Washington, June 4 (Prensa Latina) The Richmond, California, City Council approved a Proclamation urging the United States government to remove Cuba from the arbitrary list of state sponsors of terrorism and to lift all economic sanctions.
Issued in a solemn session and signed by Mayor Eduardo Martínez, Vice Mayor César Zepeda, and Council Member Claudia Jiménez, the proclamation emphasized that, for the past 64 years, the United States has imposed an economic, commercial, and financial blockade on Cuba.
The unilateral blockade—which at current costs represents losses to the Cuban economy of approximately five billion dollars each year—impedes most relations and trade with the northern nation and punishes other countries that attempt to interact with the island, he noted.
“The consequences of this embargo (blockade) continue to inflict daily hardship and deprivation on the Cuban people, generating shortages of basic goods such as food and medicine, and severely restricting international financial and trade opportunities,” the text, approved Tuesday night, emphasized.
He added that it prevents Cuba from obtaining vital equipment and supplies and even hinders the humanitarian response to catastrophic events such as recent hurricanes.
He recalled that, in 2021, Cuba was reinstated on the list of state sponsors of terrorism at the end of Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, reversing the decision of the Barack Obama-Joe Biden administration in 2015.
With the influence of the Cuba solidarity movement here, in recent years many initiatives to end the embargo have been promoted and approved in municipal councils, state legislatures, and unions representing millions of people in the United States.
On October 30, 187 of 193 countries voted in favor of lifting the embargo on Cuba in the UN General Assembly, with the United States and Israel opposing it.
“On behalf of the Richmond City Council, I hereby urge our Congressional delegation to pass legislation that eliminates those aspects of embargo that have been codified in law,” the mayor emphasized in the Proclamation.
He also insisted that the United States lift all sanctions against Cuba and allow both countries to travel and trade freely.
At the City Council meeting, the Proclamation was presented to Cuban Embassy diplomats David Ramírez and Yasser Ibarra.
Since September 1999, Richmond and the Havana municipality of Regla, Cuba, have been twinned.
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