Bloqueo, la guerra contra Cuba (2005) - full transcript
The war against Cuba of the title began with the economic blockade in 1961 but, also included (in the 1960s and beyond) outright invasion (in 1961), terrorism, multiple assassination attempts on Cuban leaders and sabotage, including bacteriological warfare against crops, livestock and finally human beings. The blockade is still in place. Today, Cuba is a respected member of the community of countries in the Americas while the US and its surrogate Canada are de facto excluded. This makes obvious who won (or is winning) the war, an astonishing conclusion in view of the disproportion of forces.But this is not the whole story. Cuba refused to compromise a single one of its principles in spite of multiples threats and pressures. It managed to chalk impressive gains: to name a few, first rate medical and education systems and a lively cultural life. It even assisted many Latin American revolutionary movements. It sent military forces and aid workers to help the decolonization of various countries in the south of Africa, and was instrumental in the demolition of the odious apartheid regime of South Africa, whose army the Cubans defeated in Angola and Namibia. (true to form, the Carter and Reagan administrations were all the while trying unsuccessfully to prop the South Africans). This documentary consists of interviews with various Cuban functionaries, scientists and artists, plus a few minutes of newsreel footage. The interviews are brisk and to the point and they add up to a coherent whole. There is perhaps not much new material, but the labyrinthine details of the embargo, still in place, deserve exposure. The US though the blockade would turn the people of Cuba against its own government. A bully's reasoning; it was of course wrong. Undeterred, and unable to learn, the US has since insisted again and again, the last two instances Iran and now Russia. Good luck.
It is a real strong
blockade against Cuba.
We Cubans have to fight
a lot to survive.
They hinder us in every way.
It affects me 'cause a lot
of people are suffering.
I think it's something...
...unspeakable.
Very bad.
A lot of years.
A lot of abuse.
BLOCKADE
BLOCKADE
the war against Cuba
The blockade tears,
wounds...
...every activity...
...in Cubans' lives...
...and won't quit striking
for a minute.
The blockade is one
of the US war measures...
...against Cuba.
Just one.
One of the measures that
was established the fastest...
...over a period
of several years.
I think that the starting
point has to be...
...the aggressive policy
the US developed against Cuba...
...since the very moment the
Cuban Revolution succeeded...
...on January 1 st, 1959.
The Batista regime falls.
The night of December 31 st.,
though some had left before...
...the leaders
of that regime leave...
...carrying money with them.
The New York Times
published an editorial....
...where they admit that those
who ran away from Cuba...
...when the Batista regime fell...
...took with them...
...physically...
...the Cuban national
treasury's securities.
Have you seen a cent
of that money?
The US government neither
extradited those thieves...
...nor gave back a penny
of that money.
So, without doubt...
...the first and one
of the most serious blows...
...to the Cuban economy,
came from the US government.
I would say that...
...even before...
...the revolutionary power
was established in Cuba.
23: Guant?namo
Sugar Company.
24: United Fruit Company.
The blockade was a plan of
the Eisenhower administration...
...designed to overthrow
Fidel Castro in six weeks.
Definitively, it failed.
We have implemented
the appropriate measures...
...to resist and,
listen carefully...
...to repel any direct aggression
from the United States.
If they establish a blockade...
...they'll just make us
grow in stature...
...because our nation
can resist.
We will resist
any total blockade.
Over that same period,
the first blockade measures...
...started arising.
They began by cutting off
the oil supply.
The US government started
rejecting credit...
Then, they forbade
American refineries...
...to refine oil
that wasn't American.
They started reducing
the sugar quota.
Then they cut out the sale
of spare parts...
...to Cuban companies.
And it was an industrial system,
in the late '50s, early '60s...
...where technology in Cuba
had an American origin.
So there was a combination
in time...
...between the acts of sabotage
and the attacks...
...and the beginning of the
restrictive measures against us.
Over 70%
of the Cuban trade...
...depended on its trade with
the US.
Cuba sold the US more than
60% of its sugar.
So, within the war logic...
...it was a rationally thought
measure...
...intentionally aimed
at overthrowing a government.
An official from the State
Department, in an internal memo...
...describes what they are up to.
This is a memo that wasn't
made public at that time...
...in 1960. It was made public
in the eighties, the nineties...
...when it was declassified.
In that memo,
this official analyzes...
...what would those...
And we're not talking
about Torricelli or Helms-Burton.
We're talking about
the first steps.
It was a year before
the Playa Gir?n invasion.
It was a year before Fidel
announced the Revolution.
It said: "A vast majority
of Cubans support Castro".
The president was the
addressee of this document.
"There is no real
political opposition."
It admitted that the Cuban
Revolution had, as it has today...
...a huge popular support.
Otherwise, it would had fallen.
"The only foreseeable way
to alienate the internal support...
...is through disillusionment
and discouragement..."
We have to create
discouragement, disillusionment.
"...based on dissatisfaction
and economic problems.
We must promptly implement",
the undersecretry said...
"...any conceivable means...
...to weaken Cuba's
economic life.
Deny Cuba money and supplies...
...in order to decrease real
and monetary wages...
...so as to generate hunger,
despair...
...and the ovethrow
of the government.
From the beginning,
the policy's essence was...
...to strike the people,
to hurt the people...
...make them suffer...
...as a means of...
...fighting against
a revolutionary government.
We have to put pressure
on them, steam the boiler...
...until it blows out.
THE COMMERCIAL
RESTRICTIONS
The blockade prevents us
from exporting to the US.
Cuba can't sell anything
in the US.
Cuba could sell
in the US...
...50,000 tons of nickel
a year.
We could sell lobster
and sea products.
Biotechnological
and medicinal products.
We could sell tobacco.
In New York,
a smuggled Cuban cigar...
...costs fifty dollars.
Just one cigar.
We could sell rum,
we could sell software.
We could sell vaccines,
biotechnological products...
...but Cuba can't export
anything.
Actually, Cuba can trade
with the whole world.
The problem is that the whole
world can't trade with Cuba.
For instance,
we buy an Argentine product...
...and the letter of exchange
or whatever its name is...
...can't be in US dollars...
...'cause when it gets
to the bank it is confiscated...
...by the US government.
It has to be other currency.
Last year,
an important Swiss bank...
...the UBS Bank,
the Union Bank of Switzerland...
...was given a fine
of 100 million dollars...
...for accepting a transference
in dollars from Cuba.
Those kind of things
make it risky.
And Cuba has to be
very disciplined...
...when it comes to establishing
its trade.
Constantly, we have
to exchange our dollars...
...for other currencies.
We lose 50, 60 million dollars
a year...
...to exchange,
to exchange rates.
A company...
...cannot sell Cuba...
...a product, an equipment...
...if that product of a Canadian,
French, German...
...Japanese, Argentine company,
has more than a 10% ...
...of American components.
Cuba can't buy a Boeing
'cause it's an American plane.
But we can't buy an Airbus
either, eventhough it's European...
...because it has
American avionics.
The mission of every
American embassy is...
...to write to the companies
of those countries...
...that trade with Cuba...
...and warn them about the
sanctions they are liable to...
...and threaten them,
telling them...
...that in case of a Cuba without
socialism and without Fidel...
...they won't have their share.
Mercedez Benz,
the German company...
...or Mitsubishi, the Japanese one,
have to prove...
...to the US government, that
the car they try to export...
...to the US...
...has no Cuban nickel among
the metals it was built of.
US inspectors go to the
factories, review the contracts...
...investigate where you bought
the stainless steel...
...you used in this car.
An Australian company?
They go to Australia...
...and check if the Australian
company uses Cuban nickel.
And when they tell you
that you'II be sentenced...
...that you won't be able
to sell in the US...
...that your executives
and their children...
...won't be able to enter
the US, obviously...
...a CEO has to think twice
before making a decision.
So, the blockade
is an economic war.
It can't be seen as a bilateral
issue between Cuba and the US...
...serious enough as it would be.
The blockade is established...
...in an extraterritorial way.
That's why Cuba is out
of the IMF, the World Bank.
Orders were given to the staff
members of these institutions...
...that govern themselves by
the countries' participation rate...
...being the US's the highest,
forbidding them to aprove...
...funds or plans for Cuba.
Last year, the Interamerican
Development Bank...
...Ioaned in Latin America,
in concessionary conditions...
...9 billion dollars.
But they can't loan
a single dollar to Cuba.
It is absolutely forbidden.
It can't be questioned.
And, in fact, it isn't questioned.
If Cuba had received
just 1% of that money...
...it would had meant 90 millions.
We could do a lot with...
...that kind of money: Repair
hospitals, build roads...
...improve the access
to potable water.
So Cuba can only resort to
other instances...
...that mean
more expensive loans.
Per?n! Per?n!
Per?n! Per?n!
The blockade was broken off
for the first time...
...by Per?n's Argentina.
During the C?mpora
administration...
...important contracts are signed,
and bilateral relations...
...between Argentina and Cuba
are promoted.
President Per?n gave Cuba
loans, to buy in Argentina...
...in 1973.
Cuba tried to purchase
in Argentina...
...from American subsidiaries...
...such as Ford, Chevrolet,
General Motors and so on...
It was impossible. Nobody
could sell Cuba anything...
...much less
American subsidiaries.
Per?n said that he would
nationalize them...
...if they didn't sell to Cuba.
The US was forced
to make that exception.
And for the first time, and only
one, after the Revolution...
...we received cars
make Ford, make Chevrolet...
...Frigidaire cooling units...
...equipment manufactured
by Argentine workers...
...with Argentine raw material,
in Argentina.
That worked out
until the Torricelli Law.
