Open Letter to the World from Cuba

Our Lady of Cobre

Source: National Network for Cuba

To all of humanity, to the mothers of the world, to Doctors Without Borders, to journalists with dignity, to the governments that still believe in justice:

My name is like millions of others. I don't have a well-known surname or hold an important position. I am an ordinary Cuban woman. A daughter, a sister, a patriot. And I write this with a broken heart and trembling hands, because what my people are experiencing today is not a crisis. It is a slow, calculated, coldly executed murder, orchestrated from Washington.

And the world looks the other way.

I DENOUNCE THE STORY OF MY GRANDPARENTS:

I denounce the fact that in Cuba, elderly people are dying prematurely because the blockade prevents the arrival of medications for heart conditions, high blood pressure, and diabetes. This isn't a lack of resources. It's a deliberate prohibition. Companies that want to sell to Cuba are fined, persecuted, and threatened. Their governments remain silent. And meanwhile, a Cuban grandparent clutches their chest and waits. Death doesn't give warning. The blockade does.

I DENOUNCE THE STORY OF MY CHILDREN:

I denounce the fact that incubators in Cuba have had to be shut down due to a lack of fuel. That newborns are fighting for their lives while the United States government decides which countries can sell us oil and which cannot. That Cuban mothers have seen their children's lives endangered because an order signed in a Washington office is worth more than the cry of a baby 90 miles from their shores.

Where is the international community? Where are the organizations that so vehemently defend children? Or do Cuban children not deserve to live?

DENOUNCEMENT OF INTENTIONAL HUNGER:

I denounce the blockade as programmed hunger. It's not that there's a lack of food for no reason. It's that we're prevented from buying it. It's that ships carrying food are harassed. It's that bank transactions are blocked. It's that companies that sell us grains, chicken, and milk are sanctioned.

Hunger in Cuba is not an accident. It's a state policy of the United States government, refined over 60 years, updated by each administration, intensified by Donald Trump, and viciously implemented by Marco Rubio.

They call this "economic pressure." I call it terrorism through hunger.

I DENOUNCE THE SITUATION ON BEHALF OF MY DOCTORS:

I denounce the fact that our doctors, the same ones who saved lives during the pandemic while the entire world collapsed, now lack syringes, anesthesia, and X-ray equipment. Not because we don't know how to produce them. Not because we lack talent. But because the blockade prevents us from accessing supplies, spare parts, and technology.

Our scientists created five vaccines against COVID-19. Five. Without any help. Against all odds. Against the blockade and lies. And yet, the empire punishes us for having achieved this.

TO THE WORLD I SAY:

Cuba is not asking for handouts.

Cuba is not asking for soldiers.

Cuba is not asking for your love.

Cuba is asking for justice. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I ask you to stop normalizing the suffering of my people.

I ask you to call the blockade by its name: CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.

I ask you not to be deceived by the tale of "dialogue" and "democracy" while they tighten the noose around our necks.

We don't want charity. We want to be LEFT TO LIVE.

To the complicit governments that remain silent:
History will hold you accountable.

To the media that lies:
The truth always finds cracks.

To the executioners who sign sanctions:
The Cuban people do not forget and do not forgive.

To those who still have humanity in their hearts:
Look at Cuba. Look at what they are doing to it. And ask yourselves: Which side of history do I want to be on?

From this small island, with a giant people,
An ordinary Cuban woman who refuses to surrender.

IF THIS TEXT MOVED YOU, SHARE IT.

I don't care if you have 10 friends or 10,000 followers.

I don't care if your wall is public or private.

I don't care if you never share anything.

But this is different.

This isn't a sunset photo.

This isn't celebrity gossip.

This isn't just another opinion.

This is a SHOUT. And shouts aren't kept to themselves. They are HEARD. They are REPEATED. They BECOME A CROWD.

Today I'm not asking for a "like."

I'm asking you to use your thumbs for something bigger than scrolling.

SHARE.

So the world knows that there isn't a crisis in Cuba.

There is a CRIME.

So mothers in other countries know that here there are babies struggling in incubators turned off by the blockade.

So grandparents in other lands know that here there are elderly people dying waiting for medicine that Washington won't let in.

So that complicit governments feel shame.

So that lying media outlets have no escape.

So that the executioners know that WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED.

One person sharing this doesn't change the world. Thousands, millions, DO.

Don't keep this text to yourself.
Don't be complicit in the silence.

MAKE SURE THIS DENUNCIATION REACHES AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE…