Brazilian Organizations Reaffirm Solidarity with Cuba

The Carioca Committee of Solidarity with Cuba and the José Martí Cultural Association of Rio de Janeiro (ACJM-RJ) expressed their support for recent statements by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on the issue and called for the lifting of U.S. coercive measures.

In the Committee's view, it is inadmissible for Washington to pressure and threaten other nations to vote against the resolution demanding the end of the unilateral siege.

According to the organization, these practices turn the threatened countries into possible accomplices of a policy that directly harms Cuban families and hinders the normal functioning of the Caribbean island's economy.

The blockade is a silent war, a genocide without explosions, a collective punishment against an entire people, the Committee stated in a declaration, in which it denounced the consequences of restrictions on access to fuel, medicines, and food.

The group also defended the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples, principles it considered violated by U.S. pressure on members of the international community.

In this regard, it rejected the U.S. government's portrayal of Cuba as a threat and highlighted the Caribbean nation's contributions to Brazil through medical cooperation, adult literacy programs, and free university education for young Brazilians.

For its part, the ACJM-RJ stated in a declaration that the pressures denounced by Cuba's top diplomat seek to prevent other countries from supporting at the UN General Assembly the resolution calling for the end of the blockade.

The document stressed that the siege does not constitute a one-off foreign policy measure, but a hostile practice maintained for more than six decades, whose effects reach both the Cuban economy and the daily life of the population.

It also warned that restrictions on access to energy resources, medicines, food, technology, and financing sources deepen shortages and violate basic human rights.

Faced with that scenario, the Association repudiated intimidation tactics and the attempt to intervene in a sovereign nation through economic and energy asphyxiation.

It also called for the immediate and unconditional elimination of the blockade and the cessation of hostile measures against Cuba.

Both organizations called on those who defend peace and the self-determination of peoples to express their solidarity with the Caribbean nation.

"Cuba is not a threat. The blockade is!" the Committee emphasized, while the ACJM-RJ concluded: "Out with imperialism from Latin America!" and "Down with the blockade against Cuba!"