Cuba and Haiti


Haiti

Haiti president Jovenel Moïse (Joe Van Nell,  Mo Ease) was recently assassinated by  an ‘armed commando group’

Peter BeaumontTom Phillips and Julian Borger

 The Guardian, Wed 7 Jul 2021 20.29 EDT

The president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, has been assassinated in his home by a group of armed men who also seriously injured his wife, according to a statement and comments made by the country’s interim prime minister.

Speaking on a local radio station, Claude Joseph confirmed that Moïse, 53, had been killed, saying the attack was carried out by an “armed commando group” that included foreigners.

In a televised national address later on Wednesday, Joseph declared a state of emergency across the country, and made a call for calm. “The situation is under control,” he said.

Late on Wednesday Haiti’s communications secretary said police had arrested the “presumed assassins”. Frantz Exantus did not provide further details about the killing or say how many suspects had been arrested. The police chief later said officers were fighting with the group and that four had been shot dead and another two arrested.

According to the Haitian ambassador to Washington, Bocchit Edmond, Moïse’s killers claimed to be members of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as they entered his guarded residence.

“This was a well-orchestrated commando attack,” Edmond told the Guardian. “They presented themselves as DEA agents, telling people they had come as part of a DEA operation.”

In videos circulating on social media, a man with an American accent is heard saying in English over a megaphone: “DEA operation. Everybody stand down. DEA operation. Everybody back up, stand down.”

Residents reported hearing gunshots and seeing men dressed in black running through the neighborhood.

“It could be foreign mercenaries, because the video footage showed them speaking in Spanish,” Edmond said. “It was something carried out by professionals, by killers … But since the investigation has been just been opened, we prefer to wait on legal authorities to have a better assessment of the situation. We don’t know for sure, with real certainty, who’s behind this.

“This is an act of barbarity. It’s an attack on our democracy,” he said.

Edmond said he had asked the White House on Wednesday morning for US help in identifying and capturing the killers.

“We need a lot more information,” Joe Biden said later at the White House, calling the killing “very worrisome”.

In a written statement, the US president offered condolences and assistance. “We condemn this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for First Lady Moïse’s recovery,” the statement said. “The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti.”

Moïse’s time in office was marked by an increase in political instability, allegations of corruption and a long-running dispute about when his period in office should end. He had been ruling by decree for more than a year after the country failed to hold legislative elections and he wanted to push through controversial constitutional changes.

Haiti’s opposition claims Moïse should have stepped down on 7 February to coincide with the fifth anniversary of 2015 elections that were cancelled and then re-run a year later because of allegations of fraud. In February the US said it supported Moïse’s position that he had the right to govern until February 2022.

Earlier this year amid allegations by Moïse of a coup attempt that planned to “murder him” and fresh protests, he moved to protect his position, ordering the arrest of 23 people including a supreme court judge and a senior police official, while declaring he was “not a dictator”.

Opponents had also accused Moïse’s government of fuelling political violence by providing gangs with guns and money to intimidate his adversaries.

So where is this place and what can history tell us about Haiti?

The native Taino – who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when Christopher COLUMBUS first landed on it in 1492 – were virtually wiped out by Spanish settlers within 25 years.

In the early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola. In 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island, which later became Haiti.

The French colony, based on forestry and sugar-related industries, became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean but relied heavily on the forced labor of enslaved Africans.

In the late 18th century, Toussaint L’OUVERTURE led a revolution of Haiti’s nearly half a million slaves that ended France’s rule on the island.

 After a prolonged struggle, and under the leadership of Jean-Jacques DESSALINES, Haiti became the first country in the world led by former slaves after declaring its independence in 1804, but it was forced to pay an indemnity to France for more than a century and was shunned by other countries for nearly 40 years.

The United States Government’s interests in Haiti existed for decades prior to its occupation. As a potential naval base for the United States, Haiti’s stability concerned U.S. diplomatic and defense officials who feared Haitian instability might result in foreign rule of Haiti.

In 1868, President Andrew Johnson suggested the annexation of the island of Hispaniola, consisting of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, to secure a U.S. defensive and economic stake in the West Indies.

Following the assassination of the Haitian President in July of 1915, President Woodrow Wilson sent the United States Marines into Haiti to restore order and maintain political and economic stability in the Caribbean. This occupation continued until 1934.

After the US occupied Haiti from 1915-1934, Francois “Papa Doc” DUVALIER and then his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” DUVALIER led repressive and corrupt regimes that ruled Haiti from 1957-1971 and 1971-1986, respectively.

A massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010 with an epicenter about 25 km (15 mi) west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Estimates are that over 300,000 people were killed and some 1.5 million left homeless.

On 4 October 2016, Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Haiti, resulting in over 500 deaths and causing extensive damage to crops, houses, livestock, and infrastructure. 

Currently the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti continues to experience bouts of political instability.

Population

11,198,240 (July 2021 est.)
Ethnic groups

Black 95%, mixed and White 5%

Languages

French (official), Creole (official)

Religions

Roman Catholic 54.7%, Protestant 28.5% (Baptist 15.4%, Pentecostal 7.9%, Adventist 3%, Methodist 1.5%, other 0.7%), Vodou 2.1%, other 4.6%, none 10.2% (2003 est.)
Population below poverty line

58.5% (2012 est.)

