- The Guardian
- Issue #2184
Cuba vigil to protest against US blockade, Sydney, 2019.
Fifty tons of diverse products arrived from Mexico and Brazil. This was in addition to the aid arriving via the “Our America to Cuba Convoy,” carried by 650 activists from 33 countries, representing more than 140 social, cultural, and solidarity organisations. Chilean legislators and solidarity activists traveled to Havana.
Contributions are also being made by nations such as China, Vietnam, and Russia. Supplies, medicines, food, technology, and solar panels are arriving, essential for the operation of hospitals, cancer and dialysis centres, schools, transportation, public services, and more. This is one of the ways in which the commercial and economic blockade against the island is being confronted.
More than 200 coercive measures have been established by the United States government, including sanctions against countries and companies that collaborate with or seek to have relations with Cuba.
Claudia de la Cruz, an activist with Pastors for Peace in the United States, declared, “We are here to reaffirm something Cuba has taught us: the value, the principle, the ethics of solidarity. We are here to reaffirm that Cuba is not alone and will never be alone.”
British MP Jeremy Corbyn, a member of the UK Parliament, said, “The aid coming from volunteers around the world is primarily medical aid, and that is very important. Simple medications that are needed, but also some of the more complex medicines and equipment for treating cancer and very serious cases.”
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, addressing all those who arrived on the island with support, noted that their presence constitutes a profound demonstration of friendship, sensitivity, and human commitment to the Cuban people.
In recent days, there has been a powerful demonstration of global solidarity with Cuba, with the arrival of tens of tons of diverse products to support the Cuban people in the operation of hospitals, specialised centres, schools, universities, transportation, food, and public services.
From Chile, legislators Daniel Núñez, Boris Barrera, Luis Cuello and Daniela Serrano, the president of the Communist Youth, Catalina Lufín, and representatives of organisations in solidarity with Cuba traveled on a solidarity mission, bringing medicines, syringes for insulin and rehydration salts, among other supplies.
Senator Núñez stated that “many Chileans are alive, having survived the horrors of the dictatorship, thanks to the support they received from the Cuban people. Hundreds of lives were saved by the solidarity Cuba showed during that period when hundreds of my compatriots were murdered, tortured, and disappeared.” The legislator highlighted Cuban solidarity following the 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Chile, when a Cuban medical brigade provided free care to the victims at a field hospital.
Núñez emphasised the criminal nature of the blockade: “What is being done here is a collective punishment of the Cuban people. This is not an attack on a government, an attack on an authority, an attack on a party. It is the entire Cuban people who are being punished.”
Catalina Lufín leader of the Chilean Communist Youth said that Cuba “has historically been a nation that shows solidarity with Chile and many other countries around the world. It is not surprising, then, that today there are young people willing to lend a hand and support those who have so often helped us.”
‘A Caravan of Dignity’
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel said that the presence of international friends constituted a profound demonstration of friendship, sensitivity and human commitment to the Cuban people.
Among those present, he recognised old friends of Cuba, protagonists of numerous battles in defense of the Revolution, along with young people who are joining the cause today.
“That is very encouraging,” Díaz-Canel declared, “because what we are defending is not only Cuba, but also the just struggles of the peoples of the world.”
In that regard, he emphasised that current debates transcend national borders and encompass causes such as that of the Palestinian people and all nations facing injustice, aggression, and hegemonic policies. He warned of an international scenario in which war and imposition attempt to prevail over multilateralism, and where those who think differently are silenced.
The President also denounced the normalisation of violence in the global media, with daily images of conflicts and massacres against defenceless peoples, which reinforces the need for active and conscious solidarity.
He especially thanked the young people for their presence, whose participation demonstrates the continuity of the international solidarity movement. “Their support strengthens us, fills us with joy, and reaffirms an essential conviction: Cuba is not alone,” he stated.
He also reiterated that, despite imperialism’s attempts to isolate the island – repeating strategies that had already failed since the early years of the Revolution, after the victory in the Bay of Pigs invasion – the support of the peoples of the world demonstrates the enduring relevance of the Cuban cause.
The president extended special recognition to Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum, and the Mexican people for their firm and sustained support of Cuba during complex times, reaffirming the historic bonds of brotherhood between the two nations.
“The blockade doesn’t exist. It’s an excuse of the Cuban government,” some claim; “Ask a Cuban woman or man if the blockade doesn’t exist,” the president said, referring to the arguments put forward against the Caribbean nation.
In his speech, he stressed that the daily life of Cubans is marked by the limitations imposed by the blockade: “things that we could have in a better situation always clash with the limitations imposed on us by the blockade.”
In response to those who label socialism and the Cuban model a failure, the Head of State asked: “And what about the enormous social work of the Revolution, which has been sustained with an economy operating under wartime conditions and subjected to such a criminal blockade?” He recalled that, despite these circumstances, Cuba has guaranteed free education and healthcare, and sports and culture as a right of the people; “everything done in Cuba is done in consultation with the people and with the people’s participation.”
In his analysis, he addressed the recent US statement that labels Cuba a threat to its national security. “Cubans haven’t attacked anyone. What Cubans send to the world are doctors and teachers with a Cuban literacy method, ‘Yes, I Can.’” He recalled that Cuba declared itself a territory free of illiteracy in the early years of the Revolution and that four Latin American countries later achieved that status with the island’s help. “Is it a threat to the world, to a country, for another to send doctors or teachers?” he asked.
The President highlighted the work of the Cuban medical brigades, the health programs, Operation Miracle, and the presence of doctors in places that were epicentres of COVID-19, such as Italy. “That’s why we are a threat,” he declared.
Michele Curto, president of the Italian Agency for Economic and Cultural Exchange with Cuba (AIEC), said of the Convoy, “this is the internationalism we talk about. Without internationalism, there is no Left. Without internationalism, we do not exist, and Cuba has reminded us of this for over 60 years. That is why we are here, to defend it.”
Mónica Valente, executive secretary of the São Paulo Forum, also expressed her support, and affirmed that Brazil is making every effort to provide solidarity aid to Cuba. Proof of this is the shipment of approximately 20,000 tons of food, medicine, and medical supplies as well as a fundraising campaign for photovoltaic panels and solar-powered irrigation systems.”
Colombian parliamentarian María Fernanda Carrascal called on the international community to stand with Cuba at a time when local elites are acting in collusion with foreign interests.
Claudia de la Cruz of US NGO Pastors for Peace said that participants had come to affirm that “Cuba is not alone and will never be alone.” She added that “the enemies are the same ones who seek to stifle the dream, the collective construction of this socialist project called Cuba. Those enemies of Palestine, those enemies of Haiti, those enemies of Puerto Rico, and enemies of the people of the United States.”
