A visual message: Let Cuba live!

Let Cuba Live. Dejen Vivir a Cuba. Mi Moncada Hoy. No Al Bloqueo. Imagen web: Santiago Romero Chang
Let Cuba Live. Dejen Vivir a Cuba. Mi Moncada Hoy. No Al Bloqueo. Imagen web: Santiago Romero Chang
Let Cuba Live. Dejen Vivir a Cuba. Mi Moncada Hoy. No Al Bloqueo. Imagen web: Santiago Romero Chang

A gallery of images presented online by the Tricontinental Institute of Social Research under the same title of a recent manifesto, Let Cuba Live! has attracted attention, given the artistic quality of the messages conveyed

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In addition to the open letter addressed to the President of the United States, demanding the lifting of the implacable blockade that his government maintains against Cuba, published as a full page ad in The New York Times, July 23, with the signatures of 400 political leaders, intellectuals, artists and activists from all continents, a visual message was added, also of global magnitude, with 89 artists from 19 nations calling for an end to the inhumane policy.

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Within just a week’s time, the gallery of images presented online by the Tricontinental Institute of Social Research, under the same title as the manifesto, Let Cuba Live! has attracted attention, given the artistic quality of the messages conveyed in more than a hundred works.

The convocation inviting participants specifies that the exhibition is a visual call for an end to the economic siege imposed by the United States on Cuba for decades, with an impact that has only worsened during the pandemic. Their statement also notes that the malicious interruption of remittances, and persecution of global financial institutions working with Cuba, have prevented essential food and medicines from reaching the country.

Canciller cubano Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla
Canciller cubano Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla

Along with the demand to lift the blockade, several artists added references to icons of Cuba’s revolutionary history, honoring, in particular, Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara.

Among the most commented images are those of the Chilean creative group Sonría (Raiza Vera and Ernesto Iturrieta), given their power of synthesis; that of U.S. artist Sabrina Beydoun, who ingeniously utilized the technique of photographic collage; that of South Africa’s Judy Ann Shelmann, who recreates pop aesthetics; and the work of Argentina’s Dani Ruggeri, who simply placed the noise of a breaking chain at the center of her poster, symbolizing the blockade.

A group of outstanding Cuban graphic artists and humorists participated in the initiative, including Manuel Hernandez, Pepe Menendez and Laura Llopiz, Aristides Hernandez (Ares), Adan Iglesias, Jose Luis Lopez, Yoemmis Batista, Ismael Lema and Enrique Lacoste.

Let Cuba Live. Dejen Vivir a Cuba. Mi Moncada Hoy. No Al Bloqueo. Imagen web: Santiago Romero Chang
Let Cuba Live. Dejen Vivir a Cuba. Mi Moncada Hoy. No Al Bloqueo. Imagen web: Santiago Romero Chang

Díaz-Canel calls new statement by EU high representative slanderous

The Tricontinental Institute for Social Research is an international institution, promoted by emancipatory cultural activist groups and social movements from various countries, dedicated to stimulating intellectual debate in the service of popular aspirations. It has offices in Brazil, India, South Africa and Argentina, and a significant presence in U.S. academia. Its executive director, Indian philosopher Vijay Prashad, signatory of the Let Cuba Live! letter, recalls the premise of Martinican revolutionary thinker Frantz Fanon, in the interest of uniting the wretched of the earth to create a world of human beings.

Fidel Castro Ruz, líder eterno de la Revolución Cubana
Fidel Castro Ruz, líder eterno de la Revolución Cubana

(See: thetricontinental.org/let-cuba-live-exhibition)

Let Cuba Live. Dejen Vivir a Cuba. Mi Moncada Hoy. No Al Bloqueo. Imagen web: Santiago Romero Chang
Let Cuba Live. Dejen Vivir a Cuba. Mi Moncada Hoy. No Al Bloqueo. Imagen web: Santiago Romero Chang

Author: Pedro de la Hoz | pedro@granma.cu

Open Letter to President Biden

It is time to take a new path forward in U.S.-Cuban relations. We, the undersigned, are making this urgent, public appeal to you to reject the cruel policies put into place by the Trump White House that have created so much suffering among the Cuban people.

Cuba – a country of eleven million people – is living through a difficult crisis due to the growing scarcity of food and medicine. Recent protests have drawn the world’s attention to this. While the Covid-19 pandemic has proven challenging for all countries, it has been even more so for a small island under the heavy weight of an economic embargo.

We find it unconscionable, especially during a pandemic, to intentionally block remittances and Cuba’s use of global financial institutions, given that access to dollars is necessary for the importation of food and medicine.

As the pandemic struck the island, its people – and their government – lost billions in revenue from international tourism that would normally go to their public health care system, food distribution and economic relief.

During the pandemic, Donald Trump’s administration tightened the embargo, pushed aside the Obama opening, and put in place 243 “coercive measures” that have intentionally throttled life on the island and created more suffering.

The prohibition on remittances and the end of direct commercial flights between the U.S. and Cuba are impediments to the wellbeing of a majority of Cuban families.

“We stand with the Cuban people,” you wrote on July 12. If that is the case, we ask you to immediately sign an executive order and annul Trump’s 243 “coercive measures.”

There is no reason to maintain the Cold War politics that required the U.S. to treat Cuba as an existential enemy rather than a neighbor. Instead of maintaining the path set by Trump in his efforts to undo President Obama’s opening to Cuba, we call on you to move forward. Resume the opening and begin the process of ending the embargo. Ending the severe shortages in food and medicine must be the top priority.

On 23 June, most of the member states of the United Nations voted to ask the U.S. to end the embargo. For the past 30 years this has been the consistent position of a majority of member states. In addition, seven UN Special Rapporteurs wrote a letter to the U.S. government in April 2020 regarding the sanctions on Cuba. “In the pandemic emergency,” they wrote, “the lack of will of the U.S. government to suspend sanctions may lead to a higher risk of suffering in Cuba.”

We ask you to end the Trump “coercive measures” and return to the Obama opening or, even better, begin the process of ending the embargo and fully normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba.

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