Cuba called for next May 1, International Labor Day, a “massive day” of mobilizations against the blockade of the United States, resuming its traditional mass parades that it suspended two years ago due to the pandemic.
“The festival of the world proletariat will have as its renewed stage the militant parades, rallies and events in squares and villages all over Cuba,” and “in each of them we will demand an end to the intensified and genocidal blockade (...) imposed on Cuba by the United States government,” said the Cuban Workers' Confederation (CTC, the only one) in its call, published this Monday by local media.
Cuba, which is experiencing its worst economic crisis in 27 years, dragged by the fall in tourism during the pandemic and the tightening of the United States embargo, in effect since 1962, suspended these massive acts in 2020 and 2021, limiting them to small activities in workplaces or virtual events.
Cuban authorities say that the country has managed to control the pandemic with the immunization campaign it develops with its three own vaccines. To date, 89.4% of the 11.2 million Cubans have their complete three-dose vaccination schedule.
However, there are constant calls by the authorities to the population, including those of President Díaz-Canel, not to rely on the results achieved.
Of 1,082,201 Cubans infected, 8,507 have died to date and Sunday closed with only 729 new infections and one deceased, according to the Ministry of Health.
On Twitter, Díaz-Canel celebrated the call for mobilization. “We will refill the places to celebrate Workers' Day next May Day. It has been convened by the CTC (...) and we will make it possible and transcendent all, from creative resistance,” he said.
In the call, the CTC highlighted that “the celebration will be characterized by the participation of labor groups in supporting food production, the sugar harvest, investment programs and transformation in neighborhoods and communities”, in “a battle for economic efficiency”.
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