To promote a nonviolent transition to a Cuba that respects human rights, political and economic freedoms, and the rule of law.Castro regime coerces Cuban workers and students to march for Hamas. Havana's six decade campaign against Israel.Reviewing press accounts found that no one mentioned how a totalitarian dictatorship obtained this large turnout using coercive methods against the population. Cuban workers and students were required to attend or suffer the consequences. Video emerged over social media of what appears to be a university professor explaining to her students why they must attend the march. It is a master class in intimidation, and gaslighting.  "I hope you are well. As you see there are changes. Regarding tomorrow's activity, go to Línea y F (bus stop) at one in the afternoon. Everyone must attend. The students know that this is their grade, that is, it is important because it will have an impact on their grade for the national security class but also on the comprehensive evaluation." ... "Those who are still out of context and do not realize that they are at the Enrique Jose Varona University of Pedagogical Sciences, which responds to the Ministry of Higher Education of Cuba, should go and inform themselves, search, clarify, review accordingly. Try to do the things that correspond to you as students. If you do not agree, then simply leave, informing them that they are not going to do it because of this, or this and that. And then you will have your consequences. This is not a threat. This is not extortion. This is not a negative thing to make you feel bad. Or that this is done in a bad way because I'm tired too. I just came out of a diploma defense exhibition, a professional defense exercises and I would also have preferred to be resting at home. But I have to do it because it is what is appropriate and what is indicated. OK? They evaluate me as a professor, they pay me as a professor, and they evaluate you as students. OK? So let's all think and position ourselves with tranquility, peace, and harmony so that things go well."
Attending the state mandated rallies and marches is an obligated action that is taken into consideration with your evaluation as an employee in your workplace, or as a student at your educational institution. However the dictatorship's involvement in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas goes beyond pro-Hamas marches, and anti-Israel propaganda.  Ambassador Otto J. Reich's article published on November 16, 2023 in the Jewish Policy Center on November 16, 2023 titled "Jihad: Cuba’s Role" briefly explored the current relationship between Havana and Middle Eastern terrorist groups and states. For more than one year, Iran secretly provided the weapons and training that Hamas needed for planning the October 7th attack against Israel. In the meantime, senior representatives of Iran and Hamas fostered an international diplomatic offensive with their allies. Communist Cuba, another US-designated State Sponsor of Terrorism, was a key Iran-Hamas ally in this effort. Some planning meetings took place this year with senior Cuban officials, both in the Middle East and in Cuba. In one, Iran’s Foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, visited Cuba and met with President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Feb. 5th. They discussed “issues of mutual interest and international topics,” according to a statement from the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then, on Feb. 25th, a Hamas delegation publicly visited Jorge León Cruz, the Cuban Ambassador in Lebanon. In that meeting, Ambassador León Cruz recognized “the legitimate right of the Palestinians to defend their land,” adding that the Palestinians “are fighting for a just cause.” Raising the Iranian profile, a few months later, on June 15th, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisipublicly met with his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Diaz-Canel, in Havana. Those three high-level meetings showed the close relations that exists between Hamas, its chief patron, Iran, and Cuba’s communist regime. Cuba’s dictatorship has a long history of both antisemitism and support of extremist terrorist organizations in the Middle East, where it has operated terrorist training camps in secret locations, as well as on the Caribbean island. Moreover, Cuba has allowed the terrorist organization Hezbollah, also backed by Iran, to establish “an operational base in Cuba, designed to support terrorist attack throughout Latin America,” according to emails leaked from then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. According to US reports, Cuba has provided key intelligence to Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah, to conduct terrorist attacks.
This hostility towards Israel by the Castro regime began in the early 1960s with Havana providing training and support to Middle East terrorist groups, and the dictatorship in Havana echoing the Soviet active-measures campaign Operation SIG designed to sow worldwide disapproval for the U.S. and Israel. SIG is the Russian acronym for Sionistskiye Gosudarstva, or “Jewish (or Zionist) Government.” This involved Soviet propaganda and military support on behalf of terrorist groups declaring Israel their enemy. This included increasing anti-Israel sentiment by disseminating anti-Zionist propaganda and using anti-Semitic tropes from Western culture. CFC executive director John Suarez's article "Cuba’s dictatorship has a serious problem with Jews" published in The Hill on October 25, 2023 reviews part of this history. From 1959 through 1973, Havana maintained diplomatic relations with Israel while supporting terrorism against Israelis. Castro hailed the establishment of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1965 and established ties with the Palestinian Fatah in Algiers and Damascus. Castro introduced PLO members at the Tri-Continental Conference in Havana in January 1966. This conference backed revolutionary and terrorist organizations across Europe, the Americas, and Asia with the objective of changing the world order in an authoritarian direction.
Havana escalated its campaign against Israel in 1973, sending thousands of troops to the Middle East in an effort to destroy the World's only Jewish state. "Castro severed diplomatic ties with Israel on September 10, 1973, just days before the Yom Kippur War began. During that war, 3,000 Cuban soldiers participated in the attack on Israel, alongside forces from Egypt and Syria, and expeditionary forces from Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Tunisia, Morocco, and North Korea. The publication Noticias de Israel provided an in-depth description of the role played by Cuba in this war. Havana conducted a secret operation to send military support to Syria. A tank brigade, helicopter pilots, communications agents, and intelligence and counterintelligence officers took part. The brigade was under General Leopoldo Cintra Frías’s command. Soldiers left Cuba bound for Syria, dressed in civilian clothes, with forged passports identifying them as university students. Soviet military equipment, including T-62 tanks and SAM rocket artillery, were provided to them. In all, 3,000 Cubans took part in the war. Cuban tank crews fought alongside Syrian troops in their war of aggression. According to Foreign Report, 180 Cubans were killed and 250 were injured in that conflict. The surprise factor resulted in significant losses for Israel, both in lives and military equipment. Civilian areas were also hit, with 2,800 Israelis killed and 8,800 wounded."
The tactics used by Havana in 1973, of dressing soldiers in civilian clothes, with forged passports attempting to pass them off as civilians appears to be repeated today in Ukraine with the massive recruitment of "Cuban mercenaries" by Moscow to fight in their illegal war.  |
No comments:
Post a Comment