Being an officially mature guy in terms of years, but not in character as they tell me, I have lost faith, as an old man at last, in youth, in the generations that succeed the one to which I belong. It’s not like my generation has been anything to brag about either.
If you don’t want to read me, see me, but it’s worse. → Watch the video here
However, suddenly I meet young people like Melissa Ford Maldonado and life returns to my body a little. Hope returns to me.
Melissa is director for the Western Hemisphere of the America First Policy Institute and yesterday she came down with a report with recommendations on Cuba for President Trump’s administration.
Damn, if they listened to what Melissa recommends, the cause of Cuban freedom would take an exponential leap forward.
I share with you an excerpt of what Melissa recommended, I have taken it from Noticias Martí, whose importance Melissa recognizes in this report:
These are the 12 policy recommendations proposed by the report:
- Reestablish a permanent US military presence in the CaribbeanPermanently assign naval, Coast Guard, intelligence, air, cyber and special operations forces to SOUTHCOM, expanding access agreements and cooperative security locations, without the need for large new bases.
- Expand terrorism designations against the Cuban regimeReview whether the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), GAESA and other regime organizations meet the criteria to be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).
- Expose and expel US adversaries from CubaDemand the closure of Chinese intelligence facilities, the end of Russian and Iranian military cooperation, and dismantle all hostile presence on the island as a non-negotiable condition.
- Stop Cuba’s cooperation with US adversariesDemand the immediate withdrawal of Cuban military, intelligence and security personnel from Venezuela, Nicaragua and any other country where they support authoritarian regimes.
- Strengthen US counterintelligence against CubaRaise the priority of Cuban intelligence activities within the US, expand resources and improve coordination between the FBI, DHS and the intelligence community.
- Break the control of the Communist Party over CubaDemand the dismantling of GAESA and the transparent privatization of its assets, along with the elimination of the PCC’s monopoly over the economy, the courts, the military and the media.
- Increase economic pressureExpand sanctions against GAESA, PCC officials and companies of the regime, and impose secondary sanctions on banks, companies and foreign governments that continue to finance Havana.
- Demand free elections and genuine democratic reformsCondition any normalization on free, internationally supervised elections, legalization of opposition parties, release of political prisoners, and a new democratic Constitution.
- Demand accountability for past abusesForce the return of American fugitives, release all political prisoners, close political detention centers, open regime archives, and dissolve the CDR.
- Break the regime’s information monopoly and modernize the US information offensiveUpdate Radio/TV Martí towards a digital strategy, which includes social networks, podcasts, anti-censorship tools, and support independent civil society.
- Demand that Cuba join the security framework led by the US in the hemisphereMake normalization conditional on Cuba ending its support for drug trafficking and regional subversion, and joining initiatives such as the America’s Counter Cartel Coalition.
- Keep all legitimate tools of American power on the tableKeep all legal options open, including diplomacy, sanctions, intelligence, cyber and military as a last resort, to defend US interests and not allow Cuba to cooperate with adversaries.
