[inaudible conversations] good morning. Welcome to the policy studies with the status of us cuba relations. And for those who dont know sometimes the wording is hard to remember to build more equitable and Peaceful Society those transformative policies into action. And i have the Events Coordinator here and i will also mention some relevant associations to organize for peace justice and community and now for the blockade against cuba and the normalizing of relations and also against all unilateral decisions by extension cuba. And with that current relation of us and cuba with those popular misconceptions and then to hear about the benefits of a normalized relations for both the people of cuba and the people of the United States. But a lot of people know why that mistake happened. But now since 2014 it is now the official embassy. And then we open up her question and answer and then we will be done appointed first secretary june 2015 to the then cuban intersection and worked in the ministry of Foreign Affairs to serve at the Cuban Embassy as a member of the city of havana graduating from the havana faculty of law also masters of science in foreign relations. [applause] thank you so much for coming today i really believe this is an important moment. So there is a vote in the United Nations right now about this. In 2015 when i came i started to say we are in the best moment in almost 50 years and now i will try to explain about the history of the past and the present and what we want for the future this is a presentation with 46 american universities and to talk about us cuba relations. So this is something that people recognize that day here in washington dc and you can see how similar they are. There is a lot of history between cuba and the United States. So i am willing to start right now with some opening questions. I agree the thesis is very important but i start with this question and people say cuba is famous because of cigars and music some people remember the olympics but what do you know about cuba . So i really believe there is a lot of misinformation about cuba so one student said i know i love lucy. [laughter] you remember the tv series and i said wow. And then to know Ricky Ricardo how many of you would . This happens every time for many reasons they want to see the cuban history. So go there and see the real cuba this is a key question so why not . What about china cracks it has wonderful trade relations with vietnam. So according to what i have rea read . So according to what i hav. The only country in the wod starting the war right now. So im going to start with this. Its what you see in the movies. And they you dont remember this from the 80s or 90s. Its a part of the territory and you have a base that nobody wants but according to this. We have the soldiers shooting back in the 60s and people dying from that so its a new tv series and according to that, the delegation. They are not in cuba. Probably you should go to another country to see that they believe it is true so if you want a good recommendation they tried to create the idea that they tried to open the door through the mafia you can see it was showing through the second part. So lets start with this. Its worse than in cuba during the batista regime to call for justice and i wont even go farther to some extent in the batista regime in agreement with the first that is perfectly clear. In the early cases, people dont know and this is 1963, one month before he was assassinated in dallas and some people believe at that point he was trying to improve relations. Remember he tried before president kennedy took office. The cia organized a bad and decided this is going to be easy. We are going to take power and it was a disaster. We have later been missing so probably at this point it was more about the situation in cu cuba. I have to be brief we are against the clock. This is cuba. This is our gdp and is very important because anytime you compare them with the g7, its not fair. We dont have the same resources. By the way this comes from the world bank and the United Nations so you can check all this data but if you dont believe me, go to cuba. This is the gdp per capita and you can see the legal force in cuba. What about the private sector, the property that is right now recognizing the new constitution approved in the referendum. Life expectancy from 71yearsold and the mortality rate is a wii at 8. 2 and for that reason in more than 60 countries around the world not only venezuela but now since the 60s we have more than 400. We dont produce enough food and i will talk about the. They have access to improve the services into this is how much we have spent on education you can see we spend 12. 8 of the g gdp. Weve spent 2. 9 and we have enough resources to. Thats good to know but dont give it too much time. But in any case this is very important. Remember the gdp, people say why, because we dont have all the resources we want on healthcare and education and we have many things we are proud as i show. Let me Say Something here very important. I dont come here to say we are perfect or to say we are the best country in the world. I come here to say we are proud of many things and we are a country that works. We can Work Together and do many things together. We are facing similar challenges and a lot of people want us to be partners and friends to be very honest after four years here i saw a lot of respect for the cuban people a lot for many reasons and i believe we should have better relations. More information about cuba according to the United Nations out of the 189 countries every time that you read in the media, no we do not have what you have here but that isnt poverty. We have none of the things you have here but we have the social Justice System in this is something that for me was interesting. Weve placed number 30 so according to bloomberg we have a Better Health system. My point isnt to compare. You are not going to read that in the media. All the things youre going to read about our bad things. Its probably the worst in the world for the reason against cuba its not propaganda. 