Latin America's
Quiet Defiance
By Dr Shireen M. Mazari
Of late, the citizens
of the nuclear state of Pakistan are constantly
being advised on how they must learn to live with
US power since the US is the "sole super power"
with almost annihilative destructive capability.
Well, if one has to learn to live with this militarily
aggressive power, then the correct way can perhaps
be shown by the states of Latin America, including
Cuba. After all, these states have not only had
to face a US propagating a pre-emptive interventionist
doctrine -- the 1823 Monroe Doctrine -- and actually
indulging in political murders and regime change
for centuries before it unleashed this doctrine
on the world at large. Yet Latin American states,
with little or no military power, in comparison
to the US that is, and certainly with no advantage
of a nuclear deterrence, have managed to assert
their identity and political yearnings through the
development of a strong sense of national identity
and people power.
Look at the present political map of these wonderfully
passionate people, who have led the intellectual
underpinnings of the developing world. While many
militarily mightier developing states have wilted
under the "with us or against us" threat
issued by Bush in the aftermath of 9/11 -- and even
India, once seen as a leader of the "Third
World" has seen it as prudent to align with
the US often against its former allies of the developing
world -- the leadership of Latin America stands
firm in its nationalism and periodic defiance of
the US. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the
UN will be forever immortalized by his defiant speech
-- which warmed the hearts of a rather subdued and
seemingly terrorized post-9/11 Third World civil
society. He is one of a range of often left-leaning,
always nationalist Latin American leaders who are
winning polls.
In Brazil, the Workers' Party leader, Lula de Silva,
just won re-election last month and in Argentina
we have in power a faction of the Peronist Justicialist
Party, the Front for Victory headed by Nestor Kirchner.
In 2004 Uruguay saw the electoral success of socialist
doctor, Tabare Vazquez, while the leftist Alfredo
Palacio will face a run-off election later this
month in Ecuador. Bolivia saw the victory of a Chavez
ally, Evo Morales, being elected in December 2005
and now we are truly seeing a historic development
in Nicaragua with the impending victory of the Sandinista
Front and its one-time revolutionary leader, Daniel
Ortega in the just-completed elections. All this
despite reported US intervention in many covert
forms to try and prevent Ortega's return to power.
No wonder the US embassy in Nicaragua has begun
issuing accusatory statements of "anomalies"
in the electoral process. Rather ironic coming from
the Bush Administration! The US also continues to
intervene covertly in Venezuela to try and ensure
that Chavez does not succeed in the impending December
elections.
But the people of Latin America have suffered tremendously
at the hands of the US -- both politically and economically
-- and one of the starkest reflections of this suffering
is in Cuba. If ever a defiant nationalism put the
mighty super power in its place, it was Cuba. While
some may argue that the prevalence of the Soviet
Union allowed Cuba this advantage, one would do
well to recall the proximity of Cuba to the US mainland
and its distance from what was the Soviet Union.
Also, Cuba has continued to exist on its own terms
post the disintegration of the Soviet Union -- which
was accompanied by the collapse of so many regimes
in Eastern Europe.
Not that the US has allowed Cuba any political and
economic breathing space. Instead, not only does
it continue to occupy a part of Cuban territory
-- the now infamous Guantanamo Bay -- but it also
continues to sustain an economic, commercial and
financial embargo against this state, in total defiance
of yearly UN General Assembly Resolutions. At a
time when the US is seeking sanctions approval through
the UN against North Korea and Iran, the international
community would do well to remember US defiance
of international opinion expressed repeatedly every
year in the UNGA demanding an end to the embargo
against Cuba.
The US imposed the embargo in February 1962, with
Clinton expanding its content as late as 1999, making
it the most enduring embargo in modern history.
In February 2003, the UN voted for an end to this
embargo and only three countries opposed it -- the
US, Israel and the Marshall Islands. In 2005, one
other country joined the US in opposing the UNGA
resolution -- Palau. So, effectively, apart from
Israel, no consequential state has supported the
US on the Cuba embargo issue -- not even its loyal
follower, the UK. Once again, later this month,
the UNGA will put forward a resolution calling for
an end to this most irrational and unjust US embargo
against Cuba.
Despite the embargo, the US has not been able to
undermine the Cuban revolution, its independence
or its leadership. There was an expectation in the
US that Raul Castro would not be accepted as Fidel
Castro's heir and somehow this would lead to a revolt
by the Cuban people -- but this was simply one more
US pipedream. Of course the embargo has had an impact
on Cuba with economic damages surpassing $86 million.
Cuba has also been denied humanitarian aid and assistance,
as well as medicines produced by companies in which
there is a majority US share. So the Cubans have
had to import from Europe at higher prices with
some crucial medical aids simply not available in
the case of US monopolies. The food sector has had
to also pay a heavy price while Cuban intellectuals
have been denied copyrights and royalties -- at
a time when other developing countries are being
punished for piracy.
Despite all this, Cuba has developed one of the
best public health services and has established
a global presence politically. With a strong nationalist
belief, it found the capability to aid anti-colonial
struggles in Africa and was able to provide the
lead in humanitarian assistance in the aftermath
of the earthquake in Pakistan and AJK -- alongside
the NATO and US assistance. But Cuba has suffered
as a result of its anti-imperialist stance.
Now, when the US is seeking support for UN action
on Iran and North Korea, it is imperative for the
international community, especially permanent members
of the UN Security Council like China and Russia,
to demand a quid pro quo from the US in the shape
of the removal of the absurd embargo against Cuba.
If the Cold War is over, the anomalies of this War
must also go. The US needs to realize that it cannot
continue to choose when it will be unilateralist
and when it needs multilateralism. It has to abide
by some basic international norms -- as its experience
in Iraq and Afghanistan should have made apparent.
As for the rest of us, we should pay more heed to
the Latin American experience. While no one deliberately
seeks defiance of the US, it is not Washington but
a cohesive nationalist strength that is the only
guarantor of our sovereignty and freedom.
(The writer is director general of the Institute
of Strategic Studies in Islamabad)
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