(Transcript – Presidency of the Republic)

(Exclamations of: “Diaz-Canel, for sure, give it to the Yankees!” And “Thank you, Cuba, guarantor of peace!”)

Thanks to all of you.

I think we all agree that there is no better speech than that of the poets. (Laughter), but, well, we have to conduct the closing.

Dear compañero Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee;

Compañero, brother, President Nicolás Maduro Moros of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela;

Dear revolutionary leaders from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean;

Brothers and sisters, friends, colleagues:

A special greeting to all who resist and have come to the Cuban capital, which has always been, and will be, a meeting point for those who defend peace and solidarity among peoples.

With the support, enthusiasm, solidarity that you express, feel, and promise, and with Raúl and Maduro, we are giving it to the Yankees. (Applause)

We have just returned from a long, intense journey through European countries, including a visit to Azerbaijan to attend the 18th Non-Aligned Movement Summit.

The Non-Aligned Movement, which was weakened at the end of the Cold War, has retaken the spirit of Bandung, the group’s founding statement. These countries are mobilized by the dramatic course of events and the crisis of multilateralism that today is putting the United Nations system in danger.

There, Cuba strongly condemned this crisis that threatens everyone, but especially the less developed.

We denounced those responsible for this situation and stated: “More lies than ever before are being told, with greater disdain and a more terrible cost to the vast majority of humanity, in the interest of a minority that has taken its luxuries to mind-boggling excesses.

“Well into the 21st century, threats and aggressions of varying degrees are launched against all sovereign governments that refuse to serve the hegemonic power as sites for military bases, hand over resources, or yield to their mandates.”

But we were not the only ones to identify the culprit by name. Several leaders expressed alarm given the return of U.S. hegemonism that threatens and takes brutal action against governments that it considers enemies, because they do not share their policies, and fiercely attacks socialism as if it were an unacceptable social system.

On a global level, there is a great concern given setbacks in important areas such as peace, self-determination, and the sovereignty of nations, the environment, a response to climate change, human rights, social justice, and the search for economic equity.

In our geographical area, in particular, concern is no less widespread. Latin America and the Caribbean suffer the return of the Monroe Doctrine and the worst practices of McCarthyism. The uncontrolled series of interventionist actions that the current U.S. administration has unleashed, since coming to power, is based on these two imperialist postulates.

The President of the United States and his court of hawks attack the Cuban Revolution, the Bolivarian Revolution, the Sandinista Revolution, the Sao Paulo Forum, the political leadership of the Brazilian, Bolivian, Argentine left, and social, popular, progressive movements throughout the region, which they consider their backyard.

The inter-American system has reactivated mechanisms of such odious memory for the region as the Reciprocal Assistance Treaty (TIAR) and the demoralized OAS, which has been consolidated as an instrument of political pressure for the United States and oligarchies that defend neoliberalism.

How can I not laugh at the OAS, if it is such an ugly, ugly thing that makes you laugh (Applause) that is how our parents sang in the years when the group expelled Cuba for not submitting to Washington’s demands. What do we sing to it now, when it could not force Venezuela to its knees, and wants to get rid of a thorn, inspecting Bolivia?

They ran over there, worried about election results in a Latin American nation with the greatest growth and improvement in the last decade, after having been the poorest and most backward in the Southern Cone for centuries.

Yes, the OAS is a very ugly thing. And very cynical. Their “worries” do not touch the depths of anger felt by the people rising up against neoliberalism, faced with pellet guns, gases, and lead bullets for protesting peacefully.

Compañeros:

It is very important to note the media component of this war we are being subjected to. At the forefront of imperial policies, the tanks of the cultural and symbolic offensive are always advancing, intent upon legitimizing the injustices of the capitalist system, discrediting the left’s political alternatives, and destroying the cultural identity of our nations, as a previous step to their destabilization plans.

Just recently, in Azerbaijan, the falsehoods that Washington has sought to impose as pretexts against the legitimate Venezuelan government were debunked.

When Nicolás Maduro Moros, in his capacity as the previous president pro tempore of the Movement, led the first part of the assembly and then presented the responsibility to Azerbaijan, practically all the delegations participating – some 120 at different levels of representation – recognized and congratulated the performance of the Bolivarian Republic at the head of the Non-Aligned Movement. (Applause)

Where was the supposed rejection of Venezuela by the international community? Why was there not a single expression of condemnation or criticism of the Bolivarian government by the governments that represent the absolute majority of the United Nations? Nonetheless, as part of the war of symbols, the media lynching launched against Maduro, the media have reported ad nauseum, in half the planet, that he has no international support.

Internally, they don’t treat any better political leaders who seriously believe a change within the United States is necessary. The discourse is aggressive and dismissive of all those who do not share the approach of the President, who announces decisions that affect millions on Twitter and behaves abhorrently everywhere.

He talks about socialism without the slightest idea of ​​what it means. And orders the end of any process or political program that intends to overcome prevailing injustice, as if he held the course of history in his hands.

He is not the first emperor to try this. And surely he will not be the last to fail. Because history can only be changed by peoples. (Applause)

Fidel said many times that the lie was the main adversary to defeat in politics and that telling the truth is the first duty of every revolutionary. This is one of our fundamental missions as practitioners of revolutionary politics. The first enemy to cut down is the lie and even more so, the imperialist lie. (Applause)

Cuba has been held under siege by lies and for years separated from its natural environment. With lies they have invaded nations, torn apart peoples, set back entire regions on their path to development.

With lies they attacked Iraq and Libya and plunged them into instability. With lies they have turned Syria into a weapons-testing facility and a theater for terrorist operations, which they have financed under the false banners of democracy and freedom.

With colossal, ridiculous lies they accuse Cuba, Venezuela, and the Sao Paulo Forum of promoting popular uprisings in all corners of the planet, while covering their eyes, ears, and mouths, to not see, not hear, not recognize what the people in the streets are shouting: neoliberalism is an economic failure and a social disaster. (Applause)

This technique is used perversely in the desperate attempt to overthrow the Bolivarian government of Venezuela and at the same time hurt Cuba. Although these attacks began in the years of brilliant, successful integration in which Chávez and Fidel created ALBA, in recent months the United States has launched a strong campaign against any type of relationship between our two countries.

We are accused of sustaining the Bolivarian Revolution, in an irrational version of the satellite theory that was wielded against the former Soviet Union, in its time. They resort to this pretext to justify the blockade.

Cuban medical cooperation is a target of continuous attack, intent upon discrediting a noble, solidary effort that the whole world recognizes and that, along with the Latin American School of Medicine and the Henry Reeve Brigade, to respond to natural disasters, constitute the most genuine and successful expressions of cooperation between developing countries. (Applause)

These three projects, works of unquestionable human value, emerged from Fidel’s ideas to honor international solidarity.

