Havana, (Samajweekly) A car, motorbike, and bicycle caravan hits the roads in Havana, demanding the lifting of the six-decades US embargo against Cuba, known as “blockade” among the locals.
Hundreds of car drivers, cyclists, and bikers lined up early Sunday morning by the city’s harbour as part of a global initiative, reports Xinhua news agency.
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that solidarity events have taken place across the world to condemn the unilateral policy toward the Caribbean nation.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, the US blockade is not only criminal, illegal, immoral, extraterritorial, and a gross violation of the international law, but we must also reinforce its genocidal character,” he said.
Holding national flags and banners in support of the Cuban government, participants were greeted by the locals from balconies and portals.
Diosvany Acosta, first secretary of Cuba’s Young Communist League, expressed his gratitude to all solidarity movements which have joined this initiative across the world.
“We demand the end of the US blockade,” he said.
While passing the US Embassy building, riders, drivers, and passengers in the caravan chanted patriotic slogans.
“We are committed to the present and future of the country.” said Adrian Conde, a university student from Havana, while riding an electric scooter.
First imposed in 1962, the embargo was intensified by former US President Donald Trump’s administration, which banned American flights to Cuban cities except Havana; barred cruise ships and yachts from visiting the Caribbean nation; and limited remittances Cuban-Americans send to their families on the island.
In March 2016, Barack Obama became the first sitting US President to visit Cuba since 1928 following the warming of bilateral relations that began in December 2014, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility.
But tensions between Cuba and the US worsened after Trump took office in 2014.
Washington also re-instated Cuba into a list of countries that “do not fully cooperate with the US counter-terrorism efforts”.
The decision prohibits the sale or license for the export of defence articles and services to the nations contained in the blacklist.
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