Vol. 81/No. 6 February 13, 2017
Regional summit calls for end to US embargo of Cuba
Cuban President Raúl Castro told the meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that Cuba wanted to “continue negotiating pending bilateral issues with the United States on the basis of equality, reciprocity and respect for the sovereignty and independence of our country, and to continue the respectful dialogue and cooperation on issues of common interest with the new government of President Donald Trump.”
“Cuba and the United States can cooperate and coexist in a civilized manner,” Castro added, “but it should not be expected that to do so Cuba will make concessions inherent to its sovereignty and independence.”
CELAC was founded in 2010, a counter to the U.S.-dominated Organization of American States. The OAS expelled Cuba in 1962 at Washington’s insistence to punish working people there for overthrowing the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and their declaration in 1961 of the decision to build a socialist society.
The broad participation of Latin American and Caribbean governments at CELAC’s founding was one sign of Washington’s increasing diplomatic isolation in the region and the failure of the U.S. economic embargo to undermine the Cuban Revolution. In December 2014, Castro and then U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the two governments were re-establishing diplomatic relations. But despite this and the opening of embassies, Washington still maintains its economic war against Cuba while seeking other means of destroying the revolution.
This year’s summit was attended by the heads of state of Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and foreign ministers from other member governments.
Along with the resolution calling on the U.S. president and Congress to end the embargo, CELAC called for the “return to the Republic of Cuba of the territory occupied by the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo.” The U.S. military has occupied the base since 1903 and used it both to intervene in Cuban affairs as well as in Haiti and the Caribbean to protect imperialist interests.
Since the 1959 revolution, the Cuban government has refused to cash the annual rent check of $4,085 that the U.S. Treasury keeps sending.
So far there are no indications that Donald Trump is planning to reverse the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba. He has nominated former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue as secretary of agriculture. Perdue advocated more agricultural trade with Cuba during a visit to Havana in 2010.
Related articles:
‘Revolution made health care a right,’ Cuban doctors say
Washington ends ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ Cuba program
Cuban women wanted to participate in a genuine revolution
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home