Category Archives: Who We Are

Who We Are

Our full support for the Anti-Fascist International

DECLARATION OF THE CASA DE LAS AMERICAS, Cuba

Not the same organization as, CASA DE LAS AMERICAS, New York

 

Our full support for the Anti-Fascist International

A constant in two centuries of U.S. interference in the region is the obsession to destroy any sovereign or moderately progressive project

Author:  | cultura@granma.cu

september 18, 2024 08:09:40

Artwork El eco del llanto (1937) Photo: David Alfaro Siqueiros 

In 1937, when the Spanish Republic was resisting the assault of Franco’s troops, decisively supported by Hitler and Mussolini, and in the face of the complicit silence of most of the European governments, the clamor of the best intellectuals of the time was raised in Valencia. From there, Juan Marinello sentenced: “it is not possible to fight fascism without attacking its twin brother, imperialism.”
Today the United States has many open fronts in the world. It is stirring up conflicts in Europe, in the Middle East, in the Far East -to speak only of the best known right now-, and even within the country, conflicts are flaring up that are endangering its own version of democracy. None of this prevents them from forgetting our region, which they continue to consider their backyard.
Heirs of a two hundred year history based on formulations such as the “empire for freedom” proclaimed by Jefferson, with its inevitable corollary in the Monroe Doctrine and the policy of Manifest Destiny; in line with the dozens of direct or indirect interventions, barracks, judicial coups, blockades and pressures of all kinds in Latin America and the Caribbean from the mid-nineteenth century until today, the United States maintains intact its imperial vocation over the territories south of the Rio Grande, and renews it again and again.
A constant in these two centuries of interference is the obsession to destroy any sovereign or moderately progressive project in the region, not to mention, of course, the unrestrained and relentless war against those who defend revolutionary alternatives. At a time when the world and our own continent are witnessing the advance of the extreme right, the attacks are multiplying and becoming more evident. Meanwhile, a new iron lady, General Richardson, head of the dreadful Southern Command, travels part of our geography -recently Chile, as before Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay-, so that everyone remembers who is in charge.
But there are peoples who do not obey or accept empires, doctrines or manifest destinies. For that reason, the most rabid destabilizing crusade is being waged against Venezuela today, which includes from fascist violence, armed conspiracies such as the one denounced just a few days ago, the brazen interference of foreign governments, to the incessant smear campaign through hegemonic media, digital platforms and social networks.
All this without discounting economic sanctions: the weapon that Lester D. Mallory, an obscure Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs recommended, in the Cuban case, in 1960, in order to “provoke hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the Government”. The same weapon that ten years later, as soon as Salvador Allende was elected, President Nixon, also known among his compatriots as Dirty Dick, would instruct his Secretary of State to use: “the Chilean economy must be made to squeak”. Similar also to the one used a decade later against the Sandinista Revolution, and so usual today in a good part of the world.
Being the most scandalous and open, the onslaught against Venezuela -as against Cuba, about to turn 65 years old- is not unique. Honduras is once again facing the specter of a coup d’état, when the previous one is still fresh in the memory of its citizens. For his part, President Gustavo Petro has warned that “a Colombian-style coup d’état has begun”. And in Mexico, the government of López Obrador decided to put relations with the United States on hold, in view of the interference of its officials in decisions that are the exclusive responsibility of Mexican men and women.
The unity of revolutionaries was one of the main demands of the World Congress against Fascism, held in Caracas on September 10 and 11. Today we see with pain and anguish that in sister Bolivia a suicidal division is growing that can only benefit the fascist forces and the empire. The same forces -those sinister twins- that the Congress called to confront, as one of the greatest dangers that humanity suffers today, with the creation of an Anti-Fascist International.
From Casa de las Americas we ratify all our support to the nascent Antifascist International and its decision to make Our America and the world a space where the right to life and human dignity prevails above all else.

Cuban Heroine and Heroes, Who We Are

Raúl and Díaz-Canel arrived with the relatives of the fallen

honor exalts
Raúl and Díaz-Canel arrived with the relatives of the fallen. “Our deepest condolences and support to you at this time,” the Head of State told them. In front of them, with his hand on his chest, the Army General nodded at the president’s words, as an expression that he also accompanied them in their pain.

