Solidarity with the Cuban People
From SP Boston
Solidarity with the Cuban People, 1 August 2006
- Matthew Andrews
- SP USA Co-Vice Chair
The Socialist Party USA defends the right of the Cuban people to self-determination. While undergoing surgery, Fidel Castro has ceded power to his brother, Raul Castro, and the future of his health is uncertain. Fidel Castro is almost 80 years old and has been the Cuban head of state for 47 years. Even if Castro recovers his health and returns to power for now, Cuba must soon develop a plan for life after Castro. Imperialist policy makers in Washington DC and Cuba's old exiled ruling class are salivating at a possible opportunity to return Cuba to its pre-revolution condition of subjugation under US hegemony. A survey of other Caribbean nations proves that this is not a path to prosperity, security or freedom. Capitalism will only continue to cause misery for the majority of the world's marginalized and working classes.
The Socialist Party USA is prepared to protest and take action to ensure that the US government does not intervene in Cuba's domestic political affairs. We believe that independence from foreign governments, foreign capital, and economic equality are prerequisites to self-determination. At the same time, freedom of speech, the right to organize, and multi-party elections are equally important. The Socialist Party USA stands in solidarity with democratic socialists in Cuba who seek to push the revolutionary transformation of Cuba forward against US imperialism and the regressive tide of the global market system.