PRESS RELEASE
Geneva, 12 July 2021. The disturbances and incidents that took place in some cities in Cuba on July 11th are the result of a plan orchestrated by the U.S government. It was aimed at opportunistically exerting the greatest possible pressure against our country, at a time when we are facing a complex situation, resulting from a 16-month period of fight against the pandemic and the current outbreak, in addition to the serious tightening of the blockade and the severe restrictions imposed on the Cuban people.
This has seriously affected the normal functioning of the Cuban economy by severely reducing income from exports of goods and services, access to fuel, medicines and medical supplies. In addition to this, there are other measures such as the non-compliance of the number of visas granted for immigration and temporary travel to the United States and the suspension of consular services in Cuba, which considerably limits Cubans from traveling abroad.
These measures are intended to show a country that has collapsed and has plunged into chaos, in order to trigger a social outburst and justify a foreign intervention. The participation of the United States has been confirmed. It is public the financing granted to individuals in Cuba and abroad to create groups in our country to foster internal disorder, provoke and carry out acts against institutions and commit terrorist actions. It is also public and notorious the encouragement and incitement of acts of confrontation against Cuban institutions and laws, through media campaigns full of lies and distortions of the Cuban reality.
There have also been attempts to discredit the Cuban government in relation to the handling of the pandemic and to undermine the national epidemiological indicators, which reflect the results of the intense work carried out in order to preserve human lives. Because of this joint effort, we have one vaccine of our own and four other vaccine candidates.
We denounce, in the strongest possible terms, the violent acts promoted and executed by criminal individuals, including attacks on the forces of public order. The plan that brought about the incidents of July 11 has failed. The normal functioning of the institutions is kept, under the conditions imposed by the health emergency. The Cuban State and Government and its institutions are in full control of the situation.
The Government has taken and will take the necessary measures to guarantee the peace and quiet of the citizens. At no time, as some have maliciously claimed, have the Cuban authorities called for confrontation and violence among compatriots. We have turned to our people who, as they have always been, are the protagonists in the defense of the Homeland against mercenary aggressions, terrorist attacks, economic sabotage plans, economic coercive measures and other destabilization plans. The incitement to divide Cubans comes from abroad.
We strongly denounce the campaign of disinformation and discredit articulated from Washington. In the face of these maneuvers and attempts to give an image of turmoil, undermining the tranquility of citizens and our rule of law and social justice, the peace-loving Cuban people, with a profound humanist vocation, will not give up one iota in the construction of an inclusive, democratic, prosperous and sustainable society with all and for the good of all.
Permanent Mission of Cuba at Geneva