Author: Ventura de Jesus | ventura@granma.cu

August 19, 2022 23:08:04

 
After the solemn tribute, Raúl and Díaz-Canel arrived with the relatives present there.

MATANZAS.– Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, together with Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, paid tribute this Friday, in the last goodbye, to those who fell in the line of duty at the Super Tanker Base.

This last gesture of respect was joined by the members of the Political Bureau, Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power; Army Corps General Álvaro López Miera, Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and Division General Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, Minister of the Interior.

After the solemn tribute, Raúl and Díaz-Canel arrived with the relatives present there. “Our deepest condolences and support to you at this time,” the Head of State told them, reported the website of the Presidency of the Republic.

In front of them, with his hand on his chest, the Army General nodded at the president’s words, as an expression that he also accompanied them in their pain.

Previously, other high political and state leaders did so, as well as the highest authorities of the province.

On a momentous day for the country, marked by deep pain, the people of Matanzas, representing all of Cuba, and in a disciplined and solemn manner, paid tribute to the brave, who faced the huge disaster that occurred in the Industrial Zone of the city .

It was a sad evening, but also one of honor and glory, in which there were many expressions of admiration and respect, and that, as in other difficult times and in the face of adversity, Cubans were one in pain and solidarity. .

It also became a day of accompaniment from an entire country to the relatives and friends of the fallen, overwhelmed by sadness and memories.

The tribute began at ten in the morning at the Firefighters Barracks Museum, a legendary building through which some 15,000 people from Matanzas passed, a crowd that made an endless line to reach the Plaza de la Vigía, with the purpose of offering love and peace. .

The line of people seemed endless. Many workers were seen, parents who came with their children, intellectuals, families who came to show their respect for just a short minute, some of them with a flower in their hand, without preventing the tearing by the pain of loved ones.

Floral offerings from Raúl and Díaz-Canel accompanied the urns in the funeral honors on this hard day, with a sense of tribute.

Wreaths also arrived on behalf of the National Assembly of People’s Power, the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution, family members and the people.

The pain is great, as is the heroism displayed by the brave; and so immense has been the solidarity of an entire nation and of other latitudes.

These sad hours show us, at the same time, a people that makes unity the pillar of its greatness, said Leo García, first vice president of the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists in Matanzas.

Shock was reflected on all faces. Few could stop the tears for the brave, eternal symbols of our country. Day of hugs, tears and encouragement, in which neither the suffocating heat nor the rain could interfere.


On a momentous day for the country, marked by deep pain, the people of Matanzas, representing all of Cuba, and in a disciplined and solemn manner, paid tribute to the brave.

Despite the anguish of loved ones, of that pain that hurts so much, what I appreciate most on a day like today is the pride of being Cuban, capable of feeling the sadness of others as my own, acknowledged Ercilio Vento Canosa, city historian .

This sad situation has aroused in the citizens a great feeling of solidarity, which shows the quality of the good Cuban, commented the notable researcher. “Here is a heroism impossible to forget.”

The testimonies and stories of the protagonists of the incident attracted attention. One of them, with indelible marks on his face, was Dionisio González, from the support forces against the fire.

“I can’t say much, only that I came here to offer the last hug to those brave men, who fought like true heroes and offered their lives to save Matanzas,” he said.

Candles of different colors and sizes, various flowers, in the midst of an atmosphere in which the shock was visible in each of the faces. Some could not hide the pain, once inside the Museum, and the feeling that overwhelmed them was evident.

The walls of the Firefighters Museum, the Sauto Theater, the Palacio del Junco Museum and other venerable buildings located in that founding site of the city, seemed to silently revere the fallen.

Some wondered what the sublime poet Carilda Oliver Labra, with her sensitivity and genius, would have written about such an unfortunate incident, so epic in itself. She who sang to Fidel, to the city, and to many heroes and martyrs.

I am here to accompany my people of Matanzas in this difficult hour, and I only hope that all this sum of solidarity and love alleviates a little the sorrows of those families, observed the singer-songwriter Raúl Torres, visibly moved.

Thinking of the people who stayed there, who risked their lives to save the people of Matanzas, is something very hard. His example and legacy will remain in the memory of the people of Cuba, and especially of Matanzas, he said, after acknowledging that they will also serve as a stimulus to continue promoting life and progress.

