The War on Cuba -Episode 6
US Summit: Democracy and Sanctions
Nora Fernandez
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Monday, November 15, 2021
Julio Fonseca, CTV interview November 15th, 2021.
Juan Guadalberto Gomez, Asociacion de Cubanos, in Toronto
| jfonseca@rogers.com sent you CTV interview Nov!5 | |
| 1 item, 131 MB in total ・ Expires on 22 November, 2021 | |
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The War on Cuba — Episode 5
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Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and the Cuban people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIp_yg_Drog&t=456s
Canada must uphold the Right of Self-Determination
U.S. Prepares New Attack On Cuba: Canada Must Uphold the Right of Self-Determination!
-Isaac Saney, CNC Spokesperson, November 10, 2021-
The Canadian Network On Cuba is confident that the Cuban people will overcome any challenges posed by U.S. imperialism as they continue marching on the path of independence, sovereignty, social justice, self-determination, and human dignity.
On November 15th a series of U.S. orchestrated and financed provocations are planned against Cuba with the explicit aim of subverting the island’s constitutional order, so as to create a pretext for the intensification of the U.S. economic war and justify possible military intervention. The Canadian Network On Cuba (CNC) denounces Washington’s campaign of destabilization and subversion against the sovereign government of Cuba. These efforts to bring about so-called “regime change” are a flagrant, blatant, and unconscionable violation of the right of self-determination of the people of Cuba.
The CNC re-affirms the inalienable right of all peoples and countries to determine their future and their political, economic, and social system without external interference. This right is enshrined in, inter alia, the United Nations Charter, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-Operation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
The U.S. government openly funnels millions upon millions of dollars to so-called opposition figures with the sole aim of destabilizing and undermining Cuban society. These figures openly fraternize and collaborate with U.S. officials, choosing to cavort and cooperate with a regime that sets as its explicit goal the asphyxiation of the Cuban people, the extinguishing of Cuba’s independence and the overturning of the immense social achievements of the Cuban Revolution
Washington's frenzied efforts to organize the overthrow of the Cuban Revolution has nothing to do with genuine solidarity with the Cuban people or democracy, but all to do with negating and extinguishing Cuba's independence and turning back the wheel of history by reasserting U.S. control and tutelage over that proud and heroic island nation.
It is no coincidence that the planned November 15th provocations occur on the exact day Cuba reopens its tourist industry, a key to its recovery from the economic crisis that has gripped the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuba’s reopening is due to the island’ nation's Ministry of Health bringing the corona virus under control through immense dedication and effort. At the heart of this successful battle is a mass inoculation campaign using the Cuban developed vaccines - Soberana 02, Soberana Plus and Abdala.
Cuba’s successful vaccines are a direct challenge to the west's monopoly over this vital medical technology, especially as these vaccines continue receiving international recognition. As part of Washington’s unabated war, the November 15th provocations may be designed not only to sabotage Cuba’s economy but also to divert attention from its success in creating effective vaccines that Havana is prepared to make available to the world.
In Canada, this relentless U.S. destabilization campaign has been aided and abetted by a malicious and scurrilous anti-Cuba disinformation campaign of the Canadian so-called "mainstream media", especially the CBC. Abandoning all pretence to journalistic objectivity, standards and ethics, the CBC is engaged in outright deception based on spurious and misleading sources, and the promotion of blatant falsehoods about Cuba. It has seemingly become an unapologetic extension of the propaganda arm of the U.S. State Department, ostensibly placing itself at the behest of U.S. counter-revolutionary and anti-Cuba agencies and forces.
If the CBC is truly interested in the human rights and well-being of the people of Cuba, then it should unequivocally and unambiguously expose the U.S. economic war and aggressions against Cuba. Instead, it seems determined to bring about a rupture in Canada-Cuba relations, so that Ottawa unabashedly mirrors Washington.
Canadians reject this shameful and naked alignment with the criminal U.S. war against Cuba. Thousands of Canadian citizens and residents have declared that Cuba is not alone by signing parliamentary petitions condemning Washington’s economic war and campaign of subversion, and calling on the government of Canada to take concrete and meaningful steps in opposing the U.S. war on Cuba.
It bears underscoring that on June 23rd, for the 29th consecutive time, the global community overwhelmingly stood with Cuba, voting 184 to 2 in the United Nations General Assembly, resoundingly repudiating the U.S. economic war against Cuba as a flagrant violation of international law.
Since the early 1960s, the Government of the United States has imposed on Cuba the longest lasting regime of sanctions in history. It would not be an exaggeration to describe Washington’s policy as an economic war against the people of Cuba. U.S. economic sanctions - an economic blockade - constitute the principal obstacle to Cuba’s social and economic development; the cost to the heroic island-nation has been and is immense: more than $130 billion.
Under U.S. President Donald Trump, the economic war against Cuba reached unprecedented levels with 243 distinct and vindictive measures targeted against the island nation. The administration of President Joseph Biden has continued this unrelenting economic war against Cuba.
