On July 1, a new statue of Cuba’s national hero, the revolutionary thinker, fighter and anti-colonial strategist, José Martí, was inaugurated at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C. We publish the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs report, including the presentations delivered. English translation by Struggle-La Lucha.

From the afternoon of July 1, 2019, four years after the announcement of the restoration of diplomatic relations between Havana and Washington, the Apostle stands vigilant and thoughtful in the U.S. capital. Martí’s constant vigilance for the independence of the island and the continent was reflected in bronze: the look, weary but alert; the serene posture; the imprint of imprisonment and the insatiable search for knowledge. Nothing escaped the artist’s hand. His presence at the Cuban Embassy in the United States evokes the desire to bring closer together two peoples, who are only narrowly separated by geography.

The unveiling ceremony of the statue was presided over by Cuban Ambassador José Ramón Cabañas. Dr. Aisha Z. Cort, a professor of Cuban origin from Howard University, and Cheryl LaBash, a member of the Cuba solidarity movement, also spoke. Next, we share their interventions:

Remarks by Ambassador José Ramón Cabañas

Good afternoon everyone. We thank you for responding to our invitation, issued on short notice.

Today is a very special day for us, because in the framework of the celebrations of 100 years since the construction of our embassy building and also the 60th anniversary of the Revolution and Fidel’s visit to this building, we can finally inaugurate this statue of the Cuban National Hero José Martí y Pérez inaugurated. It is a dream of several years and several generations that has finally come true.

We want to thank, first of all, the author of the work, awarded the National Prize of Plastic Arts of Cuba in 2008, Maestro José Villa Soberón. From here, Maestro, we send our greetings.

Secondly, we must mention the artist who cast the original mold in bronze, Mr. Lázaro Valdés and his Asubronze team in Miami, Florida. We must also recognize the installers of the granite pedestal and the statue itself, Mr. Niv Fishbein of Fram Monument, who is with us today.

To reach this moment, we had the support of countless officials in Cuba who prepared and took charge of shipping the mold. We especially acknowledge the officials of the city of Washington, D.C., who led us through the process of obtaining the necessary permits for the installation of the statue, and our immediate neighbors in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, for whom any celebration at our embassy is a cause for joy.

This image of José Martí is inspired by the few photos of the time that show him full-length, organizing the war against Spanish rule among Cuban tobacco workers in Ybor City, Tampa, walking in Jamaica or coming to Washington in 1891 to participate in the Pan-American Conference that took place in what is now called the Eisenhower Building annexed to the White House.

He is a reflective, concerned Martí, a Martí who tries to understand reality and then change it. From today, he will accompany us for all time.

Today, July 1st, seemed to us an appropriate date to formally inaugurate it in the company of all of you. On this day in 1889, Edad de Oro [Golden Age] came to light for the first time in New York, a publication that Martí dedicated to the formation of new generations, because “children are the hope of the world.”  Exactly four years ago, on July 1, 2015, through an exchange of letters between our governments, we announced the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, which became effective on July 20 with the reopening of our embassy.

In the conversations that were then established on a plane of equality and reciprocity between our authorities, the sense of dignity and the revolutionary work of the most universal of all Cubans was present.

It is our pleasure to present you, Dr. Aisha Cort, professor of Cuban origin from Howard University, and our friend Cheryl LaBash of the U.S. movement in solidarity with Cuba, who will also speak to the significance of the inauguration of this statue.

Thank you all very much.

Remarks by Dr. Aisha Z. Cort: Reflections on Martí 

My education of Martí comes from the home. As a child here in the United States, it was very important to my Cuban mother that I knew the figure of José Martí, not only as a poet, or “Guantanamera man” (as I called him), but as an iconic and key figure in contemporary Cuban history.

José Martí was a writer, activist, intellectual, journalist, but more than anything, he was a revolutionary. He was a fighter committed to Cuba’s independence from Spain.

He also dedicated himself to the development and progress of Cuba not only as a political entity but also in terms of the essential development of a definitely Cuban mentality and imagination. He believed that the Cuban nation was like a living being and that it could be an independent country composed of a multitude of people, experiences and realities united by the principles of an independent Cuba. Also part of his project was to establish and strengthen links between the members of the Cuban community and also between the Cuban people and their allies in Latin America, Europe and the United States. This is why today, and the dedication of this statue, is such an important day.

In Cuba there are not many places — squares, schools, hospitals, universities — that do not have a designated space for a reminder, whether it is a monument, a bust, a statue, a plaque, something that pays homage to the figure of José Martí. As the National Hero, José Martí is synonymous with the Cuban people and is the symbol that unites us wherever we are.

Between his birth in 1853 and his death in 1895 at the beginning of the Cuban War of Independence, his dedication to a free Cuba saw him taken prisoner, exiled, harassed. But also, he was inspired, respected, loved and honored by Cubans on and off the island who were pro-independence. He wrote hundreds (if not thousands) of articles, essays, poems, speeches, discussing the case for Cuba’s independence. 

Through his travels, writing, speeches and interactions with various Latin American countries, Europe and the United States, he inspired and organized several branches of the Cuban community, and the most important of these branches, for this event today, the Cuban community of the United States, which played a decisive role in achieving the independence of Cuba.

