“We know it will be difficult. Yeah, it is. But look: here we are, standing, fighting, not giving up.”

Statements by the President of the Republic of Cuba to the Brazilian press...

Writing "Cubahora" in Exclusive 24/08/2026

President Díaz-Canel at the closing of the International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba. Photo: Presidency Cuba

The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel offered or an interview to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo. During his speeches, the president rejected or that economic transformations represent an abandonment of the process of socialist construction and later affirmed that the US blockade is the determining factor of the difficulties faced by the Caribbean nation.

Díaz-Canel acknowledged the existence of internal difficulties, including bureaucratic problems and delays in certain government actions, but argued that these do not explain the dimension of the current situation.

“I say with all sincerity: even if we had done everything right, without failure, the main cause of what Cuba is experiencing today is the blockade,” he said.

The president explained that the U.S. coercive measures, increased during the terms of Donald Trump, directly affect the availability of fuel and, by that way, electricity generation, water supply, transportation, health services and the functioning of the economy.

He recalled that in the last seven months Cuba only received a shipment of oil from Russia as humanitarian aid, while private fuel imports represent an insufficient amount to cover national needs.

Díaz-Canel also denounced the effect of U.S. actions on foreign companies that maintain commercial relations with Cuba, considering that these measures hinder the arrival of food, medicine, spare parts and other supplies.

He said that currently only a part of the basic list of drugs can be covered and mentioned difficulties in ensuring medical treatments, surgeries and immunization programs.

The lack of fuel has also affected the electric energy system. The president pointed out that Cuba has generation capacity that it cannot fully use due to lack of fuels, a situation that contributes to the prolonged blackouts registered in the country.

Díaz-Canel rejected, however, that Cuba is on the verge of collapse. “There are blackouts, but no blackout has turned off the hope of the Cuban people or broken our capacity,” he said.

In that regard, he stressed the stay of health workers in hospitals and the continuity of educational processes despite difficulties.

The president said that the United States is trying to economically suffocate Cuba to provoke a social explosion that will lead to a rupture with the government and the fall of the Revolution.

Faced with this, he affirmed that the country has no alternative but to resist and reiterated Havana’s willingness to maintain a dialogue with Washington whenever it develops without preconditions and on the basis of respect for sovereignty.

Díaz-Canel said that there are currently contacts between officials from both countries, although an agenda of talks has not been established. “There can be no dialogue under oppression,” he said. On the other hand, when referring to the 176 measures announced, the president express o that these are a result of a development debate.  

 

The measures include greater participation of the private sector, new possibilities for foreign investment and the opening to investments of Cubans living abroad. He explained, the main means of production continue in the hands of the State, while the new economic actors must contribute to the objective of increasing production and generating benefits for the population.

Díaz-Canel expressly rejected that the measures respond to demands of Washington. “The United States has no morals to ask for any concession from us, nor are we willing to make them,” he said. The president insisted that the

During the interview, the president was also questioned about the possibility of a U.S. military intervention in Cuba, in a context marked by threats and pressure measures from Washington. From this administration of the United States we can expect anything,”

When asked what would happen to him personally in the event of a military action against the island, he replied: “If my time comes, it arrived. But it won't be with weakness and cowardice. It will be fighting.” The president reiterated that Cuba does not seek a confrontation and that it maintains a willingness to dialogue with Washington, but without preconditions or subordination to external interests. Díaz-Canel argued that the defense of independence and sovereignty is directly related, under the conditions of Cuba, to socialist construction.

He also referred to the teachings of the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, who “taught us that the setbacks can be transformed into victories and that no enemy, however powerful, is invincible.” We know it will be difficult. Yeah, it is. But look: here we are, standing, fighting, without giving up,” the Cuban president concluded.

Embassy of Cuba in Canada 

Cuba is facing a criminal collective punishment imposed by the United States.

As part of the overwhelming solidarity from the Canadian people, a new petition urge the Government of Canada to oppose the United States illegal policy. Thanks to the Canadian people for actively raising this very important issue, to sign the petition click on the link below.

https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Sign/e-7649

 Two hundred days under siege: The silent asphyxiation of a people

So far in 2026 Cuba has received a single shipment of oil: about 100,000 tons of crude oil donated by Russia, nothing more. More than 1,400 megawatts of installed capacity remain inactive because of lack of crude oil. 

The electrical system is sustained by what the island produces internally: national crude oil, gas accompanying wells and renewable sources, but it is not enough

Raúl Antonio Capote | internacionales@granma.cu

August, 2026

The sun sets over the horizon and the island seems to be shipwrecked in the dark; you can barely see distant glows, fireflies that dot the archipelago, like the position lights of a ship fighting on the high seas in the middle of the storm.

