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In response to the criticisms of President Donald Trump regarding his announcement about a potential action on Cuba, a Cuban activist questioned this Saturday where international law was when the Cuban regime exported its revolution by force for decades?
The video, published on X under the name VozDeVerdad, directly responds to those who anticipate that the international left will invoke international law to oppose any intervention in Cuba.
Trump stated this morning at a private dinner of the Forum Club in West Palm Beach that the United States will "take Cuba almost immediately" after concluding its operations in Iran, and that it would send the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier 100 meters off the Cuban coast to provoke the regime's surrender.
"Where was international law when the Cuban communism itself began to export revolution in America, in Africa, in the 60s, starting wars?" asks the activist in the video.
The question is not rhetorical: since 1959, Cuba has provided military support to guerrillas in Latin America and Africa, training fighters and financing armed movements. The First Tricontinental Solidarity Conference, held in Havana in January 1966, institutionalized this policy with 500 delegates from 82 countries.
The argument spans decades of documented violations. Che Guevara, as the head of La Cabaña from January to July 1959, oversaw between 79 and 180 executions in summary trials.
He himself acknowledged it before the UN on December 11, 1964: "Executions, yes, we have executed, we execute, and we will continue to execute as long as necessary." Between 1965 and 1968, the Military Units for Production Aid (UMAP) confined about 30,000 people—religious individuals, dissidents, intellectuals—under conditions of forced labor in Cuba.
“Where is the right of those who were beaten on July 11, 2021? Where is the right of the more than a thousand political prisoners in Cuba? Where is the right of Jonathan, a Cuban teenager?” continues the activist.
The 11J protests resulted in over 1,500 detainees and sentences of up to 14 years. As of April 18, the organization Justicia 11J documented 775 political prisoners in Cuba, 338 of whom are linked to those protests.
The case of Jonathan David Muir Burgos, 16 years old, encapsulates the current repression. He was detained on March 16 after participating in protests in Morón over blackouts lasting over 26 hours and was transferred without notice to the maximum-security prison Canaleta.
The father of Jonathan reported his desperation following a call at 1:45 AM on April 23, during which the minor pleaded, "Dad, please, get me out of here, I can't take it anymore." The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures on April 24, which Cuba ignored.
This context arises one day after the Trump administration signed new executive sanctions against Cuba, which include blocking assets of foreigners who support the regime, restrictions on foreign banks, and embargoes on energy, mining, and defense.
The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez described them as "illegal and abusive collective punishment," while the Communist Party declared that "there will be no surrender."
The United States Senate rejected last Wednesday, by a vote of 51 to 47, a Democratic resolution to limit Trump's actions regarding Cuba.
The activist concludes with a direct warning to those who oppose any action: "If you want to think differently about a military intervention or a humanitarian intervention in Cuba, you can. But don't use international law as an excuse, because the Cuban people have the right to live in freedom."
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