Wednesday, 31 August 2016 07:04
As Commercial Flights From the US Begin Today, Can Cuba Survive the Coming
Capitalist Invasion?
MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Will a tsunami of capitalism wash over Cuba? (Photo: Balint Földesi)
Today, Jet Blue airlines is flying the first commercial flight in a little
over 50 years from the US to Cuba -- from Fort Lauderdale to the Cuban city
of Santa Clara. Up until now, an American could only fly to Cuba on a
charter flight and meet certain criteria to visit the island. The
"requirements" still remain, but they are broad enough that most people in
the US can say that one category or another applies to their visits, and the
State Department is not expected to seriously enforce the stipulation. As a
result, Cuba may be overrun with tourists and businesspeople.
Indeed, as CNN reports, the number of daily flights to Cuba is expected to
balloon quickly:
Soon up to a maximum of 110 daily flights operated by such carriers as
JetBlue, American Airlines, Delta, Frontier, Southwest and Silver Airways
are due to begin flying to the ... island, according to the US Department of
Transportation.
This will include service to many Cuban cities. In fact, the most lucrative
routes -- to Havana -- have not yet been assigned to airlines by the
Department of Transportation. There's no doubt that in a few years, Cuba is
going to be hit by a tsunami of consumers and corporate profit seekers.
After all, the US has long regarded Mexico, Central America, South America
and the Caribbean nations as captive markets. With the conversion of Cuba
into a Soviet-aligned nation after Castro's military victory, that country
became the lone exception in the hemisphere: a place that was not seen by
the US as an extension of its own economic system. Today, the Bolivarian
revolution has foundered in Venezuela, and Dilma Rouseff is being impeached
in Brazil. Ecuador and Bolivia may put up resistance to US hegemony, but
remain deeply entangled in it.
In the CNN article, a recent tourist was concerned that Cuba too may soon be
captured by capitalism:
For many Americans, though, the immediate concern is not security but seeing
Cuba before the island emerges from the Cold War time warp of the last 50
years.
"Our friends had been here and said, why don't you come to Cuba before its
too Westernized," said Gerry Hall, a New York educator who joined a
"people-to-people" tour of the island in August.
"We wanted to come before you see McDonald's and Walmart and other US
companies in Cuba," she said.
However, the government of Cuba insists that it will resist the lure of the
capitalist consumer culture and economic structure. As reported in Prensa
Latina on August 27, José Ramón Balaguer Cabrera -- a close government
associate of the Castros -- recently told a meeting of Communist and
revolutionary political parties in Latin America:
"'We must fight the attempts to make us go back to neoliberalism with more
unity, and more articulation, togetherness, cohesion of the political
forces, social movements and working lasses of the whole continent," said
Balaguer.
On the imperialist and oligarchical counter-offensive against the
revolutionary and progressive governments, of reactionary and anti-popular
character, he pointed out that where the conservative forces have triumphed
there takes place an intensive process of reconstitution of the old elites
that try to abolish those achievements won for the sake of the people, the
rescue of the sovereignty and the regional political integration.
In June of this year, Raul Castro, the president of Cuba, declared that the
nation would never rejoin one of the key institutions that sanctions US
neoliberal and military policies in the Americas, the Organization of
American States. According to teleSUR:
Cuba will never go back to the Organization of American States, Cuban
President Raul Castro said on Saturday at the seventh summit of the
Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in Havana.
The OAS is an imperialist instrument," said President Castro, condemning
OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro for his hostile stance toward Venezuela
and the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
Before Cuba would consider joining the OAS again, "first the Southern sea
would join the Northern sea, and a serpent would be born from the eagle's
egg," said Castro, quoting legendary Cuban intellectual Jose Marti.
Hillary Clinton unofficially backed the 2009 military coup in Honduras that
overthrew a popularly elected president, Manuel Zelaya, who was enacting
some modest progressive measures that would benefit the poor, particularly
in the area of land reform. As the Guardian US reports today, the OAS was
going to be the vehicle Clinton planned to use to ensure that Zelaya was not
restored to power:
In her memoir, she wrote: In the subsequent days I spoke with my
counterparts around the hemisphere
We strategized on a plan to restore
order in Honduras and ensure that free and fair elections could be held
quickly and legitimately, which would render the question of Zelaya moot.
Leaked emails from Clintons private server which were published by
WikiLeaks show that during this period, the US pushed the OAS to support new
elections and sideline Zelaya.
Since 2009, the government of Honduras has descended into a militarized
entity that supports foreign corporations and extraction corporations at the
expense of the campesinos, who have been subject to brutal suppression and
not-infrequent murder. Berta Cáceres, a fearless Indigenous leader and
leading extraction industry opponent, was recently slain by masked killers
presumed to be acting on behalf of the Honduran oligarchy, hydroelectric
contractors or foreign mining companies. Given that Clinton had decided to
use the OAS in 2009 as the vehicle for legitimatizing Zelaya's ouster, Raul
Castro is right to be resistant to Cuba rejoining the association of Latin
American and South American nations -- along with the US -- headquartered
appropriately in Washington, DC.
The OAS represents the overwhelming power of the US to influence governments
and economies in the Americas, ensuring the dominance of corporations and
the wealthy.
As more and more planes head to Cuba, it will take a stalwart will and savvy
diplomacy to keep US-led neoliberalism at bay on the island located just 90
miles from Key West, Florida.
Not to be reposted without the permission of Truthout.
