U.S. State Department Spokesperson Lying About Cuba! FCAB Statement
March 19, 2024
On March 18, 2024, a U.S. State Department Spokesperson, Vedant Patel was quoted on the U.S. Embassy’s Facebook post expressing, “Let me be quite unambiguous about this: The United States is not behind the protests in Cuba and the accusation of that is absurd. We are closely following these reports. Protests across several cities in Cuba yesterday called for electricity, food and fundamental freedoms. I think that what we are seeing is reflection of the dire situation on the island. We urge the Cuban government to refrain from violence and unjust detentions and are calling on the authorities to respect the Cuban citizens’ right to peaceful assembly.”
While the central organizers of Friends of Cuba Against the U.S. Blockade on Cuba – Vancouver read this ludicrous and false Facebook statement, we were moved to respond directly to these fabrications in defence of Cuba.
Patel’s whole statement is absurd. Of course, the United States government is “behind” protests related to food and electricity scarcity in eastern Cuba. Whether they are “behind” it through funding protestors with their U.S. AID ‘democracy building’ projects in Cuba; or “behind” it through imposing over 60 years of cruel blockade against Cuba attempting to create unrest through shortages and economic hardship; or “behind” it through the consistent misinformation and lies the U.S. government spreads about life in Cuba. The U.S. government is always attempting to interfere in Cuba’s sovereign affairs.
Notice how Patel keeps his comments vague about, “Protests across several cities in Cuba”? He does not name the cities, because protests did not take place across the island. If fact, they were limited to the point that even the mainstream media, like Associated Press, could only say that “hundreds of people” protested “in eastern Cuba.” Protestors in Santiago de Cuba were venting frustration regarding a specific situation and specific area. However, unlike in the U.S., leaders and authorities of Santiago de Cuba immediately had a presence amongst the community addressing the frustrations of the community head-on.
Patel further expresses, “I think that what we are seeing is reflection of the dire situation on the island.” Again, he feigns total ignorance, as we know that this ‘dire situation’ stems from his own government’s policy of strangling the Cuban economy with a cruel and unjust blockade for over six decades and their insistence to keep Cuba on their so-called ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ list.
Friends of Cuba Against the U.S. Blockade – Vancouver has been organizing monthly actions since September 2015 against the criminal U.S. blockade on Cuba! Whether in front of the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver, or online during the height of the pandemic, or now on monthly car caravans with Puentes de Amor – we are mobilizing consistently against this unjust U.S. policy against the people and government of Cuba. We will continue to build and unite with others until the U.S. government has no choice but to end its
inhuman blockade on Cuba!
U.S. HANDS OFF CUBA!
LIFT THE U.S. BLOCKADE ON CUBA NOW!
