sabotage of Venezuelan electrical system

Cuba condemns terrorist sabotage of Venezuelan electrical power system

REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT STATEMENT
Cuba condemns terrorist sabotage of Venezuelan electrical power system
The Revolutionary Government strongly condemns the sabotage perpetrated against the Venezuelan electrical power system, which is a terrorist act intended to harm the defenseless population of an entire nation, and taking it hostage in the non-conventional war launched by the government of the United States against the legitimate government headed by comrade Nicolás Maduro Moros and the civic and military union of the Bolivarian, Chavista people.
Author: Redacción Digital | internet@granma.cu
march 12, 2019 09:03:29

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Photo: internet

Several U.S. politicians have rushed to celebrate an action that deprives the population from an essential basic service; leaves hospitals without the power they require to work; disrupts other basic services which are indispensable in the everyday-life of people, such as food, water supply, transportation, communications, public safety, trade, bank transactions, and crtedit card payments. Such acts affect work in general and the proper functioning of schools and universities.
The sequence and modality of these actions remind us of the
sabotage perpetrated against the oil industry in 2002 by a U.S. company that owned and operated the automated system that controlled production, refining, transportation, and distribution of oil.
This adds to the ruthless economic and financial warfare imposed on Venezuela with the clear intention to subjugate, through shortages and deprivation, the political and sovereign will of a people that has not been brought to its knees.
This is an escalation of a non-conventional war led by the U.S. government against this sister nation, which is taking place after the failed provocation orchestrated on February 23 with the intention of introducing by force alleged humanitarian aid into Venezuela, thus challenging the legitimate authorities of the country and violating international law and the principles and norms of the United Nations Charter, with the purpose of causing widespread death and violence as a pretext for a “humanitarian intervention.”
The experience of Cuba’s own history and the history of other countries in the region show that these actions are a prelude to violent acts of a larger scope, as was the case of the armed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. The international community has accumulated sufficient evidence to be on the alert.

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Hugo Chávez Frías: When a friend departs

Hugo Chávez Frías: When a friend departs

Hugo Chávez Frías: When a friend departs
Chávez embodied Venezuela’s longing for freedom, and set out to raise a rebellious continent and lead it on the path to its second independence

Raúl Antonio Capotemarch 8, 2019 17:03:44

Chávez was the Venezuelan people, he was one of them, he was born of them, and he maintained that spirit of origin.f0024333

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: AVN
Ignacio Ramonet, in the book My First Life, an extended interview with Hugo Chávez, describes how: “We had arrived at the center of the infinite Venezuelan plains the day before (…) the cracked, hardened earth around us was dotted with colorful bushes, splendid giant fruit trees flowering.” They were in the land of Chávez, the boy who sold dulce de lechosa (papaya in syrup), the man who embodied Venezuela’s longing for freedom, and set out to raise a rebellious continent and lead it on the path to its second independence.

Ramonet relates their stay in Sabaneta de Barinas, the land of “my circumstances,” as Chávez referred to it. Reading this account sparks one’s imagination, navigating those splendid spaces through which Simón Bolívar passed, as well as the plainsmen of “Páez the Centaur,” and Ezequiel Zamora, and where “Cuba’s best friend” grew up.

Chávez’s death was a mean trick, there was much left to do in these lands. “I love my country dearly,” he tells Ramonet, “deeply, because as Alí Primera says, the homeland is man (…), only history provides a people with the full awareness of themselves.” Venezuela, and extending the horizon as Bolívar, Martí and Fidel knew, to encompass the Great Homeland, is that man who bore within himself the marks of that land, punished by the gusts of a hot breeze, hardened earth, and at the same time perfumed by the aroma of its fruit trees.

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Cuban Women

Why do Cuban women support the Revolution so firmly?

                                                                       

Cuban women support the Revolution sofirmly, so enthusiastically, so loyally… because it is a revolution that means double liberation for women. Women are a part of the country’s most humble sectors… women face discrimination not only as workers, but as women, as well

  
 
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Photo: Granma Archives Endrys Correa

I told a compañero that this phenomenon of women in the Revolution was a revolution within another revolution. And if we were asked: what is the most revolutionary thing that the Revolution is doing, we would answer that the most revolutionary thing the Revolution is doing is precisely this; that is, the revolution that is taking place within the women of our country. If we were asked: what are the things that have taught us the most in the Revolution, we would answer that one of the most interesting lessons that revolutionaries are receiving in the Revolution is the lesson that women are giving us. (…)
What is occurring to us, in reality, is that this potential force is superior to what the most optimistic of us could have ever imagined. And that is why we said that, maybe in the background, unconsciously, unconsciously there was some prejudice, or there was some underestimation, since reality is demonstrating, just beginning to march along this path, all the possibilities and all the roles women can play in a revolutionary process (…)
If women believe that their situation within society is optimal, if women believe that the revolution’s function, its revolutionary function within society, has been fulfilled, they would be mistaken.
It seems to us that women must still struggle a great deal, that women must work hard to reach the place they should really occupy (…)
If women in our country were doubly exploited, doubly humiliated, that means simply that, in a social revolution, women must be doubly revolutionary.

