China’s advance in Latin America, the “backyard,” is unstoppable. The structuring of the Silk Road, the “quantum route,” has already gotten out of hand for the United States. The new Chancay port in Peru is part of that, it will be a central axis of world trade and for America, under Chinese control. As Raúl Velasco said: “There is still more!”
Xi Jinping has landed in Lima for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) Leaders’ Summit. It is a calm and firm landing, without threats of violence or military presence, only with collaboration and investment, an irrefutable collaboration. What the United States asked the Peruvian government was to bring soldiers “to protect the Summit,” which Joe Biden is also attending.
The difference between China and the United States’ international influence and politics is becoming increasingly evident: cooperation, technological, industrial and commercial progress, versus the worn-out carrot-and-stick policy.
The future Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has declared that “under the leadership of President Trump, we will achieve peace through strength and we will always put the interests of Americans and the United States above everything else.” A “happy” statement, I meant trigger-happy.
But that is an impossible policy today, although MAGA assumes it that way: the military alliance of the East simply cannot be chewed in any way. With the weak and small, the story may be different.
It is part of the decline of the global hegemony of States, today without so much strength or industrial leadership and with a certain technological delay in the age of AI ― they do not even have a bullet train on their territory. With the great military force the United States has, it can do little against the unchewable eastern alliance.
The still great power of the dollar in the international financial system is also in decline, although in the medium and long term. Added to this is an immense debt and an aging population. In short, the new Donald Trump government does not have it easy. I recommend reading an interesting article by Alexandr Mondragón and Wilder Buleje: “Del Patio Trasero al Puerto Trasero de la Isla-Mundo Euroasiática.”
Meanwhile, Cuba is “a board on a violent sea,” very close to its adversary and very far from its allies. We are entering a dangerous time.
Of course, Cuba is not a priority for the United States government, but that does not mean that they will not do anything. I believe that the new government will try to make life even more difficult for the nation to intensify the crises, the economic suffocation; to hinder relations with the Cuban-American community, and to promote internal protests.
During Biden’s term, European tourism was affected. They may also affect the arrival of Canadians and intensify the financial persecution and the supply of oil, etc. Considering the situation Cuba is currently in, these are not just details.
What are those who have the power to decide going to do in this country? Those of us who only have the power to analyze and propose have already done so and we do so humbly and with commitment, but with little success.
Yesterday (Friday 15th) I watched the Mesa Redonda TV program on Havana. It served to recognize the great effort, which is more than deserved, that many workers have made to recover from Hurricane Rafael, which recently hit the city.
However, at times I did not know which city they were talking about, because it was not about this one.
I heard a triumphalism speech inappropriate in the current circumstances. We are arriving at the 505th anniversary of Havana, with the city in a lamentable state.
The garbage in the streets is scandalous and cannot be solved with temporary campaigns; it must be a daily and modest job, like anywhere else. The potholes, the state of the buildings, the houses, the state of the Malecón seawall, the marginal neighborhoods, the problem of the lack of transportation, the state of the health centers, the banks, the electricity, the water supply, etc.
How is it possible that they do not critically take charge of almost anything? Whether the hurricane stops here and the hurricane goes there as if the city’s problems were limited to that impact, which was undoubtedly strong, as is also very strong the impact of the criminal blockade, but that in no way explains all the problems that clearly affect the capital and the entire country.
The next session of the National Assembly will be the last before Donald Trump takes office. Will it be as insipid as the others, without critical capacity and much less with proactive capacity?
These are tough and decisive times for this nation. Is that understood? Time is passing.
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*This text was originally published on the Facebook profile of its author. It is reproduced with his express consent.
Author
OnCuba Staff
