in the Americas.”

More than half a century later the famous, award-winning poet Pablo Neruda wrote a poem on Bolivar which Chavez frequently quotes. The final stanza reads:

“I met Bolivar one long morning, in Madrid, at the head of the Fifth Regiment, Father, I said, you are or not or who you are? And looking at the Mountain Headquarters, he said:

‘I wake up every hundred years when the people awaken.’ ”

But the Bolivarian leader is not limited to theoretical elaborations. His concrete measures are implemented without hesitation. The English-speaking Caribbean countries, which have to contend with modern and luxurious Yankee cruise ships for the right to receive tourists in their hotels, restaurants and recreation centers, quite often foreign-owned, but at least they generate employment, will always welcome fuel from Venezuela, supplied by that country with special payment facilities, when the barrel reached prices that sometimes exceeded US $100.

In the tiny state of Nicaragua, the land of Sandino, the “General of Free Men”, the Central Intelligence Agency organized the exchange of guns for drugs through Luis Posada Carriles after he was rescued from a Venezuelan prison. This operation resulted in thousands of deaths and mutilations among that heroic people. Nicaragua has also received the solidarity support of Venezuela. These are unprecedented examples in the history of this hemisphere.

The ruinous Free Trade Agreement that the Yankees intend to impose on Latin America, as they did with Mexico, would turn Latin America and the Caribbean not only into the region with the world’s worst distribution of wealth, which already is. It will turn it into a huge market where corn and other staple foods that are traditional sources of plant and animal protein would be displaced by subsidized U.S. crops, as is already happening in Mexico.

Used cars and other goods are displacing Mexican industry manufactures; job opportunities are decreasing in both cities and the countryside; the drug and arms trades are escalating, growing numbers of youngsters aged 14 or 15 years are turned into fearsome criminals. Never before, buses or other vehicles full of people who even paid to be transported across the border in search of employment, have been kidnapped and mass murdered. Known figures grow from year to year. More than ten thousand people are now losing their lives each year.

It is impossible to analyze the Bolivarian Revolution without taking these realities into account.

The armed forces, in such social circumstances, are forced into endless and wearisome wars.

Honduras is not an industrialized, financial or commercial country, or even a major producer of drugs. However, some of its cities break the record of drug-related violent deaths. There instead stands the banner of a major base of the strategic forces of the United States Southern Command. What is happening there, and is already happening in more than one Latin American country, is the Dantesque picture painted above, from which some countries have begun to escape. Among them and first, Venezuela, not just because it has considerable natural resources, but because it has been rescued from the insatiable greed of foreign corporations and has sparked considerable political and social forces capable of great achievements. Venezuela today is quite another from that I went to only 12 years ago, which had already deeply impressed me, seeing it as a Phoenix rising again from the ashes of its history.

Mentioning the mysterious computer of Raul Reyes, in the hands of the U.S. and the CIA after the attack organized and supplied by them in full Ecuadorian territory, which killed Marulanda’s replacement as well as several unarmed American youths, a version has been released that Chávez supported the “narco-terrorist organization FARC.” The true terrorists and drug traffickers in Colombia are the paramilitaries that supplied drugs to American dealers to sell them in the largest drug market in the world: the United States.

I never spoke with Marulanda, but I did speak with honored writers and intellectuals who came to know him well. I discussed his thoughts and history. He was undoubtedly a brave and revolutionary man, which I do not hesitate to affirm. I explained that I did not agree with him on his tactics. In my view, two or three thousand men would have been more than enough to defeat a conventional army in the territory of Colombia. His mistake was to devise a revolutionary army with almost as many soldiers as the enemy. That was extremely expensive.

Today, technology has changed many aspects of war; the forms of struggle also change. In fact, the clash of conventional forces between powers possessing nuclear weapons has become impossible. We do not have to have the knowledge of Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and thousands of other scientists to understand that. It is a latent danger and the result is known or should be known. Thinking beings could take millions of years to repopulate the planet.

Nevertheless, I hold the duty to fight, which in itself is something innate in man, to find solutions that will enable a more reasoned and dignified existence.

Since I met Chavez, now as president of Venezuela, from the final stages of the Pastrana administration, I always saw him interested in promoting peace in Colombia. He facilitated meetings between the Colombian government and the revolutionaries that took place in Cuba, note well, on the basis of reaching a true peace agreement and not a surrender.