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Cuba Helms-Burton Act

Cuban Foreign Ministry denounces escalating U.S. hostility

Cuban Foreign Ministry denounces escalating U.S. hostility
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects, in the strongest terms, the new escalation in aggressive U.S. behavior toward Cuba through the Helms-Burton Act

Author: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba | informacion@granmai.cu
march 5, 2019 09:03:03

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Photo: Internet

The U.S. State Department announced today the decision to allow, as of March 19 this year, the filing of lawsuits before U.S. courts under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act only against Cuban companies included on the List of Restricted Entities issued by that government in November of 2017, which was updated one year later. This arbitrary and illegitimate list, intended to tighten the blockade and expand its extraterritorial effects, forbids U.S. citizens from engaging in direct financial transactions with the aforementioned entities.
The announcement made by the U.S. State Department also indicated that it would suspend for only 30 days the option of initiating legal action with the same purposes against other Cuban entities or foreign companies which maintain commercial or economic relations with Cuba.
Since its entry into effect in 1996, the Helms-Burton Act has sought to universalize the economic blockade through brutal and illegal pressures exerted by the United States against third countries, their governments, and companies. It is intended to asphyxiate the Cuban economy, and generate or increase shortages among the population with the purpose of imposing in Cuba a government that serves the interests of the U.S.
Given the illegitimate character of the goals they pursue, which are contrary to international law, the Helms-Burton Act and the blockade arouse universal rejection, which has been reiterated for almost three decades within the most important regional and international fora. The most recent example of this was the United Nations General Assembly meeting held on November 1, when this policy was rejected in 10 consecutive votes, thus leaving the U.S. icompletely isolated.
Title II of the Helms-Burton Act states that the overthrowing of the revolutionary government, the subsequent tutelage by a U.S. intervenor and the subsequent establishment of a counterrevolutionary government subordinate to Washington, that would no doubt pursue the return to, or compensation for, former owners of all properties they or their descendants might claim, regardless of whether or not they were U.S. citizens at the time the nationalizations took place, or the fact that they abandoned the property. During this entire period, the economic blockade would continue to be fully implemented.
Consequently, Cubans would be forced to return, reimburse or pay U.S. claimants for the house in which they live, the area on which their communities are built, the arable land where they cultivate produce, the school where their children are educated, the hospital or polyclinic where they receive medical assistance, the place where their workplace is located or where they have a private business, and also sites used to provide subsidized services such as electricity, water, and communications enjoyed by the population.
This is an aspiration that can only be conceived by the minds of those who identify Cuba as a colonial possession. According to the Helms-Burton Act, the economic blockade would be lifted only when that ambition is fulfilled.
This law relies on two fundamental lies: the notion that nationalizations carried out soon after the triumph of the Revolutionary were illegitimate or inappropriate, and that Cuba is a threat to the U.S. national security.
Cuban nationalizations were carried out in accordance with the law, strictly abiding by the Constitution and in accordance with international law. All nationalizations included processes of fair and appropriate compensation, something that the U.S. government refused to consider. Cuba reached and honored global compensation agreements with other nations which are today investing in Cuba, such as Spain, Switzerland, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
The real threat to regional peace and security are the irresponsible declarations and actions of the U.S. government as well as the destabilization plans aimed at Latin America and the Caribbean, pursuing the express purpose of imposing the Monroe Doctrine.
The Reaffirmation of Cuban Dignity and Sovereignty Act of December 24, 1996, states that the Helms-Burton Act is illegal, inapplicable, and has no legal value or effect whatsoever. It considers null and void any claim under that law by any individual or legal entity.
According to that law, claims for compensation for nationalized properties could be part of a process of negotiation on the based on equality and mutual respect between the governments of Cuba and the United States, and be “reviewed together with the indemnifications the Cuban state and people are entitled to as a result of the damages caused by the blockade and aggressions of every sort, for which the U.S. government is responsible”. It also makes it clear that those who resort to procedures or mechanisms under the Helms-Burton Act, to the detriment of others, will be excluded from possible future negotiations.
The Cuban Government reiterates to all economic partners and foreign companies operating in Cuba that full guarantees will be granted to foreign investments and joint projects. Article 28 of the Cuban Constitution, which was ratified by an overwhelming majority on February 24, 2019, also recognizes these guarantees, which are additionally included in Law No. 118 on Foreign Investment of March 29, 2014.
Today’s decision imposes additional obstacles to our economic development and progress goals, but the United States will continue to fail to achieve its main objective of suppressing by force the sovereign will of Cubans and our determination to build socialism. The majority opinion of the peoples of Cuba and the United States, in favor of improved relations, and the development of civilized, respectful coexistence, will prevail.