A recent video clip circulating on social media of an apparent altercation between Cuban police and South African students in Cuba has caused consternation for the parents of the students and others. This is a matter which will need deeper investigation and we have been assured by the Cuban authorities it is receiving attention at the highest levels.
Having said that, there are a few contextual issues we must unravel, to fully comprehend the developing situation in Cuba, and indeed the Nelson Mandela/Fidel Castro Medical Collaboration programme itself.
This programme was intended to solidify the ties of our two countries and bring to bear the ethos and virtues of both iconic leaders. It has contributed in a significant way in our efforts at graduating working-class students to add to the personnel so needed for our overall health-care objectives. Graduates of this programme play critical roles in our health-care system. Over the years the programme has had to deal with a litany of challenges — from pessimism and outright rejection in certain quarters about its efficacy, to mismanagement of the programme from the South African side. Several obstacles were placed in the way of the programme, which subsequently led to its degrading.
For our part, the Friends of Cuba Society — which has played a critical role as a connector for over many years — has come to the conclusion that part of the problem lies with the selection and placement of prospective students in Cuba. Cuba is no ordinary country and is confronting a six decade-long economic-financial blockade which has crippled its overall development trajectory. The economic-financial blockade has been tightened by the Biden administration after Barack Obama had eased some restrictions in the latter years of his presidency.
Donald Trump bowed to pressure by pandering to the Miami-Dade constituencies, with their sizeable Cuban diaspora, in the US state of Florida. This predominantly Spanish-speaking constituency is drawn from Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua and other countries in the region and generally holds sway with respect to country relations and ties with the US.
The video clip posted on social media by a certain Lesotho national, Lineo Evelyn Malehi, studying at an institution in the province of Villa Clara, surfaces at a time when Cuba has come under an increasingly vicious propaganda attack. Attempts at creating instability and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country by the US administration and its acolytes in Miami abound. The Cuban-American diaspora in Miami is intent on forging instability in Cuba through a campaign it calls “democratising Cuba” — #SOSCuba.
Attempts at creating instability and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country by the US administration and its acolytes in Miami abound
Interference occurred ever since the Cuban Revolution triumphed in 1959 and Fulgencia Batista and his ilk fled Cuba for the US. The latter have used their inordinate influence and lobbying on Capitol Hill to sway the US towards an aggressive policy towards Cuba, and essentially facilitated terrorist ploys to try to overthrow the revolutionary government in Havana, ostensibly to return Cuba to being a pliant pawn of the US.
There are almost three generations of the Cuban diaspora in Florida. They harbour elements that long for their opulent lives at the expense of the majority in the pre-1959 period and under the Batista dictatorship, which was nothing but an extension of US interests.
One Marco Rubio — a Republican senator in Florida of Cuban heritage — whose father fled Cuba after the triumph of the revolution, is the creator of the #SOSCuba campaign that organised the first “march” in June against the revolutionary government. There is generally a belief in these circles that the tightening of the blockade and the negative consequences of the Covid pandemic will spark widespread anger and resistance in Cuba, which will result in a revolt and ultimately the overthrow of the revolutionary government.
The authorities in Cuba are for obvious reasons on the edge and doing their best to avert these insidious and provocative attempts. The situation is not assisted by the history of the South African students whose conduct in Cuba has been ill-disciplined, undermining Cuban laws. Many South African students have perished in Cuba due to alcohol abuse, and over the past few years some have drowned. The debacle depicted in the video clip, we have been assured, will be investigated and the necessary steps will be taken.
While it may seem insignificant, the insistence of South African students to take vacations in Miami has a particular meaning for Cuban authorities, precisely because of the agenda of regime change of the Cuban diaspora there. Cubans have lost their lives, their infrastructure has been destroyed, pandemics have been introduced into their society and the longest-running economic-financial blockade has been sustained by the mobilisation of the Miami Cuban diaspora.
We would do well to prepare our prospective students upon embarking on this critical phase of their lives. The Mandela-Fidel programme will have to be critically evaluated in light of the challenges and related matters, including its significance and impact on our objectives. The greatest objective a progressive country can achieve is to foster genuine solidarity and internationalism. Cuba has shown that and more — to humanity and the world.
The Mandela-Fidel programme is a critical acknowledgment of our ties and bonds with Cuba and its internationalist solidarity.
• Matlhako is general secretary of the Friends of Cuba Society
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