On March 21, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) issued a strong condemnation of the sanctions that have been imposed, primarily by the United States and its allies, against countries around the world. The union body, which is organized on a militant class struggle basis and represents 100 million workers in 132 countries, argues that sanctions are murderous and hamper the worldwide effort to contain and treat the coronavirus pandemic.
“The sanctions that were imposed and are still implemented – as one means to promote the geostrategic goals of the dominant states and ensure the maximum possible profits for monopolies – cause irreparable problems to ordinary people,” said the WFTU. “The continuation of sanctions against states affected by the coronavirus is an unacceptable murderous practice against the whole humanity, that immeasurably harms the efforts to counter the pandemic. The case of Iran is characteristic, inasmuch as the US sanctions continue after having already caused around $200 billion in direct damages to the economy of a country with more than 20,000 confirmed cases and at least 1,500 deaths.”
The WFTU demands an end to the sanctions, which “in the midst of the pandemic, constitute a crime against humanity and put global health at further risk.”
In contrast to the continuing use of sanctions and blockades by the US and other imperialist countries, Cuba has dispatched a brigade of 52 doctors and health specialists to Italy, where the virus is taking a terrible toll.
Italy’s Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), a WFTU member, called the Cuban brigade “an effort that must be measured by the number of inhabitants of the island, but above all by the behavior of the governments that make up the European Union, until now closed within the selfish logic of profit and the interests of their multinationals instead of their populations.”
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