The Cuban people recently took to the streets to protest the economic hardships they are having to endure. Food and medicine are in short supply. The pandemic has added another level of pressure to a people who have suffered so much. Not enough syringes to administer the vaccine. Why? In part because her powerful neighbour to the North continues to terrorise Cuba economically. The Biden Administration has followed the same path of its predecessors.

It has been sixty years since the failed Bay of Pigs United States invasion of Cuba. The then US President John F Kennedy, approved the CIA backed invasion to remove Fidel Castro from power. The Americans could not tolerate a Communist state in its” backyard” and sought to overthrow it.

As we know, the invasion failed. The invaders were outnumbered, there was no anti-Castro revolt and Kennedy denied the invasion the air cover to protect them. The American media supported Kennedy even though he accepted blame for the failure. No one questioned whether the United States had the right to overthrow the government of Cuba.

The United States may now have diplomatic relations with Cuba, but it still has an economic embargo in place. The embargo is designed to cripple the Cuban economy, making it harder for Americans to trade with Cuba. The embargo has not worked, and yet it remains in place. Surely, Washington would see sense and lift it. No European state has been willing to public condemn the continued use of the blockade.

The truth is that the embargo is in place mainly to appease Cuban Americans who are a powerful voting bloc especially in Florida. As we discovered in 2000, Florida is one of the key electoral states in a Presidential election. So there you have it, the people of Cuba are made to suffer because of American politics. It is laughable when you hear politicians in Washington lecture Russia about its actions in the Ukraine.

Today in the middle of a global pandemic, the United States continues with this vindictive policy even though it clearly has not worked. The Cuban people are denied food and medicines that most people take for granted. No American President has been brave enough to end the blockade which has been in place since 1960. Donald Trump added more sanctions to turn the screw even further on Havana.

The Cuban government has not collapsed.