Desde su cuenta oficial en Twitter, el movimiento Foro de los Pueblos informó sobre el comunicado urgente en la edición de este domingo del diario The New York Times para el cese de las medidas coercitivas de Washington y posibilitar la compra de suministros necesarios para la reconstrucción del país.

“La administración Biden necesita actuar ahora mismo para ayudar al pueblo caribeño”, destaca el mensaje titulado Let Cuba rebuild (Deja que Cuba se reconstruya).

El texto subraya que el bloqueo económico, comercial y financiero impide a La Habana la obtención de recursos necesarios, por lo cual insta a la Casa Blanca a permitir, aunque sea por los próximos seis meses, comprar materiales de la construcción.

Recuerda que el pueblo de la isla enfrenta un gran revés debido a Ian, que golpeó al territorio el pasado martes y dejó la red eléctrica dañada, viviendas destruidas, afectaciones a los cultivos y renglones económicos importantes como el tabaco, además de problemas en las telecomunicaciones y el abasto de agua.

“Si bien la ley autoriza a entidades y organizaciones norteamericanas a brindar ayuda y respuesta en casos de desastre, está comprobado que no es tan fácil, pues existen procesos largos y complejos para recibir licencias que a menudo requieren abogados costosos”, refiere el documento.

De igual forma, señala cómo la inclusión de Cuba en la supuesta Lista de Estados Patrocinadores del Terrorismo significa que los bancos tanto en territorio estadounidense como en el extranjero son reacios a procesar cualquier transacción, incluidas las donaciones humanitarias.

“Es inconcebible en esta hora crítica mantener el bloqueo y castigar colectivamente a todo un pueblo”, remarca el mensaje, al tiempo que insta al presidente Biden a dejar de lado la política de la Guerra Fría, “¡aunque sea por seis meses!”.

“El pueblo cubano es parte de nuestra familia, la familia humana”, agrega, e insiste en que “¡El momento de actuar es ahora!”.

Tras el paso de Ian, el Foro de los Pueblos compartió el link a un sitio para recibir donaciones y contribuir en los esfuerzos de socorro a Cuba, así como el proyecto solidario Puentes de Amor, centrado en la compra de alimentos, fármacos y equipos médicos.

A principios de septiembre pasado Biden firmó la extensión de la llamada “Ley de comercio con el enemigo”, que prorroga hasta el 14 de septiembre de 2023 el bloqueo y autoriza al mandatario a imponer restricciones económicas.

Según la cancillería de La Habana, la medida desconoce el rechazo de la comunidad mundial a esa política vigente por más de seis décadas, “recrudecida de manera oportunista en el contexto de la pandemia de Covid-19 para rendir por hambre, enfermedad y miseria al pueblo cubano”, aseveró.

Today the Revolution continues to be, as Fidel said on April 16, 1961, on the eve of the Playa Girón invasion (on the Bay of Pigs), “the socialist and democratic Revolution of the humble, with the humble and for the humble.” This is its indisputable essence.

With the awarding of land to campesinos, with tens of thousands of scholarships granted to their children and the extension of education to all corners of the country, with the creation of a universal and free health care system that has achieved statistics similar and some even better than those of the developed world, with the massive training of professionals in all branches of knowledge, it can be said that few countries in the world have done as much as the attacked and slandered Cuba for those Martí called “the poor of the earth.”

At the same time, in the midst of the reinforced blockade and such complex processes as the updating of our economic and social model, every measure adopted has been carefully studied to evaluate and foresee its possible effects on the vulnerable population. As Raúl has repeatedly stated, “No one will be left unprotected.” Nothing could be more alien to the Cuban Revolution than the usual “neoliberal packages” with their tragic consequences.

Cuba’s response to the pandemic has made evident the constant concern of the Party and the government, at all levels, for the health and life of each and every one of our citizens, with no distinction whatsoever. This visibly differentiates us from other rich and powerful countries, including the United States, where COVID-19 has disproportionately hurt the marginalized, Afro-descendants, Latinos, indigenous peoples, immigrants and persons living on the street.

The practice of solidarity toward those who need it most has not been limited to our borders. Africa, a brutally plundered continent, victim of racism in its most monstrous form, attacked for centuries by slave traders, colonialists and imperialists, received from the first years of the triumphant Revolution the fraternal help of Cuban doctors, teachers and soldiers.

Nelson Mandela, during his visit to our country on July 26, 1991, stated these unforgettable words:

“Africa owes a great debt to Cuba…What other country has shown a history of greater disinterest than Cuba has exhibited in its relations with Africa? …We in Africa are accustomed to being victims of other countries that want to splinter our territory and undermine our sovereignty. In the history of Africa there is no other case of a people that has risen up in our defense.”

With what moral authority does the United States presume to accuse the Revolution of racism? How can Cuba be judged under this pretext by the government of a country where hatred and racist crimes are common, where systemic racism exists?

They seek to compare racial prejudice, which we continue to debate in Cuba, with the violence of such phenomena in the United States and Europe, aggravated today by the growth of neo-fascist tendencies.

Aware that every vestige of this evil must be eradicated from our society, and inspired by discussions held in the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (Uneac) and, especially, its Aponte Commission, in November 2019, the Council of Ministers approved the National Program against racism and racial discrimination, to periodically analyze these issues, with the participation of ministries and civil society organizations, in an effort to perfect our socialism and make it more democratic and inclusive.

