Honorable President Tarja Halonen and dear Dr. Pentti Arajärvi
Your Excellency Director Lasse Keisalo
Honorable Ambassadors
Dear friends and members of our community
Distinguished guests,
The images that accompany these words come directly from Cuba. They show the brigade of the Finland-Cuba Friendship Association that visits our country every year, joining maintenance work voluntarily at the pediatric hospital in the province of Las Tunas. Every year Finnish friends arrive with all their good vibes and with important medical supplies, which allows our people to overcome the impact of the cruel US blockade, which heavily affects health services for innocent children.
This is just an event, a fact, just a piece of the extensive history that exists between our two peoples and countries, formalized exactly 95 years ago on April 5th, but which, as you will learn in this meeting, goes back much further.
History records 1929 as the year of the establishment of our diplomatic relations. From then to date, distances have been erased between two countries intensely identified by their cultural ties, their bilateral political relationship and multilateral cooperation.
Cuba expresses its gratitude to Finland for its historic support in our struggle to confront United States blockade, arguably the most comprehensive set of sanctions imposed on any nation on Earth for more than six decades, with a direct impact on the daily lives of our people. We also appreciate its cooperation on multiple historical and current issues, which achievements bear the name of our nations. Among them, obtaining the base immunoferon for our vaccines, which genesis began in a Finnish laboratory that opened its doors to Cuban scientists. The COVID-19 pandemic showed the extraordinary significance of this achievement, that allowed our Island to obtain 3 anticovid vaccines, with which our people faced such a lethal virus. Beyond that, inmunoferon has also allowed Cuba to produce more than 270 biotechnological products.
We recently had the opportunity to visit the historical archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Finland, and appreciate first-hand valuable documents, perfectly preserved, that reflect part of that historical journey, cemented on the basis of cooperation and mutual respect. Honoring the legacy of 95 years of bilateral relationship is undoubtedly a high honor for this Cuban representative, born in the 1970s (I reserve the specific information) and in the midst of the triumphant Revolution. It is worth mentioning that the Republic of Finland was among the first European countries to recognize the Cuban revolutionary government, a few days after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship.
From then to the present, Cuba has worked intensely to offer a more just and equitable society for all, promoting greater rights and social inclusion, as we saw with the approval of the new family code, and in social participation with gender equality, among which facts highlight the large presence of women in Parliament, ranking it second worldwide, just to mention some data. Our foreign policy is committed to the principles of the United Nations Charter, and endorsed in its ties with 198 countries and international organizations, and with the protection it offers to the 114 diplomatic representations accredited in Havana. Just as in 1959, the greatest obstacle today to the development of our country is the permanence of the US blockade, and in particular the financial persecution established with the absurd inclusion of Cuba on the so called list of state sponsors of terrorism published by the State Department. And I say absurd because the mission of the Cuban Revolution has been to sponsor life, with doctors, scientists and teachers, who have brought their help and assitance to remote places of our planet, whether due to an earthquake, a tsunami or a lethal pandemic.
At the bilateral level, it’s my pleasure to stress that with the creation of the Finland-Cuba Friendship Association in 1963, the path was paved for numerous academic exchange and cooperation agreements in multiple matters, as well as trade. Many of the graduates from that time make up the Suomi-Kuubaseura Association to this day, to whom we thank the permanent Cuban cultural presence in these lands and the promotion of the deepest ties of friendship and solidarity, as shown in these photos.
Distinguished guests:
A thousand words and anecdotes could be told, but for this we have prepared this beautiful cultural evening, full of facts of extraordinary relevance in our historical ties.
Before closing my speech, I would like to share our gratitude to H.E. President Tarja Halonen and Dr. Pentti Arajärvi for their presence, and I take this opportunity to thank her for allowing me to dance last summer a Cuban piece with such an excellent dancer, her husband.
I would like to thank also Director Lasse Keisalo, and the honorable Ambassadors and distinguished guests who join us today. To the Lippulaiva library group for sponsoring this meeting and making it their own.
My words of affection to the members of our community and friends of Cuba, who have come from Turku and Tampere to share such a beautiful celebration with us, and also a special mention to the members of our small but brave group from the Cuban Embassy in Finland.
I feel humble to acknowledge the great honor and privilege that is to be part of our mutual history. It is an infinite pleasure, as well, to offer you a warm welcome to this commemoration, which will show you the importance of preserving bilateral ties between Cuba and Finland.
Thank you very much!
Helsinki, 26 April, 2024.
