THE African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) have joined millions around the world to call for the support of the United Nations vote to end the US blockade against Cuba.
The United Nations General Assembly will again consider a resolution to put an end to the U.S. blockade against the island tomorrow, June 23, 2021.
Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, in April, stressed that the blockade is an act of genocide that constitutes a massive violation of human rights.
Lindiwe Zulu, chairperson of the ANC’s international relations sub-committee, said on Tuesday that the continuing unilateral blockade imposed on Cuba, for more than 60 years, was made especially worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While Cuba and its people have continued to show great resilience under difficult circumstances, ongoing coercive measures have made it more difficult and costly to access important medicines, supplies, and necessary equipment to fight the health effects of COVID-19 and to tackle its socio-economic effects,” said Zulu.
“This is entirely unjustifiable and must be brought to an end forthwith. It is evident that the objective of the imperialist’s is to impose regime change in Cuba by strangling the Cuban economy, and causing severe damage to the population. With this kind of conduct imperialism shows their disdain for international law, and human rights in general.”
Zulu added the blockade against Cuba is a clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and the rules of free trade.
“It constitutes a direct attack on the sovereignty of Cuba, and its legitimate right to decide its own political and economic system. The USA blockade, and the manner in which it was strengthened by the previous Trump Administration, is aimed at crushing an entire nation that has set an example to the world about what can be done with regards to international solidarity.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the SACP called on the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to make its voice louder by voting, once again, for the lifting of the blockade on scheduled for Wednesday.
The UN has supported ending the blockade for the past 29 years.
“On 23 June, the UNGA will vote on the resolution entitled “The necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States government against Cuba,” said the SACP in a statement.
“For the past 28 years, 28 resolutions demanding the end of the criminal blockade against Cuba have been adopted almost unanimously by the United Nations. In the last vote, 187 UN Member States voted in support for the resolution while Brazil and Israel joined the US in voting no.”
The SACP called for the UNGA to vote for the resolution against the blockade in the next vote scheduled for 23 June2021.
The US blockade against Cuba was adopted unilaterally in the 1960s.
“The blockade is a criminal one as it violates international law, particularly the right of the Cuban people to self-determination. Through the blockade, the imperialist regime of the US hoped to cripple Cuba shortly after the Cuban people overthrew a US puppet, dictator Fulgencio Batista, on 1 January 1959,” said the SACP.
“Under the Trump administration, the US regime extended the blockade to genocidal levels by blocking medicine supplies, and necessary equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the intensification of the illegal blockade, the Cuban people continue to defend their nation’s right to democratic national sovereignty. They have overwhelmingly rejected all kinds of imperialist interference in their country’s domestic affairs.”
- Inside Politics
