U.S. General Assembly Resolution Event

Planeta y el país, coja carta, se instruya y lo baile bien, que no salta de cárgale, tiquete y comparta, pa' darle like, que esto a ti te hace falta, pa' que el planeta y el país, coja carta, se instruya y lo baile.

Y estamos acá, desde el estudio 24 Records, #00, bienal de la.

But what's the question? You know, I'm going to, but what's the question? You know, I'm going to, but

Y esposado también, exactamente, ¿por qué.

Y estamos acá, desde el estudio 24 Records, #00, Bienal de La Habana 2018. Independiente, independiente, independiente, el alternativo está presente.

Like que esto a ti te hace falta, pa' que el planeta y el país coja carta, se instruya y lo oye bien, que no salta de cántale, tiquete y comparta, pa' darle like que esto a ti te hace falta, pa' que el planeta y.

¡Mira, mira! ¡Eso es lo que le hacen a los cubanos! ¡Eso es lo que le hacen a los cubanos! Libertad, pinga, libertad. ¡Eso es lo que le hacen a los jóvenes cubanos! ¡Aquí no hay libertad ni pinga! ¡Aquí no hay libertad ni pinga! ¡No hay libertad ni pinga.

¿Por qué es esto? Aquí la cultura cubana está siendo pisoteada, por eso es esto. Y si el hermano no puede hacerlo, yo lo voy a hacer. Esto es mierda y que me lleven también. El gobierno se tiene que reunir con nosotros porque somos artistas, porque yo soy una profesional, yo soy creadora del arte, yo no soy ninguna delincuente, me oíste, no soy ninguna delincuente. Yo estudié y tengo derecho a vivir en mi país y trabajar en mi país. Porque los cubanos hemos sido penalizados por tener un dólar en el bolsillo, por vender tu casa, por vender tu carro, por tener un celular, por entrar a un hotel, en estos momentos por hacer arte, también eres un delincuente.

7. Que rechazamos la nueva figura del supervisor inspector, no solo porque establece un censor autorizado, sino porque según la experiencia cotidiana, es la figura del inspector el principal agente de corrupción en todas las escuelas del país. 8. Que nos consideramos un movimiento, y por lo tanto, una unión, y que el ataque a uno solo de nosotros es un ataque al conjunto.

Recordemos que la dictadura está sin un.

Peso, si están ahogados y Tristemente son personas lo que tienen ahora mismo como rehenes para salir de esta situación. Michael y Luis han sido una piedra en el zapato de esa dictadura por meses, aunque llevan años trabajando, años tratando de movilizar a las personas, tratando de decirle a la gente de todas las maneras posibles, ustedes son importantes, ustedes tienen un poder, usen ese poder, esto lo podemos cambiarlo entre todos, Luis mismo lo ha dicho miles de veces, cuando digo la esperanza no soy yo, la esperanza somos todos.

De que me van a hablar la misa y me mantengo aquí Y con acciones represivas que pesan en mí La realidad de mi sistema se ha tornado gris Y San Isidro se proyecta por un porvenir.

Nos está matando un tipo, cuidado.

¿Pero qué pasó? Pero bueno. ¿Estás filmando, Iliana?

Sí, estoy en vivo.

¿Quién es ese hombre? oye mira, cojan algo, cojan algo. ¿Dónde está la policía?

Esto es una performance, es una obra de arte, pero más que una obra de arte, es una invitación al gobierno cubano, a los que desean y escanean la represión, quien le dé la gana de la seguridad del estado, que vengan a cortar este garrote de vista.

Usted me puede dar la orden.

No, no te puedo dar. Yo te la voy a enseñar.

Si yo no tengo una copia, ¿cómo.

Tú no tienes que tener copia.

Yo, como ciudadana, tengo todo el derecho de tener una copia de la medida que usted está tomando conmigo. Pa que una idea va. Uy, Chacón. Y esposado también, exactamente por qué.

Y estamos acá, desde el estudio 24 Records, #00, Bienal de La Habana 2018. Independiente, independiente, independiente, el ATAT Nati Hueta presente.

Like esto a ti te hace falta pa' que el planeta y el país coja carta, se instruya y lo baile bien que no salta de canga, le digate y comparta pa' darle like esto a ti te hace falta pa' que el planeta y el país.

