This week, I met Cuba's Consul General in Montreal, Susana Malmierca Benitez, at an event organized by the Mouvement Québécois pour la Paix.
In my speech, I stressed that the sanctions imposed on Cuba, the US blockade preventing the transit of medical equipment and Cuba's inclusion on the list of state sponsors of terrorism are unjust and should be reversed. Every time a people decides to try a system other than capitalism, it is sanctioned and excluded from international trade. They would have us believe that there is no alternative to capitalism. Meanwhile, this same capitalist system is ravaging the environment and pushing the world towards more and more wars.
I thanked Cuba for its support for Palestine and for its efforts to train 200 Palestinian doctors free of charge to help this people suffering genocide. This is the opposite of what is happening in Canada, where medical students have been disciplined for supporting the victims of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Cuba has always been a strong voice for Palestinian rights, and Canada should learn from their leadership on the international stage.
Je remercie le Mouvement Québécois pour la Paix pour l’organisation de cette soirée, Mme Susana Malmierca Benitez pour sa présence, ainsi que Mme Leima Martinez Freire, la Directrice Amérique du Nord de l’Institut cubain d’amitié avec les peuples (ICAP), qui est en tournée canadienne pour les deux prochaines semaines.
Alex Tyrrell
Leader of the Green Party of Quebec