Mr. Torricelli
put an end...
...to that trading with
the subsidiaries...
...Iocated abroad.
Those countries in which those
subsidiaries are settled...
...that accept that those
subsidiaries rule themselves...
...by American legislation...
...extraterritorially applied...
...what are they really doing?
They are giving up
sovereingty.
The Torricelli Law was one
aspect. The other one was...
...that they banned the ships
involved in the trade with Cuba...
...they banned those ships
from entering American harbors.
What is the effect on Cuba?
Shipping companies
won't send their ships to Cuba.
Recently, a container with
Cuban juice was shipped...
...to Japan...
...in a vessel,
and was totally confiscated...
...because the vessel
docked at a harbor...
...where it could
be confiscated.
We are now looking for ships
so that we can bring...
...to Cuba cattle on the hoof
from Canada.
And the ships in the region
refuse to do it.
The Helms-Burton Law, as
opposed to the Torricelli Law...
...is a law that was
wholly conceived...
...in connection with
the economic war against Cuba...
...and the overall war
against Cuba.
It is not a defense spending
law to which they added...
...a section about Cuba.
This law, from start to finish...
...is in connection with Cuba.
It tries to impose
the American law...
...on other countries' laws,
on the international law.
That's why every year,
since 1992...
...we submit a resolution
to the UN...
...called "The Need To End The
Trade, Finnancial And Economic...
...BIockade lmposed On Cuba
By The US."
It's a clear and precise vote.
A vote against the blockade.
In 1992, for the first time,
that resolution...
...got 59 votes in favor.
During the last fourteen years...
...the number of votes has been
systematically and continuously...
...increasing.
Last year, 179 countries out
of a total of 191 UN members...
...passed the resolution.
Excellencies, on behalf
of a little country beset...
...for wanting to be free,
I respectfully ask you to...
...once again, vote in favor
for the resolution...
...submitted by Cuba.
Thank you very much.
We will start the voting.
The assembly is voting
resolution number 959...
...L2 "The Need To End The
Trade, Finnancial And Economic...
...BIockade lmposed On Cuba
By The US".
Those who are in favor of the
aforementioned resolution...
...show it with your vote.
As well as those
who are against it...
Please check that your vote
is registered on the screen.
The voting has been completed.
The machine is locked.
"La Corona" Tobacco Factory
The resolutions passed
by the UN General Assembly...
...are recommendations.
They don't have
a mandatory nature.
And the UN don't have
the means to enforce...
...those resolutions.
And there is also
a political element...
...which is, saying it
in plain Spanish...
...that the US give a damn
about the United Nations.
It is a sign
of imperial arrogance...
...ignorance
of an international clamor...
...ignorance
of the international law.
The US only wants one United
Nations 100% subdued...
...to the US interests.
The more...
...Americans and the international
community reject the blockade...
...the harder... The Bush
administration...
...has clamped down on the
blockade like never before.
I think the blockade
is very unfair.
We can't receive medicines,
medical equipment...
We can't trade with other
countries, develop ourselves.
They shut us down.
We suffer it with the
electricity problem.
They cut it for hours.
Sure, they give priority
to food.
But what about the rest?
It also affects us, a pair
of shoes, clothes, whatever.
Do you think I like the
transportation?
It shouldn't be in this
condition. But we...
...can't buy a single part.
As long as the blockade exists,
there will be need, poverty.
It affects trade and it affects
our families.
Things like medicines,
that we need...
...and have to buy
through a third country.
Our social system is ready
to pay whatever it costs...
...in order to cure for free
and they won't sell us.
Obviously, it affects us.
Those who feel Cuban
will tell you.
That's the greatest crime
regarding all this...
Regarding this blockade...
...that has been carried out
against Cuba for so many years.
And it is choking
the baby in its cradle.
Like William Blake,
the English poet, said.
It is better
to choke a baby in its cradle...
...than kill a desire,
suppress a desire.
You can read it
the way round.
To suppress a desire, in this
case a desire for justice...
...a desire for freedom,
for community, for equality...
...is to kill a baby
in its cradle.
MORE RESTRICTIONS
The blockade prevents us from
receiving American tourists.
The blockade...
...in real terms, is violating
the US Constitution.
Because Americans
can't travel to Cuba.
The American who comes
to Cuba can be sentenced...
...to 10 years in jail and
given a fine of 250,000 dollars.
With 500 millions, we could
build 100,000 dwellings...
...a year.
One of our biggest problems
is the housing problem.
During the last 15 years
we couldn't build...
...the homes we needed. We have
to build 100,000 homes a year...
...over a period of 10 years...
...20,000 of them in the city,
so as to face the problem.
It would cost us 500 millions,
but we don't have the money.
However, 5 million
American tourists...
...would mean
12 billion dollars gross...
...and a profit of, at least,
4 or 5 billions.
10 times what we need to build
100,000 homes in one year.
Part of the tourism that came
from the US were Cubans...
...who lived there.
But now a family won't risk...
...getting a fine
or a sentence...
...for violating what
the US government established.
Before...
...due to Clinton's kindness,
you could visit your family...
...once a year. With Bush,
once every three years...
...provided they give them
permission.
So, now your right has
been reduced...
...to asking permission
once every three years...
...to visit, not any relative
of yours...
...but the family
as was redefined by Bush.
It is an attack on
the Cuban family...
...by a government that calls
itself a defender...
...of the Cuban family.
- So, the blockade...
...is the main obstacle
to Cubans' well-being.
The blockade...
...affects medicine
in many ways.
For instance, when
it comes to certain medicines...
...produced only
in the US...
...we must buy them to third
countries and pay a lot more...
...for them.
In the case of...
...infectious diseases, when
a new antibiotic is launched...
...or a product to combat
a vector...
...we cannot get it.
I know cases where people
were really desperate...
...because they couldn't get
medicines to save...
...their loved ones.
I've seen a lot of rage...
...desperation, a lot of
suffering in the people.
A patient needs a medicine
we have to buy abroad...
...but we can't buy it because
it is an American product.
That patient is affected.
For instance, you want to buy
some equipment in Japan.
If it has American components,
you can't buy it.
We bought medical equipment
from a Canadian company...
...that was purchased
by an American company.
And now they won't sell us
parts to avoid being fined...
...by the US government.
They tried to deprive us...
...of the influence
of the universal culture schools.
The blockade
systematically forbids...
...due to different
regulations throughout time...
...the exchange
of American students...
...and Cuban students.
And it forbids the exchange
of professors from...
...the USA
and Cuban professors.
It harms the Americans, 'cause
Cuba has interesting outcomes...
...and each day is harder for
them to come to conferences.
For instance, the achievements
in our...
...biotechnological
or genetic engineering...
...research centers.
The latest achievements.
They even tried...
...to prevent Cuban papers
from being published...
...in American magazines.
They tried.
But the American publishing
companies rebelled...
...against that measure
and they had to overturn it.
You are absolutely banned...
...from entering the US...
...because you are
considered...
I am like an image...
...because I represent
danger to...
...to... How was it?
To...
To the US.
It can't be possible.
Because I just sing.
My weapon,
my weapon is singing.
My mouth. I don't...
My hands are clean.
Automatically clean. I have
nothing to do with guns.
Now, if you think...
...that I can kill with
my voice, then it's okay.
But I think the opposite.
TRUTHS AND LIES
We don't want the press
to defend us.
We want the press
to tell the truth...
...so that people can draw
their own conclusions.
The weight of the media
manipulation is huge.
When an Argentine
goes to the US...
...they say "he emigrates".
Or a Mexican emigrates.
When a Cuban goes to the US
they say "he runs away".
When they all have
the same reasons to go.
You arrive in Cuba
somehow fearfully...
...because you hear
so many things...
...that definitely
are not true.
Bush invested 59 millions
in that.
They manage to get important
papers, international press...
...to publish articles against
Cuba. They give money to...
...Reporters Without
Frontiers.
In fact, those 59 millions
they gave...
...those groups this year,
is a lot more...
...than the money we have
to implement projects...
...that benefit
millions of Cubans.
Paid articles in important
papers, TV shows...
...events against Cuba like the
one held in the Czech Republic.
Sometimes, when we go back
to our countries...
...we find ourselves
more open-minded.
And when you talk about Cuba,
many people say...
"Hey, they changed you way
of thinking.
What are they telling you
about Cuba?"
But they should have to be
here to see what's going on.
We need objective information...
...and range regarding this issue.
The American press...
...avoids telling this reality.
And in spite of the injustice
and, as my mate said...
...in spite of the blockade
against Cuba...
...it is remarkable to see
how this people got through it.
It is a very interesting thing
and everyone who arrives here...
...realizes what the reality is
in no time.
I've met with American
senators, congresspersons...
...that came to Cuba...
People that supported their
policy but accepted to come.
And many times,
almost always...
...we talked more or less
in these terms.
I ask them:
"Why the blockade?
Why are you trying
to starve us to death?
Why don't you recognize
our rights?"
They say: "We blockade you
'cause you are not democratic".
First of all,
that's nonsense. It is a lie.
It isn't a serious argument.
Everybody knows...
...that the US has had
and has excellent relations...
...with countries that have
governments...
...that they don't describe
as democratic themselves.
"What is it that you don't like
of the Cuban model?"
"The fact that you have
only one party.
And we think that democracy
means more than one party."
There is a long list
of countries...
...whose systems are not a
bit alike the Occidental system...
...they impose
as the paradigm.
"How many parties are there
in China? One, like in Cuba.
And you maintain relations,
trade with them."
"But China is a big market."
The list is very long.
And the US...
...has excellent relations
with those countries.
"Take Saudi Arabia.
You criticize Cuba...
...and in Saudi Arabia
there are no parties.
And in Saudi Arabia women are
not allowed to drive in public."
"Well, but they have oil",
they tell me.
And, above all,
economic relations.
A country's foreign policy can't
be based only on interests.
It has to be based on principles.
"That's the difference between
you and us. You need ethics."
They've never asked about
a country's organization...
...when they appropriate
this country's mines, oil...
...or whatever they want.
"You can't say that you want
democracy in Cuba...
...because, among other things,
you aren't a democratic model."
A country in which you need
9 millions to be elected senator...
...and over 100 millions to be
president is not a democracy.
The American system
is for fools.
It is a corrupt system, does not
represent the will of the people.
Many think the president
stole the election twice.
We don't accept their model.
We demand the right to have...
...our model, our way
to govern our country.
Here I had a cute experience
that taught me a lesson.
I have a Cuban daughter and
more than 5 years living here...
...so I had the chance
to vote.
You go to...
...the polling station and you
find the candidates' biography.
Just a page where you can
read what he has done.
You went there and voted,
discussed why to vote...
...for one and not
for the other.
But you don't see them
walking along the street...
...or offering things.
No, not at all.
Our delegate works hard
for the neighborhood...
...but he doesn't quit his job.
After work...
...he sees you in some place
where you can talk...
...or he goes to your home.
He tries to keep
everything organized.
If you were an American
journalist, you'd had already...
...asked the question.
Because they repeat it a lot.
"Many people think you are
happy with the blockade.
That you don't want it
to be lifted."
They say: "Cuban excuse.
Cuba has problems
due to a bad administration."
I tell them: "If it is an excuse,
leave us without it.
Lift the blockade,
and prove us wrong."
"Let's do something.
Lift it just for a while.
A year without the blockade.
And we'II see who wins."
COUNTERREVOLUTION
An unusual thing regarding
American policy towards Cuba...
...is that the US policy
towards Cuba, for many years...
...wasn't based on
the US national interests.
If the US formulated
a policy towards Cuba...
...well, undoubtedly...
...they would encourage trade,
relations with Cuba.
One of the main features
of the American administrations...
...is their pragmatism.
And they follow
this philosophy of...
..."if you can't beat them,
make friends with them".
In the Cuban case, they've done
it all the way around.
They weren't able
to beat us but...
...they can't be our friends.
We offered the US government
to cooperate in the fight...
...against drugs,
or terrorism.
Or to prevent illegal migration.
And they turned us down...
...eventhough this is good
for them...
...because they fear the reaction
of the radical groups in Miami.
That reactionary
emigration...
...that lives on the business
of the policy against Cuba...
...has been the big loser
for 45, 46 years.
They've always lost.
Though they have...
...hundreds of millions of dollars,
they've always lost.
It happens that the policy
towards Cuba was kidnapped...
...by these Cuban
terrorist groups...
...radical groups organized
in the US.
They are no more than 20, 30
Cuban families...
...but they are those
who have the money.
They don't represent
most Cubans' interests...
...who have emigrated
due to economic reasons.
They are the former batistianos,
the former owners...
...the former exploiters and
torturers that have...
...great influence there.
We must remember that
the US president's brother...
...is the governor of Florida.
And among other things...
...his strength lies
in a very close relation...
...with the most
reactionary sector...
...of the Cuban emigration.
They fund campaigns,
for instance...
...out of 40 republican
representatives...
...elected last November...
...26 have received money
from the ultraconservative...
...Cuban lobbies in Miami.
Paying debts...
...the government contracted
with that...
...so reactionary sector
of the Cuban emigration...
...that lives on the
counterrevolution business.
These are those behind
the drafting...
...of Bush's plan for Cuba.
That is...
...according to what its
preface states...
...like a body of measures
to take...
...seeking protection
in the Helms-Burton law...
...to achieve that law's
goals.
Its goals are
to subvert Cuba...
...destroy the revolution
and then annex Cuba.
The law clearly states...
...that its goal is to put an
end to the Cuban Revolution.
Bush said: "We're not waiting
for Fidel to go.
We're working
to overthrow him."
After the revolution there
would be a "transitional period".
And then, what they call
a "democratic stage".
And it defines, in writing,
it is stated in the law...
...requirements...
...analyzing which the US
government must evaluate...
...if the Castro regime has
ended, if there is a transition...
...or a democracy.
The first one,
the most important one, is...
...the one related to
the properties...
...that were nationalized
in Cuba...
...at the beginning
of the Revolution.
After defeating the Revolution,
the US will appoint in Cuba...
...a governor, for Cuba...
...and turn Cuba into
a US province.
Dismantle the whole country.
Take cooperatives away
from the peasants.
Take farms away from
over 100,000 peasants...
...that were given lands
because of the agrarian reform.
Bush said: "Our policy towards
Cuba is the regime change".
Free education, health,
would disappear.
It is stated
in Bush's plan.
This violates de UN charter,
violates the international law.
A government doesn't have
the right to change...
...other country's authorities.
THE TERROR
The strategy...
...of the successive
US governments against Cuba...
...has not excluded...
...any kind of aggression.
The truth is that...
...successive American
administrations...
...have encouraged terrorism
against Cuba.
Acts of sabotage, burning
of sugar-cane plantations...
...sabotage against
economic facilities...
...as a vehicle that the
US government, at that time...
...it was still the Dwight
Eisenhower administration...
...used to try to destabilize...
...the infant Cuban
revolutionary process.
We had to resist
military attacks.
ATTACK ON PLAYA GIR?N
(Bah?a de Cochinos)
MASS INVADERS SURRENDER
Cuba is within minutes...
...of the American Air Force
action...
...their rockets,
their military units.
From the US,
gunboats arrived...
...that fired at civilian
towns in Cuba.
We had to endure
the dirty war.
The organization
by the CIA...
...of armed gangs
that operated in Cuba...
...between 1969 and 1967,
when they were defeated.
Thousands of armed men...
...who killed peasants...
...and young people who were
teaching to read and write...
...in the mountains
and rural areas.
Students, almost children.
At that moment the biggest
CIA station ever was created.
It was based in Miami.
There, thousands of Cuban
were trained...
...in sabotage
and demolition techniques.
There was an attempt to kill
Che with a bazooka...
...when he took part at the
UN General Assembly...
...on December, 1964.
Another aspect, near in time...
...is the support,
the funding...
...the supply and encouragment
given, from the US territory...
...to terrorist groups...
...in the US or abroad,
so that they act against Cuba.
Murderous hands place bombs
at the nationalized El Encanto...
... where thousands of Cuban
families earn their living.
In downtown Havana...
... jeopardizing numerous
Cuban homes...
... they cause a massive fire.
They don't care about the lives
of children, women, old people.
With these barbaric deeds,
the Yankee imperialism...
... hopes to destroy
our national riches...
... stop production
and promote shortage.
The blowing-up of the ship
LaCoubre where more...
...than 100 people died, including
French and Belgian sailors.
SABOTAGE ON THE LACOUBRE
Havana, 1960
Cuba, for sovereignty.
The US, for intervention.
Cuba, for culture.
The US, for ignorance.
Cuba, for the murdered
teachers.
The US, for the murderers.
There are crimes
that were committed...
...beyond our national frontiers.
Many, in the US.
My brother Eulalio
emigrated to the US...
...around 1961, 1962,
like many Cubans.
We was a member
of the Committee of the 75...
...a group of 75 Cubans,
one of the first to visit...
...our country, to promote
a rapprochement...
...and family reunion...
...and a fight for support
in the US against the blockade.
First he was threatened
and finally murdered...
...on November 25, 1979...
...by Omega 7.
They designed more than 600
plans to kill Fidel.
There were biological wars,
biological aggressions...
...epidemics introduced that
affected plants and animals.
The dengue fever epidemic
introduced as a lab virus.
In less than three years...
...five serious plagues and
epidemics ravaged our catlle...
...our plantations
and, what is even worse...
...our population.
Hog cholera...
...blue mold of tobacco...
...sugarcane plant rot...
...dengue hemorrhagic fever...
...and hemorrhagic conjunctivitis...
...have caused important
material and human damage.
In 1981...
...is introduced in Cuba,
in an artificial way...
...the dengue 2.
This dengue 2...
...shows up, at the same time...
...in 3 different spots, 300 Km.
Distant from each other.
And an epidemic of dengue
hemorrhagic is unleashed...
...out of context, given the
fact that in America's history...
...only 60 cases of the disease
had been reported...
...and in the Cuban epidemic
10,000 cases were reported.
Out of 158 dead,
101 were children.
The economic cost ran to
103 million dollars in 4 months.
But we got the epidemic
under control.
In the nineties starts...
...a plot designed to...
...destroy the, at that time,
increasing tourism in Cuba.
How?
Blowing up hotels.
When I notice that
there was nobody left...
...I stood up...
...and went to...
...to place the explosive.
I acted like I was asking
something...
...in case somebody
was watching.
And I waited to see
if the bartender came.
He wasn't here and
I had already opened the bag...
...with the explosive,
so I just looked everywhere...
...and surreptitiously took the
explosive and slipped it here.
I slipped it here
and turned it like this.
It is not only to put an end
to the Cuban Revolution...
...by causing desperation and
famine to the Cuban people...
...but also by killing
innocent people.
Thousands of Cuban families
have lost a relative.
More than 3,000 Cubans have
died in terrorist attacks...
...over these years.
It is called
international terrorism.
It existed and it exists.
It sprang from
the sponsorship...
...of certain
American sectors...