¡Venga, venga, cubano! ¡Esto es lo que le hacen a los cubanos! ¡Levanta! ¡Venga! ¡Levanta! ¡Esto es lo que le hacen a los jóvenes cubanos! ¡Levanta y venga! ¡Levanta y venga.

¿Por qué es esto? Aquí la cultura cubana está siendo pisoteada, por eso es esto. Y si los manenos no pueden hacerlo, yo lo voy a hacer. Esto es mierda y que me lleven también. El gobierno se tiene que reunir con nosotros, porque somos artistas, porque yo soy una profesional, yo soy creadora del arte, yo no soy ninguna delincuente, ¿me oíste? No soy ninguna delincuente. Yo estudié y tengo derecho a vivir en mitad del país y trabajar en mi país. Porque los cubanos hemos sido penalizados por tener un dólar en el bolsillo, por vender tu casa, por vender tu carro, por tener un celular, por entrar a un hotel. En estos momentos, por hacer arte, también eres un delincuente.

7. Que rechazamos la nueva figura del supervisor inspector, no solo porque establece un censor autorizado, sino porque según la experiencia cotidiana, es la figura del inspector el principal agente de corrupción en todas las esferas del país. 8. Que nos consideramos un movimiento, y por lo tanto, una unión, y que el ataque a uno solo de nosotros es un ataque al conjunto.

Recordemos que la dictadura está sin un.

Peso, si están ahogados y Tristemente son personas lo que tienen ahora mismo como rehenes para salir de esta situación. Michael y Luis han sido una piedra en el zapato de esa dictadura por meses, aunque llevan años trabajando, años tratando de movilizar a las personas, tratando de decirle a la gente de todas las maneras posibles, ustedes son importantes, ustedes tienen un poder, usen ese poder, esto lo podemos cambiarlo entre todos, Luis mismo lo ha dicho miles de veces, cuando dijo la esperanza no soy yo, la esperanza somos todos.

De que me van a hablar a mí si me mantengo aquí y con acciones represivas que pesan en mí. La realidad de mi sistema se ha tornado gris y San Isidro se proyecta por un porvenir.

Nos está matando un tipo. Cuidado.

Pero, ¿qué pasó?

Pero bueno. ¿Estás filmando, Liliana?

Sí, estoy en vivo.

¿Quién es ese hombre?

oye mira, cojan algo, cojan algo ¿Dónde está la policía.

Esto es una performance, es una obra de arte, pero más que una obra de arte es una invitación al gobierno cubano, a los que desean y escanean la represión, quien le dé la gana de abrazar al estado, que vengan a obturar este garrote de.

Usted me puede dar la orden.

No, no se puede. Yo te la voy a enseñar.

Si yo no tengo una copia, ¿cómo.

Tú no tienes que tener copia.

Yo, como ciudadana, tengo todo el derecho de tener una copia de la medida que usted está tomando conmigo. Para que una idea va. Y esposado también, exactamente por qué.

And we're here from the studio 24 records, hashtag 00, Bienal de la Habana 2018. Independent, independent, independent, and I think that you.

Like que esto a ti te hace falta pa' que el planeta y el país coja carta, se instruya y lo oye bien que no salta de cárgale, tiquetea y comparta pa' que el planeta y el país coja carta, se instruye y lo oye bien que no salta de cárgale, tiquetea y comparta Grupo Experimentación Sonora llega esta canción pa' bien rapeada y con la rima puesta en el rincón en el.

Here's what they do to us Cubans! Here's what they do to us Cubans! Here's what they do! Here's what they do! Here's what they do to us Cubans! Here's what we do to them! Here's what we do to them! Here's what we do! What is this? Here the Cuban culture is being trampled.

It's for that, it's for that. And if the government won't do it, I'll do it. This is **** and I'm going to throw it. El gobierno se tiene que reunir con nosotros porque somos artistas, porque yo soy una profesional, yo soy creadora del arte, yo no soy ninguna delincuente, ¿me oiste? No soy ninguna delincuente. Yo estudié y tengo derecho a vivir en mitad del país y trabajar en mi país. Porque los cubanos hemos sido penalizados por tener un dólar en el bolsillo, por vender tu casa, por vender tu carro, por tener un celular, por entrar a un hotel, en estos momentos por hacer arte, también eres un delincuente.

7. Que rechazamos la nueva figura del supervisor inspector, no solo porque establece un censor autorizado, sino porque según la experiencia cotidiana, es la figura del inspector el principal agente de corrupción en todas las escuelas del país. 8. Que nos consideramos un movimiento, y por lo tanto, una unión, y que el ataque a uno solo de nosotros es un ataque al conjunto.

Recordemos que la dictadura está sin peso, si están ahogados.

Tristemente, son personas lo que tienen ahora mismo como rehenes para salir de esa situación. Michael y Luis han sido una piedra en el zapato de esa dictadura por meses, aunque llevan años trabajando, años tratando de movilizar a las personas, tratando de decirle a la gente de todas las maneras posibles, ustedes son importantes, ustedes tienen un poder, usen ese poder, esto lo podemos cambiarlo entre todos. Luis mismo lo ha dicho miles de veces, cuando dijo, la esperanza no soy yo, la esperanza somos todos.

De que me van a hablar la misa y me mantengo aquí Y con acciones represivas que pesan en mí La realidad de mi sistema se ha tornado gris Y San Isidro se proyecta por un porvenir Nos está.

Matando el tipo, cuidado. ¿Pero qué pasó? Pero bueno. ¿Estás filmando, Iliana?

Sí, estoy en vivo.

¿Quién es ese hombre? oye mira, cojan algo, cojan algo. ¿Dónde está la policía.

Esto es una performance, es una obra de arte, pero más que una obra de arte es una invitación al gobierno cubano, a los que desean y escanean la represión, quien le dé la gana de la seguridad del estado, que vengan a montar este garrote vivo.

But what's the question? It's a simple question.

Why are you taking it to the station?

If I don't have a copy, how? I, as a citizen, have the right to have a copy of the measure that you're taking with me. For what purpose? Y esposado también, exactamente, ¿por qué.

Y estamos acá, desde el estudio 24 Records, #00, Bienal de La Habana 2018. Independiente, independiente, independiente, el ATN Antigua está presente.

Like que esto a ti te hace falta pa' que el planeta y el país coja carta, se instruya y lo oye bien que no salta de carta, le di que te y comparta pa' dale like que esto a ti te hace falta pa' que el planeta y el.

Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.

Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here. El gobierno se tiene que reunir con nosotros, porque somos artistas, porque yo soy una profesional, yo soy creadora del arte, yo no soy ninguna delincuente, yo estudié y tengo derecho a vivir en mi país y trabajar en mi país. Porque los cubanos hemos sido penalizados por tener un dólar en el bolsillo, por vender tu casa, por vender tu carro, por tener un celular, por entrar a un hotel, en estos momentos por hacer arte, también eres un delincuente.

7. Que rechazamos la nueva figura del supervisor inspector, no solo porque establece un censor autorizado, sino porque según la experiencia cotidiana, es la figura del inspector el principal agente de corrupción en todas las esferas del país. 8. Que nos consideramos un movimiento, y por lo tanto, una unión, y que el ataque a uno solo de nosotros es un ataque al conjunto.

50 y pico de años con servillo de teclado que vaciló y pasaron. Ahora le toca a usted, brincar el piso con mi generación. 59, oleón, la saga. 60 años, la casa, un minón. Como a ti, paso con sensibilidad?

Ustedes son importantes, ustedes tienen un poder, usen ese poder, esto lo podemos cambiarlo entre todos, Luis mismo lo ha dicho miles de veces, cuando dijo la esperanza no soy yo, la esperanza somos todos.

De que me van a hablar la misa y me mantengo aquí y con acciones represivas que pesan en mí, la realidad de mi sistema se ha tornado y si San Isidro se proyecta por un porvenir.

Cuidado. Pero ¿Qué pasó? But, anyway, I'm live.

Who is this man? Oye, mira, cojan algo. Cojan algo. Donde esta la policia?

Esto es una performance, es una obra de arte, pero más que una obra de arte, es una invitación al gobierno cubano, a la que desee escanear la represión, quien le dé la gana de la seguridad del estado, que venga a montar este garrote de.

But what's the question? It's a simple question.

Why did you take it to the station? You can give me the order.

Si yo no tengo una copia, ¿cómo.

Tú no tienes que tener copia.

Yo, como ciudadana, tengo todo el derecho de tener una copia de la medida que usted está tomando conmigo. ¿Para qué unidad va? ¿Y esposado también? ¿Exactamente por qué.

Y estamos acá desde el estudio 24 Records, #00, Bienal de La Habana 2018. Independiente, independiente, independiente, el ATAT Nativueta presente.

