The text, supported by intellectuals, artists, politicians, academics, religious persons and jurists, is an ‘urgent public call’ to undo the ‘cruel’ regulations implemented during the mandate of Donald Trump (2017-2021), who added 243 new sanctions against the island.
The document, available on Let Cuba Live platform, collects signatures such as that of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, as well as US artists Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, Jane Fonda and Mark Ruffalo.
The call against the blockade has also support by British politician Jeremy Corbyn, Reverend Jim Winkler, President and General Secretary of the United States Council of Churches; Brazilian theologian Frei Beto, Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel; and organizations such as Codepink and Black Lives Matter.
It seems inconceivable to us, especially during a pandemic, to intentionally block remittances and Cuba’s use of global financial institutions, something necessary to import food and medicine to the Caribbean nation, the letter underlines.
Finally, the signatures of the document urge the current head of the White House to resume the path promoted by former President Barack Obama who, in the last years of his mandate, promoted a process to normalize relations between Washington and Havana.
pgh/iff/oda/avr