Another topic raised in anti-Cuban campaigns is associated with freedom of creation in the field of culture.

The cultural work of the Revolution is a source of pride for our entire people. Fidel held the conviction, like Martí, that “without culture there is no possible freedom,” and that art and literature better the people’s quality of life.

In 1961, the first schools for art instructors were established and the foundations laid for our system of artistic education. The children of campesinos, of workers, of those who cut cane only three or four months of the year, of those who barely earned enough to survive in miserable conditions, were also granted scholarships to study art. Many of the principal creators who have emerged from these programs came from the poorest social classes and the most remote regions of Cuban territory.

Cultural institutions, guided by Advisory Councils which include members of the country’s intellectual and artistic vanguard, representatives of Uneac and the Hermanos Saíz Association of young creators, implement a cultural policy free of dogmas and sectarianism. The caricature of the “dissident artist” confronting bureaucratic entities conceived for censorship is a crude propagandistic fabrication.

There is no mention, of course, of market censorship of creators around the world. The pandemic itself has left unprotected many artists who depended on their performances for a livelihood. It has exposed the impact of ignoring the need for public policies to preserve valuable artistic expressions, unable to survive where art is treated as mere merchandise. Neoliberalism is anti-cultural by definition.

Nor does the United States – the largest producer of junk culture on the planet – have the moral authority to judge Cuba in this field.

Culture in Cuba has always been linked to the Revolution, to the ideals of humanism and emancipation. Céspedes and many other pro-independence leaders who led the heroic insurrection that began October 10, 1868 were intellectuals. Martínez Villena, Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Raúl Roa, Marinello, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, among many others, are part of a long tradition that inseparably fuses creative thought and revolutionary practice. Martí and Fidel are crowning examples of this history.

Our authentic intellectuals and artists reject the manipulations of the subversive apparatus financed by imperialism and the shameful actions of mercenaries who attempt to sully the transparent, productive relationships shared by institutions and creators in Cuba.

Human rights, freedom, democracy, culture, dignity, are concepts that belong to us. Our enemies have always attempted to appropriate them to use them against Cuba. It is disgraceful that the principal violators of these principles presume to judge us on the basis of a torrent of lies.

But the truth and the example of Cuba will prevail, as has been the case with the admirable work of our internationalist doctors, in spite of the slanderous media campaign unleashed against them.

As Fidel emphasized at the closing of the University Student Federation’s Fifth Congress, March 25, 1995:

“…There has never been a more humane revolution, or a more pure revolution than the Cuban Revolution. Our enemies have not been able to destroy this truth, in spite of their colossal, enormous publicity apparatus.”

And three years later, on August 1, 1998, at the inauguration of the Monument to the victims of Barbados, he would insist:

“What those who, intoxicated by their impunity and ephemeral power, commit great crimes against peoples can never imagine is that the truth, sooner or later, always prevails.”

(Taken from Granma)

O Centro de Controle Estatal de Medicamentos, Equipamentos e Dispositivos Médicos (Cecmed), autorizou o início da fase III dos testes clínicos da vacina candidata Soberana 02, após rigorosa análise da documentação apresentada pelo Instituto Finlay de Vacinas.

Anteriormente, o presidente da República de Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, publicou na quarta-feira, 3 de março, em sua conta no Twitter, que a fase III dos testes clínicos da Soberana 02 e Abdala começará em breve, em Havana, Santiago de Cuba e Guantánamo, com mais de 85 mil voluntários; e também a fase II da Soberana 01 em Cienfuegos. «A esperança vem, mas não vamos esquecer a responsabilidade», disse.

O presidente também destacou «outro marco em nossa ciência: a Soberana 01A, uma nova vacina candidata (a quinta em Cuba) para convalescentes da Covid-19. A ciência cubana continua fornecendo boas noticias».

Tais resultados nos lembram que a história da Revolução é um ciclo contínuo, pontuado por momentos épicos que, embora partam de um contexto de época, servem para definir tanto a consistência desse processo social quanto o de seu povo, ator fundamental de todas as conquistas.

As epopeias nacionais, desde 1959, têm a auréola das grandes causas coletivas, nas quais a decisão de uma sociedade se une ao espírito de seu tempo e à fé em uma causa. Nós, cubanos, participamos de vários destes que coloriram nossa história com os pigmentos verdes da esperança, porque nenhum povo que as encenou deve amputar suas certezas do amanhã.

Intervimos e vencemos na Campanha de Alfabetização, na limpeza de bandidos no Escambray, na agressão bélica imperialista de Playa Girón, nos planos de institucionalização, nos conflitos produtivos, na industrialização das províncias, na batalha pela volta do menino Elián González …

Cuba, em breve, abraçará uma nova epopéia, talvez a mais marcante que se possa lutar hoje: a imunização de seu povo contra um vírus mortal que tem aterrorizado o mundo.

A pandemia é um dos principais desafios desta época, junto com o aquecimento global, o perigo de uma explosão nuclear e a política de predação dos Estados Unidos.

Depois de produzir – graças ao desenvolvimento da biotecnologia – a que constitui a primeira vacina da América Latina contra o vírus SARS-COV-2, segundo a Organização Pan-Americana da Saúde e a Organização das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento Industrial, a Ilha estará no ideal possibilidade de iniciar uma campanha de vacinação que imunize sua população contra a Covid-19.

