Shameful and Criminal: The US Tightens Its Blockade on Cuba during COVID-19

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world demanded that the U.S. stop its genocidal policy of blockade, and the U.S. responded by shamefully adopting this new decision

“Tightening the blockade during #COVID-19 is both shameful and criminal,” tweeted Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parilla, strongly rejecting the sanctions announced this Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo against seven Cuban entities.

According to a press release from the U.S. Department of State, the financial company Fincimex appears on the list of restricted entities. Also included are three hotels, two diving centers and a marine park for tourists, which clearly indicates the U.S. government’s real intentions: to suffocate the economy and continue harming Cuban families.

As is known, banning these entities is one of the many actions the Republican administration has taken since coming into power in January 2017 to reverse the reconciliation that had begun between the two countries during Barack Obama’s administration.

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world demanded that the U.S. stop its genocidal policy of blockade and the U.S. responded by shamefully adopting this new decision. This was done to disguise that its “true purpose is to mask illegal, immoral & supremely cruel coercive measures huting [sic] the livelihood of 11 million Cubans,” claimed Johana Tablada, deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba.

“The group in charge of the policy toward Cuba in the State Department is desperately trying to invent new ways to harm the Cuban people while coming up with more lies to explain how they help us. Not even fire in the streets of countless U.S. cities is enough to stop them in their despicable ways,”* tweeted Eugenio Martínez, general director of the Latin America and Caribbean Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Many other users on social media platforms also expressed their rejection of these measures and came out in support of Foreign Minister Parilla.

As the revolutionary government has pointed out various times, the U.S. will continue to fail in forcefully suppressing the sovereign will of Cubans and their determination to construct socialism. They will thrive on the more widespread feeling between the Cuban and American populations, which favors the improvement of relations and the development of civilized and respectful coexistence.

*Editor’s note: Although accurately translated, the quoted remark could not be independently sourced.