...in which the Bush family
occupies a privileged position.
In September, 1998...
...five companions
are arrested.
Their main mission in life
was, precisely...
...to send to Cuba that
information, those data...
...that would had helped...
...frustrate those
terrorist acts.
The American government
knows that they exist...
...because Cuba has handed
detailed information...
...regarding names, places,
what do they organize.
However, they've never done
anything to protect us.
They ignore it.
The United States lies...
...when they talk about
a supposed fight...
...against terrorism.
The US government broadcasts...
...radio stations
and TV channels of the US...
...from Air Force planes...
...trying to wipe out
Cuban stations...
...violating our radio space.
The so-called Mart? Radio
and the Mart? TV.
Those abominations.
You try to listen
to the Cuban radio station...
...and you listen to a US
broadcast where they give you...
...practical tips about
how to burn down your factory...
...without being caught.
Where they encourage violence,
where they encourage murder.
Where they tell people,
continuously...
"The Cuban problem will
be solved by killing Fidel".
See? Media terrorism.
SPECIAL PERIOD
If the Cuban people deserves
credit for anything at all...
...it is for its feat
of the last 15 years.
Because during the first
30 years of the Revolution...
...we had the blockade but
also relations with the USSR...
...the socialist countries.
They bought our products...
They sold us what the US
denied us. They gave us credit...
...let us gain access to
technologies, maybe outdated...
...fuel consuming, but it was
the only resource we had...
...and thus we could develop
our country.
But it is interesting that,
in 1990...
...when the USSR disappears...
...when the socialist field
disappears...
...in which we could trade
and protect ourselves...
...and we were left alone,
overnight...
...Iosing the partners with which
we had 85% of our trade...
...at that moment we proved
that this was a real revolution...
...with popular support.
And in a matter of hours...
...this country fell into
a very difficult situation...
...that we call
"special period".
Between 1989 and 1993...
...in four years,
Cuba's GDP dropped 35% .
In Argentina, during the years of
the crisis, it just dropped 22% .
The real effect
was a second blockade.
All of a sudden,
the markets fall...
...we lose all supplies provided
by that part of the world.
Cuban imports dropped from
8,5 billions in 1989...
...to 1,5 billions.
Agriculture was brought
to a halt, due to lack of fuel...
...fertilizers, spare parts
for the farm machinery.
The industry was paralized.
We had to look for
new markets...
...where to sell our sugar,
our citrus products.
All that under the blockade,
hardened by the minute.
Then the Torricelli
law came...
...to deliver
the coup de gr?ce.
The Cubans' daily caloric
ingestion...
...dropped from 3,000 calories
a day to 1,900.
According to the WHO...
...it can't be less than
2,400 kilocalories a day.
You can imagine the restriction.
However, during those years...
...when we were starving,
when we didn't have 500...
...of the 800 hundred
medicines used in Cuba...
We had no raw materials
to produce them...
...transportation was paralized.
There were no cars on the
streets. One million bikes...
...a day, riding along the city.
20 hours a day
without electricity.
We were left, as we put it,
hanging on to the brush.
They took the stairs away.
And we didn't fall.
Because of the social model...
...that in such a situation,
didn't go like...
"Every man for himself...
...let the strongest
or the richest survive".
We said: "We have little food
so let's give priority...
...to pregnant women,
to newborn children...
...to old people
who live alone".
We didn't say: "Let's privatize
the services and those...
...who have money will pay
for them, and those who haven't...
...will have to realize
they have no rights".
We had to get back
on our feet...
...to better ourselves,
to be able to...
...be more creative,
to try harder.
We said: "We won't close
our schools...
...eventhough we don't have
books, eventhough we have...
...to sew those books
from year to year".
Families lent each other
their children's uniforms.
We shared the little we had,
solidarity between neighbors.
The State didn't abandon
anybody to his fate.
And today, anybody that looks
objectively...
...at the Cuban situation...
...must realize that today,
the situation...
...beyond the difficulties
that you must have seen...
...is better than the situation
we were in...
...when what we call
the special period started.
We developed tourism,
accepted foreign investments...
...we developed new areas
in our production...
...we started producing
our own fuel.
And step by step we managed
to get through it.
RESURGENCE
After the socialist field fell,
Cuba had to change radically.
It had to make deep changes
in its economy...
...to steer its
economy in a different way.
It had to think in other
productive sectors too.
The situation has evolved
thanks to wisdom, effort...
...thanks to a very
consistent policy.
Above all, thanks to
our people's effort.
Today, our country has a lot
of strength, doubtlessly...
...in certain sectors that
didn't exist 15 years ago.
Cuban public health, in spite of
the economic problems...
...in spite of the blockade,
achieved relevant, competitive...
...outcomes regarding
first world countries.
Cuba had to make
an extraordinary effort...
...so as to, for instance,
increase life expectancy.
A Cuban's life expectancy
already exceeds 75 years.
This year, the tuberculosis rate
was 6.8.
6.8 per 100,000.
And now we are set out
to eliminate TB in Cuba...
...when in developed countries
it is increasing.
An infant mortality rate
of 5.4 every 1000 born alive.
It is one of the lowest
in the world.
Today, when you analize
Cuban health indicators...
...all of them are way
above the region's ones...
...and on a par with
developed countries.
We have a biotechnological
and pharmaceutical sector...
...that transfers and sells
technology even to American...
...companies. An American
company, CancerVax...
...based on Texas...
...was allowed by the Department
of the Treasury to buy...
...Cuban technology to develop
a vaccine against cancer.
Cuba is the only country that
underwent such a crisis...
...without harming
its social indicators.
The same happened
regarding education.
We had to make a tremendous
effort to develop...
...a real universal and free
education system.
The artistic teaching system
in Cuba...
...is an example to Latin America.
Around the world,
few institutions...
...related to artistic teaching...
...have in just one building...
...as the Instituto Superior
de Arte has...
...every artistic expression.
We must remember that
over 40,000 young people...
...from 120 countries, graduated
from Cuban universities.
30,000 of them, Africans.
Now we have in Cuba over
16,000 students on grants.
There are 25 students
per classroom, max.
Every student
is guaranteed his microscope.
Those personal classes
are not only for foreigners.
Cuban students are treated the
same, in spite of the blockade...
...and that's remarkable.
We offered them to study here.
Their families are poor.
They belong to 80 different
Latin American ethnic groups.
Out of 16,000 young people...
...more than 10,000
study Medicine.
1,500 will graduate in Medicine,
in our country this year.
We have Cuban doctors
working in 68 countries...
...without cost for
those countries.
It is an indication
of the strength of the ideas...
...and it is an indication
of the social vocation...
...of the humanist vocation
the Cuban Revolution has.
We have a very efficient,
a system of solidarity...
...united to the
Cuban Revolution's development.
That's the main thing,
that's the sin they won't forgive.
They blockade us 'cause they
can't accept...
...that a little country, once
their fief, has become free.
Has challenged them.
They blockade Cuba because
Cuba is a symbol of light.
Cuba is the idea that you can
be a different, free country.
- A country with solidarity.
- Only those who...
...live this process
from within...
...can assess the real magnitude...
...of the amount of energy...
...that was needed so that
all this could be developed.
But we've given the people...
...a sense of dignity.
A national pride, with our
own culture and language...
...our own institutions, having
written our own Constitution.
This country was
an American colony...
...where American soldiers
took pictures of them urinating...
...on the statue
of Cuba's national hero.
Where the president was
appointed...
...by the US ambassador.
Where the American
transnational companies ruled...
...our country's economy.
We have flaws like
any human being.
But we have that feature that
nobody else could develop...
...and it is nothing
to be proud of.
Other peoples never had
the opportunity...
...to have to endure
a blockade during 45 years...
...the fall of a friend and then
10 years of special period.
You have to create,
to have to grow a lot...
...in order to survive.
When Fidel goes and explains,
people know he's not lying.
They know he has no secret
account in a foreign bank.
They know we don't steal
the state's money...
...or sell influence in order
to obtain material benefits.
In Cuba, people know that
when we have a power cut...
...power is cut off
in the ministers' homes too.
And they know our kids
don't go to special schools.
They know our kids
go to school...
...with the rest of the kids
in the neighborhood.
And they know that...
...without egalitarianism
that wouldn't make sense...
...but with great austerity,
the government, those of us...
...who have responsibilities,
work for the people.
And we don't consider
our posts a privilege...
...or a right,
but a responsibility...
...an opportunity to serve
our fellow citizens.
And we have moral authority.
That is our secret.
We can ask the people:
"Just one more effort...
...we can see the light
at the end of the tunnel".
All the peoples in the world
must be united...
...and shout, at the same time,
that we want peace.
Above all, we need peace.
If we live in peace, we can
get everything we want.
With a good deal of hope...
...if you want a nicer,
fairer word...
...with a great deal of dreams...
...putting all that together,
making all that a kind of...
...a big... How can I put it?
An acqua vita, water of life.
If we can get all
that to burn...
...in every one of us
will arise...
...the solution, or the possible
solution to that moment...
...and that circumstance.
The blockade is defeated with
the strength of the Revolution...
...and the world's solidarity.
I'm sure the blockade
will be lifted. If not us...
...our children, our grandchildren
will see their country developed...
...and free, without the blockade.
If we don't want this social
system, this government...
...it is our problem. We are
the ones who have to fight.
Whether to keep it
or to overthrow it.
But, in this case,
the American imperialism...
...arrogates to itself the right
of being the world's tutor.
"I put or take out
the government that suits me."
It is a historical reality.
Being different has a price.
And Cuba is paying it.
But it has a prize.
