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Open Letter to President Obama to Take Concrete Action on Ending the US Blockade/Embargo on Cuba, and to Return Guantanamo to Cuba
We welcome President Obama’s decision to travel to Cuba for talks with the Cuban government.
We undersigned organizations and individuals call on President Obama to take concrete actions on two outstanding issues to restore normal diplomatic relations between the two countries:
1. End the 54 year old embargo/blockade of Cuba,
2. Return the US occupied territory of Guantanamo to Cuba.
Economic Impact of the Embargo/Blockade of Cuba
Cuba lost out on at least US$117 billion between 1960 and 2014 due to the U.S. economic blockade on the country, according to the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.[i] The embargo/blockade not only hurts Cuba, but also the US. The US Chamber of Commerce, which advocates lifting the embargo, states the cost to the US economy of the 54 year sanctions range from $1.2 to $3.6 billion per year.[ii] On the US embargo/blockade of Cuba, President Obama can exercise his authority in the following areas: 1) authorize the use of the dollar in international transactions; 2) permit Cuba to import from third countries products with more than 10 percent U.S. components; 3) allow Cuban entities to open correspondent accounts in U.S. banks; 4) end the policy of financial persecution against Cuba; 5) not impede the granting of credits or other financial facilities; 6) allow imports of Cuba’s exportable products or services; 7) authorize Cuban planes and boats to carry passengers, cargo and mail between the two countries; 8) authorize direct exports of U.S. products to Cuba; 9) authorize companies to invest in Cuba (international firms have submitted more than 400 proposals for investment in the Mariel Economic Zone); 10) remove the limit on Cuban products that can be imported by U.S. visitors to Cuba; 11) authorize U.S. citizens to receive medical treatment in Cuba; 12) allow the distribution of credits, loans and financing for the acquisition of products in the U.S. market. The US Naval Base at Guantánamo The US Base at Guantánamo is 113 years old as of February 23, 2016. It was the first U.S. base in our hemisphere and is the oldest U.S. overseas base in the world, and the only one whose host country lacks contractual authority to unilaterally revoke it. We call on President Obama to implement these actions to alleviate the US blockade on Cuba and to set a timetable for returning US occupied Guantanamo to the Cuban nation. Noam Chomsky Chicago ALBA Solidarity Committee Medea Benjamin, Co-founder, Code Pink SOA Watch Rev. Michael Kinnamon, former General Secretary, National Council of Churches IFCO/Pastors for Peace Glen Ford, Executive Editor, Black Agenda Report Tom Hayden Carl Rosen, President of Western Region, United Electrical Workers (UE) Chuck Kaufman, National Coordinator, Alliance for Global Justice Eva Golinger, Journalist/writer,The Chavez Code; Bush vs Chavez Marjorie Cohn, past President, National Lawyers Guild; Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, former General Secretary, National Council of Churches Cindy Sheehan, Author/Activist James Early, Board member, Institute for Policy Studies, Regional Articulation of Afro- Descendants, Latin America and Caribbean Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action Council on Hemispheric Affairs Council on Latin American Relations Leah Bolger, CDR, USN (Ret), former National President, Veterans For Peace José E. López, Executive Director, Puerto Rico Cultural Center Fred Hirsch, Delegate to the South Bay Labor Council Cristina Vazquez, International Vice President, Workers United WSRJB 52, SEIU Task Force on the Americas International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee Blasé Bonpane, Office of the Americas Rev. Kristin Stoneking, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation Dave Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council Dan Kovalik, USW Associate General Counsel Alicia Jrapko, US Coordinator, International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity National Lawyers Guild, Cuba Subcommittee Bill Preston, President. AFGE Local 17 David McReynolds, War Resisters League (retired) Jane Franklin, Historian, Cuba and the United States, A Chronological History Alex Main, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Historians Against the War Delvis Fernandez Levy, Cuban American Alliance Walter Lippmann, CubaNews, Los Angeles Tiana Ocasio, President, Connecticut Chapter, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement Stephen Kimber, journalist, author, What Lies Across the Water, The Real Story of the Cuban 5 David Swanson, author, WorldBeyondWar.org, WarisaCrime.org New Internationalism Project of Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) Alejandro Molina, Michelle Morales, National Boricua Human Rights Network; Campaign to Free Oscar Lopez Rivera Sara Flounders, Co-Director, International Action Center Rabbi Brant Rosen John McAuliff, Executive Director, Fund for Reconciliation and Development; Coordinator, Cuba-US People to People Partnership Cherrene Horazuk, President, AFSCME 3800 RootsAction.org Hon. Jim Ferlo, President, Pittsburgh-Matanzas-Sister Cities Association Salim Lamrani, author, The Economic War Against Cuba Tom Hansen, International Education Director, Mexico Solidarity Network Arnold August, journalist, author, Cuba and its Neighbours: Democracy in Motion Dan Beeton, CEPR Reese Erlich, author, Dateline Havana Albert A. Fox, Jr., President, Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation Joe Iosbaker. Co-Chair, SEIU Local 73 Joint Bargaining Committee at UIC Richard Berg, past President, Teamsters Local 743 Art Heitzer, Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba Pam Africa, Suzanne Ross, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal Matt Meyer. War Resisters International;International Peace Research Association Keith Bolender, author, Voices From the Other Side: An Oral History of Terrorism Against Cuba; Cuba Under Siege: American Policy, the Revolution and Its People Bob Guild, Vice President, Marazul Charters, Inc. Charles A. Serrano, ASG International, Inc. Elizabeth Hill, President, Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association Toronto Mike Beilstein, Corvallis,OR City Councilor 8th Day Center for Justice Lisa Valanti, President US-CUBA Sister Cities Association Church Women United, New York State Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America St. Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence The Friendship Association (formerly St. Augustine-Baracoa Friendship Association) Minnesota Cuba Committee Wendy Thompson. former Pres. L. 235, UAW, American Axle Detroit Gear & Axle Felix Masud-Piloto, Professor of History, DePaul University Alice Slater, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Catherine Murphy, The Literacy Project Marcela Vásquez-León, Director, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Arizona Dereka Rushbrook, Associate Professor, School of Geography & Development; Co-Director, Contemporary Cuba Study Abroad Program, University of Arizona Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba US Women and Cuba Collaboration Let Cuba Live Committee of Maine Heide Trampus, Coordinator, Worker to Worker, Canada-Cuba Labour Solidarity Network H. Bruce Franklin, Author Seattle/Cuba Friendship Committee Ken Crowley, National Delegations Organizer, Witness for Peace Portland Central America Solidarity Committee Houston Peace and Justice Center Rochester Committee on Latin America (ROCLA) Kentucky Interfaith on Latin America and the Caribbean Graciela Sanchez, Executive Director Esperanza Peace and Justice Center (Texas) Pedro Cabán, Professor and Chair, Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. Latino Studies University at Albany, SUNY Sacramento Action for Latin America Charlotte Koons, co-founder, Code Pink-Long Island, Women for Peace CUBAmistad (Bloomington, IN) Leslie Salgado, Chair, Howard County Friends of Latin America Friends of Cuba Against the Blockade - Vancouver Nino Pagliccia, activist, author, Cuba Solidarity in Canada John Laun, Colombia Support Network Gabriel Hetland, Assistant Professor, Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. Latino Studies, University at Albany, SUNY Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Committee, DC Metropolitan Area Kathryn Albrecht, journalist/writer, Nueva Mexico Shirley Warren, New Paltz Women In Black Laurence H. Shoup, author, Wall Street's Think Tank: the Council on Foreign Relations and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics 1976-2014 Nebraskans for Peace Corinne Willinger, Granny Peace Brigade, NYC Metro Raging Grannies African Awareness Association Rockford Peace and Justice Action Committee All-African People's Revolutionary Party (GC) Rebecca Navarrete-Davis, President Berkeley-Palma Soriano Sister City Association Barbara G. Harris, Granny Peace Brigade Greater Hartford Coalition on Cuba Meredith Aby, Miinnesota Anti-War Committee LELO (Legacy of Leadership, Equality and Organizing) Carl Finamore, Machinist Lodge 1781 delegate, San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO Kait McIntyre, Chicago Anti-War Committee Rev. Mother Marcy, founder, Public Intellectuals for Social and Spare Change Charles Newlin, Coordinating Committee Linn-Benton Pacific Green Party (Oregon) Bert Hestroffer, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Marc Becker, Professor of Latin American History, Truman State University Christine Preble, Ass. Professor and Undergraduate Program Director Department of Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies, University at Albany, SUNY Michael Martin, Professor, Media School, Indiana University Sarah Blue, Assistant Professor of Geography, Texas State University Marcela Vásquez-León, Dir., Center for Latin American Studies, Ass. Professor, Univ. of Arizona Dianne Post, International Human Rights Attorney, Phoenix, AZ Ann Eagan, Treasurer, Manhattan Green Party Francis Shor, Professor Emeritus, History, Wayne State University Sherry Millner, Professor, CUN Lucille Roussin, Prof., Dir. Holocaust Restitution Claims Practicum, Cardozo School of Law(NYC) Cole Harrison, Executive Director, Massachusetts Peace Action William H. Slavick, Professor of English, University of Southern Maine (retired) Hermann Engelhardt, Senior Research Associate in Geophysics, Emeritus,California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) Ken Hayes SOAW-Austin, TX Mary Ann Jones, Southern Oregon Friends of Cuba United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) Rob Kall, Publisher, OpEdNews.com Kim Scipes, Editor of Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization [ii] Hanson Daniel, Dayne Batten & Harrison Ealey. "It's Time For The U.S. To End Its Senseless Embargo Of Cuba," Forbes Magazine. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ The US International Trade Commission makes a similar estimate: http://www.cato.org/ “By 1992, U.S. businesses had lost over $30 billion in trade over the previous thirty years, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins. At that time, Cuba’s loss for the same period was smaller, but not by much: $28.6 billion, according to Cuba’s Institute of Economic Research.” http://www.dollarsandsense. A study by the Cuba Policy Foundation estimated that the annual cost to the US economy could be $4.84 billion in agricultural exports and related economic output. "America's Farmers Bearing Heavy Burden for U.S. Embargo Against Cuba: New Report," www.cubafoundation.org, Jan. 28, 2002
(Former City Council President and PA State Senator 1988-2014, now retired)
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