Friends of Cuba in the United States gathered today in front of the Caribbean nation’s embassy in this capital to express their solidarity with its people at a time when the aggressiveness of the government of Donald Trump is intensifying.
The initiative took shape through music, whose universal language builds bridges. Prensa Latina spoke with some of the participants.
“Cuba is not alone,” said Cheryl LaBash, co-chair of the National Network on Cuba. “We oppose the blockade; we want the blockade to end,” emphasized the activist, who was among nearly a hundred people who, on Wednesday evening, responded to the call of the pacifist organization CodePink.
LaBash stated that through people’s action and solidarity, “we can end this blockade now to relieve the suffering that the United States is imposing on the Cuban people.”
“We say: Let Cuba live, let Cuba dance, let Cuba educate, let Cuba be the country it can be—and let the United States get off Cuba’s back,” she stressed.
For her part, Olivia DiNucci of CodePink said: “We have spent decades witnessing how devastating the U.S. blockade is, and the recent escalation—when oil cannot enter, hospitals suffer, farmers suffer, ordinary people suffer.”
She warned that President Donald Trump speaks of intervention and regime change, and “we are here to tell you that we stand with you, the Cuban people; this cannot happen in our name or with our tax dollars.”
On the contrary, she added, “we should be learning from the Cuban people. That’s why today we embrace the arts and culture, because we know that is how they sustain their resistance,” she emphasized, noting that some of them recently returned from Cuba “and we saw the devastating effects of this blockade.” “We want to show you that we are here in solidarity,” DiNucci concluded.
“So we are here, in front of the Cuban Embassy, celebrating a salsa party, because we want to tell the Cuban people: we are with you, we are against the blockade, we are against economic restrictions, but we are also with you in our spirit of joy,” said CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin.
The writer and journalist also expressed that she knows how much the Cuban people “love their music, their dance, and their culture, and we want to tell them that we love it too—so we stand with you, Cuba.”
Amid the tightening of the blockade and the growing aggressiveness of the Trump administration against the largest of the Antilles, the chorus of solidarity with the island continues to grow louder in the United States.
(Source: Prensa Latina)