|
The Cuban ambassador to Manila decried what he terms
as a US “blockade,” which has cost his country some $222 billion
over nearly 50 years.
“This is not an embargo,”
Ambassador Jorge Rey Jimenez insisted, saying the attempts of the
United States to isolate Cuba are more consistent with a blockade.
It is hard for other people to
understand the sufferings of the Cubans, Jimenez told an exclusive
roundtable interview with The Manila Times on Thursday. Imagine the
cost of lost opportunities, the development that could have been
done with $222 billion, he said.
Ships that bring in goods into
Cuba are barred from docking at any US port for at least six months,
compelling Cubans to pay double for transportation costs, the envoy
added. “We don’t receive any credit,” because of the
continuing pressure Americans place on prospective creditors to
Cuba, he said.
And if there are lenders, the
interest rates are very high. For virtually everything, “Cuba has
to pay more,” Jimenez added.
The reason for the US policy,
naturally, is Fidel Castro, who at age 81 may be ailing but is still
recognized as Cuba’s leader. His move to build missile bases in
Cuba in the 1960s brought the world to the brink of World War 3.
Then-US President John F. Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba,
preventing the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev from deploying
nuclear missiles to that island nation.
Americans have not forgiven
Castro, or Cuba for that matter, since.
2008 forecasts
The Cuban ambassador said Cuba is
not against establishing ties with the United States, so long as it
is a relationship based on “equal footing.”
“We love the American people,
but not the American government,” he added.
But Jimenez conceded that little
change in US foreign policy can be expected, even after Americans
elect a new president in November 2008. He declined to say which of
the US presidential candidates would be friendliest to Cuba, but he
hinted that he may have a soft spot for Sen. Barrack Obama, a
frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Officially, the ambassador said,
he does not want to interfere with the internal matters of the
United States.
He added that Cubans are certain
of one thing—the “blockade” of Cuba will not last.
“There will be finish to the
blockade,” the envoy said. “We don’t know when,” but it will
end some day, somehow.
Jimenez said Cubans are used to
protracted revolutions, such as fighting Spain for independence
beginning in 1868 and winning it. He added that he considers the
ongoing conflict with the US as a continuation of that struggle.
Jimenez said there will be few
changes in Cuba after Fidel Castro, who first took power in 1959.
“Cuba will be like Cuba before
Fidel [Castro],” he said, adding that Cubans acknowledge that the
contributions of their leader have been many and significant.
But, Jimenez said, “Cuba is not
a one-man country.”
--Dante “Klink” Ang 2nd
|
