Raúl Castro is certainly not a criminal, regardless of how desperately the Trump administration attempts to portray him as one. He is a revolutionary who dedicated his life to the struggle against dictatorship, foreign domination and capitalist exploitation in Cuba. The renewed threats surrounding a possible U.S. arrest warrant against him are nothing more than another act of imperial arrogance by a state that has spent more than sixty years trying to suffocate the Cuban Revolution through blockade, sabotage, economic warfare and permanent political aggression.
The United States also has a long history of protecting and legitimizing violent anti-Castro extremists operating out of Miami — individuals and networks tied to sabotage, bombings and decades of terrorist aggression against Cuba. That same political establishment now attempts to lecture the world about “justice” and “democracy.”
Raúl Castro belongs to the historic generation that overthrew the Batista dictatorship — a regime of repression, corruption and total subordination to U.S. economic interests. Together with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and thousands of Cuban revolutionaries, that generation transformed Cuba from a playground of American corporations and mafia interests into an independent country that guaranteed healthcare, education, literacy and dignity to millions of ordinary people.
This is the real reason Cuba has been targeted for decades. As Fidel Castro once famously said, “They can never forgive us for having made a socialist revolution under the very nose of the United States.”
For more than sixty years, the United States has attempted to break the Cuban Revolution by every possible means. Economic strangulation, diplomatic isolation, assassination plots, destabilization campaigns and endless sanctions were all meant to force Cuba back into dependency and submission. Yet Cuba endured. Despite enormous difficulties, socialist Cuba achieved social gains that remain out of reach for large sections of the population even inside the wealthiest capitalist countries.
Donald Trump and the increasingly reactionary forces surrounding him represent the most aggressive face of contemporary American imperialism. Their obsession with Cuba has nothing to do with “human rights.” Cuba remains a target because it represents a historic act of defiance — a small country that resisted the power of the United States and survived. That reality continues to infuriate the imperial establishment in Washington.
The campaign against Raúl Castro is therefore not simply directed against one individual. It is an attack against the entire historical legitimacy of the Cuban Revolution. It seeks to criminalize anti-imperialist struggle itself while erasing the long record of violence, intervention and domination carried out by the United States across Latin America and the wider world.
But there is a historical memory that imperialism cannot erase so easily.
Millions of people across the world still view the Cuban Revolution as a symbol of sovereignty, resistance and international solidarity. Whatever debates may exist around Cuba’s path, one fact remains undeniable: the Revolution broke the chains of foreign domination and proved that even a small nation could stand against imperial power without surrendering.
No matter what happens, Raúl Castro will remain part of that glorious history. On the other hand, the architects of sanctions, aggression and imperial domination will remain part of the long historical record of imperialism, oppression and violence.
* Nikos Mottas is the Editor-in-Chief of In Defense of Communism.