-Communist Party of Cuba First Secretary and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel, appeared on Cuban television, yesterday evening, and stated, “Peace and citizen tranquility, respect and solidarity among compatriots and others in need around the world, saving Cuba to continue building, growing, dreaming and achieving the greatest possible prosperity. This is our message to our people.”
- If they remove the blockade, if they leave us alone and allow us to act with our own talent, we can achieve prosperity and expand the Revolution’s immense work for social justice, he insisted.
- We have not been able to address many of the people’s dissatisfactions, because of the blockade, among other factors, he said.
- In the midst of fake news reports and perverse manipulation regarding Cuba, he noted that Army General Raúl Castro Ruz is present, ready to support the Revolution, with his boots on and a foot in the stirrup.
- He added that the way social networks are being used to attack Cuba constitutes media terrorism.
- We cannot allow them to disunite us, to divide us, he said.
- The First Secretary referred to Fidel’s words in 1992: Difficult times are difficult times; in difficult times the number of people wavering increases. In difficult times – and this is a law of history – there are those who become confused, there are those who become discouraged, there are those who are intimidated, there are those who become soft, there are those who betray, there are those who desert. We cannot allow those who do not want the best for our land to disunite us, to divide us. But it is also in difficult times that men and women are tested; it is in difficult times that those who are worth something are really tested,” and Diaz-Canel added: “Our people are worth something; they are worth a lot and will act in this way, fearlessly, with courage and determination. This people will never lack patriotic virtues.
- We are calling for peace, understanding and harmony, the President reiterated.
- We are going to defend the Revolution, whatever the cost, we are calling for harmony and for no one to allow hatred to be introduced. Let us not allow anyone to divide us. Our problems will be solved by Cubans. We call for the unity of the entire Cuban family, our institutions and the people… This is a country of security and tranquility, Díaz-Canel insisted.

(Taken from Granma)

Displaying colossal hypocrisy, he repeated the Trump administration’s script, rushing to invest as “legitimate” the groups of vandals who disturbed the peace and public order in Cuba, this past Sunday, July 11.

Party Political Bureau member and Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, on Monday denounced the complicit words of U.S. President Joe Biden, who called on the “regime” in Havana to “hear the Cuban people” and “serve their needs at this vital moment.”

Rodríguez agreed that it would be a good idea for Biden to listen to the Cuban people who have demonstrated against the blockade, and that he should also hear the U.S. citizens calling for an end to hostile policies toward Cuba, and eliminate the 243 measures implemented during the Trump adminsitration.

The latest example of the cynicism of the U.S. government with regard to Cuba is the launching of new programs for “the promotion of democracy,” which, just a few days ago, were granted another two million dollars for counterrevolution on the island, in addition to the more than 20 million allocated previously.

(Taken from Granma)

On speaking online at the Ministerial NAM Conference, the foreign minister warned of the threats and actions in violation of international law undertaken with the purpose of ending the sovereignty of territories. On a video, the FM shared on his official Twitter account, the diplomat condemned the use of force and the escalation of unilateral coercive measures applied to nations.

‘The growing threats against our countries evidence, as never before, the need to preserve the NAM and mobilize it to face the pressing global challenges and advance in the construction of a fair, democratic and equitable international order,’ the head of Cuba´s diplomacy sentenced.

The Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement took place online from July 13 to today, under the slogan: ‘The Non-Aligned Movement at the Center of Multilateral Efforts to Combat Global Challenges.’

On Tuesday, Rodriguez denounced on a press conference a communicational operation undertaken against Cuba mainly through social networks, with the artificial amplification of messages and the use of false accounts to encourage an alleged humanitarian intervention in the country.

The FM detailed that this operation has been taking place for some time, with multimillionaire resources, laboratories, technological platforms and funds from the US government.

According to the Cuban authorities, the nation is under the effects of an unconventional war, lately intensified, which promotes destabilization actions such as those occurred on July 11 in several cities of Cuba.

To fight against those disturbances, the people took to the streets in defense of the Revolution.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

“We are here because the streets belong to Fidel, because the streets of Cuba belong to revolutionaries.” This was the phrase we heard the loudest walking along several Havana avenues Sunday afternoon, July 11, when an entire people came out to defend their Revolution.

