A useful book for Cuba solidarity activists
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“The Economic War Against Cuba,” by Salim Lamrani. (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2013). Paperback.
The U.S. embargo of Cuba is over 55 years old. “Em bargo” in this case is a political euphemism used by the U.S. government to obscure the full extent of what it is doing. The Cubans use the more precise word block ade (bloqueo), but to speak plainly, this has been an economic war against Cuba and her people, waged by a powerful aggressor against a small, socialist country in the “backyard” of the United States.
French political scientist and journalist Salim Lam rani has written a concise summary of this U.S. war against Cuba. The heart of the book is a survey of the economic sanctions against Cuba from Eisenhower to Obama, followed by chapters on the consequences for Cuba. To date, the economic war has cost Cuba over $750 billion and hurt all aspects of Cuban life and eco nomic development. Other short and useful chapters of the book demonstrate how the U.S. economic war violates international law and United Nations General Assembly resolutions.
The book has a fine, albeit brief, introduction by Wayne S. Smith, the former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba and one of the leading Cuba experts in the United States, and a foreword by Paul Estrade, a French academic and noted expert on Hispanic-Carib bean history. In addition to the text by Lamrani, there is an appendix listing the UN General Assembly votes, an appendix containing declarations from various countries from the 2011 UN vote, and a bibliography.
Perhaps the weakest part of the book is the first chapter, an abbreviated (only six pages) history of the Cuban Revolution. This history is meant to set the stage for the rest of the book but is too brief to accom plish its purpose. Activists likely to read this book will know enough of the history of the Cuban Revolution that they will recognize the author’s factual errors and be able to provide their own context for the remaining chapters.
An additional, somewhat annoying, flaw is that the book was not carefully copy-edited, and some dates and words are incorrect.
In spite of these flaws, Cuban solidarity activists will find this short book a useful tool. It provides a good summary of the U.S. economic war against Cuba and a good introduction to the international laws that the U.S. has violated as it carries out its 55-year-long eco nomic war. n SOCIALIST ACTION MARCH 2017...5