By Arturo López Levy
Oakland, California.

I don’t remember when I started listening to Silvio Rodríguez’ songs. It must have been during college prep, once I was grown up and wanted to be able to express things better so that the ones that I loved would be more receptive to what I had to say. Since then, I have followed Silvio as a friend that he never knew he had. Sometimes I agreed with him, sometimes I disagreed, but I always admired his art and the way he used his own voice without echoing others. In the United States, at my universities, Silvio helped open doors for me with other Latin Americans who knew his songs.

When I met him in person in Washington, DC, as the Cuban embassy re-opened in 2015 after the reinstatement of diplomatic relations, he honored me with an embrace and a finger to my chest, saying that he had read my writing. Today I had the opportunity to interview him and discuss his talent without false equivalencies (to remind us of Jorge Mañach), but also without feigned formalities. For some inexplicable reason, the refrain “guajirito soy” kept running through my head. Following are the questions posed by an admirer and the responses of an artist and follower of Martí who was kind enough to answer them.

Silvio, you have sung about love in its most sublime and all-encompassing forms—love of a woman, nature, the family, one’s mother, wife, children, your town, San Antonio de los Baños, our heroes, Martí, Agramonte, and Cuba, the homeland. You have sung of love for Latin America, an identity, and humanity “homeland is humanity.” How do you mix all of those loves? Is it just a matter of feeling, or—in the style of your blog Segunda cita—as an intellectual public figure who rationalizes his passions?

I once heard Alfredo Guevara say that nations of people, out of their need for an identity, start by taking an inventory of themselves: their geography, their flora and fauna, the physical and spiritual characteristics of their people, etc. Over the years I came to realize that even more happens to those of us with a vocation to sing, because we begin by describing what surrounds us—both objectively and subjectively. Both reactions are a self-recognition of what makes consciousness: a sort of totemic act that consists of naming things. We all know that the world exists, because we see it, we feel it. But some of us need to sing about it so that reality can take on a life of its own and perhaps become complete.

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Also, although like everyone else I was born with intellect, I have never seen myself as an intellectual. I have always had a sort of vocation to be a communicator. Segunda cita was an accident, one finding that led to others. Its highest form of expression was when it became a community, with all the complexities that involves. That, in a way, was its purpose, because during the first months I did not put any limits on it and there were all kinds of comments, some of them vulgar and offensive. That led me to moderate the blog, although internally I regretted some of the openness that was lost. Then I began to insist on  candor combined with respect for others. And little by little, that spirit impregnated the space. Obviously, I was the first one who had to learn. It may be that I’ve tried to rationalize some passion (that is human), although I also try to explain why.

What does it mean to love Cuba in the 21^st century, the supposed time of globalization and internationalization? How important is it for your children, grandchildren, and those who may follow to know that “In Tampa your grandfather spoke with Martí,” the Apostle of Cuban independence?

I have that privilege because my grandfather Félix’s father, Pancho Domínquez, was one of the Cuban cigar rollers who worked in the harvest in Tampa every year at the end of the 19^th century, a time when a million cigars were manufactured in that Floridian city every year.

My grandfather never told me why he was in Tampa; I learned many years later from Dr. Beatriz Marcheco and her DNA studies. My grandfather only told me that while he was at a warehouse in Tampa as a child, a gentleman had asked him why he was in the country, and he answered that his father worked in a certain cigar factory. The gentleman smiled and told him that this was a coincidence, because a few days later he was going to visit his dad’s workplace to speak to the workers.

My grandfather always ended the story by saying, “And that kind man was José Martí.”

It is true that the times, periods of history, can color our loves and perceptions of things. This is much more so today, given the quantity and quality of so much content. But in addition to the overwhelming variety that technology offers us, the fact is that no one can be born today and say that their grandfather met Martí in Tampa. Surely that is why I sang about it, slightly envious of my Grandpa Félix.

You once said that you did not see Cuba “as an altar or a cathedral that one goes to.” Does being Cuban imply some responsibility? Do we Cubans have some defect that you feel you share? What do you think of the position in Cuba establishing an equivalency between being a patriot and being a revolutionary?

I have never understood such sanctification. It may be because of my way of seeing what is essential, in addition to the blindness implied in the concept of “sacred,” something untouchable. Everything that is respected, even that which is venerated, is so for more or less profound reasons which certainly can be explained.

Obviously, there is diversity in being Cuban, and I imagine this is more or less the same for any nationality. The intensity, I believe, depends on each person’s background. There are lives and circumstances that obviously determine one’s supreme adherence to oneself, to oneself above all else. There are others who do not so much feel that way, or who relegate this to another plane because they see themselves as part of a collective whole, as if the common fate were real life. The latter is something like a honeybee with a hive mentality. As for myself, I feel good when I see myself as part of a whole—a people and their history. In this I find an explanation that partially helps to explain the great mystery of life. I believe that this greatly helped my family with its modest mark on our national history. It also helps that when I was ten years old I read Emilio Roig’s Introduction (published 1953) to “La Edad de Oro” by Martí called “Martí y los niños. Martí niño.” (Marti and the children. Marti, the child.)

Finally, I believe there can be patriotic sentiments that do not agree with aspects of the Revolution or the Cuban government. But I do not believe that those who ask for  blockades or interventions against their own country can be patriots.

Several academics have written that New Latin American song, of which Nueva Trova was an essential part, was an important source of an alternative culture—not only alternative to oligarchic power and right-wing military dictatorships, but also to a more traditional left. What did it mean for you to be part of that movement? What did you experience when singing in those countries after the openings at the end of the 1980s, as a result of pacts and political compromises?

Fortunately, from a very young age I liked to read history, literature, and scientific texts. Having participated in the Literacy Campaign** helped me understand that the country was expanding intellectually. This awareness helped me a few years later when I began to write songs. I prepared my first themes during my years of military service, without having debated anyone about such a job. That is why it was so gratifying when I left the army and began to discover young people who had done the same as I. Little by little, we created an esprit de corps, a sense of ourselves as a generation, which the press also began to perceive and to write about.

Casa de las Américas contributed greatly to our consolidation and the continuation of our generation of troubadours. Not only did it allow us a space in which to perform our songs, but we also furthered our knowledge of Latin America. For example, the first time I heard a Violeta Parra record was in Haydeé Santamaria’s house. Thanks to that connection, we were able to share with intellectuals such as Mario Benedetti, Roque Dalton, Julio Cortázar, and many others, without mentioning the privilege of listening to conversations with Lezama or José Zacaría Tallet, whom I even visited.

Later, Alfredo Guevara invited us to found the Grupo de Experimentación Sonora (Musical Experimentation Group) and work for the Cuban Cinematography Institute. By this time, Pino Solanas included my song “La Era Está Pariendo un Corazón” in his documentary “La Hora de los Hornos.” One day Isabel Parra visited me and we began to sing together. Daniel Viglieti arrived and recorded his record “Trópicos” with our group. We provided accompaniment for Soledad Bravo on the song “Santiago de Chile,” for a documentary by Juan Carlos Tabío. And at the Cuban Cinematography Institute we did a two-week-long identity concert which we called Cuba-Brazil.

In September of 1972 Noel Nicola, Pablo Milanés, and I were invited by Gladys Marín to the IV Congress of Young Communists of Chile. There we sang every night at the club belonging to the Parra family, along with the most well-known singers and bands, including, of course, Víctor Jara. That was a tremendous experience, not only professionally, but also in terms of commitment. The coup occurred one year later and we experienced a very tense moment in that revolution, which was painful in many ways because the left was criticizing Allende as much as the right. We were also tested personally, because more than once we were surprised by street demonstrations that were disbursed with clubs and tear gas.

In 1974 Noel and I were invited to 7 Días con el Pueblo, a new song festival put on by a trade union in the Dominican Republic. There we met Mercedes Sosa, whom we had seen in Havana, and we met Catalonian Francesc Pi de la Sierra and Spaniards Ana Belén and Víctor Manuel. The brothers and sisters who hosted us were Sonia Silvestre and Víctor Víctor, and we were fortunate to hear the very young Luís Díaz. Los Guaraguao of Venezuela were there. And the stadiums, that were always full, roared, “Joaquín Balaguer, a murderer in power!” while the police stood by powerlessly. When it all ended a colonel correctly told us we had 24 hours to leave the country.

Starting in 1975 we began to visit Mexico more than once a year. We participated in almost all the events organized by  Uruguayan exiles. The first to play was always Alfredo Zitarrosa, and the band Sanampay was always there, comprised primarily of exiled Argentinians and some former members of Herque Mapu (Hebe Rosell and Naldo Labrín). That is where we were when Tania Libertad arrived from Peru. We were friends of the extraordinary Amparo Ochoa, Oscar Chávez, Marcial Alejandro, and Gabino Palomares. And we saw people come to interpret the transcendence of Eugenia León and Guadalupe Pineda.

I never managed to meet Violeta Parra personally, but I was able to approach Yupanqui in Berlin in February of 1985 when we both played at the Festival of Political Song sponsored by Free German Youth in what was still the GDR. I saw him in a concert he gave at a theater along with my friend Ángel Parra, who accompanied him on some pieces because arthritis kept Yupanqui from moving his fingers. Later we saw each other a few times in Buenos Aires and on one of those occasions Eduardo Aute accompanied me. A few months before his death, Don Ata honored me by attending one of my concerts at the Gran Rex, which I of course dedicated to him.

It is quite true that we did all of that very pleased to be part of anti-imperialist Latin America, with a very strong cultural and historical identity. I still carry that satisfaction with me. I can say that it is one of the experiences I am most grateful to have had.

You were just in Mexico where, for several nights, you filled the National Auditorium singing “El Necio” (the Fool), once dedicated “to Fidel, now to Andrés Manuel [López Obrador].” What did Fidel Castro, and the opportunity to speak to him, mean for your personal story as a Cuban? How do you view the New Left in the hemisphere, often called the pink tide, for whom AMLO of Mexico is a central figure?

In the late 1950s, the people were very much against the dictatorship. Imagine, the revolution triumphed one month after I turned 12. We learned about Fidel from Radio Rebelde, which we listened to very softly some nights. Fidel was a great symbol. For some reason, I never saw him as a god; I always understood him to be a special man, but a man just the same.

The first time I was close to him was in 1961, when he came to send off those of us working in the Literacy Campaign who were leaving from Varadero to the far reaches of Cuba the next day. I was directly below the podium; little by little I made my way up. I recall my astonishment upon seeing that his beard was reddish brown and not black, as it looked in photographs. There I heard everything he told us about the importance of our mission and for the first time, I felt like part of something big, something more than just myself.

I exchanged a few words with him in 1984 when Pablo and I returned from our first trip to Argentina, which received a lot of coverage in the Argentine press and other places. Casa de las Américas gave us a reception upon our return, and all of a sudden, he showed up. He stayed for a long time, engaging in a fraternal exchange with everyone. At the end, they took a few photos and the next day we were on the front page of Granma.

I learned from my friend Julio Le Riverend that in 1968 Fidel had asked what happened to me at the so-called “little Congress” prior to a Congress on Education and Culture that was held that year. Alfredo Guevara later corroborated that Fidel had said that taking an artist’s job away was not right (I had been kicked out of a cultural agency), and that if there was some kind of problem, it should be discussed.

