France Protests in Support of Cuba Against Trump's Policies

Cities across France, including Bordeaux, Le Havre, Toulouse, and Valenciennes, kicked off a weekend of protests to express solidarity with Cuba amid escalating US aggression. Organized by the French Communist Party (PCF), citizens from various sectors of society, including politicians, trade unionists, and members of associations with decades of solidarity work with Cuba, gathered at iconic sites like Victory Square in Bordeaux. They denounced the blockade imposed by Washington on the island and its recent intensification. The demonstrations, marked by Cuban flags, banners reading “Hands Off Cuba,” and calls to lift the economic, commercial, and financial embargo in place for over 60 years, will continue in Paris and Auxerre tomorrow. The mobilization is a response to recent measures decreed by US President Donald Trump to strangle the Caribbean nation. On January 29, Trump designated Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security and warned of tariffs on countries supplying or selling hydrocarbons to the island, effectively creating a petroleum blockade. Protesters in Bordeaux, Toulouse, and other French cities viewed the escalation as a blatant violation of international law and a criminal act with extraterritorial reach. Cuba's ambassador to France, Otto Vaillant, thanked the demonstrators for their solidarity and highlighted the importance of the international mobilization against the new aggressions. Since Trump ordered these pressure measures, several voices in France have denounced them and demanded an end to the blockade. The national secretary of the PCF, Fabien Roussel, called on President Emmanuel Macron in an open letter to act without delay to prevent a US petroleum blockade against Cuba and to facilitate aid to the besieged nation. Roussel also urged the president to use mechanisms of the European Union, particularly Regulation 2271 of November 22, 1996, to counter the extraterritorial reach of the embargo. This week, Sophie Binet, the general secretary of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), one of France's main trade unions, also demanded in a letter that the French president condemn Washington's escalation against Cuba and support it with humanitarian aid. In this regard, the leader of the union representing over 600,000 members asked Macron to support the shipment of oil and gas to the Caribbean nation and to ensure, with the means at the disposal of the French state, the delivery of food and medicines as well. Meanwhile, France Cuba, Cuba Coopération France, Cuba Linda, and Cuba Si France, associations with decades of solidarity work with the island, issued statements and calls for mobilization against the suffocating policies driven by the Trump administration.