The United States served as a land of refuge and also a prolific location to foster crucial ties between Cuba and the Cuban community in the United States. Through readings and meetings, his relationships with tobacco factory workers in Tampa and workers in New York inspired his ideology about what it meant to be “Cuban.” He observed that despite the distances, members of the Cuban community in the United States were still Cubans. They were living examples of the fact that being Cuban was more than belonging to a territory. It was a way of being and a spirit, an untouchable Cubanness.

The pure existence of the Cuban community, especially in the United States, emphasized for Martí the unique, persistent and inimitable character of the Cuban people. And I would say that it was very helpful to Martí in formalizing the ideas that would serve as the basis of ideology for the modern and independent Cuban nation.

So José Martí, in his social work, in his efforts as a journalist, intellectual, activist, revolutionary, served not only as the point of contact between our countries but also as a cultural and literal bridge (symbolic) between worlds, ideas and transitions. And his legacy abounds.

And that is why it is appropriate and necessary for this statue to be installed here at the Cuban Embassy in the United States. May it serve as a visible and tangible symbol of the ties that have existed for more than a century between Cuba and the United States, and also between Cubans on the island and the Cuban community in the United States. May it commemorate our deep and lasting relationships and also the identity that has been maintained, grown and shared through the untouchable Cuban spirit that José Martí promoted.

Remarks by Cheryl LaBash: What having a statue of Martí here means to the solidarity movement

Today José Martí — revolutionary Cuban hero — stands on 16th Street in Washington, D.C., at the entrance to the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba, a building that has belonged to the Cuban people for 100 years. As tough and dangerous as our world is today — the battle is definitely not over — we are winning.

Winning in what the historical leader and eternal Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, called the battle of ideas. Martí’s ideas: “With all, for the good of all” and “Homeland is Humanity”: unity, equality, internationalism, solidarity and human dignity.

Harsher travel restrictions had unintended consequences: they heightened general consciousness about Cuba and the blockade. It strengthened our movement with new ears to hear us and new hands to work alongside us.

The resoluteness of the Cuban people and Party and the global solidarity movement has brought us to this moment. We remember:

Fidel embraced so warmly at Harlem’s Hotel Theresa; Elián González returned to his Cuban father; the Venceremos Brigade’s 50 years defying U.S. travel bans; 30 Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravans persisting even through hunger strikes. They can’t roll back December 17, five years ago, when the Cuban 5 came home free.

And we cannot and will never forget revolutionary Cuba’s internationalism with the people of the United States, its example of converting former military bases to schools, from Moncada to the Latin American School of Medicine. We cannot forget Medical Brigade 1586, which mobilized to save lives in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, named for Henry Reeve, a U.S. citizen and Civil War veteran who fought and died for Cuban Independence.

José Martí represents the bonds of solidarity between the people of the U.S. and Cuba. They are historic, unbreakable and will be victorious.

SLL photo: Sharon Black

Fuente original: Minrex

Desde la tarde del 1ro de julio de 2019, a cuatro años del anuncio del restablecimiento de relaciones diplomáticas entre La Habana y Washington, el Apóstol se yergue vigilante y pensativo en la capital estadounidense. El constante desvelo de Martí por la independencia de la Isla y el continente quedó plasmado en el bronce: la mirada cansada, pero alerta; la postura serena; la huella del presidio y la búsqueda insaciable de conocimiento. Nada escapó de la mano del artista. Su presencia en la embajada de Cuba en Estados Unidos evoca la voluntad de acercar a dos pueblos a los que solo separa, por estrecho margen, la geografía.

La ceremonia de develación de la estatua estuvo presidida por el embajador cubano José Ramón Cabañas. También hicieron uso de la palabra la profesora de origen cubano de la Howard University, Dra. Aisha Z. Cort, y Cheryl LaBash, miembro del movimiento de solidaridad con Cuba. A continuación, compartimos sus intervenciones:

Palabras del embajador José Ramón Cabañas

Buenas tardes a todos, les agradecemos haber respondido a nuestra invitación, formulada con poco tiempo de antelación.

Hoy es un día muy especial para nosotros, pues en el marco de las celebraciones por los 100 años de la construcción del edificio de nuestra Embajada y también los 60 de la Revolución y de la visita de Fidel a este edificio, finalmente podemos dejar inaugurada esta estatua del Héroe Nacional Cubano José Martí y Pérez. Es un sueño de varios años y de varias generaciones que finalmente se ha hecho realidad.

Queremos agradecer en primer lugar al autor de la obra, el Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas de Cuba del año 2008, el Maestro José Villa Soberón. Desde aquí, Maestro, nuestros saludos. En segundo lugar, debemos mencionar al artista que fundió en bronce el molde original, el Sr. Lázaro Valdés y a su equipo de Asubronze en Miami, Florida. Debemos reconocer también a los instaladores del pedestal de granito y de la propia estatua, el Sr. Niv Fishbein de Fram Monument, que se encuentra con nosotros hoy.

Para llegar a este momento, contamos con el apoyo de un sinnúmero de funcionarios en Cuba que prepararon y se hicieron cargo del envío del molde. En especial mencionamos a los funcionarios de la ciudad de Washington, D.C., que nos condujeron por el proceso de permisos necesarios para la instalación de la estatua y a nuestros vecinos más inmediatos del vecindario de Adams Morgan, para los que cualquier celebración en nuestra Embajada es un motivo de alegría.