Later I had other opportunities to talk to him, particularly towards the end of the 1980s when I prepared a plan to build better recording studios in Cuba. One day I was surprised to receive an invitation to a lunch Fidel was giving for Rafael Alberti. In the middle of the lunch Fidel asked me if I could stay a bit afterwards, and I said yes. It was to ask me about the studios I said I wanted to have built. That was the beginning of all that was done afterwards.

“El necio,” to some degree, is a song about Fidel. He is a man who at times seems to act illogically, whose arm could not be twisted, whose moral clarity could confront any adversity. I say “to some degree” because El necio also includes a lot about my own journey and how I see certain things. And in what many people see as strength and determination, I describe as someone who simply accepts his destiny, the factors from within and without that converged to write one’s story. I believe that I express this quite clearly when I say,

I do not know what destiny is,
As I went along, I was what I was.
God over there, may be divine,
I will die as I lived.

One topic that is quite present in your blog Segunda cita is the economic, trade, and financial blockade that successive U.S. governments have maintained against the Cuban people. I admire your clear position that it is a fundamental cause of the problems in Cuba. This matters, because today the regime change strategy imposed from outside, which is upheld by some supposedly moderate sectors, is to minimize its relevance and advocate for alleged flexibility on issues of sovereignty. How important do you think AMLO is—who has a flexible relationship and even integration with the United States—to the issue of Latin American dignity when he demands total opposition to the blockade with no concessions?

There are many interpretations around the blockade and why Cuba has so many problems. There are the extremes: those who blame everything on the blockade, and then those who blame the Cuban government. But when those who maintain the blockade discover any measure the provides breathing room to Cuba, they say it is providing oxygen to the regime so they eliminate it. This leaves no doubt that they know Cuba would be better off without the blockade. It exposes the depth of malice in their intentions and the monstruous scope of their practice. Gabo [García Márquez] was right when he called the blockade against Cuba genocide.

I dedicated “El necio” to Andrés Manuel because he has dared to defend Cuba like few others. And because defending us is to defend the right of any nation to be as it wishes to be and to resolve its internal problems without interference or harassment from anyone. AMLO is a living example of the spirit of Juárez, who said that “respect for the rights of others is peace.” Bolívar, Martí can be found in him, as they were in Fidel.

And it would not surprise me if the ultra-left were to call Andrés Manuel pseudo left. The troubadours of my generation were called the same by extreme leftist Cubans when we defended the Revolution with rock rhythms, such as in “Cuba va.”

During the Obama years you gave memorable concerts all over the United States. I saw you live at the mythical Paramount Theatre in Oakland and later at Carnegie Hall in New York, that paragon of U.S culture, where you played to packed auditoriums. What was typical of your notable presence there were the Latinos and Cubans who sang along with your songs. What do you think of the proposition that the United States is now a Latin American country, too?

Pete Seeger attended the second concert we gave in Carnegie Hall. He had turned 90 a year earlier and I was not able to attend his tribute because my visa did not arrive on time. We had a very special exchange later on that night, which was the last time I saw him. He told me that he knew that Latin America and Cuba could not make progress because of the interventionist policy of his country’s government. He was very ashamed of this and visibly moved. I know that many other U.S. citizens feel this way, although one does not need to be so lucid to have feelings of equity and respect for one’s neighbor.

I do not doubt that the United States, to some degree, is also a Latin American country today. It is likely that some day this ingredient may come to have a positive influence on its policies. But it is obvious that many Latinx people that go there do so because there are not enough opportunities in our countries. That is why, the more opportunities we have at home, the less people need to migrate and the fewer tensions there are with the United States over migration. That was the approach Andrés Manuel had with Trump when he talked about building his border wall. I have more faith in that approach, at least for now, than any positive influence that may stem from having a large number of our people over there.

You were present during the ceremony when the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, DC turned into an embassy, where we met for the first time. What vision do you have about the role of patriotic emigration on the future of Cuba and its relationship with the United States? Would you give a concert in Miami some day?

I believe that the future of Cuba includes the responsibility to help of all those who love her. This happens in any family. Those who make a commitment, those who express solidarity, are those who respond to problems constructively. I am capable of respecting and working with those who do not think like me. I hope that this grows.

As for a concert in Miami, are there poor neighborhoods there? I would like to have a concert there, in a neighborhood

On at least one occasion, in 1986, Carlos Alberto Montaner tried to incite Pablo Milanés and you to change sides and place your artistic success at the service of the regime change strategy imposed from the outside. You answered, “No one pays us to defend what we believe in. Every day we do a rigorous but necessary examination of our own consciences, and if we disagree with something, just as when we agree, we sing and assume the task in Cuba and wherever necessary.” Has it been hard, this “need to live without a price,” at the same time that you conduct “a rigorous but necessary examination” of your conscience? Have you ever thought of alternatives?

Living in Cuba, materially speaking, can be tough for anyone, Arturo. Even for those who have enjoyed some success and have some money. If you live in Miami or Madrid, no one questions your good fortune.

Back in 1961 (when I was 14 years old) we began to experience shortages, particularly of medicines. We got momentary relief when members of Brigade 2506 [Cuban Exiles caught at the Bay of Pigs] were exchanged for supplies. But the material limitations the Cuban people have suffered, all kinds of inconveniences, shortages in daily life, would suffice to write a series a thousand times juicier than The Sopranos, or even the Bible; the crucified one would not be one man but a whole population.

As for the circulation of ideas, this has also been complicated. The ultra-defensive mentality brought on by so many acts of aggression and some formulaic interpretations of what a socialist society should be, creates conflict. There have been compulsive periods, times which mark the lives of many people and which bring us down.

The truth is that throughout time, in all countries and systems there have been good people and less good people. There are intelligent beings and non-intelligent ones everywhere. In all settings there are honest, altruistic people who are in solidarity with others; there are also mediocre, opportunistic and corrupt people. It never occurred to me to blame the Revolution for a bad time I may have experienced. Ever since I was young, I have realized that these are matters of human beings, circumstances. One day you get kicked, but the next day someone kisses you.

Starting with oneself, there is nothing perfect in this world, sometimes not even the ideas that seemed best at a previous time. Factors that raise questions always arise, sowing doubt, expanding our perspective. This occurs naturally, without outside intervention. But just imagine what is provoked by a project for the emancipation of a small country that is challenging the most powerful and vicious interests on the planet.

We were recently talking about such issues on Otra cita (https://otracitasc.blogspot.com), the blog that continues where mine, Segunda cita, left off. We came to the conclusion that thinking is very important, but what we do after we think is even more important.

In the US, without excluding Miami, there are Cuban emigrants who hold patriotic values. The right wing has tried to construct an identity that requires taking on their bitterness and hatred, but many, including those who were born there, feel a dual identity because they are from there but also from Cuba to multiple degrees. Being a North American does not invalidate their being Cuban, and vice-versa. I have cousins in Miami who left Cuba in the 1950s and 1960s who had to listen to your songs with their car windows closed during times of intolerance. Is that no longer necessary? How important is the cultural exchange between the United States and Cuba, as well as between Cubans in Cuba and those in the United States in terms of a rapprochement?

I do not have the slightest doubt, and I said this several times when there was distrust over Obama’s openness, that with this exchange Cuba’s interests would win out. What I am saying is that in the United States they have a distorted image of what Cuba is, even more distorted than what Cubans may think of the US. And I think that is why most of the US administrations do not allow their citizens to go to Cuba. They don’t like what might result from that exchange because the Americans could arrive and meet people who are fun, friendly, well-educated, and appealing. In addition to any economic benefits we might get from such an exchange, how could they continue to justify their policy of suffocating a population like that?

In “Llegué por San Antonio de los Baños” you sing of Martí’s vision that “homeland is humanity” that starts where we are born. One area in which we Cubans could cooperate despite our differences is by improving our towns and cities, countryside, rivers, dams, and beaches. For example, in China and Vietnam many emigres contribute a lot and even invest in and collaborate with their hometowns and the land of their ancestors. How important is what you call “the universal detail of my native region” to be “a little bit better and much less selfish?”

“… But the universal detail
of my native region
was a man
opening a trail on the clock.”

This means that everywhere we have something basic in common: we are born as human beings and the succession of generations gives us the opportunity to learn and improve.

I have lived my 75 years in Cuba and can affirm responsibly that here we are more than ready to share with any nation, of course including with the United States of America.

It is impossible to compare us with China or Vietnam. No bank in the world will give a loan to Cuba because the United States, thanks to its extraterritorial laws, would impose millions of dollars in fines. There are very few shipping companies that dare to send ships with supplies to Cuba, because the US would then prohibit those ships from entering its ports. China is a very wealthy country with many natural resources. Vietnam is smaller but also rich. It endured plunder, indignities, and wars, but it is not currently blockaded and trades freely with the world, even the United States. We Cubans have been denied that for over 60 years, and when we have been allowed to trade, we are forced to pay in cash with suitcases full of dollars.

We distribute our doctors and vaccines around the world. Thousands of professionals from the third world have been educated at our universities. For decades Cuba has been showing that it is a civilized country, that it works on the basis of peaceful coexistence—we promoted and hosted the Colombian peace talks. However, Cuba has been stigmatized by an imperial government with a long history of abuse in many places.

I am quite aware that we need to be a little bit better (and sometimes more than a little bit) in some ways. But it is up to us to fix our shortcomings and it is inadmissible that we be blackmailed for that, as if we were a stain. For this reason, out of basic decency, I will first of all close ranks with my people who have been subjected to systematic torture for six decades. Some US leaders are lacking not a little bit, but a large dose of humanity. I hope that our descendants over there will understand this and decide to act accordingly.

Arturo López-Levy is a Senior Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA). He is a professor of international relations and politics at Holy Names University in Oakland, California, and author of “Raúl Castro and the New Cuba: A Close-up of Change.” Twitter, @turylevy.

This interview was translated from the original Spanish by Jill Clark-Gollub, COHA’s Assistant Editor/Translator.

By Danny Shaw
From NY

On October 25th, 1983, 7,300 U.S. troops, accompanied by U.S.-trained soldiers of CARICOM countries calling themselves “The Caribbean Peace Force,” invaded the tiny island of Grenada. This October marks the 38th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of the land of Julien Fedon, Jacqueline Creft, Maurice Bishop and the 110,000 people of Grenada. What lessons can we learn from the four-and-a half-year revolution? In a hemisphere on fire, with chronic social unrest and anti-imperialism on full display from the streets of Medellin to Mexico City, where does Grenada line up in the Global Class Struggle in the 21st century?

The Revo

On March 13th 1979, the leaders of the New Jewel Movement overthrew Eric Gairy, widely seen as being pro-imperialist, setting in motion one of the great revolutionary experiments in Caribbean history. Those who lived through the 1979 to 1983 Grenadian Revolution were forever transformed.

