Vol. 80/No. 16 April 25, 2016

‘Return Guantánamo to Cuba now!’

BY VED DOOKHUN

WASHINGTON — We have “diplomatic relations not normal relations with the U.S. government,” Miguel Fraga, First Secretary of the Cuban Embassy, told a meeting at the University of the District of Columbia here April 2. “The U.S. embargo is the main obstacle.” He also called for the return of U.S.-occupied Guantánamo to Cuba.

The meeting, attended by 60 people, was organized by the D.C. Metro Coalition in Solidarity with the Cuban Revolution and co-hosted by the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law.

Fraga pointed to gains made by the revolution despite the economic embargo, like keeping 50,281 Cuban volunteer health care workers in 68 countries.

The embargo prevents Cuba from “upgrading its infrastructure” and acquiring needed resources, Fraga said. It also prevents medical advances made by Cuba from being utilized around the world, including a drug treatment developed in Cuba that reduces the need for amputations in diabetics by 70 percent.

In response to a question about racial discrimination in Cuba, Fraga said, “Cuba does not have a problem with discrimination like in the United States.” There are “equal opportunities.”

Another participant asked if Havana could offer the U.S. government “a face-saving way out of Guantánamo.”

“Guantánamo is part of Cuba,” Fraga said, and has to be “returned immediately” for there to be normal relations.

Omari Musa contributed to this article.