Berlin. An international signature campaign against the US blockade of Cuba started on August 11th. It is supported by numerous artists, intellectuals, political leaders, trade unions, social organizations and political parties from around the world and calls on US President Joe Biden to immediately remove Cuba from the US list of “state sponsors of terrorism”.
She also supports the Cuba network in Germany with its forty member organizations.
The campaign is carried out by a broad coalition. The International Assembly of Peoples (IPA), ALBA Movimientos, Forum of São Paulo, Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, Jornada Continental por la Democracia y Contra el Neoliberalismo, World March of Women, Continental Latin American and Caribbean Network in Solidarity with are involved Cuba and Via Campesina.
Under the motto “Let Cuba Live”, more than a million signatures are to be collected for a letter addressed to Biden, which will be presented to him on the occasion of International Human Rights Day on December 10th.
During his final days in office, Donald Trump put Cuba back on the US list of “State Sponsors of Terrorism”, which further intensified the illegal blockade against Cuba.
Accordingly, the letter states that the inclusion on the list “makes it much more difficult for Cuba to conduct transactions through international banking systems and to purchase necessary goods on the international market, such as fuel, food, building materials, hygiene products and medicines”.
Well-known supporters so far include Brazilian musician Chico Buarque, Citlalli Hernandez, senator and general secretary of Mexico’s governing party Morena, Peter Mertens, leader of the Belgian Labor Party, Bolivia’s ex-president Evo Morales, Judith Butler, feminist US scientist and Ernesto Samper, former Colombian President.
Samper said: “Biden has to remove Cuba from the list because, with President Obama, he has understood that unilateral sanctions at the international level are illegal, immoral and inhumane, and therefore they have started a historic process of normalizing relations between the two countries , which could have been the beginning of the end of the blockade.” Samper is referring to former US President Barack Obama’s normalization of relations with Cuba’s socialist government. Biden was Obama’s Vice President.
The appeal reads: “We believe that international pressure and awareness of the real consequences can put an end to these measures. We also agree with the 185 countries in the United Nations General Assembly that supported the US blockade against Cuba in 2022 as well as in the 30 years before.”