It may seem close in time to January 29, 2026, when U.S. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order -2,207 words that declared Cuba an "unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy" of his country. But for 200 days an entire people has been subjected to unnecessary suffering.

With this argument, the same one that has served to justify interventions in dozens of nations, Trump enabled the imposition of tariffs on any country that dared to sell oil to the island. 

"Cuba will not be able to survive," he declared that night to the press, showing no hesitation. It was not just a threat, the energy siege is not just another coercive measure, it is the turn of the screw of the collar of the garrote torture, it is poking at a wound that has been open for more than six decades.

To understand its uniqueness, it is necessary to distinguish it from the economic, commercial and financial blockade, made official on February 3, 1962, a policy of collective punishment that the international community has condemned on multiple occasions at the UN General Assembly.

The energy fence is something else. 

It is the deliberate interruption of the flow of fuel to a nation which depends on it to make everything work: its hospitals, its water treatment plants, the pumping of water, its food refrigeration systems, transportation, schools.

Undoubtedly, the message of January 29 was clear: no one, under any circumstances, could supply Cuba without confronting the U.S. sanctions machine.

As if that were not enough, on the 1^st of May, Trump signed another Executive Order internationalizing the siege, expanding sanctions on financial institutions and people operating in sectors vital to the Cuban economy. And, in June, the U.S. government sanctioned the state-owned Cuba-Petroleum Union (CUPET), the heart of the island's energy system.

The result: so far in 2026, Cuba has received a single shipment of oil of about 100,000 tons of crude oil donated by Russia, and nothing more. More than 1,400 megawatts of installed capacity remain inactive due to lack of crude oil, the electrical system is sustained by what the island produces internally, that is, national crude, gas accompanying wells and renewable sources, that are not enough.

The blackouts have become prolonged. In many regions of the country, outages exceed 22 hours a day, public transport has been drastically reduced, classes are held remotely when electricity allows.

The Besieged

But the most profound impact is not measured in megawatts, it is measured in human lives: more than 32,800 pregnant women face additional risks from the lack of power that affects health systems.

In the health system, which for decades was the pride of the island and an example for Latin America, hospitals work with generators that consume the fuel that does not arrive, intensive care units operate at the limit, ambulances circulate with extreme rationing.

Desperation has a face: the face of mothers who cannot cook, sick people who cannot refrigerate their medicines, elderly people and children who endure the tropical heat without ventilation.

This energetic fence has predecessors, but none exactly the same. History records sieges that sought to surrender populations due to hunger or cold; for example, the siege of Leningrad, which lasted 872 days and claimed more than a million lives, but those occurred in declared conflicts.

Against Cuba it is different. There are no tanks on the borders, no bombs falling on the cities, it is an asphyxiation administered from a distance, without firing a single shot.

UN human rights experts have described this measure as "a serious violation of international law and a serious threat to a democratic and equitable international order".

The Cuban government has taken it to the United Nations General Assembly, where it has described it as "an act of genocide" and "collective punishment."

These are not rhetorical exaggerations, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines as such acts committed with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, a national group.

How many generations must suffer the consequences of a policy designed to make life in a nation unviable for genocide to be called genocide?

Those Resisting

And yet, the island has not surrendered, because resistance is, for Cubans, a way of life learned in six decades of blockade.

Cuba has drilled new oil wells and reversed the downward trend in its domestic crude oil production; it has installed more than 50 photovoltaic solar parks that contribute more than a thousand megawatts and generate, in the hours of greatest sunshine, 38% of the energy consumed during daytime hours.

It has recovered 348 megawatts of thermal generation in plants that were out of service. It's not enough, but it's all we have. The neighbors share the generator that works, the candle that illuminates, the little fuel that remains. Solidarity is not an abstract concept in Cuba: it is the only currency that still circulates.

The world watches, the world knows, but the world, for the most part, does not act.

Airlines have suspended their flights to Havana; international companies withdraw their investments; the fear of secondary sanctions, the punishment for trading with Cuba, has paralyzed the international community, but not the solidarity of the peoples.

We arrive at 200 days, a cold, administrative figure, which says nothing about the children who have died and who previously survived without any problem, in a country where infant mortality was less than five per thousand live births, at the level of a few developed nations.

A figure that says nothing about the absence of drugs to deal with cancer, about the old man who died of a curable disease. A figure that says nothing about children who grow up with the constant murmur of generators as a soundtrack to their childhood.

We are facing a decision taken in Washington, with all its consequences, while Washington fails to assume any responsibility.

Cuba has been under the energy siege for 200 days, on top of 66 years under the blockade. Cuba has existed for centuries against all odds, defying the logic of the empires that have wanted to bend it.

