Havana, July 17th, 2021.- The first rays of the sun have not yet filtered through and already thousands of Cubans, about 100,000, are standing, gathered in La Piragua, a few meters from the Havana boardwalk, sharing between flags and cheers, the same feeling: the conviction that revolutionaries have to defend their Revolution.
Not as many as they might want to be there. Epidemiological conditions do not allow it, but together with the people, gathered here, there are also their leaders, breastfeeding, in the front line of combat.
This act, also condemning the blockade and the destabilizing attempts of last Sunday, July 11, was attended by the Army General, Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and president of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, as well as other members of the Political Bureau, the Secretariat and the Central Committee, the Council of Ministers, and leaders of the Union of Young Communists and other social and mass organizations.
Giant Cuban flags hang from the balconies and nearby buildings, and the symbol multiplies, acquires greater meaning, in the hands of the Habaneros gathered here, by waving, over and over again, the star that will always be lonely.
To the acclamations of «For whatever Canel, for whatever», «Yo soy Fidel» and «Patria o Muerte», or snippets of Silvio's songs, dawn breaks in this part of the city and at dawn , the conviction that we are here out of love for the country, for that work of immense social justice that has been thought out by all and for the good of all.
Héctor Román knows that well, who has the teaching profession in his heart and has been here since 3 in the morning, with his photo of Raúl and the confidence that, together, we can continue to build the country we want.
YOUTH WILL ALWAYS TAKE THE STEP TO THE FRONT FOR THE REVOLUTION
In this act of reaffirmation, the youth leader Aylin Álvarez García highlighted that Cuba has fought for her independence in the face of annexation attempts.
«What you want to destroy here, now, and erase, goes beyond the interests or motivations of one or the other. The plan is more terrible and sinister, it wants to end the Revolution that has done so much for everyone and has sustained so much dignity.
The intention is clear and evil comes out, "she said," she said, and "an avalanche of hatred and petty interests seek to transform our streets into a scene of violence, destruction and death."
They come to take away from us the peace that distinguishes us so much, the solidarity that fills us with pride and that Cuban vocation to feel like brothers beyond differences, shortcomings and adversities, she warned.
The solution to our problems can never be in someone else's hands, she recalled.
In his words, he also pointed out that Cuba has fought for its independence in the face of annexation attempts, and as Fidel told us in August 1995: “neither the youth of today nor those who come tomorrow will renounce this glorious struggle, not only for independence and freedom, but also for equality and justice.
ENERGY WORDS FROM THE ANTI-TERRORIST HERO GERARDO HERNÁNDEZ
An energetic and inspiring words were pronounced at the act by the Hero of the Republic Gerardo Hernández, president of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, a neighborhood structure created precisely so that the people would assume the defense of the country from any corner and to support the most dissimilar Tasks of the Revolution based on citizen participation.
During his speech, Hernández reminded the nation of the feeling of national pride that overflows in every Cuban, and what we are capable of doing in defense of the country.
In the midst of this brutal campaign of hatred towards our country, he commented, there has also been disinformation, which echoes lies, slander and fake news. And the worst thing, he warned, is that they have wanted to divide us, destroy the tranquility of our neighborhoods, put an end to that peace, with which we have lived throughout the Revolution.
No one is an enemy of revolutionaries for thinking differently, he said. "But this is a country of laws and the lackeys of imperialism are our enemies, those who allow themselves to be manipulated, those who want to affect our safety and the tranquility of our children."
Likewise, the Cuban hero highlighted the presence in this act of residents of La Güinera, 10 de Octubre, el Cerro ..., municipalities of the capital, which among others, the enemies have presented in a distorted and malicious way, as if in these places they had not also revolutionaries.
When asked if there were people from those places in La Piragua, the solid chorus of hundreds of people answered with a shocking yes.
