Several days ago the UN General Assembly once again voted on a resolution to end the U.S. sanctions against Cuba. These sanctions are an example of the longest embargo in human history. In all, according to Cuban ambassador Gerardo Suarez Alvarez, the UN General Assembly has already passed 21 resolutions condemning the U.S. embargo against Cuba. In autumn 2013, 188 countries voted for an end to the sanctions; only the U.S. and Israel voted against it. «This shows who is really in isolation,» emphasized the Cuban ambassador. Indeed, the proportion of countries voting «for» and «against» an end to the embargo over the past 20 years is extremely eloquent:

The economic embargo has been going on for over half a century, ever since Cuba went from being America's sugar bowl and brothel to being the Island of Freedom. The economic damage inflicted since the start of the U.S. embargo in 1961, according to an official statement from Cuba, is 1.126 trillion dollars! The Obama administration announced its intention to ease its policy with regard to Havana as soon as it came to power in January 2009. However, as the head of the Cuban Foreign Ministry Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla has stated, during Obama's presidency the embargo against the island has on the contrary been tightened and now applies even to medications and equipment being shipped for the oncological center at Havana's William Soler Children's Hospital. And this is not just following the beaten path; here it is a matter of a kind of gratitude on Washington's part toward those who in Cuba are called gusanos (worms).

For the most part, these are mafia bosses who were forced off the island into Florida and who control tens of billions of dollars received from the drug trade and invested mostly in the casino, restaurant and hotel business in the southern and southeastern U.S. The Cuban gusanos in the United States are a powerful force and play their political game with an eye toward the future. They are closely tied with émigré terrorist groups created by U.S. intelligence agencies to fight against socialist Cuba. On the political foreground of the United States they are represented by the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), which has close ties with extremist groups in Latin America, as well as with terrorists in the Middle East. People from CANF play anything but a small role in the political life of the U.S. The gusanos are mixed up in practically all the dirty work and major scandals related to the White House and American intelligence. Suffice it to mention Watergate, a number of pro-fascist coups in Latin America, and the assassination of Chilean foreign minister O. Letelier (during which a U.S. citizen was killed as well).

The upper ranks of the «worms» have ties with the U.S. political elite. These ties can be traced back at least to the time of Irangate, when it came out that the Reagan administration, with the help of the CIA and drug barons, had been secretly selling arms to Iran and financing the Nicaraguan Contras with the proceeds, in direct violation of a ban from the U.S. Congress. Among the key figures in the scandal on the American side were the then-head of the CIA and U.S. President George H.W. Bush, as well as a number of politicians who later were among the entourages of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama; on the side of the gusanos was the most infamous terrorist of the Western Hemisphere, Luis Posada Carriles. 

The ties between the gusanos and the American establishment got even closer in the 2000s, after CANF, making use of the votes of Cuban immigrants, began ensuring the victory of the «right» U.S. presidential candidates in Florida through very specific methods. As a return «favor», Washington gives the «worms» all possible assistance in their undeclared terrorist and economic war against the Island of Freedom. Researchers M. Hevia and J. Mendez assert that the people of the U.S. «are also victims of anti-Cuban terrorist attacks», as since 1967 «over 260 such attacks have been made on U.S. territory, of which 166 were made directly against institutions and citizens of that country».

The Cuban authorities have approached the American government many times to suggest that they join forces to fight the terrorists based on U.S. territory. There have been a number of meetings with U.S. representatives on Havana's initiative, and the parties have exchanged numerous opinions and letters on the highest level regarding this issue. In June 1998 a U.S. government delegation, including high-ranking FBI officials, even visited Havana. During the meeting with their Cuban colleagues, they were given materials on the activities of terrorist groups in Florida. The Americans stated their desire to continue working together, but soon, instead of collaboration, those who were prepared to assist the American government ended up behind bars. On September 12, 1998 five Cuban citizens (Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, Ramon Labanino Salazar, Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, Fernando Gonzalez Llort and Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert) were arrested in the U.S.; they were accused of espionage and given sentences which were not only unprecedentedly harsh, but an outright mockery: two life sentences plus 15 years, a life sentence plus 18 years, a life sentence plus 10 years, 19 years and 15 years. 

In fact, these men's guilt lies in the fact that they infiltrated anti-Cuban groups operating on U.S. territory. In recent years these groups had carried out dozens of terrorist attacks, as a result of which hundreds of civilians had been killed. The convicted men were not engaged in gathering intelligence against the U.S. On the contrary, they were handing information on terrorist attacks being prepared against Cuba on U.S. territory over to the government. It is typical that during the trial of the Cuban Five there were many violations of existing legal procedures. In particular, the attorneys did not have access to all prosecution documents, the defense's request to review the evidence (including official documents) was denied, and witnesses and judges were pressured by the prosecution and the heads of anti-Cuban groups. During the trial not only human rights were violated, but U.S. law as well, and so blatantly that even the American judges who reviewed the case publicly stated their unanimous decision to overturn the sentences of the Cuban Five and conduct a new trial. In spite of this, the Cuban Five are still in American prisons, and those they were fighting against continue to carry out terrorist attacks and crimes, including against the Americans themselves.

The U.S. government is prepared to fight international terrorism and the drug mafia anywhere in the world but at home, where people who have confessed to carrying out terrorist attacks against Cuba are living openly in Florida. The Island of Freedom continues to suffer from terrorism from U.S. territory…