The New York City Council approved a resolution urging the U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden to lift the blockade of Cuba because of the harm it causes to its people.
"We will have a press conference this morning at City Hall," activist Rosemarie Mealy told Prensa Latina via telephone when offering details about the text (Res. No. 285-A), endorsed with a vote of 49 to 0.
For the people of New York it is significant because one of the most respected leadership bodies in the nation, the New York City Council, joined the wave against the blockade of Cuba that is sweeping the United States, she stressed.
The document also calls for the elimination of all prohibitions for Americans to travel freely to the island and for the Biden administration to remove Cuba from the unilateral list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Some 90 city councils, county boards, legislatures, school boards, labor councils, unions (including the NYU Professional Staff Congress) and other organizations, he said, have called on Biden to end anti-Cuba hostility and stifling policies.
Mealy recalled that New York is the seat of the UN and last year "we saw 185 member countries of the General Assembly vote overwhelmingly for the 30th time against the economic blockade of Cuba".
He emphasized that as the second largest city in the United States, the approval of this symbolic resolution by the City Council will provide a greater commitment and dialogue in this "shared hope of making normalization between the two nations a reality".
This is a week in which actions of solidarity with the largest of the Antilles are multiplying here.
The day before, representatives of the National Cuba Solidarity Network knocked on the doors of U.S. senators.
Even Gail Walker, co-president of the organization, was arrested after trying to meet peacefully with legislator Robert Menendez, one of the main obstacles to rapprochement with Cuba on Capitol Hill.
A vigil is planned for tonight in Washington, DC, as part of the activities prior to Sunday's protest in front of the White House.
The peaceful demonstration on June 25 will be the culmination of seven days of nationwide activities.