And yet, darkness is not the end. The archipelago resists the onslaught of bad weather, while sailing transfigured in those expeditionary boats that came to liberate their land from Spanish colonialism -small boats that, in the light of dawn, merge into a single and immense yacht.

Translation by NSCUBA (Nova Scotia)

Stand with Science. Support Health Equity. 

Help the World Discover a Promising New Treatment for Alzheimer s.  

 The legacy of Fidel Castro: ‘¡Venceremos!’ (‘We will win!’)

By Workers World Editorial on August, 2026

August 13 marks the centennial birthday commemoration of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, affectionately known as “Fidel” to hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Fidel was the leader of the 26th of July Movement that eventually defeated the U.S.-backed puppet regime of President Fulgencio Batista in Cuba on Jan. 1, 1959.

It was in early 1961, at the time of a revolutionary victory over a CIA-sponsored invasion at the Bay of Pigs (Playa Girón), that Fidel declared that a “socialist revolution” was made under the noses of the U.S. By the end of the same year, he stated that he was a Marxist-Leninist.

For the next 52 years, from the triumph of the Revolution until his formal resignation in 2008, Fidel was the leader of the Cuban people. He died at the age of 90 on Nov. 25, 2016.

There will be commemorations of every aspect of Fidel’s legacy, not only among the Cuban people, but also on almost every continent, especially within countries in the Global South. And rightfully so! Fidel was more than an individual survivor of hundreds of plots to assassinate him by several U.S. administrations. Fidel’s survival meant in many ways the survival of the Cuban Revolution; that is, Cuba’s independence and sovereignty in a world dominated by imperialist aggression and treachery.

Fidel’s exemplary revolutionary guidance helped Cuba to navigate through difficult times, including the U.S.-led Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the collapse of the Soviet Union and loss of Cuba’s main trading partners, and, of course, the ongoing devastating U.S. blockade.

It was Fidel who oriented the Cuban masses that it was necessary to take a step backward to survive during what was referred to as the “special period” in the early 1990s. This period ushered in capitalist reforms, including private investments, where dollars were integrated in certain sectors of the Cuban economy to help keep afloat crucial socialist measures, such as free healthcare and free education.

Looking toward the future

Fidel was also a fierce anti-imperialist internationalist. He encouraged Cuban brigades to travel — especially to other developing countries throughout the Global South — to provide healthcare to underserved populations.

Africa held a special place in Fidel’s heart. He helped to supervise Cuban militias battling side by side with the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against invading South African apartheid troops during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. Fidel and Nelson Mandela maintained a close personal relationship until Mandela’s death in 2013.

Fidel expressed solidarity in words and deeds with national liberation struggles inside the U.S., despite ongoing hostility from the U.S. government. The late Black Liberation fighter Assata Shakur was granted permanent asylum in Cuba from 1987 until her death in September 2025. Rallies to free Angela Davis were organized throughout Cuba when she was arrested by the FBI on phony charges in 1970 for supporting imprisoned Black Panther Party (BPP) leader, the martyred George Jackson. Fidel also publicly expressed solidarity with another political prisoner and former BPP member, Mumia Abu-Jamal.

This Workers World editorial could go on and on with many other awe-inspiring examples of what Fidel has done to defend the sovereignty of the Cuban people and to promote the interests of all the world’s workers and oppressed peoples. Arguably his greatest gift is what his passing represents: his undying optimism in the revolutionary struggle for worldwide socialism for future generations. And that optimism is embedded deeply within the fabric of Cuban society.

Cuba continues to defend its socialist gains today and beyond despite a devastating oil and gas blockade and the current threat of a U.S. military invasion.

 Debate: Ministry of Environment, Habitat and Housing

Experts agree on the urgency of integrating habitat and sustainability policies to the housing challenge -they also warn us about the danger of  bureaucratizing risks and of the challenge of conflicts of competences...

Maya Ivonne Quiroga Paneque, CUBAHORA

July, 2026

Housing in Cuba (Fernando Medina Fernández / Cubahora)

The recently proposed Law on the Organization of the Central State Administration, published on June 8 this year by the National Assembly of People’s Power, has sparked intense debate in Cuban academic and professional circles. The preliminary draft, which would reduce the number of 23 ministries and four national institutes to mainly, and only, 20 portfolios, provides for the creation of a new institution called: Ministry of Environment, Habitat and Housing.

The measure to apply is part of a process of “reordering, resizing and perfecting” the state apparatus so as to achieve “increased effectiveness in the administrative function.” The proposal has caused many reactions. Some specialists see the merger as an opportunity to integrate sustainable development and climate resilience policies to the housing challenge, while others warn about the risk that housing urgency will cause the subordination of ecological priorities, and even that critical functions of the missing CITMA could end up diluted.

