US enforcement of its illegal Cuba blockade over here infringes British sovereignty, Labour conference fringe meeting hears

Ending the illegal US blockade of Cuba is not just about defending Cuba’s right to self-determination but about British sovereignty, Cuba Solidarity Campaign chair Kevin Courtney told a packed fringe meeting on Tuesday night.

The former National Education Union co-leader said Britain opposes the blockade and votes against it at the UN every year — but “the Americans bully banks here, they bully companies here, into behaving as if the blockade operates from this country.”

The idea that Cuba presented any military threat to the United States was absurd, he stressed, “so why do they maintain this cruel blockade? It is the threat of a counter-example the Americans don’t like.

“Instead of sending troops all over the world, they send doctors.”

Speakers including Cuban ambassador to Britain Barbara Alvarez, Stockport MP Nav Mishra and Coll McCail of Labour’s Scottish executive described their experiences in Cuba and the impact of the US blockade, calling for an end to it and to the US’s occupation of Guantanamo Bay.