Like que esto a ti te hace falta pa que el planeta y el país coagata se instruya y lo oye bien que nos ha encantado el like que esto a ti te hace falta pa que el planeta y el país se instruya y lo oye bien que nos ha encantado el grupo de experimentación sonora llega esta canción

Okay.

Well, good afternoon, colleagues.

Buenas tardes, colegas.

Of the arrest of one of our panelists today, Luis Manuel, by the Cuban regime. We wanted -- I know it was probably a bit disturbing, maybe even a little graphic, but we wanted you to see that. firsthand what is happening every day and what is happening to one what has happened to one of our panelists today. So, as you know, and as we have stated here on a number of occasions, that for 67 years, the Castro regime has sold the world a myth. It's a great lie. It is repeated every year. in this very building upstairs and on whichever camera feed will take them. This is the lie. The lie is that the revolution liberated Cuba and that the Cuban people's suffering is always someone else's fault. But the truth is The Cuban people have been hostages on their own land ever since Fidel Castro seized power in 1959. His so-called revolution began with hundreds of executions by firing squad. Then came to forced labor camps. And this bears note. These forced labor camps held Christians, gay Cubans, Afro Cubans, and anyone else the regime felt threatened their iron grip. And in the years since, more than a million Cubans have fled America's shores, many risking their lives on rafts across the Florida Straits. And those were the fortunate ones. Countless others tried to escape and never made it. Millions more stayed behind and had to live with the reality that, simply speaking, their minds could cost them their very freedom. Seven decades later, it still does. Today, more than 800 political prisoners languish in Cuban prisons. These are artists, they're pastors, they're students, they're mothers and fathers whose only, quote, crime was demanding or even just hinting at freedom that most of us in our democracies take for granted. Freedoms like writing a song or a poem, practicing their faith without fear, or even voting, speaking freely. Meanwhile, those lucky enough to avoid prison still live in prison-like conditions with empty shelves, sky-high prices for basically everything, with blackouts lasting day-- there's days there's rarely power now to keep refrigerators running. Actually, I said now, this has been going for quite some time. The regime wants you to think this is a recent phenomenon, but the blackouts have been happening for many years. We've heard about Cuba's, quote, free health care, but free doesn't mean much when you have no medicine and no electricity to keep you alive. And here's the part that I find really sickening. The regime can't find enough power for its hospitals, schools, or people's homes, but it has enough power for its prisons. It has enough power for the Castro family compound. It has enough power for a private jet to fly regime relatives back and forth to countries in Latin America and to Spain. They have enough power for intelligence collection sites with some of our adversaries. They have enough power even for a private island with 20 homes on it, even its own dolphin lagoon. These are the truths we have asked our colleagues here to come and tell you about that they've seen firsthand. As the Cuban people live in squalor and in prison and in blackouts, the regime officials literally are living in luxury in Spain, in Europe, in countries across Latin and South America, and enough is enough. So how does the regime, just one other point, because we have an expert on this today for you to hear about, how does the regime afford to live in such opulence? Well, follow the money and it will lead you straight to GAESA, the regime's military-run, corrupt conglomerate, which controls huge portions of Cuba's economy. And thanks to the courageous investigative reporting of Nora Gamez Torres, who sadly couldn't be with us today. We've seen now GISA's secret financial records, and they reveal a staggering 18 billion in current assets, including 14 and a half billion in financial accounts. It's tourism subsidiary alone held 4.3 billion, nearly 13 times what Havana said it needed to stock Cuban pharmacies for an entire year. But even GAESA cannot keep up the, cannot enough, is not enough to keep up the family, the Castro family's cash burning, country abandoning lifestyle, no. The Cuban regime has also resorted to modern day slavery and forced labor for that, it's made billions on so-called medical missions, where the regime ships Cuban doctors and nurses around the world, confiscates their wages, and makes them work for free. Folks, that's modern-day slavery. That's forced labor. And it threatens their families if they disobey. And so now, thousands of Cubans have also now been sent to Ukraine. And we're going to hear about that today as mercenaries to fight in that war. Every dollar of their wages goes right back to the goes back to the regime. So, look, Havana has spent decades telling the world and all of you and all of your delegations here what to believe about this regime. And today, our ask and thank you. Thank you for coming to hear directly from people who have lived under this morally bankrupt regime, to hear directly from people who have exposed it. We're going to hear from Jose Daniel Ferrer, who has spent more than half of the past 20 years in Cuban prisons. I already mentioned, but you'll hear from him today, Luis Manuel, who was released into exile just this summer after five years. Why? He was imprisoned for his art. He's an artist. He's an artist. You're going to hear from economist Emilio Morales, who is an outspoken expert on GAISA, from Maria Werle, whose research has documented the exploitation of Cuba's medical workers. But first, I want to hear from a dear friend, a fighter for the Cuban people, who this isn't just coming from this administration. This is coming from our Congress as well. I'd like to welcome up Nicole Malliotakis. Her mother fled Cuba in 1959 after her family's businesses and property were seized by the Castro regime. Over to you.