Após o anúncio do primeiro lote de 150 mil doses da Soberana 02 (dos cem milhões previstos) e a preparação do segundo, foi anunciado o início da produção da vacina candidata Abdala.

O que está acontecendo neste país – em meio a um bloqueio atroz a qualquer entrada financeira – é algo só crível porque se trata de Cuba, de sua Revolução, de seu olho insone para preservar a saúde do povo, obra do esforço de Fidel.

(Tirado de Granma)

And when Trump hunts, no coronavirus or any other humanitarian disaster gets in the way. The only thing on his agenda on this trip was getting re-elected.

Florida, the apple of every candidate’s eye, once again served as an opportunity to trade hatred for votes. Winning here is key for anyone, since the state, plus California and Texas, constitute the famous triad of “pendulum states,” where voting patterns are not clear and, therefore provide both parties possibilities.

Thus, as in 2016, Trump has made regular visits here, aware that, over the last few years, whoever succeeds in Florida, becomes President. He knows this and has a plan to win the Latino vote.

He was not interested in the COVID-19 epidemic in the state, which has already twice broken the record for new cases reported in a single day anywhere in the United States.

He preferred to focus on satisfying the malicious passions and supporting the intrigues of ex-patriot Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans who love their homelands little and do not understand the meaning of sovereignty.

At Southern Command headquarters, he asserted that very good work has been done in the fight against drugs, and then turned his attention to the most controversial wall in the Americas, designed to cut off emigration from the South, a project without support in Florida, the country, or the world.

Covering all his bases, from the Southern Command he moved on to the Doral Jesus Worship Center for a round table chat during which, once again, the President explained his philosophy for the county’s “backyard,” that is Latin America and the Caribbean. He was accompanied by Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican Congressman from Florida, known for his hostile rhetoric against Cuba.

In the exercise of U.S. electoral politics, every word spoken and place visited reveals an intention. Confirming this U.S. administration’s ruthlessly hostile policy toward Cuba, Trump made his most aggressive statements of the day in this “religious center,” denounced by Cuban Foreign Ministry, given its links with the April 30 terrorist attack on the Cuban Embassy in Washington,.

As occurred four years ago, the President knew that he will find plenty of supporters at the Doral Jesus Worship Center, “parishioners” with a visceral hatred for progressive and leftist movements on the continent.

Thus the script was repeated; he said what they wanted to hear, talking about the lack of freedom in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua; of alleged escapes from socialism; of sanctions against the governments of Nicolás Maduro and Daniel Ortega; and of his iron fist over Cuba.

He linked the names of Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama to distorted, pro-communist positions. Dismissive rejections of reality, accusations, lies… everything goes in U.S. electoral contests.

At his side, a Cuban annexationist thanked the President “for his historic actions to support democracy in Cuba,” expressing agreement with the closure of consular services at the U.S. embassy in Havana, regardless of what that has meant in the development of migratory relations between the two countries; the persecution of shipping companies transporting oil to the island, in an attempt to make the daily lives of millions of Cubans unbearable; and the attack on everything that benefits the tourism sector, key to the national economy, which has been hit hard by the reduction of flights and the suspension of cruise ship travel to the island.

Referring to the process of re-establishing diplomatic relations begun in 2014, Trump stated, “The deal we made with Cuba was ridiculous. That’s why the Cubans gave me the Bay of Pigs award, just before the last election. It was a great honor. I have it in my office.”

In 2016, the Miami Herald called Trump’s catering to Brigade 2506 mercenaries “a desperate, last-minute attempt to reach out to Miami’s influential Cuban-American voters,” and criticized the magnate’s support as a mistake, later describing him as “a boastful, self-centered egomaniac who lacks a record of public service or familiarity with the issues.”

But a newspaper column can do nothing to deter those who invaded Playa Girón in April of 1961, and have accumulated a vicious record of attacks on Cuba since then. For decades, they have supported any politician that followed a hard line against Cuba.

There must be some kind of agreement on the issue among these old mercenaries; they have no qualms about being used, time and time again.

Although the reality has varied, this spiteful group still presumes to exercise leadership over the large community of Cuban residents in Florida, who in their majority reject Trump’s aggressive policy, supporting the reestablishment of diplomatic relations and the normalization of relations between Havana and Washington.

Donald Trump approached the Miami-based Cuban counterrevolution back in 1999. He was dreaming of becoming President and, at that time, announced that he was considering seeking the nomination of the Reform Party, a minority organization.

He changed his mind shortly thereafter, and went back to business.

This 2020, needing his puppets, as usual, Trump returned. Mario Díaz-Balart, congratulated the magnate, saying that he will be remembered as “the President who freed this hemisphere from Communism and Socialism.”

“They won’t last another four years of President Trump,” Díaz-Balart added, but as the bad advisor he is, he has forgotten that a U.S. President said the same thing in 1959, when the Revolution led by Fidel Castro triumphed; in 1961, when the Bay of Pigs attack failed so miserably; in 1962, during the October Crisis; in the 1990s during the special period through 2014, when Obama initiated a new strategy; and in 2019, when “They threw us to our deaths,” as Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said.

And here we are.

A floral wreath to Vilma Espín Guillois sent by her comrade in arms and companion in life, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, crowned the tribute to the heroine of the guerrilla and clandestine struggle before the monumental boulder that holds her ashes, on the 13th anniversary of her physical disappearance, June 18.

