Statement on recent events in Cuba

It is the height of hypocrisy for the Biden administration to claim support for human rights and democracy in Cuba while keeping in place the 60-year old U.S. blockade against Cuba. We call on the Biden Administration to honor the overwhelming mandate of 29 consecutive and nearly unanimous UN votes to end the blockade of Cuba. Global community does not believe U.S. assertions that blockade sanctions advance democracy, support human rights or help Cubans exercise their civil liberties.

These claims by the U.S. could not be further from the truth. The continued U.S. war against Cuba, intensified under the Trump administration, has only resulted in increased suffering, pain and hardship, especially under the Covid-19 pandemic. The international community at the United Nations recognized this inhumane policy of the U.S. by voting 184 in favor of lifting the blockade with only the U.S. and Israel voting no. 

As even the US media has admitted in their coverage of recent demonstrations in Cuba, the protesters are largely driven by a desire for economic improvements in their lives, and it is the U.S. blockade, which curbs Cuban trade with all countries that trade with the U.S., that is the largest factor in causing the shortages and deprivation driving people to demonstrate.

Since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution that drove colonial powers from Cuban soil, the US has continued, overtly and covertly, to pour billions of dollars into its efforts to overturn the Cuban Revolution. Methods include the funding of false propaganda, funding of counter-revolutionary movements, death plots and the failed Playa Giron invasion. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and several U.N. members verify that the U.S. embargo has cost the Cuban economy around $147 billion in losses over nearly six decades, and about $9 billion calculated from April 2019. 

We are organizations that build solidarity between women and girls in the US and Cuba, and we recognize that the U.S. blockade has a disproportionate impact on these populations. Under the Cuban revolution, women have made impressive strides towards equality and participation. These advancements are under great threat with U.S. foreign policies meant to destabilize Cuban society. 

We call on the Biden administration to keep its word to implement a policy of re-engagement with the Cuban government, so as to give true meaning to our country’s support for human rights and democracy. 

We stand by our sisters and the Cuban people in their right to determine their own future without the interference of the U.S., especially not any direct intervention. 

In Solidarity, 

US Women and Cuba Collaboration (womenandcuba@gmail.com)

 Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issues Committee, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom