An Old Method

An Old Method / Fernando Damaso
Posted on February 20, 2014

In relation to the ongoing tense situation in Venezuela, the Cuban
government and its Government Organisations unceasingly make
declarations of support and solidarity with the government and the
people of that country, bundling them up together, as if those who are
protesting and joining in demonstrations are not a part of that people.
It is worth remembering that in the last elections, 5,300,000 voters
endorsed the official candidate and 5,000,000 the opposition candidate.

What's more, our official communication media only show one side of the
coin; the Chavista*. The opposition demonstrations, as numerous as the
government ones, are hidden. This distorts the reality of a country in
crisis, and creates confusion.

It's an old method which the Cuban authorities don't stop repeating: in
the old Czechoslovakia, they supported the Soviet invaders and the
Treaty of Warsaw, in Poland, the Communist coup d'etat, in the old USSR
those who opposed Gorbachev, in Iraq against Saddam, in Libya against
Gaddafi and now in Syria against Assad and the pro-Soviet government in
the Ukraine.

The opposition, without any kind of distinction, are referred to as
mercenaries, employees of the Western powers, antisocials, delinquents,
etc. It's a cracked record, which we always hear in Cuba. For many years
the Cuban government has only known how to ally itself with similar
governments and to support the worst causes: the reactionary and
anti-democratic.

Now, with Venezuela, you have to be able to read between the lines and
find the censored pictures, in order that what might happen does not
catch us by surprise, as happened when the notorious Berlin Wall fell
and pulled European socialism down with it.

An old song goes: God creates them and the devil brings them together.
Sometimes it isn't necessary for the devil to unite them: they do it all
by themselves.

*Translator's note: Chavista refers to supporters of the late Hugo
Chavez and his party, which remains in power.

Translated by GH

18 February 2014

Source: An Old Method / Fernando Damaso | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/an-old-method-fernando-damaso/