On 13-14 March, supporters of the Revolutionary Communist Group and Rock Around The Blockade took to the streets throughout the country, working with local chapters of environmental campaigns Earth Strike and Green Anti-Capitalist Front. This was a weekend of solidarity against imperialist implementation of sanctions, called by sanctionskill.org, coordinated from demands arising from the Havana anti-imperialist conference in November 2019 (see our report and video of the conference here). Comrades blockaded Esso petrol stations and held city centre speak outs in protest against the political and economic role that ExxonMobil is playing, suing Cuba, promoting intervention in Venezuela, backing the coup in Bolivia, exploiting disputed territory in Guyana and working with Israel to explore oil in occupied Palestine. (see reports of our previous pickets).
Under the protection of the illegal US blockade, ExxonMobil, the US oil and gas giant, is attempting to sue Cuba for $280m over the use of property it claims was stolen from it during the revolution almost 60 years ago. ExxonMobil, the second biggest polluter in history, is attacking Cuba, the country leading the world in sustainable development according to the World Wildlife Fund, United Nations and Global Footprint Network. The crippling 60 year blockade of Cuba costs the island an estimated $12m a day.
While ExxonMobil pollutes the planet at incredible rates, it has pumped millions of dollars into climate change denial and lobbying against action to reduce carbon emissions ($41m per year), putting its profits before our planet. It is responsible for over 3% of all CO2 emissions. This is costing human lives.
Meanwhile in Venezuela, ExxonMobil have long lobbied for US intervention and tighter sanctions, supporting the US department of State ‘foreign operations and related programmes appropriations act’ which assigned $5.5 million to support Venezuela’s opposition. The act also aims to break the Petrocaribe alliance between Caribbean states and Venezuela, whereby members receive heavily subsidised oil which can be paid for in kind, and can be part of investments in development projects.
Central to this plan, ExxonMobil has been drilling oil fields in disputed territory between Guyana and Venezuela. Despite the Essequibo zone being under official mediation by the UN since 1966, Exxon Mobil expects production to reach 120,000 bpd in the coming months. The Guyanese government unilaterally accepted a payment of a measly $200m from ExxonMobil for the project, largely seen as a huge rip off of the country’s natural resources.
The US has imposed over 300 unilateral measures against Venezuela since 2014, which is estimated to have cost the nation $120bn. Former UN rapporteur Alfred De Zayas has argued that these sanctions constitute a “crime against humanity.”. At least 40,000 Venezuelans died in 2018 from shortages of medicine as a result, whilst 300,000 are at imminent risk due to lack of dialysis and treatments for cancer and HIV.
As the Gaza strip in Palestine continues to be under siege, with Israel banning imports of everything from children’s books and musical instruments, to cattle and concrete, ExxonMobil is currently in talks to consider exploring oil and gas in Israel, making it the first major oil company to consider oil exploration in occupied Palestine.
It is not just oil that ExxonMobil is eyeing up. Exxon Mobil are a top funder of the Inter-American dialogue think tank. Carlos Mesa – a key opposition figure involved in November’s 2019 coup in Bolivia – is their ‘in-house expert’. One of the visions of the ‘Inter-American dialogue’ was to oppose Evo Morales’ vision for indigenous communities in Bolivia. ExxonMobil was kicked out of Bolivia in 2006 when the Morales government nationalised its energy resources in order to use them to benefit Bolivians instead of enriching US and European multi-nationals. Now ExxonMobil has its eye on Bolivia’s sizeable lithium reserves. Bolivia holds around 50-70% of the world’s lithium reserves and Exxon Mobil has declared it’s interest in lithium based technology. Bolivia under Evo Morales, made it clear that any joint enterprise with foreign firms would have to involve its national mining and lithium companies as equal partners. While a number of companies, including Tesla, were keen to have access to Bolivian lithium, they were not prepared to meet these requirements.
ExxonMobil operates as an arm of US imperialism, backing sanctions, funding coup attempts, exploiting disputed territory whilst continuing to rake in mega-profits in from the expanding use of fossil fuels.
Climate change is a war – of the rich against the poor!
Sanctions Kill!
Blockade Esso – Not Cuba!
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In Newcastle, comrades completed a successful picket of Esso despite harassment and intimidation by Northumbria Police. The picketers highlighted both the blockade and the environmental crimes of ExxonMobil.
Glasgow RCG with Green Anti-Capitalist Front Glasgow organised a picket of an Esso petrol garage in Maryhill, using a banner created on the protest reading ‘ExxonMobil = Exxtinction’. The protest highlighted Cuba’s ecological acheivements in contrast with the destructive role of ExxonMobil.
Liverpool RCG with Earth Strike Merseyside blocked an Esso petrol station in Liverpool for just under 2 hours with a petition demanding Esso end all legal action against Cuba and hand back resources, or money from the sale of those resources, to countries they have looted them from, highlighting the company’s latest exploitative oil deal with Guyana.
Birmingham comrades held a public speak out in the city centre, calling for the defence of Latin American countries against the political and economic attacks they have been facing. People spoke on the sound system demanding an end to economic sanctions on Venezuela, a political struggle against the coup in Bolivia and a lifting of the blockade on Cuba.
In London, branches of the RCG and Earth Strike held a picket of Esso on Park Lane on Friday 13 March. The picketers condemned the blockade and raised the news that Cuba has developed vital medicines which are being used in the fight against COVID-19. In this context, the blockade which holds back Cuba’s biomedical sector is a grave crime against the whole of humanity.
The following day, London RCG branches held speak-outs in their local communities informing people about Cuba’s achievements and the cost of the blockade.
As Cuba and its allies face escalating sanctions from the US while at the same time setting a world-leading example in environmental sustainability and international solidarity, it is more vital than ever that socialists in Britain defend and celebrate its revolutionary achievements. Sanctions constitute collective punishment, applied to any country that defies imperialism. They are a weapon of war and demand our resistance.
Viva Cuba! Viva Venezuela! Sanctions Kill! Victory to the struggle for socialism in Latin America!
