“The future of Cuba is one earned by a country that has resisted for over 50 years against the most powerful empire on Earth. The resilience of its people made this triumph materialize.” PeopleYearsMadeCountryEarthPowerfulResilienceTriumphEmpiresMost PowerfulCubaOver 50 Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“As you know Cuba has progressed a lot regarding all the indicators of social development and those rates can be compared favorably with the first world in several aspects. We think that without the heavy burden of the blockade that we can move forward a lot more in building prosperous and sustainable socialism to which we aspire.” ThinkingKnowsWorldFirstsMovingSocialBuildingDevelopmentAspectRateBurdenHeavySocialismMoving ForwardAspireProsperousCubaSocial DevelopmentIndicatorsHeavy BurdensBlockades Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“In Cuba we had the most ferocious form of capitalism for 60 years. It dominated every sphere of life.” YearsFormCapitalismSpheresCuba Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“There is the case of Henry Kissinger who was a known scholar who later became the National Security Advisor to President Nixon and later on Secretary of State. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in establishing relations between the U.S. and China. At the same time that he was doing that he was also encouraging all sorts of covert actions against Cuba including political assassinations. This contradiction is one that is hard to understand.” HardStatesActionPoliticalPresidentKnownRolesCasesSecurityRelationIncludingChinaContradictionPrizeScholarSecretaryNational SecurityCubaNobelAssassinationAdvisorsCovertNobel Peace PrizeKissingerHenry KissingerPresident Nixon Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“Cuba cannot go back to capitalism; we know all the tragic experience that it has generated for Latin America and the world. We also know the positive experiences of socialism not only in our geographic environment but also like what we are witnessing in China.” KnowsWorldAmericaEnvironmentCapitalismChinaSocialismTragicLatinCubaLatin AmericaPositive Experiences Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“In Cuba, we have a democracy that represents the humble, the dispossessed, those who make up the vast majority of the population. It is for those who carry the main weight of society's load in matters of the production of goods and services. These are not the ones that live from financial speculation.” MatterDemocracyWeightMajorityFinancialPopulationProductionsHumbleGoodsLoadSpeculationCubaGoods And Services Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“In Cuba, despite having lived through the most difficult times, there has never been a neo liberal adjustment.” DifficultDespiteDifficult TimesCubaAdjustment Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“In Cuba, our experiment is not the best democracy and should not be a reference to anybody elses, it is ours. It has worked for us and the clearest evidence that our democracy has worked is that there is a revolution that has continued after a half century of facing down the most powerful empire. This has not happened many times in history.” ShouldPowerfulHalfDemocracyHappenedCenturyRevolutionEvidenceExperimentsEmpiresMost PowerfulCubaDemocracies Have Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“It is only through popular consultation and exchange with the people about social and economic policies that we were going to define the strategic direction of Cuba in the next years. To reach prosperous and sustainable socialism, which is our aspiration, we discussed that with the entire population.” PeopleYearsNextSocialEconomicPolicyPopulationSocialismAspirationProsperousNext YearStrategicCubaEconomic PolicyConsultation Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“It is important to eliminate the stigma created by American imperialism and its allies regarding the Cuban political system. That stigma must be eliminated. You may think that there are no direct elections in Cuba. I am going to tell that they are direct and you can compare our process with any other country including the United States.” ThinkingMayImportantCountryStatesPoliticalProcessUnitedUnited StatesDirectElectionIncludingCompareAlliesOther CountriesImperialismCubaStigmaPolitical SystemsCubanAmerican Imperialism Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“In Cuba the elections for the powers of the State comes from the people, first it comes from meetings of the citizens at the base. In Cuba we call them blocks, the divisions of a city that is the term we use. Several blocks of neighborhoods that live in the same area gather in assemblies that are stipulated by law. In those assemblies the people choose freely among