Our America in the Face of the Onslaught of Imperialism and the Oligarchies
- Cuban Ministry of Foreign
Affairs -
Rally at the Art Gallery in Vancouver, December 3,
2019, in support of
the struggles of the Chilean people and others in
Latin America against
neo-liberalism and state repression.
The
most recent events in the region confirm that
the U.S. government and
the reactionary oligarchies bear the primary
responsibility for the
dangerous unrest and political and social
instability that broke out in
Latin America and the Caribbean.
As
was anticipated by the First Secretary of the
Communist Party of Cuba,
Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, on January 1,
2019: Those who
entertained the illusion of the restoration of
imperialist domination
in our region should understand that Latin
America and the Caribbean
have changed and so has the world […] The region
resembles a
large prairie in times of drought. A single
spark could cause an
uncontrollable fire that would damage the
national interests of
all."
President
Donald Trump proclaims the validity of the
Monroe Doctrine and resorts
to McCarthyism to maintain the imperialist
domination over the natural
resources of the region; prevent the exercise of
the national
sovereignty and the aspirations of
regional integration and
cooperation; attempt to re-establish his
unipolar and
hemispheric hegemony; eliminate
progressive, revolutionary and
alternative models to wild capitalism; revert
political and social
achievements and impose neo-liberal models, with
full disregard for
International Law, the rules of the game of
representative democracy,
the environment or the wellbeing of peoples.
This
Monday, December 2, Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo threateningly
accused Cuba and Venezuela of benefiting from
and helping to stir up
unrest in the countries of the region. He
distorts and manipulates
reality and conceals the main reason for the
instability in the region,
which is the U.S. permanent interference in
Latin America and the
Caribbean.
The
legitimate protests and peoples’ massive
demonstrations
that are going on in the continent, particularly
in the Plurinational
State of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and
Brazil are caused by
poverty and the increasingly unequal
distribution of wealth; the
certainty that neo-liberal formulas are
worsening the exclusive and
unsustainable situation of social
vulnerability; the absence or
precarious situation of health care, education
and social security
services; the abuses against human dignity;
unemployment and
restriction of labor rights; privatization; the
increasing cost and
cancellation of public services and the
increased public insecurity.
Demonstrations in Montreal, December 1, 2019 (top)
and Calgary, October
26, 2019, are two of many held across the
country in support
of the Chilean people's courageous fight to affirm
their rights in the
face of brutal repression unleashed against them
by the Chilean state.
They
reveal the crisis of political systems, the lack
of true democracy, the
discredit of traditional conservative parties,
the protest against the
typical historical corruption of military
dictatorships and right-wing
governments, the scarce popular support to
official authorities, the
lack of confidence in institutions and the
system of justice.
They
also protest against the brutal police
repression, the militarization
of it using as a pretext the protection of
critical infrastructures;
the exemption of repressors from criminal
liability; the use of
military and anti-riot weapons that cause
deaths, serious injuries,
including hundreds of youths suffering from
irreversible eye injuries
caused by pellet guns; the criminalization
of demonstrations;
violations, beatings and violence against
detainees , among them
minors; and even the assassination of social
leaders, demobilized
guerrillas and journalists.
The
United States advocates and supports repression
against demonstrators
under the pretext of safeguarding the alleged
"democratic
order." The complicit silence of several
governments,
institutions and personalities, that turn out to
be very active and
critical against the left, is a shame. The
complicity of the big
corporate media is shameful.
Peoples
are very rightly wondering: Where is democracy
and the rule of law?
What are the institutions that are supposedly
devoted to the protection
of human rights doing? Where is the justice
system whose independence
is so much trumpeted?
Let’s
review some facts. In March, 2015,
President Barack Obama signed
an unheard-of Executive Order declaring the
Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela as an "unusual and extraordinary
threat to the national
security, the economy and foreign policy" of
that big power. In
November, 2015, the costly electoral defeat of
the left-wing in
Argentina occurred.
The
neo-liberal offensive had its momentum in
August, 2016, with the
judicial and parliamentary coup in Brazil
against President Dilma
Rousseff; the criminalization and incarceration
of the leaders of the
Workers’ Party and later on of ex President Luis
Inacio Lula Da
Silva himself; the prompt participation of the
Department of Justice of
the United States, by virtue of the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act, to
install a dependent government, ready to revert
important social
achievements through neo-liberal adjustments,
introduce a nefarious
change in the development model, allow the
destruction of national
businesses and a predatory privatization
and sell the
resources and infrastructure of the country to
American transnationals
at a cheap price.