The debate reflects structural challenges that are part of the Cuban institutional system in housing, urban planning and the environment.

 

A necessary ministry may not be sufficient

 The new Ministry of Environment, Habitat and Housing would concentrate in a single body, the environmental functions that until now CITMA exercised — together with competences of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources and of the National Institute of Territorial Planning and Urbanism (INOTU).

 In his Facebook profile, Alejandro Palmarola, biologist and environmentalist, affirms the creation of the new Ministry “is a success and a necessity”.  He argues in favor of the Ministry on the basis of the accumulated experience within CITMA, and he points out, that structures with overlapping functions have coexisted, for example the Directorate of Environment and the Environment Agency, and they have generated inefficiencies as well as gaps in responsibility.

 Palmarola believes that a new Ministry with a transversal nature would permit to overcome fragmentations, while aligning with international trends favoring environmental management to be articulated with other strategic policies. He warns, however, that the challenge is working beyond the name of the Ministry  to ensure the essential: avoid duplication and to ensure the body has operational coherence.

 Institutional redesign must simplify structures and make public management more agile, particularly in a context, like Cuba, where bureaucracy has been identified as one of the main brakes for science, sustainability and innovation in the country.

 Hiram J. Gonzalez Alonso, doctor of Biological Sciences, has declared to Juventud Técnica some doubts he has about the definition of “habitat” that appear in the mission of the new ministry. He said: 

“Neither in the mission nor in the functions is habitat clearly defined," and he explains that "habitat must be conceived as the set of geographical characteristics in which biodiversity develops and coexists.”  Instead, he argues, “the situation of the waters is prioritized and united to the territorial order. We have been working for many years in research on the environment and biodiversity and have been impacted because of this approach.”

 

Architecture, housing and the risk of superstructure

 Universo García Lorenzo, architect and Master of Science at the Institute of Architecture and Constructions of Alma-Atá, Republic of Kazakhstan, argues that both, the Municipal and Provincial Directorates of Housing in Cuba, “have historically responded to a centralized approach to allocation, state control of the housing fund and bureaucratic processing.”  The professor reveals that many of the technicians who work in the housing directions lack university training in architecture or civil engineering and that such training limits them, and cannot be replaced with short courses at medium technician level. He points that such limitations often "compromise the quality of assessments and inspections performed.” 

 García Lorenzo also points out to the constant overlap of functions between the Housing Directorate and the INOTU. “With the unification of functions under INOTU, boundaries between dictating a technical housing status and granting building licenses usually collide at the  municipal base provoking bureaucratic ‘flegage’ where citizens are caught between "Housing regulations" and "Urban Planning opinions" that sometimes contradict each other.”

 Faced with such scenario, Garcia Lorenzo favors the recovery of  independent institutes for Architecture, Housing and the Environment, operating as an ecosystem of counterweights: “INOTU is necessary as the great arbiter of the territory and urbanism, but it can not continue to absorb such complex and specific disciplines.”

 

The risk of fusion: will the urgency of housing crush the environment?

 Analyzing the merger from two sides, García Lorenzo points that “The advantage is that the merger would allow to rootly integrate policies of sustainable development and climate resilience –that are vital for Cuba in the face of hurricanes and coastal floods – as well as favor the use of low-carbon materials.”

 But he warns about a risk: Housing in Cuba drags a crisis of housing deficit and critical deterioration requiring executive management of shock and massive construction resources. By merging with a regulatory and conservation entity such as the Environment, the operational urgency to build could clash with environmental protection restrictions, OR the urgency of housing could end up crushing ecological priorities if there are no autonomous control agencies.”

 

The Concept of Habitat and Historical Debt

 One of the strongest contributions of the technical guild, collected by García Lorenzo, is the transition from an approach of “housing as a unit” to one of “integral habitat”. This last involves building houses, but also ensuring services, infrastructure, public spaces and urban quality.

 This approach has been defended for decades in spaces such as the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, or the National Union of Architects and Engineers of the Construction of Cuba, where the need and value of prioritizing the rehabilitation of the existing housing fund should be above the new work. In their perspective the creation of a ministry could be an opportunity to institutionalize such vision, provided that the ministry is not reduced to merely administrative reorganization.

 

Towards a model of integral management of housing and habitat

 The dean of the Faculty of Architecture of the Technological University of Havana "Jose Antonio Echeverria", himself Master in Social Housing, Dr. Ruslan Muñoz Hernández, places the debate in a broader context. He recalls that a concern for mass and public housing took hold in Latin America from the 1930s, and in Europe after 1945, that with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the right to housing became a very relevant issue.

