Predictably, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has echoed the sentiments expressed by the Black Lives Matter Global organization and other high-profile far-leftists when it comes to the protests occurring in Cuba. Like her comrades, she gave a milquetoast criticism of the communist regime which has oppressed its people for over 60 years, and reserved most of her ire for the United States, claiming that it is the primary cause for the plight of the Cuban citizenry.
In a written statement posted on Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez wrote:
We are seeing Cubans rise up and protest for their rights like never before. We stand in solidarity with them, and we condemn the anti-democratic actions led by President Diaz-Canel. The suppression of the media, speech and protest are all gross violations of civil rights.
Unlike President Joe Biden, who finally called out the communist ideology that led to the substandard conditions in which many Cubans live, Ocasio-Cortez decided to dodge any mention of the political philosophy. She continued:
We also must name the U.S. contribution to Cuban suffering: our sixty-year-old embargo. Last month, once again, the U.N. voted overwhelmingly to call on the United States to lift its embargo on Cuba. The embargo is absurdly cruel and, like too many other U.S. policies targeting Latin Americans, the cruelty is the point.
The lawmaker also said she “outright” rejects the Biden administration’s “defense of the embargo.”
We stand in solidarity with the Cuban people and condemn the suppression of the media, speech and protest.
We also call for an end to the U.S. embargo and additional Trump-era restrictions that are profoundly contributing to the suffering of Cubans. pic.twitter.com/Fw6Quv5TAN
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) July 16, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez, like several others on the left, seems to be deflecting from the evils inflicted by the communist Cuba government by focusing more on the decades-old embargo that the U.S. has maintained against the regime. Their claim is that this refusal to engage in trade relations with Havana is the primary contributor to the poverty, hunger, and substandard living conditions in which most Cubans live. This is a lie that is easily debunked when one considers the amount of aid sent to the country by the U.S. government and remittances sent by Cuban Americans to family members.
However, a closer look at the situation shows that Ocasio-Cortez, along with the rest of her cohorts, is raging hypocrites on this matter. To understand how disingenuous these people are, one only has to understand the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement.
The BDS movement is an anti-Israel initiative designed to punish the Jewish State ostensibly for its treatment of the Palestinians. According to its website, BDS “is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.”
The movement, which began in the mid-2000s, calls for “international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era.”
To put it another way, this movement seeks to persuade nations to impose economic embargos on Israel to force the nation to give the Palestinians what they want.
So why is this important? It is worth mentioning because Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, like other members of the “Squad,” is a staunch supporter of the BDS movement. She joined Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who has a history of making anti-Semitic remarks, in sponsoring a bill defending boycotts similar to that which the BDS movement embraces.
According to Forward.com:
“The resolution does not specifically mention Israel, but Omar told Al-Monitor before filing the resolution that the document was an ‘opportunity for us to explain why it is we support a nonviolent movement, which is the BDS movement.’”
Even further, Ocasio Cortez was also one of 17 members of the House to vote against a resolution condemning the BDS movement. She claimed her vote “comes down to protecting free speech” and that she was concerned with “being overly punitive on nonviolent forms of protest.”
In a nutshell, Ocasio-Cortez is criticizing an embargo on a brutal regime that does not allow dissent and controls its population with an iron fist while allying with a movement calling for an embargo on Israel for defending itself against Palestinian terrorists. Of course, this isn’t to say that Israel has handled every situation perfectly; it has certainly engaged in conduct that it shouldn’t have.
But to compare the actions of the Jewish state to that of the Cuban regime and also South Africa during apartheid is asinine. The truth is that Ocasio-Cortez and her ilk are more than supportive of embargos as long as they are directed against countries they don’t like.
