Reply #7: Remarks made for the public by the CIA near the end of the "special period" in Cuba, [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

not long after Russia was coerced by Reagan into ending its economic relationship with Cuba:

MSNBC
April 13, 2000
CIA: Most Cubans loyal to homeland

Agency believes various ties to island bind the majority

By Robert Windrem
NBC NEWS PRODUCER

NEW YORK, April 12 — Cuban-American exile leaders — and many Republicans in Congress —
believe that no Cuban, including Juan Miguel Gonzalez, could withstand the blandishments of
a suburban American lifestyle, that he and all other Cubans would gladly trade their
“miserable” lives in Cuba for the prosperity of the United States — if only given the chance.
Witness House Minority Leader Dick Armey’s invitation to Gonzalez, offering him a tour of a
local supermarket. But U.S. intelligence suggests otherwise.

THE CIA has long believed that while 1 million to 3 million Cubans would leave the island if they had the
opportunity, the rest of the nation’s 11 million people would stay behind.
While an extraordinarily high number, there are still 8 million to 10 million Cubans happy to remain
on the island.

~snip~
U.S. officials say they no longer regard Cuba as a totalitarian state with aggressive policies toward its people,
but instead an authoritarian state, where the public can operate within certain bounds — just not push the envelope.
More important, Cuban media and Cuban culture long ago raised the banner of nationalism above that of
Marxism.
The intelligence community says the battle over Elian has presented Castro with a “unique opportunity” to
enhance that nationalism.
There is no indication, U.S. officials say, of any nascent rebellion about to spill into the streets, no great
outpouring of support for human rights activists in prison. In fact, there are fewer than 100 activists on the island
and a support group of perhaps 1,000 more, according to U.S. officials.

No doubt, they say, continuing hardship — and an increasingly fragile infrastructure — could lead to
demonstrations at some point, but there have been no such protests since the riots of Aug. 4, 1994, when 30,000
people gathered in the streets of Havana, frightening Cuban officials and shocking U.S. intelligence.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuba/loyal.htm

Remember, our C.I.A. arranged the invasion of Cuba and has attacked Cuban over the years through many methods including biological warfare, as testified by a Cuban "exile," Eduardo Arocena, a former CIA operative, at his murder trial after murdering a Cuban diplomat to the United Nations. Not to mention the hundreds of attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro, as acknowledged BY OUR C.I.A. long ago.