Massive caravan riders across Cuba protest against U.S. embargo

HAVANA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- With massive car and bicycle caravans across the country, and a regatta along the capital of Havana's seaside Malecon, Cubans demanded on Sunday the lifting of a six-decade-old U.S. embargo against the island, known as blockade among locals.

In Santa Clara, located some 270 km east of Havana, hundreds of masked drivers, cyclists and bikers also gathered to make their way through the city.

"It is a clear demonstration the Cuban people support the socialist revolution and that the U.S. blockade against the country must end," Santa Clara resident Diamela Lopez told Xinhua.

"The U.S. administration has sanctioned many foreign companies for trading with Cuba," he added.

Chanting patriotic slogans, blaring horns, and holding national flags, the participants finally reached the Che Guevara Mausoleum in the city.

Leonardo Fernandez, a 25-year-old medical student from Santa Clara, said that the U.S. embargo continues to harm the living standards of the Cuban people.

"The blockade has hindered Cuba's access to medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic," he told Xinhua. "The U.S. unilateral policy towards the island affects our health system, our public transport network, and the society as a whole."

Meanwhile, hundreds of people also participated in car and bicycle caravans against the embargo in Cuban cities, including Las Tunas, Baracoa, and Nueva Gerona.

In addition, some 40 yachts took part in an international regatta that navigated along Havana's coastline while locals flooded social media with pictures taken from balconies and rooftops.

It is part of a world initiative in solidarity with the Cuban people, which has taken place over the weekend in more than 50 countries, according to organizers.

Earlier this week, Diosvany Acosta, first secretary of Cuba's Young Communist League, said that all voices and energies must be made to stand up against the U.S. embargo.

"The consequences of the U.S. blockade affect all of us, and before such a crime we must not remain in silence," he said on social media.

The Cuban government announced that it would present its annual draft resolution against the embargo before the UN General Assembly on June 23, which was postponed last year in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

First imposed in 1962, the embargo was intensified by former U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which banned U.S. flights to Cuban cities except for Havana, barred U.S. cruise ships and yachts from visiting the Caribbean nation, and limited remittances that Cuban-Americans sent to their families on the island.