Camila Escalante is a journalist and news correspondent covering Latin America. Her reporting can be found @KawsachunNews @PressTV @sov_media / IG: prensacamila
Joined June 2018
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These are the questions U.S. reporters ought to be demanding answers to as Washington continues to hijack fuel shipments in the Caribbean to deny an entire country fuel.
BREAKING: BT’s Zoe Alexandra (@ZoeAlexandra_ok) confronted US Ambassador Mike Waltz at the United Nations headquarters on Wednesday, calling out his lie that “there is no blockade” on Cuba – and that the blocking of oil shipments is directly responsible for an escalating humanitarian crisis.
While Waltz retorted that the US allowed the arrival of a Russian oil tanker to Cuba, Alexandra immediately countered that the March fuel delivery was only able to supply a small fraction of the country’s energy needs.
The ambassador then became visibly frustrated and quickly turned to take another reporter’s question.
The encounter followed the UN General Assembly annual vote to end the US blockade on the island nation.
Camila retweeted
El pueblo venezolano acompaña al hermano pueblo cubano y su gobierno en la lucha contra el bloqueo criminal impuesto por EEUU.
Hoy en el marco de las votaciones contra el bloqueo en la ONU, desde Caracas decimos #CubaNoEsUnaAmenaza el bloqueo sí.
@embacubaven
@BrunoRguezP
UNGA: Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez requests the removal of a known terrorist from the gallery, responsible for acts of terrorism against Cuba, who was invited by the US mission to the UN.
“It’s an affront to all the victims of terrorism including the victims of September 11th and the Cuban victims of terrorist acts organized and financed from United States territory.”
Camila retweeted
Canadian parliamentarians, trade union leaders, and humanitarian organizations demand that the government of Canada take immediate and concrete action to counter the US economic war against Cuba in the name of Canadian sovereignty.
kawsachun.com/canadians-take…
Camila retweeted
Rolando Hernandez is a member of the Association of Cuban Residents of Ottawa-Gatineau.
“They don't have airlines from Canada to Cuba anymore. And it is incomprehensible also that there are still American Airlines going to Havana and no Canadian. I don’t have an explanation for that.”
“I still have a family in Cuba. I have brothers and sisters. I have a sister that lives in Havana and is a senior and has the condition of diabetes. So this sister has to go every day to find something to buy in the market to eat. And this cannot be too much because even if she has the money, she cannot take too much food at home. Because even if she has a fridge, she cannot conserve the food in the fridge because they have no energy to keep this food fresh. So imagine the situation. Then she has to take that food that she bought and try to cook it, but she cannot cook it inside the house. She has to go on the street and improvise a stove because she cannot use the one inside the house.
And why she has to go outside? Because the smoke. She's cooking with wood and the smoke will make the entire family in the house sick. So the situation is really, really bad.
Then also, the food that she is having with no choice is not maybe a good food for her condition of diabetes. So that makes the diabetes grow worse and she needs medication. She needs medicines. But she has not enough medicine for that because the government cannot produce medicine, even [though] in normal times, Cuba used to produce this kind of medicines. But now with the lack of energy, they can neither import the medication because of the embargo and there is there are 7,000 containers waiting in different parts of the world to be shipped to Cuba, because the embargo don't allow the thing to go in the country.”
“Do you think that all of this situation is correct? That all of this situation that is happening to the Cuban family is correct? Do you think it is fair that the stronger country economically and military in the world punish the Cuban family just because they don't like or they don't agree with the government that they are having in Cuba? I know the answer very well, but I will leave this open to the people that are listening to this, to look for a honest answer to this.”
Isaac Saney of the Canadian Network on Cuba and a professor at Dalhousie University of Black and African diaspora studies and history:
“Many economists, many specialists in Cuba, point to the principal cause of the Cuban economic distress as being this unprecedented economic war waged against Cuba that has now become a genocidal siege.
It's become an obsession of Donald Trump, but particularly Marco Rubio, to starve an entire people into submission by deeming, by denying them basic access to trade, to fuel and the basic necessities.
