INVASION
OF
PANAMA 1959
CUBA'S RESPONSE
[REFERENCE: County Intelligence
File, "Cuban
Revolution File" 1959, #18335]
THE CRISIS IN THE CARIBBEAN AND THE
INVASION OF
PANAMA
(By the editors of "REVOLUTION International")
We have always thought that the crisis of the Caribbean is
due to the economic
and social structure which prevails in the forms of
government and in the
ways of living together. So long as dictatorship,
economic disorder
and social injustice constitute the basis for civil life in
those countries,
crises of an internal and external nature will be permanent,
they will form
the rhythm of their history and will constitute perhaps the
chaos which precedes
the light, as philosophers before SOCRATES claimed.
The crisis in the
Caribbean, accentuated and promoted in the majority of cases
by those who
wish to hide under an apparent disorder the vindictive
vitality of the peoples,
will be ended with the liberation and economic growth of the
peoples.
The crisis in itself has no significance; its meaning
becomes clear when
it is known who causes it and why.
Today, they try to point out that there is a crisis in the
Caribbean just
as one speaks of a crisis in Berlin or in the Middle
East. Long before
any incident of any importance took place the wire news
services abounded
with news of that sort. A few days ago, the President
of Guatemala
declared that he would support an country invaded from
Cuba. The illustrious
Generalissimo TRUJILLO decreed a state of emergency in Santo
Domingo with
great and ridiculous legal pomp. All those measures
are being taken
under the pretext of an aggressive attitude on the part of
the Republic of
Cuba through its revolutionary government. The
improbability of such
actions was obvious, but it is a matter of creating
confusion among the unwary.
Everybody knows that during a revolutionary process like the
one through
which the Cuban people have just passed, a country does not
take an aggressive
attitude; on the contrary, it adopts a cautious position and
one of waiting
so far as external affairs are concerned, and dedicates
itself with all its
might to the task of consolidating the elements and
institutions which it
has within it in order to obtain the strengthening of the
victory of the
Revolution.
Moreover, the high officials of the revolutionary government
of the Republic
of Cuba, the Prime Minister and the Chief of the Armed
Forces and the Ministry
of State have on many occasions expressed their respect for
international
treaties, for the principle of non-intervention in the
internal problems
of other countries and the freedom of the peoples to settle
their own intimate
problems. The position of the Cuban government has
been clearly shown
from the very moment that it stopped attempts to invade
other countries from
its territory. The Cuban government is not responsible
for the dissatisfaction
existing in neighboring nations, nor the exemplary bravery
of the Cuban Revolution.
On the other hand, it is difficult for the Cuban armed
forces to prevent
in all cases, the departure of expeditions from Cuba.
It is impossible
to establish a perfect vigilance of the coasts. During
the last world
war, allied commands landed on the continent of Europe in
spite of the very
powerful armies of the Axis.
The present "crisis" in the Caribbean is due also to an
aggressive plan against
Cuba, protected and promoted by the reactionary forces
inside and outside
of Cuba.
TRUJILLO and SOMOZA, YDIGORAS FUENTES and others create an
atmosphere of
hysteria which resolves itself in insults for the Cuban
nation and in supposed
defense measures against theoretical invasions. That
loud cry of the
tyrants finds an echo in the attitude of the colonialist
forces of Cuba,
Santo Domingo, Central America and the United States.
SMATHERS, taking
advantage of the complaints of his chiefs, cites the trust
which exists between
the good buyer and the good seller, and in order to satisfy
the petitions
of his masters, a little after TRUJILLO, he starts on the
subject of the
need of creating an international policy to repress the
activities of Cuba.
Nobody pays much attention to the opinions of Smathers which
served to unmask
the work of the reactionary forces against the Cuban
Revolution. In
order to establish their degree of strength and the
perilousness of the "crisis
in the Caribbean," provocations increase and they bring
about a very secret
meeting of American ambassadors in the Caribbean. All
that work directed
against Cuba results only in strengthening the national
revolutionary conscience
and in accelerating the development of the Revolution in
Cuba.
The invasion of Panama organized by Panamanians from Cuban
territory will
be pounced upon as a pretext by the enemies of Cuba.
The government
has tacitly explained its position. A few days ago,
the Chief of the
Armed Forces declared that those attempts had the
characteristics of provocations.
In statements made to the press today by the Minister of
State of the Republic,
the position of the Revolutionary Government is clearly
established.
The truth of the declarations is proved by the precedent
that on two different
occasions previous to that the government stopped
expeditions which were
headed for a Haiti and Nicaragua. Several days ago, in
Washington,
Dr. FIDEL CASTRO declared Cuba's absolute respect for
international law.
On that point there is no possible doubt; the Ambassador of
the Republic
of Panama has not accused Cuba because it is impossible to
deny the neutrality
of the Cuban State in the process.
The serious thing in the Panamanian event, without
considering its legitimacy
as far as the Panamanian people are concerned, is the
indisputable reaction
which it will provoke in anti-Cuban circles, because of the
lack of responsibility
on the part of those Cubans who joined it, for what purpose
no one knows,
for the fundamental job of the moment is to strengthen the
Cuban Revolution
and not to provoke revolts in other countries. We do
not know what
the ideological purpose of the conflict was, nor what the
invaders of Panama
were fighting for. But we do not ignore the
counter-revolutionary possibilities
which it encompasses. A few days ago, a North American
succeeded in
convincing a group of ingenuous and well intentioned Cubans
and attracted
them to an invasion of Nicaragua. Nothing can convince
us that the
deed does not have the same origin. The fundamental
thing is that it
can be used against Cuba and against the radical Latin
American movements
for liberation such as that of the Dominican people which
supports the most
absurd and insulting tyranny of modern times.
The "crisis in the Caribbean" provoked artificially in order
to attack Cuba
and the real crisis in the Caribbean supported by
colonialism and economic
anarchy, dictatorship and ignominy are in the foreground
today on the international
scene. As we have said, from chaos comes light.
From the present
crisis will come future order. We must fight the
crisis which arises
from interests which cause friction between nations and t he
permanent crisis
in which t hose nations, offended and humiliated by regimes
of immorality
and terror, live. The position of the Cuban people and
the Cuban government
in regard to the Panamanian conflict is definite: Cuba has
not interfered
in the internal affairs of Panama. Expeditions such as
that which took
place in order to invade Panama are uncontrollable.
The Cuban government
is doing everything it can to prevent them and has given
convincing proof
of its good faith. Cuba's respect for international
law has been demonstrated
and its position remains unchanged. In the same way
may it strengthen
itself against the international conspiracies and the forces
which fight
in the interior in order to establish anarchy and
confusion. The Revolution
is clear and effective in national and international
matters. Hysteria,
complaints and sensationalism do not interest us.
End of Page
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