There are already more than 400,000 health professionals in Cuba who have provided services in 164 countries. At this moment, more than 29,000 are serving vulnerable populations in 65 nations.

Nothing says so much about the humanist essence of the Cuban Revolution as this cooperation. That is why the effort to disparage and destroy it is not surprising. Solidarity is alien to capitalism.

It was against them and in spite of them, that colonialism and apartheid were defeated in Africa, where the best children of the Cuban Revolution shared sacrifices and their own blood with fighters in Angola, Namibia, and other nations. We brought home from those lands, where empires always traveled to plunder, only our dead (Applause) and the conviction that we had fulfilled “the most sacred of our duties: fighting imperialism wherever it may be,” as Che Guevara taught us.

Defense, education, health, science … Cuban cooperation, the product of solidarity as a principle, was, is, and will be present in any area of ​​noble human activity, where we can contribute. Offering solidarity is re-paying our own debt to humanity. (Applause)

For showing solidarity, and being consistent with our history of struggle and sacrifice, for being a sister and companion of peoples who resist, Cuba is condemned and sanctioned beyond limit.

Our country today suffers a criminal tightening of the blockade, the reinforcement of an immoral, illegal policy that for more than 30 years the United Nations General Assembly has condemned virtually unanimously, without the United States reacting to the worldwide demand.

This is more evidence of disrespect for the norms of international law, which has worsened, especially with an illegal law such as the Helms Burton, which persecutes and sanctions third countries, internationalizing the blockade.

Given that these plots are not enough to defeat a people who have been fighting for independence for 151 years and will never give up, the empire now resorts to harassment, persecution, and sanctions on countries, companies, and ships that participate in transporting fuel to Cuba.

How can someone decree such an action, and then declare that the intention is to isolate the Cuban government and help its people?

Since the time of the famous Mallory Memorandum, Cuba has understood very well, through the words of its very creators, the first and ultimate goal of the blockade.

The U.S. functionary (Lester Mallory) stated: “Most Cubans support Castro…There is no effective political opposition … The only possible way to make the government lose domestic support is by provoking disappointment and discouragement through economic dissatisfaction and hardships …Every possible means should be immediately used to weaken the economic life … denying Cuba funds and supplies to reduce nominal and real salaries with the objective of provoking hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the government.” What maliciousness!

We will never tire of reiterating this, so no one is deceived. The United States policy toward Cuba was made very explicit in that document, dated April 6, 1960.

But before the Mallory Memorandum there are other documents and policies that reveal the historical character of imperial designs regarding Cuba and the rest of Our America. From the theory of “ripe fruit” to the Monroe Doctrine, now reactivated.

Martí saw it more clearly than others and left a warning in his political testament, his unfinished letter of May 18, 1895, in which he reveals the ultimate goal of his struggle to change the island’s fate.

“… I am in danger every day of giving my life for my country and my duty – as I understand it and I have the courage to do so – to prevent in time – with the independence of Cuba – that the United States spreads across the West Indies and falls, with greater force, upon the lands of our America. All I have done thus far, and will do, is for this…”

Through sacrifice, resistance, and thanks to solidarity, our people have maintained their Revolution over all these years. The strength of the process cannot be explained without this popular will. Nor would this will exist without the high level of participation of the people in their destiny.

Thus, it must be stated clearly, the only thing in the aforementioned Mallory document that has not been accomplished is the overthrow of the Cuban government. The punishment imagined by the empire, in the epitome of cruelty, is being applied right now, as if it were a law.

As for solidarity, we have a great deal for which to thank you all, in articulating material support for us and offering the tenderness of your peoples.

And we said today, when Cuba needs the redoubling and multiplication of support for its cause, which is the cause of sovereignty and freedom for the peoples of Our America and the world:

“Truth and tenderness are not useless,” as Martí said. And although sometimes it may appear that things cannot be changed, that policies cannot be defeated, or empires shaken, the history of humanity and the history of the Cuban Revolution are here to prove that it can be done. (Applause)

Cuba is the best demonstration of how much the solidarity of peoples can do. When imperialism pushed us away from Our America, expelling us – for our honor and good fortune – from the discredited OAS, when we were alone in the middle of the hemisphere, upholding the revolutionary banner of a continent in tenacious rebellion, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples was founded here. (Applause)

It was Fidel’s idea. We were not interested in relationship with governments submissive to the empire, in their ministry of colonies. We were interested and are interested, first of all, in the friendship of the peoples. (Applause)

The friendship of the peoples of America and the world pushed governments. Today Cuba has diplomatic relations with more than 160 countries, and our solidarity has also reached more than half of them.

Many of the political and social leaders gathered here will remember the hemispheric meetings of struggle against the FTAA, promoted by the Comandante en jefe, because they participated in them.

Thus was born the Continental Campaign against the FTAA, which mobilized millions and raised awareness about the need to overcome secondary differences to achieve the unity of all forces and confront that imperialist re-colonization project. And what happened? We defeated it. (Applause)

The defeat of the FTAA, like the historical defense of the Cuban Revolution, are examples of successful struggles that leave us with a great lesson: we cannot succeed split or divided. Working on the basis of all that unites us, we can build common projects to confront imperialist aggression and its oligarchic allies.

Against the blockade we will continue fighting in all arenas. Here, first of all, working, creating, and resisting without giving up on development.

Cuba’s most valuable resource is its people: imaginative, cheerful, enterprising, brave, and creative.

A people who are, first and foremost, the architects of the revolutionary project, under the most adverse conditions.

If we have together chosen the path of socialism, even after the empire imposed the ridiculous theory of the end of history, it is because only with socialism can we achieve social justice and equal rights for all.

Unity around this anti-imperialist and emanicipatory, socialist and solidarity project is the consequence of centuries of struggle for a uniting ideal and confirmation that we owe everything to unity. That’s why they insist on breaking it. That is why millions are allocated for political subversion and the financing of cultural re-colonization projects.

They want to sell us, wrapped in sophisticated silk and tinsel paper, a world that is exploding in a thousand pieces a few steps from our borders, in Our America, where resources have been immorally transferred to transnationals in the era of neoliberalism, the consequences of which we now face.

The formula for its implementation includes convincing the masses that it is the fastest and most effective way to reach prosperity. The blind but omnipotent market, they say, will ensure that those below enjoy the benefits that will spontaneously fall from the horns of plenty in the hands of the elites. What a cruel mockery!

