Yesterday afternoon Benito Alonso Gonzalez left the comfort of his home in the municipality of San Antonio de los Baños, in the province of Artemisa, because a group at the service of foreign and annexationist interests, paid and directed by the United States, was looking to provoke a social explosion.

He went to the park, and spoke to reporters there about “the traitors who want to sell the Revolution for a few pesos,” the revolution that helped save his brother from COVID-19 just two weeks ago, the revolution that asks us to stay home, to avoid seeing more people die due to the pandemic.

There, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Benito himself, and the provocateurs came across a crowd of residents carrying Cuban flags and shouting: Long live the Revolution, Homeland or Death, Venceremos!

“Those of us who have come this far are faithful custodians of the Revolution, we want it strong, we were raised by the Revolution. And now, with the presence of Díaz-Canel, we feel firm, secure, because the Revolution is with the people, who are the true owners of the streets. In Cuba we will not allow those who want to take away what we have conquered to enter,” warned Antonio Crespo, a resident of San Antonio who joined the popular response.

Also in the park where Díaz-Canel went to confront those who intended to fracture the unity of the Party, the state, the government and the people, were father and son, Roberto Reyes Herrera, president of the Antonio Briones Montoto agricultural cooperative production unit, and Yosbel Reyes Sotomayor. The former recalled the hard times Cubans faced before 1959, which his parents told him about, and insisted that he is grateful for “the opportunities the Revolution has given me, that a few do not want to recognize.”

His son likewise stated, “I’m sure that it was the Cuban-American mafia who paid the provocateurs who wanted to take advantage of the difficult situation Cuba is experiencing,” adding, “The youth of San Antonio are on the side of our leaders, that is why we have taken to the parks and the streets.”

The flags, the cheers, the revolutionary conscience and confidence in those who are working every day to move our nation forward, left drowning in a sigh of impotence the malicious imperialist lackeys who made Benito leave his quiet Sunday at home. He insisted, “Let it be known, the people of Cuba are not those who disturbed the peace today, those who love the empire so much. The people of Cuba are the doctors, the scientists who made the vaccines, those of us who came to tell the President: Whatever it takes, Díaz-Canel, whatever it takes!”

(Take from Granma)

The President began his remarks with a revolutionary greeting to the entire people, and said: “Unfortunately, we have been obliged to interrupt our Sunday, that all our families take to rest and spend time together, to inform you and share with you a series of elements related to the events that have been taking place today, which are part of a high level, systematic, escalating provocation, which has been promoted by the counterrevolution over these days.”

What is the background to this situation we are experiencing, he asked.

“We have been honest, we have been open, we have been clear, and at all times we have explained the complexities of the current situation to our people. I remember that more than a year and a half ago, when the second half of 2019 was just starting, we had to explain that we were heading toward a difficult conjuncture, and we used that term, which was later taken up as part of popular humor, since we have remained in this ‘conjuncture’ for a long time…Beginning with all the signs that the U.S. government, headed by the Trump administration, was giving in relation to Cuba.”

Diaz-Canel recalled that the adoption of an extensive series of restrictive measures to tighten the blockade began; financial persecution, energy persecution, with the goal of asphyxiating the country’s economy.

He denounced ongoing efforts to provoke a massive social explosion in Cuba, including all sorts of propaganda and ideological constructions they fabricate to call for misnamed humanitarian interventions, which end up as military interventions and interference, trampling the rights and violating the sovereignty, the independence of peoples.

This succession of hostile acts continued, he noted, “Then came the 243 measures we all know about. And in the last days of that administration the decision was made to include Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.”

He reiterated that this list is a totally spurious list, an illegitimate list, and a unilateral list, fabricated by the U.S. in the belief that they are the power dominates the world, that they are the emperors of this world.”

He noted that, unfortunately, due to the lack of principles that exists within more than a few international institutions and national governments, many cave in and go along with these hostile measures and actions.

“It must be recognized that others do not submit to be the imposition of these measures, but they are limited by the extraterritorial nature that these.

“And that further increased the impact of the restrictions, which above all implied that the country was immediately cut off from its main sources of foreign currency income: I am talking about tourism, I am talking about the trips of Cubans and U.S. citizens to our country, about the much-awaited remittances to Cuban families from their relatives in the United States.”

The President also denounced U.S. efforts to discredit Cuban medical brigades, since this medical collaboration, beyond the many instances of solidarity provided, also generates foreign currency income.

All this, he said, is causing shortages in the country: “Shortages of food, of medicines, raw materials and inputs needed by our economic and productive processes, which contribute both exports and supplies for the people; therefore here two important elements are cut off: the capacity to export and to acquire foreign currency to import and invest, and the capacity of the productive processes to be produce a full range of goods and services for our population.”

He pointed out that the country “has seen its fuel supply limited, access to spare parts limited, and all this has caused dissatisfaction, has exacerbated accumulated problems, which we have not been able to resolve, have been around since the special period, and to all this has been added a ferocious media campaign to discredit us, as part of a so-called non-conventional war, which attempts, on the one hand, to break the unity of the Party, the government, the state and the people, attempting to portray the government as inept, incapable of providing wellbeing to the Cuban people, attempting to portray the U.S. government as “very concerned about the welfare of the Cuban people,” who it has unjustly blockaded, telling them how they can aspire to development and progress in a country such as ours.

“These are the usual hypocritical prescriptions and speeches of double standards, which we know very well, throughout the history of United States behavior toward Cuba. We know how they intervened in our country, how they appropriated our island, how they maintained domination of our Island during the pseudo-republic and how their interests were hit hard by the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

“For 60 years the example of the Cuban Revolution has bothered them, and they have constantly tightened… applied an unjust, criminal, cruel blockade, reinforced, worse than ever under pandemic conditions. Therein lies the manifest perversity, the maliciousness of all these intentions: blockade and restrictive measures, which they have never taken against any other country, or against those they consider their main enemies.

“This has been a work and a policy of viciousness against a small Island, which only aspires to defend its independence, its sovereignty and build, with self-determination, its society in accordance with the principles that more than 86% of the population has approved, has supported in the broad and democratic exercise we held, to approve the current Constitution of the Republic of Cuba.

“And in the midst of these conditions comes the pandemic, a pandemic that has not only affected Cuba, a pandemic that has affected the whole world, a pandemic that has also affected the United States, that has affected rich countries. It must be said that the United States and other rich countries did not have the capacity to confront the effects of this pandemic at the beginning.

“And in many of those first world countries, with much more wealth, health systems collapsed, intensive care units were overwhelmed. The poor have been disadvantaged because there are no public policies directed toward saving the people,” and these rich countries in many cases have worse results than Cuba in terms of responding to the pandemic.

“And we were impacted by the pandemic and, in the midst of all these other restrictions, with the reserves that the country has created, with the little we had in the country, with the little we have been able to acquire this difficult year and a half, is that we have been able to meet these challenges, these tests.

“And we have done it with courage, we have done it without giving in and, above all, we have done it by sharing among all the little we have, and we have not only shared within Cuba, we have shared with the world. There is the example of the Henry Reeve internationalist brigades, which has gone to places brutally affected by the pandemic.

“And this is how we have moved forward, controlling one wave after another, with a tremendous capacity for sacrifice on the part of our people, of our scientists, of our health personnel, of almost the entire country involved in this.

Díaz-Canel recalled that five candidate vaccines have been developed, one already recognized as a vaccine, the first in Latin America against COVID-19. Cuba is already vaccinating our population, and this is a process that takes time. Vaccines must be produced, but we currently have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world and in a few weeks we will have reached more than 20% of the total population,” he noted.

However, he noted, in the last few months more aggressive strains have appeared, and in the midst of this already serious situation, another group of complications began to appear.

“First of all, new cases are emerging at a speed and accumulation that exceeded the capacities we have been able to create to treat these patients in state institutions. On the other hand, we have been obliged to expand capacity in other centers,” he explained.

In this sense, by opening more centers, to which energy priority must be given – in the midst of the accumulation of problems in the generation of electricity, the number of circuits that we must protect, to attend these patients, has increased.

With more patients, he continued, the stock of medicines is also running low and acquiring them is very difficult; and in the midst of all this, we continue to work for everyone.

“Now we have been obliged to resort to home isolation due to the lack of capacity in a number of provinces, and call on families to participate more directly, more responsibly. One never tires of admiring the capacity for creative resistance of our people.”

With these values, he insisted, with vaccination advancing, complying with the necessary sanitary measures, we will emerge sooner rather than later from this peak in the pandemic, which is not only hitting Cuba. Cuba managed to postpone this high point with everything we did, and we will overcome it.

But now, he noted, in a very cowardly, subtle, opportunistic and perverse manner, exploiting the most difficult situations we have in provinces like Matanzas and Ciego de Avila, those who have always supported the blockade, those who have served as mercenaries, lackeys of the Yankee empire, begin to appear with calls for a humanitarian intervention, a humanitarian corridor, to strengthen the idea that the Cuban government is not capable of handling this situation, as if they were really interested in the welfare and health of our people.

“If they want to make a gesture toward Cuba, if they really are concerned about the people, if they want to solve Cuba’s problems: lift the blockade and let’s see how we do, why don’t they do that? Why don’t they have the courage to lift the blockade, what legal and moral basis allows a foreign government to implement such a policy against a small country, and in the midst of such adverse conditions? Isn’t this genocide?”

He denounced the assertion that a dictatorship exists in Cuba, “A dictatorship that is concerned about providing healthcare for its entire population, that seeks welfare for all, that in the midst of this situation is capable of conducting public policies, aspiring to vaccination with a Cuban vaccine, because we knew that no one was going to sell us any, since we don’t have the money to buy them,” he said.

“What a strange dictatorship,” he exclaimed. Now they are shouting that we are murderers. Where are the murder victims in Cuba, where are the missing persons in Cuba? Other countries that have suffered these pandemic peaks were not attacked in the press and they were not offered humanitarian intervention as a solution, nor were they subjected to these slander campaigns as we are, Díaz-Canel emphasized.

“I believe that life, history, the facts show what is behind all this, which is the effort to asphyxiate us and put an end to the Revolution, and for that they are trying to discourage our people, to confuse our people. And when the people are facing severe conditions, then events like the ones we experienced in San Antonio de los Baños take place.”

About the events in this area, he detailed:

Who was part of the group? It included members of the population, who have needs, who are experiencing some of these shortages; it included revolutionaries who are confused, do not have all the arguments, or were expressing these dissatisfactions, but they were doing differently, because they were seeking to understand, seeking explanations.

“But this was led by a core group of manipulators who are indeed lending themselves to the designs of the SOS Matanzas or SOS Cuba campaigns… Several days ago, they were preparing demonstrations or social disturbances of this type in several Cuban cities. This is criminal, at a time when people should be at home, protecting themselves.”

Diaz-Canel reported that revolutionaries in San Antonio de los Baños, provincial authorities, a group from the country’s leadership showed up there, we confronted the counterrevolutionaries and we talked to the revolutionaries, and to those asking for explanations, to show that Cuba’s streets belong to revolutionaries.

He pointed out that we know there are other groups of people gathering in streets and plazas, in other cities of the country, also moved by unhealthy purposes. “I am also giving this information, to reaffirm that in Cuba the streets belong to revolutionaries, that the state, the revolutionary government, guided by the Party, are more than willing to discuss, to argue and to participate with the people in the solution of problems, but recognizing the real cause of our problems, without allowing ourselves to be confused.”

Those who are encouraging demonstrations are not interested in good healthcare for Cuba, he emphasized. Remember that their model is neoliberal, the privatization of health, of medical services, of education; that everyone should save themselves as best they can, that those who have the money can access health care, he warned.

“We are not going to surrender sovereignty, the independence of our people, or the freedom of this nation. There are many of us revolutionaries in this town who are willing to give our lives and this is not a slogan, it is a conviction. They will have to step over our corpses if they want to confront the Revolution, and we are ready for anything and we will be in the streets fighting.”

We know that incidents of this type are being orchestrated in the streets of Havana and that there are large groups of revolutionaries confronting counterrevolutionary elements. We are separating the confused revolutionaries, the inhabitants of Cuba who have specific concerns, but we are not going to allow any counterrevolutionary, any mercenary, to provoke destabilization among our people.

“This is why we are calling on all revolutionaries in our country, all communists, to take to the streets in any of the places where these provocations may take place today, from now on, throughout these days,” he insisted.