Cuba is under siege. The goal is to starve the Cuban people into submission by suffocating the economy for the purpose of generating shortages and hardships that would lead to Washington's longed-for massive social unrest that would then serve as a pretext to intervene in Cuba.
This was unambiguously articulated by Lester D. Mallory, Vice Secretary of State, and an architect of U.S. Cuba policy. He wrote in a now-declassified U.S. State Department April 6, 1960, memorandum:
"The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship...every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba...denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."
These latest attempts of destabilization are the continuation of this war against Cuba. The aim is to reimpose U.S. domination, hegemony and tutelage.
In the face of these provocations, Cuba has the right under international law to defend itself against the aggressions and machinations of an external power and their acolytes.
What is it that Washington seeks to destroy? What is the society that the U.S. government is so zealously committed to undermining? It is a society where universal education and healthcare, housing, food and access to culture are fundamental human rights, and the state - within its limited resources - does its utmost to transform these aspirations into reality. Indeed, in Cuba there are no homeless children roaming the streets eking out an existence in a dog-eat-dog society.
The annual United Nations Human Development Report (HDR) repeatedly confirms the advances and progress of Cuba. Moreover, Cuba ranks 1st in terms of the relationship between economic means and capacity for human development. Thus, in the effective use of resources for human benefit, Cuba out-performs the much richer countries of the so-called "developed world".
It is internationalist Cuba which has selflessly dispatched tens of thousands of medical personnel to dozens of countries across the world to fight disease, be it Ebola or Covid-19.
This is the society that Cubans are defending. Whatever the flaws and shortcomings, whatever the errors and miss-steps, it is up to the people of Cuba and the people of Cuba alone - not any foreign power or their surrogates - to determine Cuba's political, social and economic arrangements.
The CNC expresses its resolute solidarity with and support for the Cuban people and their Revolution as they defend themselves against the latest act of all-sided aggression launched by the U.S. government.
We call on the Canadian government to live up to its obligations under the UN Charter, other international legal treaties, and its responsibilities as a member of the international community by denouncing and condemning the continuing US aggression against Cuba.
Millions of Canadians have travelled to Cuba and come away with a profound respect and admiration for the people of Cuba. Irrespective of their political or ideological positions, Canadians stand for the building of genuine friendship with the island nation: relations based on mutual respect, equality, and recognition of Cuba’s right to self-determination and sovereignty
Estados Unidos prepara nuevo ataque contra Cuba:
¡Canadá debe defender el derecho a la autodeterminación!
-Isaac Saney, Portavoz de CNC,
10 de noviembre de 2021-
El próximo 15 de noviembre se planean una serie de provocaciones orquestadas y financiadas por Estados Unidos contra Cuba con el objetivo explícito de subvertir el orden constitucional de la isla, a fin de crear un pretexto para la intensificación de la guerra económica estadounidense y justificar una posible intervención militar. La Red Canadiense por Cuba (CNC) denuncia la campaña de desestabilización y subversión de Washington contra el gobierno soberano de Cuba. Estos esfuerzos para lograr el llamado “cambio de régimen” son una violación flagrante e inconcebible del derecho a la autodeterminación del pueblo de Cuba.
La CNC reafirma el derecho inalienable de todos los pueblos y países a determinar su futuro y su sistema político, económico y social sin injerencias externas. Este derecho está consagrado, entre otros, en la Carta de las Naciones Unidas, el Pacto Internacional de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales, el Pacto Internacional de Derechos Civiles y Políticos y en la Declaración sobre los principios de derecho internacional relativos a las relaciones de amistad y cooperación entre los Estados, conforme a la Carta de las Naciones Unidas.
El gobierno de Estados Unidos canaliza abiertamente millones y millones de dólares a las llamadas “figuras de la oposición” con el único objetivo de desestabilizar y socavar la sociedad cubana. Estas figuras fraternizan abiertamente y colaboran con funcionarios estadounidenses, cooperando con un régimen que tiene como objetivo explícito asfixiar al pueblo cubano, terminar con la independencia de Cuba y revertir los inmensos logros sociales de la Revolución Cubana.
Los frenéticos esfuerzos de Washington para organizar el derrocamiento de la Revolución Cubana no tienen nada que ver con la solidaridad genuina con el pueblo cubano o con la democracia, se trata de negar y extinguir la independencia de Cuba, de hacer retroceder la rueda de la historia reafirmando el control y la tutela de Estados Unidos sobre esa nación insular, orgullosa, heroica.
No es casualidad que las provocaciones previstas para el 15 de noviembre se produzcan el día exacto en que Cuba reabre su industria turística, clave para su recuperación de la crisis económica que se ha apoderado del mundo durante la pandemia del COVID-19. La reapertura de Cuba es el resultado de los esfuerzos del Ministerio de Salud de la nación isleña que ha controlado la pandemia mediante inmensa dedicación y esfuerzo. En el corazón mismo de esta batalla exitosa está la campaña de inoculación masiva con vacunas desarrolladas en Cuba: Soberana 02, Soberana Plus y Abdala.