I do not recall ever having heard Chavez promote anything but peace in Colombia, nor mention Raul Reyes. We always addressed other issues. He particularly appreciates the Colombians, millions of them live in Venezuela and everyone benefits from the social measures taken by the Revolution, and the people of Colombia appreciate that almost as much as those of Venezuela.

I wish to express my solidarity and appreciation to General Henry Rangel Silva, Head of Strategic Operational Command of the Armed Forces, and newly appointed Minister of Defense of the Bolivarian Republic. I had the honor of meeting him when he visited Chavez in Cuba a few months ago. I could see in him an intelligent, well-meant, capable, and yet modest man. I heard his calm, brave and clear speech, which inspired confidence.

He led the organization of the most perfect parade of a Latin American military force that I have ever seen. We hope it will serve as encouragement and example to other brother armies.

The Yankees had nothing to do with that parade, and would not be able to do better.

It is extremely unfair to criticize Chavez for the resources invested in the excellent weapons which were displayed there. I’m sure they will never be used to attack a neighboring country. The weapons, resources and knowledge must go along the paths of  unity to see America, as  The Liberator dreamed, ”… the greatest nation in the world, greatest not so much by virtue of her area and wealth as by her freedom and glory..”

Everything unites us more than  Europe or the United States itself, except the lack of independence imposed on us for 200 years.

Fidel Castro Ruz

January 25, 2012

8:32 p.m.

Rocha was one of the most important Latin American filmmakers, and the father of the new Latin American cinema. ¿The award also has a special meaning for me. I was born the same day of the creator of Entranced Earth and God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun,¿ said Padron.

The Cuban filmmaker received the award on Saturday, which is sponsored by Prensa Latina and granted by the foreign press accredited at the Havana festival, which distinguished his film Habanastation by consensus.

Speaking about the festival jury´s decision, famous movie critic and French writer living in Spain, Sergio Berrocal, highlighted how the filmmaker used autobiographical elements to make a story that goes beyond the peculiar, and could happen anywhere in the world.

Berrocal also highlighted the universal values in the film, such as generosity and solidarity, and the capacity to achieve a direct and deep link with the audience.

(Prensa Latina)

(Published Telesur)

Translation: Machetera

The capacity of the Latin American left to go straight ahead without looking to either side, without long term plans, without observing the world in which it lives, never ceases to amaze me. Without taking into account whose life is at stake in matters that are not strategic, nor even tactical, what matters is always the sacrifice, proving that one is not betraying the highest revolutionary values, “never bowing one’s head” like that person in the story by Osvaldo Soriano, “A sus plantas rendido un León” [A defeated lion at their feet].*

It’s sad that the Bolivarian government was forced to deport comrade Joaquín Pérez Becerra, a comrade from the Bolivarian movement in greater Colombia.  It’s sad and regrettable, it’s painful and shameful, but I don’t blame the [Venezuelan] Bolivarian Government in the least, rather I sympathize, I feel solidarity with my comrades who had to carry out this abominable act, and above all with our comrade the Comandante, who must have suffered greatly.

The fact is that Joaquín was not in Maicao being chased by a pack from the AUC [United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia] and forced to cross the border, nor was he in hiding, nor even terribly upset.  He was in Sweden putting together his publication, in peace.  So then, he hops on a plane, comes to Venezuela and all of a sudden lands at Maiquetía. And before he arrives, there’s a call from Santos to Chávez, “Hey pal, how’s it going? Somebody I’ve been looking for is headed there, get him for me and send him over, ok? You’re not going to wreck our new friendship, are you?”

Joaquín, in mid-air, was already sentenced, and so was the Bolivarian Government. It’s worth mentioning, for all the obtuse comrades that can only see straight ahead, that until the moment in which Joaquín took to the skies, and Santos picked up the phone to call Chávez, the Bolivarian Government had absolutely nothing to do with the subject.  After Santos’s call, there were two options remaining.

1. Arrest him.

2. Don’t arrest him.

You don’t have to be a genius to realize that both were shitty options. If he were arrested, the entire left staring straight ahead would be sure to pile on, and if he weren’t, you’d be screwing with a thuggish, bellicose neighbor with backup. If you do it you’re fucked. If you don’t do it you’re fucked. If you do it you’re a piece of shit, if you don’t do it, you’re a piece of shit, depending on who’s doing the judging, whether they’re your brothers or semi-peaceful neighbors.

