"US hands off Cuba"

Demonstrations demanding "US hands off Cuba" took place in Washington, 
DC, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and New York City last month.

The May 20 protests, called by the ANSWER coalition, were planned in 
anticipation of a speech President George W Bush was to make that day. The 
press had speculated that he would announce the adoption of more hostile 
measures against Cuba.

Instead, Bush held a small meeting with Cuban imigris. His "speech," a 
radio address that lasted only about a minute, talked in broad generalities 
about "freedom". This was seen as a betrayal by right-wing Cuban-Americans, 
who have been pressing for "regime change" in Cuba.

Three Republican Congress people from Florida did not attend the White 
House meeting. Representative Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, 
immediately attacked Bush for "not living up to your promises" and "playing 
on the emotions of the Cuban-American community".

All this indicates disarray within this reactionary administration, which 
has its hands full trying to subdue Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. 
The demonstrators in solidarity with Cuba denounced the Bush administration 
for ordering the expulsion of 14 Cuban diplomats on May 13 — seven from 
Washington and seven from the United Nations — without a shred of evidence 
to back up the charge that they engaged in "inappropriate and unacceptable 
activities".

Protestors viewed the expulsions as simply one more act of US aggression in 
its more than 40-year history of terror, economic strangulation and assault 
on the self-determination of the Cuban people.

The New York actions were also called to counter efforts by right-wing 
Cubans who, emboldened by Bush's "endless war", were trying to disrupt the 
functions of the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York and the 
Cuban Interests Section in Washington.

Demonstrators in Los Angeles on May 20 expressed solidarity with the Cuban 
Revolution and demanded that the Bush administration halt its menacing 
rhetoric and its escalation of threats against Cuban sovereignty.

John Parker, organiser for the International Action Center, said that the 
fact that Bush's speech made no mention of any new sanctions against Cuba 
shows what disarray these war makers are in. "It also demonstrates that it 
is imperative that we remain vigilant and organise a people's defence of 
the Cuban Revolution against the imperialist aims of the United States."