Esta imagen de José Martí está inspirada en las pocas fotos de la época que lo muestran de cuerpo entero, organizando la guerra contra el dominio español entre los tabaqueros cubanos en Ybor City, Tampa, caminando en Jamaica o viniendo a Washington en 1891 para participar en el Conferencia Panamericana que transcurrió en el hoy llamado edificio Eisenhower anexo a la Casa Blanca.

Es un Martí reflexivo, preocupado, un Martí que trata de comprender una realidad para después cambiarla. Desde hoy nos acompañará para todos los tiempos.

Nos ha parecido hoy 1ero de Julio una fecha apropiada para inaugurarla formalmente con la compañía de todos ustedes. En este día de 1889 salió a la luz por primera vez en Nueva York la Edad de Oro, publicación que Martí dedicara a la formación de las nuevas generaciones, porque “los niños son la esperanza del Mundo.” Hace 4 años exactamente, el 1ero de julio del  2015, a través de un intercambio de cartas entre nuestros gobiernos anunciamos el restablecimiento de relaciones diplomáticas entre Cuba y Estados Unidos, que se hizo efectivo el 20 de julio con la reapertura de nuestra Embajada.

En las conversaciones que se establecieron entonces en plano de igualdad y reciprocidad entre nuestras autoridades estuvo presente el sentido de dignidad y la obra revolucionaria del más universal de todos los cubanos.

Es un gusto para nosotros presentar ante ustedes a la Dra. Aisha Cort, profesora de origen cubano de la Universidad de Howard y a la amiga Cheryl LaBash del movimiento de solidaridad con Cuba, que se referirán también al significado de la inauguración de esta estatua.

Muchas gracias a todos.

Palabras de la Dra. Aisha Z. Cort: Reflexiones sobre Martí

Mi educación de Martí, viene de la casa. Como niña aquí en los Estados Unidos, era muy importante para mi mamá cubana que yo conociera la figura de José Martí, no solo como poeta, o “Guantanamera man” (como yo le llamaba), pero como figura icónica y clave en la historia contemporánea cubana.

José Martí era escritor, activista, intelectual, periodista pero más que nada, era revolucionario. Era un luchador comprometido con la independencia de Cuba de España.

También se dedicaba al desarrollo y progreso de Cuba no solo como entidad política sino también en términos del desarrollo esencial de una mentalidad e imaginación definitivamente cubana. Creía que la nación cubana era como un ser vivo y que podía ser un país independiente compuesto de una multitud de personas, experiencias y realidades unidos por los principios de una Cuba independiente. También parte de su proyecto era establecer y fortalecer vínculos entre los miembros de la comunidad cubana y también entre el pueblo cubano y sus aliados latinoamericanos, europeos y estadounidenses, es por eso que hoy, y la dedicación de esta estatua, es un día tan importante.

En Cuba no hay muchos lugares; plazas, escuelas, hospitales, universidades que no tienen un espacio designado para un recordatorio, si sea un monumento, un busto, una estatua, nombre, algo que da homenaje a la figura de José Martí. Como el Héroe Nacional, José Martí es sinónimo del pueblo cubano y es el símbolo que nos unifica dondequiera que estemos.

Entre su nacimiento en 1853 y su muerte en 1895 al principio de la guerra de independencia cubana, su dedicación a una Cuba libre le llevó preso, exiliado, acosado, pero también, fue inspirado, respetado, amado y honrado por los cubanos dentro y afuera de la isla que eran pro independentistas. Escribió centenas (o miles) de artículos, ensayos, poesía, discursos, discutiendo el caso para la independencia de Cuba. 

A través de sus viajes, escritura, discursos e interacciones con varios países latinoamericanos, Europa y los Estados Unidos inspiró y organizó varias ramas de la comunidad cubana. Y la más importante de estas ramas, para este evento hoy, la comunidad cubana de los Estados Unidos que desempeñó un papel decisivo en lograr la independencia de Cuba.

Los Estados Unidos sirvieron como tierra de refugio y también de carácter prolífico para fomentar lazos cruciales entre Cuba y la comunidad cubana en los Estados Unidos. A través de lecturas, y reuniones, sus relaciones con los trabajadores de las fábricas de tabaco en Tampa y los obreros en Nueva York inspiraron su ideología acerca de qué significaba ser “cubano.” Observaba que a pesar de las distancias, los miembros de la comunidad cubana en los Estados Unidos seguían siendo cubanos. Eran ejemplos vivos del hecho de que ser cubano era más que pertenecer a un territorio, se componía de una manera de ser y un espíritu, y una cubanidad intocable.

La pura existencia de la comunidad cubana, especialmente en los Estados Unidos enfatizó para Martí el carácter único, persistente e inimitable del pueblo cubano. Y yo diría que a Martí le ayudó muchísimo en formalizar las ideas que servirían como base de la ideología para la nación cubana moderna e independiente.

Entonces José Martí, en su obra social, en sus esfuerzos como periodista, intelectual, activista, revolucionario, sirvió no solo como el punto de contacto entre nuestros países sino también como un puente (simbólico) cultural y literal entre mundos, ideas y transiciones. Y su legado abunda.

