(Moscow Bureau) – The United States is attempting to destabilize the situation in Cuba in order to achieve a change of power on the island, according to experts interviewed by Izvestia. In recent days, authorities in the republic arrested 10 citizens of Panama who were preparing anti-government posters intended to organize protests. The United States has not been officially named as the organizer behind these activities. However, US officials have openly stated that Cuba is next in line after Iran. For now, Cubans are not taking to the streets, yet the country’s difficult economic situation could trigger unrest. If efforts to destabilize the situation fail, the White House may decide to resort to more forceful actions, including a military operation.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
One of the objectives of US policy toward Cuba over several decades has been to provoke dissatisfaction with the authorities’ policies and cultivate protest sentiment, Latin America expert Timur Almukov told Izvestia.
“The calculation of the US authorities is to make the situation of ordinary Cubans so difficult that they themselves will move to overthrow their government. Hence the attempts to isolate Cuba from all of its key partners—Russia, China, Venezuela, and Mexico,” Almukov said.
Experts believe that the United States may consider the option of a military operation against Cuba. At the same time, a full-scale occupation of the country appears unlikely, as midterm elections to Congress will soon take place and the American public reacts extremely negatively to the deaths of US soldiers.
However, a military intervention cannot be completely ruled out, Egor Lidovsky, director general of the Hugo Chavez Latin American Cultural Center, told Izvestia. Before the capture of Venezuelan President Maduro, few believed that the United States would undertake such an operation. Many experts were also skeptical that Washington would launch a prolonged campaign against Iran.
Nevertheless, Cuba remains as Russia’s reliable priority partner in Latin America, but Washington views Cuba as a zone of exclusively American interests. Simultaneously with Venezuela, the United States has been making aggressive measures and a policy campaign against Cuba. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that Washington may go beyond its desire to govern Venezuela, Cuba and Iran.
He drew attention to the statements of US President Donald Trump and other senior US officials, who “do not hesitate to say that they will not be guided by any UN principles, that they will be guided only by the interests of their state.”
Lavrov believes that what is happening in the world now is “a reflection of profound changes and underlying problems in world politics and the global economy. Here we are talking not only and not so much about this crisis in the Middle East. This is a reflection of the deepest problems that have now come to the surface and which consist primarily in the clash of international law and the absence of international law.”
He compared the current situation with “how it was in the 19th century, before certain understandings were reached after the First World War, and after the Second World War, the United Nations was established and the UN charter was adopted.” The United States is a permanent member of the Security Council. And two other Western members of the Security Council — France and Britain — are trying to distance themselves from Washington.
On January 29, the United States signed an executive order making it possible for Washington to impose tariffs on goods from countries supplying oil to Cuba. The document declared a state of emergency over an alleged threat from Cuba. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla strongly condemned the measures, saying they not only could make Cuba face “a total blockade of energy supplies” but also “violate all principles of international trade,” creating “extremely difficult living conditions” for the Cuban people. Cuba, with an estimated population of 11.5 million, is an island country in the Caribbean.
