In a growing mosaic of solidarity across the US, people are taking to the streets to say no to the way their government is punishing Cuba for their example of humanity in these precarious times. This weekend in over 30 cities there will be protests to visibly express it.
In Washington DC there will be a national focus with a march on the White House to bring attention to a callous foreign policy that has endured through democratic and republican administrations generating an ever turning multi-million dollar industry based on hatred guided by greedy corrupt politicians with no regard to the consequences for the Cuban people.
Cuban Solidarity Activists Occupy Right Wing Cuba Hater Bob Menendez’s office – three arrested
Today one of those politicians, Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey, a man of Cuban descent who lurks in the shadows as chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, while capitalizing on his heritage and bludgeoning to death any steps on Capitol Hill to improve relations with the island, was called out in his office by a team of 13 Cuban solidarity activists from the National Network on Cuba, Pastors for Peace and Code Pink who insisted on talking to Menendez about his positions and pending corruption charges against him. After they were refused a meeting by his staff the group decided to sit in until he came. For the next hour the team read letters from small business owners in Cuba, who Menendez is fond of speaking for, singing popular Cuban songs and talking to his less than interested staff about the lethal impact that the policy of the blockade is having on the Cuban family. At one point, with people filling the halls with interest about what was going on, the Capitol Police were summoned in force with over 20 officers showing up – 3 of the team were arrested, after 3 hours in jail they were released with a citation for a July 12 court date.
Resolutions Reflect Deep Support for Improving Relations with Cuba
Over the past several years, in a slow but steady campaign, people who support Cuba and their right to exist on their own terms have been passing resolutions in City Councils, County Boards, State Legislatures, School Boards, Labor Councils, Labor Unions and other organizations, have passed resolutions, from coast to coast, which have addressed:
- Ending the blockade
- Saving Lives through scientific collaboration
- Urging that Cuba be removed from the US List of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT)
In a moment of coincidence we learned today that the New York City Council passed Resolution 0285 that calls for the end of the Blockade, that Cuba be removed from the SSOT and the freedom to travel to the island. What this resolution marks is that these 93 popular resolutions represent over 50 million people that are part of their represented populations.
The US government is at odds with the growing sentiment of the American people when it comes to the cruel and criminal blockade of Cuba that has gone on now for 61 years bringing unnecessary hardship to the Cuban people. The island’s original crime was to struggle for its independence and to choose a path of sovereignty not aligned with the pre-ordained Monroe Doctrine of 1823 that claimed all of Latin America was under the tutelage of the US.
Since the 1959 Revolution the US has thrown everything at Cuba to try and bring down their impressive list of social achievements under the longest blockade in modern history that has stolen $144 billion from the Cuban economy and now has an additional 243 harsh sanctions on top of that (levied by Trump and dutifully continued by Biden despite his campaign promises to the contrary) that affects every aspect of the lives of the Cuban people.
Cuba has never invaded or threatened the US or any other country for that matter but was added to the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) by Reagan in 1982 which has made it impossible for Cuba to conduct normal international trade. Obama took Cuba off in 2015 but Trump reinstated it for no reason connected to reality and Biden doubled down on it despite no evidence and with no one in the US thinking Cuba is a threat of any kind.
For the last 20 years with nearly every country in the United Nations has voted, year after year, to condemn the unilateral blockade. They have stood with Cuba because of the injustice of it all and how Cuba shows the possibility of a better world that isn’t based on the obscene accumulation of wealth of a few with the downward spiraling of the ability of many to stay housed and fed.
The people of the US are saying no to the draconian policies its government has towards the island and meanwhile we are deprived of normal people to people interaction that we have with just about any other country; along with gaining access to many health treatments not available here, or cultural and educational exchange and trade opportunities. But all of that is starting to change and with conditions deteriorating here the way they are and confidence in the government at an all-time low; why should we believe what they tell us about Cuba? You can’t fool the people forever and the time is up on the lies about Cuba.