Carlos Montaner never fails to offer readers a confused perspective of relations in Latin America and of course Cuba. Since his main target of his ill will is Cuba, it's only natural that Venezuela is also an object of his hate. Venezuela's relationship with Cuba has been beneficial for both countries. Since Cuba was facing the world almost entirely on its own after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the helping hand extended by Venezuela was something which all Cubans on the island have appreciated greatly. Every single Cuban knows that life would be a lot more difficult without a partner like Venezuela and since the election of Hugo Chavez, more and more countries in Latin America have increased their ties with the island nation. Even the United States' closest friends in the region are firmly opposed to the policies that Washington stubbornly maintains in attempts to eliminate the Cuban government and replace it with one of its own choosing.
How absolutely irrelevant is Mr. Montaner's point that a majority of Venezuelans don't want a political model based on Cuba's. Venezuela isn't Cuba, so why would they? Besides that, Cuba's system is itself going through changes and nobody can honestly say what it will ultimately look like. He makes his presumptions, and despite those, he's can't seem to wrap his dishonest mind around the fact that Hugo Chavez remains very popular in Venezuela. Just a few months ago he was basically predicting that Chavez' opponent in the upcoming election would be Maria Corina Machado. How wrong he was!
Now he goes out on a limb by stating that the opposition is controlled by the Cubans. Anyone who pays any attention at all understands that the opposition in Venezuela is closely aligned with Washington's interests and at times is even funded in part through "democracy organizations" in the United States. Trying to figure out where Carlos Montaner comes up with his nonsense is a delightful exercise! It comes from his inability to accept how things really are and his hatred for the Cuban revolution. His wish is for a quick end to anyone and anthing that is helpful to Cuba and by extension, the Cuban people. So he continues to wish.
He wishes that if when Chavez is no longer the Venezuelan head of state , even if the next person is pro-Chavez, that they will just stop being so friendly with Cuba. In all of my visits to Cuba, everyone who has mentioned the Cuba-Venezuela relationship has expressed their deep gratitude towards Hugo Chavez. If Carlos Montaner really has the best interest of the Cuban people in his heart, he wouldn't overlook their sentiments on the issue. But alas, he doesn't care one bit about what the Cuban people on the island think. He just pretends to speak for them. He is out of touch. Delusional may even be a better description for Mr. Montaner as he suggested that Salvador Allende and Manuel Noriega were "evicted". One was simply taken away by the U.S. military after an invasion and the other was overthrown by a U.S. backed coup. The way in which he said it is to make the reader imagine that the people were fed up and threw out their leaders.
Cuba is very dependent on the oil it receives from Venezuela. Nobody denies this. But unless Hugo Chavez' health takes a turn for the worse, he will probably be around long enough to see who will be the president of the United States in 2017, Raul Castro's retirement, and a Cuba which is much more energy independent if the companies drilling off the Cuban coasts are correct in their assessments. That will surely cause this man, Carlos Montaner, to renew his efforts at fictional writings with even more vigor than ever. But things could become even more troubling for Mr. Montaner if the U.S. finally finds a way to reverse course as it latches on to an actual event enough to change its rhetoric and course as far as Cuba policy goes.
Carlos Montaner finished his most recent piece by saying "Cuba specializes in losing." After 50+ years of not being able to do away with the Cuban revolution, Mr. Montaner, what do you specialize in? Nothing.
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