The Cuba Factor: Propagandizing Democracy and Human Rights
The Cuba Factor: Propagandizing Democracy and Human Rights
by Garry Leech – April 17, 2012
Cuba proved to be an influential force at the 2012 Summit of the Americas held in Cartagena, Colombia even though the country was not represented at the meeting of members of the Organization of American States (OAS). The summit ended without a final declaration because two—the United States and Canada—out of the 31 participating nations adamantly opposed a proposal to allow Cuba to participate in the next summit to be held in Panama in 2015. Both U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper referred to a lack of democracy and human rights in Cuba as the primary reasons for their veto of the proposal. Ironically, Obama stated his position on Cuba while standing beside the president of Colombia, the country with the worst human rights record in the region, in yet another blatant illustration of the hypocrisy that exists in U.S. foreign policy.
Cuba was banished from participating in the U.S.-dominated OAS in 1962 because it was a communist nation. The suspension came one year after the United States unilaterally initiated the economic blockade on Cuba that continues to this day. Since the end of the Cold War, many Latin American nations have advocated that Cuba be permitted to re-join the OAS. However, the United States and Canada remain adamantly opposed, having shifted their justification away from the fact that the island nation is communist and instead insisting that Cuba implement democratic and human rights reforms.
In response to a question about why he had vetoed the proposal to allow Cuba to participate in the next Summit of the Americas, Obama stated that “the fact of the matter is, is that Cuba, unlike the other countries that are participating, has not yet moved to democracy, has not yet observed basic human rights.” In short, Obama was repeating the same anti-Cuba propaganda that has been voiced by Washington for more than half a century. But U.S. policy towards Cuba is not dictated by a desire to see “democracy” and “human rights” in Cuba. Instead, it seeks to discredit a socialist system that provides a more humane alternative to the neoliberal global capitalist model promoted by Washington. After all, if a lack of democracy and human rights were the primary determinants of U.S. foreign relations then how does one explain Washington’s close ties with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Kazakhstan and many other authoritarian and repressive regimes?
To understand the degree of distortion and disinformation that exists in the official U.S. rhetoric towards Cuba it is necessary to better understand Cuba. Firstly, Cuba has elections! Candidates participating in Cuba’s municipal elections stand for office as individuals and not as party representatives. Between two and eight individual candidates, who have been nominated by neighborhood assemblies, vie for each seat in municipal elections held every two-and-a-half years. The candidates post a photograph and biography of themselves in specified public locations and the people vote for their desired candidate on Election Day. There is no campaigning and, therefore, no funding of campaigns. Consequently, as political scientist Robert Buddan points out, “There is no financial competition between campaigns in Cuba and money does not determine who wins as it does in so many western elections.”
More:
http://beyondcapital.org/2012/04/17/the-cuba-factor/