Message of President-Comandante Daniel
at the XXIII Summit of Heads of State and Government of ALBA-TCP
April 24th 2024
Thank you, Nicolás. Our thanks to Chavez, thanks to Fidel, thanks to the People of Cuba, thanks to the Venezuelan People, who brought their Heart and Soul together so that this Miraculous Birth could take place.
We are now in the 20th Year of the birth of ALBA, and they say“ "By their fruits you will know them”" so the quote says, and all our Peoples have already got to know and have valued, the fruits of ALBA. Fruits that multiplied in a really extraordinary way, when there was no blockade or aggression against our Sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and to which Cuba contributed... I remember that dialogue between Chávez and Fidel when they were talking about Misión Milagro, and how many operations could be carried out.
Today, on this 20th Anniversary, well, Rafael Correa is not with us, he was very dynamic in general, but he is not with us now, simply because a fascist government was imposed on his native land, on his Country.
But here is, as always, Chávez present via Nicolás, here is Fidel present via Miguel Díaz-Canel, Fidel and Raúl… As I was saying, Fidel and Raúl are present here through Miguel Díaz-Canel. Here are their Peoples, the People of Venezuela, the People of Cuba.
Our beloved Brother Philip Pierre, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, is also present here. Thank you, Philip.
Also present is our beloved Brother, the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, who until recently held the Presidency of CELAC, and who has accompanied us on the Anniversaries of the Triumph of the Sandinista Revolution, there Ralph with his always profound words. Well, Ralph, we are waiting for you, we are headng for the 45th Anniversary now in July, so we are waiting for you. We await everyone, we invite everyone.
Our beloved Brother Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda; our beloved Brother Roosevelt Skerrit, of the Commonwealth of Dominica; our beloved Brother Joseph Andall, Chancellor of Grenada.
We are also accompanied by our beloved Brother Norgen Wilson, from the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and our beloved Sister Scarleth Romero, Ambassador of the People of Honduras. Our Love, our Greetings to the People of Honduras, and to Xiomara, all our Love, all our Greetings.
As Nicolás said, it is good to set out a Work Plan to put the different Initiatives into practice, and that is going to be the task of our beloved Compañero ALBA Secretary. Working together with his Team, they will prepare the Agenda for us to go forward with the different Proposals that have been presented by the ALBA Delegates.
Is it Raúl Li Causi the compañero who works with you? I ask Jorge... So it will be up to the two of you to organize the Work Plan following all the Proposals that have been made here and that have to do with the Struggle for Peace.
ALBA is a weapon for Peace; for the Unity of the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples, really, for Peace, when we are in a Battle where the Imperialists of the Earth are trying to subvert, trying to undermine, trying to infiltrate so as to destroy Latin American Unity.
We knew that already. We know it now. But those instruments that the Imperialists have in the form of the Nazi-fascist in Argentina and the other Nazi-fascist in Ecuador, and others who are circling around, the Peoples are going to pass them the bill, the Peoples are going to bring them to account, and sooner or later, the Argentine People, the People who saw the birth of Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara, are going to free themselves from the Nazi-fascist.
Meanwhile, we have Cuba fighting the Battle, a Heroic Battle. As I was telling you, and as I have mentioned on several occasions, at the time we were in the struggle against the Somoza tyranny, in the 1960s, Cuba triumphed, and immediately Cuba faced the Counterrevolution and the invasion took place. And the Yankees occupied Nicaraguan territory in order to train the mercenaries and then to ship them, and they also used planes flying from Nicaraguan territory. However, on the other hand, there was a Nicaraguan who had rebelled against the tyranny of Somoza, who had gone to Cuba and he was a pilot, Carlos Ulloa. This pilot, with Fidel at the head of the detachments defending Revolutionary Cuba, fought against the mercenaries, and the plane he was fighting with was shot down, and thus he united the Blood of the Nicaraguan People with the Blood and Heroism of the Cuban People.
Among other crimes, I want to refer to, crimes against humanity, violations of International law, committed by the Empire, the arbitrary occupation of territory that should be defined according to the Argyle Declaration of December 14th 2023, which has to do with the territory that is under negotiation with Guyana. But the negotiation has been seriously affected from the moment they gave concessions there to the oil companies, and US warships were moved to the area, committing a crime, another to add to all the others they have committed throughout history.
We share in condemning that, but I would ask, what demand can we make,? How many demands have not been made for the invasions, the aggression of the Imperialists of the Earth to cease? Because, outrage follows outrage, crime follows crime, genocide follows genocide, invasions, occupations... Atomic bombs dropped! The only Power in the World that has dropped Atomic Bombs is the United States Government, the United States Rulers, the United States Empire.
And calls are made for peace, calls for the intimidation to stop, calls for the blockades to stop, and all the time, the aggression continues to intensify; all the time the Empire, in a way totally disrespectful of World opinion and of the United States People themselves and of a good part of the People of Israel who are against these crimes, when the voting at the United Nations was held for Palestine to take its seat as a State, there were 2 abstentions, well, abstentions don't hurt in the end, but there was one vote with the power of veto, because the vote against was from the United States of America, refusing to recognize the existence of the Palestinian State.
But also, accompanying this vote has been the approval of billions and billions of dollars to continue the war against the Palestinian People, when what they call war is much rather a genocide against the Palestinian People.
Equally funds for Taiwan, funds for the Ukrainian regime; that is to say, funds for death, funds for war. They are amounts of money, which, really, what they do is inflame the hearts of the Peoples, inflame the hearts of the United States’ People themselves who are in need, who also have social and economic problems.
So what can we do, what can we say? Yes we can do something and we can say that, from the ALBA-TCP on this Historic Day, I see it as very like the moment when Sandino met with a group of workers, miners, in a mining area, and invited them to give the battle against the Yankee invaders. Back then, he asked them how many were willing to do so, 29 raised their hands, 30 with him, and there the Combat began, there the Battle began.
Here, like Sandino, we are Peoples, Nations, Women, Men, Young People, who say to the Imperialists of the Earth: No one surrenders here! Here we neither sell out, nor surrender! And we will continue to fight the Battle for Peace and Unity among the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples, and for the Peoples of the World.
Thank you, Beloved Brothers and Sisters.