It was a strategy that put Venezuela in a lose-lose situation, and the Colombian rightwing in a win-win. When Joaquín got on the plane, the Colombian rightwing won. When Joaquín got on the plane and Santos picked up the phone, the Comandante was already a prisoner, not Joaquín. It was Comandante Chávez who was made prisoner of a decision that he ought never have had put before him.

Now the question is, how did they manage to put Chávez in such a tight spot?  And of course to answer that we must first answer the first question: Who told Pérez Becerra to get on that plane?  Who told him that everything was ok?  Who gave him assurances that everything was in order?  I’m sure that if someone told him that the Venezuelan government was not apprised and not prepared to defend him, and that Santos would be riled, he’d never have come.  I’m sure he must have asked several times about his security and someone told him, “everything’s ok buddy, we’re waiting for you here.”

The timing was ideal. Negotiations in Cartegena between Lobo and Zelaya, a reopening of trade and relations between Venezuela and Colombia, and the expected extradition of Makled. It was just the moment to make Chávez choose between his leftist friends on the continent, or return to the days of closed borders, of the accusations that his government is an outlaw government that defends terrorists, a return to militarization at the border states of Zulia, Táchira and Apure.

One day after the Joaquín Pérez Becerra affair, that asshole who still thinks he’s the Spanish president, Zapatero, denied a report that the most wanted member of the ETA was on his way to Venezuela. Coincidence? Part of the plan?  Maybe yes, maybe no. What’s certain is that whoever put Joaquín on that plane would seem to be working for that side, along with Zapatero, and it would appear that they didn’t expect the response from Chávez and so Zapatero was left without a part to play in the movie.

I believe that Joaquín understands all of this; that he knows that you don’t put a strategic operation at risk for anything in the entire world, and that if a militant loses his bearings and makes things too easy for his opponent, putting the entire operation at risk, one will suffer the consequences.  He knows perfectly well that there is a set order and line of command, a compartmentalization of information, and that the information is divulged when the conditions are right, and that unity among revolutionary forces is what guarantees victory.

He knows all that, I’m sure, and I want to believe that he was not the one who violated the basic norms of militancy.  Believe me, I wouldn’t say the same if this were a case of displaced persons being forced to return to a place where AUC commandos awaited them; the Colombian people deserve a defense that has been lacking on this side, but….this man was in Sweden!  That’s why I ask these questions, that’s why it seems to me like foul play, a trick put together with the consent of someone here, and that’s why I denounce it as a setup, because it was unnecessary, avoidable, and stupidly unjustifiable.

We are going to elections in a year.  The Bolivarian Revolution should be confirmed once again for President Chávez’ last and most important presidential term, and for that we’re looking at two basic fronts in the struggle, both with the premise of granting a better life to the majority of the people. For the people who seek to consolidate their definitive independence, these fronts are housing and food sovereignty, which would allow for increased happiness for the people, guarantee a good life for the country’s children, allow us to prove that socialism is more productive than capitalism and consolidate a new model of development and production in the region. All that implies:

1. Not being at war.

2. Not being forced to increase military spending.

3. Not having a closed border (just try to win an election without sanitary napkins or diapers).

4. Stopping the murder for hire of popular leaders in agricultural zones.

5. Being able to rely on construction materials to build housing.

The main task is to guarantee that the objectives set for the election in 2012 are met, that homes, buildings, and communities can be built and that crops be planted, and in that we’ve decided to bet on the continuity of the revolutionary process, giving our best day to day, so that later in 2013 and 2019 when we face the need to consolidate the revolution beyond a particular leader, the revolution can walk on its own two feet, socialism will be consolidated and the bourgeois state will be transformed into the people’s power.

The times in which we live are not our best moments, the world continues moving toward imperial wars, the rightwing is recovering lost ground, those who’ve been able to avoid aggression have remained with their arms folded, and it’s also true that our Venezuelan society has not moved toward socialism as quickly as desired, the economy based on extraction of raw materials has refused to stop existing, and although we’ve achieved important things, the time to move to the next level is upon us. We ought to be more capable than ever, more careful than ever, and in order to do that, strategic pathways must be established.

