Statements
Revolutionary Government of Cuba
Today,
April
17,
is
the
anniversary
of
the
launching
of
the
United
States'
1961
military
invasion
at
Playa
Girón.
(Bay
of Pigs) The Cuban
people’s resolute response in defense of the Revolution and socialism,
within only 72 hours, produced the first military defeat of imperialism
in America.
Strangely,
the
date
was
chosen
by
the
current
U.S.
government
to
announce
new
aggressive
measures
against
Cuba
and
to
reinforce
their implementation
of the Monroe Doctrine.
The Revolutionary
Government rejects, in the strongest terms possible, the decision to
now allow action to be taken in U.S. courts against Cuban and foreign
entities, and to aggravate impediments to entering the United States
faced by leaders and families of companies that legitimately invest in
Cuba, in properties that were nationalized. These are actions
established in the Helms-Burton Act
which was denounced long ago by the international community, and which
the Cuban nation has repudiated since its promulgation and
implementation in 1996, with the fundamental goal of imposing colonial
tutelage on our country.
We
repudiate,
as
well,
the
decision
to
reinstate
limits
on
remittances
that
Cuban
residents
in
the
U.S.
send
to
their
families and friends, to
further restrict travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba, and impose additional
financial sanctions.
We
strongly
denounce
references
that
attacks
against
U.S.
diplomats
have
occurred
in
Cuba.
They
attempt
to
justify
their
actions,
as
is
customary,
with
lies
and
coercion.
Army
General
Raúl
Castro
stated
this
past
April
10:
"Cuba
is
blamed
for
all
evils,
using
lies
in
the
worst
style of Hitler's propaganda."
The
U.S.
government
resorts
to
slander,
to
cover
up
and
justify
the
obvious
failure
of
its
sinister
coup
maneuver,
designating
in Washington an
impostor "President" for Venezuela.
They
accuse
Cuba
of
being
responsible
for
the
strength
and
determination
shown
by
the
Bolivarian
Chavista
government,
the
country's
people,
and
the civic-military union defending their nation's sovereignty. They lie
shamelessly, alleging that Cuba has thousands of military and security
troops in Venezuela, wielding influence, and determining what happens
in this sister country.
They
have
the
cynicism
to
blame
Cuba
for
the
economic
and
social
situation
Venezuela
is
facing
after
years
of
brutal
economic sanctions, conceived
and implemented by the United States and their allies, precisely to
economically asphyxiate the country and cause suffering within the
population.
Washington
goes
so
far
as
to
pressure
governments
in
other
countries
to
attempt
to
persuade
Cuba
to
withdraw
this
unlikely
supposed military and security
aid, and even to stop lending support and solidarity to Venezuela.
The
current
U.S.
government
is
well-known,
within
the
country
itself
and
internationally,
for
its
unscrupulous
use
of
lies
as
a
tool in domestic
and foreign policy. This is an old habit among imperialism’s practices.
The
images
are
still
fresh
of
President
George
W.
Bush,
with
the
support
of
current
National
Security
John
Bolton,
indecently
lying about supposed
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a lie that served as the pretext
to invade this Middle Eastern country.
Recorded
in
history,
as
well,
are
the
bombing
of
the
Maine
anchored
in
Havana,
and
the
self-inflicted
Gulf
of
Tonkin
incident, episodes that served as
pretexts to unleash brutal wars in Cuba and Vietnam.
We
cannot
forget
that
the
United
States
used
fake
insignia
painted
on
the
planes
that
carried
out
bombings
here
as
a prelude to the Playa
Girón invasion, to hide the fact that they were U.S. aircraft.
It
should
be
clear
that
the
U.S.
slanders
are
based
on
an
absolute,
deliberate
lie.
Their
intelligence
agencies
have
more
than enough
evidence, surely more than any other state, to know that Cuba has no
troops in Venezuela, and does not participate in military or security
operations, even though it is the sovereign right of independent
countries to determine how they cooperate in the area of defense, which
is not a U.S. prerogative to question.
Those
making
this
accusation
have
more
than
250,000
soldiers
and
800
military
bases
abroad,
some
of
them
in
our
hemisphere.
This
government
also
knows,
as
Cuba
has
repeatedly
stated
publicly,
that
the
more
than
20,000
Cuban
collaborators,
more
than
60
per cent women, are
undertaking in this South American country the same work currently
being done by another 11,000 professionals from our country in 83
nations; contributing to the provision of social basic services,
fundamentally in healthcare, which has been recognized by the
international community.
It
should
also
be
absolutely
clear
that
our
firm
solidarity
with
the
Bolivarian
Republic
of
Venezuela
is
Cuba's
right
as
a sovereign state,
and also a duty that is part of our tradition and among the irrevocable
principles of the Cuban Revolution’s foreign policy.
No
threat
of
reprisal
against
Cuba,
no
ultimatum
or
pressure
on
the
part
of
the
current
U.S.
government
will
dissuade
the Cuban nation's
internationalist vocation, despite the devastating human and economic
damage caused by the genocidal blockade to our people.
It
is
worth
remembering
that
thuggish
threats
and
ultimatums
have
been
used
in
the
past,
when
Cuba's
internationalists
supported
liberation
movements
in Africa, while the United States supported the opprobrious
apartheid regime. Cuba was expected to renounce its solidarity
commitments with the peoples of Africa in exchange for a promise of
forgiveness, as if the Revolution needed to be pardoned by imperialism.
At
that
time,
Cuba
rejected
the
pressure,
as
we
reject
it
today,
with
the
greatest
disdain.
Army
General
Raúl
Castro
recalled
this
past
April
10,
"Over
60
years,
facing
aggression
and
threats,
Cubans
have
shown
the
iron will to
resist and overcome the most difficult circumstances. Despite its
immense power, imperialism does not possess the capacity to break the
dignity of a united people, proud of its history and of the freedom
conquered with so much sacrifice."
The
Cuban
government
calls
on
all
members
of
the
international
community
and
U.S.
citizens
to
put
an
end
to
this
irrational escalation and the
hostile, aggressive policy of the Donald Trump government. Member
states of the United Nations rightly demand, year after year almost
unanimously, an end to this economic war. The peoples and governments
of our region must ensure that the principles of the Proclamation of
Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace prevail, for the
benefit of all.
The
President
of
the
Councils
of
State
and
Ministers
Miguel
Díaz-Canel
Bermúdez
declared
this
past
April
13,
"Cuba
continues
to
have
confidence in its strengths, its dignity, and also in
the strength and dignity of other sovereign, independent nations. But
Cuba also continues to believe in the people of the United States, the
homeland of Lincoln, who are ashamed of those who act beyond the
boundaries of universal law, in the name of the entire nation."
Once
again,
Cuba
repudiates
the
lies
and
the
threats,
and
reiterates
that
its
sovereignty,
independence,
and
commitment
to
the
cause
of the
peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, are not negotiable.
Two
days
before
the
commemoration
of
the
58th
anniversary
of
the
victory
at
Playa
Girón,
a
historic
site
within
our
national territory,
where mercenary forces backed by imperialism bit the dust of defeat,
the Cuban Revolution reiterates its resolute determination to confront
the aggressive escalation of the United States, and prevail.
Havana, 17 April 2019
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 14 - April 20, 2019
Article Link:
Statements: Revolutionary Government of Cuba
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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