We heard it, for example, in front of the Capitol, seat of the National Assembly of People’s Power, and along Prado down to the waterfront Malecon. We heard it up to Belascoaín, and along Carlos III, where neighbors gathered, waving flags and, above all, ideas.

A woman shouted from her balcony, “Viva la Revolución!” and “Viva Cuba Libre!” Her voice joined those of many younger residents who, on the street below, waved the 26th of July Movement flag and repeated, louder and louder, clearer and clearer: “Fidel, Raúl and Díaz-Canel are here,” “Patria o Muerte, Venceremos” (Homeland or Death, We will win).

We heard it along Infanta, from women and men, Cubans with few and many years of age, all with the same conviction: a country like ours, with so many dreams and more than a few pains, is defended tooth and nail, knowing that, as the poet said, “For this freedom/ beautiful as life/ we must give our all/ if necessary/ even the shadow/ and it will never be enough.”

We heard it from Julio Alejandro Gómez, a blogger who joined the honest demands of those who love and create and took to the streets, “because I am a revolutionary and I know that this is a manipulation. They want to take advantage of our needs and problems to apply the same formula of ‘social unrest’ that they have used in other countries; but with Cuba there are no formulas that work. The Revolution belongs to the people and is defended by the people.”

We heard Alberto Bermudez, who lives on Infanta, and in the midst of the racket, hummed “I die as I lived” with a group of buddies and, soon thereafter, it was the notes of the national anthem they offered.

“Unity and continuity,” others shouted, while Alberto interrupted his song to affirm, “Fidel, this is your people, and the streets belong to the people. The order has been given and we are here. We are going to win, in spite of COVID-19, in spite of whatever.”

The same phrases, shouted along the way, led our group of reporters to Alfredo Vázquez, provincial secretary of the Federation of Cuban Workers in Havana, who was injured in one of the confrontations with the “destabilizers.”
Foto: Ricardo López Hevia

“They hit me hard on the head and I ended up with a seven-stitch gash. But here I am, my flag stained with blood, ready to continue defending the Revolution, because to die for the Homeland is to live,” he insisted without slowing his pace, just like Cuba, the land of revolutionaries who are never intimidated.

And there beside Via Blanca, Faustino Leonard, a resident of Cerro municipality, also spoke to us about the day, with the remains of rocks thrown still on the street.

“The quarrel was tough here, but there were more revolutionaries. The saboteurs ran away to hide, probably to some cave, like rats usually do. Let no one doubt it, this country belongs to the people, and will continue to belong to us.”

(Taken from Granma)

Your Excellency Mr. Chairman;

Your Excellencies Permanent Representatives;

Delegates;

In 2020, Cuba, like the rest of the world, was faced with the singular challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The US Administration took on the virus as an ally in its merciless non-conventional war; it deliberately and opportunistically stepped up the economic, commercial and financial blockade, bringing about losses for the country in the amount of around 5 billion dollars.

President Donald Trump implemented 243 unilateral coercive measures to restrict the visit of American travellers and harm third tourist markets; adopted wartime measures to deprive us from fuel supplies; hounded the health services we provide in many countries; increased harassment against commercial and financial transactions in other markets, and set its mind to intimidate foreign investors and commercial entities with the application of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

It also prevented regular and institutional flow of remittances to Cuban families; deal a harsh blow to the self-employed or private sector, and hindered relations with Cubans living in the United States and family reunification.

All these measures are very much in place and implemented today and, paradoxically, are shaping the conduct of the current US Administration precisely during the months in which Cuba has experienced the highest infection rates, the highest death toll, and a higher economic cost associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The campaign platform of the Democratic Party promised voters a speedy reversal of the actions taken by Donald Trump’s Administration, particularly the removal of restrictions regarding travel and remittances to Cuba and compliance with the bilateral migratory agreements, including the granting of visas.

Evidence shows that a large majority of Americans support the lifting of the blockade and their freedom to travel to the island, and that Cubans living in this country want normal relations and wellbeing for their families.

Some blame this baneful inertia on the electoral ambitions associated with Florida or on far-from-transparent balances of political and legislative elites in Washington.

What do those who voted for President Joseph Biden think about what is going on?

Mr. Chairman;

The human damage caused by the blockade cannot be measured. No Cuban family is spared from the effects of this inhuman policy. Nobody could honestly state that it has no actual impact on the population.

