By Laura Mor on May 2, 2023 from Havana
Photo: Yaimi Ravelo
“Feel at home. Cuba is and will always be the House of the Workers, because in Cuba the workers are in power”, expressed Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel to the more than one thousand delegates who arrived in Havana days before to participate in the celebrations for the International Workers’ Day and who today collaborated in the International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba and Anti-imperialism.
This event culminated with the participation of delegates from 271 political, social and trade union organizations from 58 countries who advocated the creation of an International Front in the face of the attempt by the United States to internationalize the Monroe Doctrine, which is 200 years old and which seeks to exercise domination over Latin America and the Caribbean.
Fernando González Llort President of the Institute of Friendship with the People (ICAP) thanked the solidarity of all those present and the organizations they represent, as well as their sense of brotherhood in the tenacious defense of the Cuban Revolution and the Cuban people in the face of the fierce campaign to discredit the Cuban socialist system.
Anti-imperialist unity as an answer, socialism as the way forward
photo: Bill Hackwell
The closing remarks of the meeting were made by President Díaz-Canel, who reflected on U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba and on “the theory of the ripe fruit” of former Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, who defined the existence of the laws of political gravitation and characterized as unnatural the colonial relationship between Spain and Cuba, in an attempt to legitimize U.S. imperialism as some sort of different type of colonization.
“America for the Americans” was the basis of the Monroe Doctrine, which is 200 years old, Díaz-Canel reminded, while asking “What America and for which Americans?” “There was and is the catch,” he said as he evidenced that he was referring to Latin America and the Caribbean belonging to the United States of America.
He denounced in the clearest of terms that, “The United States intends to internationalize the Monroe Doctrine and, 200 years later, renews it under policies of blockades, sanctions, political-judicial actions, interferences, media encirclements and wars,”
“Our response must be anti-imperialist unity”, he forcefully affirmed.
photo: Yaimi Ravelo
The President of Cuba and First Secretary of the Communist Party reiterated what was already denounced by Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, General Secretary of the Cuban Workers’ Central (CTC) at the opening of the Meeting: “The blockade is the main obstacle for the economic and social development of Cuba”; along with the inclusion of the country in the “list of countries sponsoring terrorism”.
“What are we asking of you?” he said addressing the delegates.
“It is a priority to reinforce the demands to condemn the blockade in all its manifestations and to denounce the inclusion in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism”, where Cuba should never have been”, he said.
“What do we want to thank you for?”: The ever stronger and more coordinated actions of solidarity”, he observed.
At the conclusion of his address, amid applause and cheers, he asked, “Why socialism?”
“Because it is the only alternative to capitalism, because it is the best alternative to give power to the People over the decisions of the future of the country”, “justice for all is only achieved with socialism”, he added, referring to that ” the society that we built and for which we will continue to fight”.
In a context that he defined as the period of “systemic and multidimensional crisis of capitalism”, “renouncing socialism is not the option”.
Counter-hegemonic campaigns as a task
The participants agreed with a lot of enthusiasm to increase solidarity actions and to vigorously expand the battle in the social networks, which has become the main space to “confront the media campaigns of the media emporiums of imperialism”, that is focused on the new generations.
We share below the Final Declaration of the International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba 2023.
photo: Yaimi Ravelo
We, the more than one thousand participants in the “International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba and Anti-Imperialism, 200 years after the Monroe Doctrine”, are proud to meet again on the Island of Dignity, to ratify our firm support for the Revolution and the Cuban people.
In an extremely complex world where the existence of humanity is in danger, this sister nation resists with stoicism the intensified blockade, imposed to inconceivable levels, by the government of the United States, in the imperialist attempt to destroy the project of social justice that, with sacrifice, courage, unity and creativity, is being built in Cuba.
Representatives of 271 political, trade union and social organizations from 58 countries have shared intense days and exchanges of experiences with workers, youth and people in workplaces and neighborhoods undergoing social transformation, where we appreciated the capacity for resistance and the creative potential that exists to overcome enormous obstacles and shortages.
Last year, Cuba suffered three adverse events with loss of human lives and a high material cost: the explosion at the Saratoga Hotel, the fire at the super tanker base in the Matanzas Industrial Zone, and the devastating Hurricane Ian, which took a great amount of resources and a wave of solidarity from thousands of Cubans and friends from many countries, reaffirming that Cuba is not alone.
The Cuban people thank us, and we thank Cuba for its vaccines against Covid-19, for its medical brigades that save lives in any part of the world, for existing, resisting and creating; for being that beacon of commitment and loyalty, legacy of Fidel, Raul and the continuing generation that urges us; for standing tall and fighting; for being a land of peace and friendship, for embracing the idea that a better World is possible and, even more, necessary.
photo: Yaimi Ravelo
U.S. imperialism and NATO unleash military aggressions, and do not cease in their attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries to overthrow legitimate progressive governments; they impose blockades, unilateral coercive measures, political blackmail, threat and use of force that seriously endangers world peace, the real possibility of a nuclear war and the reincarnation of fascism.
In the face of these pretensions to internationalize the Monroe Doctrine, in its 200 years to seize natural resources and subjugate the peoples of the world, we call on all democratic, progressive and revolutionary forces to:
With the example of Cuba, let us build a broad anti-imperialist unity to resist, create and overcome adversities, the only path that will make our dreams of a better world possible and necessary come true!
Workers of all countries, unite!
Socialist Cuba has the right to exist!
Long live internationalism and peace!
Long live international solidarity with Cuba and the peoples in struggle!
Long Live Free Cuba!
Cuba Yes, Blockade No!
Havana, May 2nd, 2023:
Source: Cuba en Resumen