Grenadian Professor of Political Science Wendy Grenade from the University of West Indies charts some of the gains made during the short period: “Raising levels of social consciousness; building a national ethos that encouraged a sense of community; organising agrarian reform to benefit small farmers and farm workers; promoting literacy and adult education; fostering child and youth development; enacting legislation to promote gender justice; constructing low income housing and launching house repair programmes; improving physical infrastructure and in particular the construction of an international airport; providing an environment that encouraged popular democracy through Parish and Zonal Councils etc.”^[1] Slogans and billboards emblazoned the country’s landscape: “Never Too Old to Learn,” “Education is Production Too,” “Every Worker a Learner,” and “Women, Committed to Economic Construction.”^[2]

Angela Davis captured what “the revo” meant to the Black nation within the U.S.: “The experiences that I’ve had here in Grenada have confirmed in a very powerful way where we are headed, what the future of the entire planet ought to look like – this beautiful, powerful militant revolution.”^[3] The chief spokesperson of the revolution, Maurice Bishop, famously came to New York City in June 1983 inspiring a crowd of thousands of African-Americans and anti-imperialists as he detailed his people’s achievements.^[4]

Glen “Pharoah” Samuel was a middle-school pupil at the time and was part of a crowd of students who raced to save Maurice Bishop, Jacqueline Creft and other revolutionary leaders from execution at Fort George.^[5] Sitting down in a neighborhood bodega, he explained Grenada’s role in the global class struggle known as “The Cold War:”

“As a Black, English-speaking country very close to America, imagine America has a population of over 42 million Afro Black Americans; obviously they understand our swag because we are all Black people, African people. So Ronald Reagan feared the situation and we had just finished our international airport which was sponsored by Cuba and the Soviet Union.”

Internationalist educator Chris Searle’s book Grenada Morning: A Memoir of the “Revo” details the accomplishments of the revolution in overcoming a history of colonial and neocolonial servitude and degradation. Gerhard Dilger of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation studied the revolutionary contributions of poets and calypso singers from 1979 to 1983.^[6] Dr. Horace Campbell’s Rasta and Resistance highlights the participation of the Rastafari community, long oppressed under the Gairy dictatorship, in the Revolutionary People’s Government and Army.

All of Grenada was ablaze with the flames of revolutionary optimism, unity and growth.

The Invasion: An Attempt to Kill Hope

Alarmed at the existence of another workers’ state in Washington’s “backyard,” Ronald Reagan and the U.S. foreign policy establishment were hellbent on overthrowing the four-and-a-half-year revolution.

Internationalist scholar Carlos Martínez artfully captures the U.S. campaign of psychological warfare and saber rattling. In 1981, Reagan mobilized over 120,000 troops, 250 warships and 1,000 aircraft to Vieques, an island that is part of Puerto Rico, for a mock invasion.^[7] They code-named the operation “Amber and the Amberines” because Grenada’s official name is Grenada and the Grenadines, as it includes the two smaller islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique. U.S. intelligence worked overtime to monitor the cracks in the revolutionary leadership and create divisions in order to exploit them, ultimately leading to the assasination of the revolution’s top leadership. Eighteen civilians were killed when the U.S. Navy bombed a hospital for patients with mental challenges. 24 Cuban construction workers were murdered.^[8]

It was David vs Goliath but David stood up to the invasion. Maurice Bishop sounded the battle cry: “This land is ours, every square inch of its soil is ours, every grain of sand is ours, every nutmeg pod is ours, every beautiful young Pioneer who walks on this land is ours. It is our responsibility and ours alone, to fight to defend our homeland.”^[9] The break in the top leadership of the New Jewel Movement and Reagan’s accusation that 600 American medical students were in danger, provided the humanitarian cover for the illegal assault on a people’s democracy.

The U.S. military project then helped prop up a pro-U.S. power structure that sought to dismantle the very memory of the revolution. Artist Suelin Low Chew Tung writes that “images of the revolution[ary] years were deliberately erased from the landscape … Three decades later, as far as local visual art records are concerned, it is as if the Grenada Revolution never happened.”^[10] It was apparent that this generation feels disconnected from Grenada’s definitive break with neo-colonialism. To many youth, it appeared this was ancient history. How many Grenadians born after 1983 fully comprehended that their small homeland inspired the world?

The Washington Examiner, owned by right-wing billionaire Philip Anschutz, captures how U.S. ruling circles viewed military action against Grenada as a strategic, easy victory after defeat in Vietnam and Iran. In an editorial on September 12, 2021, Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute advocated for a Grenada-like invasion to shore up respect for America after the humiliating defeat of the U.S. in Afghanistan: “Where and under what circumstances might a future commander in chief send troops to draw a new red line for America’s enemies?”^[11] He ominously ends the article warning: “There will be a new Grenada; the question to ponder is where and when.”

The Blackout: Liquidating Memory

On August 26th 2021, this writer sat down with Dr. Terence Marryshow, Captain of the People’s Revolutionary Army responsible for the personal security of Maurice Bishop and NJM leadership, former political leader of the Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement (MBPM) and grandson of T.A. Marryshow, the father of the West Indian Federation. He elaborated on Pan-Caribbeanism in Grenada today.^[12] “Caribbean leaders today are not pursuing this goal as vigorously as they ought to in the interests of the people of the Caribbean. The problem is many of them are not willing to give up that lofty position that they hold. During the period of the revolution there was certainly a great effort with the People’s Revolutionary Government led by Maurice Bishop to forge that kind of Caribbean integration. But with his demise there is no real voice out there [in Grenada] championing that cause. Today leaders are hardly concerned with that. Yes we do have CARICOM which in the final analysis is really a talk shop because nothing like concrete decisions and progress for the people  comes out of it.”

In an extensive interview, the Cuban-trained physician stated that “concerning teaching on the revolution in the schools there is a  complete blackout. There is a concerted effort not to speak about it except for groups like The Maurice Bishop and October 19th Martyrs Foundation, the Grenadian Cuba Friendship Society and the Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement. But there is no space on the [mainstream school] curriculum today for teaching anything about that revolutionary period.”

A soldier of the People’s Revolutionary Army, nicknamed Salt, who chose to remain anonymous and only wanted his nickname published, remembered what it meant to stand up to the hegemon of the north. He remembered the Center for Popular Education, his own exposure to critical Marxist texts and the day the call came from his superior officers to prepare to defend the country. Speaking on censorship today, Salt explained: “The educators are not documenting anything and are not teaching our young people about the progress the revolution made.”

To add insult to injury, the invaders and new rulers of Grenada disappeared the bodies of the key New Jewel Movement leaders. Local community leaders showed me where the invaders and their underlings disappeared Maurice’s Bishop’s body.^[13] Bishop’s mother Alimenta captured the horror of not knowing where her son’s body was.^[14] Having already lived through her husband’s murder at the hands of Eric Gairy and the same U.S.-backed state machinery, she stated that, “I could go to the grave and say this is the spot where my husband is buried, but I can’t say that for my son.” This was what Grenadians remember as the triple assassination of their revolution.

Which Way Forward?

In 2019, the Venezuela government published a bilingual tribute to Maurice Bishop and the October martyrs in the Correo del Alba. Unpublished testimonies of dozens of cadres and combatants of the revolutionary process express how it brought Grenada closer to Africa and all oppressed nations, and set Grenada on a path to defiant participation in CELAC, ALBA, and PetroCaribe.^[15] Today Grenada is charting a path of friendly relations both with imperialism and the blockaded Bolivarian nations attempting to emerge from centuries of colonialism and decades of U.S. hybrid war. What is clear is that the Grenadian Revolution was an example for the world that the colonized can stand up, organize and win.

Danny Shaw is Senior Research Fellow at COHA and an academic at City University of New York.

Editor’s Note: The writer recently visited Grenada and the preceding is his analysis. A previous version of this article was published in Toward Freedom.

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Sources

^[1] Invent the Future. “The Legacy of the Grenadian Revolution Lives On.” March 13, 2014.

The Legacy of the Grenadian Revolution Lives On

^[2] ESPIONART. ”The Billboard Art of Revolutionary Grenada.” October 30, 2018. https://espionart.com/2018/10/30/the-billboard-art-of-revolutionary-grenada/

^[3] Black Perspectives. “The House on Coco Road”: A New Film on Family, Race, and U.S. Intervention in Grenada.” May 2, 2017.

https://www.aaihs.org/the-house-on-coco-road-a-new-film-on-family-race-and-u-s-intervention-in-grenada/

^[4] YouTube. Maurice Bishop Speaks. March 7th, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7MtydR-fiI&t=1586s

^[5] August 24th, 2021. https://twitter.com/dannyshawcuny/status/1430142177997475854?s=20

^[6] Gerhard Dilger. Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut. August 14, 2019. “WE DOIN WE OWN TING!” REVOLUTION AND LITERATURE IN GRENADA.” https://publications.iai.spk-berlin.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/Document_derivate_00002178/BIA_046_217_244.pdf;jsessionid=085580D208A5C7146C9B1FF715BC9470

^[7] Invent the Future. “The Legacy of the Grenadian Revolution Lives On.” March 13, 2014.

The Legacy of the Grenadian Revolution Lives On

^[8] NPR. ”Grenada’s Nobody’s Backyard.”January 29, 2021. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1021236625

^[9] Maurice Bishop. MAURICE BISHOP SPEAKS. The Grenada Revolution and Its Overthrow, 1979–83. Pathfinder Press.

^[10] Suelin Low Chew Tung. Social and Economic Studies. “Painting the Grenada Revolution.” September-December 2013. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24384484

^[11] Michael Rubin. Washington Examiner. “After the humiliation of Afghanistan, where and when will we see a new Grenada?” September 12, 2021

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/after-the-humiliation-of-afghanistan-where-and-when-will-we-see-a-new-grenada

^[12] Interview with the author. August 30, 2021. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CTOJoC2onSM/?utm_medium=copy_link

^[13] Interview with the author. August 22, 2021. https://twitter.com/dannyshawcuny/status/1429589886349238273?s=21

^[14] Now Grenada. “Alimenta Bishop Is To Be Honoured By Government”

August 27, 2013. https://www.nowgrenada.com/2013/08/alimenta-bishop-is-to-be-honoured-by-government/

^[15] Correo del Alba. May 29, 2020. https://twitter.com/correodelalba/status/1266405415459393538?s=20

By Danny Shaw
From New York

Like Palestinians in Israel and Latino, Asian and Muslim immigrants in the U.S., Haitians in the Dominican Republic are demeaned, harassed, and victimized in both extraordinary and mundane ways.

Pushed out of their homeland by centuries of neo-colonialism and exploitation, officially 751,080 Haitians call the Dominican Republic home. This is 7.3% of the official population. There are hundreds of thousands of other Haitians who are deemed “illegal” and do not appear in any statistics.

“Antihaitianismo,” or anti-Haitian racism, is but one glaring symptom of the economic and political elites’ mind-set in the Dominican Republic.

This article will highlight the ideological, historical and political dimensions of  anti-Haitianism to show how the Dominican state, whose policies are reminiscent of apartheid, has a vested interest in harassing and scapegoating the Haitian population.

“To Improve the Race”

For decades, the Dominican people have been flooded with both intense and subtle propaganda denigrating Blackness and “Haitianidad,” depicting Hatians as “the other.” One of the pillars of the ideological legacy of Trujillismo and Balaguerismo was hispanophile, that is the exaltation of  Spanish heritage, which is also a way to celebrate what is white and European.

Here are a few examples of “casual” anti-Haitianism. Some Dominican parents jokingly threaten to send their kids in a sack to a Haitian boogeyman if they misbehave. Haitians are accused of stealing animals, or even children, and sacrificing them. In the mass media, Haitians are identified with hunger, infectious disease, political turmoil, and “black magic.”

Imbued with a certain myth of their cultural and racial superiority, too many Dominicans have turned their backs on the Haitian language, history, and culture. Talk about “good hair” and “improving the race” by marrying someone lighter-skinned remains common.

