Condemnation of the U.S. blockade against Cuba must be translated into acts of solidarity to defend the nation that has done so much for the world.
Originally published in Resumen English.
From the International Committee for Peace, Justice, and Dignity, we call on men and women of good will to join the actions that will take place around the world starting April 19, in the Year of Fidel’s Centennial and the 65th anniversary of the victory at Girón, imperialism’s first defeat in Latin America.
fotos: Bill Hackwell
The damage caused by the U.S. blockade of Cuba over the past 64 years is internationally recognized; it has been condemned by the overwhelming majority of countries—with the exception of Israel—on 33 occasions at the UN General Assembly.
This has been exacerbated by 243 sanctions during Trump’s first presidency, the inclusion on the spurious list of countries allegedly promoting terrorism, and the persecution of the Cuban International Medical Collaboration Agreements.
Not content with the harm inflicted on the entire population, the current administration, on January 29, declared Cuba “an unusual and extraordinary threat” and imposed an energy blockade under the threat of imposing tariffs on countries anywhere in the world that supply oil to Cuba.
Displaying his lies and cynicism, Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that the population’s suffering is due to the Cuban government’s mismanagement, denying the existence of the blockade, the main obstacle to the country’s development.
Trump acknowledged: “We have exerted every possible pressure against Cuba.” With a threatening flourish, he declared: “The only option left to us is to go in and raze it to the ground.” “I will have the honor of taking Cuba.”
The possibility of military aggression has been present for 67 years. Today it becomes a real threat given the bellicose and criminal nature of this ultra-conservative administration that seeks to cover up the internal disaster and social problems of its own country, that disregards international law and the sovereignty of peoples, that aims to take over the entire region, and that bombs even in the midst of negotiations and agreements if the attacked country does not respond with surrender and submission to its sinister interests.
Cuba is suffering from the criminal policies of the United States: 1,400 children with cancer whose treatments are at risk due to a lack of supplies; 96,000 patients are on waiting lists for surgeries that cannot be performed due to a lack of supplies, 11,000 of whom are children. Also at risk are babies born with low birth weight or who require treatment in incubators, and pregnant women who need specialized medical care.
Cuba suffers from extremely long power outages, a lack of food and medicine, and a lack of public transportation; yet despite this immense suffering, it does not stop working for a single day, nor does it cease to study, create, and fight for life.
Cuba is preparing for the defense of the entire people; far from any inclination toward war, it is preparing to defend itself against military aggression with resolve, despite the immense disparity between the world’s most powerful country and the Island of Solidarity. Cuba and its people are preparing to defend the Revolution, sovereignty, and independence in a way that may avert a major confrontation.
It faces another war—the media war, which is also multidimensional—with headlines that become hashtags on social media, distorting, manipulating, and poisoning public discourse to divide and sow hatred.
Cuba wants to live in peace. If it has achieved a cultural heritage admired worldwide, the development of biotechnology, the creation of its own vaccines that saved millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, highly effective medicines that can save and improve the quality of life for millions around the world, and the training of thousands of doctors from countries in the Global South free of charge; if it has been able to achieve all this amidst the blockade and so many aggressions, we must ask what would Cuba be like without the genocidal blockade.
Cuba is not and was never be a threat to anyone. What Trump and Rubio fear—what U.S. administrations have always feared—is its example, its MartĂ- and Fidel-inspired ethics, its humanism, and its internationalism. They will never be able to extinguish the light that emanates from the Cuban Revolution.
Let’s take to the streets to defend Hope. Let’s ask our friendly media outlets to publish our open letters, appeals, and statements. Let’s break through the invasion of the media scoundrels. Let’s follow the example of La Jornada so that this same act of solidarity is replicated in the free and progressive press.
“All we need is for them to leave us alone”
Let us ask our Foreign Ministries and Governments to move from statements to action: break the energy blockade like Russia, and follow the example of Mexico and China in showing solidarity.
Let us remind the governments of Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa of all that Cuba has given to their peoples. It is time to give back at least a little to Cuba.
Let us remind the United States that at the Bay of Pigs they were defeated in 72 hours.
They may attack and ravage, but what they do not know is when they will leave. From the cities and the Sierra, from the countryside and even from under the rocks, Cuba will defend itself with a machete if necessary, because it will never again be a Yankee colony.
Source: International Committee for Peace Justice and Dignity
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