Teresa Amarelle Boué, member of the Party Political Bureau and secretary general of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), had the honor of placing the flowers beside the monument in the Frank País Eastern Front Mausoleum, while a wreath was added by Leyanis Riquelmes Batista, president of the Municipal Defense Council, in the name of the Cuban people.

Vilma was also remembered by President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who tweeted: “With Vilma in times of combat. Vilma, always present.” Highlighting the legacy of the eternal President of the FMC, the President quoted, in another tweet, a comment by the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz: “Vilma’s words are always intelligent, serene, revolutionary and sweet.”

During the tribute in these mountains, where after 14 months of difficult underground clandestine work Vilma joined the armed struggle, Amarelle insisted that she is reborn today in the determination of Cuban women to fight and win the COVID-19 battle, increase local production of food, and boost the country’s economy.

Joining Amarelle were Party Central Committee members Lazaro Expósito Canto Party and Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, president and vice-president of the Provincial Defense Council, as well as Brigadier General Agustín Peña Porres, head of the Eastern Army, who brought roses to honor this extraordinary Cuban woman.

(Source: Granma)

Compatriots:

We extend our gratitude to the admirable personalities accompanying us today, and our recognition to the workers, students and all of the people filling this square.

We are living through days of intense and crucial battle. For five months we have been fighting restlessly. Millions of our compatriots, almost without exception, have participated in this fight. Our consciousness and the ideas sown by the Revolution throughout more than four decades have been our weapons.

Revolution means to have a sense of history; it is changing everything that must be changed; it is full equality and freedom; it is being treated and treating others like human beings; it is achieving emancipation by ourselves and through our own efforts; it is challenging powerful dominant forces from within and without the social and national milieu; it is defending the values in which we believe at the cost of any sacrifice; it is modesty, selflessness, altruism, solidarity and heroism; it is fighting with courage, intelligence and realism; it is never lying or violating ethical principles; it is a profound conviction that there is no power in the world that can crush the power of truth and ideas. Revolution means unity; it is independence, it is fighting for our dreams of justice for Cuba and for the world, which is the foundation of our patriotism, our socialism and our internationalism.

In real and concrete terms, for 41 years now we have confronted a neighbor located just 90 miles away, the most formidable power that has ever existed in a world that has become unipolar and hegemonic.

This time the struggle has taken on a particularly critical character, as a consequence of the kidnapping of a child. Has he by chance been the only one? No! Many Cuban children have been separated from one of their parents and illegally taken to the United States without the slightest possibility to recover them by turning to the U.S. authorities.

In just the first two and a half years of the Revolution, some 14,000 children were taken out of the country clandestinely, in this case with the consent of their fathers, mothers, or both. These parents were victims of deceit, taken in by a carefully crafted and deliberately fabricated rumor based on a fictitious law spread by the U.S. intelligence services and their agents in Cuba leading these parents to believe that they would be deprived of their paternal rights over their children. The subsequent abrupt suspension by the U.S. government of regular flights between Cuba and the United States left these parents separated from their children, many of whom suffered terribly feeling helpless and uprooted.

On this most recent occasion, a humble father turned to our government for help: his son, who had not even turned six, had suffered a horrible tragedy. Without the father’s knowledge or consent, the child had been taken out of the country illegally as part of an irresponsible and hazardous misadventure organized by an aggressive and violent criminal. As Elián’s maternal grandmother Raquel stated upon arrival in New York on January 21 seeking her grandson’s liberation, that abusive individual had dragged her daughter into this tragedy.

The boat sank and the boy watched his mother drown. She was an excellent worker, a member of the Young Communist League and the Communist Party, and all those who knew her thought highly of her. She was one of the victims among the 11 Cubans who lost their lives that day. Like many others throughout the last 34 years, they were led to their deaths by a monstrous and bloody aberration known as the Cuban Adjustment Act, which promotes illegal migration and the smuggling of humans. Like millions of people from poor countries on this and other continents, they travel to the United States lured by the ostentatious luxury and extravagant displays of consumer societies.

In the particular case of Cuba, these attractions are enhanced by the tremendous privileges granted by the aforementioned legislation exclusively to the Cubans traveling illegally to the United States from Cuba, which come on top of four decades of a blockade and an economic war as abhorrent as this law. Thus, in spite of the migratory agreements signed by the two countries, Florida is being filled with criminals who arrive by illegal means. Five out of every ten individuals who reach the United States in this way have criminal records that include burglary and other similar crimes.

As it is known, this child managed to survive by remaining adrift on an inner tube for more than 30 hours. The Cuban-American terrorist mob, created by irresponsible U.S. administrations after their own image and likeness, took control of the child as an invaluable poster boy. A corrupt and sinister individual –simply a distant relative who had only seen the child once in his life– was given temporary custody. Completely under the mob’s control, he refused to surrender Elián when his father claimed the boy after he was released from hospital.

Consequently, with their usual tenacity our people immediately began the fight to demand that the child be returned to his father and the close relatives with whom he had always lived.

According to international law and the legal standards prevailing both in the United States and Cuba, the proper procedure would have been to immediately return the child to his country of origin and to resolve any dispute in a Cuban court of law. However, almost 10 days would pass before a response was given to the diplomatic note presented by the Ministry of Foreign Relations demanding the return of the child as requested by the father from the very beginning. By that time, the first public protests had taken place in Cuba, and they have continued up until today.

