Transcript:
“One area that ought not to be forgotten is Cuba because there is a 35-year long economic blockade going on against Cuba.
There are those people, who are trying to intensify this and broaden it still, more so now. The CIA, without the slightest doubt, has the requirement, in every country, to report on any possible trade deals that Cuba may be interested in making, or on investments in Cuba.
Now that the country has opened up, the CIA has got to collect this information so that measures can be taken to sabotage these possible deals [which are] of interest and of benefit to Cuba. For every 10 possible deals they have for investment in Cuba, or for trade, the United States is able to squash nine.
[The Cubans] know perfectly well that every move they make, as they go around the world on trade negotiations, or in seeking investment for whatever in Cuba, they’re being followed and watched. They’re under a microscope, so that some [counter]measure can be taken. It could be via the ambassador, with the local government, it could be any way they can approach the person and put the pressure on [them not to invest].
You see how the United States is going round in these areas of economics, and of trade, and of commerce, and finance, to try to make the Cuban people suffer as much as they can. This is affecting – in a drastic way – very many young children and infants, and also the older people. In other words, the most vulnerable [Cubans].
It is an eternal shame on the United States, in my opinion, that we would do such a thing to an entire country, just because we don’t like the system, just because they won’t come under our protection. Basically it’s a kind of a mafia attitude – and it has been that way since Eisenhower [was US President].
Well that’s capitalism, but it’s also the United States and our tradition of being very nervous, when we don’t control something. When a country like Cuba slips out from under our control, after we had ruled it practically as a neo-colony, or a protectorate. for 59 years or so, then it makes people nervous. They know that if the Cubans are successful in their example of being able to provide – as a poor country – the best medical care in the Third World to the whole population, because it’s an inclusionary system, it’s not like what we have here where you have this huge bulk of the population marginalized but there
But, if everybody [in Cuba] can have adequate medical care, if the schooling is adequate for all – and remember Cuba has more doctors and more teachers per capita than any country in the world – then they have succeeded in these areas. It’s all state supported, which means people don’t have to pay money out for the medical care. Of course, they pay the cost indirectly, as a whole society. But they don’t have to pay the bill at the hospital and so forth. So that cannot be allowed to stand. It’s a very bad example for the United States and for all the Third World people in the United States. After all, we’re becoming a Third World country very fast, if we’re not there already.
So, there’s a very large mass of people out there, who can look at Cuba and say, “Well, if they can do it and on a per-capita income of $2,500 a year, when ours is $22,500 a year, what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with our system? Maybe we ought to consider an alternative?””
Full Interview below.
Former CIA officer and best selling author, the late Philip Agee, discusses his history in the CIA, and the CIA harassment of him after he quit the agency and decided to write his first book, “CIA Diary: Inside the Company.” He also discusses current [1995] events and other CIA operations. A must watch interview from 1995 reveals how little US policy on Cuba has evolved in the intervening 27 years.
Philip Agee’s last public speech was delivered to a full house in Dublin’s Liberty Hall in November 2007, proudly hosted by Cuba Support Group Ireland and Free the Miami Five Campaign Ireland. We fondly remember our great friend, Philip Agee, a key global campaigner against the blockade of Cuba. And still a voice of sanity today.
source: Alternative Views