Las exitosas vacunas de Cuba son un desafío directo al monopolio occidental sobre esta tecnología médica vital, especialmente a medida que estas vacunas continúan recibiendo reconocimiento internacional. Como parte de la guerra incesante de Washington, las provocaciones del 15 de noviembre tal vez estén diseñadas no solo para sabotear la economía de Cuba, sino también para desviar la atención de su éxito en la creación de vacunas eficaces que La Habana está dispuesta a poner a disposición del mundo entero.
En Canadá, esta implacable campaña de desestabilización de Estados Unidos ha sido ayudada e instigada a través de una campaña de desinformación anticubana maliciosa y difamatoria de los llamados "medios dominantes" canadienses, en especial la CBC. Abandonando toda pretensión de objetividad periodística, normas y ética, la CBC está involucrada en un engaño absoluto basado en fuentes falsas y engañosas y en la promoción de falsedades flagrantes sobre Cuba. Aparentemente se ha convertido en una extensión descarada del brazo propagandístico del Departamento de Estado de los EE. UU., aparentemente al servicio de Agencias y fuerzas estadounidenses contrarrevolucionarias y anticubanas.
Si la CBC está realmente interesada en los derechos humanos y el bienestar del pueblo de Cuba, entonces debería exponer de manera inequívoca, clara y rotunda, la guerra económica y las agresiones de Estados Unidos contra Cuba. Por el contrario, parece decidida a provocar una ruptura en las relaciones entre Canadá y Cuba, de modo que Ottawa refleje descaradamente a Washington.
Los canadienses rechazan esta alineación vergonzosa y desnuda con la criminal guerra de Estados Unidos contra Cuba. Miles de ciudadanos y residentes canadienses han declarado que Cuba no está sola al firmar peticiones parlamentarias condenando la guerra económica y la campaña de subversión de Washington, y pidiendo al gobierno de Canadá que tome medidas concretas y significativas para oponerse a la guerra de Estados Unidos contra Cuba.
Vale la pena subrayar que el 23 de junio, por vigésima novena vez consecutiva, la comunidad mundial apoyó abrumadoramente a Cuba, votando 184 a 2 en la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas, repudiando rotundamente la guerra económica de Estados Unidos contra Cuba como una flagrante violación del derecho internacional.
Desde principios de la década de 1960, el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos ha impuesto a Cuba el régimen de sanciones más duradero de la historia. No es exagerado describir la política de Washington como una guerra económica contra el pueblo de Cuba. Las sanciones económicas de Estados Unidos - un bloqueo económico - constituyen el principal obstáculo para el desarrollo social y económico de Cuba; el costo para la heroica nación-isla ha sido y es inmenso: más de $ 130 mil millones de dólares.
Bajo la gestión del presidente de Estados Unidos Donald Trump, la guerra económica contra Cuba alcanzó niveles sin precedentes, con 243 medidas específicas y vengativas dirigidas contra la nación isleña. La administración del presidente Joseph Biden ha continuado esta implacable guerra económica contra Cuba.
Cuba está sitiada. El objetivo es lograr que el pueblo cubano se someta por hambre, se sofoca la economía con el propósito de generar carencias y penurias que lleven al ansiado desasosiego social masivo que luego serviría a Washington de pretexto para intervenir en Cuba.
Esto fue articulado sin ambigüedades por Lester D. Mallory, subsecretario de Estado y arquitecto de la política estadounidense hacia Cuba. Mallory escribió en un memorando del 6 de abril de 1960 del Departamento de Estado de EE. UU. ahora desclasificado, lo siguiente:
"El único medio previsible de terminar con el apoyo interno es a través del desencanto y el descontento basados en la insatisfacción y las dificultades económicas ... deben tomarse rápidamente todas las medidas posibles para debilitar la vida económica de Cuba ...negar dinero y suministros a Cuba, disminuir el valor monetario y real de los salarios, provocar hambre, desesperación y el derrocamiento del gobierno. "
Estos últimos intentos de desestabilización son la continuación de esta guerra contra Cuba. El objetivo es volver a imponer la dominación, la hegemonía y la tutela de Estados Unidos.
Frente a estas provocaciones, Cuba tiene derecho, bajo las normas del derecho internacional, de defenderse de las agresiones y maquinaciones de una potencia externa y sus acólitos.
¿Qué es lo que Washington busca destruir? ¿Cuál es la sociedad que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos está tan celosamente comprometido en socavar? Se trata de una sociedad donde la educación y la atención médica universal, la vivienda, la alimentación y el acceso a la cultura son derechos humanos fundamentales, y el Estado, dentro de sus limitados recursos, hace todo lo posible para transformar estas aspiraciones en realidad. De hecho, en Cuba no hay niños sin hogar deambulando por las calles ganándose la vida a duras penas en una sociedad despiadada.
