[Miya Tada, a brigade participant from New York, explained how
this showed that “the biggest obstacle the Cuban people are facing
is the repression and economic warfare of our own government, and that
just inspires me to further the struggle against the blockade back in
the United States.”]
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MAY DAY IN CUBA: SOLIDARITY AGAINST THE EMBARGO  
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Walter Smolarek
May 8, 2023
CounterPunch
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_ Miya Tada, a brigade participant from New York, explained how this
showed that “the biggest obstacle the Cuban people are facing is the
repression and economic warfare of our own government, and that just
inspires me to further the struggle against the blockade back in the
United States.” _

, Susan Ruggles – CC BY 2.0

 

This year’s May Day celebration in Cuba was interrupted by severe
storms that knocked out electricity in much of the country.
Authorities had no choice but to postpone the traditional mass
marches. But for over 150 young grassroots organizers from the United
States who had traveled to the country to mark the holiday, this turn
of events was just more reason to deepen their efforts to end the
U.S.-imposed blockade of the country.

Miya Tada, a brigade participant from New York, explained how this
showed that “the biggest obstacle the Cuban people are facing is the
repression and economic warfare of our own government, and that just
inspires me to further the struggle against the blockade back in the
United States.”

This wide range of activists from nearly 30 states and dozens of
organizations was brought together by the International Peoples’
Assembly, a network of left movements and parties around the globe.
Members of the solidarity brigade had spent the preceding week taking
part in educational panels, discussions with Cuban activists, and
youth exchanges as they sought to deepen their understanding of the
Cuban Revolution.

MAY DAY AMID A TIGHTENING BLOCKADE

The country is currently grappling with a range of severe difficulties
that boil down to a single tremendous challenge—surviving amid a
blockade that seems to tighten every day. The U.S.-imposed blockade
has been in effect for over six decades, but a series of developments
in the past several years has taken its cruelty to new heights.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused havoc in every country on the planet, but
the coercive measures on Cuba magnified the crisis dramatically there.
The country was able to avoid the kind of catastrophic loss of life
experienced in the United States thanks to its world-renowned health
system that produced five different vaccines, but the economic
consequences were grave. Tourism is a principal source of foreign
currency—essential to import vital goods since Cuba is locked out of
the dollar-dominated world market—but this industry effectively
disappeared overnight. Many other sectors of the economy were severely
impacted as well.

“The other pandemic we faced,” Dr. Damodar Peña Pentón of the
Latin American School of Medicine explained to brigade members earlier
in the trip, “was the administration of Donald Trump. He imposed 243
new measures and used COVID-19 as an ally.”

Over the course of the Trump administration, the mild thaw in
U.S.-Cuba relations that took place at the end of the Obama years was
completely reversed. Aiming to suffocate the revolution, Trump imposed
243 new restrictions on Cuba designed to totally isolate it from the
world economy.

Towards the end of his term, the State Department officially labeled
Cuba a “state sponsor of terrorism”—because it had hosted
successful peace talks between the Colombian government and the rebel
movement FARC! Colombia’s president at the time was celebrated for
his efforts with a Nobel Peace Prize, but Cuba’s reward was to be
slandered as terrorists in an effort to further deter potential
trading partners. This is a prime example of what Johana Tablada,
Deputy Director for U.S. Affairs at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, told brigade members the prior week: “The U.S. government
has been permanently telling lies to justify its policy.”

Last August, a massive inferno broke out at the country’s main fuel
storage facility in the province of Matanzas. A lightning strike
sparked a fire that exploded one of the facility’s massive tanks and
then spread to three more. Fourteen firefighters tragically died as
they heroically battled the blaze.

Such a disaster would badly affect any country, but for Cuba, the
blockade had already made it extraordinarily hard to meet its energy
needs. Severe fuel shortages ensued, which persist to this day. This
disrupts daily life in innumerable ways and makes it extremely
difficult to respond to situations like the storm on the eve of May
Day.

Just a few weeks after the fire, on September 27th, Hurricane Ian made
landfall in the western province of Pinar del Río. The powerful storm
destroyed over 50,000 homes and damaged 60 percent of the housing in
the province. Construction materials desperately needed for
reconstruction efforts could not be imported due to the economic siege
of the island.

Ian also had a profound effect on agriculture. Pinar del Río is known
for its tobacco production, and Cuba’s cigars are an important way
to acquire foreign currency through exports. Food crops being grown in
the region were almost totally destroyed.

The cumulative effect of all this was to create an economic crisis
that—contrary to the presentation in the major corporate media
outlets—is the consequence of the limitless cruelty of the U.S.
government, not a failure of socialism.

The United States seeks to cover up this criminal behavior by
preventing its own citizens from traveling to Cuba to see the reality
firsthand. Despite traveling as part of a licensed, completely legal
trip, members of the youth brigade were harassed and held in secondary
questioning upon their return home at the Miami and Newark airports.
Several young activists had their phones wrongfully searched and
seized in a blatant violation of their civil liberties.

MOVING FORWARD DESPITE GREAT OBSTACLES

The slogan of this year’s May Day in Cuba was “Hands and Hearts
for the Homeland!” It reflects the urgent need for every Cuban to
contribute all their abilities to overcome any challenge.

Any easing of U.S. pressure on the country will be an immense relief
as they pursue this task. The blockade of the country has been almost
unanimously condemned at the United Nations on an annual basis for
three decades. But even short of the full lifting of the blockade,
steps like the revocation of the 243 Trump-imposed measures or the
outrageous designation by the State Department that Cuba is a “state
sponsor of terrorism” would improve the situation greatly.

“Being here in Cuba has opened my eyes to the dire need in the
United States to raise awareness about what’s going on with this
blockade and to end it,” explained brigade member Sarah Brummet of
Pensacola, Florida. “I’m very inspired to see the solidarity and
the struggle of the Cuban people, and it’s our responsibility to
take that same energy home and fight the blockade,” she said.

_This article was produced in partnership byPeoples Dispatch
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Globetrotter [[link removed]]_

* Cuba's May Day; US Blockade of Cuba; International Peoples’
Assembly;
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