Hands Off Cuba: Los Angeles co-founder Brenda Lopez speaks

by JR Valrey, The People’s Minister of Information

About a week before Hurricane Melissa ravaged the eastern region of Cuba, destroying over 60,000 buildings, the Third Annual International Meeting of Theoretical Publications of Left-Wing Parties and Movements, was held in Mira Mar Cuba at Nico Lopez University. The meeting also featured a festival celebrating the founding of the Granma and Juventud newspapers by Fidel Castro during the Cuban Revolution.  

One of the interesting people doing great work that I had met there was Brenda Lopez, a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of the US Hands Off Cuba Committee. I got her to sit down and describe her politics and beliefs. 

JR Valrey: You recently came back from Cuba. What were you part of? What is its importance?

Brenda Lopez: I was in Cuba this October participating in the International Meeting of Theoretical Publications of Left-Wing Parties and Movements, where I met you. I think for me and the LA US Hands Off Cuba Committee, being present in spaces like those is important so we can build a strong analysis together. I think overall it is a great reminder that we all face the same enemy, and that is capitalism and imperialism; and the only way we will ever beat those evils is by fighting together. 

Additionally, we were part of the Granma Festival, for those that don’t know, Granma is the revolutionary newspaper that was born with the revolution. 

Being there was important because it allows Cubans from all aspects to come and have a conversation with us, see that people in the US care about what our government is doing to the island, that the impact is very real and not just an excuse that the Cuban government has been using for 66 years. 

And my favorite myth to break is that the US is very far from perfect and it cannot even provide very basic human needs, despite it flaunting being the richest country in the world.

JR Valrey: Can you define what a blockade is? How has the US-imposed blockade on Cuba affected the island’s people?

Brenda Lopez: A blockade is a military action that prevents a country from receiving or sending goods, effectively cutting off trade by force, while an embargo is a legal restriction on trade that does not involve military action. 

Essentially, a blockade is considered an act of war, whereas an embargo is a diplomatic tool. And as you’ve seen in your visits to Cuba, the effects of the blockade are very material and they inhumanely affect day-to-day Cuban people, not just diplomats, which is why it is considered a blockade and not an embargo. 

The blockade is a very aggressive form of economic warfare aimed at isolating Cuba and exerting political pressure, and it is now in its 66th year. There has not been one year of Socialist Cuba without sanctions, making it the longest blockade in history. 

JR Valrey: Recently the UN has almost unanimously voted for over the 30th year to end the blockade. The opposition against ending the blockade has been led by the US and Israel. What do you think about the fact that the blockade is still in place? 

Brenda Lopez: I think the blockade still being in place despite significant international criticism shows that the US really does view Cuba as a threat to capitalism and what the US stands for. 

For 30 years now we have seen the rest of the world side with Cuba, and for years I have heard most of the rest of the world complain about the US being the cause of many of their problems. I think we are at a point where most of the world sees the US for what it really is, and it has mostly isolated itself in order to try to continue to be at the top of the world.

JR Valrey: What do you think about Hurricane Melissa hitting the eastern region of Cuba and the blockade being in place? 

Brenda Lopez: I think the impact of Hurricane Melissa will be much harder than it should be because of the impact of the blockade, making it really difficult for them to recover materially. 

However, it is important to note that Cuba has a preventative approach to almost everything, and as a result they had zero deaths. Because before the hurricane hits, they make sure people are in safe spaces, and they even move furniture and other important things to help mitigate the impact, since they know those things are not easily replaceable thanks to the daily impact of the blockade. So needless to say the blockade has had and will continue to have a much larger impact on the Cuban people than any hurricane ever will.

JR Valrey: What organization are you a part of, and what kind of work do y’all do?

Brenda Lopez: I am a co-founder of the LA-US Hands Off Cuba Committee and now part of the Bay Area Cuba Solidarity Network, where we solely focus on Cuba and educating folks on all we can learn from Cuba. And our tasks of raising awareness that the sanctions still very much exist and have a huge impact on the Cuban people. As well as removing Cuba off the state sponsors of terrorism list and returning Guantanamo to the Cuban people, which, as we have seen, they only use it to inhumanely torture political prisoners and currently to store immigrants who aren’t even from Cuba.

JR Valrey: Can you talk about the solidarity work that y’all are doing with aiding the victims of Hurricane Melissa in Cuba?

Brenda Lopez: So the LA US Hands Off Cuba Committee has partnered with Not Just Tourists and the Pan American Medical Association, led by an ELAM graduate. As I just said, this is not just a natural disaster. It is a rupture in an already fragile system. 

Decades of blockade and sanctions left Cuba’s hospitals short on sutures, antibiotics and basic wound care. Now, they face a surge of trauma patients with no supplies to treat them, while communities risk dehydration and waterborne illness. So we are focusing on shipping out containers with Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS), Water Purification Tablets (anti-Giardia, anti-Clostridium), as well as painkillers and antibiotics.

People can donate and find out more here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/emergency-coalition-campaign-cuba-in-the-eye-of-the-storm

JR Valrey: Where can people get more information about the blockade and information on the organization you’re with? 

Brenda Lopez: Folks can follow us at @USHandsOffCuba on Instagram. We also have a website, www.ushandsoffcubacommittee.com, where they can sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date on our upcoming events and campaign. And I’ll use this space to let folks know that we are launching an international campaign to pressure the Olympic Committee to force the US government to give the Cuban athletes visas so they can participate in the 2028 Olympics that are happening in Los Angeles. We are looking for international support to make that happen, so stay tuned.

Thank you for these great questions and interview! It was a pleasure to meet you in Cuba and I’m so excited to continue to be in this struggle together.

JR Valrey is a veteran journalist who can be heard weekly on Wednesdays on 89.5FM KPOO or KPOO.com from noon to 3 p.m. His work can also be heard on www.blockreportradioworld.com. 

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