Ruby Cayenne

Cuban people have a long history of displacement and oppression that continues to this day. This topic is close to my heart as a Cubana, but I digest the politics surrounding my family’s home country as unbiasedly and ethically as I can. 

Recently there has been several articles going around about a statement made by President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He publicly shamed the United States for its economic sanctions against countries like Cuba because he feels it causes more Cuban immigrants to travel through Mexico to reach the U.S. 

The information that is included in each article I read differs in how thorough it is, causing the type of impact to vary between them, though the information is similar. In an article published in AP News, the focus is heavily on migrants. The displacement of many Cubans, leading to their migrant status, was forced upon them because they did not want to experience suffering such as imprisonment. Ethics for the immense majority is arguably not something the government applies to its policies in Cuba, which is interesting since it is a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state. 

The ethics the U.S. government uses to justify their lack of economic aid to countries like Cuba is arguably not for the majority either. Funds from this country could potentially help a country like Cuba a great deal, but there is no guarantee that leadership in Cuba would appropriately use those funds or sign any stipulation agreement. 

The article also brings up how López Obrador thinks that the U.S. misused funds when aid was sent to Ukraine, when it could have been used to help economically develop Latin America. This also assumes that if that money would be used appropriately in each of these countries. 

Of course, I want the U.S. to help the poverty that exists in Latin America and the Caribbean, but I am not confident that the same government that took my families land would turn around and give provide financial support or equitable opportunities. 

Cubans who have been displaced are met with many challenges that most immigrants experience. There is the language barrier, the economic barrier, the barrier that you get by being any Latine ethnicity in the U.S. because of stereotypes and discrimination. But one that is less talked about is the personal barrier of how it feels to have the politics of your own country work against you and your own government be the one who displaces you. That sounds like ethics for the few to me. 

The article also chose to mention that while Mexico condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they are acting on a policy of neutrality and are not participating in sanctions against Russia. For the Mexican president to condemn the U.S. for not aiding Cuba but not condemn Russia for what they are doing to Ukraine, it seems like he is less concerned with the ethics of liberation for the benefit of the majority, and more concerned about garnering aid from the United States. 

An article in PBS about the same subject was much quicker to introduce López Obrador’s qualms against the United States in aiding Ukraine and not Latin America and the Caribbean. It also pointed out that no other official present for the statement chose to address it, but instead, continued their conversation on the flow of fentanyl into the United States from Mexico. 

“Although Friday’s talks focused on commerce issues, Blinken will lead a U.S. delegation to Mexico next week with Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that will focus on border security and migration,” said PBS. 

According to unnamed experts (the article does not specify) the ethics of economics and political repression happening in countries like Cuba and Venezuela right now is to blame for the “tide of migrants leaving Venezuela and Cuba.” When economic and political ethics are tailored toward the few and not the many, there is bound to be instability in a country. And this is where the issue lies. The issue is larger than where the U.S. chooses to spend its money.

The Business Standard used the same language as the other two articles and cemented the inkling I had that information on this topic is limited. All three use the quote from López Obrador: “They (the US) don’t do anything,” he said. “It’s more, a lot more, what they authorize for the war in Ukraine than what they give to help with poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

The ethics of liberation, especially by Enrique Dussel’s definition, is not present in the way these articles describe the economic and political climate of Latin America and the Caribbean. The fact that the United States’ choice to aid Ukraine is thrown under the bus further speaks to motives developed with the ethic of the few in mind. 

Each article portrays López Obrador as a man who is critical of the way the United States uses its funds, but he does not supplement that statement with any solutions or acknowledgements of nuance at the time of his statement. If the ethics of liberation are meant to be for everyday life from the perspective and interest of the immense majority, then arguably almost no political decision made of late is for the majority in an ethical sense. 

Click to access universal_declaration_of_ethics.pdf

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43545-022-00350-7

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK210003/

“Mexico’s President Says 10,000 Migrants a Day Head to US Border; He Blames US Sanctions on Cuba.” AP News, AP News, 3 Oct. 2023, apnews.com/article/mexico-migrants-us-border-sanctions-6b9f0cab3afec8680154e7fb9a5e5f82. 

“Mexico’s President Slams U.S. Sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 29 Sept. 2023, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/mexicos-president-slams-u-s-sanctions-on-venezuela-and-cuba. 

“Mexico’s President Slams Us Aid for Ukraine and Sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba.” The Business Standard, 30 Sept. 2023, http://www.tbsnews.net/world/mexicos-president-slams-us-aid-ukraine-and-sanctions-venezuela-and-cuba-709314.