JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Hundreds of South Africans from trade unions and civil society groups held a rally in Johannesburg on Thursday to call for an end to the U.S. blockade on Cuba. “Now that the United States is normalizing relations with Cuba, it should lift and end the blockade,” Chris Matlhako, secretary general of the Friends of Cuba Society in South Africa, told the gathering.
He said the U.S. blockade on Cuba limits the country’s ability to develop and advance economically. Matlhako said although Cuba has some of the best doctors, it cannot access important medicine for its people as a result of the blockade.
‘‘We call for the immediate uplifting of this blockade,’’ he said at the rally also attended by the Cuban Five, who were convicted by American courts for conspiring to commit murder and acting as intelligence agents of a foreign government in 1998.
“We are here today because of you. Six months ago we were in prison,’’ said Ramon Salazar, one of the five Cubans convicted by a US court for one life term in prison. “You can’t understand how emotional it is for us to be with you here today.”
The five Cuban intelligence officers were arrested in September 1998 while in the United States to observe and infiltrate Cuban–American groups based in Miami.
The groups had reportedly conducted actions of violence against Cuba in a bid to overthrow the government.
‘‘Long live Nelson Mandela, long live Federal Castro. Long live South Africa and Cuba,’’ Salazar said as the crowd chanted revolutionary songs in response.
