Statements by: HELENOCUBAN ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDSHIP AND SOLIDARITY of Athens, HELENOCUBAN ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDSHIP AND SOLIDARITY OF TESALONIKI and HELENOCUBAN ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDSHIP AND SOLIDARITY OF KEFALONIÁ AND ITACA
This year has been the 62nd anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Sixty-two years since the proud Cuban people, headed by Fidel Castro, overthrew the Batista dictatorship and the exploitative system and became the master of their country, building the new socialist society within great difficulties.
The conquests of the Cuban people in work, health and education, in all fields, their example for the humble and the despised in Latin America, all over the world, has struck a nail in the eye of imperialism. So since 1959, successive governments in the United States, with the help of their submissive allies, have set themselves the goal of restoring capitalism and regaining hegemony in the country.
The Cuban people decisively confronted the subversive activities of the United States. It firmly resists the harsh blockade imposed by the US governments 60 years ago, the most unjust and lengthy unilateral sanctions that have been imposed in all history against a country.
The economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba, which remains intact until today with the aim of strangling the Cuban economy, cruelly violates the human rights of the Cuban people, deprives them of necessary medicines and medical technology, is - according to the formal term - the form of genocide. It demonstrates the barbarism of imperialism that without hesitation flagrantly violates International Law and the Charter of the United Nations and blatantly ignores the resolutions of the UN General Assembly that every year, 28 successive years ago, condemned the blockade.
In 2019, the Trump administration hardened the blockade, including through the activation of Article 3 of the Helms-Burton Act, and provocatively reinserted Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, tightening the noose even more in its neck, hindering the economic development of the country and hitting the standard of living of the Cuban people.
The Biden government maintains the blockade, while the European Union and the governments of the member states move on the basis of their own interests and are accomplices in the North American crime against Cuba.
In these conditions, Cuba's achievements in the fields of medicine and research, the preparation of vaccines and medicines against the coronavirus, and the protection of its people against the pandemic are of special importance. Once again, the internationalist attitude of the Cuban State and of the country's doctors, of the Henry Reeve brigade, who provide their services in dozens of countries, was manifested, provoking just admiration.
Now is the time to raise our voice in defense and in solidarity with the Cuban people and their government, condemning in the most emphatic way the imperialist policy of the United States against the Island of the Revolution.
The Hellenic-Cuban Association of Friendship and Solidarity, which has been at the side of the Cuban people for decades, supporting their right to live free and to follow the path of socialist social organization and development, demands that the multifaceted blockade of Cuba by US imperialism be immediately lifted, as well as all kinds of interventions in the internal affairs of the Island of the Revolution.
Solidarity with the Cuban people! Let the United States blockade against Cuba be lifted right now!
April 22, 2021