The National Network on Cuba calls on all people of good conscience to act in strong opposition to the illegal executive order by Donald Trump that escalates the blockade on a peaceful neighbor, Cuba. We denounce the actions by the United States government to inflict collective punishment against the Cuban people. The absurdity of declaring a “national emergency” over Cuba while people in the United States cannot afford housing, healthcare, or food, while migrant neighbors and their children are kidnapped by ICE and supporters are murdered in the street by the government – is unconscionable. From within “the belly of the beast” as Che Guevara would say, we must categorically break down the fabricated lies and the United States’ bogus reasoning for its latest aggression towards Cuba.
The idea that the small island nation of 10 million people is an “unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. national security” is ludicrous. The United States military budget is by far the largest in the world. The U.S. occupies over 80 countries with more than 700 military bases around the world, and as of last month, Trump has asked congress for a 50 percent jump in military spending reaching a record total of 1.5 TRILLION dollars – more than the next nine largest military budgets globally combined.
The Trump administration, Marco Rubio, and Democrat and Republican officials alike have always made a variety of outlandish claims to justify their violent actions. We recognize that every accusation made is an admission of their own guilt in depriving Cuba of their own sovereignty and self determination.
It is remarkable that the United States is accusing another country of promoting “regional instability”. The United States has a lengthy historical track record of overthrowing democratically elected governments around the world. The U.S. provided military and financial support to the Contras in Nicaragua who admitted to killing nurses, judges, doctors, and civilians alike. The U.S. engaged in psychological warfare to destabilize the democratically elected leader in Guatemala while backing a coup to topple their government. In Grenada, the execution of their socialist leader Maurice Bishop, a good friend to Cuba, was followed days later by a U.S. invasion. These are just a few of the many examples in which the actions of the United States directly contributed to regional instability directly because of U.S. intervention. This historical record is notwithstanding the fact that the United States has now kidnapped the President and First Lady of the sovereign nation of Venezuela so they can control international access to oil. This pattern of coercion and control now continues currently with their newest threats in “establishing a process to impose tariffs on goods from countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to Cuba.”
We recognize that this latest executive order is an extension of the long maintained US policy to punish those who dare to be a friend to Cuba. It is why we have always used the term “blockade” to name what the U.S. is doing to Cuba. That this is not just a cessation of trade between the United States and Cuba, but rather the United States using violence and intimidation on a global scale to influence how other countries interact with the nation of Cuba. Cuba has long been a world leader in friendship with other countries. They send medical brigades of doctors around the world to this day, including when the pandemic of the coronavirus hit Italy: Cuban doctors come to the rescue of hospitals in Italy’s Calabria and when ebola epidemic hit West Africa: Cuban doctors train, then fight Ebola in Africa | CNN. They even tried sending doctors to the U.S. during Hurricane Katrina to which the United States declined: Katrina aid from Cuba? No thanks, says U.S. .
We, members and co-chairs of the National Network on Cuba, will not allow Cuba to be bullied with lies, violence, and intimidation. We will act alongside Cuba and support their resistance to being controlled by U.S. interests. We demand the end to the sixty-four year-old blockade of their country, a return of their land at Guantanamo Bay, and their removal from the so-called “State Sponsors of Terrorism List”. We demand that the Trump administration cease their threats against foreign nations that offer a lifeline of support to Cuba. And we demand an end to the violence of the United States perpetrated at home and abroad against peace loving peoples and nations.
We call on all people to:
- Visit Cuba to see these realities for themselves: join us on the May Day Brigade and in August for the Centenary of Fidel. Yes You Can Travel To Cuba.
- Join or start an Action for Cuba Committee in your local area to support ongoing Cuba solidarity efforts: Action for Cuba Committee Interest Form
- Get your organization, union, or local city council to pass a resolution in support of Cuba https://nnoc.org/resolutions/ .
- Learn more about Cuba through our Cuba 101 and Cuba 201 Political Education series on YouTube: NNOC YouTube Channel.
- Write an article, op-ed, or contact your elected officials. Our friends at the Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect (ACERE) have a toolkit for making your voice heard with your elected representatives: Act now with ACERE .
Join the fight to end the long-standing siege on the people of Cuba and get involved however you can. Long live the Cuban revolution, with our deepest love and solidarity to Cuba–from within the belly of the beast.
