Mexico City, 22 Oct (Xinhua) -- The 60 years of US blockade of Cuba has fully demonstrated its hegemonic and bullying nature
Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Wanjun
The economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba in 1962 continues to this day, causing enormous economic losses and a serious humanitarian catastrophe to Cuba for 60 years. Cuban Foreign Minister Rodriguez said at a news conference on the 19th that Cuba intends to submit to the United Nations General Assembly for the 30th time in November a draft resolution calling on the United States to end the blockade against Cuba.
Tantamount to "heartbreaking murder"
"The U.S. government has always argued that sanctions against Cuba are only against the government, not the population, but every Cuban family feels the harm caused by the U.S. blockade." Sonia Mendes, a 62-year-old Cuban doctor, told reporters.
From fuel, food, daily necessities to medicines, the United States sanctions and blockade against Cuba cover almost everything, resulting in a chronic shortage of materials and hardship for the people in Cuba. "The United States even blocked Cuba's access to raw materials to produce vaccines during the pandemic, which amounts to a crime." Mendez said.
The Latin American News Agency recently pointed out that the US blockade is more destructive than bullets and shells and "constitutes a massive, flagrant and unacceptable violation of the human rights of the Cuban people." The United States' indifference to the plight of the Cuban people amounts to "heartbreaking murder".
On July 17, 2021, about 100,000 people participated in a patriotic rally in Havana, the capital of Cuba, to protest the long-term blockade of Cuba by the United States and oppose the US government's funding of anti-Cuba forces to instigate riots. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Joaquín Hernández)
According to official Cuban statistics, the United States embargo has caused Cuba a cumulative loss of more than $154.2 billion over the past 60 years at current dollar prices. If the depreciation of the dollar against the price of gold on the international market is taken into account, the figure exceeds $1,391.1 billion. Among them, between August last year and February this year, the economic damage caused to Cuba by the United States embargo amounted to $3.8 billion, the highest economic loss recorded in the same period in the past.
The Cuban Government has repeatedly stressed that the prolonged United States embargo against Cuba violates international law and is a cruel act of economic war.
"The embargo is a permanent pandemic, an endless hurricane." Rodriguez v. United States.
The specter of the "Monroe Doctrine" is still wandering
In 1823, then US President James Monroe issued the so-called "Monroe Declaration", declaring that "America is the America of the Americans". For a long time, the United States has held the "Monroe Doctrine", regarded Latin America as a "backyard", and forced Latin American countries to act according to the will of the United States through power intervention, coercion and inducement. Today, nearly 200 years later, the specter of the Monroe Doctrine still haunts Latin America.
The historical actions of the United States against Cuba are proof of this. Under President Monroe, then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams regarded Cuba, then a Spanish colony, as a "natural appendage" of the United States, and proposed the so-called "ripe fruit policy", that is, to swallow this "fruit as if blown by the wind" when the time was ripe. In 1898, the United States occupied Cuba after victory in the war against Spain. In 1959, the Cuban people, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, overthrew the Batista dictatorship and established a revolutionary government. Since then, the United States has pursued a hostile policy towards Cuba.
In 1961, the United States announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Cuba and imposed an economic and financial blockade and trade embargo on Cuba the following year. In 2015, the two countries resumed diplomatic relations, but the United States did not fully lift the blockade against Cuba. After the Trump administration came to power in 2017, the United States once again increased sanctions against Cuba. Since the Biden administration took office in January last year, it has twice extended the validity of the Trade with Enemies Act, which is the legal basis for the blockade and embargo against Cuba.
In June, the United States refused to invite the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the Ninth Summit of the Americas in the United States. Cuban President Díaz-Canel pointed out that under the manipulation of the United States, the Summit of the Americas revived the "Monroe Doctrine" and was a "performance with neo-colonial colors".
On June 10, in Los Angeles, California, a protester marched with placards to protest the United States' refusal to allow the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to participate in the Summit of the Americas. Xinhua News Agency
Favio Fernández, professor of history and philosophy at the University of Havana in Cuba, said that Cuba seeks an independent path of development, and the United States regards this as a challenge to its hegemony, so it punishes Cuba with economic blockade and other means. The hegemonic thinking and interventionist behavior of the United States have never undergone a fundamental change in response to the changes of the times.
Hegemonism is unpopular
"The people please rise up and eliminate the sanctions!" Thousands of demonstrators chanted slogans outside the Ninth Summit of the Americas to protest the continuation of the US government's sanctions against Cuba and other American countries.
The hegemonic performance of the United States in resolutely refusing to invite Cuba and other countries to participate in the meeting was widely criticized by Latin American countries, and this also made the meeting the fewest participation of leaders since the founding of the Summit of the Americas, highlighting the unpopularity of hegemonism. Daniel Kovalik, a visiting law professor at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States, pointed out that the United States has never treated Latin American countries as equals, and seems to take it for granted that it has the same influence in Latin America, and some Latin American countries have long been dissatisfied with this. The awkward situation of the Summit of the Americas reflects the further decline of U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere.
On May 1, Cubans participated in the May Day rally and march in Havana. On May 1, many places in Cuba held the May Day International Labor Day rally and parade, and millions of people took to the streets to oppose the US blockade against Cuba, express patriotic feelings, and pay tribute to Cuban medical workers and scientific researchers. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Joaquín Hernández)
The Cuban Government plans to submit to the United Nations General Assembly in November this year a draft resolution calling on the United States to end the economic, financial embargo and trade embargo against Cuba. Since 1992, the General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted the relevant draft resolutions submitted by Cuba by an overwhelming majority 29 consecutive times. Rodriguez pointed out that facts have proved that the US blockade policy against Cuba will only isolate the United States itself and lose its reputation.
Miguel Cruz, a Cuban middle school teacher, said that the results of the voting results in the UN General Assembly over the years are the most powerful proof of the international community's universal opposition to US hegemony. "Cubans have the right to shake off the yoke of U.S. sanctions, and the world has the right to break the power of the United States."