US maintains Cuban blockade in post-Castro era
Ramin Mazaheri
PRESS TV, Chicago
On the 60th anniversary of the defeat of the American invasion at the Bay of Pigs, Raul Castro has stepped down as the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party. That post will be filled by the current president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, who enjoys broad popularity following decades of acclaimed work as a civil servant.
Even though revolutionary Cuba is no longer led by a Castro, the administration of United States President Joe Biden said a policy shift is “not a top priority.” That is even though ex-president Donald Trump drastically ramped up sanctions on a nation which was already subjected to a blockade which Cubans call “the world’s longest-running genocide”.
At over 60 years, and counting, it is the longest trade embargo in history. The blockade is not enforced by the US Navy, but by the promise of sanctions on anyone doing business with Cuba.
In 2017, the United Nations estimated that the blockade has cost the island $130 billion. For almost 30 years, the UN has voted on the legitimacy of the Cuban blockade, with the US and Israel now perennially voting in favor.
At the start of their 8th Party Congress, Castro said the international blockade is intended to “strangle the country and cause social unrest”.
Last week, two dozen US senators petitioned Biden to shut down the US military prison in Guantánamo Bay, which his former boss- Barack Obama- promised to do, but did not. Until Trump Havana said Obama imposed more Cuba-related penalties than any other president.
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