People wearing masks walk on a street in Havana, Cuba, July 2, 2021. Photo:Xinhua

 
More than 400 people around the world recently co-signed an open letter to US President Joe Biden, calling on him to relax sanctions on Cuba, remove former president Trump's coercive measures, and abandon Cold War politics.  

"There is no reason to maintain the Cold War politics that required the US to treat Cuba as an existential enemy rather than a neighbor. Instead of maintaining the path set by Trump in his efforts to undo President Obama's opening to Cuba, we call on you to move forward, resume the opening and begin the process of ending the embargo. Ending the severe shortages in food and medicine must be the top priority," read the open letter that the Cuban Embassy in China sent to the Global Times for reference.

The Cuban Embassy in China told the Global Times on Tuesday that under the title "Let Cuba live," more than 400 former heads of state, politicians, intellectuals, scientists, clerics, artists, musicians, leaders and activists from around the world called on Biden to immediately lift sanctions against Cuba.

The open letter is the first in a joint initiative between The People's Forum, CODEPINK and the ANSWER Coalition to change the immoral and short-sighted policy of the embargo toward Cuba, and to provide much-needed medicines and medical supplies to the Cuban people, the embassy said. 

Biden wrote on July 12 that "We stand with the Cuban people." The open letter said that if Biden really means it, then he should "immediately sign an executive order and annul Trump's 243 coercive measures." 

Due to US sanctions and the pandemic, Cuba is experiencing a very difficult time. Cuban Ambassador to China Carlos Miguel Pereira told the Global Times in a previous interview that Cuba is facing difficulties in obtaining essential medical supplies and goods to combat the pandemic. 

On July 11, protests against the Cuban government broke out in several regions, drawing attention to the growing scarcity of food and medicine that 11 million Cuban people now face. 

"While the Covid-19 pandemic has proven challenging for all countries, it has been even more so for a small island under the heavy weight of an economic embargo," said the letter. 

The prohibition on remittances and the end of direct commercial flights between the US and Cuba are impediments to the wellbeing of a majority of Cuban families, it said.

On June 23, most of the member states of the United Nations voted to ask the US to end the embargo.

"We ask you to end the Trump 'coercive measures' and return to the Obama opening or, even better, begin the process of ending the embargo and fully normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba," it said. 

Global Times