JTUM condemns US sanctions against Cuba

OZZIE Warwick, general secretary of the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM), was joined by his comrades from the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) and Trinidad and Tobago Friends of Cuba (TTFC) as they tried to deliver a statement to the US Embassy addressed to US President Joe Biden on June 28, asking the US to "remove their feet" from Cuba.

Warwick, reading from the statement, said, "We, the undersigned organisations, once again raise our collective voices to denounce the continued attack by the US government against the people of our sister Caribbean nation, Cuba.

"Virtually every nation has taken a position that the commercial, financial and economic blockade of Cuba by the US must be ended."

He said the vote at the at the last UN General Assembly on the resolution tabled annually by Cuba calling for the ending of the blockade was "overwhelming.

"Last November, when the resolution once again came before the General Assembly, 187 out of the 193 member states of the UN voted for the US to end the blockade.

"Not surprisingly, the US and Israel voted for it to be continued."

Warwick said when he tried to deliver the letter to the embassy, he was asked for identification, which staff at the embassy took, then told him they would need to contact their superiors to see if they could accept the letter.

Twenty minutes later, there was still no update.

Warwick said, "We find the wait disrespectful to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.

"We feel offended...it is in this simple brown envelope, I don't know what they feel is in here."

Moments after he made this statement, police from the St Clair station showed up and asked why people were gathered opposite the embassy.

One officer said the embassy's policy, according to his knowledge, was to not receive any documents by hand.

JTUM said, "We would mail it in."

Included in the letter was a call for the US to "remove Cuba from the so-called list of countries that are engaged in state sponsorship of terrorism. It is a total fabrication for Cuba to be on that list and to reverse all the Trump-era executive orders that have worsened the blockade against Cuba and return to the Obama-era status quo of which you were a part as vice president."