The demand “Let Cuba Live: End the Blockade!” was raised in the European Parliament, during a forum in a room overflowing with solidarity with this island and its people.
The call for the United States to end its economic, commercial and financial siege on this Antillean nation rang out in the European Parliament, just two weeks after the world called for it at the UN General Assembly for the thirtieth time since 1992, ending more than six decades applicable policy.
As in New York, Brussels has been described as genocidal, criminal, cruel and inhumane for the blockade and hostile acts used by the last 13 administrations in the White House to invade this Caribbean country under the guise of pretexts as varied as they are contradictory to suffocate .
MPs, lawyers, diplomats and solidarity activists from a dozen countries filled one of the headquarters’ rooms in the Belgian capital, accompanied by the lone star flag and banners, including a huge one that read “Cuba better no lock”.
The forum, organized by the La Izquierda Group in the European Parliament, raised complaints about the extraterritorial nature of the siege of Washington, in particular its negative impact on businesses, banks and citizens of the old continent, and calls for mobilization against it, according to policies consistent with those of the European Union (EU) adopted safeguards.
In statements to Prensa Latina at the meeting, Spanish MEP Manu Pineda dismissed the United States’ obstinate stance, which ignored the almost unanimous call for an end to its aggression against Cuba.
The United Nations General Assembly has been making this demand for 30 years, which is being felt in this Eurochamber with unprecedented force, the communist leader said.
According to Pineda, a global mobilization is urgently needed to double down on Washington’s call to abandon its criminal policies, a struggle in which he saw the contribution of civil society as key.
The blockade is neither a slogan nor an embargo nor a bilateral problem; The blockade constitutes a criminal measure that affects Cubans from birth to death, from waking up to going to bed and in all aspects of their lives, warned the Vice President of the Informal Group of Friendship with Cuba in the European Parliament.
Portuguese MEP Sandra Pereira paid tribute to the resistance of the Cuban people, which she called inspirational.
The participants in the debate were organized into two panels: one devoted to the intensification of the blockade and its consequences for the population, while the other discussed the extraterritoriality of the siege.
For French MEP Leila Chaibi, the United States’ daily economic warfare against a people for whom it causes shortages of access to medicines and basic necessities is unacceptable; and it is also unfortunate that Washington is imposing this crusade on the world by alluding to laws intended to give them extraterritorial reach, such as Torricelli (1992) and Helms-Burton (1996).
ALSO IN FRONT OF THE EUROCAMERA
The day in mid-November to condemn the siege followed the mobilization carried out on May 18 by more than 200 people from different sectors and countries in front of the European Parliament in Brussels itself.
In Plaza Luxembourg, Cubans residing in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy and the United Kingdom added their voices to those of MEPs, solidarity associations and political forces to denounce a blockade they described as genocidal and criminal.
Latin Americans also participated in the act of solidarity, accompanied by anti-blockade banners, flags of the island and the image of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.
Freddy Tack, a member of the Belgian solidarity organization Los Amigos de Cuba, rejected the severe tightening of the siege during the Covid-19 pandemic and acknowledged the island’s resistance for more than six decades.
He also called on the EU and the Belgian government to act without words and to condemn the extraterritorial nature of this policy.
On behalf of the Belgian coordinator against the blockade, Anne Delstanche called for his dismissal and reiterated his solidarity with the Caribbean country.
GRATEFUL CUBA
At the forum held in the European Parliament, a letter from the President of the National Assembly of People’s Power (Parliament) of Cuba, Esteban Lazo, was read out, in which he asked for the support of the parliamentary nation of the Antilles and the European associations.
A message of gratitude from Cuba, which is fighting and resisting despite the difficulties, we send you a fraternal hug, he stressed.
Lazo stressed the importance of denouncing the hostile policies of the United States, which the international community categorically rejects.
In this sense, the also President of the Council of State recalled the recent request of the UN General Assembly with a resolution on the need to end the blockade, the thirtieth since 1992.
He assured that as long as the injustice and its genocidal character endured, the demand to lift the siege that had lasted more than 60 years would stand.
In his message to the forum, entitled “Let Cuba Live: End the Blockade,” Lazo paid tribute to patriotic Cubans and the dignified people who oppose the economic war against their country around the world.
Also invited to the event, Cuban MPs Félix Martínez and Enrique Alemán highlighted the solidarity of colleagues, civil society organizations and citizens, which they affirmed is proof that Cuba is not alone in its struggle.
“We are not alone on this gigantic island that resists, comforts and encourages to know,” said Alemán, who heads the administrative group of the socio-cultural project Cabildo Quisicuaba.
Speaking to Prensa Latina, the medical doctor and anthropologist by training expressed his opinion that before the meeting, it was difficult to imagine so much love in one room.
They represented millions upon millions of people who defended and loved Cuba, he claimed.
(With information from Prensa Latina)
