[News] Aleida Guevara: On the US Elections, ‘The Same Dog with a Different Collar,’

[Anti-Imperialist News]

resumen-english.org
<https://resumen-english.org/2024/11/aleida-guevara-on-the-us-elections-the-same-dog-with-a-different-collar/>
Aleida Guevara: On the US Elections, ‘The Same Dog with a Different Collar,’
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Edited by Nathallia Fonseca on November 18, 2024

Aleida Guevara during the activity of the G20 in Rio de Janeiro. photo:
Wellington Lenon/MST

*Cuban Doctor Aleida Guevara’s interview with Brazil de Fato in the context
of the G20 *

Following in the footsteps of her father, the Cuban Revolution guerrilla
Ernesto Che Guevara, Aleida studied medicine in Cuba, specializing in
pediatrics. But above all she is a communist revolutionary, as she likes to
describe herself. Present at the G20 Social Summit in Rio de Janeiro,
Aleida Guevara, 63, gave an exclusive interview to *Brasil de Fato*, in
which she talked about the economic blockade against Cuba, its effects, the
change of government in the United States and Brazil’s position on the
elections in Venezuela.

*the latest news that arrived from Cuba to Brazil was precisely about the
passage of hurricane Rafael and the whole situation generated, mainly about
the energy shortage. What is the impact of the economic blockade in this
type of situation?*

Aleida Guevara*:* The United States prevents oil tankers from reaching
Cuba. Last year they sanctioned more than 25 shipping companies and more
than 60 airlines. In other words, it is impressive that somehow these
companies came to sell us oil, not to donate it, to sell it, but even so we
could not do it because the United States imposes millions of dollars in
fines. And they are afraid of them. So the oil is not coming to Cuba
<https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2024/11/07/furacao-rafael-se-afasta-de-cuba-deixando-rastro-de-destruicao>.
Oil is coming from Venezuela, Mexico and Russia, above all.

*You mentioned a general cost of the blockade for the Cuban economy. What
is this cost?*

Enormous. It is tremendous because after the pandemic we exhausted the
reserves the State had because we had to produce vaccines. Who would sell
us vaccines? Nobody. So we had to produce
<https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2023/03/14/as-revolucionarias-vacinas-cubanas-um-fenomeno-do-seculo-21>
and that meant that we consumed a whole series of resources that we had in
reserve.

In addition, of course, we made the population stay at home for months and
they were paid their full salary. The State was left without resources and
was left in a very bad situation. Tourism has declined significantly
because the whole world has suffered from the pandemic and the economic
crisis is international.

But there is also a lot of pressure from the United States, inventing false
arguments, inventing things against tourism. Therefore, it causes fear and
a lot of economic pressure on the companies that bring tourism to Cuba.
There is an example worth mentioning, which is a Spanish company, Meliá,
which started with two hotels in Cuba and today has many hotels because it
won this right. Yes, it was the first company that stood up to the United
States and said: ‘I am not going to stop doing business with Cuba. If you
want to close the two hotels I have in Miami, pay me the millions you owe
me and that’s your decision.’ The U.S. then realized it wasn’t that easy,
but only because Meliá had the honesty to stand up for its rights as a
company. It’s not socialist or anything like that, but it has dignity. And
that has been very important for us. Today Meliá does not have two hotels,
today it has, I do not know, much more than 20 hotels in the country and if
it can have more, it will have them, because it has truly earned that right.

So, by losing this number of tourists, in a way, the country’s coffers are
still half empty. So how do we pay for things? Because you have already
seen that the blockade makes all products in Cuba more expensive. We have
to have three or four intermediaries for someone to sell us something. And
these intermediaries increase the price, and when it reaches us, it is much
higher. And we have to pay for the blockade simply because of that. We say
that if the United States does not want to trade with us, we should respect
it, because that is a decision of a country. But what we cannot accept is
that this country tries to act so that no other people in the world trade
freely with Cuba.

*Can the Cuban people imagine what this country would be like if the
blockade did not exist?*

It is clear! Every day of your life, but until when? Also, imagine the
amount of possibilities we would have, because the United States is 90
miles from Cuba. Of course, they would be our most natural trading partner.
And in the South there is a great food production, sometimes a
super-production that cannot be sold, and we would be magnificent buyers,
it would be a 24-hour business. But we would also sell our tobacco, which
they love, our coffee, our rum. We could make thousands of exchanges, but
they don’t have the desire to do it.

*And the change of government that will take place in the United States,
the Democrats are leaving, the Republicans are coming back to power. Does
it change anything for the Cubans?*

We say it’s the same dog with a different collar. The question is that this
gentleman [ Donald Trump
<https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2024/11/06/donald-trump-e-reeleito-presidente-e-extrema-direita-volta-ao-poder-nos-estados-unidos>
] is crazy, right? So we don’t know what he can do. Maybe he will come with
the news that, as a businessman, he wants to do something with Cuba, who
knows… Because that’s the way this gentleman is, he is unpredictable. But,
in any case, he is a danger, a serious danger, not only for Cuba, for
humanity, because this country [the United States] has a destructive power
and now that power will be in the hands of a person who does not reason.
This could be very dangerous.

*Is it possible to draw a parallel between what Cuba has experienced during
the last 65 years and what is happening now in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Iran
and so many other countries unilaterally sanctioned by the United States?*

Yes, of course we can compare, because it is the same problem. It is the
same technique that is trying to surround us, but that is not the case now.
Look, there is a memorandum from an American admiral in the 19th century
that already says that Cuba should be completely blockaded with its ships,
close the possibility of trade, cause famines and therefore diseases,
decimate the population, so that they could rule. And this is the technique
that they have used for centuries and that has been used today for any
country that says no, that says no, and that thinks of its country, its
people and its dignity. This is what is happening.

*Brazil’s position after the elections in Venezuela has been widely
questioned by popular movements here in Brazil and in Latin America,
because it questions the security of the electoral process. How do you
assess this position?*

This only serves the enemy. This makes me very sad. I am very embarrassed
that Lula has fallen into this situation. First of all, because he has just
recognized that he does not even have the right to give an opinion on a
problem of another country, because he would not like us, nor any other
country in the world, to give an opinion on Brazil. So, if you don’t like
something, how are you going to do it with someone else? It is a basic
principle of coexistence, pure and simple. He may have his criteria and his
way of seeing the world, which must be respected. I have nothing to say
about that. But you have to respect, you have to learn to respect your
neighbor, who is next door, even if you don’t like him. We, for example,
want to have relations with the United States, although we have nothing to
do with their government. But we can make an effort and be in solidarity
and respect the other country, as long as it respects us, because it is a
mutual principle. If you want respect, you have to learn to respect. It is
that simple.

That’s why it hurts so much. Brazil’s position in relation to the Brics
also hurts so much, because Brazil refuses to allow Venezuela to join the
Brics
<https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2024/10/25/venezuela-critica-veto-do-brasil-a-entrada-do-pais-no-brics-gesto-hostil>.
This is unprecedented, truly unprecedented. And it is simply playing into
the hands of the United States of America, the enemy of all our people. And
Lula is not just any president, Lula is a president who comes from the
grassroots, who comes from the union struggle. Therefore, Lula has to know
what he is doing. This is very painful for us, really, I say it sincerely.
This hurt us very much and left us deeply disappointed with Lula’s attitude
towards Venezuela.

*Finally, what is the role of popular movements and popular organizations
in the face of all these contradictions and this reality we have just
talked about?*

Social movements are essential in the times we live in. Often, the parties,
especially those of the left, lose their popular support because they stop
working with the social movements. This is fatal, because we, who consider
ourselves leftists, exist for the good of the people, and if the people do
not recognize us, I always say: the left must have the support and
understanding of the people, because we fight for them.

But of course, people are also tired of hearing things that do not
materialize. I say that the only thing that people believe without seeing
is religion, the rest has to be demonstrated. That is why we have to work
in this direction. If we are telling a humble population that we are
fighting for public health, then gentlemen, let us try to make these people
feel what public health is. The hospital that we have to build, that we are
going to work in this hospital and improve it, and we are going to make
public health a human right, which is what we want, that is our objective.
We have to start with grassroots work with our people, with our people.
That is why popular education is very important, really, essential.

Here you have unique men, unique in that sense, so we have to be guided by
them, we have to work with them together with the people. I always say that
this is an enviable country because of the amount of beautiful human beings
it has. I am referring, for example, to my friend and brother João Pedro
Stedile. For me he is one of the most complete men I have ever met. And he
is not a communist, of course, I am. But for me he is more than a
communist, because he is a consistent man, who dedicated his whole life to
his people.

But well, in short, I really believe that here in this country there are
wonderful and extraordinary men and women. We have to make these life
stories better known to the people, to the new generations, so that they
feel proud to be Brazilian. It is not only the music and the carnival that
is important, it is much deeper. It is those human beings who dedicated the
best of their lives to try to make Brazil more dignified, more complete,
more beautiful.

When I came to Brazil for the first time, there was tremendous fear in the
streets, tremendous violence in São Paulo, with the windows closed, all
these things. I was stunned and said: it is better to die trying to change
this than to die of hunger. Then I started to think and I said: well, I
have a communist ideology, I come from another country, with a somewhat
regular culture, so it is possible that I am the only one who thinks like
that. Wrong! When I went to Rio Grande do Sul, there was a sign on the wall
that said: it is better to die conquering land to feed my children than to
die of hunger. So said Rosa, a woman from the Landless Workers Movement.
She was not a communist, perhaps she did not even have a high school
education. But that didn’t matter. She was as much a woman and as much a
mother as I am, and she reacted to life because of that. That is why I tell
you that there are many life stories, of simple men and women of this
people, that fill one with pride, that fill one with strength and that must
be rescued for the new generations, so that a Bolsonaro never comes back.
For example.

Source: Brazil de Fato
<https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2024/11/17/mesmo-cachorro-com-uma-coleira-diferente-diz-filha-de-che-guevara-sobre-eleicao-de-trump-nos-eua>
translation Resumen Latinoamericano –  English
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