Where is the part in the strategy in which we fight with Santos because a comrade cheerfully decided to come and set off a diplomatic scuffle?  Where’s the part where we’ve said that this is the time for a confrontation with the Colombian oligarchy that has so damaged us?  Hasn’t it been clear for several months that we are at another stage in the strategy?  Once more, who put Joaquín on that plane at this particular moment? Who sold him out to put the Bolivarian Revolution at risk of losing its general strategy?

The truth, comrades, is that we’ve learned, and have had to learn to move offensively as well as regressively, to conceal ourselves in order to return again and fight propitiously. The Bolivarian Revolution has learned to be agile, to take one step forward and two back, yet still move ahead, learning to wait and deliver precise blows without a fatiguing exchange that leads to exhaustion. We’ve learned to figure out the rightwing’s tricks and all of this we’ve come to learn day to day with our strategically minded President. Could it be that the forever forward-focused left doesn’t want us to be agile against a rightwing that is always astute and cunning?  Are they bothered by the rightwing or is it just that they don’t understand it? Or could it be….that there are sectors within the revolutionary left who are taking orders from the DAS [Colombian security]?

And what if it’s not even necessary for the DAS to infiltrate the popular movement?

Well then, we’d be facing a scenario in which certain “comrades” or some “revolutionary parties” have ventured plans to sabotage the strategies put forth by the Comandante – even going so far as to entrap comrades in the struggle? – comrades who cannot accept that the Comandante has made the decision to get closer to Santos and who’ll do anything to “break the trust” between Chávez and his people, between Chávez and the people of the continent. Comrades who are willing to set the agenda of the Bolivarian government even if it means sabotage.  Is it possible? Like when comrades sold out el Ché or sabotaged the M-26?  I’d prefer to think that it was the DAS.

The other option is that some cocky Venezuelan militant might have said “a revolutionary can invite someone else to his revolution whenever he wants,” without bothering to look sideways, without observing what’s going on in the world, without reading his surroundings, without calculating the risks, without thinking about possible scenarios, putting so many things at risk, skimming over so many others, always forward, forward, forward….right up to the precipice.

Another day will dawn, and we’ll see.

*Translator’s note: My translation for the Spanish language wikipedia entry for “A sus planta rendido un león” follows:

“A sus plantas rendido un león” is a novel by the Argentine writer Osvaldo Soriano.  As the author explains in a preface, the title is a verse from the old version of the Argentine national anthem. While that verse referred to Spain, defeated in the independence struggles, in this novel, the lion that ought to be defeated is the U.K., the victor in the Guerra de las Malvinas [referred to in Anglo media as the Falklands war], during which a socialist revolution is set off in the African country of Bongwutsi. Summary: The Guerra de Malvinas (1982) begins and, in Bongwutsi, a remote African country, a forgotten Argentine consul starts his own battle against England.  At the same time, in Europe, a conspiracy is hatched to turn Bongwutsi into a socialist republic. Another Argentine is a participant and both Argentines, along with unforgettable revolutionaries, come together in the delirious and moving plot.

Machetera is a member of Tlaxcala, the network of translators for linguistic diversity.This translation may be reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and the source, author, and translator are cited.

p>The US-American aggression against Cuba

Below the reader will find a document that is not unique when it comes to US policy toward the Cuban government.

The document shows one of the first attempts at “informing the Cuban people”. The effort was idiotic then, as similar efforts continue to the present. In early 1960s, the United States had numerous clandestine radio stations broadcasting into the island. Radio Swan was the first – begun on May 17, 1960 [on the first anniversary of the Cuban Agrarian Reform Law] from a small island off Honduras. The station was set up, its programs, personnel, and equipment were all paid for by the CIA. The station would be recognized by Americans today because it was an early precursor of the hate-radio programs that can now be found all over the United States. [1]

Radio Swan used to broadcast from an island off the Honduras coast

Although it tried to give the appearance that it was a private effort by Cuban exiles, in fact, US commercial products were advertised, free of charge. There were dozens of other shortwave and medium range stations doing the same. But not everyone had a shortwave in Cuba. So the US government came up with other efforts.

Thus, the invention of operation counterrevolutionary balloons!

