How Cuba is fighting back against the U.S. blockade

Ever since the Cuban Revolution triumphed in 1959, the United States bankster government has been trying to strangle it. Wall Street’s biggest weapon is a cruel economic blockade that has cost socialist Cuba over $150 billion. 

That’s $14,000 stolen from every Cuban or $56,000 stolen from every four-person family. Cuba was largely prevented from selling to or buying from businesses in the United States.

The Cuban people refuse to surrender. Activists in New York had the opportunity to listen to Alejandro Gil Fernández, Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba and Minister of the Economy, on July 18. He spoke at Cuba’s mission to the United Nations.

Fernández described how Cuba lost 100% of its revenue from tourism in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of tourists from other lands fell from 5 million in 2019 to zero.

Now it’s climbing back and may reach over 3 million this year. Trump’s restrictions kept many people in the United States from visiting Cuba.

Especially hurtful was Trump placing Cuba on the State Department’s bogus list of “State Sponsors of Terrorism.” Actually, it has been thousands of Cubans who’ve been killed by CIA-sponsored terrorism.

These terrorist acts included the bombing of Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 on Oct. 6, 1976, in which 73 people were killed. The SSOT label means non-U.S. banks jack-up interest rates on loans to Cuba or refuse any credit at all.

Fernández described how, because of the blockade, Cuba must import milk products from far away New Zealand instead of the nearby United States. The additional transport costs amount to millions.

The Biden Administration is continuing many of the Trump sanctions despite campaign pledges not to do so. But Fernández is confident that the U.S. blockade will end and thanked the audience for helping to fight it.

He pointed to the summit meeting between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union that condemned the blockade.

Thanking Cuba

During the discussion period, New York City Council member Charles Barron said it was an honor to be there with the Cuban representatives. He announced the City Council had passed a resolution demanding an end to the blockade. The overwhelming vote represents 8.6 million people in the five boroughs – Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.

Charles Barron declared that the U.S. blockade of Cuba was economic terrorism. It’s the United States that should be on a terrorism list. The councilperson said Black and Brown people in the United States also live under a blockade.

“Without Cuba, no free Angola! Without Cuba, no free South Africa!” declared Charles Barron, referring to the Cuban military assistance to the African liberation struggle.

Former city councilperson and state assembly member Inez Barron thanked Cuba for giving asylum to Assata Shakur. The FBI — whose former director, J. Edgar Hoover, wanted Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. dead — has placed a $2 million bounty on the Black revolutionary.

The Cuban people are protecting Shakur from the slave catchers.

It was announced that the 70th anniversary of the attack on the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953 — the beginning of the Cuban Revolution — will be celebrated in New York City.

The commemoration will be held at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, 3940 Broadway at 165th Street. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with a reception including food and beverages beginning at 6 p.m. The program will start at 7:00 p.m., and a party and dance will follow at 8:30 p.m.