1959 before the revolution, we dont have probably less than ten gold medals. To practice the sport its not about money but its about passion this year they were serious because they dont have a good player anymore. So its not about money. Its about passion. [laughter] so, i put this because this is part of the new moment between cuba and the United States. It is nothing new. You can see that the first player came in in 1871 and since that time we have 230 playing mainly baseball. For that reason we were number three and we have four in the whole frame. Ive been there three times in cooperstown. You can play in the National Hockey league but if you are a cuban you have to defend in order to play in Major League Baseball. Unfortunately, as kinsey, on december 19, cuba signed an agreement to Major League Baseball and the union and the new administration counseled that deal. They agreed to sign with cuba and it wasnt about the sport that was about the human traffic they are part of the human traffic. More information about cuba you can see first person of this ancestry was cuban, the only country in the world to visit the criteria for the sustainable development. The first country in the world to receive transmission of hiv and syphilis and according to unicef child found attrition. So again a country that is proud of many things. We can do better and improved many things but we dont deserve sanctions for more than 60 years. At the end they are hurting the people of cuba. This is about hunger and you can see cuba is not a concern. You can see that right now it is in the case of cuba. Cuba is number two National Parliament. 53 of the parliament we are talking about a members of the f the National Parliament and you can see how many things we are proud to say according to the global agenda gap it was 23 out of 149. This is the reality. So, intranet. The need for technology and more resources but now we open it for everybody in cuba and again still expensive and still slow. But its not about the well its about the resources in health and education. Last year for the first time, 51 of the population was able to access. Again according to the United Nations they are using internet in 2017. The United States, 87. Can we compare these resources . So again, its not that we dont want to open the internet. And we did it because in our case its important for the Education Development so we believe it is an important tool. Lets save the question before the end. People say which ones are the most important for you, we are doing business with all the countries of the world and you can see that an export canada is our main partner. This comes from the Congressional Research service. You can see venezuela, china and spain so when they come and say i want to do business with cuba what can you say to us because we are doing business with everybody and you can see in 2016 before the new administration came we are receiving of these business delegations. There are people here that want to do business. You can see everything is because of this and we dont say that, but we say that the blockade is the most further development. We can see that. This is also very important. We have the relationship with 191 countries of the United NationsMember States we have 100 cuba that is huge for a small country like cuba we have 142 and again that is huge for a country like cuba. This is something we are very proud i mentioned before its not only with venezuela. We work against the epidemic when president obama was in office and we thank doctors to stop the epidemic in the United States providing some facilities and physicians and we are proud of that. We have been helping in 30 Different Countries and you can see here how many have graduated from 157 countries in the 60 years of the cuban revolution and we have this school of medicine and we have doctors and physicians for 103 countries. The United States is part of that we have more than 100. So, lets go to the recent history. December 17, 2014. President obama announced to the world the new moment between cuba and the United States and that was big news, breaking news. Everybody was talking about that and i would like to say we didnt see the armageddon after that. But we found that both suspicious and cuba this is part again of what happened in the history between cuba and the United States. After that, if we have to go more quickly. I believe this happened and even the cubanamericans support this. We had a different history. Also for the first time supported relations and this is very important. This is research you can see even in december so after the last president ial elections we have 73 of support for ending the embargo and 75 of support to establish diplomatic relations. 199114 of the support. In 2016, 53 which is all the generations of cubanamericans. 1996 to 2016 days 80 of support between cuba and the United States. According to the census i dont know what they did there because the weather is so different. They are in miami and we are talking about probably more than 1 million so for that reason this is area important into the National University made the polls here. Im not going to show all of them but this is more recent and 2018. 