Peace groups say ‘Let Cuba Live’ at US rallies ahead of UN vote on anti-embargo resolution
As United Nations member states prepare to condemn the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba for the 30th straight year, peace groups on Saturday launched a series of rallies that will take place across the United States in the coming days to demand an end to the crippling 60-year blockade.
Members of groups including CodePink, Black Alliance for Peace, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Democratic Socialists of America, and others rallied in New York City, Los Angeles, and Portland on Saturday, with further demonstrations planned on November 2 in Washington, D.C. and Chicago, and on November 3 in San Francisco. Activists from Australia to Argentina also held demonstrations of solidarity with Cuba.
The protesters have three demands: End the U.S. blockade, remove Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, and lift all travel and economic restrictions on Cuba.
Cuba will present a draft resolution to end the U.S. embargo at the United Nations General Assembly on November 2-3. The United States—usually along with Israel and a tiny handful of small, dependent nations—perennially votes against such resolutions, which pass overwhelmingly each year. Last year’s vote was 184-2, with the U.S. and Israel dissenting and Brazil, Colombia, and Ukraine abstaining.
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink, was among the activists who delivered a petition with the groups’ demands signed by more than 10,000 people and over 100 organizations to the U.S. State Department. CodePink is asking the Biden administration to take a big step toward normalizing relations with Cuba—which, after progress during the Obama era, were rolled back under former President Donald Trump—by abstaining from the resolution vote.
The United Nations estimated in 2018 that the U.S. embargo has cost Cuba’s economy at least $130 billion.
Originally published at Commondreams.org.
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