Speech by Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of the Republic of Cuba at the XXIII ALBA-TCP Summit. Caracas, April 24, 2024
XXIII Summit of Heads of State and Government of ALBA-TCP.
Brother Nicolás Maduro Moros, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, host of this timely ALBA-TCP Summit:
Dear Brothers, Commander Daniel Ortega and President Luis Alberto Arce,
Dear Brother Prime Ministers Skerrit, Gaston, Ralph and Phillips
Representatives of the family of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples' Trade Treaty;
Dear Arreaza, Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP;
First of all, I want to thank you for convening us in “The time of the ovens.” Martí defined the time of the ovens as the revolutionary time of being together and I quote his words: “In the work of foresight and ordering, of broad judgment and cordial action, all those who have a chest to attack, and a mind to see from far away, and hands with which to execute. And without misgivings and without exclusions. And without forgetting what is true and what is just. And without tenacious antipathies. It is the time of the ovens, when nothing can be seen but the light.” And precisely ALBA is giving light.
I invoke Martí in this land of liberators, because no one brought us closer and better to Bolívar and his integrationist ideal, which finally transcended from the dream to the reality of Our America, when two profoundly Bolivarian and Martian leaders like Commanders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez Frías founded this alternative to neoliberal trade, this alliance of dreams that did so much in such a short time for our nations.
Fidel, so precise and fair in his words, defined Chávez as “the best friend that the Cuban people had throughout their history.” Both with their efforts and actions based on the emancipation and development of Our America, proved to be dear friends and brothers of all the Latin American and Caribbean peoples by planting the seed of ALBA-TCP, the first concretion of a brotherhood that still has a promising path ahead.
This is the Alliance of solidarity and cooperation, winner of selfish pragmatism that only bets on profits and the market.
It is the Miracle Alliance that made seemingly impossible projects and feats come true that, in the social order, have benefited millions of citizens of the region.
It is the Alliance where many found for the first time a response to demands, which for centuries were not offered by development models where the human being is secondary.
It is the Alliance of unity, which allows us to face challenges and threats together.
Cuba will always be present in the ALBA-TCP because, above the blockades and difficulties decreed by empires and mercilessly imposed by the current international order, deeply unjust and exclusive, our Alliance has proven how and how much can be done from the South , if this solidarity integration prevails.
Dear brothers and sisters:
This meeting could not be postponed. The international and regional situation raises concern and calls us to action.
In some way and on more than one occasion, we have all pointed out the dangers of the impunity with which Israel acts, thanks to the complicity and support of the United States government and despite the serious risks of regionalization of the conflict in the Middle East. a serious threat to international peace and security.
Only an imperial mentality, an interventionist purpose, can deny that peace and stability in that region depend, in the first place, on a broad, just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which contemplates the creation of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State. , on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and guarantee the right of return of all refugees to their land.
From this platform of free, independent and sovereign peoples, we demand the immediate entry of the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations Organization.
We cannot be indifferent to the daily crime that is being committed against the brother Palestinian people for 75 years.
No one can justify the brutal Zionist escalation of the last six months, the serious violations of International Humanitarian Law, the war crimes and crimes against humanity that have turned a minimal strip of inhabited land into a training ground for a bloodthirsty army.
The United Nations Security Council must fulfill its mandate and put an end to the impunity of Israel, the Occupying Power, before the questionable credibility of its resolutions, besieged by the imperial veto, disappears in the rubble of Gaza.
In 2014, faced with events as serious as those that outrage us today, one of our founding leaders, the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, wrote the following and I quote: “The genocide of the Nazis against the Jews reaped the hatred of all the peoples of the earth. Why does the government of that country believe that the world will be insensitive to this macabre genocide that is being committed today against the Palestinian people? "Are I expected to ignore how much complicity there is on the part of the U.S. empire in this shameless massacre?"
They seem like words written for today. For this reason, I insist that all the people of the world should make the Palestinian cause their own.
Brothers and sisters of ALBA-TCP:
The Monroe Doctrine, two centuries after it was enunciated, continues to threaten the destiny of Our America.
Imperialism persists in its project of domination over our lands. It finances and promotes violence, destabilization and hate speech. It attacks left-wing and progressive forces and seeks to erase the history of struggle and resistance of the people.
In the face of imperialist pretensions, we reaffirm our most absolute commitment to unity, the defense of our sovereignty and peace.
We reaffirm the unwavering will to continue contributing to the strengthening of CELAC.
We reiterate the strongest condemnation of the violent invasion of the Ecuadorian police into the Mexican diplomatic headquarters in Quito, on April 5. This violation of International Law, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the right to asylum and the sovereignty of beloved Mexico, is absolutely unjustifiable.
We urge the restoration of former Vice President Jorge Glas to his condition prior to the assault on the Mexican Embassy, and to redirect his case in accordance with International Law.