 Muñoz Hernández advocates in favor of “solid, robust, efficient offices or departments that handle the issue of housing,” while he also insists that they must be integrated not only into technical disciplines but also into banking and legal issues. He proposes that officials have technical competences of architecture and engineering, and that agents of the Ministry of Labor or Social Security and representatives of a bank to process subsidies all become directly involved in the management.

 “The properties must have administrators or managers who answer perhaps to the Municipality itself. There has to be a gear that allows a property management system to work.” 

 All specialists agree that the success of the new structure will depend not only on institutional design, but on the ability to articulate housing emergencies with the demands of environmental sustainability, and on ensuring that science and academia maintain the autonomy necessary to exercise their critical function.

 

Between integration and specialization

 The debate is not limited to these three specialists. In different academic and professional spaces, a common concern has emerged: how to achieve a balance between institutional integration and technical specialization.

 Some sectors welcome the creation of a ministry that unifies dispersed policies and facilitates coordination in the face of challenges such as climate change and the housing crisis. Others, fear that a “macrostructure” will end up diluting responsibilities and weakening technical control.

 Deep down, the discussion reveals a structural dilemma: reforming without reproducing bureaucracies, integrating without losing specialization, and responding to social emergencies without compromising environmental sustainability.

 What seems clear is that, beyond institutional design, the success of any reform will depend on its ability to solve concrete problems: the deterioration of the housing fund, administrative inefficiency and the lack of articulation between public policies.

 

"Cuba is not a threat to the United States, nor does it wish to be its adversary or enemy"

Address by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla during the 7th Ordinary Session of the 10th Legislature

Author: Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla | internet@granma.cu

July 30, 2026 

Cuban Foreign Minister. Photo: José Manuel Correa

Comrade Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Leader of the Cuban Revolution,
Comrade First Secretary and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel,
Comrade Esteban Lazo, President of the National Assembly of People's Power,
Comrade Prime Minister Manuel Marrero,
Comrade Roberto Morales, Secretary of Organization of the Communist Party of Cuba,
The recent speech by First Secretary and President Miguel Díaz-Canel on July 26th, with its brilliant and compelling demonstration of the genocide perpetrated by the United States government against the Cuban people, the deliberations of the United Nations General Assembly on July 7, and the introduction just delivered by the President of the National Assembly relieve me of the need to address certain aspects.
I am joined at this session by the Board of Directors of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The National Assembly of People's Power, as a whole, its Council of State, the International Relations Committee, and many of its deputies have played and continue to play a significant role in the exercise of the Cuban State's foreign policy and in its international relations.
Comrades,
The international political context in which our Revolution defends and represents the interests of the people has worsened significantly.
The United States government has decided to break and destroy International Law, the Charter of the United Nations, and the pillars that emerged from World War II and have guided relations between states for more than 80 years, based on respect for sovereignty and the formal principle of sovereign equality among states.

