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Cuba Venezuela Solidarity

Full text of Cuban President’s speech at the Sao Paulo Forum in Caracas

Full text of Cuban President’s speech at the Sao Paulo Forum in Caracas
There is no better forum than this to reaffirm that Cuba will never renounce or betray its principles or Venezuela
Author: Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez | internet@granma.cu
august 2, 2019 15:08:37

There are no mysteries or conspiracies, no plans of aggression or intervention, nor have there ever been in the almost 30 years of the Sao Paulo Forum.

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Photo: Estudios Revolución
Speech by Miguel M. Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of Cuba´s Councils of State and Ministers, during the closing of the XXV Sao Paulo Forum, in Venezuela, July 28, 2019, Year 61 of the Revolution
(Council of State transcript / GI translation)
Compañero Nicolás Maduro Moros, brother President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela;
Compañeras and compañeros of the Bolivarian Revolutions leadership;
Compañera Mónica Valente;
Latin American and Caribbean leaders, and those from other parts of the world joining us;
Compañeras and compañeros:
Allow me to devote my first words to Comandante Hugo Chávez Frías, Cuba´s great friend, son of the Americas who today turns 65 in eternity. (Applause)
Our Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, who loved him dearly and was one of the first to recognize his qualities as a leader, referring to the appearance of an extraordinary politician like Chávez in our suffering region, placed him next to Bolívar and Martí in the battle for the destiny of the Greater Homeland. Fidel said:
“For a long time now I have held […] the deepest conviction that, when the crisis comes, leaders emerge. This is how Bolivar emerged when the occupation of Spain by Napoleon occurred and a foreign king was imposed, creating the conditions conducive to the independence of the Spanish colonies in this hemisphere. This is how Martí emerged, when the auspicious hour arrived for the outbreak of the independence revolution in Cuba. This is how Chavez emerged, when the terrible social and human situation in Venezuela and Latin America determined that the time to fight for our second and true independence had arrived.”
Bolívar, Martí, Fidel, Chávez, what do these men have in common, who, whenever we are called upon to think, we feel obliged to quote and draw from their respective legacies? Our America, Martí would answer, who named it this way to clearly distinguish ours from imperial America that despised us and who despises us more now, as evidenced by the huge wall projected on the southern border, the atrocious mistreatment of migrants, the Helms -Burton, the Nica Act, financial persecution and the arbitrary imposition of tariffs on countries in the region, the suspension of development aid, the blockade and the dirty war against Cuba and Venezuela, among other malicious acts that know no limits. Continue reading Full text of Cuban President’s speech at the Sao Paulo Forum in Caracas →

Venezuela Sanctions

The U.S. has made sanctions their main weapon before resorting to war

Dignity sanctioned
The U.S. has made sanctions their main weapon before resorting to war, invasions, and bombing

Elson Concepción Pérezaugust 20, 2019 15:08:41

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The Venezuelan people are defending their revolution. Photo: Granma Archives
With an old trick, the U.S. sanctions other countries by targeting Presidents or officials not subservient to their interests. Now the total blockade of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is “against Maduro” and not meant to harm the people. Shameless!

This argument, which not even the hateful John Bolton believes, is the media message they are attempting to impose, along with the supposed support of some 50 countries, and the “legitimacy” of an imposter like Juan Guaidó, who applauds the attack on his own people.

The plan is not new. The blockade of Cuba has been in place for more than 60 years. First, the sanctions were “against Castro” – they said – while clarifying that they did not intend to affect the Cuban population. The word “affect” is misused, because what has been attempted is starvation, but the verb “to surrender” is not used in our country.

Cuba has never believed these lies, or those disguised as carrots. Fidel, a loyal follower of Martí’s ideas, understood well the entrails of the beast.

The sanctions, the total blockade, suspension of purchases of our products, persecution around the world to sanction those who trade with Cuba, threats and even armed intervention, terrorist attacks of all kinds, financing of mercenaries within the country, radio and TV broadcasts directed toward our territory, among other hostile actions, ran into a wall of dignity and resistance. Continue reading The U.S. has made sanctions their main weapon before resorting to war →

Fidel Castro's Birthday

Fidel Castro’s birthplace in Birán, Holguin

Reborn
“Cuba dawns in tribute,” tweeted the nation’s President, yesterday August 13, on the 93rd anniversary of Fidel’s birth, conscious of the people’s love for their leader whose ideas “live on”

Granmaaugust 14, 2019 14:08:08

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Fidel’s birthplace in Birán, now in the province of Holguin  

Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras
“Cuba dawns in tribute. Ninety-three years since the birth of the inheritor of Martí’s legacy, the undefeated leader who survived more than 600 attempts on his life, and faced, without concessions, 11 U.S. administrations. Fidel lives because his ideas live,” tweeted the President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, yesterday, August 13.

In a later message, he reported that 1,810,638 persons from Cuba and around the world had made their way to the boulder in Santa Ifigenia Cemetery where Fidel’s ashes rest.

Among the many tributes to Fidel held around the country was the opening of an exposition at the José Martí Memorial in Havana by artist Ernesto Rancaño, with First Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa on hand, while National Assembly President Esteban Lazo Hernández visited the Siboney farm, in Santiago de Cuba, where the Moncada combatants gathered before the assault.

Members of the Union of Young Communists camped out at the historic Castro-Ruz home in Birán, to celebrate Fidel’s life and renew their commitment to his ideas.

Fidel Castro's Birthday

Fidel, the most visionary Cuban of the 20th century

Fidel, the most visionary Cuban of the 20th century
On the occasion of the anniversary of Fidel’s birth, Granma shares excerpts from a speech by First Party Secretary Raúl Castro Ruz, December 3, 2016

Author: Raúl Castro Ruz | internet@granma.cu
august 13, 2019 09:08:51

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Photo: Yousuf Karsh/Camera Press
Fidel’s authority and his close relationship with the people were key to the country’s heroic resistance during the dramatic years of the Special Period…

At that time few in the world would have bet on our ability to resist and overcome in the face of adversity and the intensification of the enemy blockade. Our people, however, under the leadership of Fidel, provided an unforgettable lesson in resolve and loyalty to the principles of the Revolution.

Recalling these difficult moments, I think it right and fitting to return to what I said about Fidel on July 26, 1994, one of the most difficult years, on the Isle of Youth, over 22 years ago, I quote: “The most illustrious son of Cuba this century, he who showed us that the attempt to capture the Moncada Garrison was possible; that we were able to turn that loss into a victory,” which we achieved five years, five months. and five days later, on that glorious January 1 of 1959 – this last comment added to the words I spoke on that occasion.

He showed us, “Yes, it was possible to reach the coast of Cuba in the Granma yacht; that yes, it was possible to resist the enemy, hunger, rain and cold, and organize a revolutionary army in the Sierra Maestra following the Alegría de Pío debacle; that yes, it was possible to open new guerilla fronts in the province of Oriente, with ours and Almeida’s columns; that yes, it was possible to defeat the great offensive of over 10,000 soldiers with only 300 rifles,” after which Che wrote in his Campaign Diary, that with this victory the backbone of the army of the tyranny had been broken: “That yes, it was possible to repeat the feats of Maceo and Gómez, extending with Che and Camilo’s columns the struggle from the east to the west of the island; that yes, it was possible to defeat, with the support of the entire people, the tyranny of Batista, backed by U.S. imperialism. Continue reading Fidel, the most visionary Cuban of the 20th century →