This is how grating inequality was produced, making possible that 1% of society owns more than the remaining 99%.

The extremely powerful advertising and entertainment industry, which moves almost as much money as the weapons or drug businesses, has constructed the myth of access for all to a world of dreams, that one day become nightmares and explode in popular anger.

Then the political vacuum appears. Many parties, competing with marketing techniques for the limited power that the market grants them to manage the leftovers of plunder, reveal the fallacy of democracy that they attempt to impose as a model of freedom. The majority takes government office without real programs of economic and social transformation.

And when movements arise to change the status quo, campaigns to discredit, soft coups, politically motivated court harassment are launched.

All Latin American leaders of the last two decades, who, to some degree, overcame the worst effects of neoliberalism through social and inclusive policies, have been or are being subjected to persecution, accusations, and even unjust imprisonment, such as the undisputed leader of Brazil Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva suffered 19 months ago. Freedom for Lula! We demand from this platform (Applause and exclamations of: “Free Lula!”) Freedom for Lula, now! (Applause)

We live in the communications era. Let us build together, emancipatory platforms to oppose the colonizers with our greatest efforts and energy in pursuit of a better, possible world.

The era of confusion has passed. Our people have paid dearly for the price of economic and political experiments that have only brought wellbeing to elites, in the style of the thug in command of the empire, who believes that the world can be bought and sold on the stock market.

Recent victories of the left in Bolivia and Argentina, the heroic resistance of Venezuela and Cuba to total economic siege, the anti-colonial protests that have put a brake on market formulas show that we cannot be demobilized again.

The left must learn and finally assume the hard lessons of these years of struggle in which splits and lack of unity weakened our forces, and the right unleashed a re-conquest to destroy what had been accomplished.

I note the significant representation of young people in this auditorium and in the streets of Our America, where protest against the abuses of neoliberalism have occurred.

Seeing youth rebelling and fighting for their rights, and for a better fate for their countries, is encouraging and challenging at the same time. (Applause) Because, as Fidel taught us, the struggle of this era is expressed above all in the field of ideas.

We will always defend Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, proclaimed in Havana in 2014 during the hopeful days of a complete Celac, (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) in decline today.

The mobilizations and peaceful protests with which our peoples are demanding their rights are exemplary. And these rights are being won.

Friends, brothers, compañeros, compañeras:

In your beautiful Declaration of Solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, you have written: “The peoples of the world need the example of Cuba”, and recalled Marti’s statement that maintains its relevance: “Whoever rises today with Cuba rises for all time.” Thanks for saying it and doing it! (Applause and exclamations of: “Cuba yes, blockade no!”)

I express profound gratitude to all those who have come, from near or far, assuming their expenses, to respond to a convocation you yourselves made, to condemn the blockade and articulate efforts that contribute to its definitive defeat.

I especially thank Latin American leaders who have suffered and suffer persecution and punishment for attempting to exchange a history of abuse for the history of our peoples’ liberation.

Today we want to reiterate our strongest support and solidarity with the legitimate president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, (Applause), and the civic-military union of his people, and with Commandante Daniel Ortega Saavedra and the Sandinista National Liberation Front of Nicaragua, also under attack (Applause and exclamations of: Long live Sandino!)

The persistent destabilization attempts that their governments face, are beginning to spread, and we see this today in right-wing efforts to steal the victory of Evo Morales in Bolivia, promoting violence and ignoring the results, in what clearly appears to be the preparation of a coup, which must be denounced (Applause and exclamations of: “They will not pass!)

Thus, we reiterate here our congratulations to Evo for his convincing electoral victory, and to Alberto and Cristina Fernández, who have raised new hope in Argentina. (Applause)

Our solidarity, effective and invariable, with all just causes that are being waged in the region and in the world: with the independence of Puerto Rico (Applause and exclamations of: “Independence for Puerto Rico!”), whose people have managed to keep alive their identity, flag, and hopes for independence, for more than a hundred years of colonialism, an extraordinary symbol of the powerful cultural resistance of Latin America and the Caribbean. Long live free Puerto Rico! (Applause and exclamations of: “Viva!”)

We also support Argentina’s historical demand to recover sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands. (Applause)

We condemn the imperialist intervention against Syria, and with you demand respect for their sovereignty and territorial integrity. (Applause)

We also reaffirm solidarity with the struggles of the Palestinian and Saharawi peoples for the right to self-determination (Applause); with the process of rapprochement and inter-Korean dialogue and for the end of sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; and with the peace process in Colombia. (Applause)

No just cause is alien to us, and as a nation that owes part of its existence to solidarity, we will never renounce its practice, as a principle. (Applause)

Brothers Sisters:

You have called today for unity among political forces and the social and popular movements of the left, to continue to raise consciousness, generate ideas, and organize for the struggle.

We see this struggle in the battle for the truth. We must defeat the lies on which wars of all kinds against our peoples are launched: informing, persuading, mobilizing, marching with the poor of the earth, who have grown tired of lies and abuse. Proposing and creating programs that respond to the most pressing demands of workers, students, farmers, intellectuals, and artists.

The approved Action Plan confirms that progressive sectors are aware of the urgent need for unity, if we really want to build together an anti-imperialist, emancipatory project, committed to genuine and long delayed integration.

On behalf of Cuba, we would like to reaffirm that the new generation of Cuban leaders, trained and educated by the historical generation of Fidel and Raúl, are revolutionaries, socialists, faithful to Fidel and Martí (Applause), and that we will not yield a millimeter in our positions in favor of independence, sovereignty, and social justice. And joined with the peoples who struggle and resist, we will always uphold solidarity as a fundamental principle, to which we owe so much.

This is why we make our own the words of Fidel, when, more than 50 years ago, referring to the early solidarity that the Revolution found with its cause, he said: “The world has shown solidarity with Cuba and that is why Cuba feels more and more solidarity every day with all the peoples of the world.”

In memory of Fidel and Chávez, two of the greats of Our America, whom we were fortunate to meet, listen to, and follow in the most altruistic practice of solidarity, we look to their work as a guide for the new, challenging times that await us.

I believe we all feel that great avenues are opening up, where free men now walk to build a better society. (Applause and exclamations)

A better world is possible, and urgently necessary! Let us fight for it!

Ever onward to victory!

- The more than 1,200 participants from around the world approved a final declaration calling for an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba, and affirming the commitment to carry out a variety of activities in their countries to denounce increased hostility and sanctions by the imperialist power on both Cuba and Venezuela.

- President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez addressed the closing session, and began his remarks stating, “A special greeting to all who resist and have come to the Cuban capital, which has always been, and will be, a meeting point for those who defend peace and solidarity among peoples.”

