Celebrating the triumph of Cuba's revolution
By YURI GALA LOPEZ
I'd like to thank you for joining us in celebrating the 54th Anniversary
of the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution, officially commemorated on
January 1st. That day in the year 1959 marked a milestone for my
homeland because the victory of the revolutionary forces allowed the
Cuban people to attain true independence and sovereignty.
Since then, the Cuban people undertook their project of freedom,
solidarity and social justice, facing hostility and aggressions of
various kinds. The Cuban Revolution has overcome those obstacles and
just started its 55th year of existence and counting.
Year 2012 was a very dynamic one for Cuba in many areas. Cuba held
elections for its local government structures at the municipal level, a
process which was implemented successfully. On February 3, Cubans will
go to the polls to vote for provincial delegates and members of
Parliament.
Despite the tensions associated with the global economic and financial
crisis and other external challenges, the Cuban economy was expected to
close year 2012 with a 3.1 per cent growth of its Gross Domestic Product
(GDP). For 2013, Cuba foresees a 3.7 per cent GDP growth.
The gradual updating of Cuba's economic model continued. Last December, Cuban President Raúl Castro Ruz pointed out that:
"The updating of the Cuban economic model is advancing at a firm pace
and it now begins to address major, broader and more complex issues,
based on the premise that everything we do is aimed at the preservation
and development of a sustainable and prosperous Socialist society, the
only guarantee for the independence and national sovereignty achieved by
several generations of fellow countrymen in more than 140 years of
struggle."
In 2012 Cuba had to face important natural challenges. In October,
Hurricane Sandy caused significant losses for my country, mainly in its
Eastern region, where Santiago de Cuba, the country's second largest
city, was particularly hit. However, the recovery process of the
storm-damaged provinces is underway. International solidarity was shown
to us in a myriad of ways, something which we deeply appreciate.
Last year, Cuba managed to preserve important social achievements. For
example, my country ended 2012 with an infant mortality rate of 4.6 per
1000 live births, the lowest in the Americas. For the fifth consecutive
year, Cuba registered a child mortality rate under five, an expression
of the human development index. Moreover, the country reported the
second lowest maternal mortality rate in its history.
On the other hand, the new migratory measures recently announced by the
Cuban Government show its willingness to continue strengthening the
relations between the nation and its emigration.
Cuba continues to enjoy an increasing international recognition
maintaining diplomatic relations with over 180 countries. We keep
receiving the moral support of many governments and peoples of the world
in our denunciation of the five-decade old blockade, while solidarity
is growing in the case of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters unjustly
imprisoned in the United States.
By the end of this month, Cuba will assume the Pro tempore Presidency of
the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a step
which entails an immense honour and a great responsibility to which my
country will devote the greatest efforts and energies.
In spite of our economic challenges and convinced of the importance of
globalising solidarity to build a better world, Cuba has continued to
provide its modest cooperation to other sister nations of the South.
For example, more than 29,000 youth from 115 countries are now studying
in Cuba. Out of those, more than 18,000 scholarship holders come from
Latin America and the Caribbean countries.
In December 2012, Cubans together with the Caribbean people again
celebrated the Caricom-Cuba Day, but this time was special because we
also commemorated the 40th anniversary of the joint decision adopted by
four countries, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, to
establish diplomatic relations with Cuba.
That brave and historic political decision taken in 1972 by those newly
independent countries, in a climate of hostility and enormous pressures,
was a breach in the isolation imposed on Cuba and marked the beginning
of the close and excellent relations of friendship, solidarity and
cooperation that Cuba enjoys today with all CARICOM member States.
The year 2012 was indeed very fruitful for Cuba-Jamaica relations,
precisely the year when we celebrated four decades of bilateral
diplomacy based on strong friendship, cooperation and solidarity.
More than 200 Jamaicans are studying medicine and other university
courses in Cuba under the relevant scholarship programme. In addition to
that, over 200 Cubans specialists are part of bilateral cooperation
programmes implemented in Jamaica mainly in the fields of health and
education.
Last year, the Cuba-Jamaica Ophthalmology Centre, located in Kingston,
performed more than 1,400 surgeries. Since 2005 to date, more than
65,000 Jamaicans have been screened under that programme, while more
than 9,000 patients have undergone eye surgery free of charge to them.
Both countries continued to exchange high level delegations during 2012.
In January, a Cuban delegation headed by His Excellency Esteban Lazo,
vice-president of the Council of State, visited Kingston to attend the
swearing-in ceremony of the Most Hon Portia Simpson Miller as Prime
Minister. In December, Jamaica was visited by a Cuban delegation led by
parliamentarian Kenia Serrano, President of the Cuban Institute of
Friendship with the Peoples.
In the same line, Cuba received the official visit of a delegation
headed by the Hon AJ Nicholson, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign
Trade. Cuba was also visited by other high-level Jamaican delegations,
including those led by the Honourable Ministers of Youth and Culture,
Health, Science and Technology, and by the Attorney General.
Both countries continued to support each other in international fora.
Last October, at the UN General Assembly, the Government of Jamaica
(along with 187 countries) supported again the resolution on the
necessity of ending the unjust US blockade against Cuba. That position
was also shared by the House of Representatives of Jamaica. Cuba deeply
appreciates that solidarity. We also thank those Jamaicans who continue
to be involved in friendship groups with Cuba.
I'd like you to join me in a toast to the 54th anniversary of the
triumph of the Cuban Revolution, and to the further strengthening of the
longstanding friendship between the peoples and governments of Jamaica
and Cuba.
Yuri Gala Lopez is Cuba's Ambassador to Jamaica. The edited
speech was delivered at a diplomatic reception on January 16 to mark the
54th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, officially
commemorated on January 1.
Jamaica Observer
Cubans yearn for Wal-Mart and McDonald’s. They covet ATT, Coke, Nike, and Levi’s. The young stare in passion at iPhones and Apple computers. Pornography is the entertainment of choice. Evangelists lie in wait with a message of redemption hungry for the harvesting of souls. Old exiled Cubans chat in busy coffee shops on Miami’s boulevards. They long to touch the green, green grass of home and light cigars under the starry nights and reminisce of memories lost, long before a 1959 revolution usurped their world of contentment.