Cuba And The World Demand Lifting Of US Blockade

This Sunday, January 30, on the streets of Cuba and other parts of the world, the demand for lifting the illegal US blockade against Cuba prevailed. This came just days after the 60th anniversary of the officialization of this hostile policy against the Caribbean island.

According to the Twitter profile of the Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry, from the cities of Santa Clara in the center of the country, and Bayamo in the east, the family of the Antillean nation joined a caravan that demanded the end of the economic, commercial and financial siege. “Compatriots residing in Italy and friends of #Cuba build #PuentesDeAmor and demand the end of the blockade that hit this Island 60 years ago,” published the Twitter account of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since the initiative is also engaged with other cities around the world.

Continue reading

15,000 Pounds Of Powdered Milk Delivered To Cuba

On January 15, 2022, the organizations Puentes de Amor, The People’s Forum and CODEPINK are sending a cargo plane loaded with 15,000 pounds of powdered milk from Miami to Cuba. Representatives of the organizations are traveling to Cuba with the shipment. The aid will be received by the Martin Luther King Center in Havana. It will be distributed to pediatric hospitals in Havana.

Since the pandemic and the disruption of food supplies it has caused, there has been a shortage of powdered milk in Cuba, which is normally given out by the state—for free—to children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with medical needs. Due to the reluctance of U.S. companies and banks to deal with Cuba for fear of running afoul of U.S. sanctions, Cuba buys imported milk—at an inflated cost—from places as far as New Zealand and Uruguay.

Continue reading

Cuba Grows And Advances Despite The Difficulties Of 2021

This 2021 has been the most difficult year for the Cuban people. In addition to the ravages of the blockade, thousands of people died due to the Covid-19. The list was immense, and as the days went by, names became familiar and beloved faces. Moreover, it was also a year of economic readjustments and changes needed to move the island towards a possible and sustainable development over time.

The changes, the deaths, and the pandemic came at a time when the world economy suffered the strongest recession since the years of the Second World War. Cuba suffered double this new crisis since it had already been dragging around the chains of an unjust financial blockade for decades, which between April 2019 and December 2020 alone caused over nine trillion dollars in losses.

Continue reading

The Movement Standing Up To Biden’s Maximum Pressure Campaign

Most of the 193 member states of the United Nations made public statements to defend Cuba against the “maximum pressure” campaign. In a statement, the 120 members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) “strongly condemn[ed] the international campaign organized… with the purpose of destabilizing the Republic of Cuba.” The NAM called for an end to the US blockade.

Continue reading

Civil Society Calls On Congress To End War And Blockade On Yemen

New York – Civil society groups rallied at U.S. legislators’ offices in New York, Boston, and San Francisco on Friday, July 16th as part of a National Day of Action for Yemen. They called for U.S. senators & representatives to introduce a new War Powers Resolution to end U.S. participation in the 6-year war and blockade on Yemen that has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, according to the U.N. 

In Boston, Brian Garvey of Massachusetts Peace Action noted, “We’re not going to stop until we end the U.S. war in Yemen, and that means War Powers….It’s the only legislation that meets the urgency right now.”

During the Day of Action, letters were hand-delivered (see letter to Sen. Sanders below) to local offices of the following legislators signed by dozens of local civil society groups in each state calling for the new War Powers Resolution.

Continue reading

US Takes Advantage Of The Price Cubans Are Paying For The Blockade

Cuba, like every other country on the planet, is struggling with the impact of COVID-19. This small island of 11 million people has created five vaccine candidates and sent its medical workers through the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade to heal people around the world. Meanwhile, the United States hardens a cruel and illegal blockade of the island, a medieval siege that has been in place for six decades. In April 2020, seven United Nations special rapporteurs wrote an open letter to the United States government about the blockade. “In the pandemic emergency,” they wrote, “the lack of will of the US government to suspend sanctions may lead to a higher risk of such suffering in Cuba and other countries targeted by its sanctions.” The special rapporteurs noted the “risks to the right to life, health and other critical rights of the most vulnerable sections of the Cuban population.”

Continue reading

Cruel US Blockade Causing Misery And Unrest In Cuba

US officials and their corporate media mouthpieces were elated at the sight of protests in Cuba in recent days against deteriorating living conditions that are a direct result of the US blockade, which Trump increased and Biden has maintained during the pandemic to deliberately heighten suffering at a time when Cuba was sending doctors around the world to fight the disease.

As is often the case when an adversary country experiences protests of any kind, it was immediately weaponized to push for a regime change narrative against Cuba. There’s so much to unpack, from the protest double standards, to the blatant efforts at meddling and sabotage, to the pure hypocrisy from those in power.

To help make sense of it all, Rania Khalek was joined by Manolo De Los Santos, founder & co-director of The People’s Forum in New York City and a researcher with Tricontinental who spent six years living in Cuba.

