The National Lawyers Guild and its Cuba Subcommittee are endorsers and co-sponsors of the following conference, to take place at Fordham Law School in New York City on March 21-22, 2020:

Fordham School of Law
150 W 62nd St
New York City

Registration and full details here: http://www.us-cubanormalization.org/viva-cuba/

In 2019 the Trump White House and State Department has escalated political belligerency, economic sanctions, and military threats against Cuba.

• Cruise ship travel to Cuba from the US has been ended, as has educational travel to Cuba under the “People-to-People” license category. Meanwhile it has become extremely difficult for Cubans to get visas to enter the US for any reason.
• Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act has been implemented, opening the floodgates for frivolous lawsuits by current US citizens regarding property nationalized by Cuba, in accordance with Cuban and international law, after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959-60. These property claims were all settled by the Cuban state with the rest of the world in the 1960s — Washington alone refused to settle. The policy of the US government was instead to seek the violent overthrow of the Cuban revolutionary government.
• The Trump Administration, with bipartisan support, promoted a failed military coup in Venezuela. The Trump team then tried to blame Cuba for their own debacle. Washington also aims to increase economic pressure on Cuba by ending the extensive Venezuela-Cuba trade links. Washington has threatened to seize Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba on the open seas. All of this under the cover of sanctimony and two-faced demagogy about “democracy” and “human rights.”

An effective, sustained, coordinated counter-campaign against all these measures is urgently needed — especially inside the United States and Canada.

Washington’s escalating attacks on Cuba have seen parallel negative developments in Canada-Cuba relations. The closing of Canada’s visa office in Havana has led to unreasonable delays and significant financial obstacles for those Cubans seeking to travel to Canada. It continues to cause significant damage to business, cultural, scientific, and sporting relations. This development represents a serious departure from the relations which Cuba and Canada have enjoyed, especially given their uninterrupted diplomatic relations since 1945. Opposition to these stances of the Trudeau-Freeland government in the Hemisphere – including the important political support given by Ottawa to Trump’s attempted military coup and intervention against Venezuela – have mounted inside Canada. Cuba solidarity and anti-intervention forces across Canada and Quebec join in this Call and united organizing effort.

Therefore, in this moment of new threats and attacks, we call on you to join with the broad national and international forces that defend Cuba’s right to self-determination and unconditionally oppose the US economic, commercial, financial, and travel sanctions – the blockade.

As the 2020 US Presidential, Congressional, State, and local elections approach, together let’s plan united actions and campaigns to end this historic injustice!