Good morning, everyone. And I want to thank Ambassador Waltz for bringing this group together, because it is so incredibly important that the world knows the truth about the oppression and the hostilities of the Cuban government, the communist regime. It was a regime that my mother fled in 1959 when Fidel Castro came. split up my family, my mother and my grandmother and my aunt came to the United States. My grandfather was left behind. He had a small business and the government came and took, stole that business and his home. And they never saw each other again. And that is what the Castro regime did to so many families, not just steal from them and oppress them, split up those families so they never saw each other, ruin lives, ruin countless lives. And those, sadly, who were left behind, many of them faced the fate as some of our speakers here today. They were jailed, they were beaten, they were starved, and some murdered by their own government. And that is something that this institution, the United Nations, should never accept, those types of human rights violations, those types of abuses No government, no government has the right to torture its people, to starve its people, particularly when you see the government itself living in luxury while their own citizens starve and die. And that is why I hope all of you will join the United States of America in advocating for a free Cuba, a Cuba that gets to elect its own government, that it elects through free and fair elections, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly. And I'll say that the fact that for six terms, this communist regime has been able to sit on the Human Rights Council, despite having one of the most atrocious records of human rights, I think, is a tragedy. And that is a tragedy that really needs to be corrected by this institution. It really starts with your leadership. So I thank you for being here today and for listening. And we very much would appreciate your support to bring justice, liberty, and freedom to the Cuban people who have suffered for over six decades under communism. Thank you.

Thank you, Congresswoman Malliotakis. And I just want to emphasize this point. I was a former member of Congress in Florida with a Cuban-American population. Congresswoman Malliotakis represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn with a current Cuban-American population. We are in touch with our constituents, my former constituents, and they are in touch with their family members who are suffering every day. This is not any kind of party line. on the part of this administration. We are hearing firsthand, in addition to the folks you'll hear today, day in and day out. Here's another part of this story that I want you to report back to capitals, please. And thank you again for coming. Today, thousands of Cuban nationals are fighting in Ukraine. Some are deceived into going. Others are lured by promises of money and opportunity. All of them are fighting for free because their money goes right back into regime pockets, whatever they're promised. And so I would like to welcome Ambassador Pavlyuchenko, Ukraine's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, who will speak about the Cuban fighters his government has found fighting in Ukraine.

Thank you, Ambassador Waltz, for convening this important discussion. Your Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, today I would like to draw your attention to another deeply troubling issue. It's a recruitment by Russia of foreign nationals to fight against my country, Ukraine. According to Ukrainian estimates, approximately 20,000 foreign nationals have been recruited into Russia's armed forces. We know that Russia uses citizens of 47 countries in its war against Ukraine, from Ghana, Nepal, Tajikistan, India, Yemen, Kenya, the list is going on. and Cuba included in particular. So Cuban citizens are among the four largest national groups represented in this recruitment. Our estimates have confirmed the transfer of more than 1,000 Cuban nationals who signed a contract with Russia Army 2023-2025. But understanding this only our estimate, they are not depicting the full picture. So something that happened in Russia is not fully understood. So economic hardship, as mentioned by Ambassador Waltz, also is an important factor driving this recruitment. Monthly payments of around $2,000 represent a powerful financial incentive for many Cubans. Yet economic vulnerability must never become a pretext for exploiting people and drawing them into aggressive war. But let us be clear here. These recruits are being sent to fight in a war in which Russia deliberately attacks Ukrainian civilians, killing women and children, destroying critical infrastructure, including energy facilities, as Ukraine faces another winter, probably the most difficult one this year. So we call for an end to the recruitment and deployment of Cuban nationals in Russia's war against Ukraine, and for those being unlawfully retained in Russian military service to be released. And the Cuban people deserve a future built on freedom and dignity. not one in which their citizens are exploited as cannon fodder in another country's war. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you.

