Solidarity cannot be blocked, said the Canadian organization, condemning the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol actions against several members of a group made up of over 150 young US people who paid a visit to Cuba from April 24 to May 3.
Since the end of April, global solidarity brigades, including the Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade of the Canadian Network, have traveled to Cuba to show support for the Cuban people and to oppose the genocidal blockade imposed by the United States, according to a statement sent to Prensa Latina.
The solidarity brigades visited Cuba to participate “in cultural exchange, tour spots of social interest and to attend the May Day celebrations.
This unjust incident is an example of many aspects of the blockade imposed on Cuba: “the violent intellectual blockade that impacts on people who dare to visit Cuba and then return to the United States.
This harassment and intimidation on members of delegations returning home after a visit to Cuba is “clear evidence the United States is not interested its own people in learning the truth about Cuba or supporting the Cuban people.
In contrast, the U.S. government “uses illegal, unilateral and coercive measures (collective punishment) in pure violation of the basic human rights of Cubans,” warned the statement signed by Samantha Hislop and Julio Fonseca, co-president of the Network.
We stand in solidarity with all delegates and brigade members who upon returning to their country of origin were unjustly criminalized by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
On Wednesday, U.S. authorities detained for hours several young members of the delegation who traveled to Cuba for 10 days, many of them for the first time.
Despite traveling legally, they were harassed and held for questioning upon their arrival at the Miami and New York airports, a fact they described as “scandalous behavior” that seeks to “intimidate and criminalize our right to travel and exchange” freely, according to The People’s Forum published on Twitter.
The group of young people, one of the largest to travel to Cuba in decades, included trade unionists, cultural workers, anti-police brutality activists, tenant groups and scientists from various U.S. organizations.
pll/rgh/dfm
