The United States government poses the most urgent threat of the last five decades to the region’s peace and security
Excerpts from speech delivered by Army General Raul Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Party Central Committee, April 10, 2019, on the occasion of the proclamation of the new Constitution, in the National Assembly of People’s Power

Raúl Castro Ruzaugust 7, 2019 15:08:26

Photo: Granma Archives
During the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of Moncada, and January 1, this year, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, I warned of the adverse panorama that was developing and the resurgence of our enemies’ enthusiasm and rush to destroy the example of Cuba. On both occasions I reiterated the conviction that the empire’s siege was tightening around Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. The facts have confirmed that assessment.
The region that Martí called Our America has, in recent times, been able to strengthen regional independence, in a climate of peace, cooperation, and harmony among its member states.

With the precept of achieving unity within diversity, sustained progress was made towards integration, complementarity, and the agreement among all to solve the economic and social problems of our peoples.

Latin America and the Caribbean were declared a Zone of Peace and progress was also made in the goal of reaching a more respectful relationship with northern neighbors.

The scenario today is different. The current government of the United States, with its hegemonic ambitions for the region, poses the most urgent threat of the last five decades to the peace, security, and well-being of Latin America and the Caribbean.

In pursuit of establishing its domination, several coups were orchestrated over a number of years, in one case, a military one, and others of a parliamentary nature, to remove progressive Presidents from office, while the participation of leftist leaders in elections was prevented via media campaigns and malicious legal charges. Precisely, last Sunday, marked the end of the first year of compañero Inácio Lula da Silva’s unjust incarceration, whose freedom we demand.

Unfortunately, there are governments and political forces that irresponsibly join imperialism in this warlike escalation.
The relentless siege of the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, using methods of unconventional warfare and economic strangulation, is the main target of aggression, but, the threat concerns us all.

The Venezuelan government and the Chavista people are writing admirable chapters of resistance. On Bolivarian soil, being defined today is whether Latin American and Caribbean nations have the right to self-determination, if sovereign power rests with the people or with a foreign government, if it is acceptable for a powerful country to determine the rulers of an independent state, if the rules and principles governing the United Nations have real value or are dead letter, if the peoples of the region will remain passive before the imposition of a sovereign power in a sister nation or respond to repudiate the crime.

We reaffirm, from this Parliament, our firm solidarity and support to the Bolivarian Chavista Revolution, President Nicolás Maduro Moros, and his people’s civic-military union.

To the more than 20,000 Cuban collaborators, 61% of them women, who are fulfilling missions in Venezuela, I convey our deep appreciation for their commitment and consecration to the noble, deeply humanitarian task they perform in the service of families in this sister nation.

(Excerpts from speech delivered by Army General Raul Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Party Central Committee, April 10, 2019, on the occasion of the proclamation of the new Constitution, in the National Assembly of People’s Power)