Cuba's Invasion Fears

Letter to the Editor:

Oakland Ross implies that Cubans who fear an invasion by the United States are out of touch with reality (Cuba haunted By Old Fears of U.S. Attack -- Oct. 8). It could be argued that Cubans are all too aware of the reality of U.S. intervention.

The United States used military force against Cuba in 1906, 1912, 1917 and 1933. The unsuccessful 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion was organized in, and launched from the United States, with active U.S. government support and involvement.

The U.S. administration continues to display pathological hatred toward the Castro government, which it has been continuously working to overthrow since 1959, with tactics which range from a 32-year total economic embargo (still in effect), through crop poisonings, to attempted assassinations. U.S. military forces are permanently stationed on Cuban soil, at the Guantanamo base, which a former Cuban government was forced to cede to the United States. U.S. planes routinely violate Cuban air space.

U.S. military interventions in the past decade include the launching of all-out war against Iraq to destroy a
government that had defied the U.S., the invasion of Panama to overthrow that country's ruler, the invasion of Grenada to get rid of a regime that was distasteful to the U.S., and the bloody eight-year contra war against Nicaragua's Sandinista government.

Given this record, anyone who thinks that further U.S. military actions are out of the questions would do well to re-examine their own grip on reality.

Ulli Diemer

Ulli Diemer
.