Popular educators from groups like Acción Afro-Dominicana and Agenda Solidaridad work hard to reeducate the Dominican population about the Haitian reality and raise awareness of the dangers of anti-Haitian hysteria.

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Ideologues of Hate

Dominican Presidents Danilo Medina (2012-2020) and Luis Abinader (August 2020 to the present) have invested substantial financial and human resources into persecuting Haitians who came to the Dominican Republic. These presidents have engaged in the same practices as their predecessors dating back to Trujillo.

Military checkpoints, one every few miles, line the route towards the interior of the Dominican Republic. National Guard searches of public transportation serve to publicly humiliate Haitian migrants and remind them of their status as unwanted visitors. The Dominican military intentionally provokes Haitians by aggressively searching through their belongings, mocking their language, dress, and skin color, and demanding that they pay ridiculous fines. Dominican state police have converted crossing the border and traveling into the interior into a business fueled by bribes and corruption. The most aggressive guards carry out illegal deportations and beatings if Haitians do not give in to extortion. Rhetoric about the need to patrol for Haitian arms, drug traffickers, and “illegals” serves as the eternal justification for this aggression.

Even Dominican citizens sometimes contribute to this persecution. One Sunday afternoon on a bus returning from the border town of Jimani, the author of this analysis witnessed a young Haitian man being forced from the front to the back of the bus on the charge that he had “el grajo,” or body odor. A group of Dominicans waved their hands in front of their noses as if to say that he could not sit close to them. The man was robbed of his right to take an empty seat on an eight-hour bus trip.

In counterpoint, the Dominican population is trained to be servile and obedient to German, Spanish, Italian and North American tourists. White Western “grajo” is an afterthought and not a bias permanently attached to one’s ethnic identity.

The dynamics of “el grajo” is just one element of an aggressive fear of Haitians that goes against the humble nature of the vast majority of people and secures their role as the carriers of a “necessary” racism. “Necessary” because as long as Haitians are viewed as sub-human, they can more effectively be exploited. Racism provides the cloak and justification for their super-exploitation.

“La desmemorización” (The Historical Forgetting)

The Dominican state apparatus has assumed the leading role in labeling, stereotyping, and scapegoating the Haitian community. The principal figure behind  anti-Haitianism was former president Joaquín Balaguer, who dedicated his intellectual and literary talents to defaming Haitians. In his book “La isla al revés,” Balaguer stomps vulgarly on the dignity of Haitians, absurdly blaming them for the spread of venereal diseases across the Dominican Republic, among other things. He plays on Dominican society’s historical paranoia that Haitians will try once again to unify the two countries under one government as happened from 1822 to 1844. Inaccurate recounting of Dominican history under Haitian military rule is still used today to whip up anti-Haitian hysteria. In truth, the Haitian occupation brought freedom to Dominican slaves and broke up the monopolization of land and wealth by the colonial Spanish power and the Catholic Church. In the words of Dr. Silvio Torres-Saillant, “many marginalized Dominicans lived better with the unification than they did before under Spanish rule.”^[1]

Any mention of the Haitian occupation today in the Dominican Republic begins with a wild tale of vicious Haitian soldiers throwing children into the air and chopping them up with their machetes as they fell. There must be a resistance to this distorted historical memory to rescue the Dominican and Haitian people’s history of solidarity. Haiti never colonized the Dominican Republic. This 22-year period deserves intense historical examination.

What is Behind the Wall?

As the Haitian people rise up in 2021 against dictatorship and neocolonialism, the Dominican Minister of Foreign Relations, Roberto Álvarez, announced that his country has embarked on the construction of a 118 mile wall on its border with Haiti. In his annual 2021 State of the Union address, president Luis Abinader lauded the wall without mentioning once the historic struggle the Haitian people are engaged in. The estimated cost is over $100 million dollars. In the year of a pandemic, where tourism, construction and remittances have taken a serious hit, it is hard to believe that this is the economic priority of the Dominican government.

These same mouthpieces of the ruling consensus, who feign concern about the welfare of “the Dominican nation,” are silent when it comes to the millionaire class that are the true masters of the nation. Ruling families like the Corripios, Bonettis and Vicinis control some billion dollars of investments in the central arteries of the Dominican economy like construction, tourism, cacao, energy, and tele-communications.

According to Oxfam, there are 265 millionaires in the Dominican Republic. To give a sense of what it means to be a millionaire in a country affected by widespread poverty and exclusion, a Dominican from the poorest 20% of the country would have to work 214 years to be able to earn what one of the 265 Dominican millionaires earns in a month. The study concludes: “The accumulated wealth of these 265 people is equivalent to 13 times the annual public investment in education, 17 times the public investment in health, or 49% of GDP.” Motivated by political opportunism, far-right careerists like Joaquín Balaguer, Vinicio Castillo, and Pelegrín Castillo have constantly attacked Haiti.

The Haitian people have long served as the easiest whipping boy in the Dominican Republic. They are blamed for many things, including disease, unemployment, and social crises. If it were not for these ideological escape valves, the political actors who develop these narratives would have to invent another enemy or confront the structural dynamics of gross class and national inequalities in the Caribbean region. The two nations do not need a wall; they need economic, educational, and diplomatic bridges of solidarity. It is the role of the Dominican people to build these bridges and complete the unfinished revolution that the Mirabal sisters, Caamaño, Mamá Tingó, Orlando Martinez, and so many others fought and died for…

Danny Shaw is Senior Research Fellow at COHA and an academic at City University of New York.

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Sources

^[1] From a speech at a conference on Dominican Independence at The Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial & Educational Center in Uptown Manhattan in 2016.

Tamanisha J. John
From Miami, Florida

Overview

Towards the latter months of 2018, “Kot Kòb Petwo Karibe a?” (“Where is the PetroCaribe money?”) became a rallying cry for Haitians demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse. Haitian protestors charged Moïse with misappropriation of government funds that should have been set aside for infrastructure development within Haiti; instead it has been used to enrich himself and his allies. Further fueling the mass protests within Haiti were the rising costs of living and the decreased availability and access to public services— even as the quality of life continued to deteriorate. Moïse denied all allegations of corruption levied against him by the public, and simultaneously utilized the Haitian army he revived in 2017 to brutalize and kill Haitian protestors and demonstrators.

Three years later, Jovenel Moïse has yet to resign in spite of sustained protests by a mass movement representing all sectors of Haitian society. Instead, as he rules by decree, Moïse has preoccupied himself with changing the Haitian constitution in order to remain the President of Haiti for at least another year. Moïse has also taken to describing Haitian protestors as “terrorists” and as enemies of the state. With this labelling, Moïse has attempted to justify the state-sanctioned murders, arrests, and other types of violence against Haitian protesters. Moïse’s brazen brutalization of the people of Haiti is not without foreign support. On February 5, 2021, two days prior to the termination of Moïse’s presidential term, the Biden State Department made it clear that they supported Moïse remaining in power for another year until 2022. This prompted a stronger wave of protests in the country, with some protestors burning the U.S. flag. This rancor is motivated by a history of U.S. occupation, invasion, and meddling in Haitian politics, including the selection of unpopular Haitian presidents.

Despite the criminalization of dissent within Haiti, on February 7 mass demonstrations and protests called on Moïse to step down and leave the Presidential Palace. These protests continue at the time of this writing (March 2, 2021), demanding not only that Moïse step down, but also for an end to foreign intervention in Haiti’s politics. As was the case during the 2018 protests, the demands of Haitian demonstrators remained the same: “No more foreign military occupation, no more foreign meddling, stop supporting the Moïse regime” (Francois 2019). In spite of these clear demands by Haitians, Western states, like Canada and the U.S., along with some international organizations, like the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations (UN), have chosen to ignore them. Thus, in the current protests, Moïse has arrested judges, journalists, reporters, opposition members, and working-class Haitians with impunity.

Moïse’s attempt to remain in power by decree (due to a closed parliament) and rewrite the Haitian constitution (to extend the length of his illegitimate hold on power) brings back memories of the 30-year Duvalier dictatorship. Moïse’s actions, along with the addition of a growing police, military and paramilitary infrastructure within Haiti, make these fears warranted. The plight of Haitians today is exacerbated by the reality of a global COVID-19 pandemic. And despite the low infection numbers (250 deaths so far^[1]), the pandemic has been used by the US to justify deportations^[2]. The anti-migrant offensive by the U.S., which now continues under Democratic President Joe Biden, has resulted in the deportation of hundreds of Haitians back into a dangerous situation in Haiti.

As was the case during the 2018 protests, the demands of Haitian demonstrators remained the same: “No more foreign military occupation, no more foreign meddling, stop supporting the Moïse regime”

A Brief Look Through History: Western Imperialism and Haitian Politics

To talk about Haiti in the present, is to talk about a history of imperialism that is embedded and entrenched in the relations between Western states, international organizations, and Haiti. Moïse’s hold on power is largely a by-product of foreign intervention and other external interests acting on Haiti’s politics. Thus, Moïse’s utilization of internal state violence to sustain profits for Western ideological and corporate interests, via the exploitation of Haitian people, is not new or unique.

In order to understand today’s protests in Haiti, one must first understand the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution, as well as Haiti’s “history of enslavement, involuntary migration and displacement; history of colonialism, foreign intervention, forced isolation, and economic exploitation” (Clitandre 2011, 146).

The Caribbean region has been a site of political resistance against colonialism for centuries. This is due to the fact that the region itself informed the global political economy via the production of sugar using enslaved labor, facilitated by the transatlantic slave trade since the sixteenth century. This is where the modern story of what we now know as Haiti begins. Haiti was the most exploited colony in the Americas. Between 1730 and 1790, Saint-Domingue (Haiti) exported 60% of the world’s sugar consumption (Desmangles 1992, 20). This exploitation had a massive human cost. The number of recorded daily deaths of enslaved Africans by this French colony would see that European empire resort to bringing in daily shipments of more slaves. By the time that the suffering of the enslaved sparked a  revolution to end their collective suffering, there would be over half a million Africans in Haiti.

Unlike other states in the Caribbean region— whose independence was granted once European powers decided that to keep the colonies would be a financial burden, and thus relegated the people there as “fit” to govern, Haitians won their independence after a 13 year revolution that lasted until 1804. As one of the most profitable sugar colonies at the time, the Haitian Revolution sent shockwaves throughout the various European colonies, instilling fear in the colonizer that enslaved peoples (and others subject to European colonialism) within their overseas territories would revolt. After winning their independence through revolution, the Africans living in Haiti were presumed to be “backwards” (unable to govern themselves) by European powers, and thus still the property of France. Haitian freedom was seen as illegitimate by the Western world.

Haiti, as the first republic to guarantee freedoms to all people— and the first Black republic— in the Americas, was never safe from recolonization or occupation by white imperialisms. Racism continued to inform how Haiti was viewed and understood within the global international system, as it was left isolated— and economically vulnerable— after winning its freedom.

It is within this historical context that we have to analyze the 19-year U.S. military occupation of Haiti. While the U.S. intervened in Haiti prior to 1915, the invasion and occupation from 1915 to 1934 is noteworthy because over that length of time the U.S. directly dictated Haiti’s political and economic policy. The 19-year occupation served to ensure that U.S. interests dominated in the country over the interests of other European powers. Over the 19-year period, five different Haitian presidents “ruled” Haiti, until President Stenio Vincent (1930-1941) came to power. However, even during Vincent’s presidency U.S. influence would continue to assert itself in the Caribbean country.

