Blame Cuba for the Mass Exodus from Nicaragua and Venezuela, not the U.S.

“That is why the Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans who are in struggle, who are in open resistance, against Sandinismo, have the support of the Cuban people, of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, in these key moments to free Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela,” he says.

For his part, Juan José López-Díaz, an exiled Cuban lawyer and activist, argues that “the common enemy is Communism, this socialism of the 21st century, which has plundered Venezuela, which is destroying Nicaragua, and which has destroyed Cuba.”

“I feel very honored that the people who maintain an uncompromising position against this Latin American Communism that is damaging the freedom and prosperity of our peoples, come together to fight against it,” he concludes.

However, Zapatero, who presided over the motherland (from which Cuba was the last Latin American colony to gain independence), now argues that the United States is to blame for the current Venezuelan exodus. It should be noted that Zapatero was an observer of the widely criticized Venezuelan elections and did not notice any irregularities— even though key sectors of the opposition could not participate.

Communism Depends on Free Markets

It is curious that the defenders of socialism blame the misery in Cuba on the United States because of the embargo (which, of course, is not a blockade). Today they apply the same reasoning to Venezuela. Confessing that the solution is to turn to free markets, the irony is lost on them entirely.

“As always happens with the economic sanctions that produce a financial blockade, who ultimately pays the price is not the government, but the citizens, the people. This should lead to some reflection and consideration,” Zapatero said during a forum in Sao Paulo.

It was precisely in that city that, together with the union leader who later became president and is now imprisoned for corruption, Lula Da Silva, Fidel Castro set up the Sao Paulo Forum, which reorganized internationalist socialism after the fall of the Berlin Wall and served to rally the socialist bloc in Latin America, giving voice to their Marxist ambitions.

Brazil’s role was key because its geographic location (bordering all South American countries except Ecuador) was useful for logistics. Venezuela’s role would be to provide resources, thanks to oil.

Amid Chavez’s triumph in Venezuela, he gave Cuba more money than the Soviet Union did in almost 30 years. That is, Cuba went from feeding off of one socialist state to plundering another.

From January to May of 2018, Venezuela’s state-run oil company  (PDVSA) delivered  11.74 million barrels (about 49,000 per day) of oil to Cuba. PDVSA has sent the regime an additional 4.19 million barrels since June.

Although the company is in such a crisis that it sells its oil to the United States and buys gasoline with the proceeds, they are still more than happy to give oil away to Cuba. At the same time, this shows that the blockade alleged by Zapatero and the defenders of socialism still allows for business between the two countries and does not prevent Venezuela from collaborating with its allies who are, in turn, historical enemies of the United States.

The Resistance Continues

Recently, exiles from Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua met to repudiate the same regime and system that oppresses their respective countries: the Castros and socialism.

On September 15, in Little Havana, the exiles paid tribute to Nestor Izquierdo, who fought in a Cuban anti-communist brigade and later died in Nicaragua fighting against the Sandinista dictatorship, a satellite state of Cuban communists.

That same date marks the independence of Nicaragua and the birth of the Consejo Nueva Nicaragua, a coalition of opposition groups whose objective is “to strengthen the struggle for the liberation of Nicaragua from the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship and the Sandinista National Liberation Front.” The regime’s paramilitary forces have killed 448 Nicaraguans (according to human rights organizations; according to the Ortega government the figure is less than half that) for demonstrating against the government in the streets.

“We are not going to stop until we reach victory. And the victory is nothing other than the freedom of Nicaragua,” Nicaraguan activist Muñeca Fuentes assured the others.

“Long live Cuba! Long live America without Communism!” everyone shouted in unison.

This article was reprinted with permission from PanAm Post.

Mamela Fiallo

Mamela Fiallo Flor is a translator for the PanAm Post. She is a university professor, translator, interpreter, and the co-founder of the Cuban Libertarian Party.

EDITORS NOTE: This column and featured image is reprinted with permission from FEE.