26 , only 12 work while in only 5 work very well so you can see that 80 , more than 80 if we are talking about cubanamericans in 2018 so its not the last century. But this is also very important. You can see that only 10 of the American People back in 1996 had a good opinion about my country. But in 2016, 64 for the first time and as you can see how this is changing and 92019 only 44 have a good opinion about my country and you know what, i dont worry about that. If we go back to a policy that allows more exchange between cuba and the United States people have better numbers than in 2016 and more support because what happened right now is when americans go to cuba they go back and say it isnt so bad. It isnt the hell do you say. Cuba is proud of this worthless and the Current Administration is trying to take every opportunity for you to go to cuba and we are going to talk about that. This is the same poll you can see the opinion of americans about almost every country and the first one, canada, 92 of support and britain, 87 of support and the countries that are below cuba and you can see cuba has 44 but you can see all the countries and you can see that the United States, the Current Administration is open to sit down with almost every country, almost every country but not with cuba. Dont get me wrong. Im a diplomat. I believe that we need to sit down and talk and use the promise of the tool but how can you explain that you are willing to sit down with the taliban and not with cuba . Spigots part of this idea how can you explain you are willing to sit out of almost every country and not with cuba. Its cuba and enemy or a threat, we dont have Nuclear Weapons. Somebody told me thats the reason. [laughter] its difficult to explain after two years that weve proven we can do many things. Why not. Why are we going back again . Because this is a new this isnt a new policy. Its going back to the past. So, president obama visits cuba and you can see according to the new york times, they see restoring diplomacy with cuba as mostly good for the u. S. We gave the opportunity and that was broadcast live to all the country and use the president of the United States i have to go with congress to lift the argo. The last president of visited was Calvin Coolidge back in 1928. I always say someone here from 1928 . I want to know how but i remember president obama said the last president to come i only need three hours. That is how they ar we are so c. So, more information, and cuba we believe that the bilateral relationship in the United States when we are no longer under the regime and with no specific programs funded to our way of life what does that mean . Is that since we established a diplomatic relationship with the United States. You have the financial regime, you occupy part of cuba and you are sending money to destroy. Not to build schools or hospitals but to help the cuban people to destroy everything that i showed before. If you want to understand what is the embargo and sanctions, you can go right now to the state department into this document is public. It is what the where they say wa communist country where socialist country that has a secret document until 1991 but right now its public and you can see what they say. The number one, the majority support castro. 50 . I dont know about you but 50 is half of the population. I see governments every day that has less support and the United States dont put an end or go to those governments. There isnt a political decisions would they suggest going directly here we need to deny money and supplies to cuba to decrease monetary and real wages to bring about hunger and more withdrawal of the government and that is the policy over these 60 years that is the embargo, that is the blockade. They do that to create hunger and when they say its an excuse we say remove this. We dont need an excuse. Lets ask. If you believe that we are so bad you dont need an embargo or sanctions that is the policy. To have overwhelming approval every year. This has been happening since 1982. The why last year between United States and israel . If that almost every country in the world no support of israel and why the embargo is in place. So i say yes i need a good answer. [laughter] if you been to cuba you can understand the embargo better and what it does. But now the Current Administration not only tries to keep the sanctions but open to new ideas. Bad ideas they open the door to this. The act to allow people here to open courts one suits and lower courts with those properties that were nationalized in cuba so when president clinton signed the law he put a waiver so that it was in place and every did one did the same waiver every six months so right now the United States is in the middle of a conflict with some countries around the world and this is important to understand and cuba can negotiate bilateral settlements with france and spain and for those to sit down and negotiate was the United States because i thought this would only be a few months or a few years. So we have been doing that with many countries. I dont have too much time to talk about one but we dont want the base and we dont need it to be honest. In this piece of land and europe could provide that according to the treaty that we signed back in the thirties that you could be there forever so one day you allow people to live in one room in your house and then you say you need to go. So that is what happened so this is what happens every year. So that look at this beach when 1996 and 2018 for cuba is democracy for some people this is a way of life or business but Even Congress recognizes they send money to promote democracy. Look at this. But this is on television for propaganda with that Congressional Service between 1984 in 2019 you that taxpayers spend millions against propaganda against washington because with your money with that propaganda. A couple years ago there was a bill in congress using taxpayer money. And they recognize so that you are wasting money. So what are those opportunities . This is one of the main opportunities that we have everyplace said i visit were talking about it to