PRESIDENT OF CUBA: CUBA WILL NEVER BE A LAND OF HATE
Cuba will never be a land of hatred. This was expressed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, in front of the thousands of Cubans who met this Saturday in La Piragua, a few meters from the Havana Malecón.
With the call of "Long live free Cuba!, Free of foreign interference and the hatred that those who have been tightening the neck of the nation for 60 years to blow it up and now want to present themselves as our saviors", the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermúdez, addressed the thousands of Cubans who, from very early on, met this Saturday in La Piragua de La Habana, in an act of love for the Homeland and in defense of the Revolution.
«Cease the lies, the infamy and the hatred. Cuba is deeply allergic to hatred and will never be a land of hatred. Nothing good is built from hatred, hatred robs us of time to love, "he said.
We have experienced it in these days of overflowing hatred on social networks - not so social - that have been the permanent company of parents and children in these long months of the pandemic, to the point that many spend more time connected to the network than connected to the family, that family that must be invulnerable in the face of everything that threatens it, he added.
A mother, she recalled, told me yesterday that her adolescent daughter asked, with tears in her eyes, if this was Cuba, when she saw the images of the acts of violence that some of her friends shared in Facebook. "The owners of these networks, the dictators of their algorithms, have opened to hatred, without the slightest ethical control, the floodgates of their powerful platforms."
"It is a hatred that fractures family, friends, society and threatens to take many of our values to the corner of the useless." The bombardment of images loaded with violence, blood and protests, vandalism, threats, harassment and repression has not known a pattern in the last six days, she emphasized.
Díaz-Canel highlighted that, in the previous weeks, intense political-communication work was carried out by a large media intoxication platform, financed by the United States government and the Florida political machinery. His objective, he pointed out, was to encourage unrest and instability in the country, taking advantage of the difficult conditions associated with the pandemic, the intensified blockade and the more than 240 measures of the Trump administration.
During those days, they carried out acts of unconventional warfare, instructed calls for social outbreak, violence, assault on police officers, vandalism and sabotage, he specified.
They used artificial intelligence systems and cybertrops for this, and also had the complicity of a powerful transnational that allowed them to violate their own regulations with impunity, and disregarded the legitimate complaints of users and some press and media agencies, he warned.
He pointed out that Cuban television has highlighted the objectives of this campaign to reconstruct in sequence the events of last Sunday.
«First, the protests were called, then the false account of the events was constructed to generate emotional reactions, of solidarity with the protesters, and then, the vandalism actions that occurred hours before our improvised appearance on television were unleashed, upon our return from San Antonio de los Baños ».
The path of infamy is clear, he said. "A posteriori, all the facts are presented haphazardly as if they were the fruit of our legitimate call to the revolutionaries to defend the Revolution."
«The story is intended to be told in reverse. No matter what you have said, the calls for unity, peace and solidarity among all do not count. The malicious interpretation is that a civil war was called. '
We can dismantle the so-called fake news, show how the entire false reality of Cuba was fabricated in virtual settings, but they have already caused immeasurable damage to the national soul, which has among its most sacred values citizen tranquility, coexistence, solidarity and unity, he commented.
"We are under sustained fire from a cyberwar, which includes cyberterrorism and media terrorism in its aggressive instrumentation." The Foreign Minister's complaints have not been answered, there has not been an attempt to respond by the authorities of the Republican government of Florida, regarding the votes assigned to these projects that seek to attack the country and its possible means of defense, he said. he.
He reported that not only the Minrex, but also the official website of the Presidency, Cubadebate, Granma, Juventud Rebelde and practically all Cuban public media are suffering intermittent attacks, with denial of service in the midst of a fierce demonization campaign by the Cuban government.
The friends of Cuba - he emphasized -, who suffer and know manipulation and silence, cannot access the Cuban media.
At the height of the lie, she emphasized, false images are used, which has been well documented by our journalists. Likewise, contempt and destruction of property, assault and attack are encouraged, said the Cuban president.
"Right now, what the world is seeing from Cuba is a lie, it is a whole people raised up against the government and a government that represses its people."
