Good evening, dear friends, colleagues,
I was sharp waiting for the green light, but I’m amazing about the level of attendance of this meeting.
I really appreciate your attendance and your courageous in the midst of this very slanderous crusade, witch hunt just launched against the progressive movement, against the social movement.
You can count on our full loyalty to the special bonds between the American people and the Cuban people for the sake of the American people and the Cuban people.
Dear friends of the solidarity movement with Cuba in the US: thank you, thank you very much.
My deepest gratitude to each and every one of you and to the vast international movement that you represent, for your persistent, tireless and victorious solidarity with the Cuban people.
Cuba is currently facing one of the most serious junctures in its contemporary history.
The threat of a military aggression against Cuba has been escalating in the course of this year to a very dangerous level.
The economic warfare imposed since decades has been strengthened during the last few months in an unprecedented way, with ever more aggressive and ruthless measures.
The US government efforts to completely disconnect Cuba from the global economy have intensified and have been brutally deprived the country from fuel supplies since January this year or even before.
The cost for the economy and the country’s performance has been huge and cross-cutting.
It has impacted power generation, public transportation, hospital services, industry, food production, transportation and distribution of supplies for people’s consumption, the availability of drinking water, public utilities and virtually all spheres of life.
Added to these are the threats and coercion against companies, banks, shipping companies and any other entity that have commercial or relations with or investments in the Cuban economy.
They have caused severe of these companies to adopt the decision to put an end to their commercial relations with Cuba, with the consistent additional damage to the economy and to the life of Cubans.
This is a coldly calculated aggression that takes advantage of the well-known limitations of the Cuban economy, given its condition as developing country, with scarce major natural resources and subjected for almost 70 years to an economic blockade that restricts access to financial revenues, markets and technology.
It is a plan to bring about an induced humanitarian crisis.
The US government insists on saying that the Cuban government is to blame for the economic problems that Cuba faces and denies the destructive effect of its aggression.
The US government, a few weeks ago, announced the promise of humanitarian aid that is worth a hundred million dollars, a figure that stands in contrast with the billions and billions of dollars in damages caused every year by the policy of economic coercion.
We will wait and see it truly materializes and how. Cuba accepts this offer if it is a truly humanitarian aid, without tricks or political opportunism and despite the cynicism that accompanies the offer.
The US government has said it wishes the reception and distribution of the material aid to be carried out by the Catholic church and we have not objections with the participation on this humanitarian process by the Catholic Church or Protestant Church in our country. We have absolutely no objections, as we accumulate a long experience of working with Christian churches in humanitarian works.
But the only effective assistance that the US government could provide to the noble people of Cuba, at this time or at any other time, would be to de-escalate the energy, economic, commercial and financial blockade measures which have been strengthened as never before in recent months and are severely affecting all sectors of the Cuban economy and society, every Cuban family.
Just consider they offer a humanitarian aid of a hundred million dollars but the damages caused by the implementation of the blockade for 5 days, only 5 days, less than a week, is equivalent to 100 million dollars. A similar in fuel would be enough to generate power, a 100 million dollars for fuel would be enough to generate power for only 15 days with a limited consumption level.
The pretexts wielded by the US to justify its increasing aggressiveness are diverse and none of them will stand an honest scrutiny.
Cuba does not threaten nor does it pose any threat to the United States.
There are no foreign military bases in Cuba or any foreign forces acting against the United States from our territory. The only exception is the illegal presence of the US naval base in Guantánamo against the will and the national sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cuba.
It is immoral to claim that the danger of a humanitarian crisis could become a threat that would justify a military aggression or an economic warfare, when it is very well-known that the crisis is being induced precisely by the US government itself in a deliberated design.
It is cynical, totally cynical, to claim that this crisis is a result of the alleged incompetence of the Cuban government or the evils inherent to the socialist economic model.
Given the lack of sustainable arguments, on May 20 last, the US government formalized a criminal indictment against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, which lacks every legal or moral ground.
It is an immoral effort to state the argument that would serve as a pretext to carry out a military and irresponsible action against Cuba.
Dear sisters and brothers, Cuba is neither an unusual nor an extraordinary threat to the US security, as it is claimed in the Executive Orders signed by President Trump on January 29 and on May 1st this year, which is a deliberated lie. It's a totally slanderous. It is a ridiculous this consideration of the tiny island of Cuba could be a threat to the national security of this nuclear super power. It is my country, it’s Cuba, the nation that is being threatened and under attack.
In a radio interview on January 8 last, the president of the United States said: “…well, I don´t think we can put much more pressure than entering there and destroying everything”. The president had been asked if he would apply additional economic pressure measures against Cuba and he recognized that the US had almost completely exhausted its arsenal and that the only thing left was to enter and destroy everything.
No one should have any doubts about the determination of the Cuban people to defend their sovereignty, their independence and their self-determination. If the most reactionary sectors, neoconservative, neofascist sectors of the US extreme right prevail in their aggressive approach, they will find a united people, ready to confront any aggression against our homeland.
We are not naïve. A military aggression would have unpredictable consequences for the region and for Cuba in particular. It is our desire to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, the shedding of blood and the death of both our compatriots and American youths. Should a military action take place, the warmongering zeal of the current neo-fascists in the White House will clash with the resolve, preparedness and traditions of struggle of the Cuban people.
And anyone would wonder: What justification could the US government of this nuclear superpower possibly have for such a barbaric, brutal, crude and uncivilized act? What excuses could be made to justify dozens or thousands of deaths and bring about destruction and suffering? What would be the goal? What would happen next?
What impact would a military adventure of this nature have on the destabilization of the region? damaging the main trade and air routes that supply the eastern part of the United States? Would this be intended to murder hundreds of thousands of Cubans and bring about the destruction of the country? Would this pursue to create a situation of lawlessness, misery, disease and unpredictable calamities? Who would benefit from such a situation, which we are sure will not occur because Cuba has the capacity to prevent it, to short it and effectively defend its independence, sovereignty and self-determination?
This poses a great dilemma for the entire international community. In the face of these actions, no State will be able to act in a sovereign and independent manner or exercise the sovereignty of its people. No State will be able to consider that the only sphere of application within its territory is its national laws. No State will be able to defend the concept that only its national courts will have jurisdiction over its own affairs -unless they take a stand today in favor of justice, in favor of Cuba.
The tightening of the blockade over the past 10 years has obviously had an impact in terms of social and humanitarian consequences and on our economic performance. Since 2019, with the introduction of 243 new coercive measures, the US government has made increased efforts to deprive Cuba from its supplies, including fuel supplies during the summer of the year 2020.
This is an act of war. This is not acceptable. This is not possible in a situation of peace. It is an act of war. It is equivalent to a naval blockade. It is an action that causes extraordinary harm to our people and to every Cuban family, and that is also having a very serious impact on our economy. In fact, it started to affect us from early on, when the US military commanders began to pursue, interdict and confiscate foreign oil tankers in the Caribbean and beyond.
It is known that Cuba cannot, for the time being, produce all the crude oil or fuel required to sustain the life of the people and our economy. Cuba needs to import fuel, in the exercise of an internationally recognized right to freedom of trade and navigation. When the US pursues fuel, it not only stops a vessel or harms a supplier, a shipping company or an insuring company. It halts transportation in Cuba; affects medical services, health services, the lives of millions and millions of people; it harms our children, the elderly, the ill, and does so with an attempt to sow despair.
This is an unprecedented situation in a world in which a superpower abuses, on a customary basis, its capacity to impose, on virtually all States, the prohibition to act in a sovereign manner and, in the case of Cuba, it bans the exports of its own domestic products to any country it wants and prohibits the US citizens from visiting Cuba.
This is not only a criminal attack against Cuba, but also against the sovereign prerogatives of States. It is an unacceptable act of intimidation against any country. The brutally reinforced blockade has a devastating and incalculable impact on the daily lives of the Cuban people. It is an act of genocide and a collective punishment that causes extraordinary humanitarian harm, suffering, deprivations and extreme hardships to Cuban families.
The energy blockade has had an impact on power generation, which have led to prolonged power outages; difficulties in water pumping and disruptions in the supply of LPG; the production and distribution of food, goods and services.
Transportation and medical services are affected and the lives of millions of people are disrupted. Currently, the infant mortality rate in Cuba has doubled. At the end of the year 2025, it stood at 9.9 deaths per 1000 live births. Similarly, the survival rate for children suffering from cancer dropped from 85 per cent to 65 per cent. Around 100 000 patients, including 12 000 children are awaiting surgery. It is critical this figure because the duplication of the infant mortality rate means newborn children's dying.
Creating shortages, deprivations and complete suffocation to provoke a social situation that would lead to the overthrow of the Cuban Revolution has always been the true purpose of the United States’ hostility and perverse policy towards Cuba.
The consequences are not as severe for Cuba as they would likely be for the vast majority of nations, precisely because of the orderly, human-centered nature and social justice of our socialist socio-economic and political model.
It is remarkable to see how Cuban families have adapted to these critical circumstances, and how our people, in a creative, innovative, resilient and steadfast manner -yet, at the same time, optimistic and cheerful- face the consequences.
Some wonder how long would Cuba withstand the energy blockade or the current conditions. The answer is to be found at our public squares and the shades across the entire nation. Our people are fully determined to overcome these challenges and move forward, even in the worst-case scenarios. In Cuba, we produce nearly half of the oil that we consume. We are able to refine using a new Cuban technology. It is an important technological recent success.
In the planet these minerals are critical. We have sufficient arable land competitive. But what is most important is the people, the Cuban people, which are the key actors of the Cuban Revolution. Key actors of the Cuban truly democratic system.
Under the current threatening circumstances, the government has not remained idle. It has updated and relaxed regulations for direct foreign investments. New opportunities have been opened for Cubans residing in the US or abroad to participate in our social economic development program.
Priority has been given to speed up the transformation of the energy matrix in our country through important investments in photovoltaic solar energy sources, for which we are receiving invaluable assistance from friendly countries.
We are promoting the production of foodstuffs to achieve food sovereignty by improving our financial and banking systems, always trying to reduce and mitigate the existing social inequalities without renouncing the fraternal assistance and cooperation with other countries, which is a Cuban fundamental tradition laid by Commander in-chief Fidel Castro Ruz.
The blockade is not the only form of aggression. With a tolerance and impunity, violent and terrorist acts are being perpetrated from the US territory against Cuba up to now, there is a continued instigation to violence and sedition.
This is also accompanied by a government multi-million program that supports a cognitive warfare against the Cuban people.
According to social media, the two most frequent trending topics are the US blockade and solidarity with Cuba, which reinforce the same narrative: Cuba is a State under harassment. Cuba is a State under attack. Cuba is a State under aggression. Cuba is not an inefficient State. It is the denial of one of the main trending topics that US imperialism has attempted to plant in the consciousness of persons.
We have started a process of diplomatic exchanges with the government of the United States. This is nothing extraordinary. We did so in the past with almost all US administrations. If my memory serves me right there have been thirteen since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.
Fidel, Raúl, Díaz-Canel, the leadership of the Party, the State and the government have always been willing to establish a respectful, serious and responsible dialogue to try to solve our profound political differences. There has been former experience, and we are ready to move forward down that path. There are bilateral issues on which we can discuss and both peoples would find it convenient to find a solution.
Cuba’s political and economic order is not part in any way of that exchange. No domestic issue in relation to our people or our Revolution would be part of the talks with the United States.
We will never discuss with the United States those issues that are only inherent to the sovereignty, independence and the free self-determination of Cubans.
I can assure you that we keep on struggling and that we will keep on struggling, dreaming, committed to the continued improvement of our socialist construction process. We shall continue to move on down the path towards the achievement of the greatest possible social justice, its maximum protection and defense and its sustainability.
This is and this will continue being the Revolution by the humble, with the humble and for the humble.
This is the socialist and antiimperialist Revolution of the Cuban workers who took to the streets.
We will remain faithful to the ideas of Martí, feeling that homeland is humanity, and we will continue being profoundly internationalist like Fidel and Che Guevara until the ultimate consequences.
We resist thanks to the unshakable determination of my compatriots and thanks to the solidarity of millions of friends around the world. We are a peace-loving country and we want peace. But not a peace without sovereignty, without independence, where Cubans are not the owners of the national wealth, where the country is submitted to the total action of the US government and the economy goes back to a relation of dependence on the US economy. We don't accept that peace.
We have received it numerous expressions of solidarity including material assistance from many parts of the world. Cuba resist. Cuba does not give in. We know we have friends in the United States and that certainty make us feel stronger.
Please accept the profound gratitude of the Cuban people, of the Cuban nation.
Long live the friendship between the peoples of the United States and Cuba.
Thank you very much.