Georgetown: The United States embargo on Cuba has exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in Cubans taking to the streets in cities across the country over the last week, in a wave of rare public protests to express their frustration with rising prices, medicine shortages and falling wages.
President of the Guyana Cuban Solidarity Movement (GCSM), Halim Khan said Cuba says it will allow travelers arriving in the country to bring in food, medicine and other essentials without paying import duties.
“When a country with a criminal embargo face more pressure with the combination of a pandemic it becomes harder on citizens who suffer more, we show solidarity with the people and government of Cuba,” Khan said.
Khan said this worsening situation comes despite the enormous effort the country has made to produce vaccines with proven effectiveness against COVID-19.
The demonstration in San Antonio therefore had a real and just basis. This fact was recognized by Cuban President Díaz-Canel himself, who went to the town to talk to the rebellious population.
“We demand for an end to the US blockade of the island. The effects of the blockade have only gotten worse under the pandemic, particularly with the drastic reduction in tourism, an important source of income for the country. In a cynical fashion, the Biden administration has declared that the demands of the Cuban people are just, when it is the White House itself that promotes an embargo that has lasted six decades, and has led to endless suffering for a people that it hypocritically claims to support,” the GCSM President said.
He explained that the blockade is so immoral and unjust that on June 23, the United Nations voted in favor of a resolution to end the blockade for the 29th time, with 182 votes in favor, only two votes against (the USA and Israel) and three abstentions.
Among other things, the US embargo makes all Cuban imports, especially those of food, energy, medicines, and other basic supplies, very difficult and expensive. Given this reality, it is necessary to intensify the international campaign for an end to the blockade, a blockade that has become even more criminal during this pandemic.
Second, Khan said in order to break the imperialist siege of Cuba, the task is to support and strengthen mobilizations of the workers and oppressed peoples, to win governments to demonstrate their solidarity with the Cuban people, and to build a political and economic front that opposes the policy of the imperialist recolonization of Latin America.
Remittances, Khan reflected is a lifeline for struggling Cuban families and estimated to total $2bn to $3bn per year, plunged after former US President Donald Trump tightened restrictions on Cuban Americans sending money back to the island. The pandemic has only served to further stifle the flow of remittances.
More broadly, the protests have served to draw attention to Cubans’ plight and spotlighted long-standing issues that need to be addressed with new urgency.
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