El Informe sobre Desarrollo Humano (IDH) anual de las Naciones Unidas confirma repetidamente los avances y progresos de Cuba. Más aún, Cuba ocupa el primer lugar en cuanto a la relación entre medios económicos y capacidad de desarrollo humano. Así, en el uso efectivo de los recursos para beneficio humano, Cuba supera a los países mucho más ricos del llamado "mundo desarrollado".
Es la Cuba internacionalista la que ha enviado desinteresadamente decenas de miles de personal médico a decenas de países de todo el mundo para luchar contra la enfermedad, ya sea Ébola o Covid-19.
Esta es la sociedad que defienden los cubanos. Cualesquiera sean las fallas y deficiencias, cualesquiera sean los errores y pasos equivocados, depende del pueblo de Cuba y solo del pueblo de Cuba – y no de potencia extranjera alguna, o sus sustitutos- determinar los arreglos políticos, sociales y económicos de Cuba.
La Red Canadiense por Cuba expresa su decidida solidaridad y apoyo al pueblo cubano y a su Revolución en su defensa contra este último acto de agresión general lanzado por el gobierno de Estados Unidos.
Hacemos un llamado al gobierno canadiense para que cumpla con sus obligaciones bajo la Carta de la Naciones Unidas y otros tratados legales internacionales y con sus responsabilidades como miembro de la comunidad internacional denunciando y condenando la continua agresión estadounidense contra Cuba.
Millones de canadienses han viajado a Cuba y vuelven con un profundo respeto y admiración por el pueblo de Cuba. Independientemente de sus posiciones políticas o ideológicas, los canadienses defienden la construcción de una amistad genuina con la nación isleña: relaciones basadas en el respeto mutuo, la igualdad y el reconocimiento del derecho de Cuba a la autodeterminación y soberanía.
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Cuban President live:
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Canadian Network on Cuba:
Hands Off Cuba! No to the U.S. War on Cuba!
-Isaac Saney, Spokesperson, Canadian Network On Cuba, July 12, 2021 -
The Canadian Network On Cuba condemns the manipulation of the July 11 events in Cuba by reactionary politicians and the monopoly media in order to create a climate of disinformation and confusion that will be used to justify so-called humanitarian intervention in the heroic island nation.
Specifically, we denounce the U.S. ongoing economic war and campaign of subversion against Cuba. Washington's hand in orchestrating the protests is undeniable. It is quite revealing that at the exact time the protests were occurring in Cuba, simultaneous demonstrations were organized at Cuban embassies and consulates in cities across the world.
The U.S. government has openly funneled millions upon millions of dollars to so-called opposition figures with the sole aim of destabilising and undermining Cuban society. The leaders of the protests openly fraternize and collaborate with U.S. officials, choosing to cavort and cooperate with a regime that sets as its explicit goal the asphyxiation of the Cuban people, the extinguishing of Cuba’s independence and the overturning of the immense social achievements of the Cuban Revolution.
The criminal, illegal and immoral U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba are designed to strangle and starve the people of Cuba. The goal is to suffocate the Cuban economy for the purpose of generating shortages and hardships that would lead to Washington's longed-for massive social unrest that would then serve as a pretext to intervene in Cuba. This is at the heart of the more than 60-year U.S. economic and subversive war against Cuba, the longest lasting regime of sanctions in history,
Lester D. Mallory, Vice Secretary of State, wrote in a now-declassified U.S. State Department April 6, 1960, memo"
"The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship...every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba...denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."
On June 23, for the 29th consecutive time, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly rejected the U.S. economic war against Cuba by a vote of 184 to 2.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the face of international condemnation of its war on Cuba, Washington has not only maintained the cruel and vindictive economic, financial and commercial blockade of Cuba but has also imposed additional punitive measures, severely limiting the island nation’s access to equipment and other necessary items required to preserve the health of Cubans. Despite these daunting challenges, Cuba has one of the lowest COVID-19 fatality rates - 0.65% - in the world.
Poignantly, despite this incessant and unceasing war, Cuba has been if not the global leader in the fight against COVID-19, one of the leaders who has contributed in the most self-sacrificing manner. Almost 4,000 Cuban medical personnel have participated and are participating in at least 39 countries and territories on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus. They are deployed in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In recognition of its heroic deeds, Cuba’s internationalist medical contingent – the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade against Disasters and Serious Epidemics – has received numerous nominations for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
Moreover, Cuba has developed its own vaccines for the coronavirus: a direct challenge to the west's monopoly over this vital medical technology. Indeed, as one Cuban resident surmised, the protests may have been timed "to take international attention away from the fact that Cuba now has an official Covid vaccine which is comparatively low cost to make, doesn't require complex technology and comes from a country which, after its own population is vaccinated, wants nothing more than to make it available to the world."
