The United States, the Blackout in Cuba and the Failure of its Hypocrisy

The US government spoke out on Monday about the energy emergency Cuba has been suffering since last Friday. According to statements made during a press conference by White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, the Administration is "closely monitoring" the energy situation on the island.

Asked by the Spanish agency EFE, the spokeswoman said that her government, in addition to closely following the blackouts it has suffered, does not rule out providing aid to the island, although she specified that the Cuban Executive has not requested assistance.

She added: "We are concerned about the possible humanitarian impact on the Cuban people. As we have seen in recent years, Cuba's economic conditions, resulting from prolonged mismanagement of its policies and resources, have undoubtedly increased the difficulties of the Cuban population," and she emphasized that the United States "is not responsible" for the blackouts or the general energy situation in Cuba.

With such statements, Jean-Pierre tried to counter the accusation of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel who, a few hours earlier, had stated that the energy emergency in Cuba "has a lot to do - as a consequence of the effects of the intensified blockade and the entire economic war against the Island by the United States government, and the financial and energy persecution - with the inability to count on "stable fuel supplies so that the System can operate at its full capacity and with all its stability."

The Cuban president was supported by Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern, member of the United States House of Representatives, who last Sunday, in his X account, stated that the current policy of his country contributed directly to Cuba's energy problems.

According to McGovern, such a policy (the ironclad economic, commercial and financial blockade) penalizes ships that transport oil to Cuba and deprives the Caribbean nation of the foreign exchange earnings it needs to import fuel and spare parts.

The representative from Massachusetts stressed that the assistance would allow "restoring the electrical grid and dealing with the shortage of food and medicine that is impoverishing the Cuban people and causing unprecedented migration to the United States."

The statements of the American spokesperson, as expected, border on cynicism.

It’s true, as Cuba has recognized, that the Island faces problems of poor management in its economy, but these errors have their essential cause in the blockade that, for more than six decades, has tried to subdue the Cuban people with hunger and misery.

The United States is least concerned about the "possible humanitarian impact on the Cuban people." Its policy towards the Island, since the Mallory memorandum was drafted in 1960 until today, has only sought to fracture the support of the Cuban people for the revolutionary process.

On the other hand, if the powerful and "effective" North American administrations have not been able to resolve the energy problem that its associated state, Puerto Rico, has suffered since the onslaught of Hurricane Maria in September 2017, what does the US government care about the fate of the Cuban people?

Much less now, a few weeks before a close election, when the Democrats are trying to scratch out some votes in the fascist and anti-Cuban Florida State.

As for humanitarian aid, what can we say? Let’s hope that it’s not the same as the "humanitarian" gesture of denying and hindering Cuba from acquiring medical oxygen at the worst moment of the Covid-19 pandemic or sending 33 firefighter suits to the Island several days after the fire on the supertankers in Matanzas was extinguished.

The American spokeswoman is not fooling anyone with her statements. For more than three decades, the world has been demanding, almost unanimously, at the United Nations General Assembly, the end of the United States blockade against Cuba and, more recently, the exclusion of the Island from the spurious list of countries that support terrorism.

Only those who have turned Cuba's independence into a piece in the game of American politics are not capable of recognizing the isolation of their hypocrisy.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff