Oct. 26 — Under the statue of Congressperson Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., people rallied in Harlem today to say no to Trump’s war moves in the Caribbean.
The rally’s co-chair — long-time Cuba activist Rosemari Mealy, JD, Ph.D. — pointed across the street to the former Hotel Theresa, where Cuban leader Fidel Castro met Malcolm X in 1960. Mealy, a member of the New York / New Jersey Cuba Sí Coalition, wrote about that famous encounter in her book, “Fidel & Malcolm X: Memories of a Meeting.”
Ike Nahem of the coalition also co-chaired the rally. It was held on the eve of the annual vote in the United Nations General Assembly condemning the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba. According to Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, the country has suffered over $170 billion in losses over the decades because of it.
Just two months of the blockade cost Cuba $1.6 billion. That’s enough money to pay for the imported fuel needed to power all of Cuba’s electricity.
The Trump regime is strong-arming countries to vote against condemning the blockade or at least abstain during the roll call. Trump’s flunky Secretary of State Marco Rubio wants to avoid last year’s humiliating 187 to 2 vote denouncing the vicious blockade.
Speakers at the rally reminded onlookers of Cuba’s aid to oppressed people around the world. As the late Pan-African educator and organizer Elombe Brath declared, “When Africa called, Cuba answered.”
Thousands of Cuban volunteers died fighting alongside their African comrades, defeating the Nazi armies of then apartheid South Africa invading Angola.
The Cuban people shielded the Black revolutionary Assata Shakur from U.S. bloodhounds despite a $2 million bounty on her. Shakur, who became a doctor in Cuba, died free there on Sept. 25.
Thousands of people from around the world, including hundreds from the United States, have received free medical education in Cuba. The only condition is that they go back to their countries and help heal the poor.
Defend Cuba, fight ICE
William Camacaro of the Bolivarian Circle denounced Trump’s war threats to Colombia and Venezuela. Ten thousand sailors and marines are on an armada of warships in the Caribbean.
Ed Ventura of the Bronx chapter of JUPI — Youth United for Independence — denounced Trump for using Puerto Rico as a staging ground for threatening Colombia and Venezuela.
The human rights attorney Roger Wareham, a member of the International Secretariat of the December 12th Movement, pointed out that Zimbabwe — like Cuba — has been sanctioned by the United States. Zimbabwe’s “crime” was to take back land stolen from Africans by European settlers.
Cesar Santos, a co-chair of the National Network on Cuba, urged people to keep on fighting to defend Cuba. Santos also videotaped the rally.
New York State Senator Cordell Cleare, whose 30th district includes Harlem, mentioned how the blockade of Cuba harms people in the United States as well. She described how the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, is hindered in its collaboration with Cuban scientists to fight lung cancer.
Different artists, including a spoken-word performance from the Harlem Bomb Shelter, gave cultural performances.
Cuba Sí Coalition member Jason Corley urged people to check out books about Cuba.
The rally was held while ICE agents were kidnapping people across the United States. National Lawyers Guild President Suzanne Adely urged people to unite against this terror campaign and connected the struggle with defending Cuba.
Hands off Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela! Stop ICE!
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