Haiti, as the first republic to guarantee freedoms to all people— and the first Black republic— in the Americas, was never safe from recolonization or occupation by white imperialisms. Racism continued to inform how Haiti was viewed and understood within the global international system, as it was left isolated— and economically vulnerable— after winning its freedom.

Between 1941 and 1957, Haiti would go through ten different presidents— the majority of whom would only hold office between three months to one year — before François Duvalier’s rise to power in 1957, until 1971. Prior to Duvalier’s rise, the West preferred mulatto elites to govern Haiti. However, with the emergence of a Black elite and middle class, Western preferences soon shifted to figures who could best enact (or protect) Western interests within the state. Needless to say, the West found a friend in Duvalier who ran on a platform to raise racial consciousness in the Black republic, but instead instituted the preferred policies of Western governments and corporations. To do so, the Duvalier presidency resorted to murder, kidnapping, and the brutalization of the masses of poor Black Haitans.

Under Duvalier, it was not just Western corporate interests that were appeased, but also Western ideological interests. In 1969, Duvalier passed anti-communist laws which forbade adherence to communism and purported “the incompatibility of imported doctrines, notably Marxism-Leninism, with the social, political, and economic order of Haiti” (Trouillot & Pascal-Trouillot 1978, 445). Internal repression was deployed against Caribbean peoples seeking freedom from empire and the creation of more economically and socially just societies. Neocolonial interests vigorously assaulted Caribbean states with citizenry vocally opposed to their agenda. Imposing neo-imperial state relations was the background for all of the attempted invasions into Cuba, the invasion of Grenada (1983), the multiple coups and occupations of Haiti (1915, 1988, 1991, 2004), the occupation and coup in the Dominican Republic (1916-24, 1965), and the provision of arms to state militaries in Trinidad and Tobago (1970), Dominica (1978-9), and Antigua (1980-1) to silence Black power movements.

When François Duvalier died in 1971, his constitutional declaration, which granted him the presidency for life in Haiti, passed on to his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier (1971-1986), who assumed the powers of the Presidency and continued on with his father’s brutal legacy. Economic and social decline continued in Haiti under the collective 30-year reign of the Duvaliers, for the vast majority of Haitians. The mulatto and Black elites in the country continued to steal Haitian resources.

In 1986, Duvalier fled the country in the face of uprisings calling for the end to his rule. This partial victory of the popular forces was followed by another round of U.S. and other Western occupations. It would not be until 1991 that Haiti finally had its first democratically held elections. In 1991, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected by popular majority (67.5%), making him the first democratically elected president of Haiti. Aristide’s win demonstrated that Haitians wanted a more redistributive and just society— something antithetical to the interests of foreign stakeholders.

Aristide was a Catholic priest who preached the “religio-socialist principles of liberation theology… [that] forcefully and vocally advocate[d] for the masses of Haitian poor mired in deeply entrenched disenfranchisement and exploitation” (Kain 2020, 1). Aristide’s convictions were in deep opposition to “rightist and international capitalist interests,” similar to other followers of liberation theology in Latin American and the Caribbean region (Kain 2020, 3).

Aristide was labelled a “communist” and enemy of Western interests— and not even eight months into his presidency he was ousted by a CIA coup on September 29, 1991. Aristide was seen as a threat to both internal and external elite interests, in direct opposition to the authoritarian capitalist regimes usually backed by the West. Aristide was allowed by the U.S. military to resume the presidency in 1994, only after agreeing to accept the neoliberal reforms that Western interests wanted Haiti to enact. Aristide disbanded the Haitian army in 1995, which meant Washington would have to directly intervene in Haiti during new coups.

Ultimately, however, Aristide was successful in instituting neoliberal reforms in Haiti. Interestingly enough, in 2004 Haiti mounted a lawsuit against France to recuperate the $20 billion dollars it was forced to pay back to slaveholders who had lost their slaves due to the Haitian Revolution. Although it appeared Haiti had a strong case against France in 2004 to recover the funds, France belonged to the group of Western states that supported the 2004 coup d’ètat in Haiti.

In 2006, René Préval (2006-2011) announced that during his Presidency, Haiti would join the PetroCaribe program. Préval kept this promise and immediately joined the agreement after his inauguration. PetroCaribe is (or was) a regional development loan initiative started by Venezuela under Hugo Chávez, which allowed states in the region to purchase oil at cheaper prices from the South American country. The savings accrued from the purchase of Venezuelan oil was to subsequently be used for infrastructural projects in developing countries throughout the region. Under Préval, the West opposed the PetroCaribe initiative because it advanced a cooperative relationship between Haiti and Venezuela. The “threat” of PetroCaribe to Western stakeholders was that it had the ability to lend “credibility [to] 21^st century socialism” (Gordon & Weber 2016, 246-7) and undermine U.S. efforts to dominate the energy market in the Caribbean. In Haiti, the need for PetroCaribe funds and earnings started to become a public topic of discussion in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, which further devastated the country.  Another development was that after the earthquake, Michel Martelly (2011-2016) assumed the Presidency of Haiti. U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton (2009-2013), flew to the country to tell Préval that Martelly was now the President (Danticat 2015).

As newly anointed President of Haiti, per the direct wishes of U.S. stakeholders, Martelly ruled as an authoritarian while instituting neoliberal reforms. Martelly was opposed to democratic elections and used his background as a popstar to gain credibility. Under Martelly, parliamentary elections were refused, the security state was strengthened, and earthquake disaster relief was largely privatized and outsourced to foreign interests and NGOs. Unsurprisingly, the challenges of meeting post-earthquake recovery goals in Haiti were not met under Martelly— even as the proliferation of NGOs and a flood of donor money came into the country enriching the Haitian elite and disaster capitalists (Francois 2019). Martelly’s reign was marred by corruption and embezzlement, but also by mass worker strikes and protests against him, which called for his resignation. In spite of the aforementioned, Martelly’s stronghold on power was backed by the Obama administration (Padgett 2013).

The Current Protests and Moïse— Another Illegitimate Haitian President

Michel Martelly’s hand-picked successor was Jovenel Moïse. Moïse was chosen by Martelly to continue on in his tradition— that is, to act as a stand-in for corporate imperialism and other Western interests, while enriching himself and his allies. It should be noted that Martelly’s term came to a constitutional end that he could not change, given that unlike Moïse after him, he would not have a parliamentary majority capable of extending his time in office. Prior to the 2015 elections, Martelly instituted a campaign of massive voter intimidation using his security forces and allied gangs, to ensure another victory for his party (Bald Headed Party, PHTK) and preferred candidate, Moïse. Voter intimidation was necessary, as the Aristide/Narcisse ticket had more popular enthusiasm than the lackluster and uninspiring campaign of Moïse, whom Haitians correctly identified as being another puppet in the likes of Martelly. Martelly’s usage of state sanctioned violence during the October 2015 elections continued. Meanwhile credible rumors spread about ballot stuffing and voter bribing (North 2015). The following year in 2016, the electoral council in Haiti concluded that irregularities in the November 2016 elections did not impact the results. Thus, with only 21% of Haitians participating in the 2016 elections, Moïse secured the candidacy with 55.6% of the vote.

On February 7, 2017 Moïse was sworn in as the new President of Haiti after the year-long process mired with fraud, protests, and retaliatory state violence. The beginning of Moïse’s presidency was clouded by the findings of the PetroCaribe investigation, where he was implicated in having helped the Martelly government embezzle PetroCaribe funds before assuming office (Nugent 2019). Moïse also faced money laundering accusations. However, as has become characteristic of Moïse, he has denied all allegations of corruption every year from 2017 to the present in spite of the evidence.

Currently, Moïse’s presidency is characterized by corruption and deep contempt for the Haitian people, provoking protests against him during the entirety of his presidency. Moïse has actively used state force to discourage and intimidate protestors, whilst instilling fear throughout Haiti, during his five, or as Moïse claims, four years in office. In regards only to those Haitians killed while protesting, available data indicates that state security forces under Moïse have killed over 100 people.

This is the context for the protests happening in Haiti. This year, opposition leaders within Haiti have maintained that Moïse’s constitutional term came to an end on February 7, 2021.  Given the 2015/6 elections, the opposition argues that Moïse has served for five years, which is the full length of a Presidential term in Haiti.

The opposition urged Moïse to step down on February 7, 2021. However Moïse declined because he was not officially inaugurated until 2017. By Moïse’s count, his 2017 inauguration means that mathematically his mandate would not expire in 2021, but rather next year on February 7, 2022.  Moïse’s claims yet again sparked protests in Haiti calling for his resignation. This time, the outcry is more acute given what is seen as the potential for a Moïse dictatorship. Fears of dictatorship are not unwarranted, because in January of 2020, Moïse raised cause for concern within Haiti, when he dissolved parliament and dismissed all of Haiti’s elected mayors (Charles 2021). This is why today, Moïse is ruling by decree.

In the aftermath of Moïse’s dismissal of parliament and elected mayors within Haiti, Moïse also declared that new elections would not be held in Haiti without constitutional reforms. According to Moïse, under the present constitution, his powers in the presidency are weakened— which begs the question, what does Moïse want with stronger presidential powers? Moïse’s proposed changes to the constitution calls for both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate to be replaced by a unicameral legislature— effectively granting more executive powers to the president. These are powers that,  in 1987, due to citizen input through more elected officials, were included in the Haitian constitution in order to prevent a possible return of dictatorship.

Under the Trump administration, light pressure was applied to Moïse to hold elections, with the Organization of American States (OAS) saying that “legislative, local and municipal elections should be under way by January [2021]” (Charles 2020). The response by the OAS and the Trump administration was due to the anti-government protests within Haiti that witnessed a lot of violence, given “Moïse’s failures to send an electoral law to parliament” before their duties expired (Charles 2020). The Trump administration was also concerned that protests in Haiti would lead to more Haitian immigrants coming to the U.S. In any case, if there is any indication that the OAS functionally operates as an arm of U.S. foreign policy and U.S. interests in the Americas,it is the fact that under Biden, the OAS has stopped calling for new elections, and instead agrees with the U.S. that Moïse’s presidency is still in effect until 2022.

On February 7, 2021, Moïse arrested 23 people, including a supreme court judge, with unsubstantiated claims that they were plotting a coup and assassination against him. Moïse also issued a decree declaring three Haitian Supreme Court Justices retired (News Wires 2021), who allegedly agreed with the opposition that Moïse’s mandate had ended. On February 8, 2021 the Haitian army announced that it would defend Moïse in carrying out “the rule of law,” and some protestors— including reporters— were killed in the capital that same day (News Wires 2021). During the weekend of February 14, 2021 thousands of protestors were on the streets of Haiti after Moïse’s refusal to step down, protesting against Moïse’s decision to remain in power against the Haitian constitution. The protesters repudiate the legitimacy of Moïse’s continued rule and oppose the international backing of his bid to stay in power by the U.S., OAS, and the UN. Along the protestors’ route, they stopped at the offices of the OAS and the UN to show their disgust with these organizations’ insistence on backing an illegitimate and highly unpopular president (Charles 2021).

