00:00To go deeper on the importance of these decisions that just occurred in just a couple of hours,
00:05let's invite two from the South international analyst Arnold August for more details and better
00:10understand what is happening right now. So Arnold, welcome to From the South.
00:15Always a pleasure to work with Telesur.
00:17Always a pleasure also to listen to your inputs on the situation and general topics.
00:21In the case of what happened earlier in the afternoon where a grand jury in Miami indicted
00:27General Raul Castro and five others on this, on the shutdown of these two Cessna airplanes
00:34that happened over 30 years ago. What is your take on, and if there is a legality on the actions
00:40that the U.S. is taking? Well, you asked me, what is my take? My initial reaction was simple.
00:47Two words, false flag. The United States has a long history of fabricating false flags in order
00:56to interfere and even take over Cuba. For example, from history, we have 1898 when Cuba was on the verge
01:07of defeating Spain in their war of independence when the United States interfered. What happened?
01:16There was an explosion, so-called accidental explosion in the Bay of Havana in 1898 of an American warship.
01:30And the American media, as they are doing now, they went on a big narrative that what happened there?
01:37Blame it on Spain. As a result of that, the United States interfered in the war of independence against Spain.
01:45And instead incorporated that successful struggle to support U.S. domination over Cuba.
01:54Today is this one more recent example. It is quite evident. I've studied this very carefully over the years.
02:01What happened in 1996 was quite simple in a sense, because even before the Cubans shot down the two
02:12Cessna planes in 1996 in their own airspace, there were over 40 cases or more in the months previous to
02:241996,
02:24when the Cuban authorities warned the American authorities, look, this bothers to the rescue mission.
02:32It has nothing to do with humanitarian aid. What they are interested in doing is getting as close as possible
02:40to Havana,
02:42drop leaflets onto the population of Havana. Why? What did the leaflets have to say?
02:47They were inciting the people of Havana to rise up against the Cuban government, overthrow it,
02:55and convert Cuba once again into a colony. So Cuba warned them very many times, don't do it, you're going
03:03into our airspace.
03:05We are a sovereign country. But despite warnings, even by the American government, as well as the Cuban government,
03:12the brothers to the rescue insisted. They went into the Cuban airspace. And the Cuban government finally said,
03:21we have had enough. We are a sovereign country. We are not going to allow these Americans, Miami-based American
03:29terrorists,
03:30to go into our airspace without any response, and they shot them down. My view is they did very well.
03:38Cuba once again defended its sovereignty and integrity. Of course, it has since been manipulated,
03:44and right now in 2026, to blame the Cuban government, Pacific Raul Castro, who was the head of the army
03:53at the time,
03:54for that incident, when in fact it was a deliberate provocation by the Cuban-American terrorists to interfere
04:02in the internal affairs of Cuba and sort of force Cuba to defend themselves. And that is what happened.
04:10Like, why now? It's a good question. I think the United States may be a bit frustrated. As everyone knows,
04:17it's public.
04:19President Trump and other people in his cabinet, such as Marco Rubio, they have been spending the last few weeks
04:27insisting things have to change in Cuba. Cuba is next. You know, Venezuela went. We defeated Iran,
04:34which of course is very far from the truth. And Cuba is next. They have been pleading. United States, Marco
04:41Rubio,
04:42the deep state there, have been pleading with the Cuban authority. You better change. Otherwise,
04:47we're going to take over Cuba. But what was the reaction of Cuba? Cuba said they rejected all false accusations,
04:56supposedly that Cuba has drones in Cuba to attack Key West, Florida, etc. They rejected all that.
05:03I said, we are a people of peace. I was in Havana in April, and I personally heard President Miguel
05:11Diaz-Canel said several times publicly in a small private meeting, we are a country of peace. We do not
05:21want war. However, if you attack us, we will defend ourselves. And Bruno Rodriguez said the same thing.
05:28We have every right to defend ourselves. So Cuba did not bow down. And I think the latest incident,
05:36this latest false flag against Raul Castro, is a frustrated reaction by the part of the United States
05:42that Cuba did not buckle down. And they are now raising this false flag to see how far they can
05:49go
05:49to try to interfere in Cuba. Who knows? Even the military. Look what they did against President
05:56Maduro in January, 2026, only a few months ago. Who would have thought before January 3rd, 2026,
06:04that the United States would actually dare to carry out a murderous military attack in Caracas,
06:13and capture a sitting president. So this is what is happening right now. But Cuban, you know, I was
06:19there in April, and I'm sure not only Cuban government, but the Cuban people as a whole,
06:24irrespective of different political opinions. They are fully behind the Cuban government,
06:29fully behind Raul Castro, and they will defend Cuba. If even to the expense of losing their lives, they
06:37prefer taking a chance, losing their lives, but defend the sovereignty, the dignity of the Cuban
06:43people, and above all, the right of the Cuban people to choose their own destiny, their own
06:48political system, their own economic system, and deal with the problems that they are facing, but
06:54within the context of the Cuban revolution. And yourself, why now? Why this moment when this
07:02happened over 30 years ago, and pretty much it has been, we could say, a cold case for all these
07:08years.
