By Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of the Republic of Cuba – Nov 12, 2021
On November 15, Cuba will reopen its borders, students will return to school; Havana, the capital of dignity, will await its 502nd anniversary, to celebrate as it has not been able to do in the last two years. National life will resume its course, with the greatest joy, but alert.
In direct contradiction with President Biden’s recent declarations before the United Nations General Assembly in support of multilateralism and cooperation in the global struggle against the pandemic at a global level, the blockade of Cuba has been tightened, new sanctions were imposed, and a new destabilization plan was set in motion, following their “soft coup” manual to the letter…
Against a socialist project like ours, violent or military actions, invasion, and occupation are never ruled out; but the first bet is on demoralization, on surrender. This is why there is this message of hatred of communism, the anti-socialist emphasis, the persecution of every possible economic solution, in short, the blockade…
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This is why Washington is so annoyed by Cuba’s success in confronting the pandemic, in particular the outstanding results of our vaccination program, developed with ingenuity, effort and our own resources. This explains the determination to disparage our public health system and deny this extraordinary achievement of Cuba…
Every vaccine created and administered, every immunized compatriot, every infection avoided, and every life saved are victories for the national cause and defeats of the imperialist aggression against our country. It may seem incredible to describe it that way, but there is no other way to describe the shameless use of a pandemic, with cold political calculation, against an entire people… In response to the imperialist plans, we are defeating the pandemic, as we have defeated and will defeat their aggressive plans, no matter how vicious the campaigns or slanders…
Thanks to Fidel’s visionary policy of promoting science and the continuity that Raúl provided to this work, thanks to the talent, dedication, and commitment with which several generations of Cuban researchers have been trained, our government has been able to face, like no other in Latin America or the Third World, the terrible threat of a pandemic… Today we are the first country in Latin America with three vaccines and two vaccine candidates in development, and the first in the world to begin vaccinating its pediatric population between two and 18 years of age…
*Excerpts from remarks by the Party First Secretary and President of the Republic, during the closing of the National Assembly of People’s Power most recent Ordinary Period of Sessions.
Featured image: Plaza de la Revolución, Havana, Cuba. Photo Bill Hackwell
(Granma)
