Skip to content

US Sanctions

Former Heads Of State, Politicians, Artists, And Intellectuals Call On Biden To ‘Let Cuba Live’

Over 400 former heads of state, politicians, intellectuals, scientists, members of the clergy, artists, musicians and activists from across the globe have issued an urgent appeal to United States President Joe Biden to lift the 243 unilateral coercive measures that were imposed on Cuba by former president Donald Trump. They argue that these measures “have intentionally throttled life on the island and created more suffering.”

Hundreds Of Cancer Patients Lives’ Endangered By US Sanctions

Six independent UN human rights experts alerted that hundreds of Venezuelan cancer patients’ lives are under threat because of an “excessively strict application” of US sanctions. In a press release published on Wednesday, the group of experts warned that Venezuelan cancer patients “have been stranded, destitute, in countries where they went for treatment” because “money cannot be transferred out of Venezuela,” laying blame on US unilateral measures and overcompliance policies.

Why US Policy In Nicaragua Isn’t Working

After the U.S.-Russian summit in June, there was no apparent irony in President Biden’s response to a question about electoral interference. “Let’s get this straight,” he said. “How would it be if the United States were viewed by the rest of the world as interfering with the elections directly of other countries, and everybody knew it?” But of course much of the world does take this view; by one count the United States has intervened in no fewer than 81 elections between 1946 and 2000, many of them in Latin America. Biden’s question reveals a fundamental gap in U.S. foreign policymaking: Why do its leaders appear unable to judge how U.S. actions are seen by ordinary people in the countries they affect?

Why We All Need To Fight To End The US’ War On Cuba

The United States has waged war on Cuba since it dared to revolt and chart its own path more than 60 years ago. The US' illegal economic blockade is devastating Cuba's ability to meet the basic needs of its people right now, which is even more deadly during the pandemic. On top of that, the US is funding a small opposition within Cuba and is using the crisis it created to foment unrest. The corporate media is playing right along. Clearing the FOG speaks with Bill Hackwell of Resumen-English and the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity to set the record straight about the history of US intervention in Cuba, the current situation and what people are doing to organize to stop the blockade.

Media Play Up Protests, Play Down Effect Of US Sanctions In Cuba

A wave of protests in Cuba became the somewhat unlikely focus of global attention earlier this week, the events becoming the worldwide No. 1 trend on Twitter for over 24 hours, as celebrities, politicians and even the president of the United States weighed in on the action. A statement from Joe Biden’s office read: We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime. Media, too, were quick to focus on the story, giving the protests front and center coverage, something extremely unusual for demonstrations in Latin America. Far larger and more deadly movements in Chile and Ecuador were mostly ignored by the corporate press.

As Sanctions Intensify, Organizations Tell US To Stop Interfering In Nicaragua

Thirty-five years ago, on June 27, 1986, the International Court of Justice in the Hague ruled that the United States had violated international law by supporting the contras and mining Nicaragua’s harbors- in breach of our country’s international obligations “to not use force against another state, not to intervene in its affairs and not to violate its sovereignty.” The decision included the need to pay reparations, calculated at over $US 17 billion.   The US refused to comply. Over 30,000 Nicaraguans died as a result of the war and their economy was totally destroyed by the time the war ended.   The US went on to interfere in the 1990 election, pouring in millions of dollars to create a candidate of choice and to threaten the people of Nicaragua with more war if they did not vote according to US dictates.

US Targets Nicaraguan Presidential Election

Before Henry Kissinger became a Clinton pal, liberals condemned him for saying: “I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.” The 1973 US-backed coup and bloodbath in Chile followed. Now Uncle Sam has a problem in Nicaragua, where independent polls predict a landslide victory for Daniel Ortega’s leftist Sandinista slate in the November 7th presidential elections. The US government and its sycophantic media are working to prevent Ortega’s reelection. On July 12, the US slapped visa restrictions on one hundred Nicaraguan elected legislative officials, members of the judiciary, and their families for “undermining democracy.”

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.”

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.

Cuban Leader Warns Of US-Backed Opportunists Seeking To Destabilise

Mr Diaz-Canel, who spoke to protesters in the municipality of San Antonio de los Banos, said that US-backed opposition figures are using the situation to destabilise the country. "The protests involve many revolutionary citizens who want an explanation for the current situation in the country, but are also contaminated by groups of opportunists who take advantage of the current crisis to undermine order and generate chaos,” he said in a televised address.

The Cuban American Leading The Charge To Transform US-Cuba Policy

Carlos Lazo and a small band of Cuban Americans are on a 1,300-mile pilgrimage from Miami to Washington, D.C., to end the U.S. blockade of Cuba. Despite the blistering summer heat and occasional death threats (including a trucker who tried to run them off the road), the marchers persist. Lazo’s group is called Puentes de Amor, Bridges of Love, and this grueling walkathon is certainly a labor of love.  While right-wing Cubans in Miami call him “comunista,” Lazo has no time for ideology. He is neither for or against the Cuban government; he is for the Cuban people, the Cuban families. And he is disgusted by the cruelty of the U.S. blockade and by politicians who use the Cuban people as a political football--especially during this pandemic.

US Blacklists More Foreign Firms

The Biden administration has added 14 Chinese companies along with 20 other entities – including some from Iran and Russia – to its economic blacklist over claims of “human rights violations.” The US Commerce Department claimed on Friday that the companies had been "implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass detention, and high technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region." “The Department of Commerce remains firmly committed to taking strong, decisive action to target entities that are enabling human rights abuses in Xinjiang or that use US technology to fuel China’s destabilizing military modernization efforts," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo further claimed in a statement.

Alex Saab Case Exposes Lawlessness Of The United States

Dan Kovalik, lawyer, human rights activist and pacifist, asserted that “the story of Alex Saab is very important because it really exposes the lawlessness of the United States. The US put pressure on Cabo Verde to arrest, detain and extradite Alex Saab for the crime of helping Venezuela overcome sanctions that are in themselves illegal.”

Prosecution Of Alex Saab Unjust, Illegal And Indefensible

José António Dos Reis, former minister in Cape Verde, founder of the country’s Movement for Democracy (MPD) ruling political party, and close to the current government, harshly criticized Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva (of the same political party) and the judicial authorities of Cape Verde for the illegal detention and abduction of the Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. In his article entitled “The Case of Alex Saab: Cape Verde Between Ambiguity and Schizophrenia” published by the online media outlet Santiago Magazine, the politician described the judicial process as “unjust, illegal, and indefensible,” highlighting the illegalities committed by the Cape Verdean judicial police in the arrest of the Special Diplomatic Envoy of Venezuela.

How A US Congressman Took On The US Blockade Against Venezuela

On a cold winter day in February 2019, activists gathered in downtown Northampton, Massachusetts, to denounce the attempted US-backed coup in Venezuela. More than two years later, in the wake of ongoing rallies and discussions with Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, activists gained some ground as the congressman tweeted an open letter to President Joe Biden on June 14 in which he called on the president to end “all secondary and sectoral sanctions” against Venezuela. The letter stated: “While US officials debate the sanctions policy in Washington, for people in Venezuela the ongoing crisis is a life-and-death matter. … I have never believed that sanctions should be used to punish whole populations for the actions of their leaders or to bludgeon an adversary into submission.
assetto corsa mods

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.