Many respect us
for our resistance.
If you don't fight you won't
get the things you want.
Besides, which system
do you want to impose on me?
Latin America hasn't made
any progress in 100 years.
There is more poverty,
underdevelopment, famine.
Children don't go to school,
they search dumps for food.
They polish shoes during
school time.
The model you want to impose
on me doesn't work.
The government has done...
...things almost impossible to
be done in order to move on.
But here we are.
With the blockade or without it,
we are moving forward.
We won't let them
oppress us or destroy us...
...for anything in the world.
Go Fidel!
Little by little
the peoples wake up.
And some day we'll achieve
independence and integration...
...in Latin America.
Sooner than later.
BLOCKADE
the war against Cuba
In memory of lbrahim Ferrer
To the Cuban people,
To the Cuban people,
for their resistance
blockade against Cuba.
We Cubans have to fight
a lot to survive.
They hinder us in every way.
It affects me 'cause a lot
of people are suffering.
I think it's something...
...unspeakable.
Very bad.
A lot of years.
A lot of abuse.
BLOCKADE
BLOCKADE
the war against Cuba
The blockade tears,
wounds...
...every activity...
...in Cubans' lives...
...and won't quit striking
for a minute.
The blockade is one
of the US war measures...
...against Cuba.
Just one.
One of the measures that
was established the fastest...
...over a period
of several years.
I think that the starting
point has to be...
...the aggressive policy
the US developed against Cuba...
...since the very moment the
Cuban Revolution succeeded...
...on January 1 st, 1959.
The Batista regime falls.
The night of December 31 st.,
though some had left before...
...the leaders
of that regime leave...
...carrying money with them.
The New York Times
published an editorial....
...where they admit that those
who ran away from Cuba...
...when the Batista regime fell...
...took with them...
...physically...
...the Cuban national
treasury's securities.
Have you seen a cent
of that money?
The US government neither
extradited those thieves...
...nor gave back a penny
of that money.
So, without doubt...
...the first and one
of the most serious blows...
...to the Cuban economy,
came from the US government.
I would say that...
...even before...
...the revolutionary power
was established in Cuba.
23: Guant?namo
Sugar Company.
24: United Fruit Company.
The blockade was a plan of
the Eisenhower administration...
...designed to overthrow
Fidel Castro in six weeks.
Definitively, it failed.
We have implemented
the appropriate measures...
...to resist and,
listen carefully...
...to repel any direct aggression
from the United States.
If they establish a blockade...
...they'll just make us
grow in stature...
...because our nation
can resist.
We will resist
any total blockade.
Over that same period,
the first blockade measures...
...started arising.
They began by cutting off
the oil supply.
The US government started
rejecting credit...
Then, they forbade
American refineries...
...to refine oil
that wasn't American.
They started reducing
the sugar quota.
Then they cut out the sale
of spare parts...
...to Cuban companies.
And it was an industrial system,
in the late '50s, early '60s...
...where technology in Cuba
had an American origin.
So there was a combination
in time...
...between the acts of sabotage
and the attacks...
...and the beginning of the
restrictive measures against us.
Over 70%
of the Cuban trade...
...depended on its trade with
the US.
Cuba sold the US more than
60% of its sugar.
So, within the war logic...
...it was a rationally thought
measure...
...intentionally aimed
at overthrowing a government.
An official from the State
Department, in an internal memo...
...describes what they are up to.
This is a memo that wasn't
made public at that time...
...in 1960. It was made public
in the eighties, the nineties...
...when it was declassified.
In that memo,
this official analyzes...
...what would those...
And we're not talking
about Torricelli or Helms-Burton.
We're talking about
the first steps.
It was a year before
the Playa Gir?n invasion.
It was a year before Fidel
announced the Revolution.
It said: "A vast majority
of Cubans support Castro".
The president was the
addressee of this document.
"There is no real
political opposition."
It admitted that the Cuban
Revolution had, as it has today...
...a huge popular support.
Otherwise, it would had fallen.
"The only foreseeable way
to alienate the internal support...
...is through disillusionment
and discouragement..."
We have to create
discouragement, disillusionment.
"...based on dissatisfaction
and economic problems.
We must promptly implement",
the undersecretry said...
"...any conceivable means...
...to weaken Cuba's
economic life.
Deny Cuba money and supplies...
...in order to decrease real
and monetary wages...
...so as to generate hunger,
despair...
...and the ovethrow
of the government.
From the beginning,
the policy's essence was...
...to strike the people,
to hurt the people...
...make them suffer...
...as a means of...
...fighting against
a revolutionary government.
We have to put pressure
on them, steam the boiler...
...until it blows out.
THE COMMERCIAL
RESTRICTIONS
The blockade prevents us
from exporting to the US.
Cuba can't sell anything
in the US.
Cuba could sell
in the US...
...50,000 tons of nickel
a year.
We could sell lobster
and sea products.
Biotechnological
and medicinal products.
We could sell tobacco.
In New York,
a smuggled Cuban cigar...
...costs fifty dollars.
Just one cigar.
We could sell rum,
we could sell software.
We could sell vaccines,
biotechnological products...
...but Cuba can't export
anything.
Actually, Cuba can trade
with the whole world.
The problem is that the whole
world can't trade with Cuba.
For instance,
we buy an Argentine product...
...and the letter of exchange
or whatever its name is...
...can't be in US dollars...
...'cause when it gets
to the bank it is confiscated...
...by the US government.
It has to be other currency.
Last year,
an important Swiss bank...
...the UBS Bank,
the Union Bank of Switzerland...
...was given a fine
of 100 million dollars...
...for accepting a transference
in dollars from Cuba.
Those kind of things
make it risky.
And Cuba has to be
very disciplined...
...when it comes to establishing
its trade.
Constantly, we have
to exchange our dollars...
...for other currencies.
We lose 50, 60 million dollars
a year...
...to exchange,
to exchange rates.
A company...
...cannot sell Cuba...
...a product, an equipment...
...if that product of a Canadian,
French, German...
...Japanese, Argentine company,
has more than a 10% ...
...of American components.
Cuba can't buy a Boeing
'cause it's an American plane.
But we can't buy an Airbus
either, eventhough it's European...
...because it has
American avionics.
The mission of every
American embassy is...
...to write to the companies
of those countries...
...that trade with Cuba...
...and warn them about the
sanctions they are liable to...
...and threaten them,
telling them...
...that in case of a Cuba without
socialism and without Fidel...
...they won't have their share.
Mercedez Benz,
the German company...
...or Mitsubishi, the Japanese one,
have to prove...
...to the US government, that
the car they try to export...
...to the US...
...has no Cuban nickel among
the metals it was built of.
US inspectors go to the
factories, review the contracts...
...investigate where you bought
the stainless steel...
...you used in this car.
An Australian company?
They go to Australia...
...and check if the Australian
company uses Cuban nickel.
And when they tell you
that you'II be sentenced...
...that you won't be able
to sell in the US...
...that your executives
and their children...
...won't be able to enter
the US, obviously...
...a CEO has to think twice
before making a decision.
So, the blockade
is an economic war.
It can't be seen as a bilateral
issue between Cuba and the US...
...serious enough as it would be.
The blockade is established...
...in an extraterritorial way.
That's why Cuba is out
of the IMF, the World Bank.
Orders were given to the staff
members of these institutions...
...that govern themselves by
the countries' participation rate...
...being the US's the highest,
forbidding them to aprove...
...funds or plans for Cuba.
Last year, the Interamerican
Development Bank...
...Ioaned in Latin America,
in concessionary conditions...
...9 billion dollars.
But they can't loan
a single dollar to Cuba.
It is absolutely forbidden.
It can't be questioned.
And, in fact, it isn't questioned.
If Cuba had received
just 1% of that money...
...it would had meant 90 millions.
We could do a lot with...
...that kind of money: Repair
hospitals, build roads...
...improve the access
to potable water.
So Cuba can only resort to
other instances...
...that mean
more expensive loans.
Per?n! Per?n!
Per?n! Per?n!
The blockade was broken off
for the first time...
...by Per?n's Argentina.
During the C?mpora
administration...
...important contracts are signed,
and bilateral relations...
...between Argentina and Cuba
are promoted.
President Per?n gave Cuba
loans, to buy in Argentina...
...in 1973.
Cuba tried to purchase
in Argentina...
...from American subsidiaries...
...such as Ford, Chevrolet,
General Motors and so on...
It was impossible. Nobody
could sell Cuba anything...
...much less
American subsidiaries.
Per?n said that he would
nationalize them...
...if they didn't sell to Cuba.
The US was forced
to make that exception.
And for the first time, and only
one, after the Revolution...
...we received cars
make Ford, make Chevrolet...
...Frigidaire cooling units...
...equipment manufactured
by Argentine workers...
...with Argentine raw material,
in Argentina.
That worked out
until the Torricelli Law.
Mr. Torricelli
put an end...
...to that trading with
the subsidiaries...
...Iocated abroad.
Those countries in which those
subsidiaries are settled...
...that accept that those
subsidiaries rule themselves...
...by American legislation...
...extraterritorially applied...
...what are they really doing?
They are giving up
sovereingty.
The Torricelli Law was one
aspect. The other one was...
...that they banned the ships
involved in the trade with Cuba...
...they banned those ships
from entering American harbors.
What is the effect on Cuba?
Shipping companies
won't send their ships to Cuba.
Recently, a container with
Cuban juice was shipped...
...to Japan...
...in a vessel,
and was totally confiscated...
...because the vessel
docked at a harbor...
...where it could
be confiscated.
We are now looking for ships
so that we can bring...