It is obvious that they underestimated our people, who have not rested a single day in fighting for something absolutely just, and who have conveyed to the American people and the rest of the world their message of pain and indignation over the injustice committed against a humble Cuban family and the terrible crime perpetrated against this child. Elián has endured almost five months of mental torture, psychological pressure and political manipulation. Not even Dante could have described the hell he has been through!

These events aroused the sympathies of tens of millions of American families with children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews of Elian’s age. For them, as for the rest of the world, it became increasingly clear that there could be no political or ideological justification for such a barbaric and harsh crime against a child and his father, regardless of their nationality.

The Miami terrorist mob and its allies from the extreme right in the United States have accused us of politicizing the case, when we have actually been fighting against this crime through peaceful means. Not a single window has been broken at the U.S. Interests Section, not a single stone has been thrown at that building, not a single American official or visitor has been harassed, not a single U.S. flag has been trampled on or burned in our streets.

I wonder what the U.S. government would have done if a similar situation had been created with a barely six years old American child kidnapped in Cuba and subjected to the appalling treatment this child has sustained in that country.

Throughout almost five months –from the time the child was found off the Florida coast– inconceivable things have happened and all kinds of abuses and mistakes have been made. Despite their knowledge of the situation, until very shortly before the boy was rescued, the various branches of the U.S. administration showed little concern over his mental health and the scandalous public exhibition and manipulation of which he was a victim, or something even more reprehensible: the physical dangers he was facing.

The chief of the commando force involved in the rescue operation recently stated that the resistance to the raid was perfectly organized and that there were numerous armed men around the house where the child was being held captive, just as the Cuban government had warned the State Department and publicly denounced between March 22 and April 22.

The last seven-point proposal sent by the Attorney General to the child’s father, at close to 10:00 p.m. on Friday, April 21 –approximately seven hours before Elián was freed from his kidnappers at 5:00 a.m. the following day– contained three points that I did not want to read at the mass rally in Jagüey Grande where we commemorated the painful episode of the Bay of Pigs mercenary invasion. I felt they were simply too grotesque and so I opted for the 24 four-hour truce of which I spoke, in recognition of the decision finally adopted by the Attorney General, although we remained profoundly concerned about future events. Those points were:

“2. Saturday morning Elián and Lázaro’s family will fly to Washington on a USMS (United States Marshall Service) plane under the supervision of the USMS. DOJ (Department of Justice) will transport them directly to Airlie House. The child will be guarded by USMS.

“3. During the residence at Airlie, Elián will live with Juan Miguel, who will have full authority over Elián except for any condition of parole or other limitations imposed by the INS such as departure control. Upon Juan’s arrival at Airlie House, the AG (Attorney General) will parole Elián into Juan Miguel’s care. Lázaro’s family will reside at Airlie House in separate quarters.

“4. The parties will remain in residence at the site while the CA (Court of Appeals) 11 injunction remains in effect, or until the AG in consultation with experts determines it is appropriate to change the arrangements.

Nothing could be more humiliating, or more closely resemble the imprisonment or kidnapping of Juan Miguel with his wife and two sons. It was the beginning of a new stage in the psychological torture of the whole family, even worse than that sustained by the boy in Miami.

Those who have seen Marisleysis’ hysteria on television and know who the sinister Lázaro really is, and also all the honest psychiatrists, fully understand what this absurd and impossible cohabitation would have meant for Elián and his family. This is precisely what the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) was demanding. It was such a proposal that led to Juan Miguel’s almost suicidal decision to immediately leave for Miami with his wife and son to personally rescue Elián.

But, those crazed counterrevolutionary ringleaders were so stupid that they opposed this proposal, even though it was exactly what they themselves had been demanding, except that they wanted it to take place in Miami, and not in Washington.

The well-known Congressman Bob Menéndez, a lobbyist and close ally of the Miami mob, together with an assistant under-Secretary of State spent Friday, April 21, desperately searching for a place similar to Airlie House in the Miami area.

These facts I have related to demonstrate the shameful lengths reached by the Attorney General to avoid the use of force. Nobody in our country ignores the potential dangers lying on the twisted path taken by the U.S. authorities –under pressure from the CANF– to resolve what would have been a simple migratory case if it had not involved a Cuban child.

Here are a few facts that support this statement:

First: The three judges on the panel responsible for ruling on the mob’s appeal are not trustworthy. The response to the Attorney General’s request for them to legally direct Lázaro González to surrender the child, after his obvious failure to abide by the INS order, will go down in history as a prime example of outrageous, biased and overbearing conduct. On that day, they decreed that a child of any age and nationality could apply for asylum in the United States against his or her parents’ will. On the other hand, the martyred child has been forced to remain in the United States until the legal proceedings have concluded. Nothing was said, however, about the failure to abide by the order issued to the kidnapper to surrender the child. The Attorney General had no choice. She was forced to either make shameless concessions or to use force. She did both. Only fate and the skill of the marshals prevented the worst from happening, and the child was rescued safe and sound.

What guarantee does the father now have that the reunion with his son will be final? None!

Second: The Nuevo Herald reported on April 26 that on the previous day, Tuesday, April 26, a group of 11 senators had called a meeting with Attorney General Janet Reno in order to “discuss concerns.” When she was asked, “what would happen if the Atlanta Court of Appeals or any other court decided that the child should be granted asylum,” the Attorney General answered, “Then I believe we will have to send him back to Miami.”

