U.S. solidarity campaign sends 800 tons of flour to Cuba

Havana, August 31 (RHC)– A shipment of 800 tons of wheat flour — collected by solidarity activists in the U.S. — has arrived in Cuba.  The donation will provide bread for millions of people in the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Matanzas and Havana.

This campaign was organized in the United States by the New York City-based “Let Cuba Live: Bread for Our Neighbors” campaign.

According to Manolo De Los Santos, the executive director of The People’s Forum — which was the main coordinator of the solidarity effort — while the campaign has succeeded in carrying out this delivery, it wasn’t without significant hurdles created by Washington’s blockade of the Caribbean island.

In the process of organizing the campaign, Manolo De Los Santos said they reached out to 14 different grain producers in the U.S. to purchase the massive order but received not a single positive response.  In order to successfully complete the delivery, the grain had to be shipped from Turkey and suffered delays “because of the U.S. government’s policy of extreme and arbitrary harassment of Cuba’s foreign trade, which is meant to create desperation for the people of Cuba and has brutal consequences.”

The director of The People’s Forum said that the Joe Biden administration, “in its remaining months before January, has the power to swiftly end this crisis of hunger.”  It could remove Cuba from the “State Sponsors of Terrorism List,” an unfounded designation imposed in 2017 by Trump that restricts vital financial and trade transactions.

The “Let Cuba Live: Bread for Our Neighbors” campaign is just one part of the larger fight against the U.S. blockade on Cuba.  The people of the U.S. will continue to fight against this brutal blockade and build bridges of solidarity with our neighbors in Cuba.

Manolo De Los Santos emphasized that donations are still being accepted to help offset the costs of this massive delivery, calling on supporters around the world to consider an additional donation.

For more information:  https://secure.givelively.org/donate/peoples-forum-inc/let-cuba-live-bread-for-our-neighbors

Source: Radio Havana Cuba
Edited by Ed Newman on August 31, 2024