Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, August 22 - A hug to you and to the Bolivarian people of Venezuela, dear brother Nicolás Maduro, legitimate President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Our greetings to the brother Heads of State and Government: the dear co-presidents of Nicaragua, Daniel and Rosario; the President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Arce; the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; and to the honorable representatives of the countries that make up our Alliance;
Also, our greetings to the esteemed Rander Peña, Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP, who has worked intensely since assuming this responsibility.
First of all, Maduro, I send a cordial greeting from Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, who has been following everything that is happening, including the call for this Summit.
I want to begin my words by reading a text whose source I will mention afterwards.
The text says: “Gunboat diplomacy returns to the Caribbean. Ships, planes, a submarine, and thousands of U.S. forces are deployed in the region, this time under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking and criminal groups that endanger the security of the United States. It would seem like a worn-out farce if it were not because it could lead to tragedy. The news circulates at the same time that the government of that country, shamelessly violating all norms of international coexistence, puts a bounty on the head of the legitimate President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
What I just read is a brief but forceful fragment, and at the same time loaded with painful memory, from a declaration by Casa de las Américas, which, as we all know, is an institution of the progressive intellectuals of Our America that also maintains strong ties with creators from North America.
The denunciation they have issued from their headquarters in Havana is a cry of urgency from our thinkers, aware of the significance of these acts of imperial arrogance, but also of the power of the unity you mentioned to stop them.
There is no doubt that we live in times of enormous challenges and exceptional risks.
Imperialism, in the deployment of its hegemonist and aggressive offensive, shows clearly that it has no intention of stopping before the limits imposed by International Law, the United Nations Charter, and decades of regional and universal resolutions and declarations against coercion, threats, interference in the internal affairs of other States, and intervention.
The announced prerogative that the United States Government intends to grant its law enforcement agencies to act against criminal organizations inside the borders of other States constitutes an unacceptable threat of aggression, a violation of the sovereignty of the nations in the region, and an additional alteration of the regime of peace and cooperation that Latin American and Caribbean countries have worked so hard to guarantee.
The cited deployment of naval military units to the southern Caribbean, under the command of the Southern Command, is said to involve up to 4,000 personnel and is presented as a deterrent act, under the false and disproportionate argument of combating drug cartels. This is being said and promoted by the most narco state in the world, which is the United States.
Given the characteristics of the deployed units, this is a strategic move that could facilitate actions under the cover of U.S. law, specifically Title 50 of the United States Code on War and National Defense, which grants the President of that country the authority to carry out military or covert operations, sanctions, and asset confiscations without prior notification to Congress.
That is why Cuba firmly denounces this new demonstration of imperial force and joins the call — as you do, Nicolás — to ALBA-TCP, and from here to all the peoples of the world, to condemn this irrational assault by the Trump administration.
We also denounce with equal firmness the encouragement and funding of terrorist plans against Venezuela, as well as the mendacious accusation launched by the U.S. government against President Nicolás Maduro, which seeks to associate him, without any basis or proof, with criminal organizations linked to illicit drug trafficking. Once again, these are the types of maneuvers imperialism resorts to when it harbors aggressive intentions against sovereign States, when it cannot crush the spirit of resistance of the peoples and therefore needs a fraudulent pretext to justify its actions.
The serious threats coming from that turbulent and brutal North that despises us, as José Martí called it, are part of a vile domination scheme aimed at reactivating the Monroe Doctrine, the cornerstone of U.S. interventionism in our hemisphere.
Therefore, we have no choice but to confront the empire that seeks to subordinate us to its interests, and we must do so firmly united in conviction and action. With that spirit of historical commitment to the unwavering defense of our common destiny, we have convened in ALBA-TCP.
The peace and peaceful coexistence among States that we aspire to cannot be based on naïveté nor make us forget the dangers. It is our duty to defend it as an inalienable right, and from realistic positions.
As you all know, on August 13, we celebrated—not only in Cuba but also in other countries of Latin America, the Caribbean, and around the world—the 99th anniversary of the birth of the Commander in Chief and the greatest historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, who continues to inspire us through his vast legacy of ideas and action.