So I think what we'd like to do now is I'd like for you to hear from each of our panelists today. You're going to hear from people who have suffered at the hands of the regime. You're going to hear from inside its prison cells, from people who have studied its balance sheets and its corruption, and how it's used and forced doctors and nurses to provide revenue as forced labor to the regime. So I think as we start, I'm going to sit down here and turn this one on. Can we just, can you just, each of you take a moment and take a few seconds to introduce yourself and the perspective that you're coming from. coming, that you're coming at this. Who should start? Oh, please. Please.

Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia. I've been a prisoner in the Cuban regime, and I've been a year and nine days that I've been out of prison. Maria Ruelo.

A think tank that has several projects, of which one is dedicated to how Cuba projects health internationally and the medical missions, and another one is documenting the cost in lives of the Cuban Revolution in deaths and disappearances.

Buenas tardes.

Good afternoon. I am Luis Manuel Alcantara. I'm a Cuban artist. I passed five years in prison and I've only been out for three months and I had to leave Cuban going to exile. I'm part of a group that we formed in sunny sea that were artists. We're one of those leaders, Michael Osorio. has been in prison for five years and he was given nine years and we'll continue talking. And thanks for having me here.

Good afternoon, I'm Emilio Morales. I'm the president of a think tank. I'm Cuban, I immigrated to the United States 19 years ago and I worked at the heart of GAESA and I also worked eight years in the public health sector, two of them in a mission in South Africa. with the Cuban brigades, and I know how they steal money, and I know how the whole slavery system works. Thank you.

Thank you. Luis Manuel, I'll ask the first question to you. As we came in, we had a video of you playing as we walked in. The regime treated your art as a crime. What did the regime fear? Why were they so threatened by you as an artist? And after five years behind bar, what was the, what's the thing you want the world to know? You have ambassadors and representatives from dozens of countries here. What do you want them to know about what happens inside these prisons?

Well, first and foremost, in Cuba, in the past 60 or so years, we have been living under a dictatorship. It cannot be called anything but that. You can't call it a left-wing government. You can't call it a government. It's a dictatorship. All of those of us who are here to understand exactly what a dictatorship is. Dictatorships are afraid of any type of freedom, any project, any pursuit that is not something that they, it is part of their line. When they talk about free healthcare or free education, the minute you take a different tack that they are, then you become the opposition. We have many cases on the books of Cubans who have died just because they thought differently from the regime. So there's no free education. There's not free health care. It all depends on the way you think. There are more than 31 artists incarcerated in Cuba because of their artwork. All we were going for was proposing a different option for Cubans to decide. Our crime was to do art, to write a song. There was a song that won two Grammys. And because of that, Michael Salton, an artist, is in prison. The two of us were incarcerated five years, and I luckily, quote unquote, It, my sentence was five years, but his is nine years. So I was the quote unquote lucky one. Before going to prison, I was arrested more than 90 times in just three years. And that's their records of this. And this is because of raising my voice against this. But this has been happening for 60 years for artists, musicians who have been incarcerated, the we did not have the visibility that we have now. We have many artists, many artists who went on social media to talk about how Cuba was a dictatorship. But there is no speech allowed that is not the official line. And our children are pursued. My son, who's 18 years, was forced to do military service. And they say, okay, and his companions there were told to mistreat him, and they were threatened to do it. Anyone who has a different position, anyone who takes a different tack, is blocked. This is a dictatorship through and through, and it needs to be extracted from global reality. It should all citizens who are committed to humans and human rights must understand this. We didn't, we weren't out there denouncing the regime. We were just presenting a different view of what was possible to our fellow Cubans. And that's how I ended up in prison for five years. And this every single day. When you're in prison, you just think about suicide. But thanks to my friends who sent me letters and who sent me support, or to the five minutes every week that we were allowed to have phone calls, that helps you to keep going. And thanks to the support, we've been able to translate all of this suffering of political prisoners in Cuba into something the economic system, good or bad, whatever, but five years I was in prison, I was away from my children, away from my mother, just because I wanted to pursue something different. And now I'm in exile and Cubans are dying because of the lack of freedom for many things, but a lack of freedom being the most.

