17M: Another Heroic Link in Cuba’s Liberation Process
17M: Another Heroic Link in Cuba’s Liberation Process Leer en Español Liberation processes are never construed by a single event. They are typically composed of a long string of actions, often...
[Read the full article]The U.S. Has Lost Its Path Towards Cuba
The U.S. Has Lost Its Path Towards Cuba The Obama-Biden reset with Cuban communism. It consists of trying tacitly to enhance the current path towards a Putinist transition to kleptocratic...
[Read the full article]2023: A Year of Corroboration
2023: A Year of Corroboration Leer en Español Focus is typically emphasized for the new. This leaves the past, or the old, in a disconnected state. Nothing typifies this more than the changing of...
[Read the full article]An Argentinian Opportunity
An Argentinian Opportunity Leer en Español The upcoming election in Argentina offers the South American giant a golden opportunity to change course and depart from the control of Peronist...
[Read the full article]What Israel Must Do
What Israel Must Do Leer en Español The largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust has unfolded. If avoiding the repetition of historical calamities is to mean anything, the latest attack on...
[Read the full article]Social Rights and Cuban Kleptocracy
Social Rights and Cuban Kleptocracy Leer en Español Social rights are part of the second-generation family of human rights. They are acquired, not inherent or preeminent. Civil and political...
[Read the full article]Does the U.S. Have Political Prisoners?
Does the U.S. Have Political Prisoners? Leer en Español There is a consensus, for the most part, as to what constitutes a political prisoner. Ideological inclinations, however, often stand in the...
[Read the full article]Why Are Cubans Going to Ukraine?
Why Are Cubans Going to Ukraine? Leer en Español Cuban soldiers and conscripts are officially present in the Eurasian region. Their mission is customary, given the role Cuban communism has played...
[Read the full article]Criminalizing the U.S. Constitution
Criminalizing the U.S. Constitution Leer en Español The United States has a big problem. Its version of democracy is being deconstructed. Free speech, a prerequisite of democratic rule, is being...
[Read the full article]Liberation processes are never construed by a single event. They are typically composed of a long string of actions, often seemingly disconnected, yet all bonded together with an unplanned precision of targeted accuracy. This multidimensional activism has afforded many nations their liberty. At times, these events are constructed through many years of sacrifice, blood, and toil, by different people spanning many generations. That has been the case with Cuba. On Sunday, March 17, the feast day of Saint Patrick, the 5th century British missionary who became bishop of Ireland and brought Christianity to the Emerald Isle, Cubans massively and with spontaneity, took to the streets to protest. In numerous localities, mostly, although not exclusively, in the eastern part of the island, the people of Cuba have, again, demanded freedom, an end to communism, and raised grievances over abject poverty conditions for the non-politically connected (most of the population).
Severe food and electricity scarcity did evoke expressions of outrage and indignation among the possibly thousands of protesters. Reports and videos of public manifestations of discontent were widespread in Bayamo, Granma, Holguín, El Cobre, Santa Marta, Los Mangos, Caimanera, Matanzas, Ciego de Ávila, as well as, Santiago, Cuba's second-largest city. Popular cries of “we are hungry” and “electricity and food” were constant throughout the demonstrations, as was “Patria y Vida”, the battle anthem of the epic July 11, 2021 (11J) nationwide protests. Equally present was the obvious culpability for everything, something the protesters reminded the world of. It is a sixty-five-year-old communist dictatorship.
Continue Reading …17M: Another Heroic Link in Cuba’s Liberation ProcessThe U.S. Has Lost Its Path Towards Cuba
The Obama-Biden reset with Cuban communism. It consists of trying tacitly to enhance the current path towards a Putinist transition to kleptocratic socialism with Cuban characteristics
Some will argue that the American continent south of the Rio Grande was seldom a top priority for the U.S. Surely, the American fight against communist subversion in Latin America did take place during the Cold War. A hyperactive Soviet base ninety miles from Florida was reason enough for the U.S. to understand it had a role to play. While American aid to freedom’s call was not consistent and many times unreliable and ill-planned, it was, at least, U.S. state policy. The fall of Soviet communism proved to be a blessing in disguise for socialism in the Americas, thanks to the West’s flawed post-USSR path. The U.S. lost in the peace what it had won in the war.
