We have recently had some negative comments about our association.
With this, we want to clarify our position on a number of points:
-We stand for freedom of expression
Freedom of expression in Cuba is enshrined in the Constitution. Open criticism of the authorities and the political system is not prohibited. After Cuba finally managed to evade the United States' ban on accessing broadband through optical cable, Internet access has been made available to all without restrictions. However, it is important to note that it is a crime to receive funding from foreign powers with the intention of undermining the security and political system of Cuba. This is not unique to Cuba, but it is also unique to most countries in the world.
- We are for democracy
Cuban democracy is different from what the Western model perceives as the standard. Cuba has a system of free elections in which all Cuban citizens have the right to cast their secret ballot and be nominated as candidates for representatives of their local electoral districts in the municipal councils, for two and a half years at a time. The Communist Party cannot propose candidates. The municipal councils and the six most important social organizations (popular movements) in Cuba nominate candidates for the election of the National Assembly every five years. Also in this election, all Cuban citizens have the right to cast their secret ballot and be nominated as candidates on the aforementioned basis. In the National Assembly, the government of the country is nominated and elected. The degree of popular participation in both elections and important decision-making processes is higher than in Western democracies.
Among the important advantages that we see in the model is that it strengthens Cuban sovereignty and leaves less room for foreign interference and corruption created from abroad. The great powers with the United States at the forefront finance and guide political parties around the world, and the rule is that governments elected with their support must govern with a de facto right of veto reserved for the United States. They will not have the opportunity to do this in Cuba. Participation is not only voluntary but high. Popular participation in important decisions is high and each representative / authority can be removed at any time if a lawsuit receives sufficient support.
We refrain from judging the model of democracy that Cuba has chosen and we refrain from trying and helping to impose on them a different political system than the one Cubans themselves have chosen.
-We are against police violence in response to peaceful demonstrations
The July 11 demonstrations have been characterized by several factors, but mainly two: a) A clearly deteriorated economy with a shortage of necessary goods, mainly as a result of the US criminal blockade policy and the pandemic. b) An intense campaign of subversion, financed and managed by Washington and Miami. Among the protesters were people protesting the economic difficulties they go through in daily life, others were more concerned with demanding an end to what they perceived as dictatorship. What they had in common was that they were persuaded to stand up through a campaign that ran from websites and social media. While some behaved peacefully, others chose to commit acts of violence, vandalism, vandalism and / or looting. It's hard to believe that there are people who thought of throwing stones at the windows of a children's hospital!
President Miguel Díaz-Canel urged government supporters to take to the streets to show their support. The way he did it could have been interpreted as an order to march into a violent confrontation. Fortunately, the call was interpreted correctly and people took to the streets to support the Revolution in a clearly peaceful way. Díaz-Canel also traveled to one of the places where the protesters had gathered and approached them for a peaceful dialogue there. He later criticized himself for the unfortunate wording he used when he called people to counter-demonstrate.
There have been several complaints, complaints of police violence, photos and videos with contradictory content. Fake videos and images have been used, including in major newspapers like NYT and The Guardian. The photo that accompanies this publication, which shows protesters supporting the government, was used by the aforementioned newspapers and many others around the world, to represent a demonstration against the government.
Our preliminary conclusion is that neither party can be 100% acquitted, but we support calls for a constructive dialogue to help find better solutions to the main issues in dispute, in a climate of peace and responsibility. What is at stake is the lives, health and future of more than 11 million Cubans.
There are people who are trying to force us to join a hypocritical and double-standard howling chorus against Cuba. They try to downplay and even directly or indirectly support a murderous blockade, which is the main component of an economic, political and psychological war against the island state. There are people who get involved in aggravated harassment, harassment, and threats against people who support the Cuban government and political system. Politicians and some Cuban Americans in the United States have spoken in favor of a military intervention against Cuba. Now there are even people who believe that the United States should annex Cuba!
Three important reasons why we do not agree to condemn Cuba are:
1) We believe it is dangerous and unfair.
2) The condemnation campaign leads to a justification for a criminal blockade that has become so serious that even the Bolsonaro government in Brazil has chosen this time not to support the United States and Israel at the UN on the matter. However, Biden has already adopted even more sanctions against Cuba.
3) An even more serious side effect of the campaign is fueling the voices for a new US military intervention and even for a US annexation of Cuba.
We continue to support the fight against the blockade and help send medicines, medical equipment, syringes and raw materials for the production of vaccines in Cuba, in collaboration with similar friendly associations in Europe. The contribution of the Cuban Association so far this year is of the order of 200,000 Danish crowns.
Of course, we do not defend Cuba in one fell swoop, but we refuse to participate in the worldwide condemnation of every mistake by the Cuban authorities. It is clear that some abuses were committed and we deeply regret this. It is undoubtedly reprehensible, but they are not even remotely comparable to the abuses that occur, especially in the country that controls incitement against Cuba. In six years, the American police have killed 6,000 people. They have the highest number of people incarcerated in the world, both in absolute and relative terms. Inmates are forced into slave labor in privately owned prisons for a tragic micro wage.
It also cannot be compared to the atrocities that are constantly occurring in Colombia, where massacres and political assassinations occur almost daily. During the large demonstrations that have taken place for several weeks, the Colombian authorities shot and killed at least 50 protesters. They have raped, tortured, injured and maimed. Similar abuses against protesters have also occurred in Chile and France for several months. But there will be no protests against these abuses because these countries are loyal allies of the United States and practice a democracy with "Western certification."
We have noted that the Cuban Government and the Cuban Revolution have the solid support of the majority of the Cuban people, despite all the problems, deficiencies and errors. Had it not been so, it would have been completely impossible to resist 62 years against all the aggression of the bloodiest empire of all time, with millions of human lives in its rotten conscience. No, there will not be a chorus of shouting against the United States either, because the United States is the great leader of a NATO flock in which Norway also participates. And this is something that should be of great concern to most people.
But then let's see why other sins Cuba is persecuted.
Let's see what the reality of Cuba was like before the triumph of the Revolution in 1959.
Cuba was a country:
-Where sugar represented 80% of exports. Where US investors controlled, among other things, 90% of telephony, 70% of oil refining, 100% of nickel production and 50% of railroad.
-Where US pharmaceutical companies controlled 70% of the national drug market. Where only 3% of the farmers owned the land.
-Only 4% of the town's children ate meat and 11% drank milk. With an infant mortality rate of 65 per 1000 births.
-With a life expectancy at birth of 62 years. With a state coverage of health services estimated at 6%. With 30% illiteracy and only 55% of children in school.
-With unemployment of 35%. Where only 22% of homes were owned by residents, 72% lacked sanitation systems and 42% electricity.
Starting in 1959, the Revolution changed the country. At the beginning of the 21st century, Cuba was a country:
-With an infant mortality rate of 4 per 1000 live births.
-An expected life of 78.4 years, seven more than the world average and three more than the Latin American average.
-With an unemployment rate of 3.1%.
-With a 98% primary school share.
-With an average schooling of 11.5 degrees in the population over 25 years of age.
-With 13.7% of the population enrolled in higher education, and more than a million Cubans with a university degree.
-With a nutritional level of 3258 Kcal and 86.6 g of protein per day.
-With a very high security for the inhabitants that is illustrated, for example, with a homicide rate of 4.3 / 100,000, the lowest in the region (in the American continent the frequency is 16.3).
-With the highest rate of physicians per million people in the world (7562/1000; the US has 2,550) and one of the highest rates of teachers per student in the world (11 out of 100 enrolled; the rate of EE It is 7).
-With 14 infectious diseases that have been eliminated in the country and another 9 with very low incidences.
-Rated according to the UN among the countries with high human development.
As one Cuban said: “For each step we take, we are more united, breaking the kilometers that separate us. Cubans and friends of Cuba united in the fight to lift sanctions, restrictions and end the criminal blockade that hurts so much to all Cuban families. At every step, more confident and convinced that this fight is the most Cuban and worthy of all. As mambises of our time, we fight for a sovereign Cuba, free from foreign interference, so that our families can live in peace. We want peace and not war. We want well-being and not confrontation. We treat each other like the brothers we are because we are capable of putting Cuba and the Cuban people above our differences. All who want to join our fight are welcome. Here you will find harmony and love. United and only united we will win !!! "
And we must not forget that Cuba's struggle is also the struggle of Latin America and the entire world against a bloody and unjust world order that not only perpetuates evil, looting, abuse of power, coercion, destruction and genocide. since colonial times, but leads all of humanity. to destruction.
The Cuba Association in Norway
12.08.2021