These days we have begun an international commemorative year for his Centenary.
Fidel’s multifaceted contribution to history and to the efforts for integration and unity in our region is immeasurable. New generations of Latin American and Caribbean leaders and social activists embrace that Fidelist legacy which, together with that of the unforgettable Commander Hugo Chávez and other undisputed leaders of the unity efforts in Our America, remains now more than ever a guiding compass for action, in line with Bolivarian and Martian thought.
A careful guardian of diversity, Fidel was also a tireless builder of the unity of our peoples, rooted in a deep anti-imperialist spirit. He taught us that the battle is not only political or economic, but also cultural and moral.
With this arsenal of experiences and ideas, we are called to face the threats looming not only over some of our countries—like Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba lately targeted by U.S. unilateral coercive economic measures—but also over all peoples willing to decide their own destiny. Defending the right to self-determination and the unwavering solidarity among sister nations is a historic mandate that has brought us here.
What does the United States want? It wants to divide us with its policies of pressure and blockades; it aims to weaken us with hate speech and destabilizing actions. But our history—and let’s not forget this—is marked since the indigenous ancestors, and also by the best and most popular heritage from Africa, Asia, and Europe itself, by the resistance and victory of united peoples.
It is from that accumulated knowledge and feelings left to us by our ancestors that we must also demand, in every platform, every space, every expression rejecting imperialism, that the genocide in Gaza stop.
The threats looming over Venezuela today are based on the same dispossessing philosophy that has turned a small strip of land into one of the world’s hells.
Enough of Zionist impunity, enough of imperial complicity or vice versa. All crimes have perpetrators and accomplices to be sustained over time. Israeli Zionism and Yankee imperialism exchange roles in their criminal exercises. Cuba knows this well, because in its genocidal blockade the empire has always had the unwavering support of genocidal Israel.
Dear brothers,
We are proud that ALBA-TCP stands at the forefront in denouncing the continuous imperial threats and projects itself as a strong voice against U.S. designs. This Alliance is our first shield against the dangers threatening peace and security in the region.
In this context, we firmly support the Special Communiqué adopted by the Group of Friends in Defense of the United Nations Charter, through which member countries expressed their concern over the declared intentions of the United States Government to initiate military actions in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In line with the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, we consider it necessary to mobilize the denunciation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) against this new colonial attempt, and therefore we support holding an extraordinary meeting of CELAC foreign ministers.
On January 23, 1959, and I quote the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, speaking at a massive event in Plaza del Silencio, Caracas, he said: “...These peoples have gained too great a consciousness of their destiny to resign themselves once again to the submission and miserable abasement in which we have lived for more than a century.” He added: “These peoples of America know that their internal strength lies in unity, and that their continental strength also lies in unity.”
We Cubans share that conviction. The blood of our heroes was not shed in vain. And if the time comes to defend with our own lives the sacred soil of the homeland, we will fulfill that duty as the highest honor.
Dear friends:
Neither intervention threats, nor political and economic pressures, nor disinformation campaigns are enough to break the essence and humiliate Latin American and Caribbean dignity if we remain united.
Our strength is the strength of history and shared ideals, rooted in the firm conviction that the freedom and sovereignty of each people is the freedom and sovereignty of all.
I return once more to the call from Casa de las Américas. As their intellectuals warn:
“...if anything is clear, and imperialism itself prevents us from forgetting it, it is who has embodied for at least two hundred years the main enemy of the ideals of Bolívar and Martí. That enemy, the seven-league giant, must be fought by all means, without getting lost in discussions that pave the way for ships, planes, submarines, and the thousands of troops that threaten us. It is once again ‘time for the count, and for united march.’”
Maduro; brothers:
May the voice of our heroes and the spirit of Chávez and Fidel, at the doorstep of the Centenary year of the Commander in Chief, guide us in this joint struggle!
May unwavering solidarity and unity be our shields! Only together, united by hope and love for our land, will we be able to build the future that present and future generations deserve!
Long live the sovereignty and freedom of our peoples!
And as Che said: Ever onward to victory! (Text and Photo: Cubadebate)