These latest attempts to destabilize Cuba are the continuation of the war waged against Cuba since the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, which overthrew the U.S.-backed police state of Fulgencio Batista. The aim is to reimpose U.S. domination, hegemony and tutelage over Cuba and control the entire Caribbean, Central and South America.
The Canadian Network On Cuba (CNC) expresses its resolute solidarity with and support for the Cuban people and their Revolution as they defend themselves against the latest act of all-sided aggression launched by the U.S. government against the island.
The CNC further reaffirms the inalienable, inviolable and inextinguishable right of the people of Cuba – and all other peoples – to determine their future and their political, economic and social system on their own terms without external interference from any source: a right enshrined in the United Nations Charter and numerous other international treaties, covenants and legal instruments.
We call on the Canadian government to live up to its obligations under the UN Charter, the OAS Charter, international law and its responsibilities as a member of the international community by denouncing and condemning the continuing US aggression against Cuba.
On RT: Danny Shaw professor from CUNY debating Michael Flanagan
Sign CNC Parliamentary e-petition against Economic War against Cuba!
Read below and sign here:
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
The blockade asphyxiates and kills, just like the virus, and must end!
Address by the minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodriguez to present draft resolution “Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.” New York, June 23. 2021
june 24, 2021 17:06:05
Your Excellency Mr. Chairman;
Your Excellencies Permanent Representatives;
Delegates;
In 2020, Cuba, like the rest of the world, was faced with the singular challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. administration took on the virus as an ally in its merciless non-conventional war; it deliberately and opportunistically stepped up the economic, commercial and financial blockade, bringing about losses for the country in the amount of around 5 billion dollars.
President Donald Trump implemented 243 unilateral coercive measures to restrict the visit of U.S. travelers and harm third tourist markets; adopted wartime measures to deprive us from fuel supplies; hounded the health services we provide in many countries; increased harassment against commercial and financial transactions in other markets, and set its mind to intimidate foreign investors and commercial entities with the application of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.
It also prevented regular and institutional flow of remittances to Cuban families; deal a harsh blow to the self-employed or private sector, and hindered relations with Cubans living in the United States and family reunification.
All these measures remain very much in place and implemented today and, paradoxically, are shaping the conduct of the current U.S. administration precisely during the months in which Cuba has experienced the highest infection rates, the highest death toll, and a higher economic cost associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The campaign platform of the Democratic Party promised voters a speedy reversal of the actions taken by Donald Trump’s Administration, particularly the removal of restrictions regarding travel and remittances to Cuba and compliance with the bilateral migratory agreements, including the granting of visas.
Evidence shows that a large majority of U.S. citizens support the lifting of the blockade and their freedom to travel to the island, and that Cubans living in this country want normal relations and wellbeing for their families.
Some blame this baneful inertia on the electoral ambitions associated with Florida or on far-from-transparent balances of political and legislative elites in Washington.
What do those who voted for President Joseph Biden think about what is going on?
Mr. President;
The human damage caused by the blockade cannot be measured. No Cuban family is spared from the effects of this inhuman policy. Nobody could honestly state that it has no actual impact on the population.
In the health field, impossibility to access equipment, technology, devices, treatments and ideal drugs that cannot be procured from U.S. companies and must be obtained at skyrocketing prices through intermediaries or replaced by less effective generic drugs, even for sick newly born and children, persists.
But now, the sly blow to our finances and COVID-19- related expenses, which amount to 2 billion pesos and 300 million dollars, also cause shortages or lack of medicaments for use in hospitals that make the difference between life and death, as well as difficulties for persons to buy in time the insulin, antibiotics, pain killers, and drugs for blood pressure, allergy and other chronic disease treatments.
Cuba sought to protect everyone against the virus; it activated its sound and universal health system; relied on the dedication, willingness to sacrifice and high qualification of its personnel; mobilized its scientists and its world class biopharmaceutical industry, and harnessed the unambiguous support and consensus of the people, particularly of the youth and students, who volunteered to work in the red zones and on epidemiological screening.
That was why we succeeded in developing highly effective domestic protocols to treat both COVID-19 confirmed and under investigation cases; creating conditions to hospitalize all confirmed cases; ensuring the sustainability of intensive care services, institutional isolation of contacts of confirmed cases and free access to PCR or antigen tests; as well as commissioning molecular biology labs in all provinces of the country.
When the blockade cruelly prevented the supply of ventilators, Cuba developed its domestic production with its own prototypes.
All this effort by the nation has enabled us to maintain a comparatively low case fatality rate throughout the pandemic, particularly among our health personnel, infants, children, and pregnant women.
It is remarkable that a small island subjected to a blockade has been able to produce 5 vaccine candidates and apply 3 of them −in intervention studies or sanitary interventions− to 2,244,350 Cubans with at least one shot and plans to immunize 70% of the population during this summer and the whole population before the end of the year, despite the fact that the blockade is seriously hampering the industrial scale-up of vaccine production.