- He reiterated, “The new generation of Cuban leaders, trained and educated by the historical generation of Fidel and Raúl, are revolutionaries, socialists, faithful to Fidel and MartÍ (Applause), and that we will not yield a millimeter in our positions in favor of independence, sovereignty and social justice. And as a link with the peoples who struggle and resist, we will always uphold solidarity as a fundamental principle, to which we owe so much.”

(Granma)

Foreign Ministers of the Group of 77 plus China in their periodic Ministerial Declaration once again denounced the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

• October 15, 2018

Sandinista deputies in the National Assembly and the Central American Parliament issued a statement condemning the blockade.

• November 1, 2018

The United Nations General Assembly, for the 27th time, approved the resolution entitled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba,” with 189 member states in favor.

• November 8, 2018

The National Parliament of South Africa, led by its president Baleka Mbete, passed a motion condemning the blockade of Cuba.

• February 11, 2019

Within the framework of the 32nd Session of the African Union Assembly, a resolution was approved calling for an end to the inhuman policy.

• March 29, 2019

At the VIII Summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), held in Nicaragua, the Declaration of Managua was approved, in which the region’s opposition to unilateral coercive measures was reiterated.

(Granma)

OVERVIEW

- Losses April 2018-March 2019: 4,343,600,000 dollars

- Damages accumulated over six decades of this policy, at current prices:

138,843,400, 000 dollars

- Total quantifiable harm caused by the blockade has reached more than:

922,630,000,000 dollars (depreciated as compared to the price of gold)

- Damages caused by exclusion from to U.S. market: 163,108 659

- Damages caused by use of intermediaries in purchases and higher prices in distant markets: 173,210,916

Damages due to increased costs for shipping & insurance: 72,160,602

Potential export income lost: 2,343,135,842

Higher financing costs due to national risk rating: 47,290,204

Prohibitions on use of the U.S. dollar: 85,139,436

Other: 12,535,892

Total: 2,896,581,555

HEALTHThe damage caused by sanctions on Cuba in the field of health is unquestionable. This hostile policy obstructs the acquisition of technology, raw materials, reagents, diagnostic tools, equipment and spare parts, as well as medicines for the treatment of serious diseases like cancer- Between April 2018 and March 2019, damages in this sector amounted to $104,148,178, a figure that far exceeds last year’s estimate of $6,123,498.- Relatives of patient JCHC, with medical history number 68100309926 at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Clinical-Surgical Hospital, who died on June 15, 2018 due to spongiform cardiomyopathy with terminal heart failure, can never forget that if circulatory support had been available from an Impella device, produced by the U.S. company Abiomed, the life of JCHC could have been saved.- The import-export company Medicuba S.A. made requests to 57 U.S. providers to acquire supplies necessary for health. To date, 50 of these have not responded.- Several U.S. companies were contacted for the purchase of novel cancer drugs. Thus far none has responded.- The U.S. corporation Bruker was unsuccessfully contacted for the purchase of spectrophotometers, devices used in laboratories for the analysis of substances and microorganisms.

BIOPHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY-

The Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) reports revenues not received from potential exports to the U.S. of Heberprot-p, the only medication of its kind for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. Projecting that if only 5% of U.S. patients with this condition used Heberprot-p annually, income from its export would have reached a value of $103 million in 2018.- The Import-Export Company Farmacuba experienced difficulties in acquiring raw materials for the production of medicines.- The Oriente Pharmaceutical Laboratory Company, affiliated with BioCubaFarma, reported shortages of Vitamin A for its Nutriforte multivitamin, as a result of the blockade, thus limiting production by 78,694,200 tablets.- The delivery of printed aluminum foil for Nicotinamide in the month of March 2019 was affected, and it is possible that production of Dipirona and Alprazolam will be limited in September and October for this reason.

TRANSPORTATION-

Total damages in this arena during the analyzed period exceeded 170 million dollars, an increase of more than 69 million with respect to the previous report.- The Caterpillar supplier in the Netherlands prohibited the Dutch company Damen – main supplier of Caterpillar and Cummings spare parts for the Damex shipyards in Santiago de Cuba – from selling its products to Cuba, necessary for the repair and maintenance of pilot boats and tugs.- Cubana de Aviación is unable to use the services of the company ATCO, which is responsible for publishing the air fares of more than 500 airlines.- The Spanish airline Air Europa (UX) refrained from specifying the “Shared Code Agreement” and fulfilling its commitment to Cubana Airlines.

INDUSTRY

- The blockade’s impact on Cuban industry caused losses of 49 million dollars, which could have been used to acquire necessary raw materials.- The construction sector continues to face serious difficulties in acquiring more efficient, lightweight technologies that require less energy and materials.- The chemical industry state enterprise group, GEIQ, was unable to acquire spare parts or replace machinery.Communications, Information Technology & Telecommunications- The economic damages caused to the communications system are estimated at more than 55 million dollars. Cuba’s telecommunications company Etecsa continues to feel the greatest impact.- The blockade policy limits the Cuban people’s access to content available on the Internet.- Cuba is denied access to official information from top-of-the-line technology sites, making professional development and distance training difficult.- The blockade obstructs access to high-performance brands and equipment from leaders in the telecommunications industry.

ENERGY AND MINES-

Damages in this area amount to 78,336,424 dollars, an increase of more than 18 million over the last period analyzed.- Cuba’s national electrical company continues to face very limited access to spare parts for Bazan engines, manufactured by the Spanish company Navantia.- The British Compair Consortium, upon becoming part of a U.S. group, cut all relations with projects using its technology in Cuba for the centralized management of compressed air.- In September and November of 2018, two contracts were signed with General Electric International for the additional supplies of turbines at the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant and for modernization of the Pico Santa Martha Power Plant. However, on February 5, 2019, a notification was received from the U.S. Centennial Bank, stating that, given the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, financing for these two contracts would not be granted.

FOREIGN TRADE-

Total damages caused by the U.S. blockade in the area of foreign trade were valued at 2,896,581,555 dollars, given an increase in incidents that hinder the conducting of international commercial activity.- The greatest effect was evident in lost income from exports of goods and services, reaching 2,343,135,842 dollars. The decreased number of U.S. travelers visiting the island during this period had a significant impact.- Damages caused by the geographical relocation of commerce are estimated at over 1.020 billion dollars, which represents a growth of 18% with respect to the previous period.- The effects of Cuba’s inability to access the U.S. market were valued at 163,108,659 dollars.- The negative impact of being obliged to use commercial intermediaries and the consequent increase in prices was estimated at 173,210,916 dollars, reflecting an increase of 189% as compared to the last period analyzed.

