The economic crisis and unrest in Santiago de Cuba underscores the devastating impact of over 6 decades of illegal U.S. sanctions, the no-evidence-based designation of Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, and the inflationary financial manipulation which have led to shortages of fuel, electricity, and basic goods.

Yesterday, people took to the streets in Santiago de Cuba expressing their frustration at the recent power outages. Miami regime-changers and U.S. government-funded propaganda outlets were quick to exploit these genuine frustrations into calls for the overthrow of the Cuban government, but this does not match the reality of the situation on the ground in Santiago, where the protests were completely peaceful and citizens engaged in dialogue with local leaders and law enforcement.

In the words of the State Department itself, the goal of the U.S. blockade is to bring about “hunger, desperation, and overthrow of government” in Cuba (see the Mallory memo). We are seeing this policy play out in real time, and as people in the U.S., we have every responsibility to fight against U.S. attacks on Cuba’s sovereignty. True solidarity with the Cuban people necessitates respecting their right to self-determination, and demanding an end to external U.S. interventions which deny Cuba this right and aim to return Cuba to being a U.S. neocolony like Haiti (which the U.S. and its comprador states are preparing to invade yet again).

We call for the US to take Cuba off the “State Sponsors of Terrorism” List and lift all sanctions – measures that would immediately help alleviate Cuba’s economic crisis.

The National Network on Cuba is a coalition of 70+ organizations across the U.S. working to normalize U.S.-Cuba relations and lift the blockade.

In Solidarity,
Organizing Committee, International Conference for the Normalization of US-Cuba Relations
us-cubanormalization.org
New York-New Jersey Cuba Sí Coalition
cubasinynjcoalition.org
National Network On Cuba
nnoc.info
Canadian Network on Cuba
canadiannetworkoncuba.ca
Table de concertation et de solidarité Québec – Cuba
https://www.facebook.com/TCSQC