It has also demonstrated its relative and temporary capacity to impose its will on various governments, overriding their sovereign and constitutional prerogatives, through intimidation, coercion, and, very specifically, the use of unilateral coercive measures and punitive trade tariffs.
It has resorted to military aggression, to wars without any justification, to the bombing of civilian populations, to the kidnapping of a sitting Head of State, to political assassination, to state terrorism, to “regime change,” and to cognitive or unconventional warfare.
They base this behavior on a new and unusual doctrine that they title "peace through force", such as that supposedly emerged in the historical past from looting, dispossession, conquest, extermination, occupation, slavery, ethnic cleansing, or the peace of the old colonial empires, the World Wars, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, fascism and Nazism, the Monroe Doctrine and its Corollaries, of the design that must have motivated Hitler when he proposed to reconfigure the map of Europe in the first half of the 20th century or more recently with the ill-fated redesign of the Indo-Pacific, the New Middle East or NATO.
In recent weeks, as if the lessons of history had not been learned, the ghost of McCarthyism and the witch hunt resurfaces in the United States as official policy. A strange Summit, to which dozens of Foreign Ministers were suddenly summoned in Washington, was dedicated to trying to launch the persecution of a phenomenon that had not been heard of. They call it a "resurgence of far-left terrorism." Before, they had tried to coin the strange concept of "narco-terrorism." We should remember the bloody Latin American dictatorships and the Plan Condor that they imposed.
Shortly after, the State Department published an extensive report on Cuba, which has caused much discussion due to its superficiality, mendacity and inconsistency, as if it were commissioned from a poorly used Artificial Intelligence application, it is said, but which attempts to single out Cuba as a danger to the United States.
Besides the absurdity of suggesting that our country could threaten the world's largest nuclear military power, the report seeks to criminalize and repress genuine expressions of solidarity with Cuba, manifested in multiple sectors and segments of American society.
It seeks to condemn and criminalize the Cuban Revolution's support for causes advocating for justice, civil rights, and against racism, Zionism, war, and oppression. It questions our right to defend ourselves against imperialist aggression. It attacks the solidarity and humanitarian work we have undertaken in many parts of the world. It condemns Cuba's internationalist efforts for the liberation of the peoples of Africa and against apartheid, and identifies our country as a danger because of its example, its resistance, its dignity, and its work for social justice.
Just over five years ago, in July 2021, that great Mexican and Latin American statesman, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, declared, and I quote: “We may agree or disagree with the Cuban Revolution and its government, but having resisted for 62 years without subjugation is quite a feat. (…) Consequently, I believe that, because of their struggle in defense of their country's sovereignty, the Cuban people deserve the prize of dignity, and that island should be considered the new Numantia for its example of resistance, and I think that, for that very reason, it should be declared a World Heritage Site.” End quote.
That example, that alternative to unfettered capitalism and imperialism, is the danger the United States identifies, adding to it the thirst for revenge of the heirs of the Batista dictatorship—murderers of 20,000 Cubans—the henchmen, torturers, and thieves, the mercenaries of Bay of Pigs, those who tried to push us toward nuclear holocaust, bacteriological warfare, the perpetrators of attacks, the terrorists, and those who seized control of the country. And that is why they condemn us to a ruthless and merciless war. They are the reincarnation of Valeriano Weyler and that 19th-century holocaust; and of Lester Mallory, architect of the policy of provoking suffering, despair, and the overthrow of the government.
Through aggressive and threatening behavior, the world's greatest military and economic power stifles the will of many states in the conduct of their own national affairs and even in their international relations.
This reality has allowed the U.S. government to drastically intensify the economic war and collective punishment against Cuba, tighten the energy embargo to the maximum, strangle our possibilities for commercial interaction with other countries, and advance in its efforts to disconnect Cuba from the international economy.
They are blatantly lying when they say there is no energy embargo, that we were getting free oil, that the blockade doesn't exist, and that it doesn't infringe upon the sovereignty or jurisdiction of other states.
It is a very dangerous and logically unsustainable scenario in the medium term, but one that, under the current circumstances, forces Cuba to endure the increased, ruthless destructive capacity of the United States government.
On July 26, the First Secretary of the Party and President of the Republic warned, and I quote: "Cuba is waging a historic battle today. A new Moncada. ... we, the current generations, are fighting against the walls of a genocidal policy that aims to suffocate the entire population in order to seize control of the country."
Even under these circumstances, our people enjoy broad and deep relations throughout the world. These are, as a rule, friendly and cooperative relations, but they are also, as a rule, relations of respect, even with countries and governments with which we have political differences, which are the minority.
There is no doubt regarding the overwhelmingly universal rejection of the United States' economic blockade against Cuba. The resounding 136-9 vote against the US attempt to block a debate on the issue at the UN General Assembly on July 7th is clear evidence of where global public opinion stands, even under the current climate of intimidation.
"Whoever rises up for Cuba today, rises up for all time," Martí would surely repeat in these circumstances. Silence, indifference, or narrow and selfish interests would endanger all of humanity. Any state could be next if a broad international effort does not halt this barbarity. If U.S. citizens had access to truthful and sufficient information, they themselves could prevent the catastrophe with which their government threatens the planet.