For that, and I know you've been probably fighting, dreaming, having nightmares of having your voice heard here. And I just want to share with this room something you told me earlier today that is probably the most meaningful thing since I've been here, was that you heard what we said here in fighting for your freedom while in prison. and it gave you hope. And now, I pray that what you're saying today will get back to those who are still in prison and give them hope. Just thank you for your strength and your courage and your conviction. Jose Daniel, you're a prominent activist. You're a human rights defender. You were released and rearrested and then forced into exile. What did the regime demand from you in exchange for your freedom? And did officials ever offer to let you go if you stop speaking out? And then just one more, you know, you've started a, an appeal urging governments to vote against or at least abstain from Havana's UN annual UN resolution. More than a thousand people have supported it. Why does this matter? Why does this particular resolution matter so much to the people of Cuba? And what would you say if you were going to talk to, and you're talking to ambassadors now, preparing or deciding whether they will vote with Havana again?

As I noted earlier, I spent more than 12 years in prison by the Cuban regime, and more than nine of those in solitary confinement. I had no one to speak to, just two or three times a day with the guard on duty. The first sentence was 25 years, and in fact, they asked for the death penalty for me. this request for the death penalty and 25 years was because I was pushing for a plebiscite on five different points. This was a document called the La Verdad Project, the Truth Project. who had died, was talking, and I'm sure that it was the tyranny that killed him back in July 2015. But even though there was this request for the death penalty for me, I spent more than eight years in prison. And then, because I kept on with my activism, there was no violence involved in this activism, I was imprisoned again in 2019. And the European Parliament got them to put me under house arrest. And then in July of 2021, And that's when the worst part of my life began. I was beaten, I was tortured, I was humiliated at all different times. In this little day, I would be beaten nine times. And the regime wanted to force me out of Cuba. When I tried to leave the country, What I didn't know is that they wanted me to go to Guyana without my family. And then a discussions began with the Catholic Church in the US acting as a mediator, and they were using me as some sort of piece of meat. I was being subjected to the worst type of torture than any human being could be subjected to. And they said that, okay, what we're going to do is to suspend your sentence, but you have to speak in favor of us. And I refused to do that. So when I finally got out of prison, I came directly to the US. So why are we asking the free and democratic nations of the world, the ambassadors and representatives of the free and democratic countries of the world, to vote against the resolution, to not support it, or at the very least, do this for one simple reason, because the U.S. embargo is not what is responsible for the tragedy Cuba is experiencing. And secondly, the Cuban regime has not only the human rights of the Cuban people. They are enemies of rights of all of Latin America and the Caribbean. They are They are supported by the North Korean regimes, the Iranian regimes, the Russian regimes, the worst that exist on the planet. And what is most concerning for people like Luis Manuel and I is that there are more than 800 political prisoners right now. And The regime uses the UN vote year after year to conduct propaganda over the rest of the year until the next vote, with the intent of telling the Cuban people who are constantly living under blackouts while the leadership never experiences blackouts. They have to spend all their days finding food if they can find it. You have older people, a very, very concerning number are suffering from malnutrition. These are the elderly. Many children are malnourished, many are sick. And this is not the fault of the embargo because there are sufficient resources. The leadership, it lives a very luxurious, abundant life and they continue to use the repressive apparatus, which is the only thing that's free there and the only thing that works efficiently in Cuba. When ambassadors and free democratic countries vote in favor of this, you're telling the Cuban people all the time, every single week and all the days following the vote that people of Cuba are alone, that you are supporting the communist regime and not the Cubans who are continually fighting for freedom in our country. When you vote in favor of that resolution, you are turning your backs on the Cuban people who are hoping for solidarity from the free and democratic world. The vast majority of Cubans have no way of connecting to the internet or the little time they can, they don't have the time or the energy to find out that you voted in favor of the resolution, but you're also in favor of human rights. What they see time and time again is that you are supporting the communist regime and not in favor of the political prisoners or of liberty and democracy in Cuba. And this is such a painful blow to them it's because tyranny is imposed and as we were saying in that document that we have been sharing that is addressed to all foreign Ministries of the UN member countries is that resolution is plagued with exaggerations fake data and tries to present a criminal, tyrannical government as a victim when they are the victimizers at the end of the day. And that is where I'm asking, with all due respect, to please not continue to support that resolution, because it does not help the people of Cuba in the least. Quite the contrary, you are helping a regime that is oppressing Cubans. And this becomes a triumph of the regime. We're always asking, they're always asking for humanitarian help. They're not, it's not going to children or people who are malnourished. It's all there to strengthen the muscles of the repressive regime and to go after men and women who take to the streets during blackouts, asking for food, asking for medicine. This does not help the people of Cuba. It helps the people who are oppressing the people of Cuba and the instruments of repression of that perverse tyranny. The only way of humanitarily helping the people of Cuba is to do that directly through institutions that are truly independent, as the U.S. is currently doing. Thank you very much.