(Granma)

Local authorities presented an overview of the main organizational steps taken in key areas, including transportation, food production and distribution, community hygiene, water supply, education, health care, and electrical service.

Alternatives are being implemented to address food distribution and milk collection; increased fish catches in the Zaza reservoir, currently with a very low water level; activation of firewood ovens; the readjustment of service provider schedules; and guarantees for prioritized health care services.The meeting was attended by provincial political and governmental cadres, including Deivy Pérez Martín, first secretary of the Party in Sancti Spíritus, and Teresita Romero Rodríguez, president of the Provincial Assembly of People’s Power.This Tuesday, the 24th, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions on ships and shipping companies for the “crime” of transporting Venezuelan oil to Cuba, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13850. “The United States continues to take strong action against the former illegitimate Maduro regime and the malign foreign actors who support it. Maduro’s Cuban benefactors provide a lifeline to the regime and enable its repressive security and intelligence apparatus,” stated Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in a press release.

(Granma)

Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, member of the Communist Party of Cuba Political Bureau and secretary general of the Federation of Cuban workers, described the event as a broad, massive mobilization of the regional and world left to support our Revolution.

“Cuba is again a meeting place for those who defend peace, solidarity among peoples, justice, and democracy based on the true power of the progressive masses,” the Cuban leader stated, emphasizing that the event will propitiate debate and interaction around a program of concrete action to condemn the brutal economic, commercial, financial blockade imposed unilaterally by the U.S. government.

He said it will be an opportunity to build and reinforce unity among these forces, to continue the struggle for systematic change in the face of a capitalist offensive to impose neocolonialism, racism, and other forms of discrimination.

To be considered is the media war launched by imperialism, along with our own creative communicational strategies to provide accurate information.

Five work groups will meet during the event to gather opinions and initiatives to oppose belligerent U.S. foreign policies, that has led to armed conflicts is all parts of the planet. An open tribunal will be held in a Havana neighborhood, and one group will meet at the Latin American School of Medicine to learn about Cuba’s solidarity in the academic training of youth from around the world.

Some 1,000 delegates are expected, from all continents, along with representatives from the Cuban Social Movement Coalition, which includes the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the Federation of Cuban Workers, the National Association of Small Farmers, the Federation of Cuban Women, the Cuban Peace Movement, and the Martin Luther King Center, among others.

(Granma)

These questions and many more were raised during a dialogue with Orisell Richards Martínez, PhD., professor at the Law School of the University of Havana. Knowledgeable beyond her 33 years, she insists on speaking of the engagement of all citizens in this process because that is the right path to an Electoral Law – to any law.

“The new Constitution is impregnated, from its first article on, with this spirit of participation and takes to a new dimension Marti’s maxim ‘with all and for the good of all’,” she says.

- Why is a new Electoral Law needed?

First, the current Constitution establishes in its First Temporary Provision that, within the six months after the approval of the new Constitution, the National Assembly of People’s Power must approve a new Electoral Law, which is a binding mandate, considering the supremacy of the Constitution itself, as established in Article 7.

This temporary provision refers to the election of representatives to the National Assembly of People’s Power, its president, vice-president and secretary; the National Electoral Commission, provincial governors and deputy governors, representatives to the municipal assemblies of the People’s Powers, their presidents and vice-presidents.

Furthermore, the new structure of the state as defined in the Constitution, requires an Electoral Law that establishes the mechanisms for the organization and guarantees of this process.

Likewise, there are positive experiences of previous electoral processes that need to be reflected in the law. Other processes must be overhauled, expanded or simplified, so the final law reflects our reality in the most coherent way possible, without ignoring the complexity of electoral processes.

- Given Cuban electoral history, what do you think should remain unchanged in this law?

The law must maintain, in the first place, what the Constitution establishes in Article 204, where it expresses that all citizens with the legal capacity, have the right to intervene in the direction of the state, either directly or through their elected representatives to organs of the People’s Power and to participate, for that purpose, as provided for by law, in periodic elections, plebiscites, and popular referendums, which shall be by free, equal, direct, secret ballot vote. Each elector has the right to only one vote.

It should also maintain the essence of municipal elections regarding proposal, nomination, and election of delegates by the direct vote of the people. This first stage is essential to democracy, because the municipality is the level closest to the elector. It is a good place to inspire learning and improvement of electoral processes.

Other elements that should remain unchanged, among others, are the principles guiding these processes that have characterized our electoral system, such as the inclusion of grassroots representatives which can reach up to 50% of the deputies in the National Assembly.

- Which processes should the new law expand or simplify?

There are stages in the electoral processes, such as the swearing in ceremony for example, that become too formal sometimes, and since they have been previously valued, they are extended unnecessarily. They should be revisited in the new law.

However; in accordance with constitutional guidelines, which establish information and transparency as basic precepts of the organization and functioning of the state, there are other processes, such as those developed through candidacy committees, for example, that should become more visible.

In this sense, processes such as the pre-selection of candidates should be developed in line with this guideline: On what principles is it based, what are the control mechanisms regulating it, to ensure selection of the best proposals and to inform the people.

Likewise, the Constitution also defines the permanence of electoral structures. Even though there are constitutional principles that clearly establish the organization of this body at all levels, the law should broaden other aspects such as the number of members; how many will be full-time staff members; and what is the content of their work between elections, for example.

It also should guarantee, in line with its mission, the reliability, transparency, speed, publicity, authenticity, and impartiality of the processes of democratic participation, which implies a great responsibility.

The benefits that the permanent character of these structures implies should be emphasized from the standpoint of control and follow-up of processes, professionalization, and the promotion of a culture of engagement.

We should not only focus on electoral participation but also on plebiscites, referendums, popular consultations, as the Constitution establishes in Article 80. Even in immediate procedures such as the Eleventh Temporary Provision, which mandates, in a period of two years, the drafting of a Family Code, its submission to popular consultation and a referendum.

This law will also have the authority to stipulate how the election and revocation of electoral bodies will proceed: it must regulate the number of representatives to the National Assembly, in order to increase its functionality without undermining its ability to represent the people and its efficiency in action. It also should explain, for example, how the relationships between the public, permanent Voter Registry and the National Electoral Council will work.

Moreover, there are some positive practices that should be reflected in this new law, such as the participation of supervisors and collaborators in the electoral process, without overlooking the basic principles for their registration, as well as their training.

- And once the law is passed, what will happen?

We will be witnessing a new scenario for everyone and for the way information is provided to the people in electoral processes. Then a process to elect and create the new state bodies will ensue, which is essential to organize and legitimatize these structures, and to implement the main transformations taking place in the country.

