Statement of the Austria-Cuba Friendship Association ÖKG in support of Cuba.
The Austria-Cuba Friendship Association expresses its solidarity to the Cuban government and people in this difficult situation of power supply. On Friday, October 18 at 11:00 a.m. the national power system collapsed, leaving the whole country in darkness.
The workers of the power plants are making an extraordinary effort to reestablish the electric supply throughout the country, according to the UNE (National Energy Union), they have managed to synchronize the electric system and to supply energy again in a great part of the territory.
The main cause of the energy collapse is the economic, commercial and financial blockade that the US empire has maintained for more than 60 years on the island, aggravated by the placement of Cuba on the unilateral and blackmailing US list of countries sponsoring terrorism. This has meant, among many other factors, that:
- This year alone, 53 vessels and 27 companies were penalized by the U.S. government.
- The U.S. has increased the limitations of financial and credit access to repair the country's thermoelectric plants and to acquire the technologies and fuel required to guarantee a stable supply of energy to the population and to the strategic sectors of the national economy.
In this extremely critical situation, a natural disaster has occurred again with the entry of a category 1 hurricane in the province of Guantanamo, causing the death of seven Cuban citizens. The civil defense in Cuba is known for its effectiveness in saving lives in similar situations, this time however in the midst of the energy disaster seven people died. We express our condolences to the families and friends of the victims.
We strongly condemn the U.S. policy of blackmail and demand that the U.S. government lift the criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.
We also strongly protest against the unilateral coercive measures of the U.S. against Cuba and demand the removal of Cuba from the blackmailing list of countries falsely accused of sponsoring terrorism. Cuba, on the contrary, is a victim of US terrorism.
Long live international solidarity!
Long live Cuba!
Hermann Pernerstorfer President of the Friendship Association Austria - Cuba