[Peace-discuss] Denying History: Cuba in the German Liberal Press

[David Johnson]

Denying History: Cuba in the German Liberal Press

By:  <http://www.telesurtv.net/english/staff/fzollmann> Florian Zollmann 

Description: Hundreds of thousands turned out to listen to President Raul
Castro

Hundreds of thousands turned out to listen to President Raul Castro's
messaged on the 55th anniversary of the Cuban revolt. | Photo: Reuters

Published 21 February 2015 

0

Description: Coments

The U.S.-Cuban negotiations were extensively discussed in the liberal German
press. A closer reading of the news indicated a slant in coverage.

On 17 December 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul
Castro announced “normalization” of U.S.-Cuban relations. As a first step of
rapprochement, an agreement between both countries included the release of
political prisoners. It was also announced that at a later point in time
restrictions on trade, travel and exchange were going to be eased. Obama was
also considering to discuss in Congress as to whether the embargo imposed on
Cuba in 1962 should be dissolved. Already in 1961, US President Dwight D.
Eisenhower had terminated diplomatic relations with Cuba in reaction to the
Cuban Revolution. 

The U.S.-Cuban negotiations were extensively discussed in the liberal German
press. A closer reading of the news indicated a slant in coverage: Cuba was
depicted as a terror state and a nefarious actor. The USA, on the other
hand, was described as a benign actor with noble aims such as to bring
democracy and reforms to Cuba. 

This was suggested by the following exemplary quotes: The Süddeutsche
Zeitung argued that the Cuban regime was “undemocratic” and “conducts human
rights violations.” (Süddeutsche.de, 17 December 2014) The Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung referred to Obama who had asked “his Foreign Secretary
John Kerry to assess Cuba’s status as a ‘terror don’.” (FAZ.NET, 17.
December 2014) Die Welt highlighted how “Washington seeks a new way: trade,
tourism and (
) unprecedented communication freedoms are assumed to
encourage reforms” in Cuba (Welt.de, 18. Dezember 2014). The Frankfurter
Rundschau contextualized Cuba and terrorism: “Since 1982, the island is on
Washington’s list of states which, in the eyes of the USA, support terrorist
activities.” (FR-Online.de, 20. Dezember 2014). 

Terrorism 

Since the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959 and the disposal of
U.S.-supported Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, numerous Cuban exiles have
settled in the state of Florida. To a significant extend, Cuban exiles
constitute political refugees who seek to establish an alternative political
and economic system in Cuba. 

The USA has been supporting Cuban exile groups with political and financial
means. In fact, the CIA has aided exiles in conducting subversive activities
against the Castro regime. Noam Chomsky argues in his book
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1027/tomgram%253A__noam_chomsky_on__terrori
zing_cuba/> Hegemony or Survival that shortly after the Cuban Revolution in
March 1959, the National Security Council (NSC) “considered means to
instigate regime change” in Cuba. Already in May 1959 “the CIA began to arm
guerrillas inside Cuba,” Chomsky further writes, and in Winter, CIA-led
Cuban exiles conducted bombing raids. Chomsky describes such policies as
“international terrorist attacks against Cuba.” In Hegemony or Survival,
Chomsky further documents how similar policies had been conducted by U.S.
successor governments. For instance, Chomsky writes the following about the
government of U.S. President Richard Nixon: “Terrorist activities continued
under Nixon, peaking in the mid-1970s, with attacks on fishing boats,
embassies, and Cuban offices overseas, and the bombing of a Cubana airliner,
killing all seventy-three passengers. These and subsequent terrorist
operations were carried out from US territory, though by then they were
regarded as criminal acts by the FBI.” 

The U.S.-American politician Bill van Auken wrote on the
<http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/18/cuba-d18.html> World Socialist
Website that the USA has sponsored and protected Cuban exile terrorists”
whose attacks “have claimed thousands of lives.” To label Cuba as a
terrorist state would thus constitute “a grotesque inversion of the real
relationship.” 

Castro’s Idea 

Such views are hardly disseminated by the German liberal press which rather
associates Cuba with terrorism. Press coverage demonizes Cuban society and
this framing serves U.S. interests. Who remembers that before the
Revolution, the Cuban people were subjugated by a US client regime? U.S.
historian
<https://zcomm.org/zcommentary/the-narrow-media-spectrum-on-us-cuban-relatio
ns/> Paul Street argues this in an article for ZNet: “Mid-20th Century Cuba
was a desperately impoverished island scarred by savage economic inequality,
military dictatorship, and related scourges of racism, disease, and
illiteracy all reinforced by U.S. control in service to great U.S. business
interests. The Batista era (1952-1959) witnessed the nearly total domination
of the Cuban economy by U.S. corporations and the related political
domination of the island by Washington.“ 

After the Revolution, the USA was concerned about Cuba’s independence, which
could have served as a model for other countries in the Latin American
hemisphere. This is evidenced by John F. Kennedy advisor
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1027/tomgram%253A__noam_chomsky_on__terrori
zing_cuba/> Arthur Schlesinger’s
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1027/tomgram%253A__noam_chomsky_on__terrori
zing_cuba/> warningabout “the Castro idea of taking matters into one's own
hands. “Schlesinger wrote in a report for the Kennedy administration that
“Castro’s idea” could be particular effective in areas where “the
distribution of land and other forms of national wealth greatly favors the
propertied classes,” because in such regions, the poor could be “stimulated
by the example of the Cuban revolution” and demand “opportunities for a
decent living.” Accordingly, it could be argued that the subversive policies
against Cuba and the economic sanctions were designed in order to counter
progressive developments in Cuba. This was so because in practice, “Castro’s
idea” included the nationalization of industries at the expense of U.S.
business interests. This critical context has largely been ignored in the
German press. 

But if we assess the current rapprochement between Cuba and the USA, the
historical background and its implications need to be considered. U.S.
interests in Latin America have not changed. As
<http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/12/19/regime-change-cuba-paul-craig-ro
berts/> Paul Craig Roberts comments: “Normalization of relations with Cuba
is not the result of a diplomatic breakthrough or a change of heart on the
part of Washington.” In fact, Roberts further argues: “Normalization is a
result of U.S. corporations seeking profit opportunities in Cuba.” Together
with “normalization,” foreign currency and a U.S. embassy will settle in
Cuba. This has the broader goal of taking over Cuba’s political and economic
affairs: “In short, normalization of relations means regime change in Cuba.”


 

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