Cuban ambassador to the United States Jose Ramon Cabanas spoke to an online rally by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign

A NEW US presidency should be an opportunity to reverse the damage of the Donald Trump years and renew pressure to end the illegal blockade, a Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC) online rally heard on Monday night.

Cuban ambassador to the United States Jose Ramon Cabanas said the impact of the crippling blockade had been even more severe amid a global pandemic.

The Trump administration had passed 225 measures against Cuba in a bid to force “Cuba on our knees,” Mr Cabanas said, describing its bid to block off all Cuban imports and the sanctioning of banks, including British banks, for daring to conduct transactions with the island.

Accusations against Cuba included the bizarre claim of “sonic attacks” on US diplomats — “which no US scientist can take seriously” — as well as allegations that Cuba has 20,000 troops in Venezuela, when the US intelligence agencies “know very well that our presence in Venezuela is medical” and consists of doctors and other health workers.

How the Joe Biden team would address the Cuba blockade “we don’t know yet,” he conceded.

Stockport MP Navendu Mishra said that Britain should do more to press the United States to end its illegal blockade, noting how Cuba allowed the cruise ship MS Braemar to dock in April so its British passengers could be repatriated after other countries refused because of Covid-19 infections on board.

And Liverpool Wavertree MP Paula Barker called for more support for the petition to get members of Cuba’s Henry Reeve international medical brigade the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, noting that over the past 15 years its 10,000 members “have treated over four million people and saved 90,000 lives in natural disasters and health emergencies in over 45 countries.”

Source: Morning Star