The danger that this court will decide that the child has the right to asylum is real. It would fully coincide with the doctrine that it followed in its April 19 ruling and with what the terrorist mob demanded. Nobody could guess the reaction of the international public, and the public in the United States itself, if Elián were torn away from Juan Miguel and sent back to the living hell of the González’ house, now that they have seen everything that was done to the child in Miami and witnessed the moving images of the father and son’s reunion. It is impossibility, but this is what the Attorney General said, and this is what the Atlanta panel could decide.

Third: On April 26, the ANSA news agency issued the following report from Washington: “‘Wye River’ –that is the name of the place where Juan Miguel and his family are staying– ‘was chosen because it is very good for a child, who can play on its grounds. And it is big enough so that the relatives can potentially be there without bothering one another,’ said a Department of Justice official who asked for anonymity.”

As you can see, this is a recurrence of the old and sinister idea contained in the previously mentioned horrifying points in the proposal sent to Juan Miguel on the critical night of Friday, April 21. And none other than an “anonymous” Justice Department official stated it.

Fourth: On April 26, Gregory Craig, Juan Miguel’s attorney, presented to the three-judge panel at the Atlanta Court of Appeals what is known as an emergency motion requesting Juan Miguel’s intervention in the proceedings. The motion also requested that Juan Miguel replace Lázaro González as the child’s sole legal representative, both in his capacity as the only surviving parent and as Elián’s “next friend”, a strange term used in the U.S. legal proceedings when a minor has no close relative to represent him or her in court, which obviously does not apply in Elián’s case.

On the following day, April 27, the Atlanta panel refused to recognize Juan Miguel as the child’s sole representative, but granted him the right to intervene in the proceedings, although voting was divided on the latter point.

With regard to this matter, the New York Times reported on April 28, “In a mixed decision on the Elián González case, a federal appeals court today put off a request by the boy’s father to serve as his sole legal representative, which would have effectively ended the court challenge… In its ruling, the appellate court panel said it was ‘hesitant’ to grant Juan Miguel González the right to intervene in the case at this late date, but had agreed to the request because he was the boy’s father. One of the three judges dissented.

“The court also said it would be ‘premature’ to decide whether the boy’s father should serve as Elián’s sole representative.”

The well-founded motion presented by Juan Miguel’s attorney and his sound arguments were dismissed by the panel with regard to the father serving as sole representative of his son.

According to legal experts, if the ruling to be made by the three judges on May 11 is divided, that is, based on a two-to-one vote, the losing side could request that all of the judges on the Atlanta Court of Appeals pass judgment on the case and not only the three who have been assigned to it.

In any case, the experts say, this recourse would mean a further possibility of prolonging the duration of legal proceedings, and could always be followed by an appeal before the Supreme Court.

There are five other alternatives that could be pursued to draw out the proceedings indefinitely.

At the same time, the mob’s attorneys have applied for various orders and definitions.

Fifth: Going back to April 25, AP reported the following from Laredo, Texas: “‘The Clinton administration should try to persuade Elián González’s father to stay in the United States to raise his son here,’ said Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush. ‘I hope the government explains to the father that, if he prefers to, he can raise his son in freedom, that the father can stay here in the United States. It is important for our government to remember that the mother was fleeing in search of freedom, to bring her son to freedom. I hope that the government convinces the father to raise his son in the United States of America.’”

Sixth: On the following day, according to a wire report from the EFE news agency, Hillary Clinton, the U.S. president’s wife, during a radio interview in Buffalo, New York, “expressed her hope that the father of the little Cuban boy Elián González, Juan Miguel, will eventually decide to seek exile and live in the United States.

“‘I hope that this taste of freedom and opportunity he has had with his son during this time might help him to reconsider staying definitively in the United States.

“‘I am convinced that many people would be happy to take him in if he decides to defect,’ said the first lady, using the term applied to soldiers who resolve to abandon their own country and seek refuge in another, usually an enemy country.”

In other words, they do not mind talking about instigating the defection of a father who has been viciously slandered for months. They cannot even conceive of an honorable Cuban. First, they accused him of being a coward, who did not dare to travel to the United States and did not even care about his son. Then, they claimed that the Cuban government would not allow him to go to the United States, so that he did not defect. Now, that they have seen him arrive with his wife and infant son, at the exact time, hour and minute he should do so, they have still not recovered from their amazement at Juan Miguel’s dignity, courage and sense of honor. They are trying to keep him there indefinitely in the hope of enticing him away. They are all working in unison in pursuit of the same goal: to ensure that the boy never returns to Cuba, and thus deal a moral blow to the proud and heroic people that produced Juan Miguel and Elián.

Where are the ethics of that country’s political leaders? How can they be so utterly ignorant of the realities of Cuba? Why such contempt? How long will they go on believing their own lies?

On April 27, a whole series of limitations and obstacles were suddenly imposed on the movements of the Cuban officials responsible for Juan Miguel, his wife and his two sons, who are currently 70 miles away. Only four visas were granted for the children who should travel to the United States to help with Elián’s recovery, and they have been limited to a 15-day stay. An absurd formula has been developed by which they must rotate every two weeks; and none of the crucially needed specialists requested by the family has received permission to travel to the United States. Obviously, the purpose was to isolate Juan Miguel, his wife and the two children in the distant Wye River estate in Maryland.

