Bloqueo, la guerra contra Cuba

The war against Cuba of the title began with the economic blockade in 1961 but, also included (in the 1960s and beyond) outright invasion (in 1961), terrorism, multiple assassination attempts on Cuban leaders and sabotage, including bacteriological warfare against crops, livestock and finally human beings. The blockade is still in place. Today, Cuba is a respected member of the community of countries in the Americas while the US and its surrogate Canada are de facto excluded. This makes obvious who won (or is winning) the war, an astonishing conclusion in view of the disproportion of forces.

But this is not the whole story. Cuba refused to compromise a single one of its principles in spite of multiples threats and pressures. It managed to chalk impressive gains: to name a few, first rate medical and education systems and a lively cultural life. It even assisted many Latin American revolutionary movements. It sent military forces and aid workers to help the decolonization of various countries in the south of Africa, and was instrumental in the demolition of the odious apartheid regime of South Africa, whose army the Cubans defeated in Angola and Namibia. (true to form, the Carter and Reagan administrations were all the while trying unsuccessfully to prop the South Africans).

This documentary consists of interviews with various Cuban functionaries, scientists and artists, plus a few minutes of newsreel footage. The interviews are brisk and to the point and they add up to a coherent whole. There is perhaps not much new material, but the labyrinthine details of the embargo, still in place, deserve exposure. The US though the blockade would turn the people of Cuba against its own government. A bully's reasoning; it was of course wrong. Undeterred, and unable to learn, the US has since insisted again and again, the last two instances Iran and now Russia. Good luck.