Demonstrators have denounced
Cuban leaders for allegedly ruining the economy of Cuba and openly call for the United States to invade the island and topple the communist regime.
Getting little
attention from the media have been demonstrations in the US expressing support
for Cuba’s government and demanding that the United States end its hostile
policy towards the Caribbean nation.
One of those rallies
took place in New Haven last week, where a group of about a dozen activists
marched to the office of Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn and urged her to lobby
for relaxing harmful sanctions against Cuba and ending the 60-year-old trade
embargo against Cuba.
“The protest was
very good,’ said Henry Lowendorf, chair of Greater New Haven Peace Council. “We
had a couple of Cuban flags and we had one sign that said “Stop the Embargo ---
Stop the Blockade.”
A representative
from DeLauro’s office came out and listened to the group make their case for
changing American policy towards Cuba.
“We pointed out that
Rosa had signed a letter in March of this year along with 78 other members of
Congress calling on President Biden to get rid all these restrictions,
restrictions which Trump generated and pursue normalization of relations,” said
Lowendorf.
“But Biden has not
done that,” he said, adding that the
president has instead “doubled-down” on the Trump sanctions, which include prohibiting
the mailing of remittances from Cuban families in the US to their relatives in
Cuba and closing down US tourism to the nation.
Those sanctions have
had a devastating effect on the Cuban economy.
The end of the congressional
letter called for an end to the US trade embargo in effect since 1961 --- one
of the longest-standing trade embargoes in history.
The blockade has
crippled the ability of the Cuban government to trade with other nations and
obtain badly-needed food and medical supplies. Right now, the government is
unable to administer COVID vaccines due to a lack of syringes.
“We need to take the
knee of the United States off the neck of the Cuban people, because we’re
asphyxiating them,” said Lowendorf. “This is Derek Chauvin on George Floyd on
an international level.”
Lowendorf said the
group wants DeLauro “to follow up on the letter, pressure the White House and
publicly announce that she’s done this. There’s no reason why she should not do
a news release on this.”
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| Scene from Havana, Cuba. The nation has been under economic siege by the US for 60 years. (Photo from cubaeducationaltravel.com) |
The rally also saw
remarks by a Cuban who lives in the US and is “very much opposed to the embargo
and efforts to destroy the Cuban people,” said Lowendorf.
Also speaking was
John Lugo, of Unidad Latina en Accion, an immigrant rights group. Speaking in
Spanish, Lugo “related what’s happening
in Cuba and what’s happening elsewhere in Latin America from the point of view
of immigrants who have to leave their country often because of actions that the
United States takes that puts them in a position of either to flee or to die.”
Another rally
supporting Cuba will take place this Thursday at the federal building at 141 Church
Street at 4:30 PM.
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