Coinciding with Mr. Bush and Mrs. Hillary Clinton’s statements, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in an interview with the Fox TV network, “We have some very serious problems with Cuba and we are going to maintain the embargo law” –that is what she calls the blockade and the economic war– “and the Cuban Democracy Act” –that is how she refers to the genocidal Helms-Burton Act.

It is amazing, though, because nobody in Cuba had asked the U.S. government for forgiveness nor had anyone asked it to put an end to this blockade, which is becoming increasingly unsustainable and is definitely crumbling because it is obsolete and it is ever more costly in political and moral terms for the United States.

The forefathers who instituted our homeland’s heroic tradition of challenging the United States’ two-hundred-year old dream of annexing Cuba taught us that rights are demanded, not begged for. Nothing will be easy with regard to Cuba in the future. Forty years resisting all sorts of aggressions and injustices, and the war of ideas we have been waging ceaselessly throughout five long months have made us much stronger.

We will fight tirelessly against the murderous Cuban Adjustment Act; against the cruel Helms-Burton Act, whose sponsors deserve to stand trial for the crime of genocide, according to the conventions signed in 1948 and 1949 by both Cuba and the United States; and against the Act whose namesake, Robert Torricelli, is an ally of the Miami terrorist mob.

We will fight against the blockade and the economic war that our people have endured for almost half a century. We will fight against all subversive activities carried out from within the United States, including terrorist acts aimed at destabilizing our nation, and we will fight for the return to our homeland of the territory illegally occupied in our country. We will fulfill everything we pledged in the Baraguá Oath, in honor of the indelible and immortal memory of Antonio Maceo, the Bronze Titan.

We do not blame the American people; we blame those who are responsible for the lies used to deceive them for much longer than Lincoln ever imagined. On the contrary, we pay tribute to the overwhelming majority of those people who, despite all those lies, have opposed the odious crime committed against a small Cuban boy.

It would be wise for the current and future leaders of the United States to realize that David has grown and that he has gradually become a moral giant who does not throw stones with his sling, but rather examples and ideas against which the Goliath of finances, colossal wealth, nuclear weapons, the most sophisticated technology and worldwide political power based on selfishness, demagogy, hypocrisy and lies is completely helpless.

To ensure that they do not get their hopes too high over their ridiculous and Pyrrhic victory arising from the loathsome resolution adopted in Geneva, based on slander and imposed by the U.S. government through humiliating pressures and the backing of its NATO allies, during that same session Cuba put forward six resolutions in favor of Third World nations. They were all adopted by an overwhelming majority, with the United States voting against every single one, generally with the sole support or abstention of the small group of its wealthy European allies.

The peoples of an ungovernable world, who suffer poverty and indigence and are exploited and plundered at an ever-growing rate, will be our best comrades in arms. We certainly lack the financial resources to cooperate with them. Instead, we have an extraordinary and selfless human capital that the wealthy countries do not have and never will possess.

Long live patriotism!

Long live socialism!

Long live internationalism!

Patria o muerte!

Venceremos!

The International Relations Commission of the National Assembly of People’s Power has expressed its strongest rejection of the European Parliament’s Common Resolution (2019/2929 RSP), given its interventionist content and disrespect for Cuban sovereignty, with absolute ignorance of our reality.

Cuban legislators commented on the text, approved by a 56% majority vote, stating, “Unfortunately, such statements respond to the new slander campaign orchestrated by the United States government, as part of its failed policy of hostility and aggression toward Cuba, which has escalated over the last few months, and run up against the Cuban people’s capacity for resistance.”

The International Relations Commission also expressed “deep concern that a group of Euro deputies, who are members of certain political forces within the European Parliament, echoing this campaign with evident political motivations, have lent themselves to orchestrating this anti-Cuban maneuver by promoting such statements in the forum, in open subordination to the imperial desires of the United States and alignment with its aggressive policy toward Cuba.”

This resolution “contradicts the spirit of respectful dialogue that has prevailed in relations between Cuba and the European Union,” the Cuban statement points out and adds: “Following its usual course of action, the United States finances activities that threaten Cuba’s constitutional order, attempting to recruit mercenaries to artificially fabricate the “opposition” they desire, in the absence of legitimate support for their goals of domination. Such is the case with José Daniel Ferrer, whose criminal record has been well documented.

The International Relations Commission stated, “There is plenty of evidence of these actions which the U.S. government would never allow in its own territory, with which it openly violates the bilateral Agreement on the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries and disregards the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and international law. This constitutes clear and unacceptable interference in Cuba’s internal affairs.”

The Cuban deputies reiterate, “Unacceptable resolutions such as this only serve as a basis and support for the attempts of the U.S. government to destroy the noble and generous work of the Cuban Revolution, and to justify its policy of blockade, which constitutes the most serious and flagrant violation of human rights of our entire people.”

And finally, “expresses to the European Parliament the willingness of Cuban legislators to continue maintaining relations with the European Parliament and to continue exchanges with its members on the basis of recognition of our differences and respect for our independence and sovereignty, in accordance with the principles of international law”.

(Granma)

With the presence of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez; and heads of state Nicolás Maduro, from Venezuela; Evo Morales, from Bolivia; Salvador Sánchez Cerén, from El Salvador; and more than 630 delegates and guests, the Final Declaration of Havana was read, as well as an action plan for the coming year.

