Socialist Alliance: Labor must reject latest US pretext for military action on Cuba

The Socialist Alliance (SA) condemns the US Department of Justice's decision to reopen a three-decade old case against former Cuban president Raúl Castro, warning it could serve as a pretext for military action against the Caribbean nation. Against these latest threats, SA reaffirms its solidarity with the Cuban people and calls on the Australian Labor government to break its silence on US President Donald Trump's escalating campaign against Cuba.

Trump's hypocrisy could not be more blatant. Castro is being indicted over the 1996 downing of two planes carrying four members of Brothers to the Rescue — a Miami-based outfit established by Cuban exiles involved in terrorist activities that regularly violated Cuba’s airspace. Meanwhile, the US military continues to regularly blow up boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific with complete impunity, so far leading to the extrajudicial murder of nearly 200 people in just the past 10 months.

The timing of the decision is also not coincidental. In January, Trump signed an executive order declaring Cuba posed an “unusual and extraordinary” threat to US security. This resulted in a further tightening of the already extremely restrictive economic blockade on Cuba, triggering an unfolding humanitarian crisis on the island.

The deadly results for ordinary Cubans are evident for all to see. For example, Trump’s tightening of sanctions back in 2017 directly contributed to a 148% rise in Cuba’s infant mortality rate by last year. This figure is now expected to rise even more sharply due to the energy blockade imposed on Cuba, which has had a particularly crippling effect on Cuba’s healthcare infrastructure.

There is no doubt that any military action would only make the even situation worse.

Ever since the 1959 Cuban revolution, Washington has sought to overthrow the Cuban government through various means: terrorist attacks, a military invasion, assasination attempts, economic strangulation, etc. But all it has achieved is imposing a regime of collective punishment against the Cuban people, whose only crime was refusing to submit to US imperialism's will.

The Socialist Alliance calls for an immediate and unconditional lifting of the US blockade on Cuba and opposes any military action against Cuba. We demand Labor speak out against Trump's policy of collective punishment and threats of military action.

These latest attacks on Cuba are just another reason why Labor must break its alliance with US imperialism — starting with tearing up the AUKUS treaty.

[The Socialist Alliance National Executive endorsed this statement on May 24]