End the inhuman and unprincipled US blockade against Cuba!
On November 13, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution calling for an end to the more than 50 year long blockade of Cuba by the US. The fact that the vote was 188 member states for the resolution with only 3 against, shows the complete isolation of the United States with regard t
End the inhuman and unprincipled US blockade against Cuba!
On November 13, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution calling for an end to the more than 50 year long blockade of Cuba by the US. The fact that the vote was 188 member states for the resolution with only 3 against, shows the complete isolation of the United States with regard to its unjustifiable and vindictive policy against Cuba. This is the 21st time that the UNGA has voted against the blockade. Needless to say, this has made no difference to the policy of ten different US governments against Cuba, including that of Obama.
Ever since the people of Cuba, a small country of just 11 million people, carried out their revolution in 1959 against the tyrannical pro-US imperialist regime of Batista, the US has adopted every means in its power to crush the Cuban people and their revolutionary government. This has included economic strangulation, military blackmail, the organising of subversion inside Cuba by the CIA and other agencies, a host of punitive measures, and numerous attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro, the leader of the Cuban revolution. None of these has succeeded in subduing the Cuban people or turning them against their government.
The purpose of the economic blockade against Cuba was stated in very clear terms by the then US Secretary of State Lestor Mallory in 1960. It was "to cause disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship … to weaken the economic life of Cuba … denying money and supplies … to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government." In other words, it was a direct attempt to change the government of Cuba by imposing hardship and suffering of its people. This blockade, conceived with these most inhuman motives, prohibits and punishes any individual, company or organisation, from whichever country, that engages in any kind of economic transaction with Cuba. It has caused enormous damage to the economy of Cuba, assessed at more than $100 billion dollars. It has affected the life of every man, woman and child in Cuba. It is responsible, among other things, for the denial of life-saving medicines and medical equipment for the dangerously ill. According to the Cuban representative at the United Nations, “the blockade is one of the main causes of the economic problems of our country and the major obstacle to its economic and social development.”
The Indian working class and people strongly condemn the blockade and other hostile measures perpetrated by the US imperialists against a proud and valiant people. It is the inalienable right of the Cuban people to choose their own political and economic system without causing any harm to other countries. The continuation of the US blockade in the face of worldwide opposition, even among its own allies, shows the arrogance of US imperialism and the hypocrisy of its so-called championing of “democracy” and “human rights”.