“As I said in my closing speech at the Party Congress, we revolutionaries defend the Revolution above all else, we communists on the front lines, and with that conviction we are now in the streets, we are not going to allow anyone to manipulate our situation, or defend a plan that is not Cuban, that is not for the welfare of Cubans and that is annexationist. This is the task to which we call revolutionaries and communists of this country,” he concluded.

(Taken from Granma)

During his statements, the Head of State denounced the participation of the US administration in the historic political destabilization actions that are taking place against Cuba, and which have intensified, particularly during the pandemic.

Order:

22:10 - Tranquility, peace, tranquility in the heart of Havana

21:54 – The streets of Guantanamo belong to the revolutionaries

20:25 – Minister of Energy: What factors influence the increase in planned outages?

I ask the people for understanding, they work uninterruptedly, including Saturday and Sunday, to solve problems that we have in the base generation, mainly thermoelectric
Tense situation limitations in spare parts and technology, fuel for generation due to blockage problems and fuel quality
Since June 21, impacts that have increased in recent days because Guiteras came out, which contributes 300 megawatts
More instability of other plants
Last 3 days increased because demand increased considerably more than 320 megawatts at the peak of the night more consumption than previous days
Causes major effects
This also has to do with rising temperatures
19 units 13 have their maintenance cycle postponed
Final phase of concluding work on La Guitera
In the early hours of Tuesday, the block should be synchronized with the national electrical energy system
Work is being done to incorporate Felton
Between Felton and Guiteras, more than 500 megawatts must be incorporated into the system

19:58 – Cuban scientists willing to preserve the Sovereign Homeland

One of the creators of the Sovereign vaccines, Dagmar García Rivera, shared on her Twitter account the willingness of Biocubafarma scientists to do whatever is necessary to preserve our Homeland.

“The streets are ours, Cuba is ours. We will overcome this crisis as we have overcome others. Only the unity of the people will save us,” he said.

While some try to boycott the Cuban revolution, the scientists continue with their work to immunize the island. From very early on, workers from the Matanzas Drug Store continue to distribute Abdala and specialists from the Cuban National Neuroscience Center install PCUVENTE ventilators in the Matanzas hospitals .

19:53 – Good Faith: Nobody imposes anything on us

Israel and Yoel: “Nobody imposes anything on us.” “We have never hidden what we stand for.” “We believe in the great Cuban family.” “We defend the Health System, which is the one that is battling the pandemic.”

19:51 – Tranquility in most of the streets of Havana

19:40 – Fernando González Llort: At the call of the homeland, always, Present!

19:32 – The humble and grateful people of Artemis

19:27 – Piedad Córdoba: “Our support for Cuba and Díaz-Canel”

From Colombia, through Twitter , Piedad Córdoba sends her support to Cuba and the Díaz-Canel government.

19:22 – The answer in Cienfuegos is clear

Long live the Cuban Revolution!

19:18 – UPEC Presidency: The Cuban people would never rise up against themselves

The professionals and workers of the press in Cuba, always guided by the righteous and libertarian ideal of revolutionaries such as José Martí, Juan Gualberto Gómez, Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Fidel and Raúl, exalt the patriotic greatness of the Cuban people, their integrity and dignity , with which we will confront any attempt to provoke a social outbreak in the country. The latter will be impossible in a geographically small but morally immense nation that carried out one of the most profound social revolutions in this world.

The sensitive and honorable Cuban people would never rise up against themselves. He learned to discover his true enemies very well, to confront them under that Martian idea that freedom is paid at its price, something that mercenaries and plattists on duty will never understand.

Daily witnesses to the sacrifice of our people, the press workers will stand alongside them in defense of their honor and rights and alerting them to the serious scenario of fourth-generation warfare and mean and lying media siege imposed on the country.
19:17 – Cubans join the revolutionary response from the ICRT

Revolutionary response of ICRT workers. “The street belongs to the revolutionaries.

