The Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack: A View From an Independent Journalist in Cuba--"Los grillos contra el imperialismo: El régimen castrista resta importancia a recientes acusaciones de EEUU" [The crickets against imperialism: The Castro regime downplays recent US accusations]

The Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack continues to play out like a slow motion tragedy between the elites of two states who appear incapable of helping themselves but must, instead, bear witness to their character--States playing Atigone and Creon one more time.  

One aspect that tends to be under reported is the reaction of the Cuban people and its independent press to the the Affair of the Sonic AWeapons Attack and its consequences.  Recently René Gómez Manzano, a prominent member of the Cuban independent press penned an essay about the Affair: Los grillos contra el imperialismo: El régimen castrista resta importancia a recientes acusaciones de EEUU [The crickets against imperialism: The Castro regime downplays recent US accusations], which first appeared October 31, 2017 in Cubanet.  It responded to recent actions by Cuban state officials rejecting claims of attack and injury (see The Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack: Cuba Goes on the Offensive Against the Science and the Evidence).

 It suggests frustration at an administration that overplayed its hand in the waning days of the Obama administration only to face a very different regime in its successor.  It suggests the focus of the Cuban positions--not so much to win the hearts and minds of Cubans, but rather to provide a basis for the mobilization within the asocial sphere of its allies in the United States. And most interesting points to an implied threat by the Cuban leadership to the diplomatic freeze that the Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack has produced--the possibility of a destabilizing mass migration from out of Cuba to the U.S. But that is suicide for a state which requires its able bodied population if it is to crawl put of the economic paralysis--even with the aid of a moderately successful Mariel Special Economic Zone. In any case, it is clear that Cuba is feeling the pinch. Its is also clear that the management of public opinion on both sides of the Florida Straits are becoming more difficult. That does not mean that the Cuban leadership will respond as expected.  Neither can one expect the conventional form the Trump Administration. Indeed, the essay suggests the possibility that the leadership will move in unexpected directions.  To that end, it might be useful to see which states the Cuban leadership cultivates in the next several months. It is as useful to watch the positions of influential Cubans in the United States.  

The essay appears below (original Spanish along with my English translation).

Los grillos contra el imperialismo:El régimen castrista resta importancia a recientes acusaciones de EEUU

Martes, octubre 31, 2017 | René Gómez Manzano

LA HABANA, Cuba.- El pasado jueves 26, a las ocho y media de la noche, justo entre el noticiero vespertino y la gustada novela brasileña, la Televisión Cubana lanzó al aire un desmentido de las acusaciones estadounidenses sobre los “ataques acústicos” realizados contra diplomáticos de su país —y también de Canadá— en La Habana. Esto fue ratificado en el Granma del viernes 27. El formato escogido fue un nuevo capítulo de la serie “Las razones de Cuba”.

Este lunes, el tema fue abordado de nuevo en el programa “Mesa Redonda”, que no añadió nada esencialmente nuevo al tema, aunque sí aportó una frase truculenta, pero que no carece de originalidad, al bautizar el nuevo enredo como “Maine sónico”.

Lo primero que cabe destacar en estas nuevas entregas es que la supuesta refutación ha tenido un carácter meramente oficioso. Por esta vez nos hemos librado de tener que leer o escuchar la cansona lectura de uno de esas “declaraciones del Ministerio de Relaciones de Exteriores”, que parecen ladrillos lanzados contra los cubanos.

Como resulta habitual en casos como ése, las rotundas afirmaciones de los locutores o de oficiales de completo uniforme son respaldadas por científicos y especialistas que afirman haber estudiado con detenimiento el asunto. En esta ocasión, esos sabios han llegado a la conclusión de que el ataque acústico habría tenido un carácter similar al de los ruidos que suelen emitir… ¡grillos y cigarras!

Según el Granma, el “profundo estudio” realizado permitió establecer “la similitud entre las muestras sonoras entregadas” por los norteamericanos “y el sonido de estos insectos”. “Este resultado fue presentado a la contraparte estadounidense como la causa plausible de algunos incidentes sonoros reportados”.

El mismo periódico comunista afirma que los ataques acústicos, cuya mención acompaña con calificativos como “presuntos” y “alegados”, han sido objeto de “manipulación política” por parte de Estados Unidos. Un excelente ejemplo de un burro hablando de orejas.

No creo que este nuevo esfuerzo del oficialismo haya tenido, como objetivo primordial, a los cubanos de a pie. Los especialistas del Departamento Ideológico del partido único saben muy bien que los bodrios que ellos cocinan no convencen a la generalidad de nuestros compatriotas. Lo demuestran cada vez que, para que sus afirmaciones tengan cierta aceptación, transmiten fragmentos de noticieros extranjeros, en la voz de los locutores originales.

Es ante todo en otras latitudes donde incondicionales y “compañeros de viaje” recepcionan los guisos confeccionados en La Habana, y los sirven a sus propios públicos. Esto es válido, de manera especial, en los mismos Estados Unidos, donde una serie de comunicadores “liberales” (en realidad, ideólogos anti-sistema con inmensas añoranzas socialistas) se hacen eco de todo lo proveniente de sus “hermanos de ideales”.

Pese a ello, la nueva entrega de “Las razones de Cuba” y la “Mesa Redonda” han servido para convencer a nuestros atribulados compatriotas de una cosa: la nueva calamidad que les ha caído encima está ahí para quedarse. Porque no admite dudas que las consecuencias de este nuevo diferendo constituyen una desgracia adicional, que se suma a las otras que ha provocado la política inmovilista de los ocupantes del Palacio de la Revolución.

Éstos, en lugar de aceptar la mano que mantuvo tendida durante meses el presidente Obama, optaron por hacerle asquitos y remilgos de todo tipo. Al surgir el nuevo diferendo, su canciller le pidió una entrevista urgente al ocupadísimo Secretario de Estado… para decirle lo mismo que habían declarado durante semanas. Lo que el señor Tillerson debe haber valorado como un desperdicio de su valioso tiempo se saldó, en apenas unas horas, con la expulsión de una quincena de diplomáticos cubanos de Washington.

Esta última situación, sumada a la retirada de buena parte del personal estadounidense de la Embajada en La Habana, ha conducido a una gran ralentización en el otorgamiento de visas a los ciudadanos de uno y otro país (y también a cubanos, pues, aunque parezca increíble, los castristas exigen a nuestros compatriotas radicados en el extranjero que obtengan un permiso o “habilitación” otorgado por ellos mismos para poder visitar el suelo en que nacieron).

Esta virtual paralización de los permisos de viaje representa un sólido golpe propinado a los castristas. De ella, la propaganda de La Habana culpa a “la Mafia anticubana de Miami”. El Granma, más específico, cita al senador Marco Rubio. Son, pues, nuestros compatriotas de ideas democráticas radicados en el exilio los que pueden acreditarse esta fuerte estocada asestada al régimen.

Porque lo que no puede negarse es que, pese a toda la retórica antiamericana de los agitadores comunistas, los viajes de quienes residen en Cuba a la tierra del “enemigo”, y viceversa, constituyen el mejor de los alicientes incluso para aquellos que están comprometidos política e ideológicamente con el castrismo.

El Granma desliza una velada amenaza. Según el órgano oficial del partido único, “esta situación… pone en riesgo la preservación de la seguridad nacional de ambos países, pues se afectarían los acuerdos en materia migratoria”, entre otros. ¿Estarán insinuando la posibilidad de un nuevo éxodo masivo?

No creo que estén locos en el Palacio de la Revolución. Y tendrían que estarlo para pensar que, a estas alturas, con un presidente republicano con las características de Donald Trump en la Casa Blanca, podrían iniciar una nueva aventura de ese tipo sin sufrir consecuencias harto desagradables para ellos mismos.

__________

The crickets against imperialism: The Castro regime downplays recent US accusations

Rene Gómez Manzano

[Larry Catá Backer trans.]

HAVANA, Cuba.- Last Thursday the 26th, at half past eight in the evening, between the evening news and a popular Brazilian telenovela, Televisión Cubana inserted an announcement denying US accusations about the "acoustic attacks" made against their diplomats – as well as those from Canada - in Havana. This was confirmed in a publication in Granma on Friday 27. The selected approach is a new chapter of the series "The reasons for Cuba".