...to Cuba cattle on the hoof
from Canada.
And the ships in the region
refuse to do it.
The Helms-Burton Law, as
opposed to the Torricelli Law...
...is a law that was
wholly conceived...
...in connection with
the economic war against Cuba...
...and the overall war
against Cuba.
It is not a defense spending
law to which they added...
...a section about Cuba.
This law, from start to finish...
...is in connection with Cuba.
It tries to impose
the American law...
...on other countries' laws,
on the international law.
That's why every year,
since 1992...
...we submit a resolution
to the UN...
...called "The Need To End The
Trade, Finnancial And Economic...
...BIockade lmposed On Cuba
By The US."
It's a clear and precise vote.
A vote against the blockade.
In 1992, for the first time,
that resolution...
...got 59 votes in favor.
During the last fourteen years...
...the number of votes has been
systematically and continuously...
...increasing.
Last year, 179 countries out
of a total of 191 UN members...
...passed the resolution.
Excellencies, on behalf
of a little country beset...
...for wanting to be free,
I respectfully ask you to...
...once again, vote in favor
for the resolution...
...submitted by Cuba.
Thank you very much.
We will start the voting.
The assembly is voting
resolution number 959...
...L2 "The Need To End The
Trade, Finnancial And Economic...
...BIockade lmposed On Cuba
By The US".
Those who are in favor of the
aforementioned resolution...
...show it with your vote.
As well as those
who are against it...
Please check that your vote
is registered on the screen.
The voting has been completed.
The machine is locked.
"La Corona" Tobacco Factory
The resolutions passed
by the UN General Assembly...
...are recommendations.
They don't have
a mandatory nature.
And the UN don't have
the means to enforce...
...those resolutions.
And there is also
a political element...
...which is, saying it
in plain Spanish...
...that the US give a damn
about the United Nations.
It is a sign
of imperial arrogance...
...ignorance
of an international clamor...
...ignorance
of the international law.
The US only wants one United
Nations 100% subdued...
...to the US interests.
The more...
...Americans and the international
community reject the blockade...
...the harder... The Bush
administration...
...has clamped down on the
blockade like never before.
I think the blockade
is very unfair.
We can't receive medicines,
medical equipment...
We can't trade with other
countries, develop ourselves.
They shut us down.
We suffer it with the
electricity problem.
They cut it for hours.
Sure, they give priority
to food.
But what about the rest?
It also affects us, a pair
of shoes, clothes, whatever.
Do you think I like the
transportation?
It shouldn't be in this
condition. But we...
...can't buy a single part.
As long as the blockade exists,
there will be need, poverty.
It affects trade and it affects
our families.
Things like medicines,
that we need...
...and have to buy
through a third country.
Our social system is ready
to pay whatever it costs...
...in order to cure for free
and they won't sell us.
Obviously, it affects us.
Those who feel Cuban
will tell you.
That's the greatest crime
regarding all this...
Regarding this blockade...
...that has been carried out
against Cuba for so many years.
And it is choking
the baby in its cradle.
Like William Blake,
the English poet, said.
It is better
to choke a baby in its cradle...
...than kill a desire,
suppress a desire.
You can read it
the way round.
To suppress a desire, in this
case a desire for justice...
...a desire for freedom,
for community, for equality...
...is to kill a baby
in its cradle.
MORE RESTRICTIONS
The blockade prevents us from
receiving American tourists.
The blockade...
...in real terms, is violating
the US Constitution.
Because Americans
can't travel to Cuba.
The American who comes
to Cuba can be sentenced...
...to 10 years in jail and
given a fine of 250,000 dollars.
With 500 millions, we could
build 100,000 dwellings...
...a year.
One of our biggest problems
is the housing problem.
During the last 15 years
we couldn't build...
...the homes we needed. We have
to build 100,000 homes a year...
...over a period of 10 years...
...20,000 of them in the city,
so as to face the problem.
It would cost us 500 millions,
but we don't have the money.
However, 5 million
American tourists...
...would mean
12 billion dollars gross...
...and a profit of, at least,
4 or 5 billions.
10 times what we need to build
100,000 homes in one year.
Part of the tourism that came
from the US were Cubans...
...who lived there.
But now a family won't risk...
...getting a fine
or a sentence...
...for violating what
the US government established.
Before...
...due to Clinton's kindness,
you could visit your family...
...once a year. With Bush,
once every three years...
...provided they give them
permission.
So, now your right has
been reduced...
...to asking permission
once every three years...
...to visit, not any relative
of yours...
...but the family
as was redefined by Bush.
It is an attack on
the Cuban family...
...by a government that calls
itself a defender...
...of the Cuban family.
- So, the blockade...
...is the main obstacle
to Cubans' well-being.
The blockade...
...affects medicine
in many ways.
For instance, when
it comes to certain medicines...
...produced only
in the US...
...we must buy them to third
countries and pay a lot more...
...for them.
In the case of...
...infectious diseases, when
a new antibiotic is launched...
...or a product to combat
a vector...
...we cannot get it.
I know cases where people
were really desperate...
...because they couldn't get
medicines to save...
...their loved ones.
I've seen a lot of rage...
...desperation, a lot of
suffering in the people.
A patient needs a medicine
we have to buy abroad...
...but we can't buy it because
it is an American product.
That patient is affected.
For instance, you want to buy
some equipment in Japan.
If it has American components,
you can't buy it.
We bought medical equipment
from a Canadian company...
...that was purchased
by an American company.
And now they won't sell us
parts to avoid being fined...
...by the US government.
They tried to deprive us...
...of the influence
of the universal culture schools.
The blockade
systematically forbids...
...due to different
regulations throughout time...
...the exchange
of American students...
...and Cuban students.
And it forbids the exchange
of professors from...
...the USA
and Cuban professors.
It harms the Americans, 'cause
Cuba has interesting outcomes...
...and each day is harder for
them to come to conferences.
For instance, the achievements
in our...
...biotechnological
or genetic engineering...
...research centers.
The latest achievements.
They even tried...
...to prevent Cuban papers
from being published...
...in American magazines.
They tried.
But the American publishing
companies rebelled...
...against that measure
and they had to overturn it.
You are absolutely banned...
...from entering the US...
...because you are
considered...
I am like an image...
...because I represent
danger to...
...to... How was it?
To...
To the US.
It can't be possible.
Because I just sing.
My weapon,
my weapon is singing.
My mouth. I don't...
My hands are clean.
Automatically clean. I have
nothing to do with guns.
Now, if you think...
...that I can kill with
my voice, then it's okay.
But I think the opposite.
TRUTHS AND LIES
We don't want the press
to defend us.
We want the press
to tell the truth...
...so that people can draw
their own conclusions.
The weight of the media
manipulation is huge.
When an Argentine
goes to the US...
...they say "he emigrates".
Or a Mexican emigrates.
When a Cuban goes to the US
they say "he runs away".
When they all have
the same reasons to go.
You arrive in Cuba
somehow fearfully...
...because you hear
so many things...
...that definitely
are not true.
Bush invested 59 millions
in that.
They manage to get important
papers, international press...
...to publish articles against
Cuba. They give money to...
...Reporters Without
Frontiers.
In fact, those 59 millions
they gave...
...those groups this year,
is a lot more...
...than the money we have
to implement projects...
...that benefit
millions of Cubans.
Paid articles in important
papers, TV shows...
...events against Cuba like the
one held in the Czech Republic.
Sometimes, when we go back
to our countries...
...we find ourselves
more open-minded.
And when you talk about Cuba,
many people say...
"Hey, they changed you way
of thinking.
What are they telling you
about Cuba?"
But they should have to be
here to see what's going on.
We need objective information...
...and range regarding this issue.
The American press...
...avoids telling this reality.
And in spite of the injustice
and, as my mate said...
...in spite of the blockade
against Cuba...
...it is remarkable to see
how this people got through it.
It is a very interesting thing
and everyone who arrives here...
...realizes what the reality is
in no time.
I've met with American
senators, congresspersons...
...that came to Cuba...
People that supported their
policy but accepted to come.
And many times,
almost always...
...we talked more or less
in these terms.
I ask them:
"Why the blockade?
Why are you trying
to starve us to death?
Why don't you recognize
our rights?"
They say: "We blockade you
'cause you are not democratic".
First of all,
that's nonsense. It is a lie.
It isn't a serious argument.
Everybody knows...
...that the US has had
and has excellent relations...
...with countries that have
governments...
...that they don't describe
as democratic themselves.
"What is it that you don't like
of the Cuban model?"
"The fact that you have
only one party.
And we think that democracy
means more than one party."
There is a long list
of countries...
...whose systems are not a
bit alike the Occidental system...
...they impose
as the paradigm.
"How many parties are there
in China? One, like in Cuba.
And you maintain relations,
trade with them."
"But China is a big market."
The list is very long.
And the US...
...has excellent relations
with those countries.
"Take Saudi Arabia.
You criticize Cuba...
...and in Saudi Arabia
there are no parties.
And in Saudi Arabia women are
not allowed to drive in public."
"Well, but they have oil",
they tell me.
And, above all,
economic relations.
A country's foreign policy can't
be based only on interests.
It has to be based on principles.
"That's the difference between
you and us. You need ethics."
They've never asked about
a country's organization...
...when they appropriate
this country's mines, oil...
...or whatever they want.
"You can't say that you want
democracy in Cuba...
...because, among other things,
you aren't a democratic model."
A country in which you need
9 millions to be elected senator...
...and over 100 millions to be
president is not a democracy.
The American system
is for fools.
It is a corrupt system, does not
represent the will of the people.
Many think the president
stole the election twice.