This illustrates the results of putting science to the service of the people as well as the effectiveness of civil service.
When the slanderous campaign of the U.S. administration against our medical cooperation was intensified amidst the pandemic, Cuba sent 57 specialized brigades of the “Henry Reeve International Contingent” to 40 countries or territories, in addition to the over 28,000 health professionals already providing services in 59 nations.
The blockade also deprives the national industry of the funds to procure required inputs for the production of food −causing a drop in pork production− and other goods.
Food imports from the United States are under strict licenses and discriminatory conditions. Their small levels, on the other hand, do not compare to the enormous toll exacted on our finances by the blockade and the effects of its extraterritorial application in third markets.
I bear witness to the suffering and distress that shortage of and instability in the supply of essential and basic goods causes in Cuban households, visible in the long lines that weigh down Cubans every day amidst the pandemic.
The measures to step up the blockade amidst the pandemic and under the global economic crisis also have a decisive impact on the shortage of supplies in stores, inflation or soaring prices, despite the strenuous efforts of the government.
As Army General Raul Castro stated last April 16, and I quote: “the damage caused by these measures to the living standards of the population is not accidental or the result of collateral effects; it is the result of a deliberate purpose to punish the Cuban people as a whole”, end of quote.
The blockade is a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of the Cuban people as a whole that, pursuant to Article II c) of the Geneva Convention of 1948, constitutes an act of genocide.
Mr. President;
U.S. authorities have cynically tried to plant the idea of the failure of our system and the ineffectiveness of the Cuban government; that the coercive measures do not affect the people nor are actually a significant factor for the difficulties faced by the domestic economy.
But let us review the data. From April 2019 to December 2020, the damages caused by the blockade amounted to over 9.1 billion dollars at current prices, an average of 436 million dollars per month. During the last five years, losses due to the blockade exceeded the amount of 17 billion dollars. At current prices, the accumulated damages in six decades amount to over 147.8 billion dollars, and against the price of gold, it amounts to over 1.3 trillion dollars.
Last June 10, our banking and financial system was compelled to temporarily suspend the acceptance of cash deposits in US dollars. This is an inevitable measure in the wake of the obstacles created by the blockade to dispose of or give use value to that currency, a step we would have wanted to avoid but could not be put off any longer.
This is an extraterritorial economic war against a small country, already affected by the recession and global economic crisis caused by the pandemic that has deprived us of much needed revenues, as the ones derived from tourism.
As President Miguel Diaz-Canel stated on April 19, and I quote: “nobody with an ounce of honesty and publicly available economic data can disregard the fact that this siege is the main obstacle to the country’s development and in our quest for prosperity and wellbeing”, end of quote.
I wonder what would happen in other economies, including those of rich countries, if subjected to similar conditions. What would be the social and political repercussions?
Mr. President;
The blockade is a politically motivated act, clearly described in the infamous memorandum of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory, dated April 6, 1960, and I quote:
“Every possible means should be immediately used to weaken the economic life… denying Cuba funds and supplies to reduce nominal and real salaries with the objective of provoking hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the government,” end of quote.
It is maliciously complemented by a fierce campaign of political interference in the internal affairs with subversive programs to which the US Administration allocates every year tens of millions of dollars from the federal budget and additional amounts from covert funds. The purpose is to create political and social instability amidst the economic difficulties created by the same US Administration.
They reckon that if they subject the Cuban population to hardships and promote artificial leaders who incite to chaos and instability, they could create a virtual political movement in digital networks to be later transposed into the real world.
They invest considerable resources, social labs and high-tech tools in a frenzied campaign aimed at discrediting Cuba with shameless lies and the manipulation of information. They unleash a renewed McCarthyism, ideological intolerance and brutal attack against those who uphold the truth.
Some even dream about provoking social chaos, disorder, violence and death in Cuba. It is no surprise, since this is a political weapon already used against other countries with fatal consequences.
A few rave about provoking an irregular and uncontrolled migratory flow from Cuba to the United States. This is a dangerous bet about which we have warned the US government, who has the legal and moral obligation to honor the migratory agreements, particularly regarding the granting of visas. This is a sensitive issue that costs lives.
Mr. President;
The states here represented are a victim of the extraterritorial effect of the blockade that infringes upon their sovereignty, violates their domestic legislations, subjects them to U.S. Court rulings and are detrimental to the interests of their companies wishing to maintain relations with both countries, all of which is contrary to international law.
It is neither legal nor ethical for the government of a power to wage an endless economic war against a small nation, for decades, in order to impose an alien political system and a government design by it. Depriving the population of an entire nation of its right to peace, development, wellbeing and human progress is unacceptable.
The fact that the U.S. government has ignored for 28 years the successive resolutions of this democratic and representative United Nations General Assembly is unacceptable and inadmissible.
