Speech by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, at the X Extraordinary Summit of ALBA-TCP
After the recent attempted coup in Bolivia, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) held an Extraordinary Summit on July 10 called to show solidarity with the government of Luis Arce and to denounce any attempts to use such methods to reverse the popular will in countries of the region.
At that summit the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, participated virtually from on Havana.
Dear Brother, President Luis Arce, we share and support your words, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to participate in this ALBA-TCP Summit;
Dear President Nicolás Maduro;
Dear Brother Prime Ministers Ralph Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Roosevelt Skerrit, from Dominica, and Gaston Browne, from Antigua and Barbuda;
Dear representatives of the nations that make up our Alliance;
Dear Jorge Arreaza, Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP:
I would like to begin by expressing our greatest solidarity with the sister nations of the Caribbean that have suffered severe damage in recent days from the onslaught of Hurricane Beryl.
The loss of life and the material damage caused by this hurricane hurt as if it were our own, and here we state that you can always count on the modest support of Cuba, where we know very well the impact of these blows of nature against the small island territories and their fragile economies.
With that understanding and the historical will to contribute what we can, the Cuban workers who suffered the ravages of the hurricane together with the peoples where they are working, immediately joined the national efforts to assist those in need from the very beginning of the recovery, because for us it is very clear that no problem that affects the region is alien to us.
Friends,
When the first news of the irregular movements of some Bolivian military units became known, we immediately denounced these actions and offered support to Brother President Lucho Arce.
We cannot allow the return of the infamous coups that sowed such a painful memory in Our America and that seek to reverse the popular will.
For us, it is inexcusable that there is an attempt to trample on the legitimately established constitutional order with the force of arms.
The circumstances explained by President Arce, which urgently summon us to this Summit, confirm the validity and the need to defend with strength and determination the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace that was approved ten years ago at the Second CELAC Summit in Havana.
At times like this, we must strengthen solidarity in the face of the political polarization and division of our societies promoted by the adversaries of Latin American and Caribbean unity and integration.
The ultra-right uses polarization, manipulation and deception to attack popularly oriented governments, hinder their social development policies and the progress achieved as a result of decades of struggle by the peoples.
If they achieve their goals, there will be no respite. Repression will come, the persecution of social leaders; atrocious neoliberalism will come, the handing over of natural resources to transnational corporations. New lost decades will come and it will setback all of the advances in integration that we owe each other and that are possible if we continue to bet on unity with respect for diversity.
Our peoples know this. That explains the spontaneous mobilization that immediately came to the defense of President Lucho, even at the risk of their lives.
A government of progressive and popular orientation must defend itself with tight unity against the powerful adversaries it generates.
It is up to all of us to promote solidarity and cooperation in the region, strictly complying with the principle of non-intervention, directly or indirectly, in the internal affairs of any other State, but supporting, without hesitation, progressive governments when they are attacked by traditional oligarchies in coordination with external and internal forces under the auspices of imperialism.
It is urgent and necessary to reject the coup forces, which are constantly threatening to emerge, and to denounce the use of modern tools of manipulation that try to stop, frustrate and abort progressive political processes in Our America.
We see it repeated over and over again in sister Venezuela, where attempts are being made in the context of the new elections to foment violence once again.
We see this also in the constant US interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua, where we still remember and are hurt by the terrible events of 2018.
Only the unity of our peoples, of the social organizations and their supporters will allow us to successfully confront the plans of imperialism and its allies against the sovereignty and independence of our nations.
The ALBA-TCP, our Alliance, must be and will continue to be in the front trench of that battle against the demons of interference, interventionism, neocolonialism, the Monroist spirit that, 200 years after its formulation, continues to guide the gaze and actions of the empire towards Our America.
Until Victory Always!
Thanks very much.
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