We don't accept their model.
We demand the right to have...
...our model, our way
to govern our country.
Here I had a cute experience
that taught me a lesson.
I have a Cuban daughter and
more than 5 years living here...
...so I had the chance
to vote.
You go to...
...the polling station and you
find the candidates' biography.
Just a page where you can
read what he has done.
You went there and voted,
discussed why to vote...
...for one and not
for the other.
But you don't see them
walking along the street...
...or offering things.
No, not at all.
Our delegate works hard
for the neighborhood...
...but he doesn't quit his job.
After work...
...he sees you in some place
where you can talk...
...or he goes to your home.
He tries to keep
everything organized.
If you were an American
journalist, you'd had already...
...asked the question.
Because they repeat it a lot.
"Many people think you are
happy with the blockade.
That you don't want it
to be lifted."
They say: "Cuban excuse.
Cuba has problems
due to a bad administration."
I tell them: "If it is an excuse,
leave us without it.
Lift the blockade,
and prove us wrong."
"Let's do something.
Lift it just for a while.
A year without the blockade.
And we'II see who wins."
COUNTERREVOLUTION
An unusual thing regarding
American policy towards Cuba...
...is that the US policy
towards Cuba, for many years...
...wasn't based on
the US national interests.
If the US formulated
a policy towards Cuba...
...well, undoubtedly...
...they would encourage trade,
relations with Cuba.
One of the main features
of the American administrations...
...is their pragmatism.
And they follow
this philosophy of...
..."if you can't beat them,
make friends with them".
In the Cuban case, they've done
it all the way around.
They weren't able
to beat us but...
...they can't be our friends.
We offered the US government
to cooperate in the fight...
...against drugs,
or terrorism.
Or to prevent illegal migration.
And they turned us down...
...eventhough this is good
for them...
...because they fear the reaction
of the radical groups in Miami.
That reactionary
emigration...
...that lives on the business
of the policy against Cuba...
...has been the big loser
for 45, 46 years.
They've always lost.
Though they have...
...hundreds of millions of dollars,
they've always lost.
It happens that the policy
towards Cuba was kidnapped...
...by these Cuban
terrorist groups...
...radical groups organized
in the US.
They are no more than 20, 30
Cuban families...
...but they are those
who have the money.
They don't represent
most Cubans' interests...
...who have emigrated
due to economic reasons.
They are the former batistianos,
the former owners...
...the former exploiters and
torturers that have...
...great influence there.
We must remember that
the US president's brother...
...is the governor of Florida.
And among other things...
...his strength lies
in a very close relation...
...with the most
reactionary sector...
...of the Cuban emigration.
They fund campaigns,
for instance...
...out of 40 republican
representatives...
...elected last November...
...26 have received money
from the ultraconservative...
...Cuban lobbies in Miami.
Paying debts...
...the government contracted
with that...
...so reactionary sector
of the Cuban emigration...
...that lives on the
counterrevolution business.
These are those behind
the drafting...
...of Bush's plan for Cuba.
That is...
...according to what its
preface states...
...like a body of measures
to take...
...seeking protection
in the Helms-Burton law...
...to achieve that law's
goals.
Its goals are
to subvert Cuba...
...destroy the revolution
and then annex Cuba.
The law clearly states...
...that its goal is to put an
end to the Cuban Revolution.
Bush said: "We're not waiting
for Fidel to go.
We're working
to overthrow him."
After the revolution there
would be a "transitional period".
And then, what they call
a "democratic stage".
And it defines, in writing,
it is stated in the law...
...requirements...
...analyzing which the US
government must evaluate...
...if the Castro regime has
ended, if there is a transition...
...or a democracy.
The first one,
the most important one, is...
...the one related to
the properties...
...that were nationalized
in Cuba...
...at the beginning
of the Revolution.
After defeating the Revolution,
the US will appoint in Cuba...
...a governor, for Cuba...
...and turn Cuba into
a US province.
Dismantle the whole country.
Take cooperatives away
from the peasants.
Take farms away from
over 100,000 peasants...
...that were given lands
because of the agrarian reform.
Bush said: "Our policy towards
Cuba is the regime change".
Free education, health,
would disappear.
It is stated
in Bush's plan.
This violates de UN charter,
violates the international law.
A government doesn't have
the right to change...
...other country's authorities.
THE TERROR
The strategy...
...of the successive
US governments against Cuba...
...has not excluded...
...any kind of aggression.
The truth is that...
...successive American
administrations...
...have encouraged terrorism
against Cuba.
Acts of sabotage, burning
of sugar-cane plantations...
...sabotage against
economic facilities...
...as a vehicle that the
US government, at that time...
...it was still the Dwight
Eisenhower administration...
...used to try to destabilize...
...the infant Cuban
revolutionary process.
We had to resist
military attacks.
ATTACK ON PLAYA GIR?N
(Bah?a de Cochinos)
MASS INVADERS SURRENDER
Cuba is within minutes...
...of the American Air Force
action...
...their rockets,
their military units.
From the US,
gunboats arrived...
...that fired at civilian
towns in Cuba.
We had to endure
the dirty war.
The organization
by the CIA...
...of armed gangs
that operated in Cuba...
...between 1969 and 1967,
when they were defeated.
Thousands of armed men...
...who killed peasants...
...and young people who were
teaching to read and write...
...in the mountains
and rural areas.
Students, almost children.
At that moment the biggest
CIA station ever was created.
It was based in Miami.
There, thousands of Cuban
were trained...
...in sabotage
and demolition techniques.
There was an attempt to kill
Che with a bazooka...
...when he took part at the
UN General Assembly...
...on December, 1964.
Another aspect, near in time...
...is the support,
the funding...
...the supply and encouragment
given, from the US territory...
...to terrorist groups...
...in the US or abroad,
so that they act against Cuba.
Murderous hands place bombs
at the nationalized El Encanto...
... where thousands of Cuban
families earn their living.
In downtown Havana...
... jeopardizing numerous
Cuban homes...
... they cause a massive fire.
They don't care about the lives
of children, women, old people.
With these barbaric deeds,
the Yankee imperialism...
... hopes to destroy
our national riches...
... stop production
and promote shortage.
The blowing-up of the ship
LaCoubre where more...
...than 100 people died, including
French and Belgian sailors.
SABOTAGE ON THE LACOUBRE
Havana, 1960
Cuba, for sovereignty.
The US, for intervention.
Cuba, for culture.
The US, for ignorance.
Cuba, for the murdered
teachers.
The US, for the murderers.
There are crimes
that were committed...
...beyond our national frontiers.
Many, in the US.
My brother Eulalio
emigrated to the US...
...around 1961, 1962,
like many Cubans.
We was a member
of the Committee of the 75...
...a group of 75 Cubans,
one of the first to visit...
...our country, to promote
a rapprochement...
...and family reunion...
...and a fight for support
in the US against the blockade.
First he was threatened
and finally murdered...
...on November 25, 1979...
...by Omega 7.
They designed more than 600
plans to kill Fidel.
There were biological wars,
biological aggressions...
...epidemics introduced that
affected plants and animals.
The dengue fever epidemic
introduced as a lab virus.
In less than three years...
...five serious plagues and
epidemics ravaged our catlle...
...our plantations
and, what is even worse...
...our population.
Hog cholera...
...blue mold of tobacco...
...sugarcane plant rot...
...dengue hemorrhagic fever...
...and hemorrhagic conjunctivitis...
...have caused important
material and human damage.
In 1981...
...is introduced in Cuba,
in an artificial way...
...the dengue 2.
This dengue 2...
...shows up, at the same time...
...in 3 different spots, 300 Km.
Distant from each other.
And an epidemic of dengue
hemorrhagic is unleashed...
...out of context, given the
fact that in America's history...
...only 60 cases of the disease
had been reported...
...and in the Cuban epidemic
10,000 cases were reported.
Out of 158 dead,
101 were children.
The economic cost ran to
103 million dollars in 4 months.
But we got the epidemic
under control.
In the nineties starts...
...a plot designed to...
...destroy the, at that time,
increasing tourism in Cuba.
How?
Blowing up hotels.
When I notice that
there was nobody left...
...I stood up...
...and went to...
...to place the explosive.
I acted like I was asking
something...
...in case somebody
was watching.
And I waited to see
if the bartender came.
He wasn't here and
I had already opened the bag...
...with the explosive,
so I just looked everywhere...
...and surreptitiously took the
explosive and slipped it here.
I slipped it here
and turned it like this.
It is not only to put an end
to the Cuban Revolution...
...by causing desperation and
famine to the Cuban people...
...but also by killing
innocent people.
Thousands of Cuban families
have lost a relative.
More than 3,000 Cubans have
died in terrorist attacks...
...over these years.
It is called
international terrorism.
It existed and it exists.
It sprang from
the sponsorship...
...of certain
American sectors...
...in which the Bush family
occupies a privileged position.
In September, 1998...
...five companions
are arrested.
Their main mission in life
was, precisely...
...to send to Cuba that
information, those data...
...that would had helped...
...frustrate those
terrorist acts.
The American government
knows that they exist...
...because Cuba has handed
detailed information...
...regarding names, places,
what do they organize.
However, they've never done
anything to protect us.
They ignore it.
The United States lies...
...when they talk about
a supposed fight...
...against terrorism.
The US government broadcasts...
...radio stations
and TV channels of the US...
...from Air Force planes...
...trying to wipe out
Cuban stations...
...violating our radio space.
The so-called Mart? Radio
and the Mart? TV.
Those abominations.
You try to listen
to the Cuban radio station...
...and you listen to a US
broadcast where they give you...