So now let’s turn to Cuba

JULY 12, 2021 By Jordan Davidson, The Federalist

Thousands of Cubans banded together over the weekend to protest the island’s communist regime and the dire, impoverished conditions that come with living under a dictatorship.

In Havana, the nation’s capital, protesters gathered to chant for “Liberty” and “Freedom” while demanding the current President Miguel Díaz-Canel resign.

Other protesters waved an American flag as they marched down the capital city’s streets.

As pent-up rage about the authoritarian regime spread, Cuban officials rushed to block the internet, dismiss anti-government content as “disinformation,” and crack down on dissidents which could further taint the country’s image.

“The order to combat has been given,” the Cuban president said in a nationally televised address. Calling on counter-protesters who support his regime to step in, he added, “Revolutionaries need to be on the streets.”

“Cuba is often held up as a poster child of a successful socialist society and it isn’t,” Jim Carafano, vice president for the Heritage Foundation’s Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, told The Federalist. “It’s completely masked an unmitigated failure that’s literally propped up by external partners and an incredibly oppressive regime. This is just a reminder that [while] people think that these kinds of societies lead to better outcomes and more equity, it’s just not true.”

The corporate press, big tech, and the Biden administration also quickly misconstrued the Cubans’ cries when they chose to finally cover the outrage.

The New York Times faced backlash on Sunday for tweeting that protesters were “shouting ‘freedom’ and other anti-government slogans.”

Twitter was quick to slap a slanted explainer on the trending videos, pictures, and reports which Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (who is Cuban-American) said “ignores this is really about how socialism is a disaster and always leads to tyranny, despair, and suffering.”

Julie Chung, Acting Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, misrepresented the protests by claiming that they were largely focused on COVID-19.

“Peaceful protests are growing in #Cuba as the Cuban people exercise their right to peaceful assembly to express concern about rising COVID cases/deaths & medicine shortages,” Chung tweeted. “We commend the numerous efforts of the Cuban people mobilizing donations to help neighbors in need.”

After facing backlash, Chung quickly followed up with a new statement condemning the regime’s “calls to combat.”

She also retweeted President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan after he said the U.S. “would strongly condemn any violence or targeting of peaceful protestors who are exercising their universal rights.”

While COVID-19 did play a role in the outrage, some contend the country’s medical shortcomings were the “straw that broke the camel’s back” atop a host of deeper concerns.

So now a little history of Cuba:

The native Amerindian population of Cuba began to decline after the European discovery of the island by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1492 and following its development as a Spanish colony during the next several centuries.

Large numbers of African slaves were imported to work the coffee and sugar plantations, and Havana became the launching point for the annual treasure fleets bound for Spain from Mexico and Peru.

Spanish rule eventually provoked an independence movement and occasional rebellions were harshly suppressed. US intervention during the Spanish-American War in 1898 assisted the Cubans in overthrowing Spanish rule.

The Treaty of Paris established Cuban independence from Spain in 1898 and, following three-and-a-half years of subsequent US military rule, Cuba became an independent republic in 1902 after which the island experienced a string of governments mostly dominated by the military and corrupt politicians.

Fidel CASTRO led a rebel army to victory in 1959; his authoritarian rule held the subsequent regime together for nearly five decades. He stepped down as president in February 2008 in favor of his younger brother Raul CASTRO.

Cuba’s communist revolution, with Soviet support, was exported throughout Latin America and Africa during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Miguel DIAZ-CANEL Bermudez, hand-picked by Raul CASTRO to succeed him, was approved as president by the National Assembly and took office on 19 April 19 2018. DIAZ-CANEL was appointed First Secretary of the Communist Party on 19 April 2021 following the resignation of Raul CASTRO.

The country faced a severe economic downturn in 1990 following the withdrawal of former Soviet subsidies worth $4-6 billion annually.

Cuba traditionally and consistently portrays the US embargo, in place since 1961, as the source of its difficulties.

As a result of efforts begun in December 2014 to re-establish diplomatic relations with the Cuban Government, which were severed in January 1961, the US and Cuba reopened embassies in their respective countries in July 2015. The embargo remains in place, and the relationship between the US and Cuba remains tense. 

Illicit migration of Cuban nationals to the US via maritime and overland routes has been a longstanding challenge.

On 12 January 2017, the US and Cuba signed a Joint Statement ending the so-called “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy – by which Cuban nationals who reached US soil were permitted to stay. Illicit Cuban migration by sea has since dropped significantly, but land border crossings continue.

Population

11,032,343 (July 2021 est.)

Languages

Spanish (official)

Religions

Christian 59.2%, folk 17.4%, other 0.4%, none 23%

note: folk religions include religions of African origin, spiritualism, and others intermingled with Catholicism or Protestantism

Government type

communist state

Capital

name: Havana

So folks, There you have it. Turmoil in two counties not very far from our borders. Cuba (90 miles) Haiti to Key West (600 miles)

Think about it. It is only 90 miles from Florida to Cuba. It is 100 miles from Bagnell Dam to Warsaw by water.

Should we help the people of these two island nations?

Should we deny them the opportunity to emigrate to America to flee persecution while allowing thousands of people from Mexico and Central America to cross our southern borders on a daily basis? Is military intervention an option?