Let Cuba Live: Take a stand and get Cuba off the SSOT list

Los Angeles, Sept. 14 — The multinational and multi-generational Let Cuba Live delegation that showed up on the steps of City Hall today was a dynamic and powerful group of activists calling on the L.A. City Council and Mayor Karen Bass to pass a resolution and take a stand against the inclusion of Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list.

Krishna Daly of Black Alliance for Peace and Let Cuba Live led the delegation to meet with L.A. City Counselor Eunisses Hernandez and deliver letters to other councilors and Mayor Karen Bass. Daly spoke with urgency of the painful and difficult conditions that face the Cuban people and medical community:

“It’s not just that they don’t have aspirin, they can’t do necessary surgery — they don’t have anesthesia and other crucial medical supplies, and they can’t get them because of the SSOT designation.” 

Pastor Kelvin Sauls of IFCO/Pastors for Peace & Sanctuary of Hope (SOH) related his history in South Africa. “The U.S. sustained the apartheid system, a system that made the great majority of people feel like pariahs in their homeland. This is the same thing that the U.S. blockade and SSOT designation does to the people of Cuba.”

Nathaniel Peterson, a youth who participated in the SOH trip to Cuba, saw the impact of the U.S. blockade with his own eyes. He and the other youth on the delegation delivered medical and stationery supplies to medical centers and Prensa Latina.

John Parker of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Carlos Sirah of Black Alliance for Peace, Dave Clennon, an actor and member of SAG/AFTRA and Interfaith Communities United for Justice & Peace, and Maggie Vascassenno of Women in Struggle completed the delegation. The group visited Mayor Karen Bass’ offices and dispersed with plans for the next round of meetings, applying pressure on the L.A. City Council, Mayor Bass, and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.