billiondollar market because cuba has the food that we need. We dont produce enough food. So with that food that we need unfortunately it is prohibited by law here in the United States but the reason that we buy in the United States 300 million but one. 8 billion. Do you know how much we have to pay for transportation cracks its money we dont have that because of the sanctions are there. You can see but then try to explain to a farmer in pennsylvania that okay he has a market go because it is a communist country and what about china. You didnt see this in the news but this is Governor Cuomo but he said for the first time we will create between cuba and the United States because then they granted a license. So if we could have those sanctions in place that is good for both because i try to explain yes we will put more money to the farmers on the table of the cuban people and then to buy Nuclear Weapons one of the things that are important according to the state department that people want to go to cuba. Students want to go to cuba. So we can talk more about that. The Kennedy Center that was amazing. People enjoyed everything that we bring the cuba Baseball Team and we signed an agreement and then they will be here for the world series but we signed an agreement so we sign agreements to be signed the agreement with all of these companies to improve telecommunication in the United States and put to the private sector in the first two years. So what they did so now you can stop in havana for a few hours and then americans lost that opportunity to go to cuba. So now they announce they will suspend commercial flights 29 destinations that you can only fly to havana. That the cubanamericans are the ones that are affected they had a family not only in havana so why this is happening . They say reversing cuban policy will cost billions of dollars in the first four years but this opposition of cuba before the elections we said we are ready to work with the next us president and the president last year stood ready to develop relations with the Us Government this is the will of the cuban people particularly by cubans living here. And that was the answer. And blaming cuba about almost everything. And the Administration Made a promise and then said i want to better deal. But after that he changed even with diplomats but this is what is important is like a boat in florida i dont know how he knows that because of broward miamidade you can see that. What has been accomplished so how can you say with the cubanamerican boat . Cuba is changing so we have a new government and a new National Parliament and we have a new constitution we have 600 members of the National Parliament and i will say isnt castro here . Why do people still say its the castro leadership . If you want to have that excuse and have people sit down and talk. Why the change . Do you remember why it happened to your diplomats in havana . And now that you see nobody talks about that anymore they have not been able to show any evidence of thing happened to the diplomats in havana. Even now there is a study that says it was a neurotoxin we dont say its the truth but its something to consider and like a spy movie it proves nothing but they take a lot of measures to punish cuba. I have to remember septembe september 111880. And nothing ever happened in havana ever. But september 11th. And then we commemorated that before the United States. O this is the idea. Now in venezuela. We support cuba but the cia has been far less important than those senior officials believe. So the cia but you can see what the ambassador put in his twitter accounts. And under the secretary of state the National Intelligence officer for latin america they disagree. This is 2002 so making those accusations is nothing new. But do you know what . If cuban troops and militia has a full and complete embargo than those sanctions are placed and then returned to the island immediately and he is a pathological liar who misinformed there are no cuban troops in venezuela nothing for Security Operations they are. I strongly reject trumps premise. But this is very serious. To Say Something that is not true. If you go back to 1962 president kennedy could show the missiles to cuba. To date nobody can show the cuban soviets. So i do put this there and say next time you hear about the theory but nevertheless with the use of the embargo and yes we have batista but then Nothing Happened but because we are here i also put this on my twitter a few days ago because talking about terrorism that according to the cia to be behind the bomb that killed and Nothing Happened. And again secretary scholz spoke with that involvement and that government is considered israeli. So pinochet was framed in the United States never put the sanctions or blockade or embargo against that. So this is worth in one repeating nobody respects the market change the way we build our relations with the United States because it is based on history and principles. Also cuba has demonstrated is not afraid based on respect and good well the Us Government has decided to escalate on the fair policy. And i put this because what is the definition of insanity . To do the same thing over and over expecting a different result. That is insane. So i have the same question for the end i hope you have more reason to consider and i hope in the future we can shape for those with cuba and i also use this pope francis was important when he visited cuba and the United States after and was important in the communication do unto others as you have had had do unto you. We dont attack the United States. And i like this for the end. So let us overcome a common interest to be resolved then we can make the world safer we will cherish our childrens future. This is a famous speech of president kennedy. And he was talking about