‘Let Cuba Live!’, The People’s Forum Demands President Biden
Image of the letter published in the New York Times, Oct. 22, 2024. X/ @PeoplesForumNYC
October 22, 2024 Hour: 9:56 am
In the past 60 years, the U.S. blockade has cost Cuba over US$164 billion in damages.
On Tuesday, the People’s Forum, a NYC-based, working class movement, published a letter addressed to U.S. President Joe Biden demanding that he end the blockade against Cuba. Below is the text of the letter.
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President Biden, you have exactly 90 days to reverse Trump’s brutal policy on Cuba. Ten years ago, President Obama opened a hopeful new chapter in US-Cuba relations by taking the first steps toward normalization.
People in both countries were optimistic that Cuba and the United States could become neighbors rather than Cold War enemies. However, Trump dismantled that policy, imposing pain and suffering on the Cuban people.
As a consequence, Cuba is currently experiencing a nationwide blackout, exacerbated by the cruel sixty-year-long U.S. blockade. This blockade has prevented the country from purchasing fuel, accessing essential goods, and obtaining spare parts for its power grid—leaving millions of people in the dark.
In the past 60 years, the blockade has cost Cuba over US$164 billion in damages, with more than US$5 billion in losses in the last year alone (March 2023–February 2024). Each year, the United States stands virtually alone before the United Nations General Assembly as the world condemns this policy.
The blockade was further intensified by Trump’s designation of Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism” and the imposition of over 243 new sanctions on the island. This represents a grave injustice designed to create severe shortages, making it impossible for the Cuban people to access essential food, medicine, and fuel.
You have now maintained Trump’s policy for three years and nine months. With only 90 days left in your term, you have the ability to lift these harmful measures.
The reality is that the sanctions cause irreversible harm to the people of Cuba, not just the government. Removing the State Sponsors of Terrorism designation would allow Cuba to engage in financial transactions and restore its electrical grid, as well as address shortages of food and medicine to alleviate the immense hardship faced by the Cuban people, who have endured over 62 years of economic strife under the blockade.
This devastating blackout is just one aspect of the United States’ legacy of facilitating suffering on the island through the blockade. Trump’s brutal policy should be reversed.
It’s not too late to do the right thing. You can change this reality with a simple signature. It’s time to act. Let Cuba Live!
teleSUR/ JF Source: The People’s Forum
