Fernando Damaso, 11 March 2015 — The words “interference” and “solidarity” have been used interchangeability, according to the political-ideological interests of those who employ them. As a result, the United States practices interference in the internal issues of other countries, and Cuba practices solidarity, which is nothing more than interference under another name.
Just like the extinct Soviet Union did during the “Cold War”: its political interference in its “brother socialists countries” and, armed interference in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan were acts of solidarity or, as it was called then, “proletarian internationalism.”
Cuba has practiced interference, disguised as solidarity, in Latin America and Africa, organizing guerrillas and training their members. In the latter it has also armed Angola and Ethiopia. Allende’s Chile, Nicaragua’s Sandinistas and Noriega’s Panama, were no strangers to Cuba. Today it continues to interfere politically in every way, principally in Venezuela. It repudiated the old “socialist brothers” of Eastern Europe for changing their systems, and today our principal “brothers” are Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.
It is striking that the Venezuelan president repudiates American interference and accepts Cuban, in addition to being its predecessor and meddling in the internal matters of its neighbor countries, including the US. It is a difficult and questionable position to speak of sovereignty and independence, terms, of course, quite obsolete in the globalized world with integration of countries in different organizations: UNASUR, CELAC, ALBA, etc., to name just a few of the region.
I have the impression that, aside from the real interference of the United Stats, the patriotic hysteria is due to the difficult situation the country finds itself in, close to midterm elections, due to the ineptitude of its leaders in solving the country’s problems and achieving stability and development.
In these complex situations it’s recommended to look for a powerful external enemy whom they can blame for all ills, to distract citizens’ attention from those truly responsibility and crushing the opposition (the internal enemy). It’s a very old formula and has been applied with success in other countries and in Cuba with success, from whom the Venezuelan government receives recommendations for interference, excuse me: solidarity.
There is no doubt that both the United States and Cuba (in this case during the last fifty-six years) have accumulated a voluminous record of interference.
