Prestigious American Weekly The Nation publishes interview with Cuban President

 

"The whole world knows about Cuba's humanist vocation and how we contribute to peace. We do not send soldiers anywhere, we send doctors,” said President Miguel Díaz-Canel in an interview published by the prestigious American weekly The Nation.

 

Díaz-Canel pointed out, however, that Washington included Cuba on a false list of countries that support terrorism, which has further worsened the blockade that we have experienced since we were born, he assured.

 

The Nation, founded in 1865, spoke exclusively with the Cuban president during his recent visit to New York, on the occasion of the High-Level segment of the 78th regular session of the United Nations General Assembly.

 

I thank you for allowing me to address the US public, especially the millions of Latinos and Cubans who live in this country, said Díaz-Canel, who also spoke about the future of socialism, economic difficulties and commitment to his people.

 

“For example, my generation, that of the 60s, was born with the blockade. Our children and grandchildren – I have grandchildren – have grown up under the sign of the blockade,” he emphasized.

 

However, the blockade changed significantly in the second half of 2019. It became even tougher than before, he said, explaining that this unilateral siege became tougher due to the application of more than 243 measures by the Donald Trump administration. he added.

 

Trump strengthened the blockade by internationalizing it and applying Chapter Three of the Helms-Burton Act for the first time, argued the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.

 

He explained that with this “they cut off our access to foreign capital, international convertible currencies and remittances; Americans could no longer visit Cuba and put financial pressure on the banks and financial groups that did business with Cuba.”

 

Díaz-Canel insisted on the negative impact that the measure adopted by Trump had a few days before leaving office on the inclusion "on a false list that says that Cuba is a country that supports terrorism."

 

“The whole world knows about Cuba's humanist vocation and how we contribute to peace. We don't send soldiers anywhere; "We send doctors," said the head of state, emphasizing that such a designation is "absolutely false," he said.

 

He also denied the slander against this cooperation. “When we send our doctors abroad to act in solidarity and provide services to other parts of the world, the United States claims that we are actually involved in human trafficking,” he said.

 

Díaz-Canel said that just when the economic situation was worsening, Covid-19 hit and greatly affected Cuba, like everywhere else, but “the United States Government acted in a perverse manner and tightened the blockade.”

 

“I highlight the government and not the people of the United States because we have deep respect and ties of friendship with the people of the United States,” emphasized the president of Cuba.

 

I believe that the US government thought that the Cuban Revolution would not survive that moment, he pointed out, adding that the situation was critical and was accompanied by a huge media campaign to discredit it.

 

We turn to our health system – an efficient, free, high-quality system that considers health a right – and we turn to our scientists, especially the younger ones, he said.

 

Our scientists - the statesman pointed out - designed the ventilators and developed five vaccine candidates, of which three are today recognized for their effectiveness. And that saved the country.

 

However, we emerged from the pandemic with many problems, many of them accumulated since before 2019, indicated Díaz-Canel.

 

“We have shortages of medicine, food and fuel. “We suffer prolonged blackouts that harm the population and directly impact people's lives, particularly young people,” he noted.

 

Even so, we, as a generation, have an enormous challenge: to ensure that this momentary distancing of Cuban youth – 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, he stressed.

 

He also referred to Cuba's position regarding the war in Ukraine. He made it clear “that we are a country of peace” and reiterated the need to seek paths of dialogue and diplomatic solutions to end the conflict.

 

When answering a question about his generational commitment, he remarked: “I was born in 1960 and I celebrated my first birthday the day after the victory in Playa Girón. The birth and life of the revolution marked my generation.”

 

He commented that as a representative of an entire generation that has come to assume the responsibilities of political life and government, he feels “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 thanks and recognition”

 

We define ourselves as a generation of continuity, although not a generation of linear continuity, Díaz-Canel warned.

 

“Continuity does not mean lack of transformation, but quite the opposite: a dialectical continuity, so that, while we transform, advance and try to perfect our society as much as possible, we do not abandon our convictions of building socialism in our country,” stated the president of Cuba.