Continue reading

We Stand With Cuba Against The US Embargo And Hybrid War

On May 26, The New York Review of Books published an open letter signed by a group of successful artists and writers — including Junot Díaz and Edwidge Danticat — stating that Cuban artist Luís Manuel Otero Alcántara is “detained…solely for expressing his ideas through his art.” We the undersigned challenge the aforementioned signatories to reconsider their letter, which fails to mention Otero Alcántara’s alleged connections to the U.S. government and ignores crucial context, namely the ongoing war waged by the U.S. against Cuba.

On May 2, Otero Alcántara was taken to Havana’s Calixto García Hospital several days into a hunger strike he claimed to have been staging. The Health Ministry issued a statement that he had “no signs of undernutrition” but would remain “under observation.”

Continue reading

Protests In 60+ Countries Against Genocidal US Blockade On Cuba

In a worldwide day, the initiative launched a month ago by the Europe for Cuba channel, in coordination with solidarity movements and groups in different parts of the planet, will take place today and tomorrow, Sunday, with car and bicycle caravans, rallies, marches and mountain climbing, among other diverse actions.

“The call is also to flood the social networks in days of denunciation and repudiation of the genocidal blockade imposed on the island, in which we expect a good response, despite the restrictions derived from the COVID-19 pandemic,” José Antonio Toledo and Michele Mesagna, coordinators of the platform, told Prensa Latina.

They also assured that this first global caravan is only the beginning of activities that will last as long as Washington’s criminal policy applied to the Caribbean country for more than six decades remains in force.

Continue reading

Biden’s Foreign Policy Hire Considers Sanctions An Art Form

Under the Trump administration, the United States imposed a wave of aggressive sanctions on countries like Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela—inflicting suffering on their populations and hampering the countries’ ability to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Biden administration is now conducting a review of US sanctions policy, and the potential consequences of these punitive economic restrictions, to determine which of former President Donald Trump’s sanctions it will keep. The new administration has the ability to roll back many of these brutal sanctions, but isn’t expected to stray too far from Trump’s approach.

Continue reading

UN Special Rapporteur Urges US To Lift The Blockade Against Venezuela

The Special Rapporteur of the United Nations (UN) on the effects of sanctions on human rights, Alena Douhan, held a press conference today before leaving Venezuela. Douhan detailed the impact of the United States’ unilateral coercive measures on the Venezuelan people.

Douhan reported that the unilateral “sanctions” violate International Law. The conclusion followed Douhan’s comprehensive report on damages caused by coercive measures implemented by Washington and its European partners against Venezuela, and specified that the final report will be presented to the UN in September 2021. Douhan urged the interlocutors to continue presenting additional material so that she can include them in her final report.

Continue reading

Tales Of Resistance: Why Do The Poor Laugh?

In the middle of the holidays, the pipes in my apartment got clogged for the second time this year. On both occasions water was scarce for several days, and when it did arrive it brought so many rocks that the flow got blocked.

I had no option but to call our “community plumber.” In other words, a man that for the past 30 years has fixed issues with pipes in this building and nearby (and lately he’s been as busy as ever).

We’re talking about a good-natured fellow, a lovely guy, one of those who helps you carry bags, preaches about Jesus, sends his regards to the family and suddenly tells you, with a sweet smile: “that will be US $200.” And one can’t help but think “he’s screwing me, but how on earth can I curse such a nice man?”

Continue reading

Trump’s Sanctions Caused $20 Billion In Damages To Cuba

Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry’s official Johana Tablada on Wednesday informed that former U.S. President Donald Trump’s arbitrary sanctions against her country left damage of US$20 billion.

Trump, who concluded his presidential term on Wednesday, imposed over 240 unilateral measures against Cuba from 2017.

“He took advantage until the very last moment. Trump identified COVID-19 as an opportunity to assault Cuba with additional coercive measures, rather than allowing relief,” Tablada assured. 

On Jan. 11, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Cuba’s inclusion on the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Early this month, he also informed on sanctions against Interior Minister Lazaro Alvarez and his family.

Continue reading

We Don’t Listen To The Dying Government Of Donald Trump

The night before the National Assembly elections in Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro spoke to a group of visitors at Miraflores Palace in Caracas. He recounted how he had been a member of the Constituent Assembly, which was formed in 1999 and set up the legal framework for Venezuela’s political system. Maduro told the visitors that he had been a member of the National Assembly during its first and second terms (2000-2005 and 2005-2010 respectively), and he was the president of the National Assembly during its second term before being asked to take on the post of foreign minister.

Continue reading

Venezuela; 6D Elections, What’s At Stake And Who Will Win?

Venezuelans once again headed to the polls on December 6 in what seems to be the mother of all battles for the National Assembly of Venezuela. Since 2015, this institution has been taken over by anti-Chavismo in what was not an anti-Chavismo vote, but instead of a vote of discontent with the economic situation Venezuela was at the time facing. Hugo Chavez said on March 26 of 2006, that “every revolution needs the whip of the counter-revolution, so strike with the whip, we can take it! To each whiplash we will respond with more revolution!”.

Continue reading