Dear General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution;
Dear people of Cuba;
Habaneros;
Compatriots:
The current U.S. administration, which has exactly one month left in the White House, has done nothing to move away from the line of reinforced blockade and economic suffocation of Cuba inherited from the Republican administration, which will return to the Oval Office in January.
With the implementation of the 243 additional measures and the continued inclusion of Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Biden has dutifully and cruelly followed the policy approved by Trump during his administration.
In recent weeks and days, many figures from the United States and other parts of the world have called on Biden to use his authority to at least remove the name of a nation that should never have been on that list.
Labeling Cuba as a state that allegedly sponsors terrorism is, at the very least, false and immoral, no matter where the accusation comes from, but it is doubly so when the accusation comes from U.S. territory, where paramilitary groups are currently being trained that organize, promote, and fund terrorist actions against Cuba’s social and economic structures.
These groups are based in South Florida and do not hide their training activities. They do so publicly, in plain sight, with the protection of local authorities, even violating their own laws and international treaties.
They have operated this way for many years, sheltering confessed terrorists from this continent, such as Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, intellectual authors of the abhorrent crime in Barbados. However, they died peacefully in the United States without ever paying for their crimes.
Given these facts, no U.S. leader can categorize Cuba as a terrorist state.
The current government of that country knows this well. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken himself recognized it last May, declaring to the media that there is no justification for Cuba’s continued presence on that list.
They recognize it but do nothing because U.S. policy toward Cuba has been hijacked for over six decades by a mafia faction from the Batista regime, based in South Florida, before which U.S. administrations have shown weakness when it comes to acting coherently toward our country.
The continued inclusion of Cuba on that list and the intensification of the blockade are ruthless actions against the Cuban people that must cease immediately!
When financial transactions for our international trade are pursued and blocked, the Cuban people are denied food, medicine, fuel, goods, supplies, and essential commodities for their survival.
When obstacles are placed in the way of our exports or when relations with our businesses are pursued and penalized, the country is deprived of the foreign currency essential for our development and to finance our social justice project.
When online services are denied or academic and scientific exchanges are restricted, a blow is struck against a nation seeking to develop and move forward with its own talent and efforts, in a world that is increasingly interconnected.
When a people are denied medicinal oxygen in the midst of a pandemic, and other countries or foreign companies are intimidated from providing it, it is a criminal act.
That is the daily struggle in which Cuba, its people, and its government fight to make their way forward.
The attempt by the United States to wound the dignity of this people through force has been shattered today with this concentration and combat march, which demonstrates how high the honor of our Homeland still stands! (Applause.)
Since we called for this march, the prophets of anti-Cuban hatred have been hysterically proclaiming it would be a failure, calling for a boycott and lying about its motivations.
How little they know the Cuban people! How much they still underestimate our patriotic and revolutionary convictions!
Other voices from the U.S. government and the anti-Cuban mafia in South Florida tried to poison the networks with the false idea that this was an anti-American march.
We bear no hatred or animosity toward the American people. We have the utmost respect for the noble citizens of that country, and we always extend a hand to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood between our two peoples.
It is the same hand we have extended to all U.S. governments since the triumph of the Revolution, always in the interest of a serious, respectful relationship on equal terms.
But if the United States persists in its efforts to undermine our sovereignty, our independence, our socialism, it will only find rebellion and intransigence! (Applause.)
Every administration that has tried has been outlived by the Cuban Revolution, and that will continue to be the case.
This will indeed be a very anti-imperialist march! Against U.S. imperialism and its attempt to impose itself on Cuba through force or seduction, we march now and always! (Applause.)
We march now to tell the U.S. government: Let the Cuban people live in peace!
Down with interference! (Shouts of “Down!”)
Down with the blockade! (Shouts of “Down!”)
Down with unilateral coercive measures against Cuba! (Shouts of “Down!”)
Down with Cuba’s inclusion on the list of state sponsors of terrorism! (Shouts of “Down!”)
Down with the genocide against the Cuban people! (Shouts of “Down!”)
Socialism or Death!
Homeland or Death!
We will win! (Shouts of “We will win!”)
(Standing ovation.)