Are Republican Candidates Considering An Invasion Of Cuba?

By James Donahue

In their quest to win the Cuban-American vote in Florida both Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich promised that if elected, they will seek the overthrow of the Castro Government in that island nation and free its people from Communist rule.

During a speech before Latino voters in Miami, Gingrich said: “ The moral force of an American president who’s seriously intending to free the people of Cuba and the willingness to intimidate those who would be oppressors by saying to them in advance: you will be held accountable.

“So one of my goals would be to flood the island with enough cell phones that are video cameras that any act of oppression is filmed by 30 people, and they start posting them. This person will be on the list after the revolution. You watch the moral of the police force drop dramatically as they are no longer all powerful.”

While not as specific as Gingrich, Mr. Romney said: “This is the time, in my opinion, in the next president’s first or second term, it is time for us to strike for freedom in Cuba. And I will do so as president.”

This kind of rhetoric might have sounded appealing to the Cuban Americans with relatives still living in Cuba. But it is suggesting that another Republican controlled White House might just be considering some kind of new military conflict.

While Gingrich was strongly suggesting action to encourage an “Arab Spring” type uprising among the Cuban people by dropping cell phones all over Cuba, what guarantee does he have that the people are unhappy enough with the Castro leadership to revolt?

The obvious way to assure either a revolution or bring about an overthrow of the Communist dictatorship in Cuba, would be for the United States military or CIA operatives to get involved. And this is the same as an invasion, something Republican leaders seem to like to do.

And why would the United States like to “free” Cuba? Perhaps no one has noticed, but in the last year or two, wildcat offshore drillers have tapped into a rich new oil field in Cuban coastal waters. This would be a very good reason for the United States to be interested in gaining control of Cuban affairs.

It was Republican President George W. Bush who launched the invasion of Iraq, another oil rich nation, to overthrow that nation’s dictator Saddam Hussein. Mr. Bush apparently thought the Iraq war would be an easy thing to pull off. But he was wrong. It lead to nearly a decade-long military involvement, the loss of thousands of American lives, and the death toll among the Iraqi people may be counted in the millions. It was a war launched without provocation. It has left a shameful scar on American history and created severe hatred for the United States in that part of the world.

An attack on Cuba might not be as easy as one might think either. The Cuba regime has built a strong alliance with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. And the dynamic Chavez, during his time in office, has formed a solid socialist block of Latin American nations across South and Middle America that may come to Cuba’s defense.

Democratic Party President Barack Obama has worked to shut down the Iraq conflict and is currently taking steps to bring an end to the other Bush debacle, the War in Afghanistan. 

Our fear is that if we put another Republican in that office, the United States is destined to be involved in wars without end.

The easiest way to make peace with Cuba is to accept the government there for what it is, establish diplomatic relations, and open trade. It just might be possible that the Cubans in both Cuba and Florida would be very happy with the arrangement.

Opening similar relations with Hugo Chavez might also be in everybody’s best interest. Those government’s are not capitalistic, which in today’s rapidly changing financial world, might not be such a bad thing. While they don’t drive shiny new cars and don’t share the life style of most middle-class Americans, the people there get free health care among other important benefits.