Cymru Cuba issues statement of solidarity with the Venezuelan people

Cymru Cuba, the Welsh arm of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, expresses its solidarity with the Venezuelan people as they come under increasing attack from Donald Trump and US imperialism. This comes after Cymru Cuba rep Dominic MacAskill spoke at a Venezuela solidarity rally in Cardiff on 5 January.

It is a blatant imperialist act and a breach of international law to militarily intervene in a sovereign nation and kidnap its president and first lady. The US bombings in Venezuela also killed 32 Cubans, which we condemn. Not content with that, president Trump has gone on to threaten to intervene in Cuba, Colombia and Greenland. He continues his imperialist agenda with threats against his immediate neighbours, Canada and Mexico, despite the existence since 1992 of the negotiated North American Free Trade Association.

US threatens both Venezuela and Cuba

The US has waged a 60-year illegal and inhumane blockade against Cuba for daring to pursue an independent path and for standing up to its imperialist neighbour to the north. The revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959 resulted in Cuba closing US-backed casinos and brothels and ejecting gangsters. The economic blockade by the US has deliberately strangled the country’s well-being and development to this day.

Rob Griffiths, Chair of Cymru Cuba, said:

The Americans have never forgiven Cuba for taking control of their own economy and kicking the gangsters out.

Cuba has cherished its sovereignty and the right of a small nation to pursue its own development. The Americans have never forgiven them.

The quest to dominate the Western hemisphere is not a new American development. But it’s been given new impetus by the Trump administration. This follows the publication in November of the National Security Strategy from the White House. It is quite alarming for the openness of the imperialist strategy. The strategy states:

We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States; we want a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organisations; we want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, we will assert and enforce a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine.

This doctrine has previously served as justification for US military and economic intervention in Latin America.

Featured image via Cymru Cuba