Dublin, November 17, 2018. Early in the morning session, Aleida Guevara March intervened in the plenary of the International Conference against the Military Bases of the United States and NATO. She said that the borders of the islands should be delimited only by the sea, however some islands, like Cuba, have other borders, in this case, determined by the existence of the US military base at Guantanamo, maintained against the will of our people. From that base, numerous aggressions against the Cuban Revolution and against other neighborly brother peoples have started; more recently it has been converted into a prison where torture is systematically practiced.
For a long time imperialism hoped that the Cuban Revolution would try to recover by force the territory of the Base, it would have been the pretext for a military invasion and to destroy the Cuban Revolution.
Cuba will continue defending its sovereignty over all of Guantánamo and demanding the unconditional return of the territory of the Base, assisted by international law and solidarity. Cuba will continue in the front line against militarism and for the defense of peace.
There are countless damages caused by military bases against the inhabitants of the territories where they have been installed. The peoples have been displaced from their lands, the damage to health is enormous, and the damage to the environment is also enormous. Our lands have been converted into landfills for all types of toxic, radioactive, and waste materials.
We welcome the holding of a conference like this, dedicated to agreeing ideas, but it is not enough, we need first to inform the public and then launch a large international mobilization.
Today, walls are erected against the emigrants; the rich world forgets how much wealth it extracted from our lands and from the exploitation of our peoples. The people emigrate fleeing from hunger, fleeing from war. It is not walls that must be built, but bridges, many bridges of solidarity.
Aleida ended her speech before the plenary, recalling a chorus from a Puerto Rican friend who says: "Yankee Mandinga, yankee “cabrón”, go to your house, leave my nation." Her words were very well received by the audience.
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