Tuesday, April 26, 2016

The visit to Cuba of President Barack Obama

The visit to Cuba of President Barack Obama

Cuba confirms its will to advance relations with the United States, based on the observance of the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter and the principles of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace
The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama will pay an official visit to Cuba from 20 to 22 March next.
It will be the second time a US president arrives in our archipelago. Previously only did Calvin Coolidge, who landed in Havana in January 1928. He arrived aboard a warship to attend the VI Pan American Conference, which took place in those days under the auspices of a local character infamous, Gerardo Machado. This will be the first time a President of the United States comes to an owner Cuba of its sovereignty and a revolution in power, led by its historic leadership.
This is inserted into the process started December 17, 2014, when the president of the Councils of State and Ministers of Cuba, Raul Castro Ruz and President Barack Obama, simultaneously announced the decision to restore diplomatic relations , broken by the United States almost 54 years ago. It is part of the complex process towards normalization of bilateral ties, which is just beginning and has advanced on the only possible and right field: respect, equality, reciprocity and recognition of the legitimacy of our government.
It has come to this moment as a result of the heroic resistance of the Cuban people and their loyalty to principles, the defense of national independence and sovereignty, first and foremost. Such securities are not traded on more than 50 years, they led to the current government of the United States to admit the severe damage that the blockade has caused to our population and recognition of the failure of the policy of open hostility to the Revolution. Neither force nor economic coercion, and isolation imposed on Cuba achieved contrary to its almost century forged through heroic struggles and aspirations condition.
The current process with the United States has been possible thanks to the unwavering international solidarity, in particular, governments and peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, which placed the United States in an unsustainable isolation. "As silver in the roots of the Andes" -as expressed our national hero José Martí in his essay "Our America" ​​- Latin America and the Caribbean, strongly united, demanded the change of policy towards Cuba. This regional demand has underlined unequivocally in the Summits of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in 2009, and Cartagena, Colombia, in 2012, when all countries of the region demanded unanimously and categorically the lifting of the blockade and the participation of our country in the VII hemispheric meeting in Panama in 2015, which for the first time attended a Cuban delegation headed by Raul.
Since ads December 2014, Cuba and the United States have taken steps towards improvement of bilateral context.
On July 20, 2015, they were officially restored diplomatic relations with the commitment to develop them on the basis of respect, cooperation and observance of the principles of international law.
Have two meetings between the presidents of both countries as well as exchanges of visits by ministers and other contacts of senior officials took place. Cooperation in areas of mutual benefit dissimilar advances and discussion spaces, which allow a dialogue on issues of bilateral and multilateral interest, including those in which we have different conceptions open.
The president will be welcomed by the Government of Cuba and its people with the hospitality that distinguishes and will be treated with all consideration and respect, as head of state.
This will be an opportunity for the President of the United States directly appreciate a nation embroiled in economic and social development, and improving the welfare of its citizens. This town enjoys rights and can exhibit achievements that constitute a dream for many countries in the world, despite the limitations arising from its locked condition and underdeveloped country, which has earned him international recognition and respect.
World-class personalities as Pope and Patriarch Kirill Francisco described this island, in their joint statement issued in Havana in February, as "a symbol of hope in the New World". French President Francois Hollande said recently that "Cuba is respected and heard throughout Latin America" ​​and praised its resilience to the most difficult tests. The South African leader Nelson Mandela for Cuba always had words of deep gratitude: "We in Africa said in Matanzas, on 26 July 1991 we are used to being victims of other countries who want to break off our territory or subvert our sovereignty. In the history of Africa there is no other case of a people (such as Cuba) has been raised in defense of one of us. "
Obama will encounter a country that actively contributes to peace and regional and global stability, and shares with other peoples not what is left him but the modest resources available, making solidarity an essential element of its rationale being and welfare of humanity, as we bequeath Martí, one of the fundamental objectives of its foreign policy.
Also you have the opportunity to meet a noble, friendly and dignified people with a high sense of patriotism and national unity, which has always fought for a better future despite the adversities he has faced. The President of the United States will be greeted by a revolutionary people with a profound political culture, which is the result of a long tradition of struggle for true and definitive independence, first against Spanish colonialism and then against the imperialist domination of the United States ; a struggle in which its best sons have shed their blood and assumed all the risks. A people who will never back down from its defense of its principles and the vast work of the Revolution, which continues without hesitation the example of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, José Martí, Antonio Maceo, Julio Antonio Mella, Ruben Martinez Villena, Antonio Guiteras and Ernesto Che Guevara, among many others.
