Vol. 80/No. 19 May 16, 2016
DC event: Solidarity needed to lift US embargo of Cuba
Cabañas was the keynote speaker at the panel discussion “Through Cuban Eyes,” held at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. Nearly 120 people attended.
“We recognize what President Obama has done in re-establishing diplomatic relations,” the ambassador said. “But the core questions remain the same.”
Among obstacles to the normalization of relations between Washington and Havana, he said, is “the Cuban Adjustment Act, which has to be stopped.” Since 1966, the U.S. government has maintained this policy, which gives expedited permanent residency to any Cuban who reaches the U.S., encouraging perilous crossings by boat and even hijackings. “Cuba is in favor of safe and legal migration,” Cabañas said.
He also denounced Washington’s Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program as “immoral and a form of slavery.” Over the last decade, U.S. immigration authorities have enticed some 7,000 of the tens of thousands of Cuban doctors and medical workers who have volunteered in other countries to defect to the United States under this scheme, part of Washington’s propaganda against the Cuban Revolution.
“And, of course,” Cabañas said, “there is the need to re-establish Cuban sovereignty over Guantánamo,” where Washington maintains its naval base on Cuban territory against the will of the Cuban people.
“Ecuador needs solidarity,” the Cuban ambassador said, pointing to the social disaster unfolding for workers and peasants in that country after a huge earthquake April 16. “Cuba is sending more medical volunteers to help,” he said, noting that three of the hundreds of Cuban doctors already there died in the quake.
Other speakers included Jorge Jérez, a young Cuban born with cerebral palsy. He is the subject of a documentary titled “The Power of the Weak” by producer Tobias Kriele, which highlights the Cuban medical system and the horizons it opens for those with physical or other limitations. Jérez is touring the United States presenting the film.
“Obama is betting on Cuban youth as the generation of change,” against the revolution, Jérez said. “I am here to tell you that he is mistaken. We are the heirs of the revolution fighting for sovereignty and independence of our country.”
Other participants on the panel included Vanessa Avila and Alicia Steele, youth from the U.S. who recently graduated from Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine; attorney José Pertierra; writer Stephen Kimber; Jennifer Bryant, representing the Venceremos Brigade; and Gail Walker, executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace.
The panel capped the second annual “Days of Action against the Blockade” organized by the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity. The April 18-22 activities included congressional lobbying against the embargo and showings of “The Power of the Weak” at UDC and American University.
Omari Musa contributed to this article
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