the soviet union. Thank you so much. [applause] spirit that is a great presentation. And we will entertain comments we have to keep them brief we will help to moderate that some people given the presentation may have heard that cuba is abandoning socialism and the other i will come back to it. And then to see how many people initially have questions or comments . No i dont believe we are abandoning socialism to support the idea of the society we want to have in the future with social justice and equal opportunities for everybody. But what we see in the world right now it only works for the 1 percent but we understand there is a part that is more easy if we dont have the sanctions so even in the new constitution at the beginning if you compare we remove it from the paper and then the idea that again that is the part of the constitution that was approved by about 80 percent of the cuban population by referendum so it will not be nothing. And again this is a society of opportunities it is of race and opportunities. You talked about the cuban sitting down with the fbi and i know this has happened with the fbi cia with terrorism so correct me if i am wrong but what was the result . Can you go into that we had experience with the fbi back in the late nineties because we were suffering so we invited the fbi to give information of those who were killed in cuba and we believe that information that they were going after going after the people that provided the information and then spent 60 years and we felt that was not fair of course now we say that happen to people in havana and me say come here. And they came. Several times when they came back they found no evidence and for that reason but then the scientists also say its impossible to talk about microwaves in this case. Maybe they will use that explanation. I have a quick comment and then a question so with Public Education and land grant colleges my question is i dont understand why cuba my question is i dont understand why cuba so what happened . So we dont use pesticides but and this is my opinion because its easy to go to the university to enact that position and we dont have the machinery that you have here. So for us to survive that. So we try to help and encourage people to go back and produce we really do believe we need to produce food but this is the situation we have right now. But i went to the university for what we produce in cuba it is important with the Healthcare System because somebody pays for that. Its not free then you have to talk to people so thank you for the question. [inaudible] i think this is an important question and thank you for asking that. 187 countries. [applause] i want to be very honest. I do believe the blockade is real. They say the sanctions are not real but why . Because of the european union. And then to support cuba even then they recognize the blockade is real but then the sanctions are not there. So yes the United States every year in many countries. And then in congress to talk about this and then i say wait a minute. But in the case of the blockade everybody is together. If he doesnt support cuba now the president of brazil. So i believe right now for todays vote i have to be very honest but you have limits and then you can see the result so it was a huge victory. But not to say we win but and then to recognize this is only 2hertz the cuban people. My question is Internet Access so part of the issue is importing technology so now where is that coming from . We sign agreements with china also with the google to improve access to the internet. Because in the past we only have access to the cable running through the island. And then not to have internet at the university. That is the first time that i saw internet. And a few computers. But right now not only for the internet but also because of the us companies and now they say that it will get nothing more than 10 percent. Everything is american or chinese. And if you need a license that is too difficult for us. It is too expensive. I was in cuba two years ago. Actually some of those prevailing theories that i still here is that we have such a hard policy on cuba because of the cubans in florida that are basically republicans who had land confiscated during the revolution is part of a big donating block and florida is a swing state and that is why almost one of the main reasons is that policy. How do you comment on that . Every time according to the information that we see. I dont know about the money but about the vote if you look at the past and when you see the results and even now i mentioned in places of 2018 those of a congressional delegation now theres only one. Why . Yes i do agree there are people there but they are a minority. So i really believe is somebody once to end the relation they would have more support than with or without the blockade because of president obama we were able to do more if you remove the blockade you will see more opportunities. I really believe also cuba is not a priority. Talk to the people in congress they have many priorities in cuba is not part of that. But i dont see too many cubans that will vote next year for a president for them to send money to cuba for cocaine you imagine how much they would spend . I believe that was true in the late fifties but in recent history you see a change. And you will see that very soon. Thank you. I confess to be very well informed of the last policy but i would suggest that it is not possible for you to have normal relations with the United States. For over 100 years it is been the chief principle of domestic foreignpolicy to abolish socialism or anything like it. Wherever that appears. This will not change. In my opinion the only way to mobilize 1 Million People in the militia that has prevented the United States from invading. Thank you for the