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Cuban foreign minister affirms
viability of socialism despite blockade
BEIJING, China, September 1. — Cuban Foreign
Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla today affirmed the
viability of socialism in his country despite the
U.S. policy of aggression, which, he said, remains
intact.
Neither the blockade policy, nor the global economic
crisis, nor the effects of climate change have been
able to break the viability of Cuban socialism, he
stated.
 The
foreign minister was speaking on the subject at the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in a lecture
titled “Cuba: An autochthonous and viable form of
socialism,” concluding the official program of the
first day of his visit to this country, PL reported.
To
support his thesis, Rodríguez Parilla said that
Cuba’s system has profound historical and popular
roots, and is therefore one of renewal and
democratic, and it constitutes the guarantee of
national independence.
He
said that Washington’s policy of blockade,
aggression, internal subversion and isolation
against his country has failed.
As
evidence of that, he said, Cuba has diplomatic
relations with 183 of the 192 member countries of
the United Nations, and the island hosts more than
31,000 scholarship students from other nations.
Some
51,000 Cuban internationalist workers are providing
their services in cooperation with 98 countries,
including as advisers in the “Yes, I Can Do It”
literacy program, and as health personnel
participating in the Operation Miracle
ophthalmological program, which to date has brought
treatment to more than 1.7 million people.
He
noted that Cuba continues to develop despite the
aforementioned White House policy which has caused
more than $236 billion in losses at today’s rates.
In
that context, he noted that the policy remains
intact under the government of President Barack
Obama, and is being strictly applied, with the use
of extraterritorial measures and harassment of
financial transactions.
Translated by Granma International
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