For more on Cuba, we encourage our readers to see the MPP document “Cuba Yes, Yankees No! Yankees Go Home!” appearing here on VND-Peru.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Cuba would defend itself against a US imperialist invasion on April 16 at an event in Havana commemorating the 65th anniversary of Cuba’s victory over the US’s Bay of Pigs invasion. During his speech, Díaz-Canel linked Cuba’s struggle against US imperialist aggression today to the Cuban people’s victorious confrontation at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.
This sentiment echoes Díaz-Canel’s earlier statement to monopoly news outlet NBC that he will not capitulate to US imperialism’s threats and will not give in to Trump’s demand that he step down from the presidency. During this interview, Díaz-Canel also said that he and the rest of the Cuban leadership “are not concerned for our personal safety” in light of US imperialism’s assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Arch-reactionary US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to “take” Cuba following Nicolás Maduro’s abduction by US imperialist forces in January and the Venezuelan government’s subsequent capitulation. After establishing control of Venezuela’s oil supply, US imperialism intensified its criminal blockade of Cuba and has prevented oil from reaching the island for more than two months, causing large-scale blackouts and straining hospital systems as well as other critical infrastructure.
Trump again threatened Cuba on April 13, telling monopoly media that “We may stop by Cuba after we finish with this,” referencing US imperialism’s war of aggression against Iran, which has already been defeated by the Iranian people.
The Cuban people remain defiant in the face of the US imperialist aggression, carrying out street demonstrations under the slogan “Tear Down the Blockade.” In February, the Cuban Coast Guard exchanged gunfire with and subdued a Florida-registered speedboat transporting armed anti-government Cuban nationals in Cuba’s coastal waters.
Since Cuba’s 1959 revolution, US imperialism has sought to restore its semi-colonial domination of Cuba by attempting to achieve regime change in Cuba. The miserable Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961, directed by the CIA and executed by Cuban mercenaries loyal to US imperialism, remains the US’s most infamous attempt to re-establish control of Cuba through military action. The Cuban armed forces’ defeat of pro-US forces at the Bay of Pigs exposed imperialism’s inherent weakness. According to the Peru People’s Movement, it represented a historic victory for the peoples of Latin America.
US imperialism’s attempt to control Cuba today is part of the US’s larger strategic plan to consolidate its domination of Latin America. By deepening its exploitation and oppression of the Latin American masses, the US seeks to secure its status as the world’s sole hegemonic superpower in the face of imperialism’s intensifying economic crisis.
Image: Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel speaking at the Russian Duma, 2022. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
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