One question I'd like to point out: What country could withstand this would stand what Cuba has done for the last nearly nine, ten months of this vicious, vicious economic warfare raids against it?
What would happen to Canada if somebody were to cut off its access to international trade and so forth? It would lead to chaos.
And so I think it's important to bear in mind that what Cuba is undertaking, as Julio has pointed out, with its 176 measures, has been long debated and discussed about improving the efficiencies of the economy.
But as the United Nations report and many scholars have pointed out in the studies, the principal cause of Cuba's economic distress is this is this criminal, illegal and immoral economic war waged by Washington.”
“Tomorrow, October 28th, Canada must stand with Cuba as the Canadian people are demanding the standard Cuba and to reject this economic war.”
The next speaker is Isaac Saney, he is on the executive committee of the Canadian Network on Cuba and a professor at Dalhousie University of Black and African diaspora studies and history.
“On October 28th, 2026, which is tomorrow, Canada will once again have an opportunity to make a consequential statement at the United Nations General Assembly to vote in support of Cuba's resolution calling for an end to the United States economic, commercial and financial war against the island nation.
This vote is about nearly seven decades of aggression of Washington against Havana. It concerns the fundamental principles of international law, national sovereignty, multilateralism, and the rights of people to determine their own future. It is an opportunity for Canada to demonstrate that its foreign policy will not be dictated by U.S. imperial might. Since 1992, Canada has consistently voted for the resolution. This position has reflected a long standing recognition that unilateral economic coercion, particularly when extended beyond the borders of the country imposing it, undermines international law and the principles governing relations amongst nations, particularly among sovereign nations.
Canada's vote in October 28th must reaffirm that position at the moment when, under the Trump regime, Washington's war on Cuba has relentlessly intensified and become an overtly genocidal siege.
Let us be clear: Cuba's shortages and economic distress are not the result of natural disaster or internal collapse. They are the foreseeable and intended outcomes of a systematic campaign by Washington, now intensified by Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, to strangle Cuba’s access to fuel, medicines, medical equipment, foreign exchange and trade. Washington's goal is to induce mass starvation and desperation.
This intent was clearly outlined by Lester Mallory, then Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, as one of who and who was one of the architects of the US policy towards Cuba. In a now declassified an infamous memorandum of April 6th, 1960.
And I quote: “Most Cubans support Castro, the only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection, based on economic dissatisfaction and on hardship. Every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba, denying money and supplies to Cuba, decrease monetary and real wages to bring about hunger, desperation, and overthrow of the government.”
The question is therefore straightforward: Will Canada repudiate Washington's onslaught and asphyxiation of Cuba? Will Ottawa defended the principles it claims to uphold or will it allow US pressure to erode its commitment to international law, to sovereignty and peaceful relations amongst nations?
If Canada fails at this, this will amount to an unambiguous and equivocal complicity in this genocidal siege.
Tomorrow, October 28th, Canada must stand with Cuba as the Canadian people are demanding the standard Cuba and to reject this economic war.”
Rolando Hernandez is a member of the Association of Cuban Residents of Ottawa-Gatineau.
“They don't have airlines from Canada to Cuba anymore. And it is incomprehensible also that there are still American Airlines going to Havana and no Canadian. I don’t have an explanation for that.”
“I still have a family in Cuba. I have brothers and sisters. I have a sister that lives in Havana and is a senior and has the condition of diabetes. So this sister has to go every day to find something to buy in the market to eat. And this cannot be too much because even if she has the money, she cannot take too much food at home. Because even if she has a fridge, she cannot conserve the food in the fridge because they have no energy to keep this food fresh. So imagine the situation. Then she has to take that food that she bought and try to cook it, but she cannot cook it inside the house. She has to go on the street and improvise a stove because she cannot use the one inside the house.
And why she has to go outside? Because the smoke. She's cooking with wood and the smoke will make the entire family in the house sick. So the situation is really, really bad.
