Cuba and Vietnam: What Is the Difference? by Jacob G. Hornberger
(2023-02-17 at 22:33:41 )

Cuba and Vietnam: What Is the Difference? by Jacob G. Hornberger

During a visit to Mexico by Cubas president Miguel Díaz-Canel, Mexican President Manuel Amador Lopez Obrador (AMLO), announced that he was willing to lead an international effort to pressure the United States government into lifting its six-decade-old economic embargo against the Cuban people. AMLO stated, "As a sign of goodwill and that all the countries of the Americas are willing to join forces, I consider and express with respect that the United States government should lift, as soon as possible, the unjust and inhumane blockade of the Cuban people."

AMLO raises a good point: Why does the United States government continue to wage economic war against the people of Cuba with its unjust and inhumane economic embargo?

No, I am not suggesting that United States officials have to embrace Díaz-Canel or any other Cuban communist official, as AMLO does. What I am saying is that the United States government has no moral or legal justification for its economic war against the Cuban people.

After all, let us not forget something important: Neither the Cuban people nor the Cuban government has ever attacked or invaded the United States. Never! In fact, in the long sordid relationship between the United States and Cuba, it has always been the United States that has been the aggressor.

It was the Central Intelligence Agency that invaded Cuba through the use of Cuban exiles. It was the Central Intelligence Agency that repeatedly tried to murder Cuban president Fidel Castro. It was the Pentagon that constantly pressured President Kennedy into invading Cuba with the full force of the United States military, both before and during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It has been the United States government that has targeted the Cuban people with death and economic privation as a way to achieve regime change on the island.

Why? Why is it so important to the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency to continue waging economic warfare against the people of Cuba?

After all, it can not be an anti-communist thing, which is what they used to justify their embargo during the Cold War. Why do I say that? Well, just look at how the United States government treats Vietnam, which, like Cuba, has long been run by a communist regime.

Consider this statement entitled "United States Relations With Vietnam" on the website of the United States State Department:

"United States-Vietnam relations have become increasingly cooperative and comprehensive, evolving into a flourishing partnership that spans political, economic, security, and people-to-people ties. The United States supports a strong, prosperous, and independent Vietnam that contributes to international security; engages in mutually beneficial trade relations; respects human rights and the rule of law; and is resilient in the face of climate and energy-related challenges.. United States-Vietnam people-to-people ties have flourished. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese study in the United States, contributing nearly $1 billion to the United States economy.. In an effort to build Vietnams self-reliance, the United States works to spur further growth and trade competitiveness, combat pandemic threats, promote renewable energy, address war legacy issues, and conserve Vietnams forests and biodiversity.. Since entry into force of the United States-Vietnam bilateral trade agreement in 2001, trade between the two countries and United States investment in Vietnam have grown dramatically."

The website of the Center for Strategic & International Studies points out:

The current depth and breadth of the United States-Vietnam partnership was not a foregone conclusion. It is the result of decades of hard work and perseverance from both sides.. Since the two countries normalized relations in 1995, Vietnam has vaulted onto the shortlist of countries of greatest interest to United States investors. United States foreign direct investment into Vietnam has grown from under $1 billion in 2011 to over $2.6 billion in 2019.

Do not forget something important: Unlike the Cuban Reds, the Vietnamese Reds killed more than 58,000 United States of American soldiers!

Thus, the logical question arises: Why can the United States of American people not have a normal relationship with the people of Cuba??

Why must the United States government continue waging a brutal economic war against Cubans when it has established a friendly relationship with the Vietnamese Reds??

In my opinion, it is because the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency simply have been unable to get over the fact that the Cuban Reds defeated them and humiliated them. Yes, I fully realize that the Vietnamese Reds did the same thing, but there was one big difference between Cuba and Vietnam: The Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency have always been dead-set on achieving regime change in Cuba. In Vietnam, they were trying to prevent the unification of the country under communist rule. After their defeat in Vietnam, they knew that they would never reverse the unification of Vietnam under communist rule. With Cuba, they have never given up hope of achieving their goal of regime change.

Almost from the very beginning of the Cuban Revolution, the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency were obsessed with achieving regime change in Cuba. Their aim has been to oust the communists from power and replace them with some pro-United States dictator, such as Fulgencio Batista, the Cuban dictator that the communists ousted from power, or as Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the brutal military tyrant who the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency helped install into power in Chile.

For all their omnipotent power, the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency have never been able to achieve their regime-change goal in Cuba. The Third World Cuban communist regime has foiled them every step of the way and, in the process, deeply embarrassed and humiliated both the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Moreover, for decades the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency resigned themselves to waiting for Fidel Castro to die, hoping that that would be the day that the Cuban people would rise up and install another pro-United States dictator. It did not happen, which only deepened the sense of embarrassment and humiliation within Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency officials. Díaz-Canel, who succeeded Fidel and Raul Castro as president of Cuba, is himself a self-avowed communist.

What the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency have never been able or willing to recognize is that the last thing the Cuban people want is to be ruled again by the United States government.

Notwithstanding the horrors of living under socialism, given a choice between socialism and United States rule, most Cubans would pick socialism any day of the week. Given a choice between economic liberty and socialism, I think most Cubans would pick economic liberty, just so long as the United States government butted out of their lives.

It is painfully clear that the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency simply cannot let go of their obsession with controlling Cuba.

The ultimate answer to this moral and economic travesty lies with the United States of American people. After all, the Pentagons and the Central Intelligence Agencys economic embargo is also an attack on us and, specifically, our fundamental, natural, God-given rights of economic liberty, freedom of travel, freedom of trade, and freedom of association.

What we need in this country is a revival of conscience and a thirst for liberty within the United States of American people.

When that day comes, what AMLO correctly describes as the "unjust and inhumane" economic embargo against the people of Cuba (and against the people of the United States) will come to an end!

Reprinted here with permission from Mr. Jacob G. Hornberger of The Future of Freedom Foundation!! Their Libertarian Website!!