 Major efforts have been underway in Cuba to fight the largest fire in its history. The fire started in the Cuban province of Matanzas on August 5th after the country's main oil facility was struck by lightning. So far, more than 100 people have been injured and one firefighter has died while 17 are missing. As per latest reports, the fire has died down, but 4 out of 8 large fuel tanks have been destroyed already. We will keep the situation as it is now, with the current situation in Cuba. The fire started in Línea, in the forest of Alcavresión, which was destroyed by a friend of mine, who was a friend of mine from Mexico. He was already killed by a friend of mine, who was killed by a friend of mine, who was killed by a friend of mine from Alcavres. and we want to defend all the areas that were permitted to be prepared for the mission. Declaring that Cuba is Matanzas, President Miguel Díaz Canel and his government have been directly involved in addressing the crisis in the port city. Over 4,000 people living in the vicinity of Matanzas Industrial Area have been evacuated. The environmental ministry has confirmed that the fire has caused the emission of polluting substances. However, they have managed to protect the population from danger. Containment operations have been going on in Matanzas with critical on-the-ground assistance and aid provided by Mexico and Venezuela. Venezuela sent a team of specialized firefighters experienced in highly complex operations and technical experts from the state-owned oil company Pedevesa. The Venezuelan government also dispatched 20 tons of supplies including foam and chemical powders to be used to extinguish the fire. Mexico has sent 60 members of the military and 16 technicians and specialists from the state-owned petroleum company Pemex. Cuba has also continued to receive messages of solidarity from countries including Bolivia, Nicaragua, Chile, Argentina, China, Guyana, Barbados, Iran, Russia and the Saharawe Arab Democratic Republic. Guyana has also provided aid consisting of packages of gloves, syringes and other medical supplies. However, amidst all of this, one country has stood apart, the United States. Even though the US government offered technical support for the devastating fire, there is no mention of sending specific material aid to Cuba. It has also made no indication that it would lift the devastating blockade in sanctions it imposed on Cuba nor that it would take Cuba off its state sponsors of terrorism list. These policies make providing humanitarian aid to Cuba extremely difficult for outsiders. Due to Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, it is illegal for US banks to process transactions from Cuba. In addition, most payment platforms that are widely used in the United States will not process transactions even loosely related to Cuba due to a fear of the US government's response. To counter this, a group of Cuba solidarity activists in the United States have launched a campaign entitled, Sanctions Fuel the Fire on August 9th. The campaign has three central demands. Lift the 243 sanctions Trump enacted during his administration against Cuba, remove Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list and send material aid to the island. Over a year now, the People's Forum along with many different organizations like the Answer Coalition, Code Pink, Puentes AMOR and many others and with the International People's Assembly, we've been talking about Cuba's right to live. We've been calling for the US government to lift the 243 sanctions that actually come from the Trump administration, but that Biden has not just continued but in many ways justified into existence in this point, asking that they remove, in order for Cuba to deal with the multiple challenges that it's dealing with, it's inhumane for Cuba in the middle of a pandemic. In light of the natural disasters it has faced, in light of this fire, how can it actively combat, but how can it actively recover or fully recover from these situations when it has the full boot of the US blockade and Trump sanctions on its neck? If the US were a good neighbor, if the US had any sense of humanity, it would lift these sanctions immediately in order to allow Cuba to confront the fires. That's why our campaign has been saying in many ways that these sanctions are fueling the fire. The fact that Cuba can't access many banks to transfer donations to Cuba at this moment. The fact that organizations in the US are being limited from being able to send aid because of lack of licenses is a sign that this policy has to go. It's cruel and it's humane and doesn't belong in our time, in our century.