Incredibly powerful, and thank you. I hope the world hears your appeal, my friend. Maria, Havana boasts -- we hear it here, we'll hear it with some of the protesters outside -- about its world-class healthcare system. But while Cuban hospitals run out of medicine and its doctors are shipped overseas to earn billions for the regime through its so-called medical missions, can you just walk us through what actually happens to a Cuban doctor who refuses to go or tries to escape or demands to keep their own wages for their own labor? And I know you've documented some particular cases, but also talk to us about the host country, the countries that accept these physicians, what do they pay, right? And where does the money go? Who keeps it?

Yes. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about a vast issue in less than five minutes, but I will try. And thank you all for being here. I've talked to hundreds of doctors and other health professionals who've served in medical missions, and in fact, some are still serving in many countries in several continents. They report the same patterns of abuse that led us in 2010 to start denouncing this as trafficking in persons, which is a crime against humanity when perpetrated by a state. First, they're part of a captive labor force. The state is the sole employer, and they control every aspect of the health care system in Cuba. There is no choice. And today, the average monthly salary of a doctor in Cuba is less than $10. possibly the lowest in the world, and this remains their salary while they're overseas in serving in a mission. So this economic desperation is what drives many to seek overseas assignments simply to save part of their meager stipend that they receive in the host country to support their families back at home, purchase a refrigerator, or repair their home. Second, they must leave their families behind, effectively as hostages, enduring years of separation from their loved ones, including many young children from their parents. More than 50% of the health workers are mothers. I'm sorry, are women, and many are mothers. This has devastating consequences. If they abandon a mission or remain in the host country after completing their assignment, they are banned from returning to their own country for at least eight years and face potential prison for eight years. There's an audio going around that Cuba has now increased the ban as forever to avoid more people abandoning missions. Serve, they must serve where they are ordered. many in remote crime-ridden locations, and even in places without running water or electricity, and many have paid with their lives. Fourth, most of their earnings are confiscated, meaning what the host government pays Cuba or pays them into accounts that then Cuba forces them to transfer to as remittances. It depends greatly on the country. And when you calculate what they are earning between their salary and Cuban the stipend many doctors are earning pennies per hour less than $1 per hour. fifth they are under constant surveillance and are subject to an official regulation calling for many arbitrary restrictions on their freedom of movement personal relationships and ability to work independently they must also participate in political activities and disseminate propaganda Cuba archive.org has copies of contracts the regulations there's a lot of information and evidence including testimony for many doctors but documentation from the Cuban government itself so the claim of humanitarianism is so fake that Cuba's own National Office of Statistics openly reports the huge business. Since 2018, it has itemized reports, the exports of health and other social services that are totaling $34.7 billion from 2018 to 2024, the last year reported. Yet only 0.96% of those earnings were invested in health and social services during those seven years, as reported by the same Office of Statistics. What's more, many of these doctors report that they must fabricate patients and procedures to justify the mission or billing of the host government more per procedure, medication, et cetera. And Cuba certifies the medical specialization and training, and sometimes that is not the case. They certify a doctor that is not a doctor, a specialist that is not a specialist. That is certainly not very humanitarian to the doctors themselves or the host population. So if this is modern slavery, what is not? And now I have a final word. about the human cost of this supposedly noble enterprise. Tragically, the toll in lives of Cubans, internationalists, like Cuba calls them, represents only a fraction of the immense human toll exacted by the Cuban dictatorship for nearly seven decades that my organization has been documenting for 25 years. To name a few, we have documented 20 deaths in protest and hunger strikes in prison since 2006, when Raul Castro took over, and 106 extrajudicial killings since the start of the Obama normalization process in December 2014. These systematic human rights violations have been happening for decades. Governments have the responsibility to protect the victims. Most of these governments and the international community did not call for the end of sanctions on the Pinochet military regime or the apartheid government in South Africa. Please stop granting the Cuban regime impunