¡Cuba Sî, Bloqueo No!

I was so smitten with Cuba when I went there with Pastors for Peace in 2007 that I bought a school bus the very next year and drove it down from Maine to Texas as one of the 2008 Pastors for Peace caravans to Cuba. That was a moving and powerful experience too, as we stopped along the way in communities to speak about Cuba and pick up humanitarian aid and people in our solidarity pilgrimage. These annual trips were expressly and overtly done to shed light on and oppose the long standing US economic blockade of Cuba.

Nine years later, in 2017, I went with Pastors again to Cuba, and again loved being there amidst the warmth and vitality of the Cuban people. I also renewed my commitment to speaking out and working against the criminal blockade.

Then in February of this year, Trump and Marco Rubio imposed a deadly fuel blockade, and I decided to go to Cuba again. This time I joined the CODEPINK contingent of the Nuestra América convoy that was quickly being organized as an international humanitarian aid effort. We went there in late March with 6300 pounds of urgently needed medical supplies for just a weekend. It was a quick visit, but it was full of solidarity and love. We in CODEPINK were 170 strong, but in the entire convoy there were some 700 people arriving from 33 countries to bring material assistance and to say to Cubans, “No estan solos!”

This time there I did a lot of walking around Havana, precisely because the acute fuel shortage caused by the US meant there wasn’t much in the way of other transportation, like busses or those beautiful vintage cars serving as taxis. In fact, the streets were markedly empty of the hustle and bustle I witnessed in my previous trips. Walking along the Malecon was kind of a solitary and sad experience compared to the fun and vitality I remembered.

Indeed, the more I saw and heard about the stark realities of this current fuel blockade, the sadder I felt. Blackouts in the nighttime shrouded the city in an eerie atmosphere. There were stories about people suffering for lack of food and medical supplies. People were cooking with wood in the parks. There was garbage in the streets because there was no fuel for garbage trucks. Hospital generators were almost out of fuel.

Moreover, the people I met while walking around the streets looked tired and drawn. Instead of the engaging and lively exchanges I recalled from the past, I found myself handing out pesos and dollars to many who were desperate for help. It was the least I could do, being the privileged well-fed person from the very empire that was causing their pain.

To be sure, some Cubans we met blamed their own government for mismanagement that contributed to this crisis. But they also fully understood, from 66 years of enduring the US blockade, that their government is under the gun and has been for most, if not all, of their lives. Cubans are well educated and are very willing to express their opinions. What we are led to believe about the repression of free speech there appears to be mostly a handy tool for US propaganda about the supposed evils of a socialist state.

We are constantly told that socialism has failed the people there, with no mention of the asphyxiating trauma the US-led global capitalist system has inflicted upon it ever since the success of the revolution in 1959. There is no mention of how the US has consistently violated Cuba’s sovereignty in our relentless efforts at regime change through sanctions, terror attacks out of Miami, assassination attempts, immigration policies, demonization of the leadership, funding of opposition groups, and control of the media narrative.

This all begs the question: Why has the US been so adamant in its hostility to Cuba? Is it an ideological thing, where we can’t get over the cold war mentality of us versus them? Is it the national electoral calculus that caters to the Cuban exiles in Miami who fled the island after the revolution and who harbor such a hatred for the government there? Or is it something else?

Many of us have believed it is the threat of a good example. Despite the squeeze the blockade has put on it, the Cuban government has provided basic food, housing, education, and medical care for all of its people. Its civil defense system has been astonishingly good at protecting lives during the recurring hurricanes that wreak havoc on the island. And most of all, Cuba has come to epitomize global humanitarian solidarity by providing tuition-free medical school and sending doctors all over the world, especially during times of crisis.

While not at all perfect, the Cuban government is a far cry from the western individualistic  capitalist model. It is a government that focuses on the common good, prioritizing its people, not profits. It exports doctors, not weapons and wars. It defies imperialism, rather than submit to it.

What if others were to adopt this kind worldview and government, as we saw in the so-called Latin American “pink tide” with Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia and others turning away from US-imposed colonization? This is the “threat” to the empire. Sovereign countries who opt out of domination by the US empire.

Cuba has paid a heavy price for its resistance throughout these years of blockade. Much has been made of Cuban resilience, and there is a great deal of truth to this. Cubans have been innovative, resourceful, and undefeated. But we also must not romanticize this spirit of resistance and endurance. Resilience fatigue is a real thing and at this point people are truly worn down. It’s not like they have chosen to be resilient, it’s more like they have no other choice, given the circumstances. And it’s a choice they shouldn’t have to face. As one person on the delegation put it, “No one should have to be resilient to get to tomorrow.”

The Nuestra América convoy to Cuba was a grassroots step in the right direction to show the Cuban people that they are not alone and that people-to-people connections can bypass governments to sustain lives and keep hope alive. More convoys and aid efforts are already being planned and carried out, some by CODEPINK and some by many of those who participated in this delegation.

And now there is a heightened international awareness – and conscience – about what is happening to Cuba. This has manifested in the recent arrival of a Russian oil tanker in Cuba and the shipping of thousands of tons of food and solar panels from China. Hopefully, other countries will also soon defy the US blockade and come to Cuba’s side in this hour of need. Mexico and Canada appear to be doing so. For countries to step up like this would not only be just, but would also be a fitting repayment to Cuba for its many years of international solidarity.

Meanwhile, anyone can legally travel to Cuba, with the purpose of providing support for the Cuban people or going as an educational trip. It may come as a surprise to some that Cuba is not the scary place it is painted to be, but a welcoming and enjoyable one. And the mere going would be an act of solidarity. Go if you are so moved – Cuba needs our dollars.

Finally, once we can see what Cuba is like and what our country is doing to it, how can we not do all in our power to get rid of the deadly US blockade? That is what our role should be. Not to find fault with the imperfections of Cuba, but to get the US boot off its neck.

On this trip, our delegation chanted over and over, ¡Cuba Sî, bloqueo no! Yes to Cuba, no to the blockade. That’s the message we all need to carry in our hearts and actions.