In September 2000, Comandante en jefe Fidel Castro pointed out at this very rostrum, and I quote: “It is high time to strongly state that the principle of sovereignty cannot be sacrificed for the sake of an unjust and exploiting order in which an hegemonic superpower can decide everything on the basis of its power and strength,” end of quote.
Cuba’s demand is to be allowed to live in peace, with no blockade, and no persecution of our commercial and financial relations with the rest of the world.
We demand an end to the manipulations, discrimination, and obstacles that disrupt relations between Cubans living in the United States and their relatives in Cuba and with the country where they were born. We acknowledge the efforts of those who, in this time of trial, have maintained their communication with and support to their families in the island in the wake of hate and political persecution.
Many pragmatically argue –even within the U.S. Administration− that the blockade should be ended because it is an ineffective and anachronistic policy that has not and will not achieve its purpose and has ended discrediting and isolating the United States.
Manipulating the fight against terrorism for political and electoral purposes is also unacceptable.
In January this year, 9 days before the current administration took office, President Trump’s administration included Cuba in an arbitrary and unilateral list of States that allegedly sponsor international terrorism and which has serious consequences in the global financial system.
No one can honestly argue that Cuba is a country which sponsors terrorism! No one! Recent disclosures expose the latest pretext to ridicule.
Nonetheless, last May 14, the State Department once again classified Cuba as a country that does not cooperate enough with U.S. counter-terrorism efforts, just as was done in 2020 during the previous administration.
Cuba has been the victim of terrorist acts organized, financed and executed by the U.S. government or from this country’s territor, which have taken the lives of 3,478 Cubans and caused disabilities to another 2,099. There is overwhelming evidence of our attempts to cooperate and of effective cooperation between the two countries’ agencies in recent years.
Our stand on terrorism is well known. We fully condemn such practices in whatever form or manifestation whatsoever.
Mr. President;
As our sovereign decision and for the good of the nation, Cuba has for several years been involved in an ongoing process to update our model and our socialist state of law and social justice, supported by the vast majority of the citizens in a free, direct and universal referendum.
This is a highly complex and challenging endeavor under any circumstances, but even more difficult under the persistent hostility of U.S. imperialism, which will in no way stop us or crush the will of present and future Cuban generations.
We deeply appreciate the solidarity aid of our fellow countrymen and of the friends of Cuba in many parts of the world, who we greatly cherish, including those that with great effort, given the opposition of the government, have arrived from the United States.
We are encouraged by the support received from thousands of persons around the world who have gathered to demand the U.S. government to put an end to the blockade. Many Cubans who uphold the solitary star flag even here in this country have been among the protagonists of these actions.
On behalf of my country and its honorable and generous people that resists and heroically advances, I submit draft resolution A/75/L.97 “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” to your consideration.
The blockade asphyxiates and kills, just like the virus and must end!
Homeland or Death! We shall prevail!
Thank you.
________________________________________________
No more blockades!
No more blockades!
We need medical brigades
It’s inhumane to block the needles
Vaccines for the people!
See how power does its evil
See how power is illegal
War is their cathedral
And their actions are so lethal
No CIA to come invade
It’s time to end this U.S.-led charade
We stand with Cuba unafraid!
We shout out, end the blockade!
They put Cuba on the list
But we all know the real terrorists
The ones who oppress the poor
And make economic war
For 60 years or more
Violating international law
The hypocrisy’s extreme
We’ll sell arms to oil regimes
We’ll fund the corporate machine
And we’ll never intervene
As Palestinians scream
Our morality’s so select
“Responsibility to protect”
Protect the colonial project!
The wealth of the one percent
And the people can’t collect on any of this check
Nah, they want their boot stuck on your neck
While your children die in debt
So you can be a black site prison
A servant for tourism
You can work in sweatshop conditions
They can dump their ammunition
And they won’t brook any opposition
When the people have a vision
When the people have a mission
When the people are physicians
When the people are musicians
When the people are technicians
So they’ll strangle their nutrition
For the crime of giving back the land
For the crime of kicking out the banks
For the crime of taking money from the hands
Of corrupt politicians and their gangs
And we all know who gets paid
Which is why they’re so dismayed
As our people live in tents under bridges and highways
You see they’re scared of an outbreak
Not of Covid but of rage
From the cashiers and the janitors and drivers and the maids
So they have to keep Cuba contained
And that’s why they stop the trade
Because the people disobeyed
Because their spirit wouldn’t fade
Revolution’s a grenade
In the minds of the enslaved
Just ask Mandela why he raised his fist
And shouted Viva Cuba Libre!
And that’s why they follow this crusade
But the people won’t be played
And justice may be delayed
But the chickens always roost and the beds are always laid
And the truth won’t be betrayed!
We stand with Cuba unafraid!
And that’s why the world is shouting, end the U.S. blockade!