At the conclusion of the honor guards at the Firefighters Museum, where the people expressed their feelings of honor and solidarity, the funeral procession left for the Pantheon of the Fallen for Defense, in the local Cemetery, where the ceremony of family burial.

Who We Are

The Cuban people, neither hungry nor defeated

The Cuban people, neither hungry nor defeated, as honorable as ever
Hope of achieving on November 15 what enemies of the Revolution failed to accomplish in July didn’t last long

Author: Raúl Antonio Capote | informacion@granmai.cu
december 3, 2021 12:12:03



Photo: Ariel Cecilio Lemus
After the defeat of July 11 and subsequent attempts to keep the spark of “insurrection” alive, as one of its spokesmen called the pyrrhic attempt, the counterrevolution, its Miami overseers and masters in Washington desperately set out to save what they could from the shipwreck. The hope of achieving on November 15 what they had failed to accomplish in July didn’t last long. The plan was fallacious to begin with, a deception, another swindle.
Pentagon and CIA analysts knew it, government advisors and the Miami “businessmen” were aware, but it seems that, as hope is the last thing to be lost… It could happen, they believed, perhaps the “perfect storm” with the raging winds of a tightened blockade, subversion, the pandemic and a deepening world economic crisis, would weaken Cubans to the point that finally, exhausted by the hardship, they would explode and self-destruct.
It would be a kind of mass suicide which they would contemplate comfortably from their armchairs; just as they are willing to enjoy the self-inflicted death of a people broken by hunger, disease and slander.
It would be a kind of mass suicide that they would contemplate comfortably from their armchairs; just as they are prepared to enjoy the self-inflicted death of a people broken by hunger, disease and slander.
More than a few interested parties and shareholders in the business of hating Cuba prayed, in the privacy of their offices, to U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, Edward Lansdale and company, that the predictions they made in the 1960s would finally come true.
But neither prayers nor glasses of spiritual water, which we know, from reliable sources, some of the so-called Cuban-American politicians placed on their altars, saved them from defeat.
The implementation of the United States’ government policy toward Cuba by the Trump’s administration, enthusiastically continued by current President Joe Biden – who intends to destroy the Revolution following an extremely hostile strategy combined with unconventional warfare – was unraveling in the country’s streets and plazas.
Before the July 11 events, U.S. special services conducted a thorough study of the cultural stereotypes of different sectors of the Cuban population. A variety of social groups were the object of investigation and analysis with a view toward identifying their weak spots, to create a road map that would ensure the effectiveness of the CIA’s cultural warfare and political-ideological subversion.
Anti-Cuban influencers, cyber character assassinators and other species propagating in the digital environment, paid activists in the ideological war, based on the information provided by special service think tanks, worked tirelessly on exploiting weaknesses and shortcomings, identified conditioned responses, fears and stereotypes.
Millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars were spent to isolate Cuba and deprive the country of international solidarity through a ferocious campaign to discredit the Revolution, allowing the U.S. government to act with impunity and justify the barbarity they were planning.
A real fortune was squandered to buy consciences, pay mercenaries and hire criminals, the latter essential to assaults on institutions, looting, burning people alive, sowing terror and chaos, as they have attempted in other Latin American countries.
Like magicians, they pulled from their hats prefabricated leaders, made from molds already used in other countries, and bet on a replica of a pocket-sized Václav Havel, with more dramatic pretensions than courage.
Almost nothing could be saved from the 7-11 shipwreck. The teetering ship nevertheless remained afloat, despite taking on water, but then ran aground and sank in November, leaving a nauseating stench reminiscent of a long ago April.
The ridiculous ended up being grotesque: henchmen abandoned by their boss, who made a swift, undercover retreat, without even saying “Hold on, I’ll be back soon,” while a musician, if we can call him that, was awarded a Grammy in the U.S. dressed in a kind of royal cloak. A full blown demonstration of disrespect for our flag and unbridled machismo, with his partner tied to him by a strip of fabric, in an apparent act of submission.
No blood was shed on the country’s streets, as they had hoped. Cubans reacted with absolute decorum, neither hungry or defeated, naked or barefoot, honorable, as always, united and stronger in the face of aggression, unscathed by slander and lies.