By the end of 2017 there was
a protest against the electoral results in
Honduras that was terribly repressed.
In
January, 2018, the United States aborted the
signing of an agreement
between the government of Venezuela and the
Washington-controlled
opposition. One month later, the Secretary of
State proclaimed the
validity of the Monroe Doctrine and called for a
military coup against
the Bolivarian and Chavista Revolution.
In
March, 2018, the Brazilian councilwoman Marielle
Franco was atrociously
murdered. This action aroused a wave of
anger in her country and
the whole world. The obscure involvement of
the powers that be in
this event has not been disclosed. In
April, Lula is sent to
prison through spurious judicial
maneuvers. There is abundant
evidence of the U.S. interference in the
Brazilian elections through
specialized companies using technologies such as
"big data"
and polymetry to manipulate, on a case by case
basis, the will of
voters, such as the ones used by the
ultra-reactionary Steve Bannon and
others designed by Israel.
During
this period, legal proceedings were initiated
against ex presidents
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Rafael
Correa. In April,
2018, there was an attempt to destabilize
Nicaragua through foreign
interference and the implementation of
unilateral coercive measures.
On
August 4, 2018, an attempt against the life of
President Nicolas Maduro
Moros was perpetrated. In January, 2019,
the self-proclamation of
the barely-known and corrupt Juan Guaidó,
organized in
Washington, took place. In March, 2019,
president Trump ratified
the Executive Order considering Venezuela a
threat. On April 30
there was an attempted military coup in Caracas,
which happened to be a
resounding failure, and the United States, in
revenge, escalated its
non-conventional war against that South American
nation that has been
putting up a tenacious and heroic resistance
based on the civic and
military union of its people.
Demonstration in Toronto, February 4, 2019,
denounces Canada's leadership in the Lima group
and demands "Hands Off Venezuela."
During
this whole period, the U.S. government has been
applying savage
anti-immigrant policies and has adopted an
aggressive behavior, full of
hatred, to fuel fear and division among
voters. It is attempting
to build a xenophobic wall in the border with
Mexico and is threatening
this country and the entire Central America with
the imposition of
terrible tariffs and sanctions if they do not
stop those who flee from
poverty and insecurity. It has also
increased deportations.
It cruelly separates thousands of children from
their parents; it has
arrested 69 000 minors and is trying to expel
the children of immigrant
parents who were born and raised in the U.S.
territory.
The
ultra right-wing government of Brazil, headed by
Jair Bolsonaro,
showing a shameful subordination to the United
States, has resorted to
lies and a xenophobic, racist, misogynist and
homophobic discourse,
combined with delirious projections about
social and political
phenomena, such as climate change, indigenous
populations, the Amazon
fires and emigration, which have aroused the
rejection of numerous
leaders and organizations. Under his government,
the social policies
that led Brazil to dramatically reduce the
levels of poverty and social
exclusion under the Workers’ Party governments
are being
dismantled.
Since
May, 2019, tens of thousands of demonstrators
have taken to the streets
to protest against budget cuts in education, the
reforms to the pension
system, the discriminatory policies and gender
violence.
The
Brazilian government has interfered in the
internal affairs of
neighboring countries, such as Venezuela,
Argentina, Paraguay and
Uruguay and has adopted hostile positions
against Cuba in violation of
International Law. As was published by the
Brazilian media in
April, 2019, the foreign ministry of that
country instructed 15 of its
embassies to coordinate with U.S. embassies with
the purpose of
encouraging recipient governments to condemn
Cuba at international fora.
For
the first time since 1992, Brazil, only joined
by the United States and
Israel, voted this year against the UN General
Assembly Resolution
calling for an end to the economic, commercial
and financial blockade
-- that the U.S. has further tightened against
Cuba -- and the
cessation of the extraterritorial implementation
of U laws against
third States.
In
the same vein, the government of Colombia
abstained in the vote of the
resolution it had supported since 1992 which
calls for the ceasing of
the genocidal blockade imposed by the United
States against Cuba
–at a moment when it is being tightened- and its
extraterritorial
character. In order to justify such
reprehensible decision, the
authorities of that country has resorted to the
politically motivated
and ungrateful manipulation of the altruistic,
dedicated, discreet and
unquestionable contribution of Cuba to peace in
Colombia, for which our
country’s behavior has received universal
recognition. It is well
known that this decision generated a broad and
critical debate in that
nation but, despite all odds, we will continue
to accompany that nation
in its efforts to achieve peace.