In the health field, impossibility to access equipment, technology, devices, treatments and ideal drugs that cannot be procured from US companies and must be obtained at skyrocketing prices through intermediaries or replaced by less effective generic drugs, even for sick newly born and children, persists.

But now, the sly blow to our finances and Covid-19- related expenses, which amount to 2 billion pesos and 300 million dollars, also cause shortages or lack of medicaments for use in hospitals that make the difference between life and death, as well as difficulties for persons to buy in time the insulin, antibiotics, pain killers, and drugs for blood pressure, allergy and other chronic disease treatments.

Cuba sought to protect everyone against the virus; it activated its sound and universal health system; relied on the dedication, willingness to sacrifice and high qualification of its personnel; mobilized its scientists and its world class biopharmaceutical industry, and harnessed the unambiguous support and consensus of the people, particularly of the youth and students, who volunteered to work in the red zones and on epidemiological screening.

That was why we succeeded in developing highly effective domestic protocols to treat both Covid-19 confirmed and under investigation cases; creating conditions to hospitalize all confirmed cases; ensuring the sustainability of intensive care services, institutional isolation of contacts of confirmed cases and free access to PCR or antigen tests; as well as commissioning molecular biology labs in all provinces of the country.

When the blockade cruelly prevented the supply of lung ventilators, Cuba developed its domestic production with its own prototypes.

All this effort by the nation has enabled us to maintain a comparatively low case fatality rate throughout the pandemic, particularly among our health personnel, infants, children, and pregnant women.

It is remarkable that a small island subjected to a blockade has been able to produce 5 vaccine candidates and apply 3 of them −in intervention studies or sanitary interventions− to 2,244,350 Cubans with at least one shot and plans to immunize 70% of the population during this summer and the whole population before the end of the year, despite the fact that the blockade is seriously hampering the industrial scale-up of vaccine production.

This illustrates the results of putting science to the service of the people as well as the effectiveness of civil service.

When the slanderous campaign of the US Administration against our medical cooperation was intensified amidst the pandemic, Cuba sent 57 specialized brigades of the “Henry Reeve International Contingent” to 40 countries or territories, in addition to the over 28,000 health professionals already providing services in 59 nations.

The blockade also deprives the national industry of the funds to procure required inputs for the production of food −causing a drop in pork production− and other goods.

Food imports from the United States are under strict licenses and discriminatory conditions. Their small levels, on the other hand, do not compare to the enormous toll exacted on our finances by the blockade and the effects of its extraterritorial application in third markets.

I bear witness to the suffering and distress that shortage of and instability in the supply of essential and basic goods causes in Cuban households, visible in the long lines that weigh down Cubans every day amidst the pandemic.

The measures to step up the blockade amidst the pandemic and under the global economic crisis also have a decisive impact on the shortage of supplies in stores, inflation or soaring prices, despite the strenuous efforts of the government.

As Army General Raul Castro stated last April 16, and I quote: “the damage caused by these measures to the living standards of the population is not accidental or the result of collateral effects; it is the result of a deliberate purpose to punish the Cuban people as a whole”, end of quote.

The blockade is a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of the Cuban people as a whole that, pursuant to Article II c) of the Geneva Convention of 1948, constitutes an act of genocide.

Mr. Chairman;

US authorities have cynically tried to plant the idea of the failure of our system and the ineffectiveness of the Cuban government; that the coercive measures do not affect the people nor are actually a significant factor for the difficulties faced by the domestic economy.

But let us review the data. From April 2019 to December 2020, the damages caused by the blockade amounted to over 9.1 billion dollars at current prices, an average of 436 million dollars per month. During the last five years, losses due to the blockade exceeded the amount of 17 billion dollars. At current prices, the accumulated damages in six decades amount to over 147.8 billion dollars, and against the price of gold, it amounts to over 1.3 trillion dollars.

Last June 10, our banking and financial system was compelled to temporarily suspend the acceptance of cash deposits in US dollars. This is an inevitable measure in the wake of the obstacles created by the blockade to dispose of or give use value to that currency, a step we would have wanted to avoid but could not be put off any longer.

This is an extraterritorial economic war against a small country, already affected by the recession and global economic crisis caused by the pandemic that has deprived us of much needed revenues, as the ones derived from tourism.

