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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/07/29/the-cuban-people-will-not-be-defeated/">peoplesdispatch.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">The Cuban people will not be defeated<br></h1>July 29, 2022</div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><img src="cid:ii_l68458lg0" alt="image.png" width="392" height="220"><br><p><font size="1">Yuri A. Gala López addressing solidarity activists in New York City on the anniversary of the attack on the Moncada barracks.
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<p><i>A gathering was held at the People’s Forum in New York City on
July 26, the anniversary of the attack on the Moncada Barracks in Cuba
in 1953, also known as National Rebellion Day. This attack was the spark
that ignited the Cuban revolution and was led by the same leaders of
the revolution such as Fidel and Raúl Castro, Haydée Santamaría, and
others.</i></p>
<p><i>Yuri A. Gala López, Cuban Ambassador and Deputy Permanent
Representative of Cuba to the UN gave an address to this gathering to
emphasize the importance of the July 26 anniversary and efforts Cuba has
made to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and the stranglehold of US
unilateral coercive measures. Below are his words:</i></p>
<p>Today, the main ceremony of the celebration [of National Rebellion
Day] took place, in the province of Cienfuegos with the presence of Army
General Raul Castro, the leader of the revolution, and Miguel
Diaz-Canel, the president of the Republic of Cuba.</p>
<p>A day like today, but in 1953, marked the beginning of a new stage in
our nation’s struggle to achieve our true independence. A group of
youngsters, like in the picture we saw a couple of minutes before, led
by Fidel, sought to find an ultimate solution to the country’s economic
and social problems and its heavy dependance on the United States.
Although on July 26, 1953, the taking of those barracks was not
possible, the actions meant the solidification of a revolutionary
movement that never wavered in the struggle until achieving the final
victory on January 1, 1959.</p>
<p>These milestones, which we commemorate and which have been declared
in Cuba as Cuba’s National Rebellion Day, bring us together to remember
those historic events and their views, as well as honoring the bravery
and loyalty of that group of young people who embarked on the assault on
those barracks. The Moncada attack taught us to turn setbacks into
victories, and learn the lesson of perseverance.</p>
<img src="https://peoplesdispatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Cuban-revolution-Moncada-celebration-2.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="392" height="221">Celebration of National Rebellion Day in Cienfuegos, Cuba. Photo: José Manuel Correa / Granma
<p>It has been said that it is not possible to explain Cuba’s socialism
without the reasons that led Fidel to storm the barracks with simple
rifles and an arsenal of ideas.</p>
<p>Dear friends, the 1959 victorious revolution continues to endure, and
overcome against hostility. It remains strong because our people back
in Cuba inherited, throughout history, solid concepts and revolutionary
principles from men and women who gave everything for their motherland.</p>
<p>While the United States blockade has been implemented for the past
six decades, since 2017, the Cuban people have endured an unparalleled
and excessive tightening of that system of unilateral coercive measures.
During the Trump administration, more than 240 unilateral measures were
adopted against Cuba, and some of them, out of an unprecedented
cruelty, as part of the so-called policy of maximum pressure, with a
ruthless objective of suffocating sensitive sectors of the Cuban
economy, such as foreign trade and tourism. These measures posed and
continue to be a huge burden on Cuban families, including through the
imposition of serious restrictions on remittances.</p>
<p>In 2020, the then US administration took on the virus as an ally, in
its merciless, unconventional war against our country. And tightened the
blockade. Those coercive measures remain in force, they are in full
practical application under the current US administration, in spite of
the fact that a large majority of Americans do support the lifting of
the blockade, and the freedom to travel to the island, and that many
Cubans living in the United States yearn for normal relations and
well-being for their families.</p>
<p>In addition to that, Cuba has also had to face political and
communications operations orchestrated from the US territory, supported
by a sophisticated technological infrastructure, dedicated to the
disinformation or misinformation, slander and smear campaigns. They
apply against Cuba the recipes of the unconventional warfare already
rehearsed and implemented in other parts of the world with serious human
and material costs. Even during this current month of July, they have
tried again to force a popular uprising, but they have failed as they
did, or as they tried and failed in 2021.</p>
<p>Dear friends, for 29 years, the General Assembly of the United
Nations, its most comprehensive and democratic body, has adopted the
text of a resolution on the necessity of ending the blockade imposed by
the United States against Cuba. Throughout these years, the number of
countries voting in favor of this resolution has been increasing. The
most recent vote took place in June 2021, when 184 countries voted in
favor, and only two countries voted against. This shows clearly that the
overwhelming majority of member states are in favor of putting an end
to the blockade that affects the Cuban nation and has a strong
territorial effect as well.</p>
<p>However, year after year, the US government has dismissed that demand
of the vast majority of the UN Member States, an attitude that is
neither democratic nor ethical. The human damage posed by the blockade
cannot be measured. No Cuban family is spared from the effects of this
inhumane policy. No one could honestly claim that it does not have a
real and very negative impact on our population.</p>
<p>The in-person ceremony today in Cuba to mark the National Rebellion
Day is indeed a feat, achieved thanks to the control of the pandemic
with our own resources. It should be recalled that within a context of
strengthened blockade, Cuba has had to face COVID-19 with very limited
resources. But the results are evident. We’ve succeeded in developing
highly effective treatments for patients. We have to remember that
while, or when the US blockade cruelty, or cruelly prevented the supply
of lung ventilators, Cuba had to develop its domestic production with
our own prototypes.</p>
<p>And Cuba is today the first country in Latin America and the
Caribbean to have three anti-COVID vaccines of its own and two vaccine
candidates waiting approval. But Cuba is also the first country in the
world to have carried out a vaccination campaign in children between the
ages of two and 18. I guarantee more than 90% of the Cuban population
is fully vaccinated with our own vaccines and more than 60% of that
population have already gotten a booster dose.</p>
<p>We also make our humble contribution to other countries in a manner
consistent with our international vocation. In fact, when the slanderous
campaign of the United States administration against our medical
cooperation intensified amidst the pandemic, Cuba sent 57 specialized
brigades of the Henry Reeve International Contingent to 40 countries or
territories to join over 28,000 health professionals already providing
services in 59 nations at that time.</p>
<p>Cuba makes an effort not only to survive, which is difficult, but we
also make efforts to continue to make headway in all possible areas. For
example, in recent days the National Assembly of the People’s Power met
and approved the new Family Code, an indispensable legislation for the
Cuban society, which in September will be submitted to a referendum so
that the people can vote on it. We want to commemorate and to actually
give thanks to those scientists, professors, academicians and people who
actually contributed to the design, to the conceptualization of that
important document, and more importantly, to those who are on the
streets explaining to the Cuban population what the family code is all
about.</p>
<p>In the sections of the National Assembly, important measures in
economic matters were also announced. Our role, dear friends, has not
been easy, will not be easy, as you know. But Cuba, as our president
said this morning, will not stop. In that battle, the face of Cuba in
the United States and in every corner of the world, is essential and
represents a bulwark for the resistance of the Cuban people in their
defense of their sovereignty.</p>
<p>It is you, our dear friends, the ones who stand up and resolutely
call for the end of the unjust blockade against Cuba, in every possible
space. It is you who carry out our just call for justice to every
community. That is why we will always be grateful to you.</p>
<p>Countless will be the challenges and even greater the threats that
will put to the test the tenacity and determination of Cubans. But we
will always be accompanied by the example of struggle of those young
people who stormed the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks.
The unshakeable ideas and the faith in victory that our commander in
chief, Fidel Castro, always had, and the symbolism of the “Yes we can!”
proclaimed by Army General Raul Castro.</p>
<p>So allow me to conclude my remarks by recalling words of Cuban
President Miguel Diaz-Canel who stated just a few days ago the
following, and I quote, “They want to stop this country. Well, we are
not stuck and we are not going to stop. Our alternative is clear, and it
will never be capitulation. We will not surrender, nor will we let
ourselves be defeated.”</p>
<p>So join me in expressing aloud: “Let Cuba live!” (“Let Cuba live!”)</p>
<p>Also join me in saying, “Long live the solidarity movement with Cuba in the United States!” (Viva!)</p>
<p>Viva la revolución cubana! (Viva!) Viva el 26 de julio! (Viva!) Venceremos! (Venceremos!)</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
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