The United States is planning to take an action in Congress to continue its formal recognition of the false accusation
that Cuba supports international terrorism.
This is the ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism List’ administered by the US State Department. There are three other countries
on this infamous selective list – Iran, Syria and North Korea.
Such is the extraordinary belligerent nature of this step that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) should
be advising the New Zealand government to oppose it.
Recently I discussed in my politics blog Political Bytes the importance of further strengthening the constructive relationship between New Zealand and Cuba.
This was in the context of New Zealand’s support for a resolution overwhelmingly adopted by the United Nations which
opposing the US economic blockade of Cuba: A relationship worthy of strengthening.From Reagan to Trump to Biden
Cuba was first added to the list in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan. However, the alleged international terrorism was
Cuba’s political support for liberation movements challenging repressive Latin American regimes, such as El Salvador.
At the same time, under the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa, both the African National Congress and Nelson
Mandela were also on a State Department terrorist list.
Cuba was taken off the list towards the end of Barack Obama’s presidency. However, his successor Donald Trump overturned
this decision. Now President Joe Biden has aligned himself with Trump’s decision.Words should mean something
It is important to understand what terrorism actually is. It begins with ‘terror’ which means extreme fear. A
‘terrorist’ is a person who seeks to enact extreme fear; usually a member of a group that uses or advocates terrorism.
This takes us to the meaning of ‘terrorism’ which is the calculated use by terrorists of violence or threat of violence
to inculcate extreme fear.
Terrorism is intended to coerce or intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally
political, religious, or ideological.
The next step in this context is consideration of when governments commit terrorism. This is referred to as ‘state
terrorism’ which is what the US government accuses Cuba of.
State terrorism is similar to non-state terrorism in that it involves politically or ideologically or religiously
inspired acts of violence against individuals or groups outside of an armed conflict. The key difference is that agents
of a state are carrying out the violence.
To complete the picture because of its direct relevance to the US government is ‘economic terrorism’. This form of
terrorism occurs when a group or government attempts to destabilise another group or government.
Hypocrisy in overdrive
The official Biden administration’s argument is that Cuba did “…not fully cooperate with the United States antiterrorist
efforts for the 2023 calendar year.”
This is hypocrisy in overdrive. Ironically, the international community through the United Nations does not support this
evidence-devoid accusation.
In fact, many countries across several continents have benefited from and expressed their appreciation of invaluable
Cuban medical support in times of need.
Despite being a poor country Cuba sends medical missions throughout the globe. This is not the behaviour of a terrorist
country; it is, however, the behaviour of a humanitarian country.
There is no evidence that Cuba seeks to cause extreme fear internationally; there is no evidence that Cuba has used or
supported violence or the threat of violence internationally; there is no evidence that Cuba has sought to destabilise
another country either directly or indirectly; and there is no evidence that it seeks to coerce or intimidate other
countries or their populations.
In contrast, in each of these specific respects, the United States fits the bill perfectly of supporting terrorism and
being a state terrorist, especially since World War 2.
There is an abundance of evidence that the United States has supported coups in many countries in order to overthrown
elected governments such as Iran in 1953 and too many Latin American countries to list here.
It also supported South Africa’s apartheid government’s military endeavours to overthrow Angola’s first post-colonial
government.
Even has recently as right now it is supporting (including militarily) Israel’s ethnic cleansing through genocide of
Palestinians in Gaza and repression of other Palestinians in its occupied territories.
If this is not supporting terrorism then the term has no meaning.
To compound the hypocrisy the United States has engaged in vicious devastating economic warfare against Cuba for over 60
years in a determined effort to overthrow Cuba’s government.
Again, if that is not economic terrorism then this term also has no meaning.Time for MFAT to step up
Humanitarianism alone means that MFAT should advice the New Zealand government to inform the US government of its
opposition to Cuba’s continuation on this nonsensical list. And our government should act on this advice.
When I think of the US government’s in-your-face hypocrisy words like pots, kettles and black come to mind.
I also think that perhaps the New Zealand government should have its own list of countries that sponsor terrorism and
put the US on it.