On January 1st, 2024, the Leader of the Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, stated, and I quote: “The policy of permanent hostility and blockade imposed by the United States government is the main cause of our economic difficulties. Have no doubt about this reality, even though the enemy invests millions of dollars and considerable effort to conceal it.” End quote.
Our people are aware of the news and understand perfectly that a macabre and well-designed plan is underway, aimed at cutting off, step by step, sources of financial income, access to markets and technology, and essential supplies for the Cuban economy and the lives of Cubans, including food and medicine. Added to these and other significant limitations are those imposed by the total energy blockade, which has been in effect since January of this year and which, through the use of all available means, practically prevents the importation not only of fuel, but also of components and parts, including solar panels and all inputs or technology associated with electricity generation.
Our people are also aware that the threat of military aggression remains. Even though it is neither conceivable nor logically conceivable what excuse or pretext could be used for such a criminal and irresponsible act, the aggressive appetite of anti-Cuban sectors within the United States seems to know no bounds.
These are the same people who celebrate as a success of their policy the agony and suffering of a mother who loses her child due to a lack of medical supplies. They are the ones who rejoice over every megawatt that goes ungenerated in the country, over the hours of blackouts endured by the people, over the water shortages faced by significant segments of the population, over the garbage that goes uncollected, and over the disruption of public transportation.
The United States government is well aware of our willingness to find solutions to bilateral differences through dialogue and is well aware of the patience with which we have accepted its proposal to talk on the basis of respect.
The United States and everyone else observe our willingness to accept, despite lies and manipulation, an offer of aid—curiously labeled as humanitarian—in an amount that merely covers the economic and social impact of five days of the blockade. This is less than the aid from the World Food Programme, which they tried to prevent, and despite the fact that it is being provided by the same government determined, futilely but causing profound pain and suffering, to create a humanitarian crisis in Cuba.
The true goal and intentions of the United States government are not revealed through dialogue or diplomacy, nor even through offers of aid, but rather through coercion and a determination to inflict the greatest possible punishment on the Cuban people in order to force their surrender.
Cuba is not a threat to the United States, nor does it wish to be its adversary or enemy. Our vocation is one of peace, as evidenced by the relations we enjoy with the entire international community and by the Proclamation of Peace for Latin America and the Caribbean, signed by the Heads of State and Government of the region in Havana.
Our sole commitment is to the Cuban people. Our mandate emanates and continues to emanate directly from their full, sole, and absolute sovereignty. We have the duty and the right to reject and confront the aggression that punishes and threatens them, and we have the supreme right and duty to defend ourselves, even with arms, if we are militarily attacked.
We continue to aspire to the eventual possibility of a respectful and constructive relationship with our voracious neighbor to the North and to take steps that lead in that direction, always with absolute, total, and complete respect for the sovereign rights and prerogatives of each party, which is how relations between states are conducted.
Many of our compatriots live in the United States. With our compatriots, we strive to strengthen ties and offer them the greatest opportunities for interaction with the homeland and for fraternal bonds with their families and loved ones. Many of the government measures adopted now and in recent years are oriented in this direction and are based on the conviction that Cubans residing outside of Cuba, anywhere in the world, have an important role to play in the development of the nation, from wherever they are and also if they return to the country.
The new economic and social transformations in which we are engaged considerably expand these possibilities.
I wish to express our immense gratitude for the expressions of solidarity with the cause of Cuba from all continents, for the constant and unconditional humanitarian aid, free from political opportunism, from numerous governments, parliaments and parliamentarians, international organizations, fraternal organizations, social movements, political parties, businesspeople, friendship, solidarity and civil society associations, intellectuals and artists, personalities and academics, and individuals of diverse political leanings and ideological commitments, but who all agree in rejecting the injustice and the crime committed against Cuba.
Barely four years had passed since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, when Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz expressed, in 1963 and I quote: "It is true that we are still under the imperialist blockade; It is true that the imperialists are trying to tighten this blockade, and we do not know how long we will have to resist this situation. And we will resist it! because our revolutionary flag will never fold! because the high head of this nation will never bow! Because we will face the risks that are necessary for as long as necessary; We will face the sacrifices that are necessary, as long as necessary" end of quote.
We know that Independence, the Revolution, Socialism and the very existence of our Nation and our Culture will depend on it.
In the year of its Centennial, it is necessary to understand, assimilate, act and tirelessly repeat that idea established by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz that a better world is possible, a world without cruel blockades, and I quote "that kill men, women and children, young and old, like silent atomic bombs." Fidel aspired and called to fight for a better world that will only be the result of the revolutionary and progressive struggle. This vision feeds optimism, the certainty of victory and commits us to fight tirelessly, even in circumstances as hard and challenging as those we live in today.
Let us repeat with José Martí "before giving up the effort to make the Homeland free and prosperous, the South Sea will join the North Sea, and a snake will be born from an eagle's egg."
Socialism or Death!
Homeland or Death, We will prevail!

