Are Our Days Numbered?

After the empire's brutal blow against Venezuela on Jan. 3 and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, a wave of anti-Cuban euphoria is sweeping social media. Resentment of our work, of the ideals we defend; frustrations harbored by supporters of Fulgencio Batista and post-Batista supporters; the oldest of the appetites for revenge and others that appear to be new — all these components, plus the opportunistic desire to show leadership demonstrated by many at a “historic” juncture, are combining in openly fascist discourse.

The chorus of real and virtual proponents of annexation repeat — over and over again — that the days of the Cuban Revolution are numbered. This flag-waving has intensified, with the infamous executive order that Donald Trump signed on Jan. 29.

According to the insightful and brotherly Manolo De Los Santos, this is “a deliberate strategy of total economic suffocation,” “a collective punishment, a violation of international law that uses hunger, darkness, and disease as political weapons to break the will of a people.” It is, Manolo reminds us, a “Mallory’s manual”* used in the most perverse way from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Trump.

Along with the attempt to suffocate us, the media and social networks have deployed an offensive that relentlessly repeats expressions of anti-Cuban euphoria. To fully understand “the informational and psychological warfare” being waged against us, the analysis by the Cubadebate Media Observatory has been very useful. It describes “a coordinated avalanche of political memes on social media platforms, disseminated from user accounts based in Florida, explicitly directed against Cuba, its political leadership, and its national sovereignty,” between Jan. 30 and Feb. 2, coinciding with Trump's executive order.

These memes shamelessly promote annexation, presenting Cuba as the 51st U.S. state, and present figures like Trump as a “messianic leader” and Marco Rubio as a “key operator of punishment and transition.” In fact, the memes present U.S. power as “inevitable and morally superior.” Some of these memes celebrate “the invasion, the bombing, the extermination of the political adversary.”

I believe you should read, reread and thoroughly debate this valuable contribution from the Cubadebate Media Observatory wherever possible. It gives us many tools to defend ourselves against the sophisticated mechanisms of manipulation employed by the imperial machinery.

The “think tanks” at the service of the empire must have deciphered the messages of the Cuban people, of Raúl Castro, of Miguel Díaz-Canel and of all our leaders, regarding the posthumous tribute paid to the 32 heroes who fell in Caracas during the memorable days of Jan. 15 and 16 — and the moving message of love for Jose Martí and Fidel Castro on Jan. 27 in the Torch March led by young people. Perhaps the “war of memes” is trying to respond to all these displays of unity, firmness and dignity.

As we speak of predictions about the few days we have left, I want to thank my brother, Palmero, who had the brilliant idea of posting a video of Fidel on Facebook, in which he humorously recounts the many times our enemies have predicted the imminent end of the revolution: "The 1960s, it won't last from today to tomorrow … The 1970s, it won't happen this week … The 1980s, it won't happen this month ... The 1990s, it won't happen this year ... 2001, it won't happen this century."

I recommend that everyone look for that video and share Fidel's laughter. It is the best response to the anxious prophets who predict that the Cuban Revolution will fall.

*Translator’s note: "Mallory's manual" refers to a declassified 1960 State Department memo, written by Lester D. Mallory, that advocated creating “hunger, desperation, and the overthrow of the government” by denying “money and supplies.”