comment. I notice in your plan there are no racial child one changes . To be very honest i only put statistics from what we received the most i recognize some people use that also but sometimes i dont have all the information i want to use international sources. But in the future we can include that. Thank you. I dont have all the information either about racism is a result of centuries of colonialism. No country on earth they can make advances like universal things like healthcare to benefit everybody but theres a lot of things you cannot legislate you have to change mentality that is a complicated question. I would just offer that there are obviously issues with color everywhere. In fact with europeans in africa. Thats a complicated question and i would say no just because its very complicated. So i want to know how they maintain the position to these policies . Thank you for the question. Im only 40 years old. [laughter] so reading on the history of cuba im only one person but not a million and with that social revolution we have the support of the cuban people. It is very interesting they say in a few months they will collapse theres no way you have a revolution. We have the muslim crisis the president and now they say the problem is the soviet union. But in 1991 it disappeared and the same people and the minority talk about the day after fidel they will collapse and the same people and say castro was there but hes no longer the president of cuba. So what is my point . They did not recognize the cuban people. It with that private property because it is a consensus. We dont have the support of the cuban people. But in 1981 the soviet union disappeared. I remember in 1981 i was a kid in cuba. We didnt have enough food or transportation why are you still there . So to say this is what we want. This is the way canada and spain and people say are you opening the door to the United States . Know. The United States we are close for example if we buy chicken and brazil we will spend the same amount of money or what about havana is 22 hours by see. So if we open the economy to that so the idea is you want something thats good for both sides. Thank you. Thank you. So now going back to the result i would say with the geopolitical objective of the embargo it works very well to the point that more people are not outraged. So to piggyback on that i would be interested to hear what the blockade repsents because obviously to do something some is that International Solidarity . And with the gentle man in front of me and that the embargo is not just the concept that this is an issue that we see. Correct me if im wrong. But if things change here we could actually get a foreignpolicy in cuba than it would change. Right now no country deeds regime change more. So then you can remember. We will take the last two questions. And to be interested in cuba and with that cuban model. And then to think of examples. So can you speak to that . [inaudible] so it seems that these representatives have brought up a question. And then the day before yesterday and then the day before yesterday. [inaudible] but i was looking for a change and i thought there was nobody. And it is called the microwave frequency syndrome. And the former soviets. And then to have a big debate. So there are a lot of developments i have not researched the whole thing. But i would like to point out i just dont know how many of you are aware in the United States the framework that uses microwave radiation is changing. Its important for people to understand this framework for the American People. We have to and their. So with the background of that they should look into that. There is already sickness. But there are a lot of Health Issues that should be look and studied. Thank you. I will try to remember. [laughter] so also about the blockade. Yes about the blockade its important to understand 70 percent of the cuban population was born after that was in place. 50 percent dont know another reality. Also a lot of cubans dont think of the blockade. They just think how we can do better. Even if the blockade will be there forever we dont think about that. If we have to use buses from china or belarus so it is about that to build that industry from when the soviet union disappeared and said why do you use this money for industry and you say because its important. So i do agree that the sanctions affect all the cubans every time you say okay why we only have access to one source. But again people vote for that. And why they persisted in the blockade . Okay. This is my personal opinion. It is a trend it to the United States. So with those sanctions in place so the question about coercion after a few years here i realized we have the opportunity in almost every area. And in that case that there is something really important that cubans dont see that nobodys going to ask you because you come from the United States they will ask for opportunities and then to say i didnt see the weaponization of the nationals for the world series. So engaging in almost every area. But again there is opportunity. And the last idea is to Work Together to know what happened in havana but using that for political purposes. You have to put more sanctions. And something similar happened in other countries. Your diplomat suffered the same in china. Even with the special that yes cuba is a small country but you will see the same reaction. So we did nothing wrong. For that is for political purposes. Thank you so much. [applause] i hope we leave here wanting to end the blockade not just sitting on the information. Thank you for coming. I also want to add that that model would be wonderful for this country. There are filmmakers in the audience this would be a great documentary. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] nts. This is one hour 50 minutes