Protesters demonstrate against embargo on Cuba outside US embassy
Around a hundred protesters gathered outside the US embassy in Brussels on Saturday afternoon. They are demanding that the US lift the embargo on Cuba. According to the protesters, the administration of US president Donald Trump is responsible for the situation in Cuba. Protests are also taking place in Spain, Germany, Italy and France on Saturday in solidarity with Cuba.
Cuba has been under a US economic embargo for decades and has been in a severe economic crisis for six years. Since the end of last year, the pressure on the country, which has a population of 9.6 million, has increased further. Cuba is no longer receiving oil from its ally Venezuela, due to a complete US blockade of oil tankers and a military intervention in the South American country in which the US captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Mexico has also turned off the oil tap, after US president Donald Trump threatened to impose additional import tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba. This has led to high inflation, prolonged and recurring power cuts, and a persistent shortage of food and medicines.
According to Aymara Polanco Polacio, a member of Cubanismo, a Belgian solidarity movement with Cuba, there is a “humanitarian crisis” in Cuba. President Trump’s executive order, which designates Cuba as an “extraordinary threat”, is having an impact on “the daily lives of Cubans”, she emphasised. Eyewitness accounts from the ground suggest that ambulances are unable to respond and that hospitals are without power.
“It is no longer possible to live in such a situation,” she added. “They are enforcing laws to stifle the country.” According to Polanco Polacio, the solution lies in self-determination for the Cuban people. The US embargo should also be lifted.
Manifestation at the US embassy in Brussels to demand the lifting of the embargo on Cuba © BELGA PHOTO MAX LOHEST/ © BELGA VIDEO MAX LOHEST
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