Mónica Valente, executive secretary of the organization, described the event as emblematic and thanked the leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba and our people for the effort made to host the event, opening our arms to the struggles of peoples around the region and the world.

Resolutions from sector meetings were presented, and debates summarized, while an international campaign to demand “Freedom for Lula now” was launched, with a worldwide twitter effort planned for this coming August.

The closing remarks were made by José Ramón Machado Ventura, Party second secretary, who recalled that, for Fidel, the word ‘defeat ‘ never existed, only temporary setbacks, since as long as there is injustice, there will be revolutions.

(Granma)

For obvious reasons, a personal and more wide-ranging interview with this journalist could not be conducted. However, the fact that Lula took some of his time while imprisoned to answer our questions makes this interview particularly significant, not only for Cuban readers, but all those around the world.

As a candidate for the Presidency of Brazil, with the greatest popular support and all polls indicating you are the favorite to win, how would you describe the persecution and imprisonment to which you have been subjected?

It’s a political process, political imprisonment. The case against me fails to point to a crime, nor is there any evidence. They had to disrespect the Constitution to arrest me. What is becoming increasingly transparent to Brazilian society and the world is that they want to take me out of the 2018 elections. The coup in 2016, with the removal of an elected president, indicates that they don’t accept the people voting for whoever they want to vote for.

For many leaders imprisoned simply for fighting for the people, prison has served as a place for reflection and the organization of ideas to continue the struggle. In your case, how are you dealing with these first days, since you are preventing from being in contact with the people?

I’m reading and thinking a lot, it’s a moment of much reflection about Brazil and especially everything that has happened in recent times. I am at peace with my conscience and I doubt that all those who lied against me sleep as peacefully as I do.

Of course I would like to be free and doing what I have done all my life: dialoging with the people. But I am aware that the injustice that is being committed against me is also an injustice against the Brazilian people.

How important is it for you to know that across all Brazilian states there are thousands of compatriots in favor of your release?

The relationship that I have built over decades with the Brazilian people, with social movement organizations, is a very trusting relationship and it is something that I greatly appreciate, because in my entire political career I always insisted on never betraying that trust. And I would not betray that trust for any money, for an apartment, for nothing. That was the case before being president, during my presidency and afterwards. So, for me, that solidarity is something that moves me and encourages me to stand fast.

How would you define the concept of democracy imposed by the oligarchy to exclude leaders of the left and ensure they don’t come to power?

Latin America has experienced its strongest moment of democracy and social gains in the last decades. But recently the elites of the region are trying to impose a model where the democratic process is only valid when they win, which, of course, is not democracy. So it is an attempt at democracy without the people. When it doesn’t turn out the way they want, they change the rules of the game to benefit the vision of a small minority. That is very serious. And we are not only seeing it in Latin America, but throughout the world, an increase in intolerance and political persecution. It has happened in Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and other countries.

What message do you send to all those who, in Brazil and around the world, are showing solidarity with you and demanding your immediate release?

I really appreciate all the solidarity. It is necessary to be solidary with the Brazilian people. Unemployment is rising, more than a million families have returned to cooking with firewood because of the increase in the price of cooking gas, millions who had left poverty behind are once again facing the situation of having nothing to eat, and even the middle class has lost jobs and income.

Brazil was on a path of decades of democratic progress, of political participation, and together with this, social advances, which accelerated with the governments of the PT (Worker’s Party), which won four elections in a row.

They have not only dealt the PT a blow. They didn’t arrest me just to malign Lula. They did so against a model of national development and social inclusion. The coup was to do away with the rights of workers and retirees, gained over the last 60 years. And the people are realizing that. And we are going to need a lot of organization to return to a popular government in Brazil, with sovereignty, social inclusion and economic development.

Lula, the same friend who kindly sent us the answers to this interview, also passed on two special messages: “I take this opportunity to thank compañeros Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel for their solidary greetings, which were transmitted to me by Frei Betto.”

(Granma)

And there is also disinterest in this act of ceding, that does not imply quitting. There is much humility in those who leave to others the leadership of the great work of the Revolution to which they have given their all – to now accompany those bearing the responsibility, in Raúl’s case, as the highest authority in the political vanguard and from his seat as a deputy.

The events were as natural as they were transcendental.

On the first day of the Assembly’s constituent session, we saw Raúl take his seat in the first row, exercise his right to vote, ballot in hand, showing with his unassuming conduct that the time had arrived, the moment that always seemed so distant.

And when Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez was elected as President of Cuba, Raúl stepped up, without any unnecessary protocol or solemn posture, to receive him, embrace him, show his confidence in the man, the future.

Speaking of Díaz-Canel, Raúl emphasized that he is no rookie, noting his work as an engineer, an officer in the Revolutionary Armed Forces, a youth leader and later a professional Party cadre in Villa Clara and Holguín. He spoke of his performance as Minister of Higher Education, and for the last five years, as First Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers.

The new President spoke of Raúl as a statesman, of his leadership in the development of national consensus on the updating process underway in the country, as well as his rich history as a participant in the Moncada assault, a Granma expeditionary, a guerilla, military commander, and political leader.

“I’m not here to promise anything,” Díaz-Canel said, “as the Revolution never did over all these years. I’m here to offer commitment,” to continue working and creating tirelessly, in step with the people.

In this endeavor, we are not alone, because “even our dead accompany us.”

It may not be easy to do all that needs to be done, but this April 19, there was no parting. The continuity has a face, faces.

(Granma)