This is also a town that unite historical, cultural and emotional ties with the US, whose paradigmatic figure, writer Ernest Hemingway, received the Nobel for Literature for a novel set in Cuba. A people showing gratitude to those children of the United States, as Thomas Jordan [1], Henry Reeve, Winchester Osgood [2] and Frederick Funston [3], fought with the Liberation Army in our wars for independence from Spain; and those more recently opposed the aggression against Cuba, defied the blockade, as the Rev. Lucius Walker, to bring their solidarity to our people help, and supported the return to the Homeland of the boy Elián González and the Cuban Five . Marti learned to admire Lincoln's homeland and Cutting disown [4].
It is worth remembering the words of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, on September 11, 2001, when he said: "Today is a day of tragedy for the United States. You know well that here has never been sown hatred against the American people. Perhaps precisely because of its culture and its lack of complex, feeling completely free, with a homeland and without a master, Cuba is the country where more concerned with respect to US citizens. We have never preached any kind of national hatred, or anything similar to fanaticism, why we are so strong, because our conduct is based on principles and ideas, and treat them with great respect, they noticed this and said all Americans who visit to our country. "
This is the people who will receive President Barack Obama, proud of their history, their roots, their national culture and confident that a better future is possible. A nation that assumes with serenity and determination the current stage in relations with the United States, which recognizes the opportunities and unresolved issues between the two countries.
The visit of the President of the United States will be an important step in the process towards normalization of bilateral relations. Remember that Obama, as he did before James Carter, has been proposed from the exercise of his presidential powers, work to normalize ties with Cuba and therefore has taken concrete actions in this direction.
However, to reach the standards is a long and complex road ahead, which will require the solution of key issues that have accumulated over five decades and deepened the confrontational nature of the links between the two countries. Such problems will not be solved in the overnight, or with a presidential visit.
To normalize relations with the United States will be crucial to the economic, commercial and financial blockade, causing hardship to the Cuban people and is the main obstacle to the development of the economy of our country is lifted.
repeated President Barack Obama's position that the lock has to be removed and called on Congress to lift it must be recognized. This is also a major and growing demand for the American public, and almost unanimous international community, which in 24 consecutive occasions approved in the United Nations General Assembly Cuban resolution "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba. "
The president has taken steps to modify the application of some aspects of the blockade, which is positive. Senior administration officials have said they are studied other. However, it has not been possible to implement a good part of the measures for its limited scope, the persistence of other regulations and by the intimidating effects of the blockade as a whole, which has been harshly applied for over fifty years.
It is paradoxical that on the one hand, government action and, secondly, arrecie sanctions against Cuba, which affect the daily lives of our people.
Reality continues to show that blocking is maintained and implemented with integrity and with a marked extraterritorial reach, which has a deterrent effect for companies and banks in the United States and other countries. Examples include the multimillion continue to impose fines to US companies and banks and other nationalities to relate to Cuba; denial of service and closing financial operations of international banks in our country; and the freezing of legitimate transfers of funds to and from Cuba, even in currencies other than the dollar.
The people of Cuba hopes that the visit of the US president to consolidate its willingness to actively engage in a thorough discussion with Congress to lift the blockade and in the meantime, continues to use his executive powers to modify as much as possible its application, without legislative action.
Other issues that are harmful to Cuban sovereignty also have to be resolved in order to achieve normal relations between the two countries. The territory occupied by the Naval Base of the United States in Guantanamo against the will of our government and people, must be returned to Cuba, fulfilling the unanimous desire of Cubans for over a hundred years ago. They should be eliminated aimed to provoke destabilizing situations and changes in the political, economic and social order of our country interventionist programs. The policy of "regime change" has to be definitely buried.
It must abandon the pretense of making an internal political opposition, paid for with money from American taxpayers. You will have brought to an end to radio and television aggressions against Cuba in clear violation of international law and the unlawful use of the telecommunications policy objectives, recognizing that the end will not exert a certain influence on Cuban society, but put technology based development and knowledge.
