Compatriots:
The Fourth Ordinary Period of Sessions of the National Assembly of People's Power of the Republic of Cuba, in its 10th Legislature, begins at a time when our people are facing, at a very high cost, the consequences of the unprecedented tightening of the cruel and inhuman blockade of the United States Government against Cuba, and its policy of maximum pressure and economic asphyxiation.
Over the course of this past year, the US government has not only maintained the laws and provisions related to the blockade against Cuba and the traditional practices for its implementation, but its actions have been aimed at identifying and pursuing, in a surgical manner and by means of a perfected coercive design, the main sources of income of the Cuban economy, in addition to the application of the provisions of the so-called Helms-Burton Act, including those stipulating its extraterritorial scope.
The declared and historical objective continues to be the same, to depress the economy and wages, to generate material shortages and damage to public services, to provoke dissatisfaction and despair in the population, to generate discouragement and hopelessness, with the ignoble purpose of subverting and subverting the constitutional order legitimately established by the Cuban people in the exercise of their right to self-determination.
Among the most severe measures are the permanence of Cuba on the unilateral and arbitrary list of the U.S. Department of State of countries allegedly sponsoring terrorism; the possibility of taking action in U.S. courts to file lawsuits under Title II of the U.S. Constitution; and the possibility of filing a lawsuit in U.S. courts against Cuba under Title II of the U.S. Constitution. The continued existence of sanctions or threats of sanctions against shipping companies, carriers, insurers or reinsurers involved in the supply of fuel to Cuba; the intense and meticulous persecution of Cuban financial transactions and the consequent obstacles to the supply of basic resources for the population and the functioning of the economy; the defamatory campaigns against the solidarity cooperation that Cuba offers, particularly in the area of health; as well as the continuity of other unilateral lists, which entail the application of coercive measures against our country.
The U.S. government is sustaining this true economic warfare with methods of unconventional warfare and systematic disinformation operations that seek to hold the Cuban government responsible for the consequences and the damage caused by the blockade itself, which is a dishonest and extremely cynical act coming from the same government that is applying a policy of premeditated asphyxiation of the Cuban economy.
The world knows what they were capable of doing against Cuba between 2019 and January 2021, generating unprecedented shortages and an increase in emigration that damages the Cuban family. Those who do not recognize the economic, commercial and financial blockade and all its web of unilateral coercive measures as the main obstacle to Cuba's economic and social development are absolutely untruthful. No country in the world, even with economies much more prosperous and robust than Cuba's, could face such a ruthless, asymmetric and prolonged aggression, without a considerable cost for the standard of living of its population, its stability and social justice, which we will never renounce in spite of the blockade.
Our people, the main victims of this policy, are well aware of the intentions of successive U.S. governments with respect to Cuba. However, at the price of great sacrifices, they have been able to resist and overcome the serious obstacles that this policy of hostility generates. That has been and will be our determination.
The blockade of the United States against Cuba violates International Law. It is contrary to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. It constitutes a violation of the right to peace, development and self-determination of a sovereign State. It also transgresses the sovereign rights of other States, due to its extraterritorial nature.
It is, in its essence and objectives, an act of unilateral aggression, a permanent threat against the stability of the country. It qualifies as a crime against humanity, an act of genocide and a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of all Cubans. It is a cruel policy of punishment that has no justification whatsoever.
The demand of this National Assembly of People's Power, on behalf of the Cuban people, is that the US blockade be lifted once and for all, that the US government cease its persecution of our economic and financial relations with the rest of the world, that it eliminate the millions of dollars of funds from the federal budget to subvert the internal order and feed disinformation operations against Cuba, and that the country be removed from the arbitrary and unilateral list of State sponsors of terrorism.
This is also the growing call of the American people, of the most diverse actors in all corners of the world and of the international community reflected in the 32 resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba."
The policy of blockade and subversion against our country is not supported by the majority of the American people, as shown, among other things, by more than a hundred resolutions passed by cities in that country demanding the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade and the removal of Cuba from the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism.
As the highest authorities of our government have expressed, Cuba maintains its willingness to build a civilized and respectful relationship with the Government of the United States, despite our differences. We will continue to be open to exchange and work with all counterparts and partners in U.S. society who wish to move forward with Cuba in the search for a mutually beneficial relationship. Your Government knows that a respectful and civilized relationship with Cuba is in the best interests of the American people.
We will not relent in denouncing the blockade, with the conviction that this criminal policy will have to be eliminated once and for all. We will defend our independence, sovereignty and self-determination and we will firmly and forcefully confront every act of interference in the internal affairs of our people and every aggression.
Great are the challenges faced by our people in the quest to build an ever better, more prosperous country where the greatest social justice is achieved. In this endeavor, we reaffirm our determination to continue advancing along the path of Socialism, with or without a blockade.
The National Assembly of People's Power, in reiterating its most energetic and resounding condemnation of the maintenance of the criminal policy of economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on us by the Government of the United States, calls upon the international community, the solidarity movements and the parliaments of the world to make a common front in denouncing the tightening of the economic war, the discrediting operations and the major attempts to interfere in our internal affairs. You can be confident that the people of Cuba will once again resist and prevail.
On the eve of a new anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution that made us truly free, independent and sovereign, and which we will never renounce, we call all Cubans to the March of the Combatant People on December 20.
Fatherland or Death! We will win!