 The Garden of Wonders

A biochemist and a teacher have cultivated a world of food sovereignty in the city.

Anaisis Hidalgo Rodríguez | internet@granma.cu

July, 2026

MANZANILLO, Granma – In just 400 square meters, the La Rosita Local Development Project, located in the Nuevo Manzanillo community, has become a national benchmark for urban and suburban agriculture. This space, led by the husband-and-wife team made by María Rosa León Reyes and Josué Guilarte González, is irrefutable proof that food sovereignty can flourish in the heart of the city, weaving a model where science, farming tradition, and social commitment mutually reinforce each other.

What is extraordinary about La Rosita is not its size, but the astonishing density of innovation it houses. María Rosa, 66, a teacher by training and a farmer by birth, and Josué, a 67-year-old biochemist, have transformed every corner into a productive ecosystem.

“I’m a peasant from the mountains of Ceiba Caridad. I inherited a farm from my parents, a caballeria of land, which is my greatest treasure. I became a teacher, but I’ve always been passionate about caring for plants and animals; they bring me comfort and ensure food for my family, friends, and neighbors. This patio is a miniature version of that farm in the heart of the city,” explains María Rosa.

The couple has achieved meticulous use of space in their patio, which incorporates nearly 19 agricultural sub-programs. It’s surprising to see banana plants emerging alongside medicinal, ornamental, aromatic, and fruit-bearing plants in the most unexpected pots, even on the roof of their house, and the development of a whole system that includes family aquaculture with red tilapia, raising rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, two peacocks, a few pheasants, pigs, semi-protected crops, and a small-scale agroecological production facility. This holistic approach not only ensures the production of chemical-free food, but also shortens the distance between the field and the table.

Germevit: The scientific Heart of the Patio

Any plant germinates well in La Rosita's backyard despite its proximity to the coast and the effects of salinity. This is due to the use of a homemade microbial inoculant (biopesticide), registered in 2022 as Germevit with the Industrial Property Office.

Germevit was conceived in 2013 from a lactic acid bacterium obtained from rice bran yogurt and worm castings, its name combines "germination" and "life," and also includes the initials of his two children, Germán and Evita. Its benefits have extended beyond the backyard, healing the mythical waterhole tree in La Demajagua Park-Museum, a symbol of Granma province, and crocodiles at the local breeding center.

Josué details the scientific scope of his creation, which was recognized this year with the Provincial Innovation Award: "We have developed two fundamental products: Germevit-bio. A foliar bio-stimulant that improves the physical, chemical and microbiological conditions of soils, with national and international recognition.  And, Germevit-Additive, a probiotic that ensures a balanced gut microbiota and gastrointestinal health, preventing digestive disorders and improving animal vitality.”

As an added benefit, regular application of Germevit-Additive reduces the generation of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in excrement, neutralizing unpleasant odors and preventing fly infestations in the facilities.  Today, La Rosita produces and markets products derived from the processing of organic waste in eastern Cuban provinces. To date, they produce eight variations of Germevit, with different dosages and functions, as an organic biostimulant in agriculture and a nutritional additive in livestock farming.

Science is evident in every detail. They use the black soldier fly, a dipteran with high protein content, for animal feed, reducing dependence on external inputs such as corn or soy. Currently, María Rosa is developing her Master's thesis on the impact of Germevit on free-range chicken production, seeking to optimize weight gain, boost the immune system, and combat anorexia. Furthermore, they have created a product in the registration phase from the stink bug to combat pests and diseases, reaffirming their commitment to constant research.

A Circular-Economy Model

Sustainability is a fundamental pillar at La Rosita. A biodigester, fed with pig manure and treated with Germevit, produces methane gas for cooking.

This cycle is completed with worm castings, which process organic waste and generate leachate, considered the best fertilizer.

"This product, along with Germevit, is already being sold and has been used by more than a thousand rice farmers in the region, achieving yields of up to 5 tons per hectare," emphasizes Josué, who above all defends his identity as a farmer.

To Transcend

The influence of this backyard extends far beyond its physical boundaries. María Rosa and Josué have established interest groups with elementary, middle, and high schools where children learn to plant and care for the land, taking these lessons home with them. These teachings are replicated in some 3,000 backyards in Manzanillo.

Students from the Camilo Cienfuegos Military School and the University, along with entire families and farmers, come seeking their expertise.

Their produce not only feeds their family but also benefits maternity homes, children's homes, and people in vulnerable situations, demonstrating a deep social commitment.

Awards and Legacy

The merits of this project are widely recognized. A pioneer in receiving the Fifth National Excellence Award and a National Reference Project, La Rosita boasts a 17-year history. It has been awarded the Neighborhood Prize, the Provincial Environmental Award in 2026, and has received support from institutions such as the European Union's Living Earth project.

For Josué, the success lies in the synthesis of knowledge: "Cuban farmers create science every day with their knowledge. It's knowledge that cannot be undervalued."

Rosita, as María Rosa is commonly known, despite her multiple health conditions, embodies the spirit of the schoolyard with her characteristic energy: "I have a strong will to work. I feel young and proud of what we have achieved. The schoolyard was built as my parents dreamed, it overflowed into the community and became a school, so I haven't stopped being a teacher, nor will I ever."

La Rosita is much more than an urban garden or a small-scale agroecological production facility. It's a living laboratory, a school of values, and irrefutable proof that, as María Rosa states, "having a backyard means we have true food sovereignty." Its legacy paves the way toward a more sustainable future, where science and tradition go hand in hand to nourish bodies and souls.

Translation by NSCUBA (Nova Scotia)