[News] Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Sits Down With “The Nation”

[Anti-Imperialist News]

thenation.com 
<https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/interview-cuban-president-diaz-canel/> 



  Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Sits Down With “The Nation”

D.D. Guttenplan and Katrina vanden Heuvel
October 28, 2023
------------------------------------------------------------------------

In late September, /The Nation/’s publisher, Katrina vanden Heuvel, and 
its editor, D.D. Guttenplan, met with Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel 
for an exclusive interview in New York.

It was the president’s first-ever interview in the United States. They 
discussed the economic crisis facing his island nation, the future of 
its socialist model, and the impact of continued hostility from Washington.

D.D. Guttenplan:*You are the first Cuban president born after the 
Revolution. What does the Revolution mean today? *

Miguel Díaz-Canel: First, I would like to thank you for doing this 
interview, which is taking place on the occasion of this visit we have 
made as part of the Cuban delegation to the 78th session of the United 
Nations General Assembly. I thank you for allowing me to address the 
American public, especially the millions of Latinos and Cubans who live 
in the United States.

My generation was born with the Revolution. I was born in 1960 and 
celebrated my first birthday the day after the victory at Playa Girón 
[Bay of Pigs]. The birth and life of the revolution marked my generation.

 From a young age, we were motivated to get involved in all the 
opportunities afforded us by the Revolution: to improve ourselves, 
acquire knowledge, partake in culture, science, and sports, and enjoy 
access to healthcare. We were also aware of the need to fulfill our 
duties and not just be the recipient of rights but also address the 
challenges the country was facing.

Of course, the Revolution has gone through different stages. My 
childhood memories are of very complicated years. Later, we enjoyed a 
period of greater economic ease in the ’70s and ´80s, when we had closer 
relations with the socialist camp and, in particular, with the Soviet 
Union. Then came the Special Period, which was another challenging time.

 From 2000 onward, the country entered a new economic growth phase 
<https://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/en/work-document/an-overview-of-the-cuban-economy-the-transformations-underway-and-the-prospective-challenges-it-faces-wp/> 
and the outlook improved. Today, however, we find ourselves in a 
situation you have yourself described as “complex.” International 
relations are complicated in such an uncertain world, especially with 
the problems brought on by the pandemic.
As the representative of an entire generation that has come to assume 
the responsibilities of political life and government, I feel an 
enormous commitment to the Revolution, to the Cuban people, and to Fidel 
[Castro] and Raúl [Castro], who have been visionary leaders to whom we 
owe our gratitude and recognition.

We define ourselves as a continuity generation, although not a 
generation of linear continuity. Continuity does not mean a lack of 
transformation, but just the opposite: a dialectical continuity, so 
that, as we transform, advance, and try to perfect our society as much 
as possible, we do not abandon our convictions about building socialism 
in our country with as much social justice as possible.
That is our lifelong commitment and vision. It requires great effort, 
achievement, and altruism, and this demands much from us, especially 
under difficult circumstances.

Katrina vanden Heuvel:*There are many young people in Cuba today. In 
that context, I wonder how you envision the future of the Cuban economy. 
The blockade is brutal, of course, yet there is also a sense among young 
people that, without change, they may not see their future in Cuba.*

MDC: There is something unique about the current moment. We have been 
living under a blockade 
<https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cuba/2022-02-02/cuba-embargoed-us-trade-sanctions-turn-sixty> 
since we were born. For example, my generation, that of the 1960s, was 
born with the blockade. Our children and grandchildren— I have 
grandchildren— have grown up under the sign of the blockade. However, 
the blockade changed significantly in the second half of 2019. It became 
even harsher than before.

The new, harsher blockade was the result of two factors. One was the 
application of more than 243 measures 
<https://jacobin.com/2022/03/us-blockade-embargo-cuba-sanctions-russia> 
by the Trump administration, which strengthened the blockade by 
internationalizing 
<https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/latamcaribbean/2021/08/06/if-the-us-really-cared-about-freedom-in-cuba-it-would-end-its-punishing-sanctions/> 
it and applying for the first time Chapter Three of the Helms-Burton Act 
<https://www.ibanet.org/article/872A709E-49DE-4153-92C7-798FA9A88196>. 
In doing so, they cut off our access to foreign capital, international 
convertible currencies and remittances 
<https://horizontecubano.law.columbia.edu/news/us-restrictive-policies-cuban-remittances-effects-cuban-families-and-emerging-private-sector>; 
North Americans could no longer visit 
<https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/what-travelers-need-to-know-about-trumps-cuba-restrictions> 
Cuba, and they placed financial pressure on banks and financial groups 
that had business with Cuba.

And to top it all off, nine or ten days before leaving office in January 
2021, Trump included us on a bogus list 
<https://cu.usembassy.gov/u-s-announces-designation-of-cuba-as-a-state-sponsor-of-terrorism/> 
that says Cuba is a country that supports terrorism—which is absolutely 
false. The whole world knows about Cuba’s humanist vocation and about 
how we contribute to peace. We don’t send the military anywhere; we send 
doctors. And even then, when we send our doctors abroad to act in 
solidarity and provide services to other parts of the world, the United 
States claims 
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cuba-trafficking/u-s-says-cuban-medical-missions-are-trafficking-doctors-idUSKBN1WC00X> 
that we are actually involved in human trafficking.

At the same time, just as the economic situation was worsening, Covid-19 
hit and greatly affected Cuba 
<https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-caribbean-social-media-50d104fb0e905aa8bc1c09fc499e24f0>, 
as it did everywhere. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the United 
States government acted in a perverse manner and tightened the blockade 
<https://press.un.org/en/2022/ga12465.doc.htm#:~:text=During%20the%20pandemic%2C%20the%20blockade,medical%20brigades%20to%20provide%20aid>. 
I single out the government and not the people of the United States 
because we have deep respect and bonds of friendship with the people of 
the United States.

I believe that the US government thought the Revolution would not 
survive that moment. The pandemic 
<https://online.ucpress.edu/currenthistory/article-abstract/122/841/56/195142/Cuba-s-Pandemic-Crisis?redirectedFrom=fulltext> 
peaked at a very high level in Cuba and lasted for the better part of 
2021. When it began in 2020, we still didn’t have vaccines or even the 
possibility of obtaining the vaccine.

Then, there was a breakdown 
<https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/main-cuban-oxygen-plant-fails-amid-covid-19-surge-2021-08-15/> 
at the medical oxygen plant in Cuba. We ran out of oxygen and the US 
government was putting pressure on companies in the Caribbean and 
Central America to not supply us with oxygen. We also had to expand the 
intensive care wards, and the US government responded by pressuring 
<https://www.ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/online-exclusives/u-s-economic-sanctions-on-cuba-in-the-context-of-the-pandemic-covid-19> 
companies that manufactured and marketed ventilators not to supply Cuba.

The situation was critical and came with a huge media campaign to 
discredit the Cuban Revolution. We turned to our health system—an 
efficient, free, and high-quality system that considers health a 
right—and we turned to our scientists, especially younger ones. Our 
scientists designed the ventilators and developed five vaccine 
candidates 
<https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/latamcaribbean/2021/03/31/cubas-five-covid-19-vaccines-the-full-story-on-soberana-01-02-plus-abdala-and-mambisa/>, 
of which three are today recognized for their efficacy. And that saved 
the country. However, we emerged from the pandemic with many problems, 
many of them accumulated since before 2019.

We have shortages of medicines 
<https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/rare-doctors-outcry-highlights-cubas-covid-crisis-growing-dissent-2021-08-18/>, 
food 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/cuba-economy-milk-shortage/>, 
and fuel 
<https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-warns-worsening-blackouts-fuel-crisis-bites-2023-09-28/>. 
We experience prolonged blackouts that harm the population and directly 
impact people’s lives, particularly the youth. I believe that our 
education process has impressed on the youth the importance of the 
situation we are going through. Still, we, as a generation, have an 
enormous challenge: to ensure that this momentary distancing of the 
Cuban youth 
<https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2023/10/12/1203610907/the-farewell-generation-a-look-into-the-cuban-youth-exodus-through-love-stories#:~:text=Record%20numbers%20of%20Cubans%20fled,80s%20and%20%2790s%2C%20combined>—young 
people born during the Special Period who have lived all these years in 
a really difficult economic and social situation—does not lead to an 
ideological rupture with the Revolution and with the country itself.

It is true that there is a greater migration 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/world/americas/cuba-us-migration.html> 
than at other times. But that has occurred periodically 
<https://journals.openedition.org/plc/464?lang=en#tocto2n2> in the 
history between Cuba and the United States. The most intense migratory 
events have always been associated with periods in which the United 
States has applied aggressive policies that have worsened the Cuban 
economic situation. By means of the Cuban Adjustment Act 
<https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/cuban-adjustment-act#:~:text=The%20bipartisan%20Cuban%20Adjustment%20Act,for%20at%20least%20one%20year> 
[of 1966] and other measures, the United States has favored illegal, 
unsafe, and disorderly immigration of Cubans—while not extending those 
policies to emigrants from other countries.

I learned a lot when we overcame the pandemic; I came to understand the 
way Cubans resist as a form of creative resistance. To resist creatively 
means not just to resist by staying in place but to move forward by 
creating and taking advantage of the talent and strength of our people 
to overcome adversities. One example of that were the vaccines. Only 
five [other] countries in the world were able to develop vaccines, and 
all of them are developed countries. Cuba is the only developing country 
that was able to do that, and also with impressive indicators of 0.76 
mortality <https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality>. Cuba has applied 
<https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-vaccination-doses-per-capita> 
more doses of vaccines per capita during the pandemic than any other 
country.

We are one of 20 countries with over ninety percent 
<https://salud.msp.gob.cu/actualizacion-de-la-vacunacion-en-el-marco-de-los-estudios-de-los-candidatos-vacunales-cubanos-y-la-intervencion-sanitaria/> 
of the population completely vaccinated against Covid. And we were just 
the second country in the world to apply vaccines to pediatric 
populations 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/world/americas/cuba-children-vaccine.html> 
two years of age and older. These forms of creative resistance are now 
being carried over into other areas of the economy and social life, to 
overcome the blockade with our efforts, talent, and labor.

We are increasingly involving our youth in that effort and offering them 
greater space for social participation. As a result, young people can 
see that it is possible to have life goals that coincide with the social 
project defended by the Revolution. Of course, there are those who 
migrate, but the majority of young people are in Cuba, working in the 
areas I’ve mentioned and others. They are the ones leading our 
scientific development. Young people are involved in the country’s main 
productive and economic activities. They are the ones who drive the 
digital transformation of society, the standard-bearers for social, 
political, and institutional communication. They are the ones that 
convince us of the need to work for the continuity of the Revolution.

DDG:*I want to pick up on two things that you said, Mr. President. One 
is the cyclical nature of what you call the emigration from Cuba and the 
way in which that, in your view, responds to harsher sanctions. If I 
understand your argument, the US imposes harsher sanctions, which sends 
more people out of the country. Do you feel that that’s something that 
the Biden administration can do anything about? *

MDC: We don’t expect too much to change with the Biden administration. 
We still have a diplomatic relationship with the United States; there is 
an American embassy in Cuba and a Cuban embassy in the United States. 
Relations were reestablished 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-relations.html> 
during Obama’s term, which was a completely different policy from the 
one implemented by Trump which Biden has maintained 
<https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/19/cuban-americans-biden-administration-adds-cuba-sanctions-506319>. 
I highlight it because, even if it was a Republican president who 
applied a policy of maximum pressure on Cuba, it is a Democratic 
president who maintains that policy.

Through direct and indirect channels, we have let the Biden 
administration know that we are willing to sit down to discuss our 
problems, including immigration to the US. But that has to be done from 
a position of equality, respect, and with no strings attached. We have 
not received any response from the US. Therefore, we do not feel like 
there is any intention on the part of this administration to work with us.

However, we do aspire to maintain a civilized relationship between the 
two countries, regardless of our ideological differences. Until that 
moment comes, we will continue to work to overcome that situation by 
ourselves. We are working to guarantee that young people are not subject 
to deception, manipulation, or misrepresentation about what kind of 
opportunities are available to them. Young people get caught up in a 
completely disorderly and illegal migratory flow—falling into human 
trafficking schemes 
<https://www.npr.org/2023/09/05/1197617372/cuba-dismantles-human-trafficking-ring-recruiting-for-russias-war-in-ukraine>—as 
they leave Cuba legally, only to become illegal in transit to the United 
States.

There is a lot of talk about Cuban migration, especially young Cuban 
migrants, but the fact is that migration affects all countries, and 
those migrating are generally young, able-bodied people with dreams.

KvH:*You see small shops, private hotels, and restaurants in Cuba. How 
far do you believe you can go with this process within the framework of 
socialism? *

MDC: We aspire to be a socialist economy guaranteeing the greatest 
possible social justice. We have to build, strengthen, and develop this 
socialist economy without forgetting the conditions of the world in 
which we live, which is full of uncertainties and complexities, a world 
where the gap between rich and poor is widening and where the countries 
of the South have many disadvantages.

Still, we will never give up on our ideal of socialism. But how do we do 
that with current conditions being what they are—including with the 
blockade and problems internal to Cuba? We defend the socialist economy 
as the way to achieve greater social justice, while we also defend 
greater efficiency, greater autonomy, and better performance of the 
socialist state enterprise, that is, the public enterprise within our 
social economic model.

We have also opened 
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-55967709> up a private, 
non-state sector of the economy as a complement to the state sector. On 
the one hand, there is a single entrepreneurial system, where there is 
one actor—the state enterprise—which today has the ownership and 
management of the main means of production; and there is a second 
non-state actor that also contributes to the development of the country, 
the national GDP, and absorbs part of the labor force.

Lately, we have witnessed a very interesting development: these 
non-state enterprises are beginning to link up with the state sector. 
For example, under blockade conditions, our state enterprises are unable 
to use their productive capacity to the maximum. However, the non-state 
sector, which has more possibilities to import despite the blockade, 
links up with that state entity, and together, they develop productive 
activities and services that ultimately benefit the people.

We aspire to give the Cuban people the prosperity that they deserve for 
all the heroism they have shown in resisting the blockade for all these 
years. How will we do that? With a concept of socialist construction 
that includes a state sector and a private sector. It is a challenge, 
but we are going to achieve it.

KvH:*I had the good fortune to see former Foreign Minister Alarcón a 
week before he passed, and what he was most enthralled about were the 
changes in the region. Just the other day, Lula was in Cuba for a major 
gathering. The region seems to be moving in a more pink and less 
right-wing direction. Does that give Cuba more space to make changes or 
perhaps even recreate the nonaligned movement for a new era? *

MDC: We defend the principle of Latin American and Caribbean 
integration. We also defend the principle that Latin America and the 
Caribbean should be a zone of peace. We have relations 
<https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-seeks-stronger-eu-celac-relations-condemns-eus-manipulative-behavior-2023-07-10/> 
with all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

We cooperate and collaborate with several countries that have requested 
our professional or technical services, among them our medical brigades 
<https://time.com/5467742/cuba-doctors-export-brazil/> and other 
specialists in branches like engineering. We try to work to develop 
trade relations. Also, when we participate in cooperation missions, we 
learn about those countries, which helps our own development.

Latin America is a very favorable place for progressive movements 
despite an ultra-right-wing current trying to undermine these processes. 
We have strong relationships with Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Brazil, 
and Argentina, and those relations are being strengthened. Brazil is 
almost a continent within Latin America and one of the most important 
economies. We had extensive commercial and bilateral exchange 
<https://apnews.com/article/brazil-cuba-diplomacy-politics-economics-g77-summit-c5248ea57b9fd2bd82a9bb99c2ae25c0> 
under Lula’s and then Dilma’s governments. When these progressive 
governments take power, they also open up new possibilities for our country.

Cuba sponsored 
<https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/08/25/cuba-colombia-farc-peace-deal/87432410/> 
the peace process in Colombia, which has helped and contributed to peace 
throughout the whole continent. The Final Agreement to that peace 
process was signed in Havana a few years ago. Cuba has developed a 
coherent foreign policy based on cooperation and collaboration with 
other countries, of sharing what we have in a very altruistic way. When 
Covid hit, we shared our vaccines to the Caribbean and Latin American 
countries that asked for them.

DDG:*Mr. President, you spoke about Cubans in foreign countries. Of 
course, we all know the long, distinguished history of Cuban doctors 
providing health services around the world. But some of us in the US 
were surprised by the recent headlines about Cubans in Ukraine being 
recruited to fight. I wonder if you could explain your government’s 
response to the situation. *

MDC: First of all, our position regarding the war in Ukraine is that we 
are a country of peace. We uphold international law and the United 
Nations Charter. We do not like wars. We do not celebrate wars, and we 
do not support wars. It hurts us when human lives are lost on one side 
or the other, and we believe that dialogue and diplomatic solutions 
should be sought to end this war.

We are not part of the war in Ukraine, but we discovered through our 
investigations that an illegal network 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/world/americas/cuba-arrests-russia-ukraine-war.html> 
was hiring Cubans living in Russia and some living in Cuba to fight on 
the Russian side. Our Penal Code prohibits mercenaries, and we do 
consider this a case of mercenarism as well as human trafficking. 
Therefore, when we gathered all the evidence from that investigation, we 
informed the involved parties and publicly reported what had happened. 
Thanks to our close relations with Russia, both parties have been able 
to work in order to eliminate the illegal trafficking of people that 
turns them into mercenaries. I can certify that Cuba is not part of the 
war and that if we again discover an illegal trafficking ring like the 
one we saw, we would report it and act to stop it.

KvH:*In the interest of clarity about Cuba’s position on the Ukraine 
War, have you tried to play a role in any offer of cease-fire? What is 
the Cuban government’s position on the Ukraine war? *

MDC: We insist on using all international mechanisms and spaces for 
dialogue—there must be a solution through dialogue and diplomatic 
relations. The problem is that there are efforts to distort reality and 
impose a warped framework. For us, the United States government 
motivated the war by not listening to Russia’s grievances and warnings 
about the danger posed by the extension of NATO’s borders towards 
Russia. The United States, in my opinion, manipulated the situation. The 
conflict also involved many European countries, to the point that it is 
not a war between Ukraine and Russia but a NATO-Russia conflict.

Who is paying for this war? It comes from the budgets of the countries 
involved in the war, so the inhabitants of those countries are the ones 
paying. But it also harms those who are uninvolved but still see the 
consequences of this war. Problems with grain exports and food markets 
have shown how this impacts the world. We object to the war, as well, 
based on our humanist convictions that human lives are being sacrificed 
in the conflict.

But we believe that the United States has an enormous responsibility in 
this conflict. They have been able to distort the true essence of the 
war and then tried to appear as if they were the ones who were in the 
correct position. I believe that the correct response to end the war is 
by diplomatic means. There have to be objective guarantees of security 
in place for all the parties. I believe that with intelligence and 
sensitivity, we could all support the search for a solution rather than 
stoking the war and adding fuel to the flames of conflict.

DDG:*You spoke earlier of socialist construction. I want to push you a 
little bit on the question about what balance you see in the future 
between the private sector and the state. During the Special Period, the 
subsidy from the Soviet Union was essentially cut off, and that was very 
difficult for the people of Cuba, particularly because of the blockade. 
However, the problem of socialist construction has not been solved in 
Cuba, nor has it in China, where they had to expand the private sector 
in order to raise the level of daily life. What is the balance you aim 
for between the private sector and the state going forward? *

MDC: The fact that there is a private sector in a socialist economy does 
not negate socialism. Even the Marxist classics—or Lenin’s own practice 
within the Soviet revolution—conceived that there are periods of 
transition where a private sector will be present within the socialist 
construction. Recognizing a private sector does not in any way mean that 
we are renouncing socialism. Why? Because the greatest quantity and 
volume of the fundamental means of production are still in the hands of 
the state.

Those means of production can be managed in a combination of state and 
non-state forms. For example, in Cuba, more than 80 percent 
<https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-loosens-regulations-killing-cows-selling-beef-2021-04-14/> 
of the land is state-owned. However, approximately 80 percent of our 
land has been managed for years by private farmer cooperatives 
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-agriculture/cuba-sweetens-land-grant-program-for-farmers-idUSKBN1KS1R5>. 
This does not mean that we have stopped building socialism.

Where the economy is concerned, we feel dissatisfied with certain 
aspects of the current economic performance. But which has been the 
reality of the Cuban economy? A war economy that has had to face a 
blockade from the most powerful country in the world. We have to see 
what we would have achieved without the blockade. Of course, we also try 
to find ways to improve ourselves. When I say I am dissatisfied with the 
performance of the Cuban economy, I am referring to the fact that we 
still cannot produce the goods and services that would give our people 
full prosperity. But that same war economy is what has guaranteed free 
and high-quality state-subsidized healthcare and education, as well as 
access to culture and sports free of charge. Cuban professionals, even 
those who emigrate, are competitive in the labor markets in capitalist 
countries.

Cuba has an incredible system of social care that leaves no one behind 
or unprotected. One might ask: If people receive it for free, doesn’t 
that cost money to the state? And who covers these state expenses? Those 
expenses are covered by an economy that, on the one hand, has been hit 
hard by the blockade, but, on the other hand, has made major social 
achievements that capitalist and more developed countries have never 
done. Despite the tightening of the blockade, Cuba’s health and 
education indicators can be compared with those of any developed country 
in the world.

Where do we go next? We have to be less dependent on international 
circumstances. That is why we are betting on the creative resistance of 
the Cuban people, using our own effort and talent. We are working on an 
economic and social development model that will include a macroeconomic 
stabilization plan to deal with inflation, the distortions we have in 
the currency exchange market, and in prices.

We are betting on science and innovation as pillars of government 
administration. Look at what we did during the pandemic. We decided 
that, in order to assert sovereignty, we needed Cuban vaccines, so we 
designed a governance system based on science and innovation. That idea 
was tested during Covid-19, and now we have extended it to other areas 
of the economy.

One of those areas is food sovereignty. We are focusing on science and 
innovation to boost food production so that Cuba does not have to import 
or depend on external sources for food. We are also changing the energy 
matrix of the country so that there is less dependence on fossil fuels 
and a greater use of renewable energy sources. We aspire to have more 
than 24 percent of energy generated by renewable sources by 2030.

Amid difficult circumstances, we are developing social programs aiming 
to help populations and families get out of vulnerable situations. We 
are also embarking on a process of digital transformation. All these 
actions combined will deliver a much more stable present and future.

KvH:*About the digital transformation, where is Cuba in your view in 
terms of access to the internet? My understanding was that there was a 
deal with US and European companies that fell through, halting the 
movement toward digital transformation. How do people get their media? 
Do you get a briefing every morning? I’m curious as to what media you 
look at. *

MDC: I’m very active on Twitter <https://twitter.com/DiazCanelB>. I 
think I have more followers than anyone else in Cuba, although I’m not 
certain.

KvH:*How many followers? *

MDC: They tell me I have around 760,000 followers on Twitter. We have 
started a project for the digitalization of society, focusing on two 
fundamental areas. The first is to develop digital platforms like 
e-commerce and e-government so that there would be a greater 
interconnection between the population, government institutions, and 
services, with greater democratic participation of the population. We 
are also working on the legal framework around electronic commerce. The 
blockade has an impact on this because, in order to move toward a 
digital society, you need financial resources and technology. So, we 
have to create the foundation for our digital infrastructure independently.

With the help of China, we were able to move toward the digitalization 
of television. As far as the Internet is concerned, the last few years 
have seen important advances. Already, more than 7 million Cubans have 
access to the Internet through their cell phones. In Cuba, and 
especially among the youth, it is very common to see everyone connected 
and actively working on social networks, even though, as a result of the 
blockade, there are sites and platforms that are denied to us.

There are times when one tries to update an application or enter a site, 
or a scientist wants to visit a research database, and they receive a 
message saying, “Your country does not have access to this site.” But we 
are making progress. We have computer science programs in all the 
universities throughout the country. We have also developed a Cuban 
applications store called Apklis, and we are also developing our own 
Cuban app systems. We have an operating system developed by the 
Universidad de las Ciencias Informáticas [University of Computer 
Science], which is being used in laptops, tablets, and cell phones that 
we are developing through a joint project with China.

Teams of young Cubans have participated in international computer 
programming events and have obtained outstanding results. We have to 
keep moving down this path of computerization for the following reason: 
in Cuba, there is a smaller economically active population, and that 
group has to support a larger economically inactive population because 
our population is aging at the same time that life expectancy has 
increased due to our social programs.

In other words, even though we are an underdeveloped country, we have a 
demographic dynamic typical of developed countries; with fewer people 
directly active in production and services, we have to achieve more 
efficient results, and the way to do so is through computerization, 
digital transformation, and automation. We have developed several 
popular programs to accomplish these goals. For example, there is a 
Young Computer Club program: institutions where children from a very 
young age are introduced to computers and other communication 
technologies. There are even courses for senior citizens so that they 
are not excluded from the whole process of digital transformation.

Of course, Cubans are also active on social networks. I believe social 
networks can be an instrument by means of which knowledge can be 
managed, which is very important for humanity. We aspire to create a 
country where people are not distinguished by their material 
possessions, but by their spirituality and by what they can contribute 
to society and culture. What I condemn about social networks are their 
manifestations of vulgarity, banality, and the type of online bullying 
that does so much harm, especially among young people.

I believe that the world also needs a more comprehensive and united 
approach regarding Internet governance. Cybersecurity issues are now an 
important issue in the world, and Cuba is developing its own 
cybersecurity platforms. Not to mention, the challenges of artificial 
intelligence are not only technological in nature but also bring 
important social and ethical consequences. We have to achieve a form of 
global governance of the Internet. We need to build a world that is 
emancipatory and inclusive, where the virtual and the physical are less 
distant and where the Internet can help people find answers to their 
problems.

DDG:*On the subject of culture, everybody knows that Cuba is a cultural 
powerhouse in music, literature, and dance. Given that digital culture 
doesn’t respect borders, do you see any difference or change in your 
government’s attitude towards Cubans who perhaps are no longer living in 
Cuba but still feel very proudly Cuban? *

MDC: This is the second time I have been in the United States—once five 
years ago, and now this time. Both times, I have come to participate in 
sessions of the United Nations General Assembly. During these visits, we 
have always found some room to meet with representatives of American 
culture. Yesterday afternoon, for example, in this very place, we had 
one of those meetings among American artists and academics, and Cuban 
artists based in Cuba and in the United States.

Like you, I have experienced the harmony that is created when Cuban and 
American musicians can share the stage. We have experienced it at jazz 
festivals in Havana, which always close with an orchestra combining 
Cuban and American musicians. The Cubans bring to the original strengths 
of American jazz and its virtuosity a certain latinidad.

Those are the kind of moments when one reaches a new level of spiritual 
well-being. Today, culture is one of the areas where bridges and not 
walls can be built between Cuba and the United States. Through cultural 
exchange, borders are broken down and our people are united. Our people 
can share the values of their history and culture.

A few years ago, during Obama’s time, the Kennedy Center held an 
exhibition of Cuban culture in Washington, D.C. That was a great event. 
Here, our artists felt very comfortable. We wanted to bring American 
artists to Cuba through a Kennedy Center project, but everything fell 
through with Trump’s restrictions. Still many contacts are maintained. 
For example, we spent time yesterday with some important Cuban musicians 
who have lived in the United States for many years. They have not 
abandoned their relationship with their country, and we feel that their 
success is also the success of Cuban culture. .

KvH:*Is there an ongoing dialogue with the Biden administration? And 
what do you expect if Biden is reelected, in terms of US and Cuban 
relations? *

MDC: You would have to ask Biden. Right now, there are diplomatic 
relations. We have conversations on some issues, but we have not seen a 
willingness on the part of the Biden administration to establish a 
different relationship with Cuba.

And we continue to insist on our vision. We are not going to give up on 
socialist construction. But we want a civilized, normal relationship 
between Cuba and the United States. However, in order to build that 
relationship, we have to sit down to talk. We need to evaluate all the 
issues on which we have different opinions and those on which we agree, 
and those on which we have no agreement, try to make progress. I believe 
that this would lead to a better relationship and greater possibilities 
and potential for our people. But we see no signs at the moment that 
this is the attitude held by the government of the United States.

KvH:*One last question: have you seen /Barbie/ or /Oppenheimer/? *

MDC: I haven’t seen /Oppenheimer/, but I’ve been recommended to see it, 
and I will soon. I’m interested in seeing /Oppenheimer/. I’m less 
interested in seeing /Barbie/. It seems to me that /Barbie/ is very, 
very light.

*Watch interview on youtube 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O27S-17p360&t=6s>*
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