Together with Palestine: Always!

March for the freedom of Palestine and against genocide, from the Fragua Martiana to the José Martí Anti-imperialist Tribune Photo: Jose M. Correa

Since October 7, 2023, the beginning of one of the cruelest genocides that humanity remembers and will remember, Israel’s massacre against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, Cuba has made clear its position, not only of condemnation of the crime, or of perennial denunciation of the violation of the rights of innocent civilians, but also of recognition of the Palestinian State.
Deep bonds of friendship unite us with this people, brave and defending their land to the last consequences -like us-. Cuba has loudly expressed its condemnation of the harsh reality that the Palestinians have been facing for decades, erased from their own map, as Israel and the U.S. now want to do, after a long genocide: to remove them forever from their lands.
This feeling of solidarity has mobilized millions of Cubans, who from squares, schools, workplaces, social networks and even with the use of the traditional Palestinian kufiya, have become part of a struggle that has added hearts.
Our side is the side of justice, the side of truth, the side that gives voice to the thousands of children, women, young people, the elderly, and parents, silenced under the roar of bombs made in the U.S., in front of unarmed and defenseless people.
It is no coincidence that Cuba then occupies the Vice-Presidency of the Committee for the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, a gesture that honors us, and that we assume with the commitment that “the unjust should not be indifferent to us”.
At the United Nations, we will continue to be a pillar in calling for a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the recognition of an independent Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders.
This was made clear yesterday by the ambassador, permanent representative of Cuba to the United Nations, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, who also stated that we will continue to denounce the crimes committed in the West Bank and the power that obstructs aid to those who every day find it an ordeal to look for water, food or the most basic services.
Cuba was, is and will always be, together with the Palestinian people.

  paranoid and isolationist vision Trump

Photo: EFE

Following the policy of breaking with any national or international institution considered as not convenient to the hegemonic interests of the United States, the current administration in Washington has taken another alarming step towards isolation and unilateralism.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to end U.S. participation in the UN Human Rights Council, and continue the suspension of funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa).

“I have always felt that the UN has enormous potential, but it is not fulfilling it at the moment. For a long time it has been ineffective. There are high hopes for it, but, to be honest, it’s not well managed,” Trump said at the White House.

Will Scharf, an advisor to the president, in presenting the document for signature, asserted that the decision was made “in light of the numerous actions taken by various United Nations agencies that demonstrate a deep anti-U.S. bias.”

These actions accentuate the White House’s backtracking on its commitment to the UN, not only isolating the country from the concert of nations, but also undermining the vital work of these organizations in protecting the most vulnerable.

The fallacious accusation that the Human Rights Council “enables” countries like Iran, China and Cuba to “shield” themselves from criticism ignores the efforts of member states, including the aforementioned, to address human rights violations around the world.

Donald Trump attempts to justify such action with criticism of the ineffectiveness of the UN, which he accuses of being “anti-Israel”. This position, which is not new, reinforces the U.S. approach of a priori defense of Zionism and its complicity in crimes against the Palestinian people.

In that sense, the suspension of funds to Unrwa, a vital agency for Palestinian refugees, aggravates the already precarious humanitarian crisis in the region.

It should be clarified that Trump’s decree goes beyond the exit from the Human Rights Council, he also intends to review Washington’s participation in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

What else to expect from one who intends to eliminate the Department of Education in his own country?

These measures, added to the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement, evidence a clear tendency to ignore international commitments and dismantle the multilateral system built after World War II.

U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay could become immigration detention center

Once again, because of a White House decision, there will be a hell for prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Photo: CNN

“In an act of brutality, the new U.S. government announces the imprisonment, at the Guantánamo Naval Base, located in illegally occupied Cuban territory, of thousands of migrants that it is forcibly expelling, who will be placed next to the well-known prisons of torture and illegal detention”.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, wrote in X after learning that the Guantánamo Naval Base – which, in addition to being illegal, harbors unimaginable torture and violations of all kinds against human rights – will now also be a detention center for some 30,000 immigrants, as announced by President Donald Trump.
Although none of his controversial decisions have caused too much astonishment (coming from where they come from), it is still outrageous that he now intends to turn the territory -which, as the whole world knows, does not belong to them- into part of his strategy to remove from the United States thousands of people who have set foot in that country in search of the so-called American dream.
At the signing ceremony of the Laken Riley Act, Trump spoke about an executive order for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the facility for such purposes, without elaborating too much on the procedure by which the transfer will be executed.
Since his ascension, for the second time, to the presidential chair, the multimillionaire, known for his discriminatory anti-immigrant behavior, has taken the harshest measures in favor of a “cleansing”, which will have terrible consequences, even for unborn children.
In the midst of this context, the new announcement comes to light, which once again puts the Guantánamo Naval Base in the spotlight of international opinion. Many horrors have been committed there, from the kidnapping and murder of Cuban citizens, to serving as a crime and torture laboratory, under the justification of the war against terrorism. So far, the attempts, announcements and promises to close the prison located on the base have remained only in words and, evidently, it will not be now that they will do it.
What is certain is that, under the political-electoral pretext of a “cleansing of illegal people who have invaded the soil that does not belong to them”, the champions of “freedom and human rights” have found a way out of the crisis they are creating for themselves, by transferring thousands of their deportees to that corner of Cuban land that the U.S. has usurped, in its shameless condition as an “illegal foreign government that has invaded the soil that does not belong to it”.

On José Marti’s slab, “flowers and a flag”

Photo: Luis Alberto Portuondo

Santiago de Cuba -Santiagueros of all ages and sectors -representing millions of Cubans and friends from the rest of the world- came to Santiago de Cuba to witness the political act and the military ceremony in commemoration of the 172nd anniversary of his birth, at the Santa Ifigenia Patrimonial Cemetery, in the Hero City.
Floral offerings on behalf of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution; of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez; of the president of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Esteban Lazo Hernández; and one on behalf of the Cuban people, were placed at the funeral monument.
In tune with the Master’s doctrines, it was ratified “the Latin Americanist and anti-imperialist character of the Cuban Revolution, and its marked commitment with all and for the good of all”, expressed Adriana Alvarez Legrá, president of the Organization of José Martí Pioneers in the territory.
Participating in the ceremony were members of the Central Committee of the Party, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the political organization, and Ernesto Santiesteban Velázquez, head of the Department for the Attention to the ujc and the mass organizations of the Party.

ARTILLERY SALVOS IN HONOR OF THE TEACHER

In the Santa Ifigenia Patrimonial Cemetery, in Santiago de Cuba, and in the San Carlos de La Cabaña Fortress, in Havana, around 12 noon, artillery salute ceremonies were held in honor of the 172nd anniversary of the birth of the Apostle.
The salute was a sign of the strength of the people and celebrated the immortal legacy of the most universal Cuban, inspiration to continue the struggle for justice and freedom.

Photo: Luis Alberto Portuondo
Photo: Luis Alberto Portuondo
Photo: Luis Alberto Portuondo