...practical tips about
how to burn down your factory...
...without being caught.
Where they encourage violence,
where they encourage murder.
Where they tell people,
continuously...
"The Cuban problem will
be solved by killing Fidel".
See? Media terrorism.
SPECIAL PERIOD
If the Cuban people deserves
credit for anything at all...
...it is for its feat
of the last 15 years.
Because during the first
30 years of the Revolution...
...we had the blockade but
also relations with the USSR...
...the socialist countries.
They bought our products...
They sold us what the US
denied us. They gave us credit...
...let us gain access to
technologies, maybe outdated...
...fuel consuming, but it was
the only resource we had...
...and thus we could develop
our country.
But it is interesting that,
in 1990...
...when the USSR disappears...
...when the socialist field
disappears...
...in which we could trade
and protect ourselves...
...and we were left alone,
overnight...
...Iosing the partners with which
we had 85% of our trade...
...at that moment we proved
that this was a real revolution...
...with popular support.
And in a matter of hours...
...this country fell into
a very difficult situation...
...that we call
"special period".
Between 1989 and 1993...
...in four years,
Cuba's GDP dropped 35% .
In Argentina, during the years of
the crisis, it just dropped 22% .
The real effect
was a second blockade.
All of a sudden,
the markets fall...
...we lose all supplies provided
by that part of the world.
Cuban imports dropped from
8,5 billions in 1989...
...to 1,5 billions.
Agriculture was brought
to a halt, due to lack of fuel...
...fertilizers, spare parts
for the farm machinery.
The industry was paralized.
We had to look for
new markets...
...where to sell our sugar,
our citrus products.
All that under the blockade,
hardened by the minute.
Then the Torricelli
law came...
...to deliver
the coup de gr?ce.
The Cubans' daily caloric
ingestion...
...dropped from 3,000 calories
a day to 1,900.
According to the WHO...
...it can't be less than
2,400 kilocalories a day.
You can imagine the restriction.
However, during those years...
...when we were starving,
when we didn't have 500...
...of the 800 hundred
medicines used in Cuba...
We had no raw materials
to produce them...
...transportation was paralized.
There were no cars on the
streets. One million bikes...
...a day, riding along the city.
20 hours a day
without electricity.
We were left, as we put it,
hanging on to the brush.
They took the stairs away.
And we didn't fall.
Because of the social model...
...that in such a situation,
didn't go like...
"Every man for himself...
...let the strongest
or the richest survive".
We said: "We have little food
so let's give priority...
...to pregnant women,
to newborn children...
...to old people
who live alone".
We didn't say: "Let's privatize
the services and those...
...who have money will pay
for them, and those who haven't...
...will have to realize
they have no rights".
We had to get back
on our feet...
...to better ourselves,
to be able to...
...be more creative,
to try harder.
We said: "We won't close
our schools...
...eventhough we don't have
books, eventhough we have...
...to sew those books
from year to year".
Families lent each other
their children's uniforms.
We shared the little we had,
solidarity between neighbors.
The State didn't abandon
anybody to his fate.
And today, anybody that looks
objectively...
...at the Cuban situation...
...must realize that today,
the situation...
...beyond the difficulties
that you must have seen...
...is better than the situation
we were in...
...when what we call
the special period started.
We developed tourism,
accepted foreign investments...
...we developed new areas
in our production...
...we started producing
our own fuel.
And step by step we managed
to get through it.
RESURGENCE
After the socialist field fell,
Cuba had to change radically.
It had to make deep changes
in its economy...
...to steer its
economy in a different way.
It had to think in other
productive sectors too.
The situation has evolved
thanks to wisdom, effort...
...thanks to a very
consistent policy.
Above all, thanks to
our people's effort.
Today, our country has a lot
of strength, doubtlessly...
...in certain sectors that
didn't exist 15 years ago.
Cuban public health, in spite of
the economic problems...
...in spite of the blockade,
achieved relevant, competitive...
...outcomes regarding
first world countries.
Cuba had to make
an extraordinary effort...
...so as to, for instance,
increase life expectancy.
A Cuban's life expectancy
already exceeds 75 years.
This year, the tuberculosis rate
was 6.8.
6.8 per 100,000.
And now we are set out
to eliminate TB in Cuba...
...when in developed countries
it is increasing.
An infant mortality rate
of 5.4 every 1000 born alive.
It is one of the lowest
in the world.
Today, when you analize
Cuban health indicators...
...all of them are way
above the region's ones...
...and on a par with
developed countries.
We have a biotechnological
and pharmaceutical sector...
...that transfers and sells
technology even to American...
...companies. An American
company, CancerVax...
...based on Texas...
...was allowed by the Department
of the Treasury to buy...
...Cuban technology to develop
a vaccine against cancer.
Cuba is the only country that
underwent such a crisis...
...without harming
its social indicators.
The same happened
regarding education.
We had to make a tremendous
effort to develop...
...a real universal and free
education system.
The artistic teaching system
in Cuba...
...is an example to Latin America.
Around the world,
few institutions...
...related to artistic teaching...
...have in just one building...
...as the Instituto Superior
de Arte has...
...every artistic expression.
We must remember that
over 40,000 young people...
...from 120 countries, graduated
from Cuban universities.
30,000 of them, Africans.
Now we have in Cuba over
16,000 students on grants.
There are 25 students
per classroom, max.
Every student
is guaranteed his microscope.
Those personal classes
are not only for foreigners.
Cuban students are treated the
same, in spite of the blockade...
...and that's remarkable.
We offered them to study here.
Their families are poor.
They belong to 80 different
Latin American ethnic groups.
Out of 16,000 young people...
...more than 10,000
study Medicine.
1,500 will graduate in Medicine,
in our country this year.
We have Cuban doctors
working in 68 countries...
...without cost for
those countries.
It is an indication
of the strength of the ideas...
...and it is an indication
of the social vocation...
...of the humanist vocation
the Cuban Revolution has.
We have a very efficient,
a system of solidarity...
...united to the
Cuban Revolution's development.
That's the main thing,
that's the sin they won't forgive.
They blockade us 'cause they
can't accept...
...that a little country, once
their fief, has become free.
Has challenged them.
They blockade Cuba because
Cuba is a symbol of light.
Cuba is the idea that you can
be a different, free country.
- A country with solidarity.
- Only those who...
...live this process
from within...
...can assess the real magnitude...
...of the amount of energy...
...that was needed so that
all this could be developed.
But we've given the people...
...a sense of dignity.
A national pride, with our
own culture and language...
...our own institutions, having
written our own Constitution.
This country was
an American colony...
...where American soldiers
took pictures of them urinating...
...on the statue
of Cuba's national hero.
Where the president was
appointed...
...by the US ambassador.
Where the American
transnational companies ruled...
...our country's economy.
We have flaws like
any human being.
But we have that feature that
nobody else could develop...
...and it is nothing
to be proud of.
Other peoples never had
the opportunity...
...to have to endure
a blockade during 45 years...
...the fall of a friend and then
10 years of special period.
You have to create,
to have to grow a lot...
...in order to survive.
When Fidel goes and explains,
people know he's not lying.
They know he has no secret
account in a foreign bank.
They know we don't steal
the state's money...
...or sell influence in order
to obtain material benefits.
In Cuba, people know that
when we have a power cut...
...power is cut off
in the ministers' homes too.
And they know our kids
don't go to special schools.
They know our kids
go to school...
...with the rest of the kids
in the neighborhood.
And they know that...
...without egalitarianism
that wouldn't make sense...
...but with great austerity,
the government, those of us...
...who have responsibilities,
work for the people.
And we don't consider
our posts a privilege...
...or a right,
but a responsibility...
...an opportunity to serve
our fellow citizens.
And we have moral authority.
That is our secret.
We can ask the people:
"Just one more effort...
...we can see the light
at the end of the tunnel".
All the peoples in the world
must be united...
...and shout, at the same time,
that we want peace.
Above all, we need peace.
If we live in peace, we can
get everything we want.
With a good deal of hope...
...if you want a nicer,
fairer word...
...with a great deal of dreams...
...putting all that together,
making all that a kind of...
...a big... How can I put it?
An acqua vita, water of life.
If we can get all
that to burn...
...in every one of us
will arise...
...the solution, or the possible
solution to that moment...
...and that circumstance.
The blockade is defeated with
the strength of the Revolution...
...and the world's solidarity.
I'm sure the blockade
will be lifted. If not us...
...our children, our grandchildren
will see their country developed...
...and free, without the blockade.
If we don't want this social
system, this government...
...it is our problem. We are
the ones who have to fight.
Whether to keep it
or to overthrow it.
But, in this case,
the American imperialism...
...arrogates to itself the right
of being the world's tutor.
"I put or take out
the government that suits me."
It is a historical reality.
Being different has a price.
And Cuba is paying it.
But it has a prize.
Many respect us
for our resistance.
If you don't fight you won't
get the things you want.
Besides, which system
do you want to impose on me?
Latin America hasn't made
any progress in 100 years.
There is more poverty,
underdevelopment, famine.
Children don't go to school,
they search dumps for food.
They polish shoes during
school time.
The model you want to impose
on me doesn't work.
The government has done...
...things almost impossible to
be done in order to move on.
But here we are.
With the blockade or without it,
we are moving forward.
We won't let them
oppress us or destroy us...
...for anything in the world.
Go Fidel!
Little by little
the peoples wake up.
And some day we'll achieve
independence and integration...
...in Latin America.
Sooner than later.
BLOCKADE
the war against Cuba
In memory of lbrahim Ferrer
To the Cuban people,
To the Cuban people,
for their resistance