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Wednesday, 31 August 2016 07:04
As Commercial Flights From the US Begin Today, Can Cuba Survive the Coming
Capitalist Invasion?
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MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Will a tsunami of capitalism wash over Cuba? (Photo: Balint Földesi)
Today, Jet Blue airlines is flying the first commercial flight in a little
over 50 years from the US to Cuba -- from Fort Lauderdale to the Cuban city
of Santa Clara. Up until now, an American could only fly to Cuba on a
charter flight and meet certain criteria to visit the island. The
"requirements" still remain, but they are broad enough that most people in
the US can say that one category or another applies to their visits, and the
State Department is not expected to seriously enforce the stipulation. As a
result, Cuba may be overrun with tourists and businesspeople.
Indeed, as CNN reports, the number of daily flights to Cuba is expected to
balloon quickly:
Soon up to a maximum of 110 daily flights operated by such carriers as
JetBlue, American Airlines, Delta, Frontier, Southwest and Silver Airways
are due to begin flying to the ... island, according to the US Department of
Transportation.
This will include service to many Cuban cities. In fact, the most lucrative
routes -- to Havana -- have not yet been assigned to airlines by the
Department of Transportation. There's no doubt that in a few years, Cuba is
going to be hit by a tsunami of consumers and corporate profit seekers.
After all, the US has long regarded Mexico, Central America, South America
and the Caribbean nations as captive markets. With the conversion of Cuba
into a Soviet-aligned nation after Castro's military victory, that country
became the lone exception in the hemisphere: a place that was not seen by
the US as an extension of its own economic system. Today, the Bolivarian
revolution has foundered in Venezuela, and Dilma Rouseff is being impeached
in Brazil. Ecuador and Bolivia may put up resistance to US hegemony, but
remain deeply entangled in it.
In the CNN article, a recent tourist was concerned that Cuba too may soon be
captured by capitalism:
For many Americans, though, the immediate concern is not security but seeing
Cuba before the island emerges from the Cold War time warp of the last 50
years.
"Our friends had been here and said, why don't you come to Cuba before its
too Westernized," said Gerry Hall, a New York educator who joined a
"people-to-people" tour of the island in August.
"We wanted to come before you see McDonald's and Walmart and other US
companies in Cuba," she said.
However, the government of Cuba insists that it will resist the lure of the
capitalist consumer culture and economic structure. As reported in Prensa
Latina on August 27, José Ramón Balaguer Cabrera -- a close government
associate of the Castros -- recently told a meeting of Communist and
revolutionary political parties in Latin America:
"'We must fight the attempts to make us go back to neoliberalism with more
unity, and more articulation, togetherness, cohesion of the political
forces, social movements and working lasses of the whole continent," said
Balaguer.
On the imperialist and oligarchical counter-offensive against the
revolutionary and progressive governments, of reactionary and anti-popular
character, he pointed out that where the conservative forces have triumphed
there takes place an intensive process of reconstitution of the old elites
that try to abolish those achievements won for the sake of the people, the
rescue of the sovereignty and the regional political integration.
In June of this year, Raul Castro, the president of Cuba, declared that the
nation would never rejoin one of the key institutions that sanctions US
neoliberal and military policies in the Americas, the Organization of
American States. According to teleSUR:
Cuba will never go back to the Organization of American States, Cuban
President Raul Castro said on Saturday at the seventh summit of the
Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in Havana.
The OAS is an imperialist instrument," said President Castro, condemning
OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro for his hostile stance toward Venezuela
and the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
Before Cuba would consider joining the OAS again, "first the Southern sea
would join the Northern sea, and a serpent would be born from the eagle's
egg," said Castro, quoting legendary Cuban intellectual Jose Marti.
Hillary Clinton unofficially backed the 2009 military coup in Honduras that
overthrew a popularly elected president, Manuel Zelaya, who was enacting
some modest progressive measures that would benefit the poor, particularly
in the area of land reform. As the Guardian US reports today, the OAS was
going to be the vehicle Clinton planned to use to ensure that Zelaya was not
restored to power:
In her memoir, she wrote: In the subsequent days I spoke with my
counterparts around the hemisphere
We strategized on a plan to restore
order in Honduras and ensure that free and fair elections could be held
quickly and legitimately, which would render the question of Zelaya moot.
Leaked emails from Clintons private server which were published by
WikiLeaks show that during this period, the US pushed the OAS to support new
elections and sideline Zelaya.
Since 2009, the government of Honduras has descended into a militarized
entity that supports foreign corporations and extraction corporations at the
expense of the campesinos, who have been subject to brutal suppression and
not-infrequent murder. Berta Cáceres, a fearless Indigenous leader and
leading extraction industry opponent, was recently slain by masked killers
presumed to be acting on behalf of the Honduran oligarchy, hydroelectric
contractors or foreign mining companies. Given that Clinton had decided to
use the OAS in 2009 as the vehicle for legitimatizing Zelaya's ouster, Raul
Castro is right to be resistant to Cuba rejoining the association of Latin
American and South American nations -- along with the US -- headquartered
appropriately in Washington, DC.
The OAS represents the overwhelming power of the US to influence governments
and economies in the Americas, ensuring the dominance of corporations and
the wealthy.
As more and more planes head to Cuba, it will take a stalwart will and savvy
diplomacy to keep US-led neoliberalism at bay on the island located just 90
miles from Key West, Florida.
Not to be reposted without the permission of Truthout.
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