The CDR and Obama's Visit

In Granma the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, which is the backbone of the spying network in Cuba, issued a statement about Barack Obama's visit.

The statement consists primarily of reminding Cubans how wide-ranging and far-reaching the committees are. In other words, Obama's visit is not a time to start acting in counter-revolutionary ways. Everyone needs to remember that they are united and are being watched. Normalization with the United States carries major risks for the regime, and so it's mobilizing it's machinery.

Cuba is a dictatorship, and we should never forget that, but years of punitive U.S. policies had no impact on that. Handshakes and visits don't make for immediate change, but they do provide the first real opportunity in many years.