CODEPINK to Host Open Party Outside Cuban Embassy in Washington
Press Note
HAVANA TIMES – The peace group CODEPINK welcomes the announcement about the historic re-opening of embassies in the United States and Cuba and will celebrate in front of the newly minted Cuban Embassy during the opening ceremony on July 20th from 10am- 6pm with music, flowers, food, and fun. Over 400 people have RSVPd on the Facebook event.
CODEPINK views the re-establishment of diplomatic ties between the US and Cuba as a crucial step forward to fully normalizing relations. However, despite this encouraging act of diplomacy, more work needs to be done, including lifting the travel ban and the embargo, and returning the Guantanamo Naval Base to the Cuban people.
Although an official US embassy will be housed in Havana with the United States flag flying above its gate, US citizens still face restrictions that prohibit them from freely traveling to Cuba. Congress should ignore the few representatives who are opposed to normalization, and immediately pass the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act to allow US citizens to travel to Cuba just as they are allowed to travel anywhere else in the world. This should be followed by the passage of the bill to lift the embargo, finally putting to rest the Helms Burton Act that codified the failed American policy of isolation and hostilities.
“The opening the embassies in Havana and Washington is a great and historic step, but everything that President Obama has done can be undone by the next president,” said CODEPINK cofounder Medea Benjamin. “Congress must now step up and pass the needed legislation to finally put an end to the antiquated policies towards Cuba that have failed for 54 years.”
CODEPINK also calls on the US government to close the prison in Guantanamo and return the Naval Base to the Cuban people.
Where: Outside the Cuban Interests Section/Embassy, 2630 16th St NW, DC
When: Monday July 20th, 2015 from 10:00am-6:00pm
Huh. Silence from “Last Word” Moses. That’s unusual.
Look at the video. Then feel free to revise your comment re miando en el parque, ecc.
I did not see the video. I understand Cuban Spanish very well. What is your point?
Wait a minute… You commented on the 7/13 article by Armando Chaguaceda about actos de repudio. There was a video attached interviewing the neighbors of that park. Did you not watch it ? There were no subtitles. Could it be that you couldn’t understand it ?
The Ladies in White are harassed and beaten EVERY time they March. Sounds routine to me. The OWS movement at times involved it’s members camping out in public spaces or engaging in other unlawful acts of civil disobedience. The Ladies in White MARCH PEACEFULLY from church mass. Big difference between urinating and defeating in a public park (OWS) and silently marching in a line with only gladiolus in hand (LIW).
Wrong. LIW are not routinely beaten. They sometimes are, and for reasons sometimes similar to what sparked Occupy Wall St. protesters arrests and beatings. Did you not see the video a few days ago? CISPES, Greenpeace, and even the Quakers have been subjected to FBI infiltration and provocateurs. Ever hear of a little movement called Black Lives Matter ? See if they agree with you.
Your dismissal of the support of a Superpower dedicated to the overthrow of the government in the scheme of what free speech will be tolerated, is amusing.
That’s irrelevant. There is freedom of speech or there isn’t. The issue is the message. CODEPINK is free to share their anti-US message free from harassment. The Ladies in White, a peaceful anti-CASTRO, are routinely arrested and beaten for just planning to share their message.
I wonder if Code Pink is getting financial support and direction from a hostile Superpower ?
It’s ironic isn’t it. The very freedoms that CODEPINK enjoys to protest against the policies of the US government against Cuba are illegal in Cuba. Their Cuban counterparts, dressed in white and not pink, are routinely beaten and arrested for doing exactly what CODEPINK will do in front of the Cuban embassy unmolested.