As President Miguel Diaz-Canel stated on April 19, and I quote: “nobody with an ounce of honesty and publicly available economic data can disregard the fact that this siege is the main obstacle to the country’s development and in our quest for prosperity and wellbeing”, end of quote.

I wonder what would happen in other economies, including those of rich countries, if subjected to similar conditions. What would be the social and political repercussions?

Mr. Chairman;

The blockade is a politically motivated act, clearly described in the infamous memorandum of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory, dated April 6, 1960, and I quote:

“Any conceivable means must be promptly used to undermine Cuba’s economic life (…) deny money and supplies to Cuba, in order to decrease the real and monetary wages with a view to causing hunger, despair and the toppling of the Government”, end of quote.

It is maliciously complemented by a fierce campaign of political interference in the internal affairs with subversive programs to which the US Administration allocates every year tens of millions of dollars from the federal budget and additional amounts from covert funds. The purpose is to create political and social instability amidst the economic difficulties created by the same US Administration.

They reckon that if they subject the Cuban population to hardships and promote artificial leaders who incite to chaos and instability, they could create a virtual political movement in digital networks to be later transposed into the real world.

They invest considerable resources, social labs and high-tech tools in a frenzied campaign aimed at discrediting Cuba with shameless lies and the manipulation of information. They unleash a renewed McCarthyism, ideological intolerance and brutal attack against those who uphold the truth.

Some even dream about provoking social chaos, disorder, violence and death in Cuba. It is no surprise, since this is a political weapon already used against other countries with fatal consequences.

A few rave about provoking an irregular and uncontrolled migratory flow from Cuba to the United States. This is a dangerous bet about which we have warned the US government, who has the legal and moral obligation to honor the migratory agreements, particularly regarding the granting of visas. This is a sensitive issue that costs lives.

Mr. Chairman;

The States here represented are a victim of the extraterritorial effect of the blockade that infringes upon their sovereignty, violates their domestic legislations, subjects them to US Court rulings and are detrimental to the interests of their companies wishing to maintain relations with both countries, all of which is contrary to International Law.

It is neither legal nor ethical for the government of a power to wage an endless economic war against a small nation, for decades, in order to impose an alien political system and a government design by it. Depriving the population of an entire nation of its right to peace, development, wellbeing and human progress is unacceptable.

The fact that the US government has ignored for 28 years the successive resolutions of this democratic and representative United Nations General Assembly is unacceptable and inadmissible.

In September 2000, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro pointed out at this very rostrum, and I quote: “it is high time to strongly state that the principle of sovereignty cannot be sacrificed for the sake of an unjust and exploiting order in which an hegemonic superpower can decide everything on the basis of its power and strength”, end of quote.

Cuba’s claim is to be let to live in peace, without blockade and to stop the persecution of our commercial and financial relations with the rest of the world.

We demand an end to manipulations, discrimination, and to the obstacles that hinder relations between Cubans living in the United States and their relatives in Cuba and with the country where they were born. We acknowledge the efforts of those who, in this time of trial, have maintained their communication with and support to their families in the island in the wake of hate and political persecution.

Many pragmatically argue –even within the US Administration− that the blockade should be ended because it is an ineffective and anachronistic policy that has not and will not achieve its purpose and has ended discrediting and isolating the United States.

Manipulating the fight against terrorism for political and electoral purposes is also unacceptable.

On January this year, 9 days before the current administration took office, President Trump’s administration included Cuba in an arbitrary and unilateral list of States that allegedly sponsor international terrorism and which has serious consequences in the global financial system.

Nobody can honestly argue that Cuba is a country sponsoring terrorism! Nobody! Recent disclosures ridiculed the latest pretext.

Nonetheless, last May 14, the State Department once again classified Cuba as a country that does not cooperate enough with US counter-terrorism efforts, just like it did in 2020 during the previous Administration.

Cuba has been the victim of terrorist actions organized, financed and executed by the US government or from the territory of this country, which have taken the lives of 3,478 Cubans and caused disabilities to another 2,099. There is overwhelming evidence of our attempts to cooperate and of effective cooperation between the agencies of both countries in recent years.

Our stand on terrorism is well known. We fully condemn such practice in whatever form or manifestation.