Throughout the earlier phase of Moïse’s presidency, he claimed to be against foreign intervention in Haiti, but only when it did not suit his quest for power. This is why Moïse was not persuaded to hold elections given pressure from the Trump administration and the OAS in 2020. However, today Moïse’s claim to the presidency in Haiti until 2022 is not due to the popular will of the Haitian people, but rather, foreign intervention. Moïse’s quest for power, and the continued assistance he receives from Western backers, are cause for concern.

Solidarity with Haitians Fighting for Democracy

Today, Haiti is viewed by the West and other international organizations as property of and for their interests— not that of Haitians. This logic informed Haiti’s indebtedness to France in the 19th and 20th centuries, well after slavery was abolished, as well as its current subjugation to foreign stakeholders not interested in Haitian democracy or development. While romanticized in the present, given the extraordinary feat of the Haitian Revolution, the over-romanticizing of Haiti has paved the way for the recolonization of the first free state in the Americas. The suffering of Haitians rarely features in the U.S. and other Western backed media. Haiti is imagined as a place to be reconquered, by the foreign NGOs, international organizations, and Western countries which continue to negate its right to exist as a free republic.

In less than one month, the Biden administration has deported hundreds of Haitians while legitimizing the unpopular presidency of Jovenel Moïse, despite Haitian calls for his resignation. The deportations have occurred under the premise that the Moïse regime is “legitimate,” and thus there are no intractable problems in Haiti. This harkens back to U.S. policies in the 1980s that marked Haitian immigrants and asylum seekers as “economic migrants,” in order to substantiate the authenticity of the U.S.-backed Duvalier regime and justify Haitian detentions and deportations (Shull 2020, 12). There is an observable pattern of the U.S. backing repressive regimes in Haiti (and elsewhere), and then instituting anti-migrant offensives against the people fleeing those repressive governments. Given social media’s ability to draw attention to democratic movements that are vilified and/or ignored by people living in the West— even as their Western governments actively stifle democracy for those people— we can only continue to open a window onto what is happening on the ground in Haiti.

Tamanisha J. John is a doctoral candidate of International Relations at Florida International University (FIU), conducting research on Caribbean sovereignty and politics, economic imperialism, race, financial exclusion, and Canadian multinational banks in the Caribbean.

 

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References

Black Alliance for Peace. “For Biden Administration, Black Lives Don’t Matter in Haiti!- A BAP Statement on Haiti.” The Black Alliance for Peace (blog), February 12, 2021. https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/bidendoesntcareabouthaiti.

Yves Engler. “Canada Backs Revival of Duvalierism in Haiti,” February 7, 2021. https://yvesengler.com/2021/02/07/canada-backs-revival-of-duvalierism-of-haiti/.

Charles, Jacqueline. “Thousands March in Haiti to Say ‘No to Dictatorship’ as Peaceful Protest Turned Violent.” Miami Herald, February 14, 2021.

———. Miami Herald, October 23, 2020, sec. Haiti. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article246679877.html#storylink=cpy.

Ciccariello-Maher, George. Decolonizing Dialectics. Radical Américas. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2017.

Clitandre, Nadège. “Haitian Exceptionalism in the Caribbean and the Projet of Rebuilding Haiti.” The Journal of Haitian Studies 17, no. 2 (2011): 146–53.

Danticat, Edwidge. “Sweet Micky and the Sad Déjà Vi of Haiti’s Presidential Election.” The New Yorker, December 3, 2015, sec. Cultural Comment. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/sweet-micky-and-the-sad-deja-vu-of-haitis-presidential-elections.

———. “The Long Legacy of Occupation in Haiti.” The New Yorker, July 28, 2015, sec. News Desk. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/haiti-us-occupation-hundred-year-anniversary.

Desmangles, Leslie G. The Faces of the Gods: Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti. Chapel Hill & London: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.

Domond, Rachel. “Fierce Struggle Resists U.S.-Backed Haitian President’s Power Grab.” Liberation, February 8, 2021, sec. Analysis. https://www.liberationnews.org/fierce-struggle-resists-u-s-backed-haitian-presidents-power-grab/.

Durandis, Ilio. “The Core Group as a Parasite on Haitian Sovereignty.” Dyalòg, February 11, 2019. https://dyalog.org/refleksyon/2019/2/11/the-core-group-as-a-parasite-on-haitian-sovereignty.

Francois, France. “Haiti Is Not in ‘Crisis’ – It’s Rising Up Against Neoliberalism.” Remezcla, November 25, 2019, sec. Culture. https://remezcla.com/lists/culture/haiti-not-crisis-uprising-neoliberalism/.

———. “Miami’s Citadel Food Hall Misappropriates a Revered Symbol of Black Resistance in Haiti.” Miami Herald. February 20, 2019, sec. Op-Ed. https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article226526850.html.

Gauthier-Caron, Jérémie. “Canada Helped Overthrow Haitian Democracy: A Peoples’ History of Canada Column.” The Link. February 27, 2017, sec. Opinions. https://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/canada-helped-overthrow-haitian-democracy.

Gordon, Todd, and Jeffery Webber. Blood of Extraction Canadian Imperialism in Latin America. Fernwood Publishing, 2016.

James, C.L.R. The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. 2nd Edition. New York & Canada: Vintage Books Edition, 1989.

Kain, Geoffrey. “Spirit Confront the Four-Headed Monster: Jean Betrand Aristide’s Mistik-Infused Flood-Rise in Duvalierist Haiti.” Humanities 9, no. 144 (2020): 1–13. https://doi.org/doi:10.3390/h9040144.

Lemaire, Sandra. “Haiti President’s Term Will End in 2022, Biden Administration Says.” Voice of America (VOA). February 5, 2021, sec. The Americas. https://www.voanews.com/americas/haiti-presidents-term-will-end-2022-biden-administration-says.

Monbiot, George. “Neoliberalism – the Ideology at the Root of All Our Problems.” The Guardian, April 15, 2016, sec. Economics. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot.

News Wires. “Haiti Opposition Names Interim Leader as Political Crisis Deepens.” France 24, February 9, 2021. https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20210209-haiti-opposition-names-interim-leader-as-political-crisis-deepens.

North, James. “Can Haiti’s Corrupt President Hold on to Power?” The Nation, October 29, 2015, sec. Politics. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/can-haitis-corrupt-president-hold-on-to-power/.

Nugent, Ciara. “Why a Venezuelan Oil Program Is Fueling Massive Street Protests in Haiti.” Time, June 24, 2019, sec. World. https://time.com/5609054/haiti-protests-petrocaribe/.

Padgett, Tim. “The Mistakes of Martelly: Why Haiti’s President Faces Angry Unrest.” WLRN Miami|South Florida, November 25, 2013, sec. Politics. https://www.wlrn.org/politics/2013-11-25/the-mistakes-of-martelly-why-haitis-president-faces-angry-unrest.

Shull, Kristina. “Reagan’s Cold War on Immigrants: Resistance and the Rise of a Detention Regime 1981-1985.” Journal of American Ethnic History 40, no. 2 (Winter 2021): 5–51.

Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 1995.

———. “The Odd and the Ordinary: Haiti, the Caribbean and the World,” 1–7. New York: University of Chicago, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1590/1809-43412020v17j553.

Winn, Peter. AMERICAS: The Changing Face of Latin America and the Caribbean. 3rd Edition. Berkeley, Lo Angeles & London: University of California Press, 2006.

Sources

^[1] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/haiti/

^[2] “US to deport Haitians who’ve tested positive for coronavirus: NGO,” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/5/10/us-to-deport-haitians-whove-tested-positive-for-coronavirus-ngo

COHA’s Senior Research Fellow, professor Danny Shaw, opens a window to the mass movement in Haiti which is demanding President Jovenel Moïse step down and cease rule by decree.

Demonstrators are also calling for the release of political prisoners, the restoration of the Supreme Court justices, Police Inspector General and other opposition figures who have been fired, and an end to U.S., United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) intervention on behalf of foreign interests in their country.

A broad convergence of opposition parties and social movements maintain that Moïse’s term in office ended on February 7, 2021, while Moïse argues his mandate continues for another year and seeks to hold a referendum on a new constitution this April. It is doubtful, however, that such a referendum can garner democratic legitimacy given the prevailing corruption of constituted power in Haiti.

There has been scarce mainstream media coverage of the protests that have brought thousands of Haitians to the streets day after day, week after week, despite the mounting human rights abuses perpetrated by Haitian police and their allied gangs. Danny Shaw, brings critical light to the ongoing struggle for democracy in Haiti.

Photo-Gallery: a Country that Demands Democracy and Non-Intervention

[Credit Photos: Danny Shaw]

Video Analysis by Professor Danny Shaw, from Port-au-Prince, Haiti

By COHA Editorial Board
From Washington DC

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) is pleased to announce its formal nomination of the Henry Reeve Brigade for the Nobel Peace Prize, in a formal submission delivered today January 22 to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Stockholm, Sweden. For more than 40 years COHA has provided critical-ethical analysis of US-Latin American relations and has studied the culture, politics, and social programs of Cuba. 

Since its inception, the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade, sponsored by the government of Cuba, has delivered high quality health care services and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of underprivileged and underserved populations throughout the world. These services include prevention as well as treatment. Its message is one of human solidarity and peace, building bridges of understanding between different countries, regardless of ideology and cultural background. In that sense, the Henry Reeve Brigade represents the best of international cooperation for the good of humanity.

Established in 2005 to offer Cuba’s medical help to those who suffered the impact of hurricane Katrina in the United States, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brigade has distinguished itself as a true leader in both the global North and South, offering emergency assistance. Consequently, COHA believes the nomination is quite timely. Twenty-three countries in Europe, Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Latin America, and the Caribbean requested help amidst this global crisis, and more than 1,500 Cuban health professionals–doctors, specialists, and nurses–have answered the call. Other requests for cooperation are underway, as the Reeve Brigade is today recognized as the only international medical contingent providing a scientific and humanitarian response to the pandemic on a global scale.

COHA also acknowledges the historic role of the Reeve Brigade in taking up the challenge to fight disease under very challenging circumstances, instilling hope in seemingly hopeless situations.  Examples include the medical cooperation provided to Pakistan and Haiti after their devastating earthquakes in 2005 and 2010. The Brigade’s brave role in containing the Ebola epidemic in Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014-2015 was recognized in 2016 by US ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, who mentioned it as an example of the positive outcome that cooperation and engagement between Cuba and the United States can bring to the world.

These operations were successful thanks to the outstanding medical-scientific training of the Cuban health professionals, their organizational skills in confronting  natural disasters and health emergencies, and strongly held values of altruism, solidarity, and advancing the common good. The Henry Reeve Brigade has spread a message of hope throughout the world.

“Its 7,400 volunteer health professionals have treated more than 3.5 million people in 21 countries in the face of the worst disasters and epidemics of the last decade,” said the World Health Organization when it presented the Dr Lee Jong-wook Public Health Award at a ceremony for them in Geneva in May 2017 during the 70th World Health Assembly.

Since early 2020, the Brigade has done even more to promote a message of peace. A Nobel Prize for the Henry Reeve Brigade is not only well-deserved, it would raise the profile of this life saving work and perhaps inspire more such efforts in the future.

