President Comandante Daniel's address to the High-Level ALBA-TCP Virtual Conference on the Post-Pandemic Economy
June 10, 2020
Thank you, dear brother President Nicolas Maduro Moros. All our Love, all our Love for the heroic bolivarian People who are fighting a titanic, heroic battle in defense of Peace, in defense of Solidarity, in defense of the Welfare of our Peoples.
Because ALBA, fruit of the initiative of Fidel and Chávez, two Heroic Comandantes, was designed for Solidarity, it was designed to strengthen the Economies of those Peoples who were willing to join efforts and complement each other. It was never a project designed to do business at the expense of other Peoples, it was never a project to harm any People. On the contrary, ALBA brought welfare to these Peoples in the fields of health, education, energy, and all fields, as well as fluidity in the area of trade
A project made more powerful by its very example, that is why the Empire launched itself against ALBA. And who can doubt that today, more than ever, the selfish essence, the slaver-owner essence, is exposed, because we know slavery takes different forms, the slaver-owner essence of savage capitalism, which they thought was the one and only alternative to be imposed on the Peoples of the world, and that is why they launched themselves against ALBA, and the battle, the battle, the battle, and the offensive of the empire against Venezuela, naturally, because of Venezuela's specific weight and too against Cuba, against our Peoples.
Here we have heard from our brother Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; from our brother Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, and from Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica. And when we listen to these brothers from Peoples, from nations, from very small Territories, with small populations that have been struggling to develop with great effort in ALBA, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica with Skerrit, Grenada, what is it that we have to emphasize there? Strength, Dignity.
There is no People, no matter how small, that does not have the strength and dignity to address the greatest challenges, and this is the struggle that we have been waging and during which, now, in the circumstances in which this global epidemic has been unleashed, the nature of savage capitalism has been revealed.
Savage capitalism that seemed to be progressing there, despite its own contradictions, with its own rivalries, with its own contradictions of a hegemonic nature, but together they were articulating their policies, their strategies in the economic field, in the military field, in the field of trade. And who would have thought, who would imagined that in these developed countries, these economic powers, countries that thought they were invincible, who could have imagined that their insensitivity, their lack of respect for the human rights of their own citizens would be revealed by this epidemic?
Countries that should have had first class health systems available to their people found they were not available to their people and that in the face of an epidemic like this one, in the face of a pandemic like this one, there was a lack of equipment, a lack of beds, a lack of space. In other words, it seemed that their practice in the field of health care, despite their great science and great development in this field, was like that of an underdeveloped country.
Of course, they had the capacity, due to their concentrated wealth, accumulated over centuries, to have at their disposal multimillionaire sums at the time of the emergency and to see how best to mitigate the economic impact, the social impact. But it has been harder for them to be able to deliver the necessary care in the field of health, to their citizens. Why? Because, well, they have big hospitals, it is true, but many of them were private. So there was not in place a quality public health system prepared to face an epidemic like this one.
It is explicable that the situation was more difficult in developing countries, precisely because most developing countries have had imposed on them the model of savage capitalism, health care privatization has been imposed on them.
On the other hand, in countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, with our very limited resources we have doubled, tripled the number of hospitals and health posts since 2007, when we returned to the government and we continue to open health posts, health centres and hospitals even now. The construction of these hospitals has not stopped, nor has food production, because that too is a matter that has been mentioned here and the impact of this pandemic on the economic and social fields has been very clearly explained.
Of course it has an impact on us, it impacts all of us, but with the difference that in ALBA, starting from the principle of Solidarity, of high quality health care, free for the People, of free education for the People, we have powerful tools to be able to face these huge challenges, these huge challenges, because, unquestionably, by joining forces we will be able to fight and we are fighting this battle, much better.
Being well aware that, after all the economic crisis was caused by the structural weaknesses of savage capitalism, which was not prepared to face this type of pandemic, nor did it have the initiative to assume leadership and join forces in that moment, instead it was "every man for himself", the economies of those countries have also been shaken, and of course this affects international trade.
That is why our brother Nicolas Maduro calling this meeting is timely, so as to continue developing what we had already been working on, and as Nicolas has now proposed, to take the first step of forming the Working Group within ALBA, what for? Well, we are going to look for the vaccine and we are going to look for all the medical components needed to address this type of epidemic.
And at the same time, as well, taking up again in these new circumstances the challenges we have long set ourselves in the economic field, in the field of interchange, in the field of trade, in all those aspects that are essential to be able to make progress in these moments when economic setbacks are affecting many peoples, many nations, affecting harder the most impoverished countries, countries with fewer resources.
Our solidarity with the Venezuelan People, who, along with everything else face the offensive that has been intensified by the US Government in the middle of the epidemic, violating the human rights of the Venezuelan People, trying to prevent the transportation of fuel, of oil, trying to sanction the companies providing ships for these operations. These are crimes against humanity. These are acts of terrorism. Why?
Is this fuel that arrives in Venezuela going to be taken by President Nicolás and consumed by him? No, that fuel goes to the Venezuelan people. The agreement that Venezuela has reached, the initiative President Nicolas Maduro has achieved with Iran for the arrival of fuel, is for fuel that is going to benefit Venezuelan families.
What the US government is doing there is to deprive them of that fuel, seeking to take away their fuel, steal fuel from the Venezuelan people, and therefore is trying to make them surrender out of hunger, trying to kill them with hunger. Because fuel is fundamental for productive activity, for commercial activity, for transporting students, for transporting workers, doctors, nurses. Therefore, this is a criminal act committed by the United States government, in the midst of the pandemic, think about that... In the midst of the pandemic!
Totally brutal acts, criminal acts!
And they are also intensifying sanctions against the sister Republic of Cuba, intensifying the sanctions and acting as accomplices to the attack on the Cuban Embassy in the United States, by keeping silent, by not giving explanations, by not calling for an investigation; and the actions they have taken against Cuba seeking ways to tighten the blockade even further.
These are truly criminal actions.
Against Nicaragua too they continue with sanctions as they call them, which are simply aggressions. What for? To try and asphyxiate, they have become experts in choking, killing by asphyxiation, and they want to asphyxiate our Peoples.
But our Peoples have a history of struggle, a history of battles against colonialism, a history of battles against American Expansionism, a history of battles against coups d'état, imposed, organized and articulated by American heads of government; a history of battles that shows us, with complete clarity, that these Peoples will never sell out, nor surrender, dear brothers and sisters of ALBA.
Our Love, our Solidarity for all families, our condolences for all families who, both because of the pandemic and for other causes, have lost loved ones in these moments of international emergency. For all the families of the Peoples of ALBA, for all Latin American and Caribbean families, for all the families of the United States and Canada, for all the families of England, of the European Union, for all the families that in Asia, in Africa, in Oceania, all over the planet have lost the lives of family members, either because of this virus or because of other diseases that affect them, or because of accidents, or because of crimes that are committed even against community leaders.
For all of them our condolences, our Solidarity, but always looking ahead, towards the future, that in ALBA, dear brothers and sisters, that in Latin America and the Caribbean, dear brothers and sisters, that in the world, dear brothers and sisters, there is a Sun that does not set, which is that our Peoples will continue to strive until they reach their complete liberation.