Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and his accompanying delegation were welcomed to a theater in the heart of Manhattan amid applause and chants of “Yes to Cuba, No to Blockade!”
Rodriguez, who reiterated his support for the just cause of the Palestinian people, called for an end to the Israeli genocide in Gaza, and commented on the effects of the blockade imposed on Cuba by successive US administrations for more than six decades, as well as the illegal, arbitrary, and unjust inclusion of the island on the list of alleged sponsors of terrorism.
He also addressed the audience about the “ferocious propaganda campaign to discredit” Cuban medical collaboration, which he described as an “immense expression of solidarity,” one that is absolutely legitimate and entirely consistent with the collaborative missions carried out by the UN.
For his part, Manolo de los Santos, executive director of The People’s Forum (coordinator of the event), stated: “I ask you to leave with a renewed vow that we will fight the blockade here in the belly of the beast, that here in the heart of the empire we will expose the lies of (Donald) Trump and (Marco) Rubio.”
The activist affirmed that the blockade aims to “cause maximum pain and suffering to all the Cuban people” and noted that “they cynically place Cuba on a list that should never have existed and to which Cuba has never belonged: the so-called list of state sponsors of terrorism.”
The United States, he emphasized, ironically calls this whole scheme a policy, but we know what it is. The Cuban people know what it’s like. It’s an economic war to destroy them,” he said.
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