Join October Pickets at the U.S. Embassy and Consulates

End the Illegal Blockade of Cuba Now!



Montreal, monthly picket, July 17, 2019



To date, Cuba has suffered damages of U.S.$138,843,400,000 at current prices, as a result of the economic, commercial, financial blockade imposed by the United States for almost 60 years. This has led to quantifiable harm of more than U.S.$922,630,000,000, taking into account the depreciation of the dollar in relation to gold on the international market. This information was provided by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla on September 29 when he presented a report on the impact of this inhuman policy. Since April 2018, through March 2019, this hostile U.S. policy has caused Cuba losses of U.S.$4,343,600,000, he said.

Throughout its history, the blockade has served to harm Cuban families, depriving them of the most elementary resources, disrupting their health, well-being, and peace. A 1960 memorandum from U.S. diplomat Lester Mallory says the aim of the all-sided blockade is to provoke “disappointment and discouragement through economic dissatisfaction and hardship … with the objective of causing hunger, despair, and overthrow of the government.” The Foreign Minister called it the most unjust, severe, and prolonged unilateral system of sanctions that has been ever been levied on any country, to which we can add, the most futile.

During a press conference, the Cuban Foreign Minister denounced actions taken in recent weeks by the Trump administration to deny Cuba access to fuel.

“The government of the United States is taking specific, unconventional measures that imply a qualitative change, with greater aggressiveness and even greater extraterritoriality, to prevent the arrival of fuel to our country,” said Rodríguez.

These measures include direct threats, persecution of fuel transportation companies, and pressure on governments of countries where ships are registered, as well as sanctions on shipping and insurance companies. Rodríguez said that these moves constitute an escalation of hostility seeking to dissuade and intimidate the country’s international associates, creating additional difficulties for the Cuban population.

The coercive U.S. measures seek the “economic strangulation of our people,” he said. The Minister denounced the expulsion from the United States of two Cuban diplomats working at United Nations headquarters in New York, just as the 74th General Assembly was beginning, describing the move as unjustified and illegitimate, based on slander. He added that these measures “aim to provoke a diplomatic escalation that will lead to the closure of both countries’ embassies, further tightening of the blockade, and greater tension between the two countries.” He called on the international community, diplomatic missions of other nations in the United States, and the people of that country to repudiate those decisions.

The Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada calls on Canadians to oppose the all-sided U.S. blockade of Cuba and also demand that Canada not appease the U.S. crimes against that country in any way. Canada must reopen all Canadian consular services to be carried out within Cuba itself, not force Cuban residents seeking visas to travel to third countries. Canada must make sure there is no extraterritorial extension of the blockade through reprisals against Canadian companies or travellers to Cuba who provide goods, resources or capital to or from Cuba.

Join the pickets held on the 17th of every month in front of the U.S embassy in Ottawa and consulates, or other pertinent venues, in other cities.