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Economic Blockade

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

July 20, 2021 Action Corps, Popular Resistance. , , ,
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.

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

July 14, 2021 Manolo de los Santos and Vijay Prashad, Peoples Dispatch. , , ,
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.”

Cruel US Blockade Causing Misery And Unrest In Cuba

July 14, 2021 Rania Khalek, Breakthrough News. , , ,
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.

We Stand With Cuba Against The US Embargo And Hybrid War

June 4, 2021 Luna Olavarría Gallegos, Manolo De Los Santos, Vijay Prashad, et al, Counterpunch. , , ,
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.”

Protests In 60+ Countries Against Genocidal US Blockade On Cuba

March 29, 2021 Telesur English. , , ,
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.

Biden’s Foreign Policy Hire Considers Sanctions An Art Form

March 28, 2021 By Aída Chávez, The Nation. , , ,
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.

UN Special Rapporteur Urges US To Lift The Blockade Against Venezuela

February 13, 2021 Mision Verdad, Orinoco Tribune. , , , ,
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.

Tales Of Resistance: Why Do The Poor Laugh?

February 9, 2021 Jessica Dos Santos, Venezuelanalysis. , , ,
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?”

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

January 24, 2021 Telesur English. , , ,
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.

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

December 10, 2020 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , ,
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.

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

December 7, 2020 Dakotah Lilly, Popular Resistance. , , ,
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!”.

Israeli blockade Has Cost Gaza $16.7 Billion

November 26, 2020 The New Arab. , , ,
Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip cost the Palestinian enclave's economy an estimated $16.7 billion in just over a decade, the United Nations said Wednesday. The coastal enclave has been under an Israeli-enforced blockade since 2007, the year the Islamist movement Hamas took power. In the 11 ensuing years, its economic situation deteriorated dramatically, the UN Conference on Trade and Development found in a new report. Between 2007 and 2018, "the estimated cumulative economic cost of the Israeli occupation in Gaza under the prolonged closure and severe economic and movement restrictions and military operations would amount to $16.7 billion (constant 2015 US dollars)," it said.

Venezuela: Democracy Versus Blockade

September 29, 2020 By Ángel Guerra Cabrera, Resumen English.  , , ,
On December 6 there will be elections in Venezuela to elect all the deputies to the National Assembly (NA), an event of extraordinary political transcendence. But before going into that subject I will mention the elections that will be held in several Latin American countries in the coming months, all of them are very important in the dispute for our America between the right-wing and the popular forces. On October 18, general elections in Bolivia, where Evo Morales’ MAS is the favorite to win in the first round, but the big question remains whether the same oligarchic and racist group that, supported by Washington, overthrew Morales and established a dictatorship, is willing to recognize the victory of the “savages,” as they call the Indians.

Universal Collaboration Is Needed To End This Pandemic

September 25, 2020 Cheryl LaBash, Isaac Saney and Sean O'Donoghue, Saving Lives Campaign. , , ,
Cuba, battling successfully to contain COVID-19 at home, also provides medical internationalism and solidarity abroad. While Cuba dispatches the Henry Reeve Brigade to countries requesting healthcare assistance, Donald Trump’s administration escalates the anti-Cuba economic, financial and commercial blockade while threatening sovereign states who request needed Cuban medical solidarity -- in a global pandemic. The limited measures implemented by President Barack Obama towards US-Cuba normalization, are being steadily dismantled by the Trump Administration.

US Caused $4.5 Billion In Losses To Cuba Over The Last Year

September 21, 2019 Staff, Telesur , ,
The U.S. economic blockade has caused over US$ 138.8 billion in losses to Cuba since the 1960s. Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Friday presented a report on the impact caused by the U.S .blockade policy on the Cuban economy over the last year. "The U.S. blockade against Cuba impacts, as never before, on the everyday life of every Cuban family, in every sector of our economy, in every social development project in the country," Rodriguez said and anticipated that his country will insist on the elimination of such arbitrary policy before the international community.
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