Robert Gamer: Author & Activist

“I do believe I’ll have the honor of taking Cuba.”

These are the words of Donald Trump.

These words should not be taken idly. The CIA has a track record of covertly acting to bring about regime change, sponsoring coups in Ecuador, Peru, Iran and Chile, as well as assassinations in Chile, El Salvador, Iran and Bolivia. Prior to the war with Iran, the latest U.S. action had been removing the leader of Venezuela.

The preliminary steps for a Cuba takeover have already been taken. The U.S. oil embargo has put Cuba in a stranglehold. Trump has promised to impose tariffs on any country that supplies Cuba with oil. The next step is to land boots.

It’s not as if this would be the first time for a U.S. military intervention in Cuba. There was the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. It failed miserably. The plan depended on ordinary Cubans rising up against Castro once the invasion began. This never happened. Most Cubans saw the invasion as a U.S. attack, not a liberation.

This is the way they will look at it today.

It’s not as if Cubans have a short memory of U.S. domination. In the 1940s and 1950s, the U.S. represented the dominant economic force in Cuba. U.S. investors controlled large portions of the sugar industry, then Cuba’s backbone. American companies owned utilities. There were significant holdings in railroads, mining and agriculture. Altogether, more than $1 billion in U.S. capital was invested in Cuba by the 1950s, a staggering sum at the time.

And who did we put in power as a puppet to run Cuba? Fulgencio Batista, a ruthless military dictator. The first thing he did was cancel the elections he was likely to lose. Cracking down on opposition, he jailed, tortured and killed critics. Well over 1,000 dissidents paid with their lives. The government became closely tied to organized crime figures like Meyer Lansky. Havana turned into a Mafia-run hub for gambling, casinos and prostitution. Batista allowed American businesses to continue their control of sugar, utilities and tourism.

One of the first things Castro did after the revolution was nationalize U.S.-owned businesses. The casinos were trashed.

Who left Cuba after the revolution? Wealthy landowners, business leaders and professionals. Government officials tied to Fulgencio Batista. Individuals who feared political persecution. Marco Rubio’s family.

The overwhelming majority of Cubans supported the revolution.

Unlike before, health care in Cuba is free for all citizens. There is a strong emphasis on preventive care. Unlike before, education is free from primary school through university.

So what do you plan to do, Trump, in your prospective takeover of Cuba? Return this island to the 1950s? Install another Batista? Hand back the industries to American control? Install Mafia-run casinos? Maybe build a Trump hotel?

Is Cuba doomed to become yet another victim of the “Donroe Doctrine”?