Cynthia Thanda

Cuba continues to relentlessly fight for freedom and human rights despite the campaign of propaganda and the economic and financial blockade waged by the United States of America.

The Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba in Botswana, His Excellency Orlando E. Alvarez Alvarez praised the determination and courage of the Cuban people.

The situation in Cuba is still a touching reality as there is inflation because of lack of supplies, the scarcity of food and difficult transportation.

He spoke to journalists mid this month during the first anniversary of the 11^th of July 2021 protests in Cuba.

Ambassador Alvarez pointed out that the destabilization has been intensified this year with a campaign of lies and falsehoods about Cuba in social media and various digital platforms peddled by ‘hired thugs’ and counter-revolutionaries sponsored by the US Department of State through the so-called ‘restoration of democracy’ campaign.

This has put the country in a vulnerable state and made it susceptible to infiltration by enemies as well as being portrayed as a negative inhuman country.

When talking about the Anniversary, H.E Ambassador Alvarez mentioned that the people who went on to the streets last year were in no way political.

“They are people who vandalized just for the sake of creating havoc”, he said.

He said that these protesters were paid to create chaos as a way of demolishing the Communist revolution.

Nonetheless Cuba is still confident of its ability to sustain the revolution regardless of the propaganda sold to the world about them.

Regarding # the U.S -Cuba relation, the Cuban envoy said it continues to be restricted by the illegal and unilateral economic and financial blockade that was imposed by the USA, which embargo the US Congress made into law through the Helms-Burton Act.

Every year Cuba presents in the United Nations a resolution against the embargo and it is approved by almost all the countries except for the United States and Israel.

It is to be noted that the United States of America and Israel are two important financial powers and they use this power to block Cuba from the multilateral system.

“We want the world to know what is going on from our mouths. People should hear and understand what is going on in Cuba, and then they can make their own decisions,” Ambassador Alvarez said.

Despite facing difficulties in their county, Cuba has always had a faithful bilateral relationship with Botswana. The strong bond of mutual respect and trust is attested by plans to bring 70 Cuban doctors Botswana this year.

Cuba has always supported Botswana in sports such as volleyball and they also sponsor two students from Botswana to study medicine in Cuba.