Y es por eso que es apropiado y necesario que esta estatua se instale aquí en la Embajada de Cuba en los Estados Unidos. Que sirva como símbolo visible y tangible de los lazos que han existido por más de un siglo entre Cuba y los Estados Unidos, y también entre los cubanos en la Isla y la comunidad cubana en los Estados Unidos. Que conmemore nuestras relaciones profundas y duraderas y también la identidad que se ha mantenido, crecido y compartido a través del espíritu cubano intocable que José Martí promovió.

Palabras de Cheryl LaBash: Que significa tener una estatua de Martí aquí para el movimiento de solidaridad

José Martí — héroe revolucionario Cubano — se para en la calle 16 de Washington, D.C., en la entrada de la Embajada de la República Cubana, un edificio que le pertenece al pueblo Cubano por 100 años. Aunque tan peligroso y duro es nuestro mundo ahora — la batalla definitivamente no se acaba — estamos ganando.

Ganando es como el líder histórico y para siempre comandante en jefe de la Revolución cubana Fidel Castro llamó a la batalla de las ideas. Las ideas de Martí: “Con todos, para el bien de todos,” “La Patria es Humanidad,” unidad, igualdad, internacionalismo, solidaridad y dignidad humana.

Las medidas de viaje más severas tuvieron consecuencias involuntarias: mayor conciencia general sobre Cuba y el bloqueo. Fortaleció nuestro movimiento con nuevos oídos para escucharnos y nuevas manos para trabajar junto a nosotros.

La resolución del pueblo y partido cubanos y el movimiento de solidaridad mundial nos ha llevado a este momento. Recordamos: Fidel fue abrazado con tanto afecto en el Hotel Theresa de Harlem, Elián González regresó con su padre cubano, los 50 años de la Brigada Venceremos desafiando las prohibiciones de viajar a los E.U. 30 Caravanas de Pastores por la paz, insistiendo, en huelga de hambre. No pueden retroceder el 17 de diciembre, hace 5 años, cuando los Cinco Cubanos llegó a casa libre. 

Y no podemos olvidar ni nunca se nos olvidará el internacionalismo de la revolución Cubana con el pueblo de los E.U. y su ejemplo en convertir antiguas bases militares a colegios desde Moncada hasta la Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina. La brigada médica con 1586 se movilizó fuerte para salvar vidas en Nueva Orleans después del huracán Katrina de 2005, que lleva el nombre de Henry Reeve, ciudadano de los E.U. y veterano de la Guerra Civil que luchó y murió luchando por la independencia de Cuba.

José Martí representa los lazos de solidaridad entre los pueblos de los Estados Unidos y Cuba. Son históricos, irrompibles y serán victoriosos.

Foto: Sharon Black

From the United States itself, we demand the immediate end of the inhuman and criminal blockade that this government has imposed on the Republic of Cuba for almost 60 years.

The blockade of Cuba represents the lowest level that a government can exhibit. At the same time that representatives of the United States travel the world boasting and waving a so-called flag of democracy and freedom, this country commits the most sinister acts against 11 million people in the Cuban Republic, simply because it does not agree with their system of government.

The hostility towards that republic originated on the same day that the Cuban Revolution triumphed. Since then, the blockade has caused immense damage to infrastructure, with threats and criminal acts against its leadership, its population and its economy. The U.S. has tried — unsuccessfully — to isolate Cuba from the international community and resources.

However, the example of dignity and generosity to all the peoples of the world comes from Cuba. The hand of solidarity goes even to the United States itself through medical scholarships to the Latin American School of Medicine, and the offer of help in times of disasters, as was done after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Then-President George W. Bush refused to acknowledge or accept Cuba’s offer.

The criminal Helms-Burton Act — misnamed “The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act” and imposed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 — illustrates the great falsehood of the U.S. government. This law reinforced the blockade then, and now the current Trump administration has taken it to the highest level of cruelty. Enforcing Title III of that law aims to totally strangle the Cuban economy and, therefore, its people. Title III, enforced for the first time since 1996, punishes third countries and companies that trade with Cuba, which demonstrates U.S. contempt for international law.

We — along with the majority of the countries of the world — demand the immediate end of the blockade, the longest in history.

Signed,
Steering Committee of Women in Struggle / Mujeres en Lucha of Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and San Diego

Desde los mismos Estados Unidos, exigimos el fin inmediato del bloqueo inhumano y criminal que este gobierno ha impuesto a la República de Cuba por casi 60 años.

El bloqueo de Cuba representa el nivel más bajo que un gobierno pueda exhibir. Al mismo tiempo que representantes de los Estados Unidos viajan por el mundo alardeando y ondeando la supuesta bandera de democracia y libertad, este país comete los actos más siniestros contra once millones de personas en la República de Cuba; simplemente porque no está de acuerdo con su sistema de gobierno.

La hostilidad hacia esa República se originó el mismo día en que triunfó la Revolución Cubana. Desde entonces, el bloqueo ha causado un inmenso daño a la infraestructura, con amenazas y actos criminales contra su liderazgo, su población y su economía. Ha intentado, sin éxito, aislarla de la comunidad internacional y sus recursos.

Sin embargo, el ejemplo de dignidad y generosidad para todos los pueblos del mundo proviene de Cuba. La mano de la solidaridad va incluso a los Estados Unidos a través de becas médicas a la Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina, y la oferta de ayuda en tiempos de desastres como lo fue después de la devastación del huracán Katrina. El entonces presidente George W. Bush se negó a reconocer o aceptar la oferta de Cuba.

La criminal Ley Helms Burton impuesta por el entonces presidente Bill Clinton en 1996 y mal llamada “Ley de Libertad y Solidaridad Democrática Cubana,” ilustra la gran falsedad del gobierno de los Estados Unidos. Esta ley reforzó el bloqueo entonces, y ahora la administración actual lo ha llevado al más alto nivel de crueldad. Hacer cumplir el Título III de esa Ley tiene como objetivo estrangular totalmente a la economía cubana y, por lo tanto, a su gente. El Título III, que se aplica por primera vez desde 1996, castiga a terceros países y empresas que comercian con Cuba, lo que demuestra el desprecio de Estados Unidos por el derecho internacional.

Nosotras, junto con la mayoría de los países del mundo, exigimos el fin inmediato del bloqueo, el más largo de la historia.

Firmado
Comité Directivo de Women in Struggle / Mujeres en Lucha de Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Los Ángeles, Nueva York, Filadelfia y San Diego

The Philadelphia-Camden Boricua Committee, composed of Puerto Ricans residing in this area of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, wants to state our position about the criminal commercial, economic and financial blockade that the United States has imposed on the people of Cuba for almost 60 years.

We, coming from a colonial system imposed by the United States on Puerto Rico since 1898, know very well the fatal consequences of living under the domination of this imperial country. Right now we are suffering the consequences of the dictatorship of seven members of a Fiscal Control Board imposed on our homeland in 2016 by the U.S. Congress to collect an illegitimate and illegal debt with Boricua blood. The result has been the migration of almost one million people in the last two years due to the precarious living conditions and the dismantling of basic services and programs.

We believe that the blockade, the Helms-Burton Law and its Title III are aimed precisely at the dismantling of the Republic of Cuba, which with its developments in the construction of socialism has obtained enormous advances in the quality of a dignified life for its people. Cuba has not kept these advances for herself and her people, but has shared in the most generous way with the rest of the world, including the United States itself, when preparing medical professionals at its Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), and offering health service aid in times of catastrophes such as during Hurricane Katrina. However, this help was arrogantly rejected by then-President George W. Bush.

The blockade and especially the recent imposition of Title III break all international laws and principles by punishing a whole people and embarking on a totally interventionist policy that exposes the illegal U.S. exercise of intimidation towards other countries that trade with Cuba. The 11 million Cubans deserve a life free of U.S. interference.

If the United States proclaims worldwide its supposed ideals of democracy and freedom, it is time to preach through their example and end so much hypocrisy, from the concentration camps for migrants and the mass incarceration of people of color to the blockade of Cuba.

WE DEMAND ALL THE AGENCIES AND OFFICERS OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO CEASE AND DESIST FROM THIS HOSTILE ACTION TOWARDS ITS SOUTHERN NEIGHBOR, CUBA, AND BY EXTENSION TO THE OTHER INVOLVED COUNTRIES.

END THE BLOCKADE NOW!

July 5, 2019

COMITÉ BORICUA PHILADELPHIA-CAMDEN
WePhillyRicans@gmail.com

El Comité Boricua Filadelfia-Camden, compuesto de boricuas residentes en esta área de Pensilvania y Nueva Jersey, quiere expresarse sobre el criminal bloqueo comercial, económico y financiero que Estados Unidos ha impuesto al pueblo de Cuba por casi 60 años.

Nosotras y nosotros, procedentes de un sistema colonial — Puerto Rico — impuesto por los Estados Unidos desde 1898, sabemos muy bien las consecuencias fatales que conlleva estar bajo la dominación de este país imperial. Ahora mismo estamos sufriendo las consecuencias de la dictadura de siete miembros de una Junta de Control Fiscal impuesta en 2016 por el Congreso estadounidense sobre nuestra patria para cobrar con sangre boricua una deuda ilegítima e ilegal. El resultado ha sido la migración de casi un millón de personas en los últimos dos años debido a las precarias condiciones de vida y al desmantelamiento de los programas básicos de supervivencia.

Creemos que el bloqueo, la Ley Helms Burton y su Título III van dirigidos precisamente al desmantelamiento de la República de Cuba que con su desarrollo en la construcción del socialismo, ha obtenido enormes adelantos en la calidad de una vida digna para su pueblo. Adelantos que no se ha quedado para sí misma y su pueblo, sino que ha compartido de la manera más generosa con el resto del mundo, incluyendo con el mismísimo Estados Unidos al preparar profesionales de la medicina en su escuela ELAM, la Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina, y el ofrecimiento de prestación de servicios de salud en tiempos de catástrofes como fue durante el Huracán Katrina. Sin embargo, esta ayuda fue arrogantemente rechazada por el entonces presidente Bush.

El Bloqueo y especialmente la última imposición del Título III rompen con todas las normas y leyes internacionales al castigar a todo un pueblo y embarcarse en una política totalmente injerencista que expone su ilegal ejercicio de intimidación hacia otros países que comercien con Cuba. Los once millones de cubanas y cubanos merecen una vida libre de injerencia estadounidense. Si Estados Unidos pregona al mundo sus supuestos ideales de democracia y libertad, es hora de que prediquen con su ejemplo y dejen tanta hipocresía, desde los campos de concentración para migrantes y el encarcelamiento masivo de personas de color, hasta el Bloqueo de Cuba.

EXIGIMOS A TODOS LOS ORGANISMOS Y OFICIALES DEL GOBIERNO ESTADOUNIDENSE QUE CESEN Y DESISTAN DE ESTA ACCIÓN HOSTIL HACIA SU VECINO DEL SUR, CUBA, Y POR EXTENSIÓN A LOS OTROS PAÍSES DEL MUNDO ENVUELTOS. 

¡ALTO AL BLOQUEO YA!

Filadelfia, 5 de Julio de 2019

COMITÉ BORICUA PHILADELPHIA-CAMDEN
WePhillyRicans@gmail.com

On June 5, Caribbean cruise ships that were headed to Havana or other Cuban ports of call abruptly changed course, forbidden to dock there by the U.S. government’s enhanced blockade measures. 

Just a week later, the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization’s Pastors for Peace Friendshipment launched its 2019 Cuba Caravan campaign. The caravan visited 40 U.S. cities in 10 days to defend the right to travel and to organize for an end of the nearly 60-year genocidal U.S. blockade of Cuba.  

IFCO’s message continues to be “love is our license” to travel. Since 1992, these caravans have not sought or accepted a U.S. government license and have traveled to Cuba every year, sometimes twice. Yes, you can go to Cuba!

This year, speakers along five U.S routes plus one Canadian route talked with gatherings in churches and community centers. Meetings spanned from Brunswick, Maine, to San Pedro, Calif.; from Minneapolis to Montgomery, Ala.; and Texas, Oklahoma, Southern Illinois and Indiana. Route speakers also talked with the offices of elected officials in Virginia, Connecticut, California and Alabama, and to print and broadcast media. 

IFCO continues to organize the only national North American outreach campaign that is building solidarity with revolutionary Cuba. Undaunted by Washington’s announcements, people encountered on this campaign trail have eagerly planned to travel to Cuba.

After concluding the national speakers’ campaign, 37 multigenerational caravan participants will travel to Cuba, many for the first time, through third countries. They will assert their right to travel to Cuba like any other country — without approval from the U.S. Treasury Department, the enforcer of the unilateral U.S. economic, financial and commercial blockade of its smaller island neighbor. 

Caravan participants will return to their home cities on July 5. Please stand by on that date; if support is needed for these travelers, an alert will be posted at IFCOnews.org or at IFCO/PastorsforPeace on Facebook. 

Congress: ‘No vacations in Cuba’

For flights to Cuba originating at U.S. airports, however, ticket purchasers must declare which general license “category” they say describes their reason for traveling to Cuba. 

According to the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, a law passed by the U.S. Congress, a U.S. resident — unlike Canadians, Europeans, Africans, Latin Americans and Asians — may not go to Cuba for “vacation”; it is against that law. 

Nonetheless, direct flights are available from Boston; Newark, N.J.; New York’s JFK airport; Charlotte, N.C.; Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, Fla.; Atlanta; and Houston on American, JetBlue, United, Southwest and Delta airlines. 

In addition to banning the cruises, on June 4 the most popular “category” of U.S. government-approved Cuba travel, people-to-people groups, was eliminated. This followed the earlier end of the very popular people-to-people individual travel on Nov. 9, 2017. 

There are still plenty of general license categories to meet airline recordkeeping. For example, by going to Cuba, aren’t we aiding the Cuban people? The Washington Post reports: “Tourism is now the most important source of foreign income for the country.” One of the remaining general license categories is “support for the Cuban people.”

Isn’t it time to end laws that try to restrict our travel?

Nearly 2 million U.S. residents have seen Cuba for themselves since commercial flights to Cuba resumed in August 2016. These travelers have seen Cuba with their own eyes. They have met and talked with Cubans, found socialism was not frightening at all, and many even want to return. 

By and large, those 2 million U.S. residents now agree with the vast majority of the world’s countries which vote annually in the United Nations General Assembly to call for the U.S. to end its brutal blockade. The 2019 vote is scheduled for November 6.

Despite the rancor and hostility toward Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua spewing forth from Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton and “Special Envoy for Venezuela” Elliott Abrams, support is visibly growing outside the Washington beltway for Cuba — the stable, socialist target of regional destabilization and regime-change machinations. 

Strong examples are the many city council resolutions that show the will of the people in the U.S. is in sharp disagreement with Washington. These resolutions call for ending U.S. economic warfare against Cuba. 

Already 11 cities have passed such resolutions. Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland and Sacramento, Calif.; Helena, Mont.; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.; Detroit; Pittsburgh; Brookline, Mass.; and Hartford, Conn., are all on board. 

Seattle is considering a resolution this summer and Washington, D.C., has submitted a resolution for a vote in the fall. The Alabama and Michigan state senates have passed resolutions. Both chambers of the California Legislature have, too. 

Participants in the IFCO/Pastors for Peace southern route were especially eager to explore the possibilities for fighting back through city council resolutions in Durham, N.C.; Decatur, Ga.; and other cities. Exploratory efforts are beginning in Ashland, Ore., and the Chicago area. 

Can your city, county, township or state legislature pass a resolution? Contact the National Network On Cuba for more information. Write to ICanGoToCuba@nnoc.info.

Trump intensifies war on Cuba

The new travel restrictions are only part of the intensified war waged against the Cuban people and their revolution. 

For the first time since the Helms-Burton Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, Title III was allowed to go into effect. Title III allows U.S. citizens and corporate entities to file lawsuits in U.S. federal courts against businesses that operate on property that was expropriated following the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

Before 2019, enforcement of Title III was suspended every six months by presidential waiver. The extraterritorial reach of Title III caused Spain, Canada and the European Union to oppose it. Now, casting aside the opposition of U.S. allies, the waivers have ended. The aim is to further hurt Cuba’s international economic partnerships and, as a result, hurt the Cuban people. 

An article in the June 21 edition of Granma asserts that “Helms-Burton is also illegal within the United States.”

An internal U.S. State Department memo dated April 6, 1960, shows the early evolution of this U.S. strategy to undermine Cuba’s self-determination. The memo admitted Cubans’ support the revolution, and no effective opposition exists. It concluded: “The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship.” 

It further elaborated on what we see today: actions “adroit and inconspicuous as possible, to make the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.”

The perpetrators of the genocidal blockade are in Washington and on Wall Street. It is no accident that one of the first lawsuits filed under Title III was by Exxon-Mobil. But the current assault on Cuba’s dignity and economy has stiffened the resolve of the Cuban people to defend what they have gained and their profound culture of solidarity. 

Working and oppressed people in the U.S. must unite to end the blockade, return U.S.-occupied Guantánamo to Cuba, restore our right to travel and emulate Cuba’s international solidarity with the world.

The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba repudiates, in the strongest terms, measures announced by the United States government on June 4, 2019, reinforcing the economic blockade imposed on Cuba for more than 60 years, at a cost to the Cuban economy that in 2018 exceeded $134 billion at current prices, or $933 billion, when considering the depreciation of the dollar as compared to the value of gold on the international market.

As is known, this new escalation, effective June 5, further strengthens the stringent restrictions U.S. citizens face in order to travel to Cuba, and adds full prohibitions on travel by sea from the United States, of all types, and prohibits cruise ship stops in our country immediately. The objective continues to be pressuring the Cuban nation to make political concessions, by strangling the economy and causing damage to the population. In this particular case, the measures also seek to prevent the people of the United States from learning about Cuba’s reality, and thus undermining the slanderous propaganda campaigns against our country that are fabricated on a daily basis.

These actions are contrary to the majority opinion of U.S. citizens, whose interest in seeing Cuba, and exercising their right to travel, is made clear by the 650,000 who visited us in 2018, along with half a million Cubans resident in the United States.

This past April 17, National Security Adviser John Bolton, on the occasion of an anti-Cuban show that featured the presence of mercenaries defeated at Playa Girón and relatives of the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship’s henchmen, announced that his government would restrict non-family trips to Cuba. It is clear that this individual has managed to take possession of U.S. foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere, which constitutes the main threat to peace and stability in the entire region.The United States promotes the Monroe Doctrine without reservation, with which it seeks to deny sovereign equality and the right to self-determination of each and every one of the hemisphere’s nations.

The recent attacks on Cuba are justified with new pretexts. The most notorious among them is the slanderous accusation that Cuba is intervening militarily in Venezuela, a lie that has been publicly and consistently refuted by the Cuban government.

They go to the unscrupulous extreme of proposing that Cuba betray the convictions and principles that guide the Cuban Revolution’s foreign policy, in exchange for promises of negotiations or easing of the draconian and criminal measures that make up the blockade.

Cuba’s solidarity with constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros, the Bolivarian Chavista Revolution, and the civic-military union of its people is not negotiable. The more than 20,000 Cuban collaborators, who in a voluntary and disinterested manner offer their social services in the country, the majority in health care, will continue to do so, as long as the Venezuela people want, cooperating with this sister country.

For Cubans, betrayal is not an option. We are not naive: we have already struggled 150 years for our independence, obliged to confront the hegemonic ambitions of U.S. imperialism since the first day. Cuba will not be intimidated, nor distracted from the essential, urgent tasks of developing our economy and the construction of socialism. Closely united, we will be able to face the most challenging adversities. They cannot asphyxiate us, nor can they stop us.

Havana, June 5, 2019

El Gobierno Revolucionario de la República de Cuba repudia en los términos más enérgicos las medidas anunciadas por el Gobierno de Estados Unidos el 4 de junio de 2019, con las que refuerza el bloqueo económico impuesto a Cuba por más de 60 años, a un costo para la economía cubana que en 2018 superaba los 134 000 millones de dólares a precios corrientes y la cifra de 933 000 millones de dólares, tomando en cuenta la depreciación del dólar frente al valor del oro en el mercado internacional.

Según se ha podido conocer, esta nueva escalada, con efecto a partir del 5 de junio, refuerza aún más las duras restricciones que ya sufren los ciudadanos estadounidenses para viajar a Cuba, agrega prohibiciones absolutas para embarcaciones de todo tipo procedentes de Estados Unidos y prohíbe de inmediato que buques cruceros visiten nuestro país.

La pretensión continúa siendo arrancarle concesiones políticas a la nación cubana, mediante la asfixia de la economía y el daño al nivel de la población. En este caso particular, las medidas buscan también impedir que el pueblo de Estados Unidos conozca la realidad cubana y derrote así el efecto de la propaganda calumniosa que a diario se fabrica contra nuestro país.

Son acciones que desprecian la opinión mayoritaria de los estadounidenses, cuyo interés por conocer Cuba y ejercer su derecho a viajar se demostró en los 650 000 que nos visitaron en 2018, junto a medio millón de cubanos residentes en Estados Unidos.

El pasado 17 de abril, el asesor de Seguridad Nacional John Bolton, en ocasión de un show anticubano que contó con la presencia de mercenarios derrotados en Playa Girón y familiares de los esbirros de la tiranía de Fulgencio Batista,había advertido que su Gobierno restringiría los viajes no familiares a Cuba.Se conoce que este individuoha logrado adueñarse de la política exterior de Estados Unidos hacia el hemisferio occidental, lo que constituye la principal amenaza a la paz y la estabilidad de toda la región.  

Estados Unidos promueve sin recato la Doctrina Monroe, con la que pretende negar la igualdad soberana y el derecho a la libre determinación de todas y cada una de las naciones del hemisferio.

Las recientes arremetidas contra Cuba se argumentan con nuevos pretextos. El más notorio entre ellos es la calumniosa acusación de que Cuba interviene militarmente en Venezuela, mentira que ha sido rechazada pública y sostenidamente por el Gobierno cubano.

Llegan al extremo inescrupuloso de proponer a Cuba que traicione sus convicciones y los principios que han acompañado a la política exterior de la Revolución Cubana, a cambio de promesas de negociación o alivio de las medidas draconianas y criminales que componen el bloqueo económico.

La solidaridad de Cuba con el Presidente Constitucional Nicolás Maduro Moros, la Revolución bolivariana y chavista y la unión cívico-militar de su pueblo, no es negociable. Los más de 20 000 colaboradores cubanos que de manera voluntaria y abnegada prestan servicios sociales en ese país, la mayor parte de ellos en el sector de la salud, seguirán allí mientras los acoja el pueblo venezolano, cooperando con esa nación hermana.

Para los cubanos, la traición no es una opción. No somos ingenuos, son ya 150 años de ardua lucha por nuestra independencia, teniendo que enfrentar desde el primer día las ambiciones hegemónicas del imperialismo norteamericano.

Cuba no se dejará amedrentar, ni distraer de las tareas esenciales y urgentes del desarrollo de nuestra economía y la construcción del socialismo. Estrechamente unidos, seremos capaces de enfrentar las adversidades más desafiantes. No podrán asfixiarnos, ni podrán detenernos.

La Habana, 5 de junio de 2019

Havana, May 1 — “Unity, Commitment and Victory,” read the lead banner of Havana’s massive International Workers Day march. If anyone expected Cuba would respond with a military theme in the face of aggressive imperialist threats made in Miami by U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, they were mistaken.

The Cuban working class answered the U.S. empire’s wild tirades — delivered on the anniversary of the soundly trounced April 17, 1961, Bay of Pigs invasion — with a joyous, disciplined, tightly packed, banner- and sign-festooned celebration led by medical workers in their white coats.

Más Médicos doctors rejected by Brazil’s U.S.-allied government to the detriment of their poor and rural patients; Cuban hospitals, pharmaceutical research and production facilities; Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine, scientific and medical research centers — all represented Cuba’s profound and respected international service.

It is accomplished professionals like these who have been maliciously and falsely characterized as a 20,000-member Cuban army which the U.S. claims is in Venezuela. This lie became the stated excuse to devise new cruelty to add to Washington’s nearly 60-year unilateral economic, financial and commercial blockade of this exemplary island.

As difficult as life may get for the Cuban people in the near future because of new U.S. measures, the proof of Cuba’s resilience and progress watched from the José Martí monument in Revolution Square. Appearing there were new President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and Communist Party leader and former President Raúl Castro Ruz, who introduced a new, progressive socialist Constitution, discussed by all and overwhelmingly approved on Feb. 24. Whatever new measures the Trump-Pence-Bolton-Abrams horror show finally publishes, the Cuban 5 heroes who joined them won’t be going back to U.S. prisons.

The blockade is a key component of the strategy first outlined in a U.S. State Department internal memo on April 6, 1960, as Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez pointed out in a press conference rebutting the April 17 attacks. The memo admitted the Cuban Revolution and its leaders were so popular that a credible internal opposition could not be concocted. It called for creating economic hardship, hoping to create enough popular dissatisfaction to end Cuba’s independence. But as the bosses and rulers so often do, they underestimated Cuba’s working class. Obama got it right: the blockade failed.

For more than 60 years, Cuba has weathered crises and the blockade through the mobilization and creativity of Cuban workers, through internationalism, unity and solidarity. Not only have the Cuban people kept 1950s vintage cars on the road, but they’ve also developed cancer vaccines, medications to avoid diabetic limb amputations and continue working to solve problems facing humanity, including the dangers of climate change and global warming, with a forward-looking 100-year plan – Tarea Vida.