Message to the 50th Edition of the Avante Festival

Dear Paulo Raimundo, General Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party:

Dear militants of the PCP, of the Portuguese Communist Youth, guests and participants in the 50th edition of the Avante Festival:

Dear Portuguese friends:

From blockaded Cuba, which resists the genocidal attempts to suffocate the Revolution without renouncing socialist construction, I congratulate you and send you a grateful embrace, in the name of our Communist Party and the heroic Cuban people.

Thank you, a thousand times thank you, for the historic and sustained displays of solidarity with our country, particularly in the current difficult circumstances, when we are facing a criminal escalation of the permanent aggression from the government of the United States—the same empire that arbitrarily, mendaciously, and through political manipulation, has defined the small, peaceful, and solidarity-based Republic of Cuba as an unusual and extraordinary threat to its national security.

The support of the Portuguese Communist Party for our people, for the PCC, and for the Revolution, its declarations of support, the initiatives in favor of Cuba and against the criminal economic, commercial, and financial blockade and the energy siege imposed upon us by Yankee imperialism, are part of a firm and indissoluble bond of brotherhood that honors us.

Today Cuba heroically resists an imperial onslaught that we can describe as silent genocide. The Cuban people suffer daily the shortages and difficulties of an unprecedented intensification of the Yankee blockade, which significantly affects key development sectors such as power generation, tourism, and food production, directly harming essential achievements like health care and education.

I would like to share with you, briefly, some data that illustrate this difficult situation: every day, 1,400 MW of installed capacity in generator sets go unused due to a lack of fuel—a deficit that translates into blackouts lasting more than 20 hours.

More than 98,500 scheduled surgeries (12,000 of them pediatric) have not been performed due to a lack of resources and energy in operating rooms; 34,000 pregnant women have not been able to receive essential prenatal ultrasounds, and 67,000 children do not have updated immunization schedules—both indicators in which Cuba has historically been at the forefront worldwide.

Under U.S. pressures and threats, incompatible with free trade, several companies and shipping lines have withdrawn from the country. As a consequence of the persecution of our imports, more than 7,000 containers carrying essential goods for vital sectors are held at ports in Caribbean countries, and none of the companies operating in the area dares to challenge the imperial prohibition.

The two executive orders of January 29 and May 1 have raised the attempt to economically suffocate the country to unprecedented levels, due to the application of so-called "secondary sanctions" with a marked extraterritorial character, which affect the presence of foreign companies in sectors strategic to the country's development.

That is why, in the European sphere, it is urgent to continue defending the application of the Blockade Statute, legislation established since 1996 precisely to confront the extraterritoriality of these unilateral policies. I call on you to promote, in all possible scenarios, the application of this law, which offers the guarantees and protection that counterparts—both Portuguese and from all of Europe—need to continue developing impactful economic projects in our country.

Dear comrades:

Despite the empire's genocidal intent, Cuba does not surrender! And I will summarize that resolve in a single fact: this year, 30,185 young university students graduated in the country, prepared and ready to contribute their knowledge and efforts to the Revolution; of these, 735 come from 62 countries, including Palestinian and American medical doctors.

Other proofs of the exemplary resilience of the Cuban people could not be summarized in the brief words of a greeting—only in each day of our Revolution's existence against the designs of those who today behave as masters of the world and threaten to return Humanity to its darkest periods.

We have warned and expressed in multiple forums about the dangers that this U.S. escalation and the growing and open threat of direct military aggression entail for Cuba and the region—which would constitute a violation of the United Nations Charter, of International Law, and of the tenets of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.

Cuba is a country of peace, which in no way represents any threat to that nuclear superpower, but if they dared to invade us, I guarantee you that we will defend our land to the last drop of blood!

Today more than ever, it is necessary for you to raise your voices for Cuba, for the defense of our sovereignty, our independence, and our legitimate right to self-determination and development.

The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz—whose centenary I know you will also celebrate at this Festival—clearly stated in 1961: "What the imperialists cannot forgive us for is that we are here; what the imperialists cannot forgive us for is the dignity, the integrity, the courage, the ideological firmness, the spirit of sacrifice, and the revolutionary spirit of the Cuban people."

Long live our communist parties, and long live our heroic peoples!

No to U.S. domination!

Homeland or Death!