Asia-Pacific left statements: Reject latest pretext for war, US hands off Cuba

Statements by Socialist Alliance (Australia), Socialist Party of Malaysia and Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM, Party of the Labouring Masses, The Philippines)

Australia: Labor must reject latest US pretext for military action on Cuba

Socialist Alliance, May 24

The Socialist Alliance (SA) condemns the US Department of Justice's decision to reopen a three-decade old case against former Cuban president Raúl Castro, warning it could serve as a pretext for military action against the Caribbean nation. Against these latest threats, SA reaffirms its solidarity with the Cuban people and calls on the Australian Labor government to break its silence on US President Donald Trump's escalating campaign against Cuba.

Trump's hypocrisy could not be more blatant. Castro is being indicted over the 1996 downing of two planes carrying four members of Brothers to the Rescue — a Miami-based outfit established by Cuban exiles involved in terrorist activities that regularly violated Cuba’s airspace. Meanwhile, the US military continues to regularly blow up boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific with complete impunity, so far leading to the extrajudicial murder of nearly 200 people in just the past 10 months.

The timing of the decision is also not coincidental. In January, Trump signed an executive order declaring Cuba posed an “unusual and extraordinary” threat to US security. This resulted in a further tightening of the already extremely restrictive economic blockade on Cuba, triggering an unfolding humanitarian crisis on the island.

The deadly results for ordinary Cubans are evident for all to see. For example, Trump’s tightening of sanctions back in 2017 directly contributed to a 148% rise in Cuba’s infant mortality rate by last year. This figure is now expected to rise even more sharply due to the energy blockade imposed on Cuba, which has had a particularly crippling effect on Cuba’s healthcare infrastructure.

There is no doubt that any military action would only make the even situation worse.

Ever since the 1959 Cuban revolution, Washington has sought to overthrow the Cuban government through various means: terrorist attacks, a military invasion, assasination attempts, economic strangulation, etc. But all it has achieved is imposing a regime of collective punishment against the Cuban people, whose only crime was refusing to submit to US imperialism's will.

The Socialist Alliance calls for an immediate and unconditional lifting of the US blockade on Cuba and opposes any military action against Cuba. We demand Labor speak out against Trump's policy of collective punishment and threats of military action.

These latest attacks on Cuba are just another reason why Labor must break its alliance with US imperialism — starting with tearing up the AUKUS treaty.

Malaysia: Say no to the pretext of war on Cuba!

Socialist Party of Malaysia, May 22

The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) denounces the recent accusation and indictment against Raúl Castro pushed by the US Department of Justice. The indictment appears to be a pretext for the imperialist US to launch a war on Cuba and Cuban people, or to replicate a military operation to abduct leaders of another sovereign state, like what happened to Venezuela just at the beginnin of this year.

The recent indictment against Raúl Castro is based on the downing of two aircraft operated by the CIA-backed opposition group, which intruded into the Cuban airspace in 1996. This is the latest attempt by the imperialist US to construct a fraudulent narrative to advance its unilateral coercive measures against Cuba and the Cuban people.

Since the US government under the administration of Donald Trump began to escalate its threats against Cuba, including an oil embargo, the Cuban people have been struggling for daily survival. The ongoing blockade is a collective punishment against the people of a country who choose to pursue their own path free from the domination of the imperialist US. The US government is also repeatedly demonstrating that it prepares to invade Cuba.

We reaffirm our solidarity with Cuba and the Cuban people. Cuba has been standing as the bastion of international solidarity, social justice, peace and humanity. We shall not allow the imperialist US to destroy Cuba and the Cuban people.

We urge the international community, including the government of Malaysia, to take concrete steps to stand in solidarity with Cuba against the US imperialist aggression. We do not want another war in the Caribbean and elsewhere in the world.

Released by,
Choo Chon Kai
Central Committee Member
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)

The Philippines: We condemn the indictment of Comandante Raúl Castro! US hands off Cuba! Solidarity with the Cuban Revolution!

Partido Lakas ng Masa, May 21

The US Department of Justice has charged Cuba’s former President, Comandante Raúl Castro, over the 1996 downing of planes belonging to the CIA-backed anti-Cuba terrorist organization, Brothers to the Rescue.

This is a fabricated pretext to significantly escalate US aggression against Cuba.

PLM strongly condemns this latest act of aggression.

Cuba has always had the right to defend itself against decades of U.S. regime change efforts beginning under Fidel Castro, including the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 — the first and only military defeat of U.S. imperialism in the Western Hemisphere.

We stand in solidarity with the Cuban leadership, the Cuban people, and their socialist revolution.