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Vol. 81/No. 6 February 13, 2017
Regional summit calls for end to US embargo of Cuba
BY SETH GALINSKY
A Jan. 25 summit in the Dominican Republic of representatives of 33
governments in Latin America and the Caribbean renewed the call for
Washington to end its embargo of Cuba and return Guantánamo to Cuban
sovereignty.
Cuban President Raúl Castro told the meeting of the Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that Cuba wanted to “continue
negotiating pending bilateral issues with the United States on the basis
of equality, reciprocity and respect for the sovereignty and
independence of our country, and to continue the respectful dialogue and
cooperation on issues of common interest with the new government of
President Donald Trump.”
“Cuba and the United States can cooperate and coexist in a civilized
manner,” Castro added, “but it should not be expected that to do so Cuba
will make concessions inherent to its sovereignty and independence.”
CELAC was founded in 2010, a counter to the U.S.-dominated Organization
of American States. The OAS expelled Cuba in 1962 at Washington’s
insistence to punish working people there for overthrowing the
U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and their
declaration in 1961 of the decision to build a socialist society.
The broad participation of Latin American and Caribbean governments at
CELAC’s founding was one sign of Washington’s increasing diplomatic
isolation in the region and the failure of the U.S. economic embargo to
undermine the Cuban Revolution. In December 2014, Castro and then U.S.
President Barack Obama announced that the two governments were
re-establishing diplomatic relations. But despite this and the opening
of embassies, Washington still maintains its economic war against Cuba
while seeking other means of destroying the revolution.
This year’s summit was attended by the heads of state of Bolivia, Cuba,
Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti,
Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and foreign ministers from other
member governments.
Along with the resolution calling on the U.S. president and Congress to
end the embargo, CELAC called for the “return to the Republic of Cuba of
the territory occupied by the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo.” The U.S.
military has occupied the base since 1903 and used it both to intervene
in Cuban affairs as well as in Haiti and the Caribbean to protect
imperialist interests.
Since the 1959 revolution, the Cuban government has refused to cash the
annual rent check of $4,085 that the U.S. Treasury keeps sending.
So far there are no indications that Donald Trump is planning to reverse
the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba. He has nominated
former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue as secretary of agriculture. Perdue
advocated more agricultural trade with Cuba during a visit to Havana in
2010.
Related articles:
‘Revolution made health care a right,’ Cuban doctors say
Washington ends ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ Cuba program
Cuban women wanted to participate in a genuine revolution
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