The preferential immigration treatment given to our citizens under the Cuban Adjustment Act and the policy of feet, dry feet wet, causing loss of life and encourages illegal migration and trafficking in people and generate problems for others countries. This situation must be changed, as it would have to cancel the program "parole" for Cuban medical professionals, depriving the country of vital human resources to meet the health of our people and affects the beneficiaries of the cooperation of Cuba with nations that They need. In addition, the policy should be changed as a condition to Cuban athletes break their country to play in the leagues of the United States.
These past policies are incongruent with the new stage that the US government has started with our country. All predated President Obama, but he could modify some of them by executive decision and eliminate others entirely.
Cuba has been involved in building a new relationship with the United States in the exercise of its sovereignty and committed to its ideals of social justice and solidarity. No one can expect for it, have to give up one of its principles, give an inch in his defense, nor abandon proclaimed in the Constitution: "Economic, diplomatic with any State not can never be negotiated under aggression, threat or coercion by a foreign power ".
No can not harbor the slightest doubt about the strict adherence of Cuba to its revolutionary and anti-imperialist ideals, and its foreign policy committed to the just causes in the world, the defense of self-determination of peoples and the traditional support to our sister countries.
As expressed last Declaration of the Revolutionary Government, it is and will remain unshakeable solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the government led by President Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian and Chavista people struggling to follow their own path and faces systematic destabilization attempts and unilateral sanctions established by Executive Order unfounded and unjust March 2015 that was condemned by Latin America and the Caribbean. The notification issued on March 3 by extending the "National Emergency" and sanctions is a direct and unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela and its sovereignty. That Order should be abolished and this will be a permanent and firm claim of Cuba.
As noted by Army General Raul Castro, "we will not give up our ideals of independence and social justice, nor claudicaremos in one of our principles, nor cede a millimeter in defense of national sovereignty. We will not press in our internal affairs. We have earned this sovereign right with great sacrifices and the price of the biggest risks ".
We got here, we reiterate once again to defend our convictions and because we attend reason and justice.
Cuba confirms its will to advance relations with the United States, based on the observance of the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter and the principles of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed by the Heads of State and Government of the region, including full respect for their independence and sovereignty, the inalienable right of every state to choose the political, economic, social and cultural system without interference in any form; equality and reciprocity.
Cuba reiterates turn full readiness to maintain a respectful dialogue with the Government of the United States and develop relations of civilized coexistence. Living together does not mean having to give up the ideas in which we believe and we have brought here, our socialism, our history, our culture.
The profound differences of views between Cuba and the United States on political models, democracy, exercise of human rights, social justice, international relations, peace and global stability, among others, will persist.
Cuba defends the indivisibility, interdependence and universality of civil, political, economic, social and cultural human rights. We are convinced that it is the obligation of governments to defend and guarantee the right to health, education, social security, equal pay for equal work, the right of children and the right to food and development. We reject political manipulation and double standards on human rights, which must cease. Cuba, which has acceded to 44 international instruments in this field, while the United States has signed only 18, has a lot to say, to defend and to show.
What is in our ties with the United States, is that both countries respect their differences and create a relationship based on the benefit of both peoples.
Regardless of the progress that can be achieved in ties with the United States, the Cuban people will continue. With our own efforts and proven ability and creativity, we will continue working for the country's development and welfare of Cubans. We will not relent in demand for the lifting of the blockade that has done us so much damage and does. We persist in carrying forward the process of updating the economic and social model that we have chosen, and building a prosperous and sustainable socialism to consolidate the gains of the revolution.
A road sovereignly chosen and will surely be ratified at the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party, Fidel and Raul in victory.
This is the Cuba that will welcome President Obama respectful.


[1] Major General, Chief of Staff of the Liberation Army (1869).

[2] Commander. He fell in combat on the site Guáimaro, the October 28, 1896.

[3] Colonel gunner, on the orders of Calixto Garcia.

[4] Character in 1886 stoked hatred and aggression against Mexico.

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