Defend Cuba's Right to Be! U.S., Hands Off Cuba!
UN Vote to End U.S. Genocidal and Illegal Blockade of Cuba
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
This year marks 61 years of the economic, financial and commercial sanctions that make up the U.S. blockade which Cuba has been forced to endure. On November 1 and 2, for the 31st year in a row, the UN General Assembly will debate and vote on a resolution prepared by Cuba that details the enormous economic and humanitarian cost of the blockade and calls on the UN member countries to support Cuba's demand that the blockade be ended immediately.
It is a certainty that the blockade will once again be overwhelmingly opposed by the peoples of the world. Only the U.S. and a few other countries, including small island nations in the Pacific that are its protectorates, or Ukraine and Israel, countries that the U.S. has armed to the teeth to serve U.S. hegemonic aims in their regions, will vote against it. Last year, the result of the vote on November 3, 2022 was 185 countries in support of the resolution, two opposed, the U.S. and Israel, and two abstentions, Brazil and Ukraine.
The U.S. and those who support its blockade and its aim to overthrow the Cuban Revolution resort to the highest of ideals, like the defence of democracy and human rights in Cuba to justify the blockade. To the contrary, the U.S. imperialists, through their blockade, are the worst violators of the human rights of the Cuban people. Cuba, despite its high degree of self-reliance and the resourcefulness, ingenuity and expertise of its people and scientific institutions, still needs to engage in trade with other countries for the things that it cannot produce itself, like any other country. By disrupting Cuba's ability to engage in trade, including international financial transactions, the rights of the Cuban people to the health care, public services, food and much more are violated, on the order of billions of dollars per year. Most profoundly, the blockade, with its aim of regime change, violates the Cuban people's right to determine their political system, as reaffirmed in the 2019 constitutional referendum.
The extensive report about the effects of the blockade prepared by Cuba and provided to UN members before the vote was presented on October 20 by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla. He quantified the cost to Cuba of the blockade in the past year as $405 million per month or $1 million every two hours. According to estimates, Cuba's Gross Domestic Product could have grown by around nine percent in 2022 if not for the blockade. Looked at in its totality of more than 60 years, the cumulative economic damage of the blockade amounts to $1.337 trillion, he added.
The Cuban Foreign Minister went on to say that the blockade has a lethal impact with direct and indirect economic damage and aims to deprive the country of financial income that is essential to acquire food, technologies, and supplies, and also causes losses in tourism. He added that due to that policy, 909 discriminatory actions to cancel contracts and services by foreign banks were taken against Cuba from January 2021 to February 2023.
Rodríguez recalled that during the most critical times of the COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba, the U.S. tightened the blockade, a position that he described as a cruel and genocidal act.
This year's vote on the blockade takes place in the context of the U.S.-backed Zionist genocide of the Palestinian people. One need look no further than the unfolding developments in Palestine to see the depravity and disregard for human life of the U.S. and their close collaborators who support the U.S. in its blockade of Cuba. This same depravity and inhumanity also characterizes the U.S. blockade on Cuba.
The U.S. unjust inclusion of Cuba on its so-called State Sponsors of Terrorism List is part of the sanctions regime against Cuba, that tellingly does not include a country like Israel whose state terrorism is responsible for the wholesale slaughter of thousands of Palestinians in just a few weeks. Yet it is Cuba that is included on this spurious list, while time and time again this small country sends its health care, humanitarian and educational workers around the world to uphold the peoples' rights and humanity. A petition campaign on the website LetCubaLive.info that continues until December 10, International Human Rights Day, calls on everyone to get one million signatures to submit to U.S. President Joe Biden in support of Cuba's removal from this list.
An article posted on the website CubavsBloqueo.cu explains that Cuba's inclusion on this list heightens the "risk associated with any kind of humanitarian aid, business, investment, and trade that involves Cuba, and by extension, Cuban citizens." It goes on to give the following examples of how Cubans are affected:
- Cubans with Spanish citizenship have had their Electronic System for Travel Authorization visa waiver to the United States canceled or denied.
- Cubans residing in the European Union have been denied bank accounts or have had existing accounts frozen since their nationality makes them "high-risk" clients.
- Some universities in the United States are barred from supporting research or other work by Cuban artists, writers, academics, activists, and journalists who reside on the island.
- Faith-based groups have had funds frozen and humanitarian supplies shipments blocked.
- People attempting to make a PayPal or Wise money transfer to family in Cuba may have their funds frozen and accounts locked.
The article then explains that Cuba's inclusion on this list means that banks, financial institutions, international vendors, groups seeking to provide aid are all wary of carrying out financial transactions with Cuba because the U.S. could accuse them of abetting terror and impose massive fines, among other punitive measures.
CPC(M-L) sends its warmest congratulations to the Cuban people, their leadership and its diplomatic staff at the UN for what is sure to be another decisive international rejection of the U.S. blockade.
Every year, the victory at the UN is indicative of not only the outrageous and criminal nature of the blockade, but the skill with which each year's resolution is so irrefutably presented, rendering U.S. imperialist disinformation ineffective, and ensuring that even close allies of the U.S. cannot be seen to be supporting the blockade.
The broad international support Cuba receives every year is also indicative of the tremendous prestige that Cuba commands due its unparalleled internationalism and its principled defence of the UN and its Charter, procedures and bodies, and the rule of international law.
The victory also belongs to the international solidarity movement which plays an important role to build people-to-people links with Cuba and influence the foreign policy of their countries to uphold friendly and cooperative relations with Cuba.
Cuba and what it represents to the peoples of the world stand in stark contrast to the isolation of the U.S. on the world stage and the condemnation of its foreign policy of dictate, blackmail and brutality by the nations of the world.
This victory at the UN lends important moral authority to all those who stand with Cuba and oppose U.S. imperialist dictate that might makes right and gives impetus to the work to bring the blockade to an end, once and for all.
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 10 - October 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/M5301022.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca