“These are holes that are made in the blockade”

HAVANA, Aug. 9th. The Cuban pro-regime activist Carlos Lazo celebrated that the Treasury Department issued a license for Katapulk, the company of Cuban-American Hugo Cancio, to sell trucks, buses, and agricultural and industrial machinery exported from the US in Cuba.

In a direct message on his social networks, the director of the NGO Puentes de amor, which organizes caravans in favor of the Havana regime, lobbying against the embargo in Washington and bringing donations of food and basic necessities from the US to the island Among other activities, he assured that this kind of business is “hollow that is made of the blockade.”

Lazo, who did not specify how the machinery and equipment that Cancio will theoretically sell to non-state forms of production will benefit humble Cubans, in line with the Joe Biden Administration’s policy of empowering civil society, dedicated more than two hours of its transmission to the topic.

“Urgent! A hole in the blockade! A victory! For the first time in 60 years, the United States authorizes the sale of motorcycles, buses, trucks, construction and agricultural equipment to Cuba!”, he indicated.

Among other comments, Lazo assured that “from the United States to Cuba we must send teams for its development and not hate.”

“Hopefully there will be more news like this. More will come, but you have to keep pressing and raising your voice to put an end to the blockade and let Cuba live,” he emphasized.

“Those are positive steps that are going in the right direction,” said the Seattle-based teacher.

“Those who want there to be economic activity, that Cubans can carry out their life projects in their country, those who want Cuba removed from the list of State sponsors of terrorism, are the ones who love and build,” he said, reiterating the exclusive discourse of the island’s regime, which describes as “haters” those who criticize its violations of human rights.

Lazo called on Biden to “hurry up and not wait any longer because there are many who are disappointed with the timorous policy of this Administration, which promised a change towards Cuba.” This, despite the fact that the US president has reversed several of the distancing measures adopted by the Donald Trump Administration.

The president of Puentes de amor, who advocates from the US for closer ties with Havana and demands an end to Washington’s embargo against the Cuban regime, frequently visits Havana and meets with Miguel Díaz-Canel and other high-ranking officials of the regime. However, he publicly offers himself as a Cuban emigrant concerned for his people.

The links between Lazo and Hugo Cancio are known. In 2021 it was made public that his NGO, which both the activist and the official Cuban press present as a “solidarity initiative”, is registered as a non-profit entity in the Washington State business directory, and that among its directors are former employees of the businessman who owns Katapulk.

The official Cuban press religiously reviews Lazo’s actions in favor of Havana in the US as part of supposed solidarity initiatives of emigrants who are not critical of the Cuban authorities and refers to him as a “Cuban-American teacher.” None of the reports have mentioned the type of organization he leads.

For his part, Cancio has also led campaigns against Washington’s embargo against Havana, for which he founded Cambio Cubano during the George W. Bush Presidency, and in 2013, together with 60 Cuban-Americans, signed an open letter addressed to Barack Obama to ask him to remove Cuba from the list of State sponsors of terrorism.