The Cuban Chapter of the Network of Intellectuals, Artists, and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity (REDH) issued a strong statement in response to recent declarations by Donald Trump, who described Cuba as an unusual threat to U.S. security to justify his plan to impose tariffs on products from countries that sell or supply oil to the island.
In the statement, REDH Cuba denounces as “monumental falsehood and cynicism” Trump’s argument that the Caribbean nation poses an “unusual and extraordinary threat (…) to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” and emphasizes that the White House chief is lying when he speaks of “collaboration with hostile countries,” when in reality he is condemning “the will of a people to freely engage with the world.”
“When he [Trump] speaks of support ‘for transnational terrorist groups (…) and malign actors who are adversaries of the United States’,” the statement adds, “he is actually punishing Cuba’s unwavering solidarity in defending the Palestinian people, its condemnation of the Zionist genocide, and its support for the causes of ‘the wretched of the earth,’ as Frantz Fanon would say.”
The statement recalls that “Cuba sends doctors to the world” while “the United States bombs and besieges,” and emphasizes that the threat to impose tariffs on countries that “sell or supply, directly or indirectly, oil to Cuba” is, contrary to Trump’s own announcement about “his commitment to supporting the aspirations of the Cuban people,” a direct attack against all the people residing in Cuba and their families abroad, regardless of their ideological orientation, political affiliation, social status, or age.
This is “the exacerbation of a total state of siege against a population, which represents another slap in the face to the deniers who insist on shouting that the blockade doesn’t exist. Without a doubt, it has been the two Trump administrations, and this one in particular with the overflowing anti-Cuban hatred of its Secretary of State, that have done the least for the Cuban people, and have worked the most to suffocate the children, the elderly, young people, and women who live on the island.”
Te Cuban chapter of the REDH (Network for Human Rights) warns that these policies of economic strangulation are intended to pave the way for a military incursion, becoming a preliminary step toward a televised extermination attempt that humanity must not allow. “Will we passively await a fatal outcome? Will we, as humanity, witness yet another televised spectacle of the extermination of an entire people?” it asks.
After denouncing that this year of the US president’s administration “has made clear his disrespect for international institutions” and that “there will always be those who rejoice in this new fascist-like expression of Trump,” it states that “it is becoming increasingly clear who stands with the Cuban people and who is betting on their demise.”
To those who maintain that Cuba must show signs of goodwill for a possible understanding, they remind them that “our country has always been open to any respectful and unconditional dialogue, because we are not driven by hatred.”
Cuba is not a threat to the United States. Trump is a threat to life! – REDH-Cuba
The REDH-Cuba statement affirms that in these times when Cuba is being accused to justify the aggression, “we can say that it is not on this Caribbean island where we should be ashamed of the mourning that accompanies names like George Floyd, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.”
And the statement concludes: “To our friends around the world, we convey our certainty that only the people can save the people, and that Cuba is not confined to the geography of this island, because it knows what drives its just cause in all the lands of the planet, to which our solidarity has also reached in the most diverse ways. To our friends around the world, we convey our confidence that we will continue together in this struggle, which today, with greater transparency, is an anti-fascist battle for humanity.”
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday classifying Cuba as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to national security, in order to impose tariffs on any country that supplies oil to the island.
Under the title “Addressing Threats from the Government of Cuba to the United States,” this measure reinforces the extraterritorial nature of the embargo and empowers Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to economically punish sovereign nations that maintain trade ties with Havana in the energy sector.
The directive uses previously refuted accusations of alleged support for terrorism and criticizes Cuba’s relations with strategic allies such as Russia and China. This new economic aggression comes in a context where the embargo has caused cumulative damages exceeding $170.677 billion at current prices.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla has previously denounced that just 60 days of the blockade equate to losses of $1.6 billion, an amount sufficient to cover the fuel needed for the entire country’s electricity generation or to finance a year’s worth of subsidized food.
The Trump Administration is thus intensifying a genocidal policy aimed at financially crippling the island, affecting critical sectors such as health and transportation, and attempting to force the submission of a people who, in more than 80% of cases, were born under the restrictions of this US economic war.
Experts point out that Trump’s objective is the total collapse of Cuba’s basic infrastructure, preventing international transactions and deterring foreign investment, both through unilateral sanctions and the arbitrary inclusion of the island on the list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism.
Faced with this siege, the Cuban government has reaffirmed its decision to continue on its chosen path and denounced the blockade as the main obstacle to Cuba’s development. Both Havana and the majority of the international community have reiterated for decades that the US blockade policy and its extraterritorial extensions flagrantly violate international law, the human rights of the Cuban people, the sovereignty and the principle of self-determination of the island and third countries.
IMAGE CREDIT: REDH Cuba recalls that the island sends doctors around the world while “the United States bombs and besieges,” and emphasizes that Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on countries that sell or supply oil to Cuba is “a direct aggression against all the people residing in Cuba and their families abroad, regardless of their ideological orientation, political affiliation, social status, or age.” Photo: EFE.
[ SOURCE: teleSUR ]
