8. The targets are Venezuela and Cuba: New intrigues of US imperialism¶
Core Argument¶
This chapter argues that US imperialism, under the Bush administration, orchestrated a coordinated offensive in 2004 against Venezuela and Cuba, using Mexico as a key staging ground. The narrative thrust is that these intrigues are not isolated incidents but part of a general plan to eliminate all Latin American governments that refuse to submit to Washington’s dictates. The chapter opens with Fidel Castro’s May Day denunciation of the United States, the European Union, and the governments of Mexico and Peru for condemning Cuba at the UN Human Rights Commission. Castro’s charge that Mexico had become a “pawn” of the US is endorsed as accurate, with Vicente Fox’s government described as completely dependent on Washington and a loyal ally for its foreign policy.
The chapter draws on the diplomatic crisis triggered by Fox’s demand for the recall of Mexico’s ambassador from Havana and the expulsion of Cuban diplomats. This crisis is traced back to the 2002 Monterrey summit, where Fox told Castro he must leave early to avoid embarrassing George Bush—the infamous “Come, y te vas” episode. However, the chapter argues that the deeper context is domestic Mexican politics. Fox’s popularity had plummeted, and the old ruling PRI was split and in crisis. The real target was Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the popular PRD mayor of Mexico City, whose likely presidential victory in 2006 threatened US interests. The corruption scandal involving businessman Carlos Ahumada, who filmed himself paying bribes to PRD functionaries, is presented as a deliberate smear campaign orchestrated by Fox and backed by Washington. The chapter notes that Ahumada fled to Cuba, where he allegedly confessed to being part of a conspiracy by Fox’s people to bring down the mayor. Cuba’s deportation of Ahumada back to Mexico provoked Fox’s retaliatory expulsion of Cuban diplomats and accusations of spying.
The chapter places these events in the context of broader US imperialist strategy: the Colombia Plan, the Free Trade Agreement for the Americas (ALCA), the removal of Aristide in Haiti, and the attempted overthrow of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. The US State Department’s May 6 report proposing tightened sanctions against Cuba—restricting remittances, curbing travel, boosting anti-Castro propaganda—is cited as evidence of the offensive. The polemic is directed squarely at US imperialism, the Bush administration, and the “Cuban Mafia in Miami,” described as “mafiosi, thieves, drug dealers, cutthroats and pimps” who fund the Republican Party. The chapter also polemicises against illusions in a Democratic victory, noting that John Kerry’s declarations on Venezuela were “even more rabidly reactionary” than Bush’s. The only effective response, it concludes, is the mobilisation of the world labour movement against imperialism and capitalism.