Then also, the food that she is having with no choice is not maybe a good food for her condition of diabetes. So that makes the diabetes grow worse and she needs medication. She needs medicines. But she has not enough medicine for that because the government cannot produce medicine, even [though] in normal times, Cuba used to produce this kind of medicines. But now with the lack of energy, they can neither import the medication because of the embargo and there is there are 7,000 containers waiting in different parts of the world to be shipped to Cuba, because the embargo don't allow the thing to go in the country.”
“Do you think that all of this situation is correct? That all of this situation that is happening to the Cuban family is correct? Do you think it is fair that the stronger country economically and military in the world punish the Cuban family just because they don't like or they don't agree with the government that they are having in Cuba? I know the answer very well, but I will leave this open to the people that are listening to this, to look for a honest answer to this.”
Canadians call for independent foreign policy of peace with Cuba and to oppose the blockade at
the United Nations
🇨🇺 The Canadian Network on Cuba— a coalition of 26 solidarity organizations—held a press conference in Ottawa today to demand that the Government of Canada take immediate and concrete action to counter the devastating impact of the United States’ economic war against Cuba in the name of Canadian sovereignty.
The press conference comes after a parliamentary petition was presented by Member of Parliament Leah Gazan (NDP). This is the third petition on this topic to come to the floor in 2026, collecting thousands of signatures, and arrives just before Canadian delegates will vote on the position of the United States blockade at the UN General Assembly on Oct. 28.
The petition and coalition call on Ottawa to undertake the following measures without delay:
1. Deepen and defend economic and cultural exchanges between Canada and Cuba in the
face of United States aggression;
2. Enforce the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act, to protect Canadian corporations who do
business in Cuba against United States sanctions;
3. Lift the Government of Canada’s advisory against non-essential travel to Cuba and expand
opportunities for tourism and trade; and
4. Reaffirm Canada’s historic opposition to the United States embargo against Cuba at the
United Nations and support the annual resolution on the Necessity of ending the economic,
commercial and financial embargo.
The CNC states that the deliberate use of economic coercion to deprive a population of essential resources raises grave humanitarian and international legal concerns. It calls for an immediate end to measures that threaten the well-being of the Cuban people. Canada must also take concrete measures to protect Canadian businesses and institutions from the extraterritorial application of U.S. sanctions.
We heard first from Juilo Fonseca, Co-Chair of the Canadian Network On Cuba and member of the Juan Gualberto Gomez Association of Cuban Residents in Toronto.
Tess Stuber, Coordinator of the Ernesto Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade 🇨🇺🇨🇦
“For decades, Canadians have made up more than a third of travel to Cuba each year. Roughly 1 million Canadians travel to Cuba every year to visit the beautiful beaches, enjoy the culture, connect with friends and family, and experience true internationalism.
Following the newest measures of the fuel blockade imposed by the United States in January of this year, the Canadian government issued a travel advisory for the island that exacerbated the crisis in Cuba and prompted all Canadian airlines to cancel all flights to Cuba.
Thousands of Canadians, including those traveling with the brigade, had their plans canceled or had to make alternative arrangements to fly through third countries.
What was once a three hour direct flight from Toronto or Ottawa became an all day affair through Mexico or Panama for double or even triple the cost. Canadians and Cubans living in Canada have the right to travel as they wish without restriction, visit their loved ones, and participate in longstanding traditions of solidarity and internationalism.
We call on the federal government to lift the travel advisory and reinstate direct flights on Canadian airlines from Canada to Cuba.”
Camila retweeted
Estimado hermano @LulaOficial, te felicito en nombre del gobierno y pueblo cubanos por esta victoria histórica que garantiza la continuidad del camino de paz, soberanía y justicia social emprendido por el pueblo brasileño bajo tu liderazgo.
1/2
Congratulations to the Brazilian people for three weeks of concerted, strategic mobilization. Not an hour wasted in the face of enormous obstacles. The PT is an absolute machine, which together with students, labor, rural and urban movements ran a formidable ground operation.