The Constitution’s temporary provisions and its foundational precepts can be taken as a guide for what should be established related to the election of the highest positions in the state and government including governors, deputy governors, and mayors.

- The country’s highest authorities have insisted on the inclusion of universities and the legal sector in the legislative process demanded by the new Constitution, how do you evaluate this relationship in this case?

There are new experiences these days in the field of relations between researchers and decision-makers that are very innovative and this is a fundamental step forward in overhauling the legal system in general. In the field of elections, specifically, there are research results that have been used as references in making some modifications, which is highly significant in the current context.

However, even though the new Electoral Law will reflect the current state of affairs in Cuba and reforms introduced in the structure of the state, we cannot talk, in any way, of a finished product. The transformations that could take place in the future, as part of the ongoing process of democratic consolidation in our society, will also have a legal framework.

INSIDE THE PROPOSED ELECTORAL LAW

The new law has 16 titles, 45 chapters, 32 sections, five final provisions, six transitory ones, with a total of 290 articles.- Proposed is the creation of a National Electoral Council and electoral councils at the provincial and municipal levels, to exercise their functions permanently. – Two periodic elections are recognized: municipal votes for the election of delegates to Municipal Assemblies of People’s Power, their presidents and vice presidents; and national elections for deputies to the National Assembly, its president, vice president, secretary, other members of the Council of State, and the President and Vice President of the Republic. – Proportional representation for the election of deputies to the National Assembly of People’s Power is to be modified, reducing the total number of deputies elected by 131, although maintained is the principle that 50% of deputies are elected delegates to municipal assemblies.- Proposed is the simplification of procedures to verify the validity of elections to Municipal Assemblies and the National Assembly, establishing that this is the responsibility of electoral authorities. – The Council of State will include 21 members, from among whom the leadership will be chosen.- The swearing in of the President of the Republic is to be incorporated within the ceremonial constitution of the incoming National Assembly.

- The proposal establishes that elections for provincial governors and deputy governors be held simultaneously throughout the country, and establishes guidelines for this process.

- Electoral Councils at all levels are to control the preparation and updating of the Voter Registry.- Provisions are incorporated for plebiscites in relation to voting abroad, as established in current law for referendums. – Sentencing guidelines for “electoral crimes” are more severe and it is established that they will eventually be incorporated into the new Penal Code.- Municipal Electoral Councils are expected to participate in processes that take place to revoke the mandate of a delegate, which implies modifications to the relevant current law (No. 89/99) – Salary regulations for members of electoral structures are proposed.- The draft law further develops the principle that the vote is free, equal, direct and secret; grants the constitutional right that each citizen has to elect, be elected, and be listed in the Voter Registry; nominate and be nominated as a candidate for delegate to the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power; as well as participate in electoral processes and file related legal complaints.

(Council of State transcript / GI translation)

Dear Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee;

Compañero Machado;

Comandantes de la Revolución;

President Lazo;

Dear deputies:

It is impossible to take the floor in this extraordinary session of the National Assembly of People’s Power, in which we have focused the debate on economic issues, without making any obligatory and heartfelt reference to the historical significance of the event we experienced just three days ago, in a solemn session of our Parliament.

José Martí, although he did not live the events of April 10, 1869, described them with words that 150 years later still impress. Through him we can better understand the history of that small town where, on that day, the seed of the nation was planted, when its name was inscribed in the memory of the country, to travel, in just one month, from this high point to ashes.

Twenty-three years had passed when he published in the newspaper Patria the following, I’ll quote only excerpts: “Free Guaimaro was never more beautiful than in the days when it entered into glory and sacrifice (…). The families of the heroes, eager to see them, came to where their heroism occurred, by putting themselves into the law, they would be great (…). As brides came the wives, and the children, as when they talk about the supernatural (…). Coming together were Oriente, Las Villas and the center, the injured local souls spontaneously composed the national soul, and the revolution entered the republic.”

There are no words more perfect than those of Martí in this description of how the national soul was composed when “the revolution entered the republic.”

Considering the events and the role of men in them, the Apostle stated in 1892: “Neither Cuba nor history will ever forget that those who came first in the war became the first to demand respect for the law.”

Neither Cuba nor history, we can repeat today, will forget the ceremony of last Wednesday the 10th, and its links with the event that defined us as a nation, on April 10, a century and a half ago.

Our Army General, who was first in war, has also been first in proposing, conducting, and demanding the imperative updating of the law, out of respect for the law.

The chroniclers of these times will not have the challenge, overcome brilliantly by Martí, of telling the story of the serious disagreements among our founding heroes. Precisely thanks to 151 years of struggle for our emancipation, today we are not arguing, but rather proclaiming.

Nor are we obliged, as were our founding heroes, to construct a government before winning freedom. Freedom was first rescued and sustained by more than a generation of revolutionaries, over hard years of creation and resistance.

Thus, the Constitution we recently proclaimed has a great history. Its roots lie in the first that was born fighting within the heart of the Republic in Arms, and later reaffirmed in three constitutions during the war, to be reborn in 1901, under the worse circumstances, in an assembly with its hands tied by Yankee intervention.

In 1940, another Constitution, the conquest of several generations of Cubans, was celebrated although not implemented. It was violated and buried by a despot, but its death lit the spark of a Revolution that was destined to fulfill its precepts of fundamental justice.

Many years later, in 1976, the people inscribed their most radical aspirations in another Constitution, the first socialist one, that after a few reforms brought us to this Magna Carta, proclaimed this April 10, precisely in honor of this history.

I always say that the recently proclaimed Constitution is strong because it draws on this history of intense search for a national guide, that we have described briefly, and the more recent, too, and from long months of analysis, debates, and modifications that involved in its construction the majority of the people, who later supported it irrefutably in a referendum.

One parallel between that historic April 10, and the date three days ago, points to other vital links: we do not need to decide on a flag for our ceremony, because in 1869 the red triangle was chosen, which “proudly waved in the fight, / without a childish or romantic boast; / the Cuban who does not believe / should be flogged as a coward,” as we learned with the unsurpassed verses of Bonifacio Byrne.

Nor can it be said that a woman demanded here the place she deserved.

From Ana Betancourt to Vilma Espín, women’s contribution to the Revolution has been boundless. And justice has finally been served. Women are the majority in this Assembly, as is all important matters in our society.

But there are other moments that equal past and present times. All of Cuba, like Guáimaro 150 years ago, has a tenacious and avaricious enemy lurking nearby.

