During the XII Extraordinary Meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), the president of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, affirmed that unity among the nations of Latin America must be the key to confront the threats of Western countries.
Díaz-Canel called the meeting very useful for nations to establish their priorities and exchange views on current and future challenges in the region.
The Cuban president mentioned that, hours after taking office, the U.S. president reinstated the Island to the arbitrary list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism, without evidence, without justification or any respect for the truth. For this reason, he thanked the member states of the Alliance for denouncing this decision and for cooperating with Cuba.
Although he stressed that the issue in question is not only Cuba: “The entire Latin American and Caribbean region is under threat, and only with unity can we confront the articulation of the imperialist and oligarchic counteroffensive that his Government supports.”
“It is impossible for us to forget the interventionist episodes that took place just a few years ago in our peace zone, combining plans that were as delirious as they were dangerous,” Díaz-Canel recalled. And the Cuban leader added: “We have seen that the new U.S. Administration shows a total disregard for the Latin American and Caribbean peoples with a gross use of lies and manipulation.”
In this sense, the head of the Government of Cuba quoted the Apostle of the country, Jose Marti, in order to use his thought as a tool to fight against these challenges, and said: “Neither peoples nor men respect those who do not demand respect. Men and peoples go through this world poking the finger of another’s flesh to see if it is soft or if it resists (…) Cubans show that when they are slapped, there is only one cheek between us. Let us all resist those whom we all must endure.”
He recalled that this is not the first time that divisions and differences can be accentuated, since in Donald Trump’s first term, the regional structures were polarized and a group of countries were encouraged to found other structures in the region under the pretext that those with a supposed ideological orientation should disappear.
“It should not be forgotten either,” said the president, “that the Trump administration in 2017 and 2021 pushed the construction of the border wall between the United States and Mexico and imposed a policy of zero tolerance, separation of families and elimination of of asylum and protection programs.”
Following this line, the Cuban president assured that his nation aspires to an orderly, safe, regular and respectful emigration of human rights. The Caribbean nation also defends CELAC as the legitimate space for dialogue and political agreement of the 33 countries of the region.
He also said that the establishment of the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, where tens of thousands of people are to be imprisoned, constitutes a barbaric act and threatens Cuba’s national security. He explained that it is a military enclave that occupies a portion of the national territory against the will of the people.
