Ambassador Anayansi Rodríguez on the 60th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution

Dear friends, sisters and brothers of the Solidarity Movement with Cuba in the United States,

It is with great joy that we celebrate with you the 60th anniversary of our undefeated Revolution. And it is not only joy that we feel when we are here; above all, we are deeply grateful for having received so much solidarity from you.

At this moment, we recall the many actions of support we have received from your side in the last two years that I have served here. And I think particularly proudly of the recent battles in which you joined us, last October, publicly supporting the Cuban Revolution during the vote on our resolution against the blockade. You were there, on the front line, in the streets, on October 31 and November 1st, when we delivered 10 resounding blows to the enemy at the United Nations. And you again expressed your solidarity with the Cuban and Bolivarian Revolutions in the face of the failed attempt to condemn Venezuela in the Security Council on January 26.

We would like you to know that we greatly admire the courage you have shown, because we are aware the environment is very hostile.

And precautions were needed, because the enemies of the Revolution, those who support the blockade, who do not want a normal and civilized relationship between our countries, were taking some action, even in this city. Logically, we were concerned because it is known that these people do not want peace. These people have been and continue to be supported by confessed terrorists who have plunged our Homeland into mourning more than once. These people encourage confrontation and hostility as they made their living from it for a long time. They have filled their pockets with money stained with the blood of good Cubans.  And we worried. But right away we said: “Our friends in the United States are people with great dignity and ethics. They will never encourage confrontation”. We also said: “Our friends know what the sense of duty is. Our friends have stood by our side even under the most difficult circumstances, and if the time comes to raise the sword again and set off to fight, they will also be with us!”

And we know this because the dignified people of the United States, whom you represent, have always been on the side of Cuba’s independence, defending our right to be free and to live in peace. And you have done so not only over the last 60 years, but since the very beginning of this Revolution, which is the same and only revolution since 150 years ago.

This Revolution that you are supporting today is the Revolution of Céspedes and Agramonte, of Maceo and Martí. It is the same Revolution in which young American Henry Reeve, born precisely in this city, in Brooklyn, was known for his courage as a combatant and chief of the Liberation Army. It is the same Revolution that hundreds of humble citizens of New York supported and helped to pay for, along with the tobacco workers in Tampa and Key West, summoned by Martí.

It is the same Revolution that raised again the Centenary Generation led by Fidel and which many sons of this city supported by giving everything, even -and in not a few cases- to their last penny.

With that historical legacy we have come to this day.  And we are proud to say that from those glorious days of the beginning of our independence struggles up to now, we have always had the solidarity, support and selfless contribution of all of you, the sons of the best and most noble of the American people.

We are proud to say that you, the members of all generations of the Movement of Solidarity with Cuba in the United States, are also the Cuban Revolution: those who contributed to shaping the July 26 Movement in the early 1950s; those who accompanied and supported from here the struggle in the Sierra Maestra Mountains; those who welcomed Fidel in the Hotel Theresa in Harlem; the courageous forerunners of the Antonio Maceo and Venceremos Brigades; those who did not hesitate to put their own lives at risk in order to break the blockade in the caravans of Pastors for Peace; those who accompanied the battles for the return of Elián and the Five Cuban Anti-terrorist Heroes to their homeland; and those who over these years, including the young people who are joining us today, have supported the fight against the criminal blockade imposed on Cuba. In all of them and in all of you lie the spirit of the Revolution and the spirit of Fidel.

As you are all aware, today we continue the battle under adverse circumstances, with the Empire acting with more hostility and arrogance, seeking to harden the blockade and resuming the confrontation discourse, not only against Cuba, but also with particular fury against the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and against the right of the peoples of Latin America to remain free, independent and sovereign.

So the battle is not over. For revolutionaries and Revolutions like ours there will be no easy situations.  And in this adverse context that we are facing, it is crucial to always keep in mind one of the greatest lessons that Commander in Chief Fidel has left to us, which is our permanent revolutionary intransigence and faith in victory.

We can tell you out of profound conviction that we will not give in to the enemy. We will never allow concessions that will harm the sovereignty and independence of our Homeland. We will never negotiate our principles or accept conditions of any kind, as we have never done in the history of the Revolution.

Both, you and we, can feel profound satisfaction in paying tribute to those who forged the nation we have today, by reaffirming the determination to continue to defend and strengthen this victorious Revolution, willing to give our all.

Let us resolve to face these new challenges imposed upon us by history, guided by the example left to us by Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Carlos Muñiz Varela, Lucius Walker, the Eternal Commander Hugo Chávez Frías and our Fidel. We owe them and we owe you the duty, the responsibility to never give up in the struggle, to continue fighting for a better Homeland, which was the ultimate dream of the founding fathers of our independence.

Long live our Socialist and Democratic Revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble!

Long live our undefeated and ever-present Commander in Chief Fidel!

Long Live the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela!

Long live the friendship between our peoples!

Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!

Reprinted from misiones.minrex.gob.cu/en/un