This Monday, the theme was addressed again in the program "Mesa Redonda [Round Table]", which did not add anything essentially new to the subject, although it did provide a truculent phrase, but one lacking originality, by christening the new entanglement as a "sonic Maine" [recalling the incident that precipitated U.S. intervention in the Cuban Way of Independence in 1898].

The first thing that stands out in these new approaches is that the supposed refutation has had a merely officious character. This time we have been spared having to read or listen to the tiresome lecture of one of those "statements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," which look like bricks thrown at Cubans.

As is usual in cases like this, the circular affirmations offered up by commentators or officials are supported by scientists and specialists who claim to have carefully studied the matter. On this occasion, those wise men have come to the conclusion that the acoustic attack would have had a character similar to that of the noises that are usually emitted by... crickets and cicadas!

According to Granma, the completed "deep study" established "the similarity between the sound samples given" by the Americans "and the sound of these insects". "This result was presented to Cuba’s US counterparts as the plausible cause of some of the reported sound incidents."

That same communist newspaper claims that acoustic attacks, the mention of which is accompanied with qualifiers such as "alleged" and "alleged," have been subject to "political manipulation" by the United States. An excellent example of the pot calling the kettle black [“un burro hablando de orejas” [literally a donkey talking about ears; a person criticizing others for a fault that he also shares].

I do not believe that this new effort of officialdom has had, as its primary objective, to convince ordinary Cubans. The specialists of the Ideological Department of the single party know very well that the rubbish they cook does not convince the generality of our compatriots. They prove it every time that, in order for their statements to have some acceptance, they transmit fragments of foreign news, in the voice of the original speakers.

It is above all in other latitudes [the U.S. and elsewhere] where unconditional devotees and "fellow travelers" receive the stews made in Havana, and then serve them to their own communities. This is valid, in a special way, especially in the United States itself, where a group of "liberal" communicators (in reality, anti-system ideologues with huge socialist yearnings) echo everything coming from their "brothers-in-ideals".

Despite this, the new installment of "Razones de Cuba" and "Mesa Redonda" have served to convince our troubled compatriots of one thing: the new calamity that has fallen on them is here to stay. Because there is no doubt that the consequences of this new dispute constitute an additional misfortune, in addition to the others that the immovable policy of the occupants of the Palace of the Revolution has provoked.

These officials, instead of accepting the hand that President Obama held out for months, treated that outreach with disgust and fussiness of all types. When the new dispute arose, his chancellor requested an urgent interview with the very busy Secretary of State ... to tell him what they had declared for weeks. This Mr. Tillerson must have considered as a waste of his valuable time was followed, in just a few hours, by the expulsion of fifteen Cuban diplomats from Washington.

This last situation, together with the withdrawal of a large number of US personnel from the Embassy in Havana, has led to a great slowdown in the granting of visas to citizens of both countries (and also to Cubans, since, although it may seem incredible, the Castroites demand our compatriots living abroad to obtain a permit or "habilitation" granted by themselves to visit the land where they were born).

This virtual paralysis of travel permits represents a solid blow to the Castroites. For this state of affairs, the propaganda from Havana blames "the anti-Cuban Mafia of Miami". Granma, more specifically, quotes Senator Marco Rubio. It is , then, our compatriots with democratic ideas who are rooted in exile who are to receive credit for this strong thrust to the regime.

Thus, what cannot be denied is that, despite all the anti-American rhetoric of the communist agitators, the trips of those who reside in Cuba to the land of the "enemy", and vice versa, constitute the best of incentives even for those who are committed politically and ideologically with Castroism.

Granma then slips in a veiled threat. According to the official organ of the single party, "this situation ... puts at risk the preservation of the national security of both countries, because it would affect the agreements on immigration matters", among others. Are they implying the possibility of a new mass exodus?

I do not think they're crazy in the Palace of the Revolution. And they would have to be to think that, at this point, with a Republican president with the characteristics of Donald Trump in the White House, they could start a new adventure of that kind without suffering unpleasant consequences for themselves.