Cuba's seige mentality

Cuba’s Ambassador to Australia, Abelardo Curbelo Padron, has a history of political activism that goes back more than half a century.

As a teenager he was part of the revolution, led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, which ousted the Government of Fulgencio Batista and set Cuba on a socialist path. Now aged 70 he is a relentless lobbyist for an end to the United States economic embargo, imposed in 1962, which hamstrings his country’s relations with the rest of the world.

Padron points out that while other countries can ostensibly make up their own minds whether to trade with Cuba or not, the US’s pervading economic influence makes it extremely difficult to do so. “Any organisation, such as a bank, that has dealings with us and also has links with the US risks sanctions, so many do not take the risk,” he says.

He says the US keeps on changing the pretexts for keeping up what Cubans call el bloquero or “the blockade”.

“In the beginning it was because we were supporting revolution in South America. After the 1960s it was because we were in alliance with the Soviet Union. After that it was because we were supporting revolutionary forces in Africa, then it was because they had problems with our human rights record and now the pretext is that we are a terrorist country.

“We are against terrorism; we don’t want terrorism on our soil and we have no relations with any terrorist organisation. On the contrary, we are acting against terrorism.

“But when the US includes us on a list of countries that support terrorism, we have problems around the world. The US is strong and it is difficult to work in contradiction to the US.”

However Padron says that despite the stringencies of the embargo the Cuban revolution continues. “This is America’s real fear,” he said.

“In Latin America countries with many social and economic problems people see Cuba doing well in terms of housing, education and health in spite of the conditions we work under. They watch us and wonder whether the Cuban system might not be the best for them as well.”

He rejects any suggestion that the people are living under a dictatorship. “It has only been possible for us to maintain the Cuban system because we have the support of the majority of the population. Yes, we have many problems - in the economy, in agriculture - but we are trying to develop the country and have many objectives and targets. The people know this and appreciate it.”

Padron is his country’s first resident ambassador in Australia and is upbeat about future relations with Canberra. “We feel the tendency is very positive,” he said.

“I have had one appointment with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr [Stephen] Smith last year and then he met the Cuban Minister for Foreign Affairs [Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla] both at the United Nations and then on a visit to Cuba.

“We had a scientific mission visit Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne in October so I believe the opportunities for further contact in this field as well as in cultural and business areas are very positive.

“As regards trade, our main export is sugar and we are certainly interested in automating the industry. Australia could help there.”

He listed the possibilities for co-operation between the two countries: “In mining, energy, renewable energy technology, chemical technology and oil - this last item taking into account our important offshore reserves.

“And of course, if there is anyone in Australia interested in tourism development, we are open to joint ventures.”

It is almost half a century since Cuba was the playing field for the Cold War contest between the US and the Soviet Union. In October, 1962 the rest of the world were horrified spectators to the confrontation over Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s attempt to station nuclear missiles on the island, less that 150 kilometres from the American mainland.

The crisis was the closest the world has come to nuclear war. American armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders of forces already in Cuba were preparing to defend the island from invasion. Soviet Army Chief of Operations, Anatoly Gribkov gave a graphic description of the mounting tension when he said afterwards: "Nuclear catastrophe was hanging by a thread ... and we weren't counting days or hours, but minutes."

As history records, the crisis was resolved and in the decades since Cuba has slipped off the radar. Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and North Korea dominate the media now; Cuba hardly rates a mention. And yet the embargo, imposed by the US several months before the missile crisis in the wake of the botched Bay of Pigs invasion by US-backed Cuban opponents of the Castro regime, remains in place.

Some chinks in the wall have appeared since the election of the Obama Administration with the relaxing of personal travel restrictions, allowing Cuban Americans to visit family on the island and to stay for as long as they want. Padron believes this is partly due to changes in attitudes within the Cuban-American community as its older members who actually fled the Castro regime, begin to die off.

However, the fact remains that in most of its aspects the embargo, a relic of an era that has faded into history, remains in place. It is an irritant to other nations who wish to trade with Cuba and helps to promote the siege mentality within the country that provides a raison d’être for human rights violations, including the jailing of dissenters and restrictions on a free press.

The Obama Administration, with its preoccupations in the Middle East and Afghanistan, appears to lack the will to overcome what domestic opposition remains to a move towards normalising relations with Cuba, but for a president who was elected on a platform of change, this left-over from the time of superpower confrontation is an anomaly indeed.