UE Convention Resolutions
End the Cuban Blockade
And Resume Relations
Cuba poses no economic or military threat to the U.S. The U.S. government has no justification for the economic blockade of Cuba. This is more true today than in the past with the end of the "Cold War."
Our people have a long history of connections with the Cuban people. Yet U.S.-based relief groups, including Pastors for Peace, are forced to break the law and face arrest just for taking medical and other supplies into Cuba. Blocking medical exports to Cuba threatens the health of its people. We send aid to Europeans, Asians and Africans, but our government harasses people who try to help Cubans.
The blockade hurts workers in the U.S. as well as those in Cuba. Jobs have been lost, while manufacturers have been denied a major market just 90 miles off our shores. Our trading partners enjoy trade relations with Cuba. While Republicans and Democrats promote "free trade" with countries that permit the payment of starvation wages, these same politicians refuse to trade with Cuba, a nation that would purchase huge amounts of U.S. exports. It is estimated that Cuba at this time spends well over a billion dollars in food imports alone.
The Bush policy is no different than that of past administrations. Our government attempts to starve the country into submission, and then we refuse to allow help for the people who are victimized by this. The U.S. penalizes foreign companies and countries for trading with Cuba when it has no moral and legal right to do so.
This punitive and outdated policy hurts our country and other Latin American countries which trade with Cuba, and it hinders economic development in the Caribbean basin. UE must continue to fight for dignified and democratic relations among the nations of the Americas, based on peace and mutual respect.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THIS 70th UE CONVENTION:
- Demands that Congress and the President
- Respect the Cuban people’s right of self-determination and normalize relations with the government of Cuba;
- Stop interventionist policies and immediately cease political and military harassment, which seriously undermine relations between Latin America and the U.S.;
- End the blockade and end the pressure against other countries that wish to trade freely with Cuba;
- Cease all funding and support for Cuban-exile terrorist groups;
- Calls on UE locals and regions to join the campaign to end this obsolete cold war, support the efforts of organizations working to lift the blockade, and promote labor solidarity with Cuban workers.