The Chicago City Council passed a resolution today calling on the federal government to end the decades-long U.S. blockade of Cuba. The vote was unanimous.
The vote in the City Council follows a two-year grassroots campaign spearheaded by a group of over 200 Chicagoans from across all neighborhoods who have developed ties to Cuba through work in culture, academia and ecumenical relations, and through family ties and other shared interests.
The Resolution urges Congress to pass legislation that ends the 60-year-old US blockade of Cuba, which polls show a majority of Americans oppose. The resolution also calls for President Joe Biden to rescind the intensified measures taken against the island by former President Donald Trump.
Trump’s measures included tightening the blockade, creating additional obstacles to U.S.-Cuba travel and sharply restricting the ability of Cuban-Americans to send remittances to relatives on the island.
With passage of this Resolution, Chicago is the largest city to join 17 other cities across the US who have passed similar resolutions calling on the federal government to reverse the disastrous policies of the Trump administration and to return to the policies of dialogue and improved U.S.-Cuba relations.
The Chicago Committee to Normalize Relations with Cuba, the lead organizers of the effort to pass the Resolution urged the Aldermen to consider the tangible benefits of normalizing relations with Cuba.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ih2sSTLsbNJUwe8WT8g5cLnNNSgpLc3G/view