07:08But could we interpret what is happening right now as part of the construct of a narrative to justify
07:14a possible military intervention in Cuba? We saw something similar happen, for example, you were
07:19mentioning Venezuela. We first saw how Venezuela, and the same just happened with Cuba a few weeks back,
07:25that they declared Cuba an extraordinary threat to the U.S., and now they indicted Raul Castro,
07:33as well as they previously indicted President Nicolás Maduro on charges. Could we be seeing this
07:40kind of building, this narrative that would later justify a military action on the part of the U.S.?
07:47Miguel, to be quite frank, I would love to say, oh, there's no chance the United States are going to
07:52do it. But the reality is, U.S. imperialism is a very bad situation. They are losing everywhere.
07:59And the representative of U.S. imperialism, not just Donald Trump, they are trying to find
08:04a way to restore their image in the world. And so, unfortunately, in my view, I hope I'm wrong,
08:12it is possible that the United States will carry out some kind of a physical military intervention
08:19in Cuba based on this false flag with regarding Raul Castro. But I'm convinced, based on my experience
08:27in Cuba last April, many times previously, I've been to Cuba 50 times, I know the Cuban people,
08:33the Cuban government, they are going to defend themselves. The United States will ultimately lose.
08:38And I just hope that the governments of Latin America, and Europe especially, not to mention the
08:45third world, it's obvious. They have to take a stand now with regards to the complete false basis
08:53of any kind of a military intervention into Cuba at this time, based on the false accusations
09:00against Raul Castro. A lot of, you know, how about President Obama? A lot of people talk about, oh,
09:07the things were better with the, under the thought of President Obama. But where is President Obama now?
09:13President Obama now? Why does he not speak out against this obvious, very dangerous escalation
09:21on the part of the United States against Cuba? He should speak out, as well as other people in
09:28the Congress. Democrats are already speaking out. But important, influential people, they should speak out
09:33now to make sure the United States does not carry out a military incursion into Cuba.
09:41As this happened, the President of Russia, you were speaking about what the people of Latin America,
09:46Europe, and the Global South would say. And I want to take into account what Russia and China just did.
09:53We, we called President Putin, just concluded an official two-state visit in China, where both
09:58President Putin and President Xi Jinping of China both reaffirmed their commitment and their support for
10:04the government and the sovereignty and self-determination of the Cuban people. So how a key factor will be in
10:10China and Russia in this, in this geopolitical aspect that is taking turn?
10:16I'm glad, glad that you raised the issue of China and Russia. They are important players. And for example,
10:24what you just quoted, taking a very positive, explicit stand at this time in support of Cuba's
10:34sovereignty against U.S. provocation. It's very important. Whether he likes it or not, Trump has to
10:42take this into account that he's pretty much isolated on the international scene with regards to Cuba. And,
10:49you know, will he act according to the international public opinion and not go ahead with any
10:57military intervention or military incursion against Cuba to sort of capture Raul Castro as they did
11:04Maduro? I think he has to take it into account. But at the same time, we're dealing with an empire
11:11that is
11:11in decline and they're desperately trying to maintain their control, their so-called hegemony over the
11:20world, that they are really the ones who are running the show when in fact they are not no longer
11:25running
11:25the show. And I think it's, you know, hats off to President Putin, President Xi of China, that they are
11:32taking the stand, important stand in support of Cuban sovereignty against that false flag operation that is
11:40being worked out by Marco Rubio and others in the American deep state.
11:46I don't know. A final very quick question that is a bit out of the blue. This is an election
11:52year
11:53also for the United States. In November, they will have the midterms. And we also saw that the Senate
11:58yesterday passed a law to try to curb the war powers of the U.S. President Donald Trump, that they
12:05have
12:05been trying to do this over a few votes, but they have failed. But yesterday they succeeded. So what
12:11impact will this have regarding this this election year, this aspect coming, this decision happening
12:17with Cuba and with everything that's happening in Iran as well? Well, Luis Miguel, your question is
12:23really not out of the blue. I think that it's very pertinent and it's important to raise it because
12:29the Trump has to take into account the midterm elections. Everyone knows his popularity has
12:37gone down. His popularity approval rating now since the war of Iraq is the lowest in the history of
12:45any sitting president. Majority of the people oppose his war against Iran. And now the polls are also
12:52showing that the majority of the people in the United States oppose a military intervention against Cuba.
12:59And many people in the Congress, as you mentioned, as you just mentioned, are trying to get some
13:03kind of a law to restrain United States from violating Cuba's sovereignty. So yes, despite himself,
13:12he has to take into account the international situation, but also the domestic situation and the midterms.
13:20He has to watch his step so he does not fall even further into the disapproval image that the American
13:30people have of him as president. Thank you, Arnold, very much for your input,
13:36as always, here in from the South. It's always a pleasure to work with you. Best of luck.
13:41Thank you very much. Well, we'll listen to Arnold August, international analyst, going over the latest
13:46move that the U.S. Justice Department has taken in putting indictment on the general Raul Castro.
13:54Well, we'll have more information regarding all the reactions coming from Cuba and from the rest of
13:59the world, from different leaders and different authorities on what this has sparked. So stay tuned
14:03with Telesur English for that. But for now, we have come to the end of this news brief. Remember,
14:06you can find more on our website and on our social media. For Telesur English, Luis Alberto Matos,
14:11thank you for watching.
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