Over 50,000 Cubans to Protest in Guantánamo Against US Foreign Policy

On February 26, more than 50,000 Cubans will gather in the Revolution Square “Mariana Grajales Coello” in the city of Guantánamo to protest against US foreign policy, as well as to reaffirm their commitment to peace and the sovereignty of the Cuban people over their territory. The anti-imperialist rally is also a response to the Trump administration’s project to turn the US Naval Base into a huge prison for about 30,000 deported migrants that the US government considers dangerous criminals.

“More than 50,000 Guantanameros are summoned, on behalf of Cubans, to demonstrate national unity in favor of peace, sovereignty, and the rejection of the hostile policy of the United States against the island,” Juana Eglis Fernández Louit, general secretary of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba in the eastern province, told Granma.

She also said that Cuba’s anti-imperialist position will be reaffirmed in response to the decision of the US government to transfer up to 30,000 migrants considered dangerous criminals to the facilities of the illegal US naval base in Guantánamo Bay

According to the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Trump’s decision could generate “a scenario of risk and insecurity in the base and its surroundings, threaten peace and lend itself to errors, accidents and misinterpretations that could alter stability and provoke serious consequences.”

For now, it is known that, after the fleeting passage through the military base of 170 Venezuelan migrants who were promptly deported to Venezuela, the Trump administration momentarily suspended the installation of tents at Guantánamo that were to accommodate the thousands of deported migrants.

However, the US is certainly not suspending its control over the base. To demonstrate the Trump administration’s commitment to US policy, Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth traveled to the Guantánamo Naval Base on February 25. According to the Pentagon, “the Secretary’s trip underscores the Department’s commitment to ensuring the security and operational effectiveness of Naval Station Guantánamo.”

The United States has retained its infamous Guantánamo Bay base despite the Cuban government’s historic demands. Beyond its strategic location in the largest of the Antillean islands, the United States has now decided to strengthen its presence in Cuba seemingly as a message of its military and regional power in the face of the historical challenge posed by the existence of a socialist country on the borders of the most important military power in the world.

However, despite the constant refusal of the United States to withdraw from Cuban soil, as well as the demand to remove the economic and commercial blockade that has lasted more than 60 years, Cuba continues to demand the return of its sovereign territory through the respective diplomatic maneuvers, but also through the constant mobilization of the population.