Mr. Chairman;

As our sovereign decision and for the good of the Nation, Cuba has for several years been involved in an ongoing process to update our model and the Socialist State of law and social justice, supported by the vast majority of the citizens in a free, direct and universal referendum.

This is a highly complex and challenging enterprise under any circumstances, but even more difficult under the persistent hostility of US imperialism, which will in no way stop us nor crush the will of present and future Cuban generations.

I deeply appreciate the solidarity aid of our fellow countrymen and of the friends of Cuba in many parts of the world, which we greatly cherish, including those that with great efforts, given the opposition of the government, have arrived from the United States.

We are encouraged by the support received from thousands of persons around the world who have gathered to demand the US government to put an end to the blockade. Many Cubans who exalt the lone star flag even here in this country have been among the protagonist of such actions.

On behalf of my country and its honorable and generous people that resist and heroically fights its way to progress, I submit draft resolution A/75/L.97 “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” to your consideration.

Like the virus, the blockade suffocates and kills and must stop!

Homeland or Death! We shall prevail!

Thank you

They threw us to our death, denying us access to a total of 32 pieces of equipment and supplies needed for the production of our COVID-19 candidate vaccines and the execution of different stages in the clinical trials process, including equipment for the purification of the candidates, attachments for production machinery, filtration tanks and capsules, potassium chloride solution, thimerosal, packaging and reagents.

As if this were not enough, they work hard to get us to kill ourselves, to leave us discouraged, irritated, and desperate. Looking to provoke an explosion.

As none of this has happened, the trending lie is that we are afraid to rebel. A hysterical youtuber and (coincidentally?) an academic, who I cannot respect or take seriously, based on hasty and incomplete readings, attempts to sell the idea that here we live in an Orwellian atmosphere, in an oppressive country.

But we are alive. With candidate vaccines that have proven to be effective, benefiting Cubans, without distinction of any kind. Alive and very well accompanied in the battle against the blockade.

Cuba stands tall, alive, unafraid and outspoken, from one end of the island to the other. Defending our dignity, what we are and what we will never renounce being.

IN CONTEXT

Upon learning of the vote at the United Nations, Communist Party of Cuba First Secretary and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, tweeted: This is how the world reacts to Cuba’s demand. It’s now been 28 years of worldwide rejection of the blockade. The blockaders have run out of arguments. Those in solidarity strengthen support.

By consensus, the world community approved the Cuban resolution entitled “The necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”

The accumulated damages caused to our country by the blockade, over almost six decades, have reached 147,853,300,000 dollars, at current prices, and taking into account the depreciation of the dollar as compared to gold on the international market, quantifiable damages are equivalent to more than 1,377,998,000,000 dollars.

(Taken from Granma)

The most recent events in the region confirm that the U.S. government and reactionary oligarchies as responsible for the dangerous political and social upheaval and instability in Latin America and the Caribbean.

As the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, foresaw January 1, 2019: “Those who have illusions about the restoration of imperialist rule in our region should understand that Latin America and the Caribbean have changed and so has the world (…) The region resembles a prairie in times of drought. A spark could generate an uncontrollable fire that would harm the national interests of all.”

President Donald Trump proclaims the validity of the Monroe Doctrine and appeals to McCarthyism to maintain imperialist domination of the region’s natural resources, impede the exercise of national sovereignty, and aspirations of regional integration and cooperation; in an attempt to re-establish its unipolar hegemony on a world and hemispheric scale; eliminate progressive, revolutionary and alternative models to savage capitalism; reverse political and social conquests and impose neoliberal models, regardless of international law, the rules of the game of representative democracy, the environment, and the welfare of peoples.

On Monday, December 2, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threateningly accused Cuba and Venezuela of taking advantage of and helping to expand agitation in countries of the region. He distorts and manipulates reality and ignores, as a principal cause of regional instability, constant U.S. intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The legitimate protests and massive popular mobilizations taking place on the continent, particularly in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil, are caused by poverty and growing inequality in the distribution of wealth; the certainty that neoliberal formulas aggravate the exclusionary and unsustainable situation of social vulnerability; absent or inadequate health care, education and social security; attacks on human dignity; unemployment and the restriction of labor rights; privatization, higher prices, cutbacks in public services, and increased citizen insecurity.

