Amid a national poll in the United States that tips the scales toward the idea that Trump knew about Epstein's actions, the US president has announced a new intention: to review the digital social network activity of those who decide to travel as tourists to the so-called "land of the free." Perhaps those quotation marks are insufficient to underscore the irony of the statement.

The procedure is not new; what is certain is that if this measure proceeds smoothly, next February citizens of allied countries will also have to submit to this scrutiny.

Germany, Israel, Australia, and Japan are among the 42 countries that will be included in this surveillance mechanism, designed to influence the opinions of those who wish to visit the United States.

Historically, citizens of several of these countries have benefited from the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which allows them to stay in the United States for periods of less than 90 days, provided they are authorized through this system. Europeans traveling to Cuba for tourism cannot access this same system.

Now, however, it’s not enough for this to be a weapon in the economic war against the island: it becomes a direct attack on freedom of thought and evidence of the U.S. government's ability to access not only the consumption history on digital platforms dominated by U.S. conglomerates, but also personal data that is supposedly protected.

The decision also reveals the fragility of the digital footprint we leave every day when we play a video, "like" a post, click a link, or send a message on platforms that claim to be end-to-end encrypted.

If you, the reader, are Cuban and plan to travel to the United States, you will face a new obstacle in addition to the already complex procedures imposed on citizens of the island.

If you are reading this from elsewhere in the world, you should know that your digital activity can now be used to deny you entry to the United States, whose government is extending its technological hegemony to blackmail, intimidate, and subjugate individuals and nations.

This is not just an attack on individual privacy: it’s also pressure on governments and companies that, in order to trade with one of the world's largest economies, will have to carefully monitor their online history and their ties to countries considered hostile by Washington.

Ultimately, the United States is leveraging its economic power to impose its interests, and it’s not lagging behind in the military sphere either: it’s no longer enough to threaten to create another Gaza in the Caribbean, they're now even confiscating oil tankers.

The Empire has always resorted to these mechanisms to impose its will. Wars on all fronts are nothing new, as we well know. But its current brazenness and arrogance open a new chapter whose outcome will depend on the ability of the world's peoples to remain united and steadfast in the face of imperial hostility, which makes no distinction between "enemies" and "allies."

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff