Image via the Communist Party of Cuba
An 11th Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of ALBA-TCP (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples' Trade Treaty) was held Monday, August 26 in Caracas, Venezuela to discuss the situation in Venezuela.
At the Summit, Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic gave a spirited defense of Venezuela, its Bolivarian Revolution and its democracy.
Dear President and Brother Nicolás Maduro;
Dear representatives of the nations that make up our Alliance;
Dear Jorge Arreaza, Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP;
In short, brothers and sisters of all Our America:
First, on behalf of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, the Party, the Government and the people of Cuba, we reiterate the congratulations already expressed at the time of the first results to the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, our comrade Nicolás Maduro Moros, for the victory achieved in the elections of July 28.
At this time, once again we are summoned here by conscience and solidarity, because I believe that we share this idea, that we are very aware of the serious danger posed to the unitary project that this Alliance represents, and also of the value of the solidarity statements that all of Our America owes to sister Venezuela – the undisputed leader of regional independence, since the times of Bolívar and his libertarian campaigns – and that today faces a crude and concerted campaign to discredit it that seeks to mask another coup attempt.
They have tried so many times that it is no longer possible to hide the purposes behind the worn-out pretext of making the official election results transparent, practically before the time established for it, while on the other hand the uncivilized, violent, fascist positions of a part of the opposition that refuses to accept everything that does not benefit it is taken for granted and not questioned.
The defiant positions taken by these political groups warning that they would not recognize results other than those they predicted showed very early, practically at the close of the polls, that a new phase of all the previous and failed attempts to overthrow a legitimate government with a combination of internal violence and foreign interference was approaching.
An absurd pretension of those who try to call valid results those outside of the legitimate electoral process. If we accept this, it would render electoral systems inoperative. The parties cannot become arbitrators in a dispute involving them.
Cuba, our homeland, our people, recognizes and admires the moderate response, the high institutional democratic sense and the vocation for peace shown by President Nicolás Maduro and his team in responding to these provocations, supported by popular mobilizations and filing an appeal before the Electoral Chamber of the highest judicial body of the nation, under the provisions of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Just hours ago, the Supreme Court of Justice, after an exhaustive examination of the documents presented by the national electoral body and political parties that participated in the elections, issued an unappealable verdict that confirms the victory of President Nicolás Maduro in the elections of July 28 of this year.
As expected, the same extremists who ignored the official results and disobeyed the order of the Supreme Court, immediately unleashed their arsenal of deception against the final ruling, trying to deny the legitimacy of the convening power, and therefore also that of the Constitution.
The will of the majority must be respected. The Venezuelan people voted consciously in favor of dignity, their sovereignty and for peace. And they have backed up that vote with massive popular demonstrations in the streets throughout Venezuela, even if these facts, as Maduro explained, are ignored or diminished by biased, openly pro-opposition reports from the Western media that serve the empire.
It is not the first time that U.S. imperialism and regional and international oligarchies reject and show contempt for the will of our peoples.
It is not the first time that they have tried to stop political processes contrary to their interests, because these processes favor the well-being of the peoples and the defense of national assets.
It is not possible to remain indifferent to a calculated campaign of regional oligarchies, imperialism, communications forums and digital platforms against Venezuela. Today against Venezuela, tomorrow against any of our countries and peoples.
Today there is an attempt to undermine the powers of the State established in the Venezuelan Constitution, and replace them with parallel structures using documentation of dubious origin, which is presented as legitimate.
Many of those who take advantage of the situation created in Venezuela from abroad in favor of their political interests, which exacerbate, promote and stimulate destabilization, are the same ones who, without evidence and clearly as excuses to divert attention from their political failures, try to delegitimize the genuine popular movements in their countries with accusations of foreign interference.
Here we say that the absolutely irresponsible return to the plans of destabilization in Venezuela is encouraged and is a concerted effort, and we cannot allow that in Our America. In Venezuela, the conflict between clearly conflicting visions of the world is being settled. On the one hand, the emancipatory vision, ours, the one that defends the future and social justice for the benefit of all. On the other, those whose interests are in preserving the system of injustices and hegemonies that the Bolivarian Revolution has had the audacity to confront.
I recall that on January 28, 2014, in Havana, all the Heads of State and Government of CELAC adopted the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace. No imperial force or one financed by its hegemony will make us back down from the responsibility of maintaining peace in the region, a vital cause to which we will always be committed.
Comrades, sisters and brothers,
On July 10, 2024, we met at the X Extraordinary Summit of ALBA-TCP to denounce the attempted coup d'état against the sister Plurinational State of Bolivia.
Today we meet again in these fateful circumstances to condemn the coup d'état and the blatant external interference against the homeland of Bolívar, which is that of all of us, and against the unity of Our America.
The XXIV Summit that we will hold on December 14, in person, in Havana, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the founding of ALBA-TCP – and I take this opportunity to invite you all – will be a new opportunity to ratify the commitment to the defense of peace and sovereignty, in the face of the renewed Monroist attempts of the empire to interfere in the internal affairs of our countries.
These are times of unity and firmness in the face of imperialism and the oligarchies, which take advantage of the slightest opportunity to attack the triumph and stability of each popularly oriented force, as well as to hinder the policies of social development and destroy the dreams achieved in the event that they take power.
We denounce the continuity of imperialist harassment, external interference, the onslaught of the oligarchies, and the media and political manipulation to try to generate destabilization and promote a coup to overthrow the legitimate Bolivarian and Chavista government.
Cuba reiterates its firmest condemnation of the systematic aggression against Venezuela, and rejects any attempt to escalate violence and to disturb the peace that its noble and brave people demand and need in order to confront and repair the profound damage caused to its economy by the criminal policy of sanctions and blockades that the United States uses as its main weapon against nations that do not submit to its designs.
It is up to everyone to act honestly and justly, in accordance with the principles of international law and the most elementary norms of coexistence. It is up to Venezuelans to settle and decide what concerns them.
But we will not remain on the sidelines or in silence in the face of the outrages and unbridled interference of the empire, its chorus and those who prefer not to challenge imperial actions.
We stand in solidarity, without a single doubt, with the Venezuelan people and with our comrade, Nicolás Maduro.
We will always and unambiguously defend what the peaceful, honorable and beloved people of Venezuela defend and support with their vote and who, punished by unjust unilateral coercive measures and in the midst of very adverse circumstances, have achieved, with much work and commitment, the economic and social rebirth of the nation.
Unity is the basis and essence of the invincible strength of peoples in revolution. Cuba, which knows, respects and admires the civic-military, Bolivarian and Chavista unity of the Venezuelan people, trusts that with that strength, the homeland of Bolívar, Chávez and Maduro will continue to demonstrate that it is resistant to all threats and harassment.
¡Hasta la Victoria Siempre!
Muchas gracias.
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