The forced change in strategy, from bellicose war to the asymmetric variant, was decided upon by Fidel Castro when he reorganized the Western Hemisphere’s Left and convened the Sao Paulo Forum in 1990. The new Marxist methodology of waging war to attain political power in Latin America was something American politicians have yet to successfully understand and, worse, respond to with adequate weaponry. No American administration has been as negligent in its relationship with its southern neighbors, judged from the prism of democracy-fostering, as the combined governments of Barack Obama’s two terms and Biden’s current (what many believe to be Obama’s third).
Continue Reading …The U.S. Has Lost Its Path Towards CubaFocus is typically emphasized for the new. This leaves the past, or the old, in a disconnected state. Nothing typifies this more than the changing of the year. In the historical clock, 2023 should be revered as a year that unmasked realities that movements and individuals seeking to shepherd political tides would rather the majority did not take notice of. The parting year offered us conclusive evidence that challenges many false postulations that the cultural hegemonic elite has promoted or sought to hide for decades.
Islam Is Not a Religion of Peace and Jihad Is a War Against Judaism and Christianity
The October invasion of sovereign Israeli territory by an Islamic quasi-state and the de facto ruler of Gaza lay bare many truths. This Islamic assault on the West is a religious war. The Islamist aggressors, the material as well as the intellectual and logistical architects, are abiding by the Quranic scripts. The brutality of the wars of conquest and occupation launched by Mohammad and his followers and levied over Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Persian lands, and their occupants, has been the case since the 7th century. Hamas is simply following in detail what Islam’s founder established as precedent.
The West is the target of Islamism. It always has. It must think and act responsibly. A carrot-and-stick approach would be the smartest solution. Reach out and support currents of moderation and reform with adherents of Islam. Sharia law is incompatible with a free society, consensual governance, and the rule of law. Immigration into the West from Muslim countries must require assimilation into the prevailing Judeo-Christian culture, not the other way around. Regimes and movements that support and sponsor Islamic holy wars must be confronted, not rewarded.
Islamism and Marxism Are Allied
Marxism, by way of its dark and heavy influence in the cultural, legal, and political realms, has been in a tight-knit relationship with Islamism for decades. The Islamic war on Israel has made this undeniably clear. The enamored and militant support of important sectors of American society for the Palestinian “cause”, a concocted cultural Marxist stratagem, shows just how successful the communist theories of the KGB, Franz Fanon, and Edward Said have been. Critical Post-Colonial Theory, an offshoot of the Frankfurt School, is the epistemological well of rationalization that insists on granting national identity status to Muslim residents and their heirs of the former geographical area known as Palestine. 2023 has showcased this calamity pristinely.
The level of misinformation, disinformation, and blatant falsehoods that underlie the whole basis for a Palestinian national identity and, regrettably, the tacit apologia for the crimes against humanity that the Islamists committed and are committing is revolting. This must force upon those who support democracy and freedom, a serious examination of the dangers that the propagandizing of Neo-Marxist dogma in centers of education has had. This must be reversed at all levels of schooling and clusters of intellectual development.
The U.S. Is on an Authoritarian Path
The U.S. is not Cuba, China, Russia, or Iran. However, it certainly was not the U.S. before Obama’s assault on American institutions. America is unquestionably less free. Its electoral system is not as trustworthy. While the federal system's setup has been pivotal in challenging this onslaught, can it survive? Will the Supreme Court step in and curb the abuse of power? Free expression has been curtailed, political persecution is a fact, and election tampering is clearly visible. Obama weaponized key government bodies such as the FBI, CIA, IRS, EPA, and DOJ, along with the Democratic Party. The precisely stated goal was to comprehensively, but in a gradual way, transform America. In collusion with powerful elements of the cultural means of production, the Left and the Biden-Obama regime have gone very far in this feat.