What is really important about the document below is what it reveals about the implicit and explicit guidelines that are inherent features of US operations against the island:

- First, hide the fact that it is a US sponsored and organized clandestine operation that has the intention of organizing an opposition and overthrowing the Cuban government.

- Second, use Cuban exiles and others, as if to show that this is an effort by others, independent of the United States government.

- Third, make sure that the Cubans involved show no independence at all.

- Fourth, try to convey to the world that this is an independent operation by Cubans who seek to get information into the hands of ill-informed Cubans on the island.

-Fifth, depend on private contractors to do some of the work: contract the vessel, contract the balloon companies, contract technical studies, produce a set of messages and then use Cubans to cover your tracks.

Sound familiar?

The technology and the means have changed, but the rest continues to be the same. Thus, US policy on Cuba has gone from helium balloons to Twitter, BGANs, et al. Of course, the private contracting also continues. It is accompanied by mad schemes, hubris and a disregard for international law.

*       *       *

SUBJECT: Operation MONGOOSE – Propaganda Balloon Operations Plan
Memo to Brig. Gen. Lansdale, dated 17 September 1962
Subject: Request for Approval to Establish a Propaganda Balloon Delivery Capability

A. MISSION

To establish a seaborne propaganda balloon launching facility for the infiltration of anti-CASTRO, anti-Soviet propaganda into Cuba.

B. METHOD

1. Helium-inflated balloons will be launched at night from a foreign Flag ship in international waters at least two miles off the coast of Cuba. The ship will avoid the use of United States ports to the extent practicable and will particularly avoid the Miami area. The ship will be chartered by a Cuban exile sponsor respected by and politically acceptable to a broad segment of the Cuban exile community. He will also have the private financial means to establish the facility without causing questions in the exile community as to how the funds were raised. He will be well known to all anti-CASTRO groups and above partisan politics. The Agency has selected a candidate who meets the above particulars. Although he has not yet been approached to undertake such an operation, he has in the past Indicated a willingness to collaborate with the United States in support of anti-CASTRO activities. After the proposal is accepted by the sponsor, arrangements will be made for the sponsor to charter the proper type of vessel. He will also be placed in contact with a cleared firm that specializes in balloon technology. A commercial contract will then be drawn between the firm and the sponsor in which the firm agrees for a specified fee to provide and install balloon launching equipment on the ship, and train the members of the crew and other personnel in balloon launching techniques. In addition, the firm will agree to provide the balloons, helium and others supplies on a regular basis to the sponsor. For the secure and efficient conduct of the operation, the sponsor will deal only with the one cleared commercial firm. All supplies required for the operation are commercially available. The helium which is produced at a plant [BLACKED OUT] will be loaded on the vessel in Galveston, Texas or some other Gulf port. The legal aspects involved in loading helium on board of a foreign flag ship in a US port are being studied by the Legal Counsel’s office and will be taken into consideration when the final arrangements are formalized.

Radio Free Europe propaganda drop via balloons, from the same period

2. The Cuban sponsor either personally or through his delegate will establish contact with all politically acceptable anti-CASTRO Cuban exile groups believed to have some assets or following in Cuba and offer the facility for their use. Within the above framework, priority shall be accorded the Cuban Revolutionary Council (CRC). In order to avoid contributing to division within the CRC, the means of communication shall be made available to the CRC as an entity and not to any of its components individually, except in unusual cases which will be agreed upon at the working level.

3. The sponsor will set certain guidelines (provided by the Agency) which must be met by the contributing groups if their propaganda is to be delivered by balloon. Upon receipt of the propaganda, provided it meets the specified guidelines, the sponsor will assume responsibility for its delivery.

Every effort will be made by the Agency to insure that the guidelines are met, but it may not be possible in view of the extent of Cuban exile participation.

a. The following themes will be emphasized:
(1) Return of the Revolution to its original acceptable aims.
(2) The betrayal of the Revolution by CASTRO and the Communists.
(3) Expose the contradictions between promises and performance.
(4) The takeover of Cuba by Soviet Bloc Communists.
(5) Appeal to the masses to cooperate with the resistance.
(6) Call upon the population to commit specific acts of administrative harassment, passive resistance and simple sabotage to thwart the actions of the Communist regime and generally promote the “gusano libre** {free worm) symbol, which has become synonymous with resistance to the CASTRO regime.

