An attempt has been made to orchestrate a new act of anti-Cuban provocation from abroad, through the awarding of a “prize” with the aim of interfering in the internal affairs of Cuba, generating instability, affecting the country’s image and Cuba’s diplomatic relations with other States.

The operation was carried out with financing and support from counter-revolutionary groups based abroad and other international organizations such as the so-called Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA); Pan American Democracy Foundation; the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation; and using a small, illegal anti-Cuban group as instrument.

As is customary in any reactionary initiative in our region, the involvement of the OAS Secretary General was not lacking.

It should also be remembered that a similar operation was attempted last year in which, as well as the aforementioned groups, the Democracy and Community Center; the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL); and Interamerican Institute for Democracy, run by terrorist and CIA agent Carlos Alberto Montaner, all of which have been actively working against Cuba and whose links with the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which receives funding from the U.S. government to carry out subversive programs against Cuba, are well known.

These organizations have extensive credentials as agents of intervention and subversion against progressive governments of Our America, with the aim of destroying them, and toward which they have dedicated significant efforts and resources. Interestingly, they maintain complicit silence regarding the threats of the use of force and recent U.S. incitement of a military coup against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; they fail to speak out against coups on the continent, to denounce poverty and hunger, or the racial and religious discrimination present in our region.

Nor can our peoples count on these organizations and their leaders to fight for greater social justice and equality, or to support the families of progressive and trade union leaders and journalists murdered for their political ideals, or to other victims of paramilitarism and organized crime.

This time they attempted to put on a show that would affect the normal development of general elections in Cuba. The actions combined a communications strategy, through the use of international media outlets and social media, with measures aimed at evading our country’s laws, and undermining the legitimacy of the just and legal action of our authorities.

Although they were well aware and warned that they would not be welcome in Cuba for such purposes, Andrés Pastrana Arango and Jorge Fernando Quiroga Ramírez, former presidents of Colombia and Bolivia, respectively, and Chilean Deputy representing the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), Jaime Bellolio Avaria, volunteered to participate in this act of provocation in Cuban territory, which is why, based on our laws and international norms, they were not permitted to enter our country.

Said action is part of the imperialist offensive against the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, in which the United States government has declared the relevance and validity of the “Monroe Doctrine,” and has provoked a setback in bilateral relations with Cuba.

The protagonists of this ploy are not at all interested in Cuba or the Cuban people, who they offend on attempting to violate the constitutional order that we have freely chosen. This is why they have had to resort to foreign resources and figures to achieve their goals.

Every time they do so, be it this or any other way, they will receive the firm response of the Cuban people, who remain united and loyal to the principles of the Revolution, as we will show this coming Sunday, March 11, when we vote en masse for the people’s candidates.

Havana, March 8, 2018