Yaira Jiménez Roig, general director of Press, Communication and Image: Thank you to the colleagues of the national press, to the colleagues of the foreign press, for being here. This appearance is being broadcast live on Cubavisión, Cubavisión Internacional, Cuban Radio, Canal Caribe, and also on the CubaMINREX YouTube channel. I am informed by my colleagues who are present, Minister, 32 journalists from 21 media outlets from 12 countries and, of course, colleagues from the national press. You have the floor.
Minister: Thank you very much for your assistance.
I want to share with our people and with the international community, with American citizens, information regarding the events of yesterday. I have also received numerous questions through the networks, from digital network accounts and, in general, I am aware of the conversation that has occurred and the debate in relation to these topics.
The first question I have received repeatedly is why? Why the Government of the United States of America has made these three decisions, which I will comment on later. My opinion is that he took them because his plan failed. Because the vision of causing the collapse of the Cuban economy, the social explosion, the execution of Mr. Lester Mallory's memorandum to overthrow the Cuban Revolution through measures that cause hunger, despair and the overthrow of the government continues to fail to achieve its objectives. It is true that the measures of the blockade as a whole, and in particular the intensification of these since 2017, and especially the additional measures taken by the previous Republican Government since mid-2019, have created very difficult circumstances for our economy, generating damage considerable humanitarian, cause difficulties, anxiety, and suffering to Cuban families.
However, neither the collapse of the economy nor the overthrow of the Government has occurred. My opinion is that the Government of the United States of America has made these decisions based on the recognition that the policy it applied towards Cuba is an obsolete, failed policy that does not contribute to the objectives or national interests of the United States. , nor does it have the support of US citizens or Cubans residing in that country. It is the recognition that it causes very serious international isolation, discredits its foreign policy and damages instruments that the United States government supposedly needs to enforce certain objectives of its international agenda.
And precisely it happens from the resistance and the advances that despite the enormous difficulties that we face and that are perceptible in our streets, in our workplaces, in our homes; The support of the Cuban people for the Revolution, for the constitutional order that it sovereignly and in the exercise of self-determination gave to itself, is maintained and persists. These measures occur thanks to the creativity of our people, thanks to the daily heroism, thanks to their nobility that inspires admiration, respect, support and solidarity on an international scale and within broad sectors of the United States. Another lingering question is why now? It is a question that would be good to ask the United States government in the days that it will still be exercising that function. You would have to ask him.
The government of Cuba has historically and persistently proposed to the Government of the United States of America to maintain a respectful, responsible dialogue, on the basis of sovereign equality, reciprocal benefit, mutual respect, without interference in the internal affairs of our countries. He has done it publicly, repeatedly for President Fidel Castro, for President Raúl Castro, for President Miguel Díaz-Canel and he has also done it repeatedly and respectfully privately.
The United States Government should be asked why it has waited until now to do what it could have done and what many of its voters, including citizens of Cuban origin, have expected since their election. Because in his electoral platform he committed to adopting significant changes in the policy of the United States towards Cuba that, as is known, the previous and next Republican government had applied, causing a serious setback with respect to the progress that had been achieved in 2014. -2016.
I must reiterate that the Government of Cuba has always had and has today, and will have tomorrow and will have next week and in the future, all the will to work in favor of civilized relations for the benefit of our peoples, despite the very deep differences we have with the American governments. That our willingness to hold a dialogue in these circumstances, which are required by international law, remains intact and that we will reiterate this willingness to the next government.
Third, I have heard a lot of questions about whether these measures are reversible. Of course, they are reversible, says the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published yesterday. They are executive measures that could be reversed executively. However, I have read some opinions today, curiously, from some of those who drafted the previous measures, from some of those who participated, were protagonists, caused the setback in the bilateral relationship, pointing out that it will take time and work to reverse them. We would have to ask the next United States government as well.
However, it will be very important, in my opinion, to consider that whatever happens in relation to these measures in the future, they are an important fact, an event that has traveled the world and that has received very broad international support in the few hours . We are about 24 hours away from the major announcements made by both governments. It has raised international recognition and solidarity, internal debate in the United States within the terrible political polarization that exists in that country, but significant support from American citizens, organizations, and institutions. And in Cuba it has been welcomed by our people, with the hope that this could open a path towards an improvement in bilateral relations, with full awareness that it will have to be judged in the future by its practical results and knowing perfectly well that there is no than to have illusions or excessive expectations.
Let's analyze the value of the measurements. I brought the texts with me.
I would suggest that people who are interested in this matter read not only the Minrex statements and the White House statement, but also read the legal documents signed by the Government, signed in his own handwriting by the President of the United States of America.
One is this, the certificate of rescission of the designation of Cuba as a State sponsor of terrorism. This unilateral and arbitrary list, the truth is, no longer had any credibility or prestige on an international scale, but its practical effects, especially in the financial sector, are extraordinary and itself causes considerable economic damage and extreme humanitarian damage.
Foreign policy is always a state policy. It is assumed that there is responsibility of the States that should not be subject to the vagaries of governments, much less to the whims of domestic politics or electoral competitions or tricks. If the president of the United States of America, through an interagency process in which the entire United States government, its intelligence community, and dozens of institutions participate, affirms that Cuba is not a state sponsor of terrorism, that is important. If you affirm that the United States government does not have the slightest evidence that Cuba has been involved or accused of being related to terrorist acts in the last period. Yes, it recognizes that the Cuban government maintains a position of confronting terrorism in any of its forms, manifestations, motivations that the international community recognizes and that Cuba periodically reiterates to it.
This seems to me to have value. It has a curious precedent that dates back to May 2024, which was the statement in a hearing of the House of Representatives by Secretary of State Blinken, when Cuba was removed from that other, less important, less known list of countries that do not fully cooperate with the supposed counterterrorism efforts of the United States government. And there was a congresswoman who hysterically and disrespectfully pursued him during that hearing in which Secretary Blinken said circumstances have changed and refuted each of the pretexts that the previous government had used to include Cuba again on said list.
All the pretexts, that of Cuba's links with terrorism, another of a different nature, or the presence of alleged terrorists in Cuba.
Well, this could happen again. It's going to be hard to explain if it happens.
Arbitrarily, without motivation, Cuba was included in this list. Then, in 2015, with a certification very similar to this, the president of the United States reversed that and once again seriously and definitively assured what President Biden is now stating again.
Well, if another president came, the next one or the next, and included Cuba on the list again, we would have to ask what the reasons are.
What would the American government agencies, the law enforcement agencies, say? Where would the credibility of the US government be?
This would seem like a mess. In Cuba they would call it relax.
That is to say, one president makes accusations of one type, another denies them and changes them, another comes and makes them again and then another comes and repeats the previous ones.
Secondly, it will be very difficult to maintain the coercive measures derived from this list. Limits access to financial institutions and services in any country.
How will the United States Government be able to sanction a bank or a country in the future for having financial relations with Cuba after this decision by President Biden?
How will deposits, payments, transactions, credits, all movement of assets with any currency outside the United States be hindered after this certification?
How will it be possible to intimidate or prevent foreign companies from trading with Cuba?
The foreign companies that have suspended their relations with Cuba, the banking institutions that have done so intimidated under the coercion of this list, would not accept in any way that these policies be reestablished.
The effect of this list on imports of inputs, essential products for our people, for the functioning of our economy is very important.
Who can explain to a Cuban family if this were to be reversed in some way in the future, that there is justification for taking the measures that derive from this arbitrariness and that directly harm people? Because the blockade as a whole and this list in particular is aimed at causing harm to the Cuban family.
Also a derivation of this list is the threat, coercion, prohibition of European citizens and other countries from using the US electronic visa authorization system. If something happens to this list in the future, other than forgetting about it, can anyone demand that any European government not protect its citizens against such arbitrariness? Will anyone be able to explain to a European that he cannot travel to Cuba because Cuba is once again on a list that the President of the United States has declared to be unjustified?
So, it seems to me that these facts are very important and they are lasting, and they are definitive.
The political, ethical, and even legal scope of this determination by President Biden will not be surpassed by any action, no matter how arbitrary, extreme, dishonest, or fraudulent, of a next US government.
Second measure, the exemption from the application of Title III of the Helms-Burton. That is, a law intended to intimidate third parties, not only to guide the destruction of the constitutional order in Cuba, etc., but to intimidate third parties through ferocious extraterritorial application.
The law contains an arbitrariness and a brutal violation of international law, which is the attempt to judge in US courts people, entities, companies from third countries or Cubans for their economic ties with Cuba, outside US jurisdiction or without any relationship with the United States. of America. All American presidents signed the so-called waiver or dispensation from this list. Even the president-elect of the United States did it in the early part of his term.
So this has a really important effect on American courts. That is, the American courts, the Supreme Court of the United States, which has rulings that consider nationalizations in accordance with rights, remember the Sabatino case, for example. The American courts will allow their credibility to be damaged because someone now allows them to commit unconstitutional acts and illegal acts from the point of view of international law and the whole of American law, because they refuse to do the only decent and basic thing which is to follow signing this exemption to avoid incurring this very serious legal violation.
So this effect is important, it is lasting, it is tangible, it is once again the recognition that what was being done was illegal and arbitrary.
This, however, has a great pernicious effect, not only on international law, but on the flow of capital investment to Cuba, access to technologies, access to markets.
But the threat is against foreign sovereignties, against foreign companies, against foreign governments. So, what powerful corporation, what foreign government will allow its national interests, its economic interests, those of its companies, its business people or its citizens to be affected by capricious decisions that come or go? Many foreign governments have antidote legislation to prevent these arbitrary acts from being committed.
Well, it would be inconceivable that those governments, faced with the repetition of arbitrariness, did not use those laws. The third decision of the President of the United States of America, well, the second is shorter, I have it here, it is one paragraph, but it is a paragraph of the greatest interest. And the third is longer. These are the recipients.
That is, it is a directive, it gives orders to almost the entire government of the United States of America. And this memorandum, National Security Memorandum 5 of the President of the United States, has been repealed. It doesn't exist. It has become void, according to this paper I have here, which has President Biden's signature. And within that memorandum, one of the atrocities of the blockade of Cuba has also been eliminated, which is the so-called List of Restricted Entities of 2017. Capricious, arbitrary, absurd. In some cases, the same affects public entities as private sector services in our country. Curiously, it seems that it is a list that was made up by some personnel who could return to the United States government next week. There are funny versions of how they did this by drinking coffee and using the internet.
So, the objective of this set of actions, of these actions that annul the presidential decision, the three presidential decisions regarding coercion against the commercial and banking institutions of Cuba, should be expected to be reflected in some way in the conduct regulatory and practical.
This is also, and it would be enough to read the statement from the White House, which I have here as well. The White House statement recognizes the effect of these measures on the Cuban people, on Cuban citizens, and on Cuban families. It recognizes that it causes humanitarian damage and denies the claim that these are measures aimed at protecting the Cuban people, empowering them, alleviating their difficulties and that they only harm the government or government officials.
If you browse digital networks, you can see that the Cuban people have received this news, these decisions of the US government, recognizing that they are positive, although they are limited and late, and also recognizing with wisdom and realism that they could be reversed. Now, why do people, why do our workers, our students, artists, athletes, young people, all sectors of Cuban society show in the social conversation a very high interest in these measures and share hope and participate in the debate from the questions I mentioned? Because they recognize that these measures have a direct relationship with the lives of each of them, because they recognize their impact and because they know that, if these measures finally stop being applied, they will have a favorable effect on people's lives, in Cuban families.
These days I have been watching the hearings for nomination or appointment of positions in the next government of the United States. I have taken a look at them, because the truth is that they are very long, I must admit that they are very interesting. They remember films for adults, what in Cuba they call the Saturday night movie, without language for adults, sex, violence, drugs, alcohol, corruption, which are many of the themes unusually present in those audiences. Well, none of them are in office yet. If they took office, well, we'll have to deal with that reality. But, I must reiterate that our people, our government, will persist in denouncing the blockade.
The corresponding step is to continue lifting elements of the blockade. The only correct thing to do is to lift the blockade as a whole, and to let the Cubans live in peace. Just as we will defend with all vigor and determination our independence and our sovereignty against any act of interference. Just as we will defend the observance of our Constitution and the application of our laws; just as we will preserve national security, internal order and citizen security; We will be willing to maintain, and I repeat again, we are willing to resume at any minute, a serious, responsible dialogue, based on international law, sovereign equality, the reciprocal benefit of both peoples, mutual respect without interference in our internal affairs .
Thank you very much for your time and for your presence.
(Cubaminrex)