Washington’s operation in Venezuela at the start of the year is largely seen to have paved the way for a similar undertaking on the Caribbean island.
asserted
operation → see → island
Recent media reports have revealed US military activity nearby while US officials have repeatedly said they want “Cuba to be free”.
asserted
Cuba → reveal → activity
When and how the US may strike is still unclear.
uncertain
strike → strike → ?
But indications are that the Cuban Revolution may be nearing its end.
uncertain
Revolution → near → end
That is reason enough to pause and reflect on the outsized role this nation of 10 million has played on the world stage.
asserted
nation → pause → stage
When thinking of the Cuban presence on the global geopolitical scene, the figure of Eshu, the most powerful spirit in Cuban Santeria comes to mind.
asserted
figure → think → mind
Derived from the beliefs of the Yoruba people, Eshu is a divine messenger, the guardian of the crossroads and mediator between the past and the future.
asserted
Eshu → derive → past
In stories, Eshu is often portrayed as a mischievous elder, one whose antics are used to teach humility and morality.
asserted
antics → portray → humility
As a character, Eshu is a classic trickster, an archetype commonplace to many traditions that functions to challenge established norms, subvert power structures and reveal hidden truths.
asserted
that → function → truths
It’s hard to imagine a more apt analogy for Cuba than Eshu, the trickster, foil to US hegemony.
asserted
It → ’ → hegemony
At its best, trickster Cuba forced an open debate on what kind of world we might aspire to and held the empire to account, at times even pushing the US towards its better angels, however begrudgingly.
uncertain
we → force → angels
At its worst, it held up an uncomfortable mirror to US power.
asserted
it → hold → power
It is a potent formula, one struck upon from the very earliest days of the revolution.
asserted
It → strike → revolution
In September 1960, just a year after taking Havana, Cuban leader Fidel Castro found himself visiting New York to address the United Nations General Assembly.
asserted
himself → take → Assembly
Wary of his anti-imperialist rhetoric, a Cold War-obsessed US government put pressure on several prominent hotels to refuse service to Castro and his entourage.
asserted
government → obsess → Castro
But the Cubans were not to be deterred.
asserted
Cubans → deter → ?
Instead, they went uptown to Harlem and found a place at the Hotel Theresa.
asserted
they → go → Theresa
Photographers and TV camera people flocked there.
asserted
Photographers → flock → ?
A media sensation ensued.
asserted
sensation → ensue → ?
And Castro used the opportunity to draw comparisons between the plight of the Cuban delegation and that of Black Americans being refused service in the segregated South.
asserted
Castro → use → South
This landed like a bomb in the middle of the burgeoning civil rights movement.
asserted
This → land → movement
This was the first, but not the last time that Cuba, the trickster, would strike.
asserted
Cuba → strike → ?
In the following years, the revolutionary government developed its programme of Cuban Internationalism, which inevitably stood as a counter to US soft power efforts in the developing world through organisations like the Peace Corps and USAID.
asserted
which → develop → Corps
Cuba would send as many as 400,000 doctors, not to mention engineers, agricultural technicians and other professionals, to 164 countries across the world.
asserted
Cuba → send → world
This material solidarity garnered great affection for Cuba among many countries in the Global South, countries as disparate as Venezuela, South Africa and Vietnam, where characters like Castro and Che Guevara are as recognisable as national heroes like Simon Bolivar, Nelson Mandela and Ho Chi Minh.
asserted
characters → garner → Bolivar
In these same countries, American leaders are remembered too, often in far less flattering terms.
asserted
leaders → remember → terms
Other examples of Cuba’s trickster antics abound.
asserted
examples → abound → antics
Perhaps most notable is the Cuban armed forces’ sound military defeat of the Bay of Pigs invasion, which, while carried out by Cuban exiles, was supported and funded directly by the CIA.
asserted
which → carry → CIA
There is also the revolution’s support for the Palestinian liberation movement and the antiapartheid struggle even as the US provided diplomatic cover and military aid to Israel and the apartheid regime in South Africa.
asserted
US → be → Africa
From 1975 to 1991, more than 300,000 Cuban soldiers fought alongside forces in Angola, eventually emerging victorious in a proxy conflict with the US.
asserted
soldiers → fight → US
Operation Carlota, as it was called, would not only liberate Angola and neighbouring Namibia, but it would precipitate the downfall of South African apartheid as well.
asserted
it → call → apartheid
According to former South African President Nelson Mandela, Cuba’s intervention in Angola “destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor”.
uncertain
intervention → accord → oppressor
Castro himself has carried the spirit of Eshu.
asserted
Castro → carry → Eshu
The Cuban leader reportedly survived more than 600 assassination attempts and died of natural causes at the age of 90.
uncertain
leader → survive → 90
And there are the many ways that Cuba has defied the “third world” label so often foisted upon it by beating the US in literacy rates, infant mortality and life expectancy at various points in its revolutionary history.
asserted
Cuba → be → history
For more than 60 years, the US has imposed a severe economic embargo against the island.
asserted
US → impose → island
The embargo – the world’s longest – has been intensified at various points, specifically after the fall of the Soviet Union as Cuba reeled from a profound economic crisis.
asserted
Cuba → intensify → crisis
Despite this regime of maximum pressure from the world’s largest superpower, the revolution nevertheless persevered through the crisis of the 1990s by diversifying and liberalising the economy and by drawing upon its well-established programme of internationalism in the Global South.
asserted
revolution → persevere → South
Not only that, but it managed a nationwide sustainable agricultural revolution in the process, a feat for any nation, but perhaps unsurprising for Cuba, given its trickster nature.
asserted
it → manage → nature
But tricksters also work in unexpected, even contradictory ways.
asserted
tricksters → work → ways
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
