https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/rats-we-ignore

The real ‘humanitarian threat’ isn’t Cuba but the United States, where poverty, lack of healthcare and illiteracy abound, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

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President Trump has labeled Cuba a “humanitarian threat.” Perhaps he should look that word up in his untouched dictionary.

US hypocrisy was on full view again on May 20 when the Department of Justice issued an arrest warrant for former Cuban president Raul Castro for ostensibly ordering the shooting down in 1996 of two aircraft flown by a group calling itself “Brothers to the Rescue,” resulting in four American deaths.

Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban exile group out of Miami, Florida, had already conducted multiple flights into Cuban airspace, dropping propaganda leaflets. It had been warned more than 25 times by the Cuban government to cease and desist. Even the US Federal Aviation Administration had urged the group not to “taunt” the Cuban government.

By contrast, the Trump administration has been blithely blowing small civilian craft out of the waters off Venezuela, with scant evidence that they are drug-running and with clearly no threat to US national security. Since last September, almost 200 people have been killed in these incidents, many of them likely fishermen or other civilians, according to human rights groups.

But despite the clear illegality of these actions — and so many others, equally eligible for prosecution — no-one has yet issued a warrant for Trump’s arrest. There may be some rats in Cuba. But the ones we should be worrying about are inside the White House.

Linda Pentz Gunter is a writer based in Takoma Park, Maryland and the author of No To Nuclear. Why Nuclear Power Destroys Lives, Derails Climate Progress and Provokes War, published by Pluto Press.

This is only a short excerpt of the article, The full article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/rats-we-ignore is recommended.