Canada-Cuba Relations
Canadian Government's Duplicity Fails to Obscure Cuba's Right to Be and Principled Support for Cuba
The 10-member House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE) held hearings on February 24 and 26 to hear testimony and receive submissions on the Humanitarian Crisis in Cuba. The committee of Members of Parliament reviews legislation, policies and expenditures related to Canada's international relations, foreign policy and development assistance. The committee met in the wake of U.S. President Trump's January 29 Executive Order imposing a blockade on all fuel to Cuba by threatening sanctions against any country which ships oil to Cuba.
While Canada has had longstanding friendly relations with Cuba, it is also duplicitous, because it will not take clear, consistent and principled stands to oppose the hostile U.S. policy toward Cuba. This is especially the case on the illegal blockade which not only profoundly violates the human rights of the Cuban people, but also affects Canada's trade relations with Cuba. At the hearing this was reflected in the fact that for its study, in addition to inviting officials from Global Affairs Canada, the committee also invited so-called stakeholders that included agents of the Miami Mafia. These are virulently anti-communist anti-Cuban forces that have been nurtured by the U.S. to carry out terrorist acts against Cuba ever since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. These are forces of the same ilk as those who on February 25 were caught by Cuba trying to infiltrate Cuban waters with weapons and ammunition.
The committee received briefs and heard from 11 witnesses in four one-hour sessions. In the first session on February 24, four officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, responsible for aspects of Canada's relations with Cuba, with Central America and the Caribbean and international humanitarian assistance addressed the committee, confirming the history of positive relations between Canada and Cuba. Mark Richardson, Director General, Central America and Caribbean Bureau, noted that the long-standing positive ties between the people of Cuba and of Canada have been a strong factor in Canada's economic and diplomatic relations with Cuba. Canada, he said, has provided humanitarian aid to Cuba through various partners and has pledged $8 million to help at this time when the U.S. has threatened tariffs on any country that supplies fuel to Cuba. He also noted that the U.S. blockade against Cuba has had severe negative consequences for that country.
Following the Canadian government officials, the committee heard from H.E. Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to Canada, who told the committee that Cuba rejected the latest attack by the Trump administration in the form of a fuel embargo, in addition to the illegal blockade. He informed the committee that the lack of fuel has affected "every aspect of life in the country, from food distribution to education to public health." He noted that Cuba only produces 40 per cent of its oil needs and that the objective of the U.S. President's oil blockade was clear -- " to create a humanitarian crisis and try to force regime change," citing the now declassified 1960 memorandum from U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory to that effect. The Ambassador noted that the U.S. blockade against Cuba was "collective punishment of a whole nation and an unjustifiable crime."
He emphasized that the Cuban people will resist this latest attack as they have done historically, defending their dignity and Cuba's sovereignty and independence. He called on Canada, a country that upholds positive diplomacy and international law, to continue to stand with Cuba.
The first question to the Ambassador, posed by Conservative MP Lianne Rood, was an anti-communist provocation. Claiming that there are hundreds of political prisoners in Cuba, she demanded: "When will they be released?" To their credit, other MPs on the committee pointed out that her question was out of order. Nevertheless, the Ambassador replied: "The issue of human rights in Cuba has been manipulated against Cuba. In Cuba, no one is in prison for their beliefs, but for breaking the law. No one is in jail except after being tried with due process. Many of the so-called prisoners have confessed that they are paid agents of a superpower which seeks to destroy the Cuban order." He emphasized that the Cuban Revolution has guaranteed the basic human rights of its people including free public education and health care and the end of discrimination based on race, gender and other conditions. Ambassador Malmierca said, " I have to say that the true and massive threat to human rights in Cuba is the U.S. blockade against our country."
The hearings on February 26 were dominated by agents of the Miami Mafia to promote anti-communist disinformation about Cuba. Four organizations, Citizens and Freedom, Cuban Canadian Coalition, Centre for a Free Cuba which is based in Washington, DC and the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights based in Spain, made interventions. These organizations receive funding from the counter-revolutionary U.S. National Endowment for Democracy specifically to carry out hostile activities against Cuba on behalf of the U.S.
The seven speakers for the four organizations spouted all manner of nonsense to slander the Cuban government and the Cuban revolution and portray the heroic Cuban people as pawns and victims just waiting to be freed by the U.S. According to them the over six decades of brutal economic blockade of Cuba by the U.S., condemned by the whole world, along with every manner of interference up to and including terrorist violence, have nothing to do with the humanitarian crisis in Cuba. The decades-long violent efforts of the U.S. to impose its will on the Cuban people did not merit a mention by them.
Canadian organizations that have worked for decades to strengthen the fraternal ties between the people of Canada and of Cuba, who stand with Cuba against U.S. imperialist interference and aggression and provide practical support to Cuba, were not invited to speak to the committee. As soon as they were made aware of the hearings, 11 organizations and several individuals submitted briefs to the committee. One, the brief of the Canadian Red Cross, focused on the humanitarian work of the Red Cross in Cuba.
The 10 other briefs all called on the Canadian government to take a stand against the U.S. blockade and the latest attempt to cut off all fuel to Cuba, to work with Cuban authorities to provide aid in the form of food, medicine and whatever else is needed, to restore Canadian airline flights to Cuba and to independently or with other countries ensure that Cuba receives fuel. Organizations included the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada, the Canadian Network on Cuba, the Table de concertation de solidarité Québec-Cuba, the Association d'amitié Outaouais-Cuba/Ottawa Cuba Connections, and the Association of Cubans living in Toronto Juan Gualberto Gomez. Several provided examples of what Canada can do to lend a hand, such as technical support to help repair Cuba's energy grid, mandating Canadian airlines' restoration of flights to Cuba and coordinating humanitarian efforts with Mexico and other countries.
The submissions from individuals also reminded parliamentarians that to defend Cuba is to defend Canadian sovereignty. In the words of Dr. Isaac Saney, Cuba Specialist at Dalhousie University, Halifax: "To defend Cuba today is to defend Canada. It is to defend Canada's sovereignty against extraterritorial bullying. It is to defend the right of Canadians to travel, trade, and engage freely. It is to defend international law against raw power, coercion, and the grotesque doctrine that 'might makes right.' And it is to defend a people who, despite decades of siege, continue to stand with dignity and courage. History will record, with unforgiving clarity, where we stood at this decisive moment. Canada must choose independence over subservience, principle over expediency, and humanity over cruelty."
(With files from the FAAE, National Endowment for Democracy)
This article was published in
Volume 56 Number 3 - March-April, 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/MS56037.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca