
Washington, Feb 10 (Prensa Latina) Important figures in the United States signed an open letter demanding that President Donald Trump cease his aggression against Cuba, warning that trying to subdue a people today through starvation is a form of terrorism.
Actors Mark Ruffalo, Kal Penn and Susan Sarandon, writer Alice Walker and 22 members of the New York City Council are among the group of artists, elected officials, public figures and organizations that signed the petition.
“Massive famine and human suffering in Cuba are the target of Trump’s latest ’emergency’ Executive Order, which prevents Cuba, an island nation, from importing oil or any energy source necessary for its survival,” the letter, titled “A Call to Conscience,” stated.
According to the text, published on The People’s Forum’s X account, “this is a cynical and crude ploy to distract public opinion from internal problems that are causing massive public dissent and, as we have seen with Venezuela, a precursor to an illegal military attack.”
The statement said: “We, along with millions of people in the United States and around the world, reject this inhumane act against the Cuban people.”
“This is not a national security policy; it is a deliberate act of economic warfare intended to strangle an entire population,” he stressed.
He recalled the Call that at the time President Barack Obama (2009-2017) initiated an important effort to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba.
“Both countries reopened their embassies after 50 years of closure. In the United States, Cuba, and throughout the Western Hemisphere, people welcomed this as a finale to the anachronistic Cold War policies that had dominated the relationship,” he added.
But Trump, he said, has reversed the course set by the Obama administration. His Executive Order of January 29 designates Cuba as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States.
This is obviously false, but it provides a pretext for imposing severe economic sanctions on any country that attempts to supply oil or trade with Cuba, the Appeal to Conscience stressed.
The message warned that “the consequences of the new Executive Order will be measured in human suffering: families will be left without electricity, refrigeration or cooking; hospitals will face impossible decisions, with the risk of closing wards and suspending critical treatments.”
Furthermore, “the distribution of food and medicine will be paralyzed, while the most vulnerable —children, the elderly and the sick— will suffer the consequences of this cruelty.”
This policy is unacceptable. Cuba poses no threat to the United States. Subjugating a population through starvation is not diplomacy; it is a form of terrorism, he stated.
We call upon all people of conscience to reject this cruelty and demand an immediate end to the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by successive US governments against the island, the publication added.
He argued that, for more than 30 years, the UN General Assembly has voted annually, by an overwhelming majority, to condemn the unilateral blockade against Cuba.
Therefore, the Appeal urged Trump to conduct “his foreign policy respecting the wishes of the American people and in accordance with international law.” We, the American people, want normal relations with Cuba, to treat it with equality and respect, and, most importantly, to see Cuba and the Cuban people as our neighbors and not as our enemies, the Appeal emphasized, concluding with “Let Cuba live! Cuba is not a threat!”
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