Ten years after the adoption in Havana of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, we call for respect and strict compliance with its postulates. That the region continues to be internationally recognized for its commitment to regional peace and stability is a matter of the utmost importance for the present and future of our people.
Dear friends, dear brothers and sisters of Our America:
On behalf of our people, Party and Government, I congratulate the Venezuelan people for the development of the new electoral process in a climate of peace and in accordance with their Constitution. They have achieved this despite the attempts of some sectors to resort to violence and resume the failed methods that caused so much pain and mourning more than once to the noble Venezuelan families.
We are not talking about old plans. They are as recent as the assassination attempt against brother Maduro just a month ago. We firmly support the timely denunciation of our Venezuelan brothers about these plans, which try to prevent the electoral process from taking place in a climate of peace and security.
We reject, once again, external interference and impositions that seek to influence the functioning of Venezuelan institutions.
We denounce the application of unilateral coercive measures by the United States, in violation of International Law, and demand that they be lifted in their entirety, immediately, permanently and without conditions.
We express our recognition and all our solidarity support to our Nicaraguan brothers, who resist the media siege and the interventionist attempts of imperialism and its allies to break their constitutional order.
To the Plurinational State of Bolivia, we extend support and solidarity, in the defense of its sovereignty over its natural resources and against destabilizing attempts.
The sister Republic of Haiti faces a new and very serious crisis. The international community owes a great debt to its people, who were subjected to reprehensible punishments by imperial powers and have been forced to unjustly pay a high price for leading the continent's first social revolution.
Haiti needs real, sufficient and effective development assistance and cooperation. There is illegal trafficking of weapons and ammunition to Haiti from the United States that must be stopped.
The Haitian people have the right to find a peaceful, sustainable and lasting solution to the challenges they face, based on full respect for their self-determination, sovereignty and independence.
Cuba has offered fraternal and selfless cooperation to Haiti in areas of great impact for its people. Even under the current circumstances, we maintain a Medical Brigade there that provides services to Haitians in need.
We have proposed, through CELAC, the creation of a Single International Solidarity Fund for the Recovery of Haiti, which is nourished by contributions from the international community and addresses the priorities of the Haitian people. International banking institutions should channel contributions to that fund. Haiti's debt must be forgiven.
We also endorse the just demands for reparation and compensation for the damages of slavery and colonialism of our Caribbean brothers, who need and deserve fair, special and differentiated treatment.
We support the right to independence of the Puerto Rican people and express our solidarity with the Argentine people.
The Caribbean will always find in ALBA-TCP an ally in the defense of its interests and claims.
We appreciate the Alliance's firm support for our fight to end the genocidal and illegal blockade of the United States government against the Cuban people, which has escalated to extreme levels in recent years. We also appreciate the valuable support for the legitimate demand to exclude Cuba from the arbitrary unilateral list of States supposedly sponsoring terrorism.
Our fight will continue, year after year, until the United States government lifts this cruel, immoral and unjustifiable policy. The people deserve to live in peace and, under equal conditions, demonstrate everything that we would be capable of advancing and building in Socialism.
Dear brothers and sisters:
As 2024 progresses, the threats and challenges for the Cuban Revolution remain and still grow, but 65 years of resistance and heroic creation do not pass in vain. We face each day with the impetus for struggle and work that characterizes revolutionaries and with the experience gained in more than 150 years of struggle, together with the exemplary historical generation led by the leader of the Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, who, upon commemorating another anniversary of the 1959 triumph, has exalted, above so many virtues of the brave Cuban people, the sacred unity that is at the base of each triumph over the neighboring empire that also despises us.
At the end of his emotional words that day, Raúl conveyed a summary of the lessons learned from the years of revolutionary combat alongside Fidel and expressed: “…the decisive importance of unity; not to lose serenity and confidence in victory no matter how insurmountable the enemies' powerful obstacles or the dangers may seem; to learn and draw strength from each setback until transforming it into victory.”
Today I say before you, brothers of the Bolivarian Alliance, that 2024 will also be a year of triumphs and results. Of unity and progress. We will not give up our dreams nor betray the legacy of the heroes, living or dead, of Our America.
We are approaching the twentieth anniversary of the founding of this emancipatory and unitary alliance, successfully promoted by two great, unforgettable, eternal leaders of Our America: Commander Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías and Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.
We do so with the renewed commitment to continue working on its consolidation and the preservation of its humanist and social essence. We do it inspired by the example that Army General Raúl Castro gives us every day.
Our commitment to integration and unity is invariable and from now on also to the 2030 Agenda.
We will continue working tirelessly for an ALBA of victories, for an ALBA of peace and unity, for an ALBA of solidarity and cooperation.
They can always count on Cuba's modest but determined contribution.
Let us make the dreams of the founders of this Alliance come true.
In that union is and will be our strength.
Ever onward to victory!
Together we're invincible.
Thank you very much.
