About those reactionaries ...

Terry Story: “I wonder how many have died [attempting to leave Cuba] and what would prompt people to risk their lives.”

Implicit in his question is the falsehood that “socialism prompts Cubans to risk their lives.” But, like John Manning and all other reactionaries, Terry Story strategically ignores the devastating effects of the US embargo against Cuba.

Reactionaries ignore the blockade because, to them, socialism has to be the problem. If a 10.0 earthquake struck Cuba, reactionaries would ignore it while insisting that socialism is the cause of Cuba’s distress.

The embargo, the Torricelli Act, and the Helms-Burton Act have severely restrained the development of Cuba’s economy. They have virtually severed the flow of currency and goods into Cuba, thereby making the lives of Cubans increasingly onerous.

So, many Cubans risk their lives attempting to leave Cuba, just as many Americans would risk their lives trying to escape the US if another country were threatening their survival via economic warfare.

But reactionaries never acknowledge the obvious because they would have to admit that the US is the cause of Cuba’s anguish and a despicably cruel empire.

Indeed, the only “threat” posed by Cuba is the “threat” of a good example.

Considering that many of its living standards are higher than many other countries, including the US, and despite the blockade, Cuba is what other countries aspire to. Ergo, the US needs to crush the Revolution.

Since Cuba’s Revolution has always been under siege, it’s not been able to develop socialism. Nonetheless, the Cuban government, which is the Cuban people, has done so much with so little precisely because its purpose isn’t to serve the narrow self-interests of a tiny group of individuals known as capitalists.

Cuba represents what’s possible when people rather than profit are put first.

Guy Marsh

Lancaster