Cuba’s return to terror list belies Trump’s pro-peace claims

Days after the Biden administration removed Cuba from the so-called State Sponsors of Terrorism list, Trump rescinded the decision through executive order on his first day in office. The Communist Party USA condemns the continuation of this aggressive policy aimed at overturning the Cuban Revolution.

The incoming Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said that the Trump administration plans to impose additional restrictions on the island nation. The economic warfare against the Cuban people waged by the U.S. government and condemned by the United Nations represents an illegal and inhumane attack on Cuban sovereignty and self-determination.

Shortly after taking the oath of office, Trump further displayed his racist and imperialist vision by announcing that he will rename the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" and Alaska's Denali Peak back to Mount McKinley, an insult to Alaskans in general and to Native Alaskans in particular.

President William McKinley authorized the first U.S. blockade on Cuba, under the auspices of aiding its independence in the build up to the Spanish-American War, and the first U.S. occupation of the island after the war. The McKinley administration also acquired the U.S. colonies of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines from Spain, and used the war as a pretext to annex Hawaii.

Far from their disingenuous promises of Trump as a "peace candidate" who wants nothing to do with "endless wars," the Trump administration is embracing increased expansionism, economic warfare, and the subjugation of peoples around the world. In so many words: Make Imperialism Great Again.

The Communist Party USA salutes the people of Cuba's perseverance against more than a century of U.S. imperialist aggression. We will continue to work to build a mass campaign to alleviate the human costs of the Trump administration's decision and the decades-long U.S. blockade. We continue in the struggle to widely build solidarity efforts in the U.S. and abroad in order to finally bring an end to this needless and cruel policy.

Image: Cubans protest longstanding sanctions in front of the U.S. embassy in Havana in the final weeks of the Biden administration (Juventud Rebelde)

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