By Alejandra Garcia on September 26, 2024 from Havana
photo: Bill Hackwell
World eyes are on the United Nations headquarters in New York City, as member states debate the most urgent problems of humanity during the 79th session of the General Assembly. Israel’s genocide against Palestine, which is now spreading to Lebanon and threatening the region and other continents, has been the main focus of these days of debate. However, the abuse of power and the hostile policies of the great powers towards developing nations is also occupying a prominent place.
The name of Cuba is pronounced again and again by world leaders who urge the end of the coercive U.S. sanctions against the island. Countries in the region, such as Bolivia, Venezuela, and Colombia, are just some of those urging the end of the criminal blockade, which hinders the economic development of the island and translates into billions in monetary losses and suffering for society.
On behalf of President Luis Arce, Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa deplored this policy, maintained for more than 60 years and designed to starve and keep an entire nation in dispair.
“We also condemn its inclusion in a unilateral list of alleged countries sponsoring terrorism. This inclusion occurs because the Cuban people have bravely confronted the Imperial power’s attempts to subjugate and dominate them,” the minister said, adding that Cuba should head the list of the most supportive countries in the world since its hand of solidarity has reached every corner of the planet.
Since 1962, the restrictions imposed by the U.S. have hindered access to food, medicines, and other basic goods, generating human suffering and impacting Cuban economy and development. The island has had to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences under harsher circumstances. The economy is facing a crisis that would be much easier to overcome were it not for the persistence of the blockade maintained by successive U.S. administrations for more than half a century.
Other continents are also demanding an end to unilateral measures against Cuba. The president of Angola, João Lourenço, called for an end to the economic blockade against Cuba, a policy he described as unjust and inhuman. “The blockade increases the suffering of the people and greatly hinders the economic and social development of the country,” the Angolan leader stated.
The world is living in uncertain days in which hatred is one and the same. Israel’s genocide against Palestine is no different from Washington’s contempt for nations and peoples who seek paths different from neoliberalism. The bombs Israel is dropping on Lebanon are no more inhumane than the siege Washington imposes on an entire country, with the sole objective of depriving them of safe and free access to medicines, food, and other goods indispensable for their subsistence. It is economic warfare in the exteme.
That is why Cuba’s name is heard loudly and clearly by the United Nations because we protest as we watch with horror how the extermination of thousands of people goes unpunished, while the bombs do not discriminate between the elderly, women, and children. Because the future can seem very bleak when we think that today it is Palestine, but tomorrow it could be Cuba who receives those bombs. The world demands justice.
Alejandra Garcia is the Havana correspondent for Resumen Latinoamericano in English and an evening news anchor for Telesur in English.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English