themselves who will represent them. The criteria takes into account the candidates characteristics, including if they are hardworking, If they are good people, if they have a clean past, and money has no bearing on who is nominated.” PeopleIfsFirstsStatesUsePastLawTermCitiesCitizensAreasAccountsElectionCleanMeetingsIncludingBlockCharacteristicsCandidatesNeighborhoodDivisionGood PeopleCriteriaCubaAssemblyHardworking Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“Cuba is not like bourgeois democracy the ones that imposes the blockade to make Cuba change. We have direct elections. Here they put people on a list and then tell the people supposedly what they have done so they can be elected. That is the difference and why we say our democracy is truly participatory and popular.” PeopleDoneDifferencesDemocracyDirectElectionListsCubaBourgeoisBlockades Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“Cuba has not accepted the domain and imposition of an empire that has wanted to dominate us for over half a century [America].” WantedAmericaHalfCenturyAcceptedEmpiresDomainCubaImpositionHalf A Century Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“In Cuba, what we do not accept is the comparison of our participatory democracy with bourgeois democracy which has not solved anything for humanity. The only thing it has done is to take humanity towards a precarious point. They have created the environmental crisis, the food crisis, the water crisis and the pandemics all over the world. The reason for that is because they have taken the majority of the resources and given it to militarism paid for by the western powers because it is a great business for them; this is the real truth.” WorldRealReasonDoneHumanityGivenWaterAcceptingDemocracyTakenResourcesPaidCrisisMajorityEnvironmentalWesternComparisonCubaBourgeoisPrecariousMilitarismGreat BusinessPandemicsReal TruthEnvironmental CrisisParticipatory DemocracyWater Crisis Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“When we talked about going to help Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Conakry how many doctors in Cuba raised their hands to go? 15 thousand. In their homes they said, "We are willing to go risk our lives to help other countries". That is true medicine; it is the true observance of the Hippocratic Oath that doctors swear to.” SaidCountryHelpingHomeHandsOur LivesRiskWillingThousandDoctorsMedicineRaisedHelping OthersSwearOther CountriesThey SaidCubaOathObservanceGuineaSierraSierra Leone Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“The role that Cuba played and the lives of those 2,077 Cubans, whose mothers and families mourn for having lost their children in Africa, helped achieve the true security and independence of Angola. It was a contribution because in the end the Angolan people were the ones who decided that. We also contributed in a definitive way securing the independence of Namibia after years that a United Nations resolution was being ignored by South Africa and the western powers.” PeopleWayYearsChildrenEndsMotherLostNationsUnitedRolesAchieveSecurityDecidedIndependenceSouthWesternContributionResolutionSouth AfricaIgnoredUnited NationsCubaMournCubanBeing IgnoredAngolaNamibia Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“In Cuba we are building a socialist society and we could say we are on the verge of a communist society which is hard to achieve, very hard to achieve, but is a longing worth fighting for.” HardFightingAchieveBuildingLongingCommunistSocialistCubaVergeWorth Fighting For Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“Let's not use the term democracy as a play on words which is what people commonly do, using human rights as a pretext. Those people that really violate human rights [the West] violate human rights from all perspectives. Typically on the subject of human rights regarding the nations from the south and Cuba they say, "They are not democratic societies, they do not respect human rights, and they do not respect freedom of speech".” PeopleHumansPlayUseNationsTermDemocracyRightsSubjectsPerspectiveSpeechDemocraticWestSouthHuman RightsFreedom Of SpeechCubaDemocratic SocietyPretextPlay On Words Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“In building up a democratic model I think that Cuba's contribution, little by little, has contributed to getting closer to the ideals of those philosophers, of those Greeks who thought about how a society could be fairer, how a society could really represent the interests of the people. We have tried to get closer to that from a Latin-American perspective and from the Cuban perspective.” PeopleThinkingLittlesInterestBuildingPerspectiveModelsIdealsDemocraticPhilosopherGreekContributionLatinCubaCubanBuilding UpLatin American Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
