Tag: US blockade

June Caravans: ‘End U.S. Blockade of Cuba!’ Thugs Attack Miami Event; Join Campaign to Defend Free Speech!

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During the June 25-26 weekend, local coalitions organized car caravans and other actions demanding an end to Washington’s economic war on Cuba. The actions took place in a number of U.S. cities, as well as other countries. Organizers of the monthly Cuba solidarity activities in two cities, Miami and New York, sent World-Outlook the two reports that follow. Pete Seidman​ writes from Miami that “pent-up frustration with their growing isolation and political impotence boiled over on June 26 when about 30 ultrarightist thugs attacked the Miami Caravan Against the U.S. Blockade of Cuba. Caravanistas made a disciplined and dignified, if hasty, retreat to their vehicles and left. None of them were injured or arrested in the fray. Join the Miami caravan in its campaign to defend free speech!

May 29 Miami Car Caravan to End U.S. Blockade of Cuba Stands Up to Rightist Threats

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MIAMI, May 29, 2022 — The 23rd consecutive monthly caravan to oppose Washington’s economic war against Cuba took place today. What a victory for the fight against the U.S. blockade of Cuba! What a victory for the right to free speech in this city! About 130 people in 75 vehicles assembled along Ponce de Leon Boulevard in Coral Gables to start the event. As one woman who had missed the last few caravans put it, “This is one I had to be at!” Supporters of the right to protest and speak out for ending the U.S. blockade came to show their support from all over: Vancouver, Canada; Minneapolis, Minnesota; New York City; Las Vegas, Nevada; Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida. Prominent activists came to stand with us in defiance of threats by rightist YouTube personality Alex Otaola.

‘This Is Our Revolution’: 5 Million Turn Out for May Day in Cuba

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HAVANA, Cuba, May 1, 2022 — The entire city of Havana felt on the move by 3 a.m. today. The excitement was palpable. The Covid-19 pandemic had prevented the Cuban people from celebrating International Workers Day for two years, and, despite the suffocating US-imposed blockade, the working people of Cuba have much to celebrate. Over 700,000 people from all over Havana converged in a spirited, disciplined way on Revolution Square to show the world that “Cuba lives and works for its present, its future, and its continuity” — the theme of the May Day mobilizations. Estimates by the Cuban daily Granma and other Cuban media put total participation throughout the island above 5 million people. That exceeds 43% of the country’s population of 11.4 million!

US Blockade of Cuba Aimed at Overthrowing Socialist Revolution

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On February 25, 2022, a top official in Joe Biden’s administration said US sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine were also intended to hit Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. That month marked the sixtieth anniversary of the US blockade of Cuba, introduced in February 1962 by President John F. Kennedy’s Embargo on All Trade with Cuba. The embargo of Cuba constitutes the longest and most comprehensive set of sanctions in modern history. It is not merely a legal or a bilateral issue, as proponents claim. It is a key instrument in the US toolkit to pursue regime change on the island. It is an act of war, a violation of human rights designed to obstruct Cuban development, to undermine its example as a revolutionary alternative, and to intentionally cause suffering among the Cuban people.

U.S.-Cuba Normalization Conference: ‘Cuba Yes, Blockade No!’

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NEW YORK CITY, March 20, 2022 — About 150 people from across the United States and Canada gathered at the People’s Forum here March 19-20 for the International US-Cuba Normalization Conference. It was the first such in-person event in two years. Previous conferences were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting’s focus was coordinating efforts to end Washington’s economic war against the Caribbean nation, launched six decades ago after a popular revolution overthrew a U.S.-backed dictatorship on the island and opened the socialist revolution in the Americas. Co-sponsoring organizations included the Canadian Network on Cuba, Cuba Solidarity Committee in Puerto Rico, National Network on Cuba (NNOC), New York-New Jersey Cuba Sí Coalition, and Saving Lives Campaign US. A large delegation from Cuba — including several leaders of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) — participated in the event.

Cuban Music Duo Buena Fe: ‘We Will Play Only Where Cuban Vaccines Are Recognized’

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February 13, 2022—The Canadian theater The Opera House recently canceled the concerts of the Cuban duo Buena Fe scheduled for the month of May in the cities of Montreal, Toronto, and Edmonton. This is because the Canadian government does not recognize Cuba’s highly effective anti-Covid vaccines. Ottawa has asked the Buena Fe musicians to be inoculated by vaccines it does recognize—such as those made by Big Pharma in the U.S. or Europe: Pfizer, Moderna, or Astra Zeneca—in order to be allowed to enter the country. Buena Fe’s response? As Israel Rojas, one of the two members of the group, can be seen saying in the video posted here, “We will play only where our vaccines are recognized.”

