London, 12 August 2024- On the afternoon of Friday 9 August, members of the Welsh Senedd, the solidarity campaign and trade unions demanded the lifting of the blockade and the removal of Cuba from the list of states that allegedly sponsor terrorism, in the framework of an event of solidarity with the island during the National Festival of Welsh culture "Eisteddfod" in the city of Pontypridd.
Luke Fletcher, Member of Senedd for the Plaid Cymru party, mentioned the recent creation of the "Friends of Cuba Group" in that legislative body to support solidarity with Cuba and an end to the blockade. "It is a joke that Cuba is on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, considering all that it has done at the international level in favour of peace," added Fletcher.
The president of Cymru Cuba (a group affiliated to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign) and secretary general of the Communist Party of Britain, Robert Griffiths, mentioned the enormous obstacles that Cuba faces due to the application of the blockade, especially in the health sector. "Cuba is not asking for anything from other countries, only that the right to determine its own future be respected," Griffiths said, referring to the importance of solidarity with the island.
Addressing Cymru Cuba for the first time, the ambassador of the Caribbean nation, Ismara Vargas Walter, thanked all the Welsh friends for their traditional support for the demand to put an end to the blockade, whose damage in six decades amounts to 159,84.3 million dollars (at the end of February 2023). The Cuban diplomat recalled that, since the Trump administration, the island has faced an unprecedented tightening of this policy. "Undoubtedly, one of the most severe and unjust measures has been the reinclusion of Cuba on the unilateral list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism," she added. In this regard, she thanked all those who have signed the Cuba Solidarity Campaign's open letter to the US ambassador, requesting the removal of Cuba from the list.