CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM

Guáimaro and Cuba’s enduring constitutional spirit

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM

Guáimaro and Cuba’s enduring constitutional spirit
Some six months have passed since the anniversary of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes’ call for liberty at the Demajagua plantation, when patriots took up arms against Spanish colonialism and slavery, providing a lesson in unity and citizenship

Author: Miguel Fernández Martínez | internet@granma.cu
january 22, 2019 10:01:04

The determination of Cuba’s Mambi forces to unite in the struggle for independence is central to the nation’s heritage.  

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Photo: Milenio.com
Some six months have passed since the anniversary of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes’ call for liberty at the Demajagua plantation, when patriots took up arms against Spanish colonialism and slavery, providing a lesson in unity and citizenship.

The small settlement of Guáimaro was one of the first to be liberated by the mambises after the beginning of the armed struggle, and had the honor of serving as the site for a transcendental event in the Revolution of ‘68.

Gathered in an assembly April 10-12, representatives from the three insurgent areas (Oriente, Camagüey, and Las Villas) sought to establish agreement to form a single, united front to combat the Spanish.

José Martí, who considered the event a great symbol and passion, would write 23 years later in the newspaper Patria, “Free Guáimaro had never been so beautiful as the days when it was about to enter into glory and sacrifice.”

With barely enough time to get to know each other, and facing divergent, even antagonistic, opinions on the issues at hand, delegates settled their conceptual disagreements, putting love of the country and desire to serve Cuba first.

After bitter debates, they approved a unique type of state – the Republic of Cuba in Arms – democratic institutions, and a basic constitution that would serve as a programmatic base in the national liberation struggle.

Despite the limitations of the agreement which negatively impacted the military struggle, the relevance of the Guáimaro Assembly is undeniable, as the first step toward the achievement of unity in the Cuban independence movement.”Whatever the problems, the difficulties, and the results, the effort was admirable,” said the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, a century later, offering his assessment of the events.

In this small Camagüeyan town, a new way, now traditional, was established of reaching consensus for the nation’s good: open debate and collective reflection as the basis of unity and cohesion.

This presupposes a high level of political maturity, allowing the homeland’s interests to prevail in discussions of the country’s strategic issues, above and beyond any personal, sectorial, or group projects or ambitions.

In the year of the 150th anniversary of Cuba’s first Constitution, approved in Guáimaro, this principle acquires renewed value as a guarantee of the consolidation of our revolutionary project and its continuity over time.This has been the case thus far, and will be so on February 24, when the people will vote in a referendum to approve the Constitution that will define the present and the promising future of our homeland, in a gesture of eternal gratitude to those who gave their all for freedom.

Cuba The Helms-Burton Act

Cuba categorically rejects the threat of activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton

Cuba categorically rejects the threat of activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act
Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba
Author: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba | informacion@granmai.cu
january 17, 2019 11:01:24

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Cuba categorically rejects the threat of activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act Photo: Granma
On January 16, 2019, the United States State Department announced the decision to suspend for only 45 days the application of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, “to conduct a careful review… in light of the national interests of the United States and efforts to expedite a transition to democracy in Cuba and include factors such as the Cuban regime’s brutal oppression of human rights and fundamental freedoms and its indefensible support for increasingly authoritarian and corrupt regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua.”
The government of President Donald Trump threatens to take a new step that would dangerously reinforce the blockade against Cuba, flagrantly violate International Law, and directly attack the sovereignty and interests of third countries.
Cuba rejects this threat in the most energetic, firm and categorical way. It regards it as a hostile act of extreme arrogance and irresponsibility, while condemning the disrespectful and slanderous language of the State Department’s public message.

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President Nicolas Maduro’s swearing in ceremony

Cuba’s President participated in activities on the occasion of President Nicolas Maduro’s swearing in ceremony

Díaz-Canel in Caracas
Cuba’s President participated in activities on the occasion of President Nicolas Maduro’s swearing in ceremony

Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
january 11, 2019 09:01:45

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Photo: Estudios Revolución
CARACAS, Venezuela.–This city of hills awoke yesterday, January 10, to accompany Nicolas Maduro during swearing-in activities, following his overwhelming victory in elections this past May 20, in which almost six million Venezuelans supported his Presidency with their votes, some four million more than his closest opponent obtained.

Also on hand was the President of Cuba’s Councils of State and Ministers, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who tweeted upon his arrival “Cuba defends and supports Venezuelan sovereignty and Bolivarian integration.”

Leaders from more than 120 nations have expressed support for Maduro on the occasion and some 90 sent delegations to the swearing-in ceremony for his second term in office.

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Photo: Estudios Revolución

Cuban Sovereignty

Counterpunch: 60 Years of Defending Cuban Sovereignty

 

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By Arnold August

When Fidel Castro triumphantly announced the people’s victory on January 1, 1959, it had been barely 15 years since the U.S. had savagely bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This atrocity marked the passage of the baton of barbarism from the inhumanity of World War II to the U.S. Since the devastating atomic bombing, it has been documented that the U.S., in its insatiable drive for world domination, has killed more than 20 million people in 37 nations. Innumerable murderous invasions have taken place around the world, such as in Korea, Vietnam and the Playa Girón military intervention that was defeated by Cuba in less than 72 hours. All of this constitutes an uncivilized foreign policy reminiscent of WWII cruelty. What would have happened to Cuba and Latin America had the Revolution led by Fidel Castro not defeated the U.S. incursion?

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As Washington continuously beefs up its economic and military imperial overreach, its ongoing international gunboat diplomacy is now backed up by more than 800 military bases (from giant “Little Americas” to small radar stations) virtually all over the world, including Guantánamo. All of this foreign policy and more, such as the increasing use of the Internet as the new road to regime change (e.g. in Cuba, especially since 2014), constitute the daily staple of arrogant threats, murderous aggression and cynical interference by the U.S. All of this happens every day on many occasions through allied states, such as Israel’s ongoing slow genocide against the Palestinian people. The post-WWII violation of other countries’ sovereignty and international law occurs with virtually no international protection. The blockade against Cuba is a case in point of international impunity. The peoples of the world, such as the Cubans, can rely only on their own forces and support from the peoples and progressive nations in the world struggling to maintain a multi-polar world to resist U.S. domination.
The Cuban Revolution has been curbing the U.S. for 60 of the 75 years since the inauguration of the “new face” of the post-WWII barbaric epoch. This period, based on inhumanity to the extreme, shifted from Europe and East Asia to the U.S., only 90 miles from Cuba’s shores. Think of this geopolitical and historical reality as people in every corner of the planet reflect today upon the historic significance of the 60th anniversary.
The Genocidal Blockade

Continue reading Counterpunch: 60 Years of Defending Cuban Sovereignty →