Hypocrites, the hypocrites
Can’t stand Cubans literate
They want resources stripped
Their greed is infinite
But you see how we resist
And not just resist but keep on dreaming
Doctors sent to tend our health across the Caribbean
2000 Cuban lives laid down for South African Freedom
Neoliberalism don’t want you to know there’s another way of being
While our own people are freezing
Hitting up against the ceiling
They’re so busy starving Cuban babies of the calories they’re needing
While they sit on all the profits the pharma companies are thieving
But they still can’t stop the teaching
Equality’s what we’re feeding
We can do without new Jordans if everyone is eating
They just don’t want Black people breathing
Colonialism keeps us bleeding
And that’s why Che Guevara is still gathering believers
And that’s why Fidel’s Revolution never will be sleeping
And that’s why they won’t succeed to ever crush the lives they’re squeezing
No more working in the heat while they’re resting in the shade
No more fighting over scraps while they run the whole buffet
And no more scrambling like a dog to lick the boots of USA
We should address the genocide of Indigenous people our own country made
Instead of preying on an island with people living day to day
All for some right wing exiles in Miami cause they have a lighter shade
Your moral authority has long ago been drained
And there’s another Revolution somewhere already taking shape
And that’s why we’re tearing down your statues and the symbols of your hate
And that’s why we stand with Cuba and our reckoning won’t wait
Because the debt the world owes Cuba will never be repaid
And that’s why the world is shouting end the blockade!
No more pointless suffering over this masquerade
Justice for the Cuban people, end the blockade!
It’s inhumane to block the needles
Vaccines for the people!
See how power does its evil
See how power is illegal
War is their cathedral
And their actions are so lethal
No CIA to come invade
It’s time to end this U.S.-led charade
We stand with Cuba unafraid!
We shout out, end the blockade!
They put Cuba on the list
But we all know the real terrorists
The ones who oppress the poor
And make economic war
For 60 years or more
Violating international law
The hypocrisy’s extreme
We’ll sell arms to oil regimes
We’ll fund the corporate machine
And we’ll never intervene
As Palestinians scream
Our morality’s so select
“Responsibility to protect”
Protect the colonial project!
The wealth of the one percent
And the people can’t collect on any of this check
Nah, they want their boot stuck on your neck
While your children die in debt
So you can be a black site prison
A servant for tourism
You can work in sweatshop conditions
They can dump their ammunition
And they won’t brook any opposition
When the people have a vision
When the people have a mission
When the people are physicians
When the people are musicians
When the people are technicians
So they’ll strangle their nutrition
For the crime of giving back the land
For the crime of kicking out the banks
For the crime of taking money from the hands
Of corrupt politicians and their gangs
And we all know who gets paid
Which is why they’re so dismayed
As our people live in tents under bridges and highways
You see they’re scared of an outbreak
Not of Covid but of rage
From the cashiers and the janitors and drivers and the maids
So they have to keep Cuba contained
And that’s why they stop the trade
Because the people disobeyed
Because their spirit wouldn’t fade
Revolution’s a grenade
In the minds of the enslaved
Just ask Mandela why he raised his fist
And shouted Viva Cuba Libre!
And that’s why they follow this crusade
But the people won’t be played
And justice may be delayed
But the chickens always roost and the beds are always laid
And the truth won’t be betrayed!
We stand with Cuba unafraid!
And that’s why the world is shouting, end the U.S. blockade!
Hypocrites, the hypocrites
Can’t stand Cubans literate
They want resources stripped
Their greed is infinite
But you see how we resist
And not just resist but keep on dreaming
Doctors sent to tend our health across the Caribbean
2000 Cuban lives laid down for South African Freedom
Neoliberalism don’t want you to know there’s another way of being
While our own people are freezing
Hitting up against the ceiling
They’re so busy starving Cuban babies of the calories they’re needing
While they sit on all the profits the pharma companies are thieving
But they still can’t stop the teaching
Equality’s what we’re feeding
We can do without new Jordans if everyone is eating
They just don’t want Black people breathing
Colonialism keeps us bleeding
And that’s why Che Guevara is still gathering believers
And that’s why Fidel’s Revolution never will be sleeping
And that’s why they won’t succeed to ever crush the lives they’re squeezing
No more working in the heat while they’re resting in the shade
No more fighting over scraps while they run the whole buffet
And no more scrambling like a dog to lick the boots of USA
We should address the genocide of Indigenous people our own country made
Instead of preying on an island with people living day to day
All for some right wing exiles in Miami cause they have a lighter shade
Your moral authority has long ago been drained
And there’s another Revolution somewhere already taking shape
And that’s why we’re tearing down your statues and the symbols of your hate
And that’s why we stand with Cuba and our reckoning won’t wait
Because the debt the world owes Cuba will never be repaid
And that’s why the world is shouting end the blockade!
No more pointless suffering over this masquerade
Justice for the Cuban people, end the blockade!
EL JONES
__________________________________________
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