Versión Español
Spanish – There are many voices in favor of cutting ties with Cuba. The same ones also applaud, and rightly so, breaking relations with the Maduro dictatorship that has leftover five million migrants. From the economic perspective, Cuba and Venezuela are clear but dreadful examples of where Marxist ideas eventually lead us. However, we seem to have forgotten that the real interest of those who impose and promote these ideas is to end individual freedom, thereby destroying civil society. Politicians on all sides are taking advantage of this situation. We can see that the ghost of the alliance of the Castro, Chávez, and Maduro has not served to make the citizens of other countries aware of what freedom and democracy offer. On the contrary, they continue to hope that the rulers will be the ones to solve the problems based on false promises.
China and Russia have provided financial and military support for communist dictatorships in Latin America. China, for example, is a faithful supporter of organizations such as the Sao Paulo Forum and openly promotes socialism in its institutions. In the Asian country, the press is strictly censored, there is no room for opinions contrary to the regime, the state controls the internet, and writers and journalists are persecuted, imprisoned, or missing. Furthermore, there are constant violations of human rights, as is currently the case with the management of the coronavirus crisis in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, where hospital doctors work tirelessly, as they are threatened with being treated as traitors if they don’t.
The soft diplomacy that the Chinese Communist Party has practiced for years has borne enviable fruit. It is the strongest dictatorship in the world, taking a stand on free democracies and societies. Politicians and entrepreneurs from all latitudes do not see any possibility of judging the terrible actions of the Chinese regime against its own citizens or those of other countries. The United States, Japan, France, and the United Kingdom have requested that Taiwan be included in the next assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO). Although Taiwan has three confirmed cases of coronavirus patients, China has asserted its dominance, and Taiwanese representatives have been denied participation since 2016. Taiwan has a history of managing previous outbreaks in the region, from SARS to swine flu. In 2003, China was widely criticized for its poor management of the SARS outbreak, which claimed nearly 800 lives. It was only after two SARS-related deaths that the WHO agreed to send specialists to Taiwan.
The above shows that the activism of the rulers and politicians towards Cuba and Venezuela is not a matter of values, political ideas, and much less of the defense of freedom, but it is merely an economic issue. If Cuba or Venezuela were economic powers, we would see rulers like Duque and Piñera asking Maduro or the Castros to build roads, bid on metro constructions, and widely expand markets with these countries, regardless of whether or not the citizens are free.
China’s handling of the coronavirus crisis should be enough for the international community to put restrictions on the Communist dictatorship. The processing of information, the treatment of doctors and patients, and the veto of Taiwan before the WHO should be questioned by the rulers of nations that promote democracy and freedom. Likewise, those who advocate suspending relations with Cuba and Venezuela should begin by removing the dictatorship from China, the dictatorship behind the Castro and Maduro. We should remember that Cuba was the first country to recognize the People’s Republic of China one year after the triumph of the revolution in 1960.
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