CPC denounces US destabilization campaign, calls for end to blockade
In response to the July 11 protests in Cuba, the Communist Party of Canada (CPC) has denounced this latest US-backed destabilization attempt and is calling for increased solidarity with the Cuban Revolution.
“It is clear that protests in Cuba and the simultaneous demonstrations in cities outside the country had the hand of the US behind them,” stated the Party on July 12. “The Communist Party of Canada extends its full solidarity to the Cuban people, the Cuban government and the Communist Party of Cuba as they defend their independence, their sovereignty and their socialist revolution.”
Thousands of revolutionary Cubans, including President Miguel Diaz-Canel, took to the streets on July 11 to end this latest provocation. “The example the Cuban people have set in resisting imperialism and building socialism, despite an unrelenting six-decade hybrid war from the most powerful country in history, is a truly heroic example for the world of what is possible with unity and struggle.”
The CPC notes that the current emergency is a result of the ongoing illegal and immoral blockade which is strangling the country and creating undue hardship. However, counterrevolutionary groups active in Cuba, receiving money from the United States, have spread the fabricated lie that the Cuban government is somehow blocking humanitarian aid during the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic. These groups called for protests and demanded “humanitarian intervention” and a “humanitarian corridor.”
“The pretext of ‘humanitarian intervention’ has been used by the United States and Canada to carry out regime change operations, bombings, invasions and occupations in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria,” stated the CPC. “The voices calling for humanitarian intervention now are the same as those supporting the blockade which has led directly to the shortages Cuba is experiencing.”
On June 23, for the 29th year in a row, the United Nations’ General Assembly passed a resolution calling for an end to the US blockade, with 184 countries in favour and only the US and Israel voting against. The blockade prevents Cuba from accessing goods from the US, and it also discourages global suppliers from dealing with Cuba since the US has sanctioned dozens of companies for doing business with the island. Prior to the latest tightening of the blockade under Donald Trump, the United Nations calculated in 2018 the US measures had cost Cuba over $130 billion.
The blockade is a form of collective punishment, which is considered a war crime under international law, and the CPC says that its effects under the current pandemic have taken the inhumanity of this economic warfare to a whole new level.
“Last year the blockade prevented Cuba from receiving PPE, ventilators, COVID tests and other medical aid. Despite intense challenges during the pandemic, Cuba has developed several effective vaccines, maintained one of the lowest COVID fatality rates in the world and has sent thousands of doctors and nurses to dozens of countries around the world.
“Despite saying he would reverse Trump’s strengthening of the blockade last year on the campaign trail, Joe Biden has not only left all of Trump’s 243 coercive measures against Cuba in place but has tightened them further.”
Biden has also refused to remove Cuba from the US government’s list of “state sponsors of terrorism,” which has further economic impacts for Cuba.
The Party notes that US is recognized globally as the world’s leading terrorist state, whose many crimes have included sponsoring terrorist acts against Cuba like bombing aircraft, ships and hotels resulting in thousands of deaths. “The US consistently spends millions on funding undercover ‘democracy promotion’ in Cuba in total disregard of international laws against foreign interference. We cannot forget this as we watch counterrevolutionary groups in Cuba attempt to opportunistically use real hardships in Cuban life to deliver the country back to its old status as the playground of the US ruling class.”
Despite decades of aggression, Cuba has maintained some of the highest human development indicators in the region. The CPC calls this “a testament to a united people and to Cuba’s socialist system.”
The Communist Party is calling on the Canadian government to insist that the US administration immediately end the blockade and for all relations to be normalized with sovereign, independent and socialist Cuba. “All those concerned about the current crisis Cuba is facing must stand united against the blockade and struggle for its immediate end.”
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