Campaign: Blockade no, Solidarity Yes | May and June

From Foro de São Paulo, in this week we started the campaign: Blockade no, solidarity yes – Our America for life, which will take place until June 23, the date of the vote in the United Nations General Assembly on the resolution 74/7 entitled “Necessity to end the economic, financial and commercial blockade of the United States against Cuba“.

The objective is to denounce the extraterritorial character and the violation of international law that constitutes the application of the blockade, the main obstacle to the economic and social development of Cuba and that constitutes the most flagrant and massive violation of the human rights of the peoples of Our America.

The world is experiencing the impact of the multidimensional crisis, aggravated by the pandemic of COVID-19 and by neoliberal policies, which place the market above the life of the human being, instead of cooperation and solidarity prevailing. During the pandemic, instead of suspending unilateral measures against Cuba, what we are seeing is the worsening of these measures, which directly affects the countries’ ability to contain the pandemic.

In theory, unilateral sanctions in the United States say the medicines are exempt. But the reality is that it is not possible to buy medical supplies easily, transport them to these countries, or use them in their mainly public health systems. This embargo in this era of COVID-19 is not just a war crime according to the parameters of the Geneva Convention (1949); as defined by the United Nations International Law Commission, it is also a crime against humanity.

Unlike the Blockade, what Cuba offers humanity is solidarity and cooperation. Its supportive medical brigade offers medical services in more than 40 countries and the island is also producing the first vaccine candidates in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Blockade directly affects the lives of people in Latin America and the Caribbean and its worsening during the pandemic is very worrying. We invite you to know more about the campaign and join this information dissemination. The key to overcoming this difficult moment is cooperation and solidarity.

#BloqueoNoSolidaridadSi #NuestraAmericaPorLaVida