It is not strange that, faced with this media bombardment, some doubt and a separation takes place, supposing, that does not exist, he declared. "I do not judge, I do not condemn, I understand that the adversary's weapons are overwhelming, but next to the people, with the people and for the people, the Revolution continues."
Not with statements, but with facts, he claimed. When the SOS Matanzas label was being paid in cyberspace, next to Matanzas and throughout Cuba, the promoters of the humanitarian intervention were not seen, he maintained.
"Who was not shocked to see that vandals of the worst kind stoned the children's ward of the Hospital de Cárdenas, forcing children and mothers to seek refuge in the bathrooms or under the beds of the institution?"
Tomorrow, he said, many personal stories will have to be told of the popular reaction to the attack and harassment, of how much the forces of order have had to restrain themselves because of the care demanded of them to avoid excess. But make no mistake, the majority of the people also ask that violence be stopped, he said.
"Compatriots, no lie has been raised by chance or mistake, everything is coldly calculated according to the manual of unconventional warfare."
He also referred to the fact that the hard wing of the North American Congress is sharpening its teeth and demanding that they act now against Cuba.
“None of this is new, they have tried it before. It is his way of putting the adversary administration on the ropes and trying to fulfill the never achieved purpose of erasing from the map “the bad example” of this Island, determined to remain sovereign, independent, when so many bend to its orders ».
«Almost with mother's milk, our parents instilled in us a Marti warning," men go into two camps, those who love and found, and those who hate and undo. " Cuba will continue to found, it is doing it right now with the first two Latin American vaccines, Abdala and Soberana ».
He is also doing it with other news that evil has wanted to hide, 100% efficacy in the face of gravity and death that the third phase of Abdala's clinical trials proved, he continued.
When a people has come so far in the realization of their dreams and in the conquest of rights that for half the planet are a chimera, neither violence nor fear stops them, he said.
None of this that we denounce, he acknowledged, separates us from the necessary self-criticism, from the pending rectification, from the profound review of our methods and styles of work, with the will to serve the people and away from bureaucracy, obstacles and insensitivity of some.
"Today I come with the commitment to work and demand for the fulfillment of the program that we have given ourselves as a government and as a people."
We are gathered here, he said, also to denounce once again the blockade, aggression and terror. «We could not delay this meeting, the enemy has once again launched itself with everything to destroy the sacred unity and the tranquility of the citizenry. We ratify that Cuba belongs to everyone ».
I share feelings and reflections, moods, disposition and convictions, he said. «We can only have more if we create more. We will achieve what we propose by pushing, all together, the work. Ahead, we have the immense example of Cuban science, which was proposed and achieved in record time, and hardly without recourse, two vaccines and other vaccine candidates that allow us to face the future with hopes that other peoples do not have.
If we have been able to do something so colossal and difficult, we will not be able to in other areas, he alluded to. «And, above all, how much more will we be able to if we articulate the pending dialogues, rescuing the social work, promoting greater attention to vulnerable sectors, to the neighborhoods, supported by the experience of the work that the Commander in Chief left us in challenging years such as these".
"The Cuban Revolution erased forever the seed of evil, hatred, dishonor and crime." It is important, he remarked, that we look for the deep causes of the violence that pushes to emerge in the face of the needs, while we defend that the gene of the just, of the honorable, of the happy children of this Cuban land predominate.
Only love turns clay into a miracle, only love illuminates what lasts ... we have sung a thousand times with the artist from Marti Silvio Rodríguez, he recalled. «We are going to put a heart to the common work, a heart the size of our difficulties. Together we can!".
Long live sovereign, independent and socialist Cuba; a Cuba of peace, of unity, of solidarity, of all Cubans who are wherever they are working to see her advance by her own legs and arms towards a possible prosperity destination, he summoned.
Let us put our hearts to Cuba, the Homeland and Socialism, and we will win, he concluded.