The utilization of courts and the manipulation of legal theory in targeted judicial venues to eliminate political opponents have produced political prisoners, something basically alien and rare to American history. Jail sentences of one to two decades to individuals who unlawfully entered or plotted to enter a federal building (January 6 Capitol Building breach) in a single day were handed down by the Biden DOJ. Yet over 95% of saboteurs, rioters, and arsonists who waged a Marxist-inspired, Black Lives Matter and Antifa-led uprising for close to four months received, for the most part, blanket impunity for their crimes. This reflects more than a mere two-tiered justice system. It is the tip of the iceberg in terms of blatant political persecution and election tampering.
Over a five-month span in 2023, President Donald Trump was charged in four cases. With flimsy legal substance but plenty of political conviction, the war to make Trump disappear has taken new heights. In addition to this being a classical witch hunt, the fact that he is the Republican front-runner in the 2024 presidential election makes this legal warfare and clear election interference. These tactics emulate what Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Maduro, and Daniel Ortega do to those who effectively oppose them. With two states having, as of this writing, disenfranchised American voters and disallowed their ability to compete for votes, the unimaginable is not happening.
Pope Francis Further Distances Himself From Christ
For Pope Francis, 2023 witnessed much activity in his mission to deconstruct Christianity. Paganism was gleefully highlighted by the bishop of Rome in his divinization of the planet. Neo-Marxist tenets were given preference over Catholic orthodoxy and conservative positions at the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October. Unprecedented persecution of opposing viewpoints and expressions within Catholicism was carried out. The removal of Bishop Joseph Strickland of Texas is just one case in point.
Conclusion
What stands out the most in 2023 has been how many pretenses were unmasked during the year. The socialist dictatorships of the Western Hemisphere have found a tacit partner in Biden. The U.S. and Cuba have continued to have high-level amiable talks without the communist regime having released any of the over 1,000 political prisoners. Sanctions being released, along with convicted criminals, to swoon the Venezuelan dictatorship in exchange for oil only boldens tyranny. The Left is aware they have a friend in Washington.
Greater clarity is always welcomed. 2023 unveiled many myths and lies. It laid to rest the label of “conspiracy theorist” for notions of political persecution, the application of the law, and the manipulation of the electoral system in the U.S. Islamism, historically, has been and remains in a “holy” war against the West. Socialism and political Islam have always shared common denominators. Now Marxism, by way of its cultural adages, has bonded tangibly with Islamists. It is there for all to see. The challenges for 2024 are many. 2023 should serve as an important reference point.
© The CubanAmerican Voice. All rights reserved.
Julio M. Shiling is a political scientist, writer, columnist, lecturer, media commentator, and director of Patria de Martí and The CubanAmerican Voice. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida. He is a member of The American Political Science Association and The PEN Club (Cuban Writers in Exile Chapter).
Follow Julio on:
📚Published books 📺In the media 👨🏫 Conferences and Symposiums 🎙️Podcast The Shiling Summary
The upcoming election in Argentina offers the South American giant a golden opportunity to change course and depart from the control of Peronist hegemony. With the third-largest economy in Latin America (after Brazil and México), a highly educated and capable workforce, and an abundance of natural resources, Argentina has been held captive for many years by toxic left-wing dogma that has decimated living standards for Argentinians. Two of the three front-runners in the October 22 election promise to chart a different course. Javier Milei, the leading candidate, appears firmer in potentially completing the task since his commitment to dismantle statism is ideologically deep-rooted.
Argentina entered the 20th century as a prosperous country. In 1913, it was wealthier than Germany, France, Spain, and a host of other first-world nations. Before the 1930s, it fluctuated in standing among the top ten global economies. The available 2023 data places Argentina, as measured by GDP, in the 23rd spot in the world. This is over 100% less than where it stood at the beginning of the last century. Why the shrinkage?
It is not just a matter of sluggish economic growth. Inflation, a proven menace that impoverishes living standards and siphons wealth as a hidden tax, has vexed Argentinians for generations. We are talking about double-digit inflation. Additionally, this combined malaise of sedated growth and high inflation has caused its currency to plummet. The basket case of prosperity that Argentina once was has been relegated to the history books. When did this downward spiral begin?
Continue Reading …An Argentinian OpportunityPage 1 of 66