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The South African Communist Party (SACP) supports the Cuban people in their struggle to force the imperialist United States regime to lift its unilateral and illegal blockade against Cuba. The SACP calls upon the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to make its voice louder by voting, once again, for the lifting of the blockade on its scheduled 23 June 2021 vote.

On 23 June, the UNGA will vote on the resolution entitled “The necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States government against Cuba”.

For the past 28 years, 28 resolutions demanding the end of the criminal blockade against Cuba have been adopted almost unanimously by the United Nations. In the last vote, 187 UN Member States voted in support for the resolution while Brazil and Israel joined the US in voting no.

The SACP calls for the UNGA to vote for the resolution against the blockade in the next vote scheduled for 23 June 2021.

The US blockade against Cuba was adopted unilaterally in the 1960s. The blockade is a criminal one as it violates international law, particularly the right of the Cuban people to self-determination. Through the blockade, the imperialist regime of the US hoped to cripple Cuba shortly after the Cuban people overthrew a US puppet, dictator Fulgencio Batista, on 1 January 1959.

Under the Trump administration, the US regime extended the blockade to genocidal levels by blocking medicine supplies, and necessary equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the intensification of the illegal blockade, the Cuban people continue to defend their nation’s right to democratic national sovereignty. They have overwhelmingly rejected all kinds of imperialist interference in their country’s domestic affairs.

The SACP calls upon all African countries to unapologetically stand with Cuba in defence of the Cuban people’s right to self-determination. The SACP also calls upon the working-class movement, internationally, to strengthen its resolve in defence of the Cuban people from US aggression.

Issued by SACP