The Cuban statement to the Extraordinary Teleconference of the International Meeting of the Communist and Workers Parties.
The Extraordinary Teleconference of the International Meeting of the Communist and Workers Parties (IMCWP) was held this past weekend (December 10-12). The IMCWP is an annual meeting of Communist and Workers' parties that began in 1998 at the imitative of the Communist Party of Greece. Last year it was cancelled due to the pandemic. This year it was held online.
The "teleconference, co-organised by the Communist Party of Greece and the Communist Party of Turkey, brought together representatives of 73 communist and workers' parties from 57 countries around the world."
One of the themes of this year's meeting was solidarity with Cuba which continues to face ongoing imperialist provocation and blockade.
Here we share a lengthy excerpt from the statement made by the Communist Party of Cuba. We have translated it from the Spanish.
Over the coming days we will be sharing excerpts from other statements as well.
Excerpt:
Dear comrades
For Cuba, the challenge is even greater. No other underdeveloped nation bears a more than 60-year-old economic, commercial and financial blockade, intensified by the 243 measures adopted by the Trump administration, and which remain intact by President Joe Biden.
Its cumulative cost to the economy, taking into account the depreciation of the dollar, exceeds the figure of 1 trillion 327 million dollars. Between April 2019 and December 2020 alone, losses exceeded $9 billion. In human terms, its cost is incalculable. It is doubly cruel in times of pandemic.
The combined effects of the tightening of the blockade and the impact of the pandemic caused the country to stop receiving more than 3 billion dollars in revenue in this period.
At the same time, we face an unconventional war, funded and directed by the U.S. government. Through the development of media and subversive campaigns, they try to sow hatred and confrontation, discredit the achievements of the Revolution, generate discontent in our people, provoke unrest and internal instability, with the deliberate purpose of reversing the Cuban political system, the result of more than 150 years of struggle to achieve and preserve our national independence and sovereignty.
In the face of these aggressions, our people have given a dignified and firm response, at the height of the great values and principles that we defend. As the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, comrade Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, put it: "We are challenged to be exceptional in our ability to resist and create."
In the face of every problem and threat, the Cuban Revolution poses forceful and timely responses.
The successful control of the pandemic, with our own vaccines and medical protocols, have been another victory of the Revolution, which has allowed us to have more than 82% of the Cuban population already fully vaccinated. By the end of this year, all Cubans will have been immunized. This result is due to the outstanding work of the scientific community, a health system based on its people and a recognized biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, a legacy of the undefeated Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz.
These results have allowed us to move towards a new normal, with the restart of the school year, with our children immunized; the reopening of borders; the progressive revival of economic activities, and the stimulation of food production and the greater interaction between all economic sectors, which will put us in a better position to confront current and future challenges.
We carry out all these tasks without departing from our principles of international solidarity. Cuban doctors, organized in 57 brigades, fought Covid-19 in 40 countries and territories. Cuba reiterates its readiness to continue cooperating to address complex epidemiological situations.
Only international cooperation and solidarity will save humanity from this unprecedented crisis in history.
Dear comrades,
The Communist Party of Cuba celebrated its 8th. Congress last April, at which was outlined a set of "Ideas, Concepts and Guidelines" that constitute the current work guide of our generation.
The Congress ratified that the defense of the Revolution, independence, sovereignty, national unity and Socialism is a priority; while continuing to vigorously denounce the U.S. government's hostile policy against the Cuban people; in particular the economic, commercial and financial blockade, which constitutes the main obstacle to the development of our country.
We thank the friendly parties, political organizations and the solidarity movement for their support and support for the Cuban Revolution in the face of imperialist aggressions. We give special thanks to the parties participating in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties for their constant expressions of solidarity with our heroic people.
It is in the interest of the Communist Party of Cuba to continue to strengthen friendship, solidarity, cooperation and political trust between our parties.
The International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties must be consolidated as a space for concertation, for the construction of unity, for solidarity with the just causes of struggle of the peoples, and for cooperation between our parties, which share a common horizon; the overcoming of capitalism by a society of justice and equality, which is only possible in socialism.
For the Communist Party of Cuba, it is a priority to advance in the process of strengthening the Sao Paulo Forum, as a space for concertation, consensus and unity of action of progressive and leftist forces in Latin America and the Caribbean, in the anti-imperialist struggle, against the neoliberal restorative offensive, and for the defense of Peace among our countries and peoples.
Comrades
We reaffirm that Cuba will continue, with a firm step, the construction of a sovereign, independent, socialist, prosperous and sustainable nation.
There will be no blockades, no imperial pressures to change our firm determination...
Homeland or Death, Socialism or Death, We Will Win!
Until victory, Always
Translated from the Spanish.