Vigils in Solidarity with Cuba: ‘End U.S. Blockade!’

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Candlelight vigils and other actions in solidarity with Cuba took place in about half a dozen U.S. cities, as well as other countries, on December 23. This compilation includes reports from three of these actions – in Miami, New York City, and Los Angeles – written by participants. Demands included ending the U.S. blockade of Cuba, restoring family remittances, beginning again the family reunification program, opening consular services in Havana, re-starting flights to all of Cuba’s major cities, establishing scientific and medical collaboration with Cuba against Covid-19, and allowing U.S. citizens to travel to the island freely.

Cuban Scientists Reject Biden Statements: A Country that Saves With Its Science Is Not a Failed State

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This article appeared in Cubadebate, a Cuban news agency, on August 10, 2021. World-Outlook is publishing it because it helps counter the misinformation and lies the big-business media have unleashed this summer against the Caribean nation. This campaign of slanders, exaggeration, and manipulation of facts is part of Washington’s 60-year-long economic war against the socialist country and the unceasing efforts by the U.S. government and its imperialist allies to undermine and overthrow the Cuban Revolution. The article also provides invaluable scientific information on how to confront the Covid-19 pandemic.

Open Letter to President Biden About Covid Vaccines for Cuba

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This is a petition being circulated widely around the world by Cuban scientists as an open letter to U.S. president Joe Biden. World-Outlook encourages readers to join this campaign by sharing the petition with fellow workers, unions, and other organizations, as well as anyone else who may be interested, to maximize the number of signatures we can get to back our Cuban sisters and brothers.

If the U.S. Cared About Freedom in Cuba, It Would End Its Punishing Sanctions

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August 4, 2021—The violent protests that erupted in Cuba in early July were the first serious social disturbances since the “Maleconazo” of 1994, 27 years ago. Both these periods were characterised by deep economic crises. I was living in Havana in the mid-90s and witnessed the conditions that triggered the uprising: empty food markets, shops and pharmacy shelves, regular electricity cuts, production and transport ground to a halt. Such were the consequences of the collapse of the socialist bloc, which accounted for about 90% of the island’s trade.

D.C. Rally, Car Caravans: ‘End U.S. embargo of Cuba! Lift the Sanctions!’

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This is a round-up of some of the marches, rallies, and car caravans that took place in more than a dozen U.S. cities, as well as Canada and other countries, on July 25, 2021. Protesters demanded an end to Washington’s 60-year-old economic war on Cuba, which has been recently intensified with 243 new sanctions imposed under the Trump administration that are now enforced by U.S. president Joe Biden. These punitive measures are aimed at strangling the Caribbean nation economically and increasing the hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

What’s Actually Going on in Cuba?

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HAVANA, July 20, 2021—On Sunday 11 July, dozens of anti-government protests, apparently coordinated via social media, took place simultaneously throughout Cuba. In several places, including in San Antonio on the outskirts of Havana and in Matanzas, where Covid-19 cases have been surging, protests turned violent, with windows smashed, shops looted, cars overturned, rocks thrown and people assaulted.

Cuban President Calls for Solidarity, Respect, Social Responsibility

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This article appeared on July 14, 2021, in the English-language online edition of the Cuban daily Granma (en.granma.cu), the newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba.
World-Outlook is publishing it as another act of solidarity with revolutionary Cuba in confronting Washington’s 60-year-long unrelenting economic war that has been intensified under the administrations of Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

‘We Will Defend the Revolution Above All Else’

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This article republished from the July 12, 2021, English-language online edition of the Cuban daily Granma, starts as follows: “For 60 years the example of the Cuban Revolution has bothered the United States, stated First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, yesterday, during a special message from the Palace of the Revolution explaining to the people the most recent provocation orchestrated by small groups of counterrevolutionaries.”

Car Caravans to End U.S. Blockade of Cuba Expand

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LOS ANGELES, July 9, 2021—With flashers blinking and horns blaring, scores of bicycles and cars, plastered with signs and banners demanding an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba, made their way through the streets of 70 cities in more than 25 countries on June 20. They were the latest of what have now become monthly and expanding protests around the world pushing for normalization of relations with Cuba and an end to Washington’s economic war.

Cuba Sets Example in Confronting Pandemic (II)

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July 1, 2021—Despite the backbreaking obstacles stemming from Washington’s economic war, Cuba has achieved a stunning scientific accomplishment by rapidly developing five vaccines against the SARS-COV2 virus. This is the direct result of an initiative the central leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, promoted in the 1980s to prioritize government investment in developing a domestic biotechnology industry.