Argentine Nobel Laureate calls for end to US blockade of Cuba

Buenos Aires, Feb 24 - Argentine Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel has asked former United States President Barack Obama, also a recipient of this award, to intercede for the elimination of the blockade against Cuba.

In an open letter addressed to the former president, Pérez Esquivel calls on Obama to "assume the commitment to your people and to humanity, which is going through situations of pain and uncertainty, and a large part are victims of the social and structural violence that endure wars, genocides, poverty and destruction of Mother Earth."

He reminds him that the "U.S. Congress has blocked Cuba for more than 60 years, including during your presidential term, disregarding a people that defends its sovereignty and self-determination. Cuba is not a threat to the U.S.; your country is a threat to Cuba, with the permanent aggressions and lies for decades," he emphasizes.

"It is urgent to end the violence and the blockade it exerts against Cuba, withdraw the ships from the fleet at sea that are tightening the blockade, harming the life and security of the Cuban people, and stop threatening countries that trade with the island," Pérez Esquivel proposes to Obama.

"It is necessary to recognize your gesture of rapprochement with Cuba by traveling to the Island and opening the possibility for dialogue," he underlines and requests: "Now you can contribute your experience to finding alternative paths and avoiding harm to a country that contributes medical, technical and educational solidarity to humanity."

In his letter from Nobel laureate to Nobel laureate, Pérez Esquivel denounces that "Trump seeks to economically suffocate Cuba by sharpening economic hostility and preventing oil tankers from reaching the Island, imposing sanctions on those who trade with Cuba, extorting and violating its sovereignty and self-determination."

He even resorts to blackmail, he adds, against countries that trade with the island. "Imperial arrogance seeks to subdue a non-belligerent country by force of arms."

He points out that Venezuelan President NicolásMaduro was kidnapped "and is a prisoner along with his wife Cilia Flores in a criminal action causing 100 deaths. They are going to be tried in New York accused of drug trafficking from the 'Cartel Los Soles,' which is a blatant lie recognized even by Trump himself."

Pérez Esquivel calls for it to be "urgent to demand their release; the internal problems that Venezuela is experiencing must be resolved by its people and not by foreign interference."

And he calls on Obama to "decide and act to end the immoral blockade of Cuba, that the U.S. Congress decide with conscience and justice to seek unity, the right and equality of peoples, instead of believing that violence and lies will give them power."

Pérez Esquivel adds that Trump "threatens countries like Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico, Brazil and Canada and even Greenland, seeking to strengthen his world hegemony, disregarding the rights of peoples," this has turned him into a "global dictator," emphasizes Pérez Esquivel.

And he warns: "Trump's irresponsibility is a threat to world Peace and security and to the Latin American continent." (Text: Prensa Latina) (Photo: Internet)