And just as the Spanish army viciously attacked Guaimaro, a month after that beautiful day of the first national Constitution, the neighboring empire threatens, again, to assault Cuba. And in fact it attacks every day with foolish measures that are escalating in hostility and in viciousness.

Guáimaro’s response to the Spanish assault, as Bayamo had before, was to burn everything that could not be defended. And that was also described by Martí as if he had seen it: “The mothers did not cry, nor did the men hesitate, nary a weak heart was to be seen as the cedars and mahogany fell. With their own hands, they lit the bonfires to the holy city, and when the night closed in, the sacrifice was reflected in the sky (…). The people went into the forest (…). And a good hand hid the constitution in the ground. It must be found!”

This is how Martí concludes this beautiful piece of journalism, entitled “El 10 de abril.”

We are passionate about history, it’s true. But if we return to it once and again, it is not only because of the pleasure our national glory provides. We return because within it there are formidable reserves of Cuban morality, always under attack, always ready to turn any material possession to ashes before raising our arms for the adversary to chain them.

What Martí asked us to find in 1892 in this “entry of the revolution into the republic,” will always have a pending task. In our case, it is the permanent battle to maintain our sovereignty and strive for all justice with the greatest degree of prosperity possible.

The current U.S. administration that dismisses multi-literalism and has decided to return the world’s to its worse times, shamelessly making threats of insolent intervention, and constant ultimatums, including the invasion option, has publicly stated, more than once, its intention to destroy any development alternative apart from the savage capitalism it attempts to promote in the region.

Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are nations with political projects that do not accept the version of the Monroe Doctrine followed by the Trump administration, which, unable to keep its election promises of industrial recovery and national greatness, is sinking into a morass of ridiculous lies to assert that three Latin American nations, struggling to overcome the underdevelopment they inherited, threaten the powerful empire.

They have been busy working against Venezuela, repeating the same script used in criminal aggressions against Cuba since the first years of the Revolution, including state terrorism and pressure on other countries to break regional unity.

The novelty is in non-conventional war tactics that range from the symbolic to very real, from fake news, lies wrapped in novel false trappings, to sabotage of computer networks that sustain the country’s functioning. The empire literally cut off Venezuelans’ lights and water. At the same time their spokespeople and latest puppet seethe before the world because the Bolivarian government rejects false humanitarian aid.

Hypocrites, criminals, thieves of Venezuela’s national treasury: there is no other way to describe those attempting to defeat the courageous people with hunger and deprivation, stealing their financial resources, while sharpening their teeth to devour the riches nature has given this sister nation in abundance, which Bolivar and Chávez raised to a place of honor on the map of America, with their contribution to the continent’s independence.

We cannot underestimate the escalation of this aggression. Beyond the threats, typical of these political merchants, with the rise to decision-making positions of deceitful, mediocre, criminal politicians, financial persecution has increased and the blockade of Cuba tightened.

They have pushed the precarious relations with our country back to the lowest level, fabricating false acoustic incidents, channeling millions of dollars to the counterrevolution and political subversion, issuing dishonest, spurious lists, and trying to activate the hateful Helms-Burton Law, in an attempt to return us to the beginning of this story, when we were a slave nation of another empire.

This year, they have focused on giving us deadlines for the possible implementation of Title III of this slave law, which is what it should really be called. They have done so year after year since 1996, in the style of capital pardons. Now they are putting it off for a month, a few days, with arrogant threats, like someone holding a sword over our heads, ready to cut them off, if we don’t surrender.

What is the entire Helms-Burton, if not the 60-year blockade made law?

What more can they do after 60 years of persecution, aggression, and threats?

This past April 10, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, said here:

“We have been warning of the aggressive actions unleashed by the U.S. government against the Latin American and Caribbean region. It does so in the name of the Monroe Doctrine, with an arrogant McCarthyist contempt for socialism, for the self-determination of peoples, and the sovereign rights of countries in the region.”

As he has alerted us, all indications are that the blockade is being tightened around Cuban sovereignty, reinforcing the blockade, especially the financial persecution. Pressure from the United States is creating obstacles to financing and credit from third countries; while internally we are still held back by administrative inefficiency, an importing mentality, the lack of conservation, and insufficient income from exports, among other evils, from which we cannot exclude cases of corruption and illegalities, unacceptable today, as always, in the Revolution.

Faced with this map of tremendous challenges, we run the risk of believing that there is no way out. But history has something to tell us. Fidel, Raúl, Almeida, Camilo, Che, the generation of our parents and grandparents, with less experience and even fewer resources, confronted more serious, darker moments, and emerged victorious.

History shows us that when we have a correct strategy, when there is unity of objectives, and a sense of nationhood, all obstacles can be overcome.

The difficult present panorama, that has been described, imposes two absolute priorities: preparation for defense and the economic battle, at the same time.

The strategy is to work without rest on alternatives, already designed, without abandoning a single one of our objectives directed toward greater wellbeing for our people.

To those who arrogantly and disdainfully ignored the call made for the world to be open to Cuba, we will respond by showing that, yes, we heard the appeal and are opening ourselves even more to those who act sovereignly in the interest of promoting and developing common policies to support the survival of the human species, as Fidel said at the Earth Summit in 1992.

This philosophy moves us when we call for reflection and discussion of economic issues.

Today we have evaluated progress on the implementation of the Guidelines. And it is very important that this information has been shared, because it clarifies for us just how intense and complex the work has been, and above all, what remains to be done.

What has been implemented over the last decade is no small thing: 206 policies, at the rate of 20 per year. In 2018 alone, 47 were approved and the rate of implementation rose, thanks to our greater experience, organization, and participation from Central State Administration bodies.

The government and Party’s constant monitoring of the implementation, through its fundamental programs, has allowed us to note negative outcomes and experiences. And this differentiated analysis has not only facilitated corrective action, but also helped avoid the repetition of errors, as the Party’s First Secretary has noted. Needed is more attention to detail in preparation, organization, and training in every process, experiment, and procedure, for every person involved in these.

We likewise advocate the incorporation of jurists, from the very conception of policies, in the design of legal norms, so that they are coherent with the fundamental objectives and protect our state apparatus from distortions that could be generated by volunteerism and improvisation.

Last but not least, we are obliged to speed up the process as much as possible, carefully defining the route in timelines for implementation. Thus far, we have not been able to achieve this.

With equal emphasis, we have analyzed the elaboration and advances of the National Social and Economic Plan through 2030.

The objective analysis of the country’s current conditions and the international environment, have led us to propose economic planning in three stages:

2019- 2021, 2022- 2026, and 2027- 2030.

But the current conjuncture requires us, realistically, to focus on the first, fully aware of the additional difficulties we face, which could become worse.