Signed by COHA members:

Fred Mills, Co-Director
Patricio Zamorano, Co-Director
Jill Clark-Gollub, Assistant Editor/Translator
Danny Shaw, Senior Research Fellow
Arturo López-Levy, Senior Research Fellow
Alina Duarte, Senior Research Fellow
William Camacaro, Senior Analyst
Dan Kovalik, Senior Research Fellow

By Arturo López-Levy
Oakland, California

Unfortunately, the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, encouraged by the Inciter-in-Chief, will not be the last act of mischief. Trump is insisting on causing as much damage as possible to the interests and values of the United States on his way out the door. He is not only sabotaging an orderly transition, but persists in obstructing the mandate the American people have given to the incoming administration. On Monday the Trump administration demonstrated that strategy by adding Cuba, without justification, to the list of State sponsors of terrorism, and on Tuesday Trump will celebrate the supposed completion of the wall on the Mexican border. Who knows what price will be paid by the U.S. for the next irresponsible action taken by Trump and his sycophants?

Few of the actors in this disaster movie come close to the role played by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.  After the election Pompeo announced that January would mark “a smooth transition to the second Trump administration.” The dream of a coronation turned into a nightmare. On January 20, 2021 Pompeo will leave Foggy Bottom as one of the last cabinet holdouts simply because he is too shameless to resign. After the uprising against Congress, a branch of government in which he himself has served, Pompeo tried to distract from his own lack of courage with a burst of torpedoes against many of the policies announced by the incoming President and Vice-President. Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have made it clear that they believe the policies espoused by President Barack Obama during his last years in office show the most appropriate way for a democratic power to act with dignity towards Cuba and other members of the international community.

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Pompeo’s move actually weakens the fight against terrorism

Including Cuba in the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism is a distraction that seeks to commit U.S. resources to fighting a threat that does not exist. The collateral effect of this irresponsibility is to discredit an American foreign policy tool that might be useful in the international community for pointing out some states that do collaborate with terrorists. Who can take this list seriously when the reasons for including Cuba are so pedestrian? 

The “argument” that Cuba’s alignment with the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela makes it a sponsor of terrorism is rather flimsy. The Maduro administration has a seat at the United Nations and in the next few months it is likely to regain recognition by the European Union, which has already described Juan Guaidó as the President of the “outgoing” National Assembly. If the United States wants to draw up a list of Venezuela’s allies, it could start with Russia, China, and several more.

Cuba is condemned for supporting the peace process in Colombia

Pompeo’s second reason for putting Cuba back on the list is that Cuba did not extradite 10 leaders of the ELN (National Liberation Army guerrillas) to Colombia who were in Havana as part of the dialogue between the guerrilla group and the government of Colombia. Norway, a U.S. NATO ally that accompanied Cuba in the peace talks, has reiterated that the security guarantees afforded to the guerrillas were part of the negotiations protocol adopted by the mediators with the consent of the Colombian government. Not only has Cuba not committed or supported any acts of international terrorism according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) database; Cuba contributed to the peace process in Colombia more than any other state.

If instead of blockading Cuba the Trump administration had continued President Obama’s policy of engagement, which included Bernard Aronson, former Under Secretary of State for Hemispheric Affairs in the George Bush administration (1989-1993) as the U.S. representative, perhaps the dialogue that Norway facilitated between the Venezuelan government and the opposition parties would have made progress with the support of their allies. The same could be said of the dialogue between the ELN and the Colombian government which could have resumed sooner rather than later as the best way to demobilize that guerrilla force and the FARC dissidents who remain armed in Colombian territory. 

The third “reason” Pompeo gave was that Cuba has not extradited some people wanted in the U.S. for acts of terrorism against the U.S. government. One should remember that the extradition treaty signed between Cuba and the United States in 1904 is no longer in force because the U.S. suspended it in 1959 to protect fugitives from the revolution that were primarily associated with the Batista dictatorship. The agreement regulated reciprocal extradition for people who break the law in either country, excluding those involved in non-violent political activity. 

The United States has given refuge to known terrorists

When Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro decided to move the thorny relationship between the two countries into a more manageable space, they agreed to focus on the future rather than relitigating disputes that originated in the Cold War.

For more than six decades, the U.S. has given political asylum to hundreds of people involved in violence in Cuba or even in the United States itself which  its own Department of Justice has labeled terrorism. Under various U.S. administrations, criminals such as Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles were not extradited to Cuba, Venezuela, or Italy (the home country of one of the victims of one of the attacks attributed to Posada), nor were they put on trial in the United States, as is required by several conventions against terrorism to which the U.S. is a signatory. Bosch and Posada were the masterminds of the placement of a bomb on an Air Cubana flight that killed 73 passengers.

Noteworthy among the people being charged by the United States and living in Cuba  is the case of Assata Shakur, who is accused of involvement in the death of police officer Werner Foerster in New Jersey while she was a member of the Black Liberation Army. All U.S. extradition requests predate Cuba’s removal from the State Department’s list in May of 2015 and the reinstatement of diplomatic relations between Havana and Washington. After 2010,  The many reports on the inclusion of Cuba in this list, made no consistent mention of Shakur or any other cases. Prominent members of the Congressional Black Caucus, such as Maxine Waters (Democrat from California) have sent letters to the Cuban government and U.S. authorities arguing that the Shakur case was a political vendetta that ignored the context of African-American civil rights groups in decades gone by and illegal activities against them through projects such as COINTELPRO.

The decision to move beyond this history of conflict served the interests of both countries. Pompeo’s selective and unilateral relitigation of the American claims is an exercise in hypocrisy  for the sole purpose of making the future a slave of the past.   

Acknowledging progress in the change of leadership in Cuba

Pompeo’s irresponsible act provides Biden’s new Secretary of State with an easy way to discount out of hand this attempt to twist the official image of Cuba in the United States. The designation’s potential damage to the policy announced by Biden and Harris toward Cuba is considerable. A wrong diagnosis that views Cuba as a threat to U.S. security detracts from a realistic approach that sees the island as a country in the middle of an important economic and leadership transition, with significant consequences for its future and for a potential new start with the United States. Raúl Castro is retiring as head of the Communist Party and Cuban leadership is being passed to the next generation. What sense does it make to face this new reality with an inaccurate diagnosis?

Financial profit at the cost of a failed policy

Treating Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism opens the U.S. courts, particularly those in south Florida, to opportunistic lawsuits in which unscrupulous attorneys will take advantage of the limited sovereign immunity conferred by a country’s appearance on the terrorism list to obtain juicy profits from trials for which Cuba would not be present. These trials could produce multimillion dollar rulings against Cuba, rendering the difficult issue of financial settlements between Cuba and the United States intractable.

One effect of such trials could be to discredit the United States in the eyes of the Cuban people. Although the most recalcitrant sectors of the Communist Party called him a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the first African-American U.S. President left a fresh image of openness to Cuba that transcended the history of conflicts and disagreements. This idea of a change one can believe in contrasts with the imperialist posture of Trump towards Cuba and other issues. The Biden administration should not only resume cancellation of lawsuits under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, it should also preclude these offensive caricatures of the rule of law—lawsuits against Cuba with limited immunity—from being justified by an unwarranted “terrorist” label. 

Precedents of ideological manipulation of Cuba’s image

If he quickly resumes the path of rapprochement, Biden will show  the difference between an administration stuck in the Helms-Burton imperial framework and the best values of U.S. democracy represented by the open hand Obama extended for dialogue with Havana in 2016. The Cuban people are all too familiar with the attacks, hypocrisy, and lack of civility that characterized imperialist dirty war tactics against Cuba. Gratuitously labeling Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism reminds many Cubans of Operation Northwoods in which the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed false flag acts of terrorism in which alleged Cubans would attack the U.S., giving a pretext for an invasion of Cuba.

Biden should continue Obama’s policy

Despite all this, the image of the first African American President and his ultimate decision to propose a new tack with Cuba created good will toward the United States and the Democratic Party in the eyes of many Cubans. But there is nothing more damaging to soft power than deception. The Biden team should bear this in mind. From the outset it should act decisively as an agent of change, and never as a continuation of Trumpism. Trump’s supporters will try to crucify Biden for whatever he does—be it a small or grand gesture. To quote the president-elect, “It makes no sense to hang yourself on a small cross.” The incoming team should return in grand fashion and  deepen the policy announced by Obama in his Presidential Policy Directive of October 2016.

If the Biden administration wants to communicate that it is serious about combatting terrorism and is throwing its hat in with multilateralism, removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism is a litmus test. The idea that Cuba is not a top priority  in  Biden’s agenda is an unsustainable pretext. The State Department has enough experts to seriously examine this issue, and follow procedures to remove Cuba from the list in a relatively short time.  

The incoming Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, should not simply fall into the traps that Pompeo is laying in his path. Pompeo’s last minute outrageous actions do not reflect well on American diplomacy. The new administration owes nothing to the right-wing Cuban exile community in Florida, that simply wants to manipulate the list to hurt Cuba. It is a matter of basic diplomatic professionalism that the incoming administration reviews the case of Cuba according to technical, non-partisan criteria. Since Cuba was taken off the list in 2015, has the island engaged in sponsorship of any terrorist organization or act? If the answer is no, Cuba should be removed from it immediately.

Arturo López-Levy is a Senior Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA). He is a professor of international relations and politics at Holy Names University in Oakland, California and author of “Raul Castro and the New Cuba: A Close-up of Change.” Twitter, @turylevy.

[Main photo: While the U.S. accuses Cuba of terrorism, Cuban doctors of the Henry Reeve Brigade have been collaborating with several countries around the world to bring medical care to at-risk populations. Credit: Diario Granma Internacional].

Translated by Jill Clark-Gollub, COHA Assistant Editor/Translator       

By Rubén Sierra
From Los Angeles, California

COVID-19 has spread rapidly throughout the world. The pandemic has severely limited the economic activities of developing countries and has even led to periodic shut downs in the most powerful nations. Globally, an estimated 72,650,979 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 resulting in 1,619,617 deaths.^[1] The pandemic has affected certain countries at a disproportionate rate. According to the most recent data on the pandemic, Cuba has had 10,900 cases and 9,503 have recovered, with 140 deaths.^[2] The US has had about 19.2 million cases, 11,257,711 have recovered with 300,051 deaths.^[3] Nearly 5% of all U.S. Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 while a miniscule 0.08% of the Cuban population has been infected. Nearly 90% of Cubans diagnosed with COVID-19 have recovered.

The significant differences in cases and deaths are attributed to a variety of factors. Cuba is a small island nation; its relative seclusion from the rest of the world has prevented a rapid spread of COVID-19. The United States has a population that is 33 times bigger than Cuba. However, these considerations should not ignore the fact that Cuba’s infection and recovery rate is still the lowest per capita in the world and we may be overlooking a key factor in Cuba. Since the Cuban revolution, Cuba’s medical system has been recognized as one of the best and most advanced in the world despite struggling with the constraints of the U.S. embargo.

As the pandemic appears to be uncontrollable and has no end in sight, a U.S.-Cuba medical partnership could benefit the global community let alone both countries. During this uncertain time, countries should prioritize partnerships in order to confront this deadly pandemic. More than ever, this may be the time for the U.S. to put aside an outdated embargo and unite medical resources with Cuba to effectively confront the COVID-19 virus. A medical partnership is not something new in their historical relationship.

A Brief History of US-Cuba Medical Partnerships

The United States and Cuba have found some common ground through medical partnerships. As professor Helen Yaffe points out, “since the 1960s, many U. S. scientists have forged scientific links with revolutionary Cuba” to gain access to Cuba’s medical research on the oral polio vaccine, interferon, which signals proteins to be made and released within the body in response to the presence of several viruses.  Moreover, both medical communities have engaged in the North American Scientific Exchange.^[4] Although conflict remains between both governments, their medical communities have identified the benefits of working together in order to advance our understanding of medical treatment.