Revealed is the crisis of a political system; the lack of real democracy; the extent to which traditional conservative parties are discredited; rejection of the historical corruption typical of military dictatorships and right-wing governments; limited popular support for official authorities; lack of confidence in institutions and the judicial system.

The people are also protesting brutal police repression, the militarization of the police under the pretext of protecting critical infrastructure, the exemption of repressors from criminal responsibility; the use of war weapons and riot police that cause deaths and serious injuries, including hundreds of young people with irreparable eye injuries caused by pellets guns; the outlawing of demonstrations; rapes, beatings and violence against those arrested, including minors; and the murder of social leaders, former guerrillas and journalists.

The United States defends and supports repression against demonstrators using the pretext of safeguarding the so-called “democratic order.” The duplicitous silence of some governments, institutions and figures, who are actively critical of the left, is a disgrace. The complicity of the corporate media is shameful.

People rightly ask where is democracy and the rule of law; what are institutions supposedly dedicated to the protection of human rights doing; where is the much touted independent judicial system?

Let us revisit some facts. In March of 2015, President Barack Obama signed anpreposterous executive order declaring the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, economy and foreign policy” of the great power. In November of 2015, a costly electoral defeat of the left in Argentina occurs.

The neoliberal offensive take a decisive step in August 2016, with the parliamentary-judicial coup in Brazil against President Dilma Rousseff, the criminalization and imprisonment of Workers Party leaders, and later of former President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva himself, with the early participation of the U.S. Department of Justice, through the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, to install a dependent government, willing to reverse important social conquests through neoliberal policies; make nefarious changes to the development model, allow the destruction of state enterprises and devastating privatization, permit the cut-rate sale of the country’s resources and infrastructure to U.S. transnational corporations.

At the end of 2017, Hondurans protest the outcome of elections and face terrible repression.

In January 2018, the United States disrupts the signing of an agreement between the Venezuelan government and the Washington-run opposition. A month later, the Secretary of State proclaims the validity of the Monroe Doctrine and calls for a military coup against the Bolivarian Chavista Revolution.

In March 2018, the atrocious assassination of Brazilian councilwoman Marielle Franco takes place, causing a wave of indignation in the country and around the world, and raising unanswered questions about the suspicious role of powerful groups. In April, Lula is imprisoned through spurious legal maneuvers. Copious evidence emerges of U.S. intervention in Brazilian elections through specialized companies that use “big data” and polimetric technologies to individually manipulate the will of voters, like those wielded by ultra-reactionary Steve Bannon and the Israeli right wing.

In this period, judicial proceedings against former Presidents Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Rafael Correa are launched. In April 2018, an attempt is made to destabilize Nicaragua through external interference and the application of unilateral coercive measures.

On August 4, 2018, an assassination attempt against President Nicolás Maduro Moros occurs. In January 2019, the self-proclamation of an unknown corrupt Juan Guaidó, (as President of Venezuela) is organized in Washington. In March 2019, President Trump renews the executive order labeling Venezuela a threat. On April 30, an attempted military coup in Caracas fails miserably, and the United States, vindictively, escalates its unconventional war against the South American nation, that resists tenaciously and heroically with its people’s civic-military union.

Throughout this period, the U.S. government has implemented savage anti-immigrant policies, and adopted aggressive, hateful measures to fuel fear and division within the electorate. An attempt is made to erect a xenophobic wall on the border with Mexico. This country and Central American nations are threatened with terrible tariffs and sanctions if they do not stop those fleeing poverty and insecurity, and the U.S. increases deportations. Thousands of children are cruelly separated from their parents, 69,000 minors detained and attempts made to deport the children of immigrants born and raised in U.S. territory.

Showing shameless subordination to the United States, the far-right Brazilian government of Jair Bolsonaro resorts to lies, a xenophobic, racist, misogynist and homophobic discourse, combined with delirious projections about social and political phenomena such as climate change, indigenous populations, fires in the Amazon, and emigration, which have generated the repudiation of many leaders and organizations. His administration is dismantling social programs that allowed Workers Party governments to notably reduce levels of poverty and social exclusion in Brazil.

Since May 2019, tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets against cuts in education, pension reforms, discriminatory policies and gender-based violence.

The Brazilian government has intervened in the internal affairs of neighboring countries, including Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, and has taken hostile positions against Cuba, in violation of international law. As reported in the Brazilian press, in April 2019, the Foreign Ministry instructed 15 of its embassies to coordinate with U.S. embassies to urge receptive governments to condemn Cuba in international forums.

