US Oil Blockade Violates Rights of Cuban People: PCC Global South coordinator

Image via the PCC

Via the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), translated from the Spanish

New Delhi, Feb 16 (Prensa Latina): A Cuban official in Kerala, southern India denounced the fact that Cuba is currently living under an oil blockade by the United States that seriously affects the normal functioning of the economy and violates the fundamental human rights of its people.

At the opening of the Vision 2031: Development and Democracy International Conference in southern India, Aymee Diaz, the Global South coordinator for the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), criticized the actions of President Donald Trump's administration. She labeled as utter nonsense the decision to intensify the economic, commercial, and financial blockade that Washington has maintained against the island for over 65 years.

The official said that it is impossible to quantify the emotional damage, anguish, suffering and deprivation that the U.S. siege inflicts on Cuban families.

"More than 80 percent of Cubans on the island were born after the beginning of the blockade," said Diaz, who is on a working visit to the South Asian nation.

She stated that the U.S. government urgently needs to shift focus away from its significant internal issues and, in its eagerness to reassert control over our region, has escalated its aggressive policy towards Cuba to unprecedented levels.

She noted that it was insufficient for President Donald Trump to implement over 240 measures during his first term and to add Cuba back to the unilateral and unfounded list of so-called state sponsors of terrorism on the first day of his second term.

In this context, the PCC representative added that on January 29, Trump, as part of his campaign against Cuba, signed an executive order labeling the Caribbean nation as an unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States, thereby declaring a national emergency.

Diaz called that step utter nonsense, noting that it already has a negative and extraterritorial impact by threatening to impose tariffs on countries supplying fuel to Cuba.

She mentioned that in this complex situation, the Caribbean country hopes it can continue to count on Kerala and all allies in leftist and progressive movements who recognize that justice should triumph over imperialist arrogance and fascist tactics.

She noted that an ongoing resolution is taking place in Cuba and our region regarding a longstanding conflict between two nations with differing political systems.

"We defend the right to live in peace, respect for the international order and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, we condemn the use of force against a sovereign state and we reject the fascist methods of the new extreme right. In short, we defend humanity and world peace," she remarked.

The official also confirmed that the Communist Party of Cuba, along with the Government and the people of the Caribbean nation, will not surrender in the face of adversity, which they have resisted for 67 years and will continue to confront with the same determination.

Earlier, Díaz expressed gratitude towards Kerala for its warmth and solidarity with Cubans and highlighted the progress made by her country during the years of the Revolution. She noted that even during challenging times like the Covid-19 pandemic, Cuba developed five vaccines that saved lives.

This work was translated and shared via a License CC-BY-NC