PARTICIPATION OF CUBA IN THE VI SUMMIT OF THE CITY OF LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN STATES (CELAC) IN MEXICO CITY ON SEPTEMBER 18, 2021.

MARCELO EBRARD CASAUBON: Thank you, Mr. President.

It is the turn of the President of the Republic of Cuba, President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

MIGUEL DÍAZ-CANEL BERMÚDEZ, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA: Dear President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, esteemed Heads of State and Government of Latin America and the Caribbean, distinguished heads of delegations and guests, all friends.

Thanks brothers. My first words at this historic summit can only be of deep gratitude to the Mexican people, and in a special way to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for his close friendship and solidarity with Cuba.

Likewise, to the governments and peoples represented here who have expressed their support for us and immediately understood the nature of the opportunistic campaign of discredit, financed with US federal funds, which still seeks to threaten the stability, integrity and sovereignty of my country. I reaffirm here that the Cuban people and government will defend the socialist state of law and social justice with everyone and for the good of all, as José Martí wanted.

I also take this opportunity to acknowledge your support for the lifting of the illegal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba, deliberately and opportunistically exacerbated in pandemic conditions, despite being condemned for decades by the overwhelming majority of the community. international.

This criminal and immoral policy is a massive, evident and systematic violation of the human rights of the Cuban people, imposed on us by the same US government, which threatens, attacks and applies unilateral coercive measures against countries in our region.

Its interventionism and the emphatic imperial pretensions to relaunch the Monroe Doctrine to prevent the sovereign development of our nation is another flagrant violation of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and the postulates of the proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace.

Faced with the growing attempts to divide us, it is urgent to promote solidarity and cooperation to consolidate our strengths, unity in diversity, concept and purpose for which our army general Raúl Castro Ruz worked tirelessly in the still close, but already historic days in that Celac was founded in this endearing land.

Bearing the weight of economic hardship and the enormous limitations imposed on us, Cuba has managed to move forward by demonstrating the solidity of its public health system and the ability to continue cooperating with other countries.

We are proud to have managed to produce three vaccines and two vaccine candidates in recent months as a result of the dedication of our scientists and the robust system of science and technological innovation created and promoted by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz. Consider these successes as we do: a Latin American and Caribbean conquest.

Today we want to reiterate here the will to work within the framework of Celac in agreements for the supply and production of vaccines for interested countries as a modest contribution to the objective of achieving early universal immunization in the region.

Distinguished colleagues:

The Unity Summit, held in this beautiful land in 2010, materialized the hopes for genuinely Latin American and Caribbean integration of our heroes.

The founding of Celac vindicated more than two centuries of struggles and hopes, and constituted a moment in the history of our America. Fidel would classify it as the most transcendent institutional event in the hemisphere in the last century. A decade later, we continue to build and consolidate it with the aim of recovering from the devastating effects of a pandemic that has exacerbated the multidimensional crisis that already affected the world, reducing the huge gaps that make us the most unequal region on the planet, and advancing in the welfare of our peoples.

We support the respectful dialogue without external interference carried out by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Mexico and we denounce the unjust punitive regime to which its people are subjected due to imperial pretensions.

We condemn the sanctions imposed against the Republic of Nicaragua and the interference in the internal affairs of that sister nation.

We ratify the right of the brother countries of the Caribbean to receive fair, special and differential treatment, and we accompany their claim for reparation for the damages of colonialism and slavery.

A special effort is demanded today by the people of Haiti, who so need our solidarity.

Cuba maintains its commitment in the search for peace in Colombia.

We reiterate our unrestricted support for Argentina in its demand for sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

And we reaffirm the unequivocal commitment to self-determination and independence of the brotherly people of Puerto Rico.

Distinguished colleagues.

It is urgent to revitalize Celac to move towards an inclusive and fair recovery that strengthens us as a region and contributes to the well-being of our nations. It is urgent to strengthen this unique mechanism that allows us to dialogue as a group of nations with similar needs and interests. Let's not miss the opportunity to continue making history.

Thank you.

TRANSCRIPT OF Francisco Javier Chaín Revuelta