Ian Thompson's Crusade Against America Continues

From a talk given at the Jan 20 Counter-Inaugural protest in LA by Ian ThompsonCuba is under attack. It has been since its Revolution triumphed in 1959. U.S. sponsored terrorist attacks have killed over 3,500 Cubans and injured thousands more. The criminal U.S. blockade has been in place for over four decades and Bush tightened it in 2004. Unlike in Iraq, the U.S. military is not dropping bombs on Cuba, but that's not out of the question.The Bush administration was bad news for Cuba and the rest of the world during his first term, but the new anti-Cuba team he lined up for this term is even worse. It's full of neo-conservative ideologues bent on subjugating the world's people and its resources for profit.Newly anointed Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and Cuban Americans Mel Martinez, Carlos Gutierrez and others are hard-line right wingers in the Bush administration. They would like nothing more than to see socialist Cuba reopened for exploitation by U.S. banks, corporations and gangsters.In her confirmation hearings this week, Condoleeza Rice singled out Cuba as a "tyranny that oppresses its people." This is false. Free healthcare, free education, jobs and respect for workers' rights isn't tyranny-it's freedom. Bush and his right wing cronies like Rice spread fear and vicious lies to divide working and oppressed people who share common interests. The people of Cuba are natural allies to workers in the U.S.Rice also threatened Venezuela, whose Bolivarian Revolution is deepening each day. Venezuela is very important to all progressives who seek broad social change. President Hugo Chávez just implemented a land law that redistributes land to peasant farmers. It expropriates rich, foreign owners who held large ranches and used them to exploit the labor of Venezuelans.Cuba's help to Venezuela has been critical in its revolutionary process. Cuba has 16,000 doctors and dentists working for free in the poorest areas of the country. We must defend Cuba and Venezuela and all peoples resisting U.S. imperialism at this crucial time.Cuba and Venezuela show us all what a world based on solidarity and cooperation can be. Let's unite and win, so we can build a better world.