Defending Cuba and Socialism – Reflections from the IV Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements in Havana
To commemorate Fidel’s centennial and to send a message of solidarity to Cuba, Havana was the site of the IV Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements, from August 6 to 9.
Altar for Fidel during the IV Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements (Pedro Pablo Chaviano).
Dear comrades,
Greetings from the Nuestra América office of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.
During the month of August, in every corner of our continent, we witnessed the celebration of the centennial of the birth of the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro. At Tricontinental we have prioritised paying tribute by recovering his legacy. In that context, we also participated in the IV Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements, held in Havana, Cuba, from August 6 to 9, to commemorate Fidel’s centennial and sending a message of solidarity to the people of Cuba and of unrestricted defence of its Revolution —one of the main battlefields of this new offensive of imperialism on our continent.
The current conjuncture we are undergoing is not simple. On this we have not only arrived at a common understanding, but we have established it as one of the main priorities for the research we carry out at Tricontinental’s Nuestra América office. As you can see on our website, we are carrying out a series of projects that, on the one hand, seek to map the current characterisation of the Left in our continent, taking into account the strengthening of far-right governments in the region, and the political and organisational challenges that this moment places upon the popular classes. Likewise, we are asking ourselves about the future, as we developed in the Institute’s Dossier 100, and what those disputes are from our continent.
Celebrating Fidel is, undoubtedly, an opportunity to delve deeper into these two questions. In a dialectical relationship, the construction of the future is only achieved in our present, which compels us to ask ourselves how, in daily life, we take accurate steps toward the only horizon of possibility for humanity: socialism.
Opening of the FIDEL X 100 exhibition in the Varona Building of the University of Havana during the IV Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements (Utopix).
In Havana, nearly 200 delegates from 27 countries and 132 organisations spent four days debating not only on the necessity, but the urgency, of building socialism as a guarantee for the defence of sovereignty and continental integration, with a unified vision regarding the enemy before us, which continues to perpetuate a silent genocide against the people of Fidel. Amid the rich debates, we were able to see Cuba’s absolute determination to defend its Revolution to the ultimate consequences, despite the devastating effects of the intensification of the energy blockade measures imposed since January of this year, which have compounded the previous 60 years of the illegal blockade on the island by the United States.
ALBA Movements is a continental coordination of social and popular movements bringing together nearly 400 organisations from 25 countries in the region, and which, like Tricontinental, is part of the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA). In this newsletter, we want to share some excerpts from the Final Declaration of the 4th Assembly of ALBA Movements, which we believe crystallise some of the main challenges we face as a region. Tricontinental, as a research institute working hand-in-hand with social movements, has prioritised researching these topics.
‘The offensive against Cuba reflects the nature of an imperialism in a profound hegemonic crisis, which faces the proven incapability to offer a future for anyone on the planet. The wars and genocides it drives are the clearest proof of its decadence, and the sign that before dying, the monster intends to take everything it considers its own down with it. Our continent is situated within that predatory fantasy of the US, and the old formula of the Monroe Doctrine is revived more fiercely than ever to punish our peoples and destroy any possibility of social transformation of the capitalist system.
Posters from the FIDEL X 100 exhibition displayed at the University of Havana (Utopix).
The imperialist boot never left our region. Through disguised methods, it was always present in Latin America and the Caribbean. Today, however, the remilitarization of the continent stands as one of the main threats to our sovereignty and integration. Under the pretext of the struggle against ‘international terrorism,’ imperialism pushes forward the project of a Shield of the Americas over the continent, and within that framework, an enormous deployment of the Southern Command has been unleashed across the region with the so-called ‘Western Hemisphere Joint Task Force.’
That offensive has made the Caribbean region its main theatre, serving as the first imperial border. Here, across these immense seas full of wealth and diversity, the scenarios that marked the anticolonial path of struggle for independence and sovereignty throughout our entire continent unfolded. Today, this is precisely the central theatre of this period of remilitarization. Under the pretext of the war on drug trafficking, for months we witnessed bombings and the deliberate killing of Caribbean fishers perpetrated by the US, aimed at justifying the military offensive in the region, which crystallised in the attack against the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela in the early morning of January 3.
Today, the political map of our region has changed radically. The rise of extreme right-wing governments with fascist characteristics in the countries of our region implies not only a threat to our peoples and to the gains we were able to achieve over these years. This fascist extreme right criminalises those who struggle, and for that reason we demand the release of political prisoners, fighters who are victims of it. This advance does not only occur within institutions; it also threatens the very existence of democracy itself. The crisis of liberal democracy is still the fruit of neoliberalism itself; therefore, we emphasise that we defend another model—not just any democracy, but a popular, participatory, and protagonist democracy, where the people are the ones who guide the destiny of the Homeland.
Posters from the FIDEL X 100 exhibition displayed at the University of Havana (Pedro Pablo Chaviano).
The peoples of Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and many others, must today confront the fascist and criminalizing violence of their governments, while seeking to advance the historic demands of the popular classes: agrarian reform and land redistribution, labour rights, the right to education, universal access to health systems, etc. We know that this project designed by US imperialism seeks to eliminate the organised political power we have built as peoples over centuries, especially the organised sectors of our region such as Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, women, and youth.
Comrades, we have no other path than to advance as peoples. Retreating is not even a remote possibility. We must strengthen our capacities in those terrains where the enemy has waged a cognitive war that has yielded significant results for them so far: the use of artificial intelligence, the utilization of mass media and social networks, and the handling of algorithms are territories that we have the duty to understand and master, so we can direct this knowledge produced by humanity and the working class toward the emancipation of our people.
This Assembly marks a milestone in our coordination. We arrived in Cuba under the slogan ‘for socialism: a hundred years walking with Fidel.’ We leave reaffirming that socialism is not only urgent, but necessary, and that building it demands a radical commitment —in every school, every neighbourhood, every rural community, every territory, every workplace. The best way to honour that horizon and make it a reality is not merely to proclaim it, but to dedicate our efforts and our lives to the struggle, never lowering our arms until inequality and exploitation have been eradicated from the planet.
Performance by La Colmenita at the cultural closing of the IV Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements at the Martí Theatre in Havana (Pedro Pablo Chaviano).
The struggle against imperialism and its fascist expressions is our highest priority. We cannot build this path without internationalism, without popular feminism, and without the participation of Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, and rural and urban workers. On this foundation, together with our sister networks in the region and the world, we are forging a path of coordination and convergence toward a broad articulation that allows us to take accurate and effective steps toward this objective. From ALBA Movements, we stand today and always, we stand with the peoples of Palestine, Sudan, the Sahel region, and all those who, through their historic resistance and courage, set an example of dignity.’
Just as Fidel Castro defended the legacy of José Martí as a member of the Centenary Generation of the Apostle’s birth in 1953, so too will we carry forward the legacy of the Commander in Chief. We are the new Centenary Generation, and from the Trench of the Battle of Ideas and Emotions, through the production of critical thought, and committed, rigorous social research by and for the emancipation of the peoples—will continue to build the necessary path of organisation and consciousness to achieve the socialist future.
Laura Capote
 | Laura Capote |