He wondered, “When will President Trump understand that Americans want lower prices, not more unnecessary wars?” he asked Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who is leading the Cuban action with Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.). As a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, Kaine also led the war powers resolution on Iran that was rejected by Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and nearly all Republicans last week.
Despite constitutional restrictions, Trump “operates with the belief that the U.S. military is the palace guardian, ordering military action in the Caribbean, Venezuela, and Iran without congressional authorization or any explanation of his actions to the American people.” He said Ken. “We should not risk the lives of our sons and daughters based on anyone’s whims.”
The Biden administration intended to remove Cuba from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, but Trump reverse Of course after returning to office last year and reviving the “restricted entities” list created during his first term. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a longtime supporter of regime change on the island, also expanded a visa policy targeting Cuba’s international medical missions.
Since Trump’s operation to kidnap Maduro and take control of his country’s nationalized oil industry — which led to protests in Venezuela and Cuba — Trump has also intensified the decades-old US economic blockade of the island, cutting off shipments of Venezuelan oil, with dire consequences for the Cuban people.
As Marta Hurtado, spokeswoman for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, explained last month: “With health, food and water systems dependent on imported fossil fuels, the current oil scarcity is putting the availability of basic services at risk across the country. Intensive care units and emergency rooms are also at risk, as is the production, delivery and storage of vaccines, blood products and other temperature-sensitive medicines.”
Meanwhile, Trump and his allies have indicated that they are considering launching an attack on the island. Trump told reporters late last month that “the Cuban government is talking to us,” but also said that “we might do a friendly takeover of Cuba.”
Just days later, after Trump abandoned nuclear negotiations with Iran and cooperated with Israel to bomb the Middle Eastern country, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) declared during an interview with Fox News: “Next Cuba. They’re going to fall.”
Pointing to the rising death toll among US service members involved in the war on Iran, Schiff said on Friday that “the American people have spoken loud and clear that they do not want any more costly wars of choice that drive up prices at home.”
He continued: “The president’s threats toward Cuba clearly illustrate his next point.” “Congress must make its voice heard, or we risk becoming embroiled in another perilous war of choice and losing our constitutionally granted powers forever.”
Gallego also highlighted how Trump’s adventures abroad are impacting American citizens, as Americans face rising gasoline prices as well as rising grocery, housing and health insurance costs, in addition to massive cuts to social safety net programs imposed by congressional Republicans and the president with their budget package last year to give more tax cuts to the rich.
“As if the disaster of the Iran war and the resulting rise in oil prices were not enough, Trump is now threatening to intervene in Cuba as well,” said Gallego, a former Marine who served in the Iraq War. “He ran on the banner of America First, but it is now clear that he has become a puppet of the war hawks in his party. The American people want nothing to do with nation building — they want lower prices, good health care, affordable homes, not a new war to please the neocons in South Florida.”
The senators announced their decision as Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly confirmed that his government recently held “sensitive” talks with the Trump administration “to determine the readiness of the two parties to take concrete measures for the benefit of the peoples of both countries. In addition to identifying areas of cooperation to confront threats and ensure security and peace for both countries, as well as in the region.”
according to Associated Press:
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his senior aides met late last month in the Caribbean with the grandson of retired Cuban leader Raul Castro, two US officials said Friday shortly after Diaz-Canel spoke.
The US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions, said Rubio met secretly with Raul Guillermo Rodríguez Castro on the sidelines of the CARICOM leaders’ meeting in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Rubio’s meeting coincided with an exchange of gunfire between men on a speedboat in Florida and Cuban forces, resulting in the deaths of five suspects and the arrest of five others in Cuba, who face terrorism charges. When asked about the case on Friday, Diaz-Canel “said FBI officials would visit Cuba soon as the two countries continue to share information about the incident,” the AP noted.
During his statements to reporters, Diaz-Canel He also noted the “tremendous” impact of the oil blockade, which has affected communications, education, healthcare and transportation.
A clip of the Cuban leader’s statements was published on social networking sites. Progressive International Co-General Coordinator David Adler He said: “I ask you to imagine how a civilian population of over 10 million people could live without any access to imported energy for a full three months. In Cuba, the United States is committing the most horrific war crimes known to man — and Washington is simply ignoring it.”
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