Cuban President speaks at the Celac Summit.

Photo: @PresidenciaCuba

Dear President Alberto Fernández:

Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government and other heads of delegation:

Dear Latin American and Caribbean friends:

Returning to Buenos Aires for this meeting of nations is a reason for joy, especially after the days of collective euphoria that overflowed its huge avenues for a triumph that we feel as our own in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The joy is completed and honored by the full reincorporation of Brazil by decision of dear Lula,

to whom we express our full support and solidarity in the face of the violent and anti-democratic acts that sought to cause chaos and disrespect the will of the majority of the Brazilian people, who elected him president.

It unites us and calls for the indispensable Latin American and Caribbean integration, in this diverse and inclusive mechanism;

sustained by a deep vocation for independence.

In Washington, the effort to divide, stigmatize and subordinate us to their interests persists, almost 200 years after the Monroe Doctrine was promulgated.

This was evidenced by the exclusive hemispheric meeting held in Los Angeles, where abusing its power as host and closing its eyes and ears to the claim of the majority, it excluded, fractured, ignored.

The political failure of that meeting demonstrated the isolation of the strategy of hegemonism and domination, in the face of the feeling of unity and sovereignty that our nations share.

Cuba has been reiterating in all international meetings the dangerous escalation of actions that seek to perpetuate imperialist hegemonism, attacking multilateralism and peace.

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@DiazCanelB at the VII #CELAC Summit:

#CELAC is everyone's work.

Strengthening it is an urgent need.#CELACEsUnidad #OurAmerica pic.twitter.com/RcgGFATQgz

– Presidency Cuba 🇨🇺 (@PresidenciaCuba) January 24, 2023

The stubborn reality will always be stronger than any attempt to divide us, because we share challenges derived from an unjust, plundering and undemocratic international order, which prevents us from overcoming the alarming levels of poverty, unemployment, food insecurity and exclusion that characterize the economic and social panorama of the region, still the most unequal on the planet.

For this reason, it is urgent to close ranks and project a strategic vision

, as requested here, towards economic, social and cultural integration, which allows us to move towards sustainable development.

One would have to ask ourselves, what prevents us from complementing each other, stimulating intra-regional trade and promoting investments in areas of common interest?

It is urgent to find fair solutions to the problem of foreign debt;

and essential to demand the cessation of unilateral coercive measures and illegal blockades.

Faced with a hegemonic cultural model, the defense of our broad and rich culture is imperative, the genuine fruit of centuries of tradition and miscegenation, and the cornerstone of the process of emancipation and integration of our peoples.

In the complex and challenging post-pandemic world, which globally suffers from the serious economic, political and social repercussions of military conflicts and the unstoppable impacts of climate change, the only chance for those of us who come from a common colonial and neocolonial past is unity.

In this sense, Cuba supports the idea of ​​establishing the Latin American Medicines Agency as an interesting and useful project.

Dear colleagues:

The government of the United States insists on destroying the development model that we Cubans have sovereignly decided to build, through a cruel, illegitimate, illegal and immoral policy of economic suffocation.

It uses its technological hegemony and control of the media and digital platforms to carry out destabilization operations, an unprecedented media war and promote so-called "regime change", with the backing of tens of millions of dollars from the federal budget.

Your unfounded and unilateral decision to include Cuba in the spurious list of states that allegedly sponsor terrorism severely impacts our development aspirations.

I thank this Community and its Member States once again for their forceful demand that Cuba be withdrawn from said list and the blockade be lifted.

Cuba will not be intimidated by such aggressions.

We don't just resist.

Cuba has not stopped creating, in the hard years of confronting the pandemic and intensified blockade based on 243 measures applied by the Trump administration.

Vaccines, dozens of new medicines and disease care protocols, as well as new equipment and treatments, confirm the value of this creative resistance.

Distinguished colleagues:

We are encouraged by the changes in the regional political landscape, oriented towards social justice and the search for peace and sovereignty.

At this time, the Peruvian people deserve our attention and solidarity, and it is up to our Peruvian brothers to find solutions to their challenges themselves.

With the abundant arguments that history offers us, I also say that we do not recognize, nor will we recognize any authority to the OAS, which is the organization that at the service of the United States supported and supports military interventions, coups d'état and interference in Latin America and the Caribbean against popular and legitimate governments.

The OAS is the organization that did nothing against the murders, torture, forced disappearances, and persecution of social, progressive, and left-wing leaders in the region, who will remain forever in our memory.

Cuba has repeatedly ratified, but it goes without saying today, its support and the strongest solidarity with the legitimate governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, subjected to persistent destabilization attempts.

Likewise, we support the just demands for reparation for the damages of slavery and colonialism of our Caribbean brothers, who need and deserve fair, special, and differential treatment.

We will always support the noble causes: the independence of Puerto Rico;

stability and peace in Haiti, based on full respect for its sovereignty;

the peace process in Colombia;

and Argentina's right over the Malvinas, South Sandwich and South Georgia Islands, and the surrounding maritime spaces.

We repudiate the actions and threats against the delegation of President Nicolas Maduro, denounced by the Venezuelan government.

And from beloved Argentina, whose women have marked regional history with unparalleled heroism, I convey all our solidarity and support to Vice President Cristina Fernández.

Latin American and Caribbean friends:

Under the leadership of Argentina and its president, Alberto Fernández, CELAC experienced notable progress in 2022, which we must continue to consolidate.

We extend all our support to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and to brother Ralph Gonsalves during his CELAC Presidency in 2023, always guided by the maxim of unity in diversity, solidarity and cooperation, strictly adhering to the postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.

You can also count on Cuba as president of the Group of 77 plus China during this year, in which we will work tirelessly to represent the interests of the nations of the South with dignity.

We are inspired by the integrationist ideals of the Latin American and Caribbean heroes.

Thank you

On video, La Celac is a work of all