This demand was reaffirmed on Friday by more than 500,000 residents of Havana, representing the people of the island, with a march led by Army General Raúl Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel that passed by the US Embassy.

The mobilisation demanded the lifting of the blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States for more than six decades, which has been tightened to unprecedented levels in recent years, and the removal of the island from the State Department’s list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism.

At the start of the popular parade, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel stressed the fact that the current US administration has not reversed the policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump (2017-2021), as promised during his presidential campaign.

With the implementation of the 243 additional measures and the maintenance of Cuba on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism, Biden is disciplinarily and cruelly following the policy that Trump approved during his term in office, he said.

He stressed that to point to Cuba as a state that supposedly sponsors terrorism is false and immoral to say the least, wherever the accusation comes from, but it is doubly so when it comes from US territory.

From there, he denounced, paramilitary groups that organise, promote and finance terrorist actions against social and economic structures in Cuba are currently being trained.

Cuba’s continued inclusion on this list and the tightening of the blockade policy are actions taken against the Cuban people that must stop now, he said.

He affirmed that Cuba does not profess the slightest feeling of hatred or animosity towards the American people, but is opposed to the efforts of the US government to take away the island’s sovereignty, independence and socialism, in the face of which, he said, it will always find rebellion and intransigence.

He recalled that his country has extended its hand to all the governments of the United States since the triumph of the Revolution until today, always in terms of a serious, respectful and equal relationship.

Against the plan of US imperialism and its attempt to impose itself on Cuba by force or seduction, we will march now and always, the president remarked.

Similar activities to the one in Havana took place simultaneously in the rest of the country’s provinces.

mh/oda/evm