19:16 – From Jobabo, support for Díaz-Canel

19:10 – Young UCI university students ready to defend the Revolution

19:04 – Revolutionaries parade through the Havana Prado
18:54 – This afternoon at Maceo de Las Tunas park

18:53 – Ministry of Finance and Prices: “At the forefront in the defense of the Revolution”
18:40 – The provocateurs in Cuba wave United States flags

18:32 – “This street belongs to Fidel”, assures the people of Havana18:28 – In Ciego de Ávila, the streets also belong to the revolutionaries

In Ciego, the streets also belong to the revolutionaries, the entire people   on the street defending the Homeland.

Avileños take to the streets to defend the Revolution.

18:20 – What did Díaz-Canel say in San Antonio de los Baños?

18:14 – Gerardo Hernández at the head of the revolutionary people in Neptuno and Galiano

18:09 – Caibarienenses take to the streets

18:06 – The revolutionary people of Cienfuegos, true owners of the streets

18:05 – The MINREX in the first line in defense of its people

18:01 – Bruno Rodríguez: The people mobilize against the campaign of imperialism against Cuba

17:57 – Díaz-Canel has called and his people respond without hesitation

17:50 – On video, the Cuban people take to the streets to defend the Revolution

17:47 – Díaz-Canel exchanged with the population in San Antonio de los Baños

The first secretary of the PCC exchanged with the population of San Antonio de los Baños.

17:45 – Unofficial version of Díaz-Canel’s words

Cubadebate shares the unofficial version of Díaz-Canel’s words

Díaz-Canel to the people of Cuba: “The order to fight is given, the revolutionaries to the streets”

A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.

University of Limerick

A 90-minute ride from Dublin will take you to Limerick, a beautiful city where for various reasons great progress has been made in the last 20 years.

This name seems to have very little meaning to most Cubans until they realize that part of Ireland is home to the city of Shannon, a regular port of call for Moscow-bound Aeroflot flights in times of the USSR.

A major engineering center, Limerick has become Ireland’s third most important university, oweing largely to the presence in its surroundings of the huge National Technology Park and its National Center for the Excellence of Mathematics and Science.

The University was hosting a discussion on the “50th Anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Victory”, but a totally unexpected complication arose: a large audience had gathered at the University’s sports arena that same day for a speech to be delivered by none other than the Dalai Lama.

As I waited for my turn and the Dalai Lama spoke, the main local radio station called to ask whether I would be willing to grant a live interview about Cuba. I said yes, and a few minutes later I was on the air.

My interviewer began with the usual boilerplate topics, namely the “embargo” (that’s right, the well-known 50-year-old blockade), but no sooner had I started to answer than he interrupted me: “Sir, we’re sorry, but we must go to cover the speech the Dalai Lama is giving right here in our University as we speak. But if you don’t mind, please stay on the line. We’ll be back.”

By then the Dalai Lama was preaching “forgiveness, acceptance and serenity”. Suddenly I heard the voice of my presenter saying: “We’re back with Mr. Taladrid, the Cuban journalist, and my question is: Sir, what is Cuba like today, a brutal dictatorship or the picture-perfect paradise we see in your tourist ads?”

My answer: “Cuba is not a paradise; no country on Earth is. We have as many and diverse problems as any other country, although I’m glad to see that you’re familiar with our tourist industry. I suggest to your listeners that they should visit the Island, where they will find a very beautiful, safe, cultured and honorable nation. Whatever made you think that Cuba is a brutal dictatorship? What happens sometimes to honest, albeit misinformed, people is that they overlook the fact that Cuba is constantly examined in minute detail through the Hubble telescope, but those who describe it usually do it after a simple look through a pair of low-strength glasses that give you blurry, mistaken images.” But all of a sudden, as I was about to mention specific examples…

“Sir, I’m sorry, we’re going live again with the Dalai Lama’s speech, but please hold the line, because it seems our listeners are calling to ask questions about Cuba.” Over the phone I hear again the Dalai Lama’s voice saying: “…We must unite above all religions.” And as if on cue, my presenter again: “We’re back on the air with the Cuban journalist Reinaldo Taladrid. Sir, my next question is: if Raúl Castro succeeded his brother Fidel, does that mean another Castro will succeed Raúl? That is, could Cuba become a communist monarchy?”