Most recently, medical researchers and doctors from both countries have reached historic medical agreements. A joint partnership has been solidified related to Ebola treatment in Liberia and research on a lung cancer vaccine in New York. In 2014, “Cuban doctors and nurses staff[ed] a USAID-funded Ebola treatment unit in Monrovia, Liberia.”^[5] This medical venture was a rare opportunity for Cuban medical professionals to work on U.S.-funded projects. In addition, on September 26, 2018, a United States and Cuban biotech joint venture was established to conduct a trial and deliver CIMAvax-EGF, an innovative Cuban lung cancer immunotherapy treatment, to patients in the United States. Innovative Immunotherapy Alliance SA was set up by Buffalo-based Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Havana’s Centre for Molecular Immunology (CIM).^[6] Since the introduction of the joint project, Cuba’s medical innovation has constructively contributed to mainstream medical understanding of immunology.

Medical researchers at Roswell Park were astonished by Cuba’s medical breakthroughs. They found that Cuba’s medical progress has the potential to advance cancer treatment in the field of immunology. For example, Roswell Park President and CEO Dr. Candance Johnson said, “this is a momentous step forward […] we are entering a critical new phase of Roswell Park’s collaboration with […] innovative Cuban scientists. Our goal is to develop these promising cancer therapies as quickly and effectively as possible” to “benefit the greatest number of U.S. patients.”^[7] Despite the political tensions between Cuba and the United States, which is mainly rooted in Washington DC, the U.S. medical and scientific community has recognized Cuba’s medical advances. Cuba’s ongoing history of medical breakthroughs has also been recognized by the global community which has resulted in medical partnerships with over 67 countries.

Cuba’s Health Partnerships in the Developing World

Cuba has been a leader in global health partnerships since the Cuban revolution. “Cuba currently has over 50,000 health professionals working in 67 different countries”^[8] which in 2014 was “a greater number of health professionals than Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Red Cross and Unicef combined.”^[9] Cuba leads the world in medical diplomacy as many countries have welcomed Cuba’s exceptional medical professionals. Cuba has made a significant medical impact on every continent. For example, Cuba “has a large presence in 30 different countries in the African continent,” the Middle East, Asia and Portugal and their efforts have been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO).^[10]

In 2017, “the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade (HRIMB) of Cuba was awarded the prestigious […] Dr. Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health” by WHO “at a World Health Assembly ceremony […] for its emergency medical assistance to more than 3.5 million people in 21 countries affected by disasters and epidemics since the founding of the Brigade in September 2005.”^[11] Cuba’s medical personnel are more active in countries that need it the most. For example, Cuba sends more medical personnel annually to the developing world than all the G8 countries combined.^[12] Despite Cuba’s limited resources and the never-ending U.S. embargo, Cuba continues to export its vital resource – medical care. Developed countries in Europe are now reaching out to Cuba to partner on a biotechnology response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

European Union-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA)

During the latter part of 2020, Cuba and the European Union (EU) have engaged in a cooperation agreement focused on accomplishing sustainable development goals. Three complex issues have been given priority focus: “(i) climate change, (ii) the path towards an inclusive, knowledge-based economy, and (iii) health systems and the development biotechnology in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.”^[13] Cuba and the EU are partnering to tackle some of the most pressing global issues.

A major focus is pursuing a comprehensive response to COVID-19 in Cuba. For example, “saving lives and mitigating the health impact of the COVID-19 emergency in Cuba” will be “implemented by the Pan-American Health Organization equaling 1.5 million euros to strengthen national capacities to fight the pandemic.”^[14] The idea is that if Cuba is able to significantly reduce their COVID-19 rate then the island nation would be able to focus on assisting with the response in other countries such as the ones in Europe. The European Union recognizes the value of Cuba’s medical personnel. Separate nations within the European Union have already signed agreements to work with Cuba on COVID-19 diagnostics and vaccinations.

Sweden and the United Kingdom Sign Separate Agreements with Cuba

Sweden and the United Kingdom have emerged from the EU to establish independent partnerships related to COVID-19 prevention and response. Sweden has agreed to invest in Cuba’s diagnostic technologies such as SUMA – which enables detection of COVID-19.^[15] The United Kingdom also recognizes the value of cooperating with Cuba on prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Specifically, the United Kingdom is partnering with Cuba on several health projects. The British Embassy is “collaborating with the Cuban Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) […] related to: the clinical trial of an immune enhancer, the development of diagnostic tests for serological antigen detection and the effect of an existing antiviral in COVID-19 positive patients.”^[16]

British diplomats clearly understand the importance of their partnerships with Cuban medical personnel. British Ambassador to Cuba, Dr. Antony Stokes stated that “the pandemic has impacted our economies” while “putting the world’s health systems under pressure […] Cooperation between countries is essential in responding to the challenges posed by COVID-19.”^[17]

Cuba’s COVID-19 Vaccine Trials

Cuba has become a world leader in clinical trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. The country is currently developing two vaccine candidates – known as Sovereign 1 and Sovereign 2, and the Caribbean island could become an important supplier to neighboring countries that may struggle to access vaccine supply, according to Reuters.^[18] If the vaccines prove to be safe and effective, the vaccinations “would become available for purchase in the region through PAHO, the America regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO),” said José Moya, the representative in Cuba for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). ^[19]

The potential vaccines are drawing significant interest from Latin American and African countries. Some countries are currently positioning themselves to gain access to it. For example, Mexico and Venezuela along with the ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) alliance, which includes 10-member countries such as Nicaragua, Bolivia and Caribbean nations, are interested in importing Cuba’s vaccine.^[20] The government of Ethiopia has also signaled interest in partnering with the island by stating that “Cuba has a good scientific reputation.”^[21]

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the global community. This infectious virus does not discriminate against poor or wealthy countries. Cases and deaths continue to rise around the world especially in the United States. More than ever, medical communities must come together to seek a comprehensive response to the spread of COVID-19. In response to the growing pandemic, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of COVID-19 vaccines from corporate leaders Pfizer and Moderna. The vaccines are estimated to be 95% effective but many medical experts such as Peter Hotez, virologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, expects the U.S. to face vaccine shortages and that the country will actually “need four or five different vaccines.”^[22]

Despite historical tensions, clearly manifested in the continued U.S. embargo on Cuba, a medical partnership between the two countries may be essential to overcoming the devastation being caused worldwide by the COVID-19. Both countries have engaged in medical partnerships in the past. Cuba has proven to develop highly effective medical vaccines and treatments that have benefited the United States medical research community such as the oral polio vaccine and now CIMAvax. Currently, countries in Europe, Africa and Latin America are solidifying their partnerships with Cuba regarding a WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccination. It is also acknowledged by U.S. medical professionals at the Baylor College of Medicine that “the Cubans have created two vaccines that sound technologically quite promising.”^[23]

The severity of COVID-19 should make the U.S. embargo obsolete and create the urgency for the U.S. and Cuban medical community to work together for the well-being of our global community.

Ruben Sierra was a 2008 COHA Research Associate. He studied Caribbean Literature and Music at the Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba in 2007. He has over 8 years of experience working with labor unions and non-profit organizations in California.

Fred Mills and Patricio Zamorano contributed as editors of this article

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Sources and end notes

^[1] CNN. Tracking Coronavirus’ Global Spread. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-maps-and-cases/ (accessed December 14, 2020).

^[2] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/cuba/ (accessed on December 26, 2020).

^[3] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ (accessed on December 26, 2020).

^[4] Yaffe, Helen. We Are Cuba!: How A Revolutionary People have Survived in a Post-Soviet World. Yale University Press, 2020.

^[5] Gannon, Seth, and Morrison, Stephen. Health Cooperation in the New U.S.-Cuban Relationship. Health Affairs Blog: Global Health Policy, https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20150429.047389/full/ (accessed December 11, 2020).

^[6] Deck-Miller, Annie. Governor Cuomo Announces First-Ever Biotech Venture Between U.S. and Cuba to Research and Develop New Cancer Treatments. Roswell Park Newsroom, September 26, 2018, https://www.roswellpark.org/newsroom/201809-governor-cuomo-announces-first-ever-biotech-venture-between-us-cuba-research (accessed December 26, 2020).

^[7]Ibid.

^[8] Gonzalez, Mauro, et al. International Medical Collaboration: Lessons from Cuba. US National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health, December 2016, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5184795/

^[9] Huish, Robert. Why Does Cuba ‘Care’ so Much? Understanding the Epistemology of Solidarity in Global Health Outreach. International Development Studies, Public Health Ethics, Dalhousie University, 2014.

^[10] Gonzalez, Maura, et al. International Medical Collaboration: Lessons from Cuba. United States Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health, 2016.

^[11] PAHO/WHO. Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade Received Prestigious Award. May 26, 2017, https://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13375:cubas-henry-reeve-international-medical-brigade-receives-prestigious-award&Itemid=42353&lang=en (accessed December 26, 2020).

^[12] Huish, Robert, and Kirk, John. Cuban Medical Internationalism and the Development of the Latin American School of Medicine. Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 34, No. 6, Aggressive Capital and Democratic Resistance (Nov 2007), New York, 2007.

^[13] European Union External Action Service. EU and Cuba Hold Second Dialogue on Sustainable Development Goals. Press Release, April 12, 2020, https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/89326/node/89326_en (accessed on December 13, 2020).

^[14] European Union External Action Service. EU and Cuba Hold Second Dialogue on Sustainable Development Goals. Press Release, April 12, 2020, https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/89326/node/89326_en (accessed on December 13, 2020).

^[15] World Health Organization. Cuba: Health Authorities and International Partners Exchange Ideas on Opportunities for Cooperation, while Sweden invests in COVID-19 Diagnostic Technologies. (http://stream.nbcsports.com/nfl/watch-sunday-night-football, (accessed on October 13, 2020).

^[16] Government of the United Kingdom. The UK in Cuba: Creating Alliances in Response to COVID-19. British Embassy in Havana, October 2, 2020, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-uk-in-cuba-creating-alliances-in-response-to-covid-19  (accessed on December 13, 2020).

^[17] Government of United Kingdom. The UK in Cuba: Creating Alliances in Response to COVID-19. British Embassy in Havana, October 2, 2020, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-uk-in-cuba-creating-alliances-in-response-to-covid-19  (accessed on December 13, 2020).

^[18] Marsh, Sarah. Cuba Leads Race for Latin American Coronavirus Vaccine. Reuters, November 12, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccine-cuba-focus-idINKBN27S1OX (accessed on December 14, 2020).

^[19] Marsh, Sarah. Cuba Leads Race for Latin American Coronavirus Vaccine. Reuters, November 12, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccine-cuba-focus-idINKBN27S1OX (accessed on December 14, 2020).

^[20] Ibid.

^[21] Ibid.

^[22] Owermohle, Sarah. U.S. Could Face Months of Vaccine Shortages Amid Global Competition. Politico, December 8, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/08/coronavirus-vaccine-shortage-443839 (accessed December 26, 2020).

^[23] Marsh, Sarah. Cuba Leads Race for Latin American Coronavirus Vaccine. Reuters, November 12, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccine-cuba-focus-idINKBN27S1OX (accessed on December 14, 2020).