Cuba to fight U.S. 'genocidal blockade' via the Internet
By I.J. Toby Westerman. © 2000, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc. July 13, 2000
The Cuban Foreign Service will engage in a worldwide struggle against U.S. laws deemed "hostile ... toward Havana," with the battle to be waged not only in diplomatic exchanges and the U.N. General Assembly, but also "on the Internet," according to official Cuban sources.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque stated that "the number one priority" for Cuban diplomats is "counteracting the aggressive policies of the United States." In a recent address to the Foreign Relations Permanent Commission of the Cuban Parliament, Roque proclaimed
that the case of Elian Gonzalez was a "victorious battle by the entire Cuban people," and outlined areas of conflict, including the Cuban Adjustment Act, the U.S. embargo against the Castro regime and the Helms-Burton law.
Roque's remarks were carried by Radio Habana Cuba, the official broadcasting service of the Cuban government.
Roque boasted that Cuban diplomats "have been and will continue to be engaged in a struggle" against the U.S. embargo and "other aspects of Washington's hostile polices." Roque pledged to fight against what he termed the "genocidal blockade" in forums including "the
General Assembly and on the Internet."
The Castro regime should well be able to carry out its intention to wage a propaganda campaign against the U.S. on the Internet, especially after the visit in late May from a mainland Chinese technical and industrial delegation.
The delegation, led by the Minister of the Information Industry Wu Jichuan, promised the Castro regime assistance in the areas of "infomatics and communications," according to an earlier Radio Habana report.
The Cubans are not strangers to the introduction of foreign technology onto their island. The Soviet-era Lourdes spy station near Havana apparently still remains in service, raising concerns about the possibility that an actual cyber war could be waged against the U.S.
Castro can still count heavily upon the human factor in the achievement of his goals. Cuba claims relations with 171 nations and "96 permanent diplomatic missions," according to Radio Habana, with an additional 10 to be opened this year.
In addition to formal diplomatic personnel, the Cuban Friendship Institute hosts "work brigades" from nations around the world, whose function is not only to assist with the island's harvests, but also to receive a considerable dose of communist propaganda.
At present, some 350 "European solidarity activists" are present in Cuba participating in agricultural labor, "visiting places of interest," and, one may assume, receiving significant amounts of communist instruction.
The tradition of accepting foreign workers onto the island for a combination of hard physical labor and Marxist instruction goes back to the 1960s. Some of the early graduates of this work-propaganda campaign are old enough to be in positions of responsibility.
The resources available to the Cuban Foreign Service are varied and considerable. From formal diplomacy to activists in the streets to sympathizers in positions of power, the Castro regime has a formidable array of trained personnel to do its bidding -- far more than is generally acknowledged.
I.J Toby Westerman, a contributing editor to both WorldNet Magazine and WorldNetDaily.com, focuses on current events in the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Balkans. He can be reached at twesterman@worldnetdaily.com.
Editor's note: WND's multi-lingual reporter Toby Westerman specializes in monitoring global shortwave broadcasts and reading foreign-language news journals for information not readily available from the domestic press. Each month, Westerman presents a special in-depth report in WorldNetDaily's
monthly magazine, WorldNet. Readers may subscribe to WorldNet through WND's online store.
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