Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, reaffirmed today Cuba’s commitment to Latin American and Caribbean unity while commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the defeat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), in a speech where he paid homage to the historical leaders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez.

In an emotive call for regional integration, the Cuban leader recalled that 4th November 2005 was inscribed in the history of the continent with a cry of independence and rebellion.

Hereafter, we transmit the complete text of the speech by the Cuban Head of State, published on the Presidency’s website.

Dear friends and brothers in struggle:

Today we are convened by the commemoration of a defeat: the defeat of the imperial plan to gobble up, in a single bite, the peoples from the Bravo to Patagonia.

Today we celebrate a feat of unity, a triumph of Our America, which twenty years ago said No to the neoliberal project of integration; No to the plundering of resources; No to the privatisation of essential services; No to the increase of poverty and inequality on the continent.

4th November 2005 was inscribed in the history of the continent with a cry of independence and rebellion. That day, Latin America shouted with a single voice: No to the FTAA!

Twenty years have passed since then, since that burial in Mar del Plata, where the peoples of America buried an imperialist plan disguised as integration that sought to subject our economies, our cultures and our lives to big transnational capital.

It was not about free trade, but free exploitation. It was not about integration, but absolute subordination.

This is confirmed by the course of the small FTAAs that were signed, the overbearing, disdainful treatment, like that of a master to a serf, that the empire has dispensed to the nations, whose governments of the time signed agreements that are dead letter when the emperor of the moment decides to impose coercive measures and high tariffs.

In the recount of these hours, twenty years later, it is inevitable to evoke the actions of two greats of Latin American and world history, who opposed this initiative from its origins. Two leaders, whose dignified and unitary legacy accompanies us and will accompany us forever: the commanders Fidel Castro Ruz and Hugo Chávez Frías.

Fidel, with his profound revolutionary and anti-imperialist vision, publicly criticised globalised transnational capitalism, defying what seemed to be the «common sense of the epoch».

The events of Globalisation and Problems of Development and the Hemispheric Encounters of Struggle against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), created by him; the Continental Campaign of Struggle against the FTAA, and his speeches and interventions from those years, were solid pillars for the dismantling of the imperialist project.

And alongside him, Chávez, who presented the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) as a counterposition to the FTAA. An integration based on cooperation, not on competition; on brotherhood, not on profit. Those giants showed us the way. They taught us that integration is not a chimera, but a historical necessity that cannot be built on the ruins of our sovereignty.

Principles are not negotiable, and the dignity and valour of the peoples can overcome all the weapons of the most powerful empire in history.

On this path, advances have been experienced and also setbacks that at times seem painfully definitive, but the struggle continues. The historic victory we celebrate today is a fundamental spur in the face of the enormous challenges we must confront today, with unity as our shield and bulwark.

The persistent threat of a military intervention in Venezuela is increasingly alarming. The genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip and the attempts to annex the West Bank persist, despite agreements. And the United States blockade against Cuba intensifies in words and in deeds, even amidst the devastation we are currently facing in the east of the country as a consequence of the passage of a great hurricane.

Today continues to be the moment for unity and that moment is indispensable and cannot be postponed. And the shaking of the continental conscience by the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution remains pertinent, and I quote: «How long are we going to remain in lethargy? How long are we going to be defenceless pieces of a continent whom its liberator conceived as more dignified, greater? […] How long are we going to remain divided? How long are we going to be victims of powerful interests that vent their fury on each of our peoples? When are we going to launch the great slogan of union? The slogan of unity within nations is launched, why not also launch the slogan of unity of the nations?»

Let us fight for a Latin America and Caribbean that is truly and definitively free from the imperialist yoke. Let us fight for equitable and dignified societies where fundamental rights are not privileges for a few, but benefits for all. Let us fight tirelessly for the Bolivarian Great Homeland, free and sovereign, which was the dream and endeavour of our founding heroes.

Let us say again: No to the FTAA! Yes to Latin American and Caribbean integration!

Long live Fidel and Chávez!

A better world is possible, necessary and urgent!

Ever onward to victory, comrades!