The
U.S. slander attributing Cuba alleged
responsibilities in the
organization of popular demonstrations against
neo-liberalism in South
America is a barely credible excuse to justify
and tighten the blockade
and the hostile policy against our people. It is
likewise useless to
conceal the failure of the capitalist system,
protect teetering and
repressive governments, conceal parliamentary,
judicial and police
coups; and stir up the ghost of socialism to
terrify peoples. By
doing this it also intends to justify repression
and the
criminalization of social protests.
Cuba’s
only responsibility is the one that
emanates from the example set
by its heroic people in the defense of their
sovereignty, in their
resistance against the most brutal and
systematic aggressions, in the
invariable practice of solidarity and
cooperation with all sister
nations of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Imperialism
is hurting because Cuba has proved that another
world is certainly
possible and that it is indeed possible to build
an alternative model
to neo-liberalism, based on solidarity,
cooperation, dignity, a fair
distribution of wealth, equitable access to
professional upgrading,
citizens’ safety and protection and the absolute
freedom of human
beings.
Discussion on the current situation in Cuba,
December 4, 2019,
with Her Excellency Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, the
Republic of Cuba's
Ambassador to Canada, at the CÉGEP de l'Outaouais.
The
Cuban Revolution has also been a proof that a
people that is closely
united, that has become the owner of their
country and institutions,
living in a permanent and profound democracy,
can successfully resist
and develop in the face of the
longest-lasting aggression
and blockade in history.
The
coup d’état in Bolivia, orchestrated by the
United States,
using the local oligarchy and the OAS as
an instrument, is an
evidence of the aggressive character of the
imperialist
onslaught. Cuba once again condemns the
coup d’état
and the brutal repression that has been
unleashed in that country and
expresses its solidarity with comrade Evo
Morales Ayma and the Bolivian
people.
While
the U.S. government continues its
non-conventional war to attempt to
overthrow the legitimate government of President
Nicolás Maduro
Moros and invokes the Inter-American Treaty of
Reciprocal Assistance
(TIAR), Cuba ratifies its unshakable
determination to maintain its
cooperation with the government and the people
of Venezuela.
We
reiterate our solidarity with the Sandinista
government and people of
Nicaragua, led by President Daniel Ortega, who
is facing the U.S.
attempts of destabilization and unilateral
coercive measures.
The
legitimate government of the Commonwealth o
Dominica and its Prime
Minister Roosevelt Skerrit deserve international
solidarity and can, as
from now, count on the solidarity of the Cuban
people at a moment when
that island nation is a victim of foreign
interference that is already
causing violence and is attempting to thwart the
electoral process.
In
this complex scenario, the government headed by
Andrés Manuel
López Obrador in Mexico is coping with
neo-liberalism and
defending the principles of non-interference and
respect for the
national sovereignty, while the election of
Alberto Fernández
and Cristina Fernández as President and
Vice-president of
Argentina evidence the unequivocal rejection of
that nation against
neo-liberal formulas that impoverished and
indebted that nation and
seriously harmed its people. Lula’s release from
prison is a
victory of all peoples and Cuba, once again,
calls for a global
mobilization to demand his complete freedom and
the reinstatement of
his innocence and his political rights.
The
corruption that characterizes the behavior of
the current U.S.
administration can be hidden no more. Its
impact on the peoples
of Latin America and the Caribbean has taken a
toll on human lives and
has caused hardships, instability and economic
damages.
In
view of the tragic juncture that the region and
the world are going
through, Cuba reaffirms the principles of
sovereignty, non-interference
in the internal affairs of other States and the
right of every people
to freely choose and create a political system
of their own, in a
climate of peace, stability and justice, without
threats or aggressions
or unilateral coercive measures; and
encourages compliance with
the principles enshrined in the
Proclamation of Latin America and
the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.
Cuba
will continue to work towards the integration of
Our America, which
includes all efforts so that the Community of
Latin American and
Caribbean States (CELAC), which will be very
soon presided over by
Mexico, would continue to promote the common
interests of our nations
by strengthening unity amidst diversity.
In
the face of the implacable onslaught of the most
reactionary forces in
the hemisphere, Cuba will oppose the unshakable
resistance of its
people and its determination to defend the unity
of the nation, its
social achievements, its sovereignty and
independence and socialism
whatever the cost. We do it with the
unswerving optimism and
confidence in victory that we inherited from the
Commander in Chief of
the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, under
the leadership of the
First Secretary of our Party, Army General Raúl
Castro and the
guidance of President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
|