Through official statements, the Paraguayan Solidarity with Cuba Coordinating Committee and the National Union of State Workers (UNTE-SN) indicated that the recent accusations against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz and other Cuban leaders constitute a historical policy of blockade, pressure, and harassment.

  The signatories emphasized that, while Washington proclaims itself a defender of democracy and human rights, it maintains a blockade that “deepens blackouts, shortages, and difficulties in accessing food and medicine.”

  Regarding the policy applied by Washington against Havana, UNTE-SN warned that “subjugating a people through sanctions and economic strangulation is not freedom: it is coercion and political punishment.”

The text emphasized that “defending Cuba today is defending the dignity, sovereignty, and right of peoples to resist.”

  For his part, the mayor of Lima, Juan Manuel Avalos Vera, sent a letter of support in which he recalled bilateral cooperation.

  In this regard, he noted that “many Paraguayans trained as doctors in Cuba and thousands received free ophthalmological care through Operation Miracle,” which shows the impact of regional cooperation in health and education.

  In his letter, Avalos Vera asked Washington to review the restrictive measures against the Cuban people, urged Paraguayan authorities and the international community to boost humanitarian initiatives, and called on unions, social movements, students, and popular sectors to “raise their voices against all forms of interference and defend the right of peoples to freely build their destiny.”

jdt/lam/abp