For this, we have identified six strategic sectors that have the greatest impact on the economy, in which efforts and resources will be concentrated, without ignoring others.

These sectors are: tourism; the biotechnology-pharmaceutical industry; the electro-energetic related to renewable resources; food production; the export of professional services; and construction.

To say this is in good Cuban: the difficult situation requires us to set clear, well defined priorities, to avoid returning to the hard times of the Special Period.

Today we have the advantage of a more diversified, internationally integrated economy; tourist development; the biotechnology-pharmaceutical industry; greater potential for exports; more construction capacity, a water distribution system, transportation; communications; and untapped potential for savings and the replacement of imports, which we must take better advantage of.

We are intent on developing government work with more efficient public and enterprise management; with fewer obstacles and less bureaucracy; greater transparency and participation; direct, ongoing links with the grassroots; more efficient social communication; more scientific research and a more active role on the part of universities, based on demand and needs, with greater impact on the economy and production.

With the strengthening of the socialist state enterprise, our greatest productive force; with our ears alert to those with knowledge and experience to contribute; with a constant view toward the provinces and communities; with deep and astute legislative work; with greater autonomy for municipalities; and regular accountability for those assuring development programs.

With no fear of change; chipping away at problems; taking full advantage of our strengths in collective leadership and advocating with discipline and commitment the orientations of our Party.

Unleashing a permanent ethical battle against corruption and illegalities; ordering and strengthening non-state economic management; revitalizing our communities; and promoting beauty and a culture of detail as everyday practices.

Being accountable to the people and encouraging their indispensable participation in the solution of every problem. Generalizing best practices. Overcoming the inertia of the tired. Spreading the enthusiasm and optimism of the committed. Understanding that the beauty of the worst moment lies in the extent of the challenges.

The list of tasks is infinite, but I would like to dwell on those that require more immediate action and I urge everyone to join us in assuming them:
First, the updating of the Economic Plan based on the most difficult scenarios.

We intend to immediately launch pending economic measures related to demands and needs; the reorganization of domestic commerce; the performance of the enterprise system, agricultural and non-agricultural cooperatives and self-employment.

Our government work will be focused on agriculture, export production, tourism, the replacement of imports (with domestic goods), foreign investment and productive linkages with all national industries possible.

Now more than ever it is essential to save and manage resources carefully, fundamentally energy, so that its use contributes to greater productivity; appropriately use credit and different forms of financing, with more emphasis on investment.

Under these circumstances, it is essential to meet and take advantage of all the potential present in human resources and the qualified workforce we have.

We will continue advancing in the process of computerization of society and working hard to improve food supplies, housing, and transportation, the quality of services, even in the midst of asphyxiating financial persecution that makes the importing of goods and resources of primary necessity particularly difficult, and sometimes impossible.

Compañeras and compañeros:

Awaiting this legislature are months and perhaps years of intense work, but we must advance as quickly as possible so that the Constitution is expressed in laws that are more in tune with our times and needs.

And we have no right to delay changes longer than absolutely necessary.

We assume the mandate to change everything that needs to be changed and correct everything that hinders and delays progress toward prosperity in the shortest time and with the highest quality.

What will not change will be our attitude toward those who hold their sword over us.

The answer is: No, imperialist gentlemen, we Cubans do not surrender, nor do we accept laws on our affairs that are not within the bounds of our Constitution. In Cuba, Cuban men, and of course women, govern.

Title III (of the Helms-Burton) is no worse than I or II, they are part of the toolkit used against the entire people of Cuba, simply to rob us of our lands, steal our homes, take possession of the few natural resources, and seduce and buy our people. All this to punish us for the bad example so many oppressed peoples would like to follow.

No one is going to steal from us, not by seduction or by force, “the homeland that our forefathers won on foot”, as Rubén Martínez Villena said in his forceful verses.

Cuba continues to have confidence in its strengths, in its dignity and also in the strength and dignity of other sovereign, independent nations. But we continue to believe in the U.S. people, in the homeland of Lincoln, who are ashamed of those who violate universal law in the name of the entire nation.

And take note, if history holds answers, that on a day like this, April 11, 1959, exactly 60 years ago, Fidel said, and with this I will conclude:
“Our people will be greater, the greater the obstacles we face; history will say more of our people, the more difficulties that must be overcome; the future will bring more justice, the more we are slandered today; and all that anyone can say will be that a society was organized here which all the world’s people could visit to learn what justice was, what democracy was, and we were able to defend this and sustain it, and, although we do not know what fate has in store for us, we do have the certainty to say that our Revolution will triumph because we will be able to defend it, and that our people will perish, if we must perish to defend it.”

Let us defend these convictions in massive popular demonstrations, in all of Cuba, this coming May Day.

“See you in the homeland’s plazas, because we are Cuba and we are continuity!

Homeland or Death!

We will always triumph!

(Ovation.)

As our population has noted, a series of measures have been underway for months in order to reinforce the combat capacity and readiness of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the country’s entire defense system, under the strategic conception of the war of all the people, as established in the Constitution of the Republic we have just proclaimed.

At the same time, a group of decisions has been adopted to guide the performance of our economy, to resist and overcome new obstacles imposed by the tightening of the economic and financial blockade, without renouncing development programs that are underway.

Thus, we must remain alert and aware that we could face additional difficulties and that the situation could worsen in coming months. It is not a question of returning to the most difficult times of the Special Period in the 1990s. The current panorama is different, with the diversification of the economy, but we must always prepare for the worst variant.

It is imperative that efforts be redoubled to increase national production, especially food; review all expenses to avoid those that are not absolutely necessary; ensure more efficient use of energy resources, especially gasoline, which includes ending existing theft and assuming conservation as a firm guideline for leaders, from the national level to the local, and among compatriots in general.

Over 60 years, facing aggression and threats, Cubans have shown the iron will to resist and overcome the most difficult circumstances. Despite its immense power, imperialism does not possess the capacity to break the dignity of a united people, proud of its history and of the freedom conquered with so much sacrifice. Cuba has already shown that, yes, we could, yes, we can, and will always be able to resist, fight, and emerge victorious. (Applause). There is no other alternative.

That’s all for now.
Thank you very much.
(Ovation).

Also in attendance were President of the Councils of Ministers and State Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez; José Ramón Machado Ventura, Party second secretary; and National Assembly President Esteban Lazo.

In his speech, Raúl emphasized that this Constitution gives continuity to the country’s first revolutionary constitution proclaimed in Guáimaro, exactly 150 years ago, by “preserving the unity of all Cubans, the homeland’s sovereignty and independence, as fundamental pillars.”

(Source:Granma)