Diaz -Canel held meeting with US Youth Brigade

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 12 (ACN) Good men and women speak a common language: the humanist language. And as they are always focused on the essential, they assume the borders of the world as simple administrative lines, as a pretend map to which they do not pay attention because the suffering or happiness of the human being is for them a unique matter in any corner of the planet; because they are with the human species, or against it.

It was in this deep and shaking string that a historic meeting took place between the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, and the U.S. Youth Brigade "Let Cuba Live" of the International Assembly of the People. The members of this group had arrived in the archipelago and had already traveled through the popular arteries of the country for a week, gathering experiences that they later discussed with the President.

"We had to come to Cuba to meet ourselves and our own struggle," said young Manolo de los Santos, director of the People's Forum and U.S. social leader, who moderated a two-hour exchange in the Portocarrero Hall of the Palace of the Revolution - the content of which is part of the next broadcast of the Desde la Presidencia (From the Presidency) communications program.

"Down with the blockade, the socialist world is the world we want! With this clamor, the young visitors had welcomed the Head of State, who arrived with his companion Lis Cuesta Peraza and joined a conversation led by very interesting questions asked by the students, and which was attended by the first secretary of the National Committee of the Young Communist League (UJC by its Spanish acronym), Meyvis Estevez Echavarria, the President of the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP by its Spanish acronym), Fernando Gonzalez Llord, as well as leaders of the students, the Communist Party and the Government of Cuba.
Seated in a non-protocol manner, only accommodated by the interest of understanding and the possibility of shared truths, the visitors heard the dignitary say: "For us it is a pleasure to share with young US citizens". Diaz-Canel wanted to tell them before starting the meeting: "We admire you very much".

He said this because, in his opinion, they have generated a social and political movement in the United States, "very singular"; and because they are an expression of how in such complicated issues, good feelings, those of justice, freedom and emancipation can make their way; those feelings that are present in the American society through the young students.

The movement that has been set in motion -reflected the President- has as referents men like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. The Head of State stated that in such an unjust society, with a government that uses war as a solution to major problems, young people like those who arrived in Cuba are "the most important people" a country can count on.

Diaz-Canel commented to his interlocutors that he will never forget "the support that young people like you gave us in New York", the stage where Cuba has so often denounced the imperial blockade that is holding it back. And he returned to the hours of September 2023, when he went out to the corner of Lexington and 38th - in front of the Cuban mission in New York City - to demand, in the midst of a demonstration of young Americans, the end of the blockade.

"You were in the streets every day," the president acknowledged, referring to the company of courageous youth. And another moment emerged with force and clarity in the memory of the dignitary: a Saturday of that day in September 2023, a rainy night at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, where hundreds of friends gathered in support of a nation that resists.

It was there that the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party -in a beautiful and high-strutted venue- said that Cuba extends hugs to the US people and to all the brothers and sisters of the world, to all those who dream of making the world a better place. To be able to share that evening with friends was -as the dignitary said in the Portocarrero Room- an "extraordinary experience".

"Welcome to the Palace of the Revolution, and let's talk as you young people do", said the President to his valuable interlocutors in the opening minutes of the meeting. And Manolo de los Santos, who introduced each student who spoke, was emphatic: "We are extremely grateful to the people of Cuba for receiving us in these times".

Ask, you can also criticize something you think is wrong. This was the invitation made by the Head of State to the students, to whom he also said that "it will be very good for the Cuban people to know how young people like you think".

"This is a small but very resilient nation," said student Celine Qussiny. For her, the imperial blockade causes Cuba to face many problems. It is a siege, she denounced, set up by the same government that attacks Palestine.

The President went through stages such as the Mambi wars; like everything done by the Caribbean country -already in the 20th century- for the sake of the independence causes in Africa, because that commitment with the mother continent has to do with the vindication of the slaves who arrived on Cuban soil moored on ships and whose blood flows through the veins of Cubans today.

Diaz-Canel talk about our Marti; of Antonio Maceo and his protest in Mangos de Baragua; of the Centennial Generation led by Fidel; of the assault on the Moncada Barracks; of the prison and exile in Mexico; of the incorporation of Che Guevara to the group of those who would later disembark on the Granma Yacht; of Fidel saying, with only seven rifles in hand, that then they would indeed win the war against a heavily armed army.

"We are not perfect nor do we want you to idealize us," Diaz-Canel told the young people, adding that Cuban revolutionaries have a great vocation for perfection.

Regarding the youth of the Caribbean country, the dignitary said that they are present in all important events and processes of society. He listed several examples in this regard; and affirmed that the Revolution is a history of continuity of generations that are united in principles; that may be distant from each other, due to the passing of time, but that are mutually sustained by a unity of essences.

And more than one question served then to invite the reflection of all: About Palestine, which has been suffering a war for more than 70 years, why do they not talk about it and only worry so much about Ukraine? Why don't the big media go to the deep causes of the conflict in Europe? Who caused this conflict in Ukraine? Who fabricated this war? Who benefits from it?

On what is happening with the Palestinian people, President Diaz-Canel meditated on how so many human beings have died in such a short time. He paid special attention to the martyrdom of women and children; and wondered aloud: What can there be in the conscience of those who have waged this war?
Palestine opened an important space of conscience; and in this respect, the protests of the American students have been very important. Diaz-Canel Bermudez did not overlook the fact that such strong demonstrations had not taken place in the United States since the days of the protests against the war in Vietnam.
The president confessed to the young people that he was among the idealists who imagined a better world after the rupture that COVID-19 meant, because the systems "were so broken...". But sadly, he said, the world went to war, blockades intensified, and governments such as the Israeli government have been brutal in their actions against the Palestinian people.

We want a better world, where there is more equality, a fairer world; such a world is possible, what we have to do is to defend it. Thus reflected the Head of State, who added that the world is defended as the Cubans do day by day, in spite of the blockade; and as the Palestinian people also do.
The priorities of the Party and the Government for the current times; the unforgettable story of how Cuban scientists saved an entire people from COVID-19 -and they did it with their own vaccines-; the regulatory processes inside the country. The President talked about such experiences with the young people; and when Manolo de los Santos asked him how he explains to the people what is complicated at this time, he was categorical:

"With the truth, Manolo, with the truth". And at that point of the exchange, he explained that the Government does not intend to annoy the people with all the difficulties that affect day-to-day life, and that there is no more effective formula than the "face to face" exchange, as Fidel and Army General Raúl Castro Ruz have taught.

The afternoon at the Portocarrero Hall -the same space where so many times Fidel took his long steps-, was full of emotions and very useful truths. Among many other certainties, Díaz-Canel expressed that "what the peoples defend is what triumphs".

Manolo de los Santos -who had already called the blockade suffered by Cuba "silent genocide"- told the hosts at the Palace of the Revolution about a week full of emotions, about dialogues with young Cubans who "are not robots", who have a very critical discourse. And he told about the experience of having walked the streets and having been able to taste the sensation of freedom.

"Cuba for us is also what Palestine means. It is the flag of our generation," said the director of the People's Forum, who did not let the day pass without first giving heartfelt thanks. The social leader assured that Cuba, the Revolution and its leaders can count on them -the young people who have made headlines around the world for their protests and for the way they have been mistreated. And that this will be the case today, tomorrow and always.