For the first time since 1992, this year Brazil – accompanied only by the United States and Israel – voted against the United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, which the United States is now tightening, and for an end to the extraterritorial application of its laws against third states.

At the same time, the Colombian government abstained in the vote on the resolution it has supported since 1992, at a time when the genocidal U.S. blockade of Cuba and its extraterritorial scope is intensifying. To justify this reprehensible decision, the country’s authorities resorted to disgraceful, politically motivated manipulation of Cuba’s altruistic, devoted, modest, unobjectionable contribution to peace in Colombia, for which our country is universally recognized. The broad, critical debate that the process generated in this nation is well known, one which Cuba, despite everything, will continue to support in its efforts to achieve peace.

U.S. slanders, attributing to Cuba supposed responsibility for the organization of popular mobilizations against neoliberalism in South America, constitute an incredible pretext, to justify and tighten the blockade and hostile policies directed against our people. Likewise, it is useless to attempt to hide the failure of the capitalist system; to protect failing, repressive governments; to cover up parliamentary, judicial and police coups; and to revive the ghost of socialism to intimidate peoples. In doing so, the U.S. also seeks to justify repression and the criminalization of social protest.

Cuba is only responsible for the example set by our heroic people in defending our sovereignty, in resisting the most brutal and systematic aggression, in the invariable practice of solidarity and cooperation with sister nations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

It bothers imperialism that Cuba has demonstrated that another world is possible and that an alternative model to neoliberalism can be built, based on solidarity, cooperation, dignity, fair distribution of income, equal access to professional advancement, citizen safety and protection, and the full liberation of human beings.

The Cuban Revolution also provides evidence that a firmly united people, owner of its country and its institutions, in constant, profound democracy, can resist victoriously and advance in its development, despite aggression and the longest blockade in history.

The coup in Bolivia, orchestrated by the United States, using the OAS and the local oligarchy as tools, demonstrates the aggressiveness of the imperialist escalation. Cuba reiterates its condemnation of the coup, of the brutal repression unleashed, and expresses its solidarity with compañero Evo Morales Ayma and the Bolivian people.

While the U.S. government continues its unconventional war to attempt to overthrow the legitimately constituted government of President Nicolas Maduro Moros and invoke the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR), Cuba reaffirms our unwavering intention to maintain cooperation with the Venezuelan government and people.

To the Sandinista government and people of Nicaragua, led by President Daniel Ortega, who face destabilization attempts and unilateral coercive measures, we reiterate our solidarity.

The legitimate government of the Commonwealth of Dominica, and its Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, deserve international solidarity and already have that of the Cuban people, at a time when this island nation is a victim of external interference that has provoked violence and is intended to undermine the electoral process.

In this complex scenario, the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico confronts neoliberalism, and defends the principles of non-intervention and respect for sovereignty, while the election of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández as President and Vice President in Argentina expresses the unequivocal rejection by that nation of the neoliberal formulas that impoverished it, indebted it, and seriously hurt its people. The liberation of Lula is a victory of the peoples, and Cuba reiterates its call for a worldwide mobilization to demand his full freedom, recognition of his innocence, and restitution of his political rights.

The corruption that characterizes the behavior of the current U.S. government is obvious. Its impact on the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean has cost lives, suffering, instability and economic damage.

Given the dramatic situation that the region and the world are facing, Cuba reaffirms the principles of sovereignty, non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states, and the right of all peoples to freely choose and construct their own political system, in an environment of peace, stability and justice, without threats, aggression or unilateral coercive measures; and calls for adherence to the postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.

Cuba will continue to work toward the integration of Our America, which includes making every effort to ensure that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), soon to be chaired by Mexico, continues to promote the common interests of our nations by strengthening unity within diversity.

Cuba responds to the relentless onslaught of the most reactionary forces in the hemisphere with the unwavering resistance of our people, and the will to defend the unity of our nation, its social conquests, sovereignty and independence, and socialism, at whatever cost necessary. We do so with optimism and unwavering confidence in the victory bequeathed to us by Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz, with the guidance of our Party’s First Secretary, Army General Raúl Castro, and the leadership of President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Havana, December 3, 2019.