b. Within the stated limitations, the following types of propaganda will be rejected:
(1) Propaganda which attempts to interpret U. S. policy regarding the liberation of Cuba or a specific Latin American country’s policy , regarding the liberation of Cuba.
(2) Propaganda which is directed at or which will contribute to the petulant quarreling amongst or between Cuban exile or resistance groups.
(3) As far as practicable, the propaganda will be prepared upon the initiative of the Cuban exile groups. If necessary to keep the propaganda offensive moving, the Agency will through its contacts with exile groups and cleared Cuban exiles, assist the offensive by providing timely ideas, themes, news items and technical assistance. Propaganda may also be prepared for Soviet and other Bloc personnel stationed in Cuba.
(4) The Cuban sponsor and perhaps a person designated by him will be the only non-American in direct contact with the agency on this project. The Cuban sponsor will be responsible for chartering a foreign flag vessel with the necessary crew to carry out the operation. The ship’s basic crew will be augmented by a meteorologist, two radio operators, and one radar tracker.

The Agency will assist the sponsor to obtain the ship, crew and specialists. The training necessary for the conduct of the operation will be provided by a cleared commercial firm which specializes in balloon technology. Contact will be maintained by an Agency official who will be in direct contact with the Cuban sponsor or his representative. The Cuban sponsor and his representative will be the only persons witting of U.S. Government interest.

C. TECHNICAL CAPABILITY

Technical studies have been made which confirm the feasibility of balloon operations in this area. A launching vessel would cruise at night in a westerly direction approximately ten miles off the northern coast of the country. The balloons would be carried over Cuba by the low altitude easterly trade winds which prevail in that area. Meteorological studies indicate that the easterly trade winds in the Caribbean are among the most constant of any area in the world. Balloons can be launched at the rate of twenty per hour per station with a four pound pay load per balloon. Four stations will afford a launching capability of eighty balloons per hour. As presently planned the target for at least the first launching is the Matanzas-Havana area.

Depending on the type of paper used as well as the format and size of the leaflets, it is estimated that each balloon can deliver on target a payload of between 2,000 and 4,000 copies of a given leaflet. Assuming two balloon launching operations per month and the release of approximate 500 balloons per operation, it is estimated that between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000 leaflets can be dropped over Cuban targets each month. In addition, a wide variety of novelty Items such as “gusano libre” pins, toy balloons in the shape of the “gusano libre”, small plastic phonograph records, decals, stickers, etc. are readily available. The number of these which can be delivered on target during a launching operation will, of course, depend upon the weight and size of such items.

D. COSTS AND LEAD TIME

It will cost approximately $50,000 to establish the balloon launching capability. This includes the purchase of launching, communications, and meteorological equipment and the training of personnel to conduct these operations. It will take a minimum of two months to establish an operational capability. Subsequently, it will cost $22,000 per month for the first six month period to launch 1,000 balloons per month exclusive of the propaganda material to be delivered. Each balloon ready for launching, including the balloon itself, timer, ballast and helium, but exclusive of the propaganda material to be delivered, costs approximately $15.50. The one-time cost of outfitting of the chartered vessel is estimated at approximately 310,000. The recurring monthly costs for operation of a type of vessel as will be required for this operation amounts to approximately $11,000.

E. RISKS AND SECURITY EVALUATION

Regardless of the launching facility used or the attribution of sponsorship, charges of U. S. involvement, tacit approval, or outright sponsorship will undoubtedly be generated. It is possible, particularly if the propaganda balloon missions have the desired impact in Cuba, that the Government of Cuba will react strongly and bring charges against the U.S. before the United Nations, or other regional and international forums. Judging from past experience with Communist reactions in other areas of the world, the Cubans will probably accuse the United States of harboring and abetting criminals who violate Cuban air space with propaganda balloons causing a menace to aviation, burning cane fields, injuring children, and damaging buildings and homes. It is the view of the Operations Group (MONGOOSE) that these charges can be handled.

To reinforce the cover and weaken the anticipated Cuban Government’s charges after the first balloon operation, the sponsor will be urged to hold a press conference or press interview outlining his effort to help the anti-CASTRO cause and pointing out the technical features of the operation which renders the operation relatively harmless to individuals or property.

* I would like to thank Saul Landau, Ned Sublette and John Kirk for their useful comments.

[1] Ned Sublette brought this similarity to my attention.