ICAP’s Director, Leima Martínez Friere, appears in Edmonton, Canada. Credit: X/@EmbaCubaCanada

Written by: Barbara Waldern

After 60 years of the US embargo against revolutionary Cuba, Canadians are as committed as ever to international friendship with the island nation. Canadians have begun to push hard for an end to the blockade, because of the worsening conditions suffered by Cubans owing to additional US sanctions that restrict financial activity further, as the world crisis of capitalism unfolds.

Parliamentary Petition on Cuba

More monthly demonstrations dubbed “Puentes de Amor,” publications and discussions to agitate against the “bloqueo,” are reinforcing the Cuba solidarity campaign. An international representative of Cuba went on a week-long peace tour across Canada in June. Also, a parliamentary petition (e-5014) sponsored by the Member of Parliament for Joliette, PQ, Gabriel Ste. Marie, began taking signatures in July.

Petition e-5014 Against the U.S. War on and Economic Blockade of Cuba states the following:

“We, the undersigned residents of Quebec and Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to

1. Ask United States representatives, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to lift the blockade against Cuba as well as to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism;

2. Reaffirm the importance of the Cuban people’s human rights, which must be respected, and denounce the blockade against Cuba as one of the key barriers to the Cuban people’s full enjoyment of their human rights;

3. Act immediately to preserve the sovereignty of Quebec and Canada, ensuring that Quebec and Canadian corporations and other entities, particularly governmental ones, do not participate in the American economic sanctions against Cuba; and

4. Ensure that Quebec and Canadian relations with Cuba continue to be based on equality and respect for sovereignty, independence and the right to self-determination.”

Caption: Picketers at Surrey Central Sky Train Station, Greater Vancouver, on May 26, 2024

With many Canadian businesses operating in or with Cuba and diplomatic relations normal, Canada always votes for resolutions to abandon the Cuba blockade in the UN General Assembly. The US predictably opposes them, however; no matter however isolated its position is, its power and sway hold back implementation. In November 2023, only the US, Ukraine and Israel voted against the resolution to end the blockade against Cuba.

The Canadian Network on Cuba previously proposed petitions (e-3456 and e-3640) to the House of Commons. The CNC’s latest, e-5014, is part of the solidarity movement’s struggle to oppose the US economic war and subversion efforts against Cuba. In particular, e-5014 is intended to strengthen the policy of opposing the blockade and put extra pressure on the US to curtail its blockade, as well as its tagging of Cuba as a terrorism sponsor. It also fortifies resistance to the US sanctions and US claims of human rights violations against Cuba.

Cuba’s Peace Tour in Canada

A Canada tour titled “Cuba’s Struggle for Peace and Solidarity with Palestine”, going from Ottawa to Vancouver between June 3 and 12, 2024, reported on the extreme economic breakdown happening to Cuba resulting from the US embargo and recently added sanctions. Food, fuel and electricity are in short supply. Blackouts occur frequently. Even Cuban tourism is foundering. Equally as alarming, Cuba’s sugar industry is in grave peril today.

At the tour hall in Vancouver, Canada, on June 11, 2024, the Director of The Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), Cuba’s international friendship institute, described Cuba’s decades-old policy of support with the Palestinian people and the resistance to occupation and aggression.

Caption: ICAP Director, Leima Martinez Freire speaking in Vancouver on June 11, 2024.

Leima Martínez Freire, ICAP’s Director, answered questions to explain that the US has tightened its control of trade relations and the flow of money with Cuba, while it has intensified its propaganda especially at the youth. Despite some complaining youths, Cubans generally support for socialism while debating and wrestling with the problems, asserted Martinez. Therefore, the US has still not been able to destabilize Cuba.

Cuba’s Economic Crisis in the 2020s

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla addressed the UN General Assembly meeting of November 2, 2023, which voted on a resolution on “the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by US against Cuba.” Families lack goods, there are long queues and really high prices, so the Government makes great efforts to feed its people. He said the blockade deprives the agricultural industry of funds to buy animal fodder, industrial equipment and other necessities for food production.

The current crisis of global capitalism, with high debt, prices and shipping costs inspiring greater international tensions and militarization, is exacerbating the consequences of over 60 years of the hostile economic measures accompanied by waves of fierce anti-Cuba propaganda. Consider also the shrinking of the Caribbean fishery as a result of climate change, hurricanes, over-fishing and environmental disaster. Furthermore, Cuba depends more on allies who are also the targets of heavy US sanctions, including Russia, Iran, Venezuela and China.

The present-day dependency on electronic financial activity is a vulnerability. Transactions speeding through electronic systems such as SWIFT can be claimed by the US as violations of its rules. This danger obstructs and discourages many players in trade and business. The US Biden government is saying it will ease banking and social media sanctions, but this has yet to be proven.

During a series of blackouts, some Cubans protested in the streets in March 2024, repeating their demands for a better situation around food and electricity, that they made protests about in July 2021, when COVID complicated things. Cuba’s President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, talked to them about solutions to calm them down and minimize a police response. He indicated that expanding small business can only help so far in an economy that is largely non-market.

Canada’s Relations with Cuba

Canada’s regard for Cuba is contradictory. For instance, it promotes business with Cuba, yet it slyly advises travelers to “exercise a high degree of caution.” . Although officially opposed to the blockade, Canada’s diplomatic relations with Cuba have been strained at times. Canadian parliamentarians, including Liberal MP Navdeep Bains – who met convicted Cuban terrorist Luis Zúñiga among others – met with a US-based Cuban dissident in June 2022, whose group (Assembly of the Cuban Resistance [ARC]) is funded by a CIA-front, the National Endowment for Democracy.

Canadian media, especially the government-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), fosters doubt and fear about Cuba, without mentioning the blockade and its consequences. For example, the CBC described Cuba erupting with violence when the protests happened last March, providing a photo of an isolated incident with one individual. The Canada Files even obtained emails showing that the CBC’s Evan Dyer only works to interview anti-government Cuban Canadians, while ignoring pro-government Cuban Canadians. As the President Biden asserted that the Cuban state was repressing Cuban voices crying out for freedom, Trudeau’s words appeared to be more careful, calling for all parties to “respect the right to assembly” and recommending they “engage in peaceful and inclusive dialogue.” But, as author Arnold August has explained in the past, Trudeau’s bad faith towards Cuba is more subtle and secretive, but real.

Given the contradictions, stepping up the movement to end the US blockade and sanctions is important. The parliamentary petition and continuing demonstrations and discussions are a good start.

Barbara Waldern is a peace activist residing in Metro Vancouver, BC, who, holding a Masters in social science, has worked in international educational support services.

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