“Absolutely not,” I replied. “Raúl was on his own merits the second in command of the revolutionary movement to free Cuba from Fulgencio Batista’s brutal dictatorship. I don’t know whether you’ve heard of it. Tell me, have you? No? Well, then you would be well-advised to read up on the subject so you can understand what we stand for in Cuba nowadays, and also for the sake of your own personal culture.” And there again:

“Look, sir, we must interrupt to go back to the Dalai Lama’s message from the University of Limerick.” Now the Dalai Lama was saying, “We are all the same.”

Then came my presenter again: “We’re back with the Cuban journalist who is paying a visit to Limerick. Mr. Taladrid, did Castro win at Bay of Pigs as a result of the U.S.’s failure to intervene or not?”

“Look, you should learn about that epic feat. The CIA’s masterminds had thought the Cubans would rush en masse to join the mercenary army organized to set them free from the Brutal Dictatorship, but what happened was exactly the opposite. As soon as they landed the Cuban people grabbed the arms the Revolution had given them and received the invaders with bullets instead of flowers. But even if the American troops had come as planned, our country was already prepared to wage a war of attrition against the enemy from [Cuba’s westernmost province of] Pinar del Río –where Fidel had posted Che Guevara– to the eastern region, guarded by Raúl Castro. Yes, Fidel Castro directed the military operations brilliantly, but it was the whole Cuban people who followed him and fought. Fidel alone could have never won. You should ask yourself why a whole people followed Fidel and socialism in such great numbers and…”

“Sir, I’m sorry, but we’re going again with the Dalai Lama”. I keep the receiver stuck to my ear and hear someone in the audience ask the Tibetan leader, ‘Your Eminence, what do you think about the terrible economic crisis facing Ireland and other countries?” Almost at once the Dalai Lama replied: “My knowledge of money issues is zero…”

I hear someone at the radio station’s recording studio say, “Hey, go back with the Cuban and put him on the air again; people are making calls about Cuba.” And again the presenter’s announcement: “Well, we’re back with the interview given by the Cuban journalist visiting Limerick these days. Mr. Taladrid, we’d like you to listen to and talk about what our listeners are saying… Good morning, you’re on the air.”

A first call comes in: “Look, I totally agree with the Cuban. Cuba is neither a paradise nor the awful place they say it is. They have the same problems as any other country. Why don’t you use the Hubble to see what’s going on here with the crisis?” A second caller: “I perfectly understand the Cubans. After all the things they have done and are still doing to them, of course they have to defend themselves above all else. Or do you expect them to commit suicide?” Another call: “I’m from Latin America and live in Limerick. We’re very proud of Cuba and its Revolution. What they do in Cuba they do it for us here and others anywhere else. Long live Cuba and long live Che Guevara…”

Then, without giving so much as a chance to say thanks and goodbye, the presenter brought the interview to a close: “Well, thank you very much for your time, Mr. Taladrid. We’re back to the Dalai Lama”. Had we really run out of time or did they choose to put a stop to the calls?

You have the floor.

p>By Redaction AHORA

Wilfredo Soto

The Granma newspaper discredits the latest smear campaign orchestrated against Cuba with the publication this Thursday of several testimonies from relatives, acquaintances and the medical examiner who examined Juan Wilfredo Soto’s body, the Cuban counterrevolutionary who recently passed away in the central province of Villa Clara.

Rosa Soto, sister of the deceased citizen denies the rumors about the cause of her brother’s death, which was linked to an alleged beating by law enforcement officers.

She said that her brother suffered from various diseases, and didn’t properly looked after his health, while expressing the family’s outrage over the counterrevolutionary propaganda being released on Soto’s death by dissidents and western media.

Also Madelín Soto, niece of the deceased and her husband, Yasmil Perez, affirmed that they accompanied Soto during his stay in the hospital and had no observed any trace of violence in his body.

Jorge Alvarez, who sells flowers in Santa Clara’s Vidal Park, said that the day of the alleged beating, Soto was shouting counterrevolutionary slogans there,and witnessed how police led him to a patrol without the slightest sign of struggle. He adds that he later saw him again in the park and that Soto even asked the policeman for a light. The policeman answered that he didn’t smoke.

Likewise, the forensic specialist, Ricardo Rodríguez said to Granma newspaper that Soto´s death was due to acute pancreatitis, and clarified that the autopsy showed no signs of violence.