America’s immoral and illegal economic embargo against Cuba continues to bite harder and harder.
On Friday October 18th, the entire island of Cuba lost electrical power as the power grid repeatedly collapsed over the weekend.The long-time U.S. embargo, intensified by further sanctions under former President Donald Trump, was a major factor in causing this catastrophic challenge for the Cuban people.
This small island’s aging electrical grid has faced ongoing challenges for a long time. Power restrictions and rolling blackouts have been common. Over the past few weeks, the situation had become unsustainable, due to a perfect storm of challenges, including:
- The impossibility for a number of years for Cuba to purchase replacement parts for its power system, severely restricting maintenance and upgrades.
- The country’s heavy reliance on importing fuel, which has been increasingly challenging as many of their usual sources have had to limit their fuel exports.
- The devastation in Cuba caused by Hurricane Milton earlier this October, including infrastructure damage.
- Further challenges to recovery due to high winds, flooding, and landslides as Hurricane Oscar hit the island on October 20th.
Much of Cuba’s power has been restored, at least for now, but the situation remains untenable and further grid collapses would be, unfortunately, unsurprising. The lack of consistent electricity has also contributed to shortages of water, food, and medicines.
The immorality of subjecting the Cuban people to privation because of American politics has long been globally recognized.
Since 1992. there has been an annual vote at the United Nations General Assembly calling on Washington to abandon its cruel economic, commercial, and financial, embargo against Cuba. When the vote was last conducted on November 2nd 2023, a total of 187 countries voted in favour. The only two countries which voted against were the U.S. and Israel. Ukraine abstained.
When President Dwight Eisenhauer first imposed an economic embargo against Cuba in 1958 – further strengthening it after the Cuban revolution on January 1, 1959 — the U.S. State Department believed that the ensuing economic pain would turn Cuban public opinion against Fidel Castro and he would be forced from office.
Needless to say, that did not happen. The Cuban people have long cherished the benefits from their political system, including healthcare and education that are envied throughout Latin America. After sixty-five years, the Cuban public shows no signs of turning against their socialist revolution.
It is long past time for Washington to wave the white flag and admit defeat.
In just a little over two weeks’ time, Americans will go to the polls to elect their next President. Let us hope that Kamala Harris is the victor and that on the Cuba file, she follows not in the cautious footsteps of President Joe Biden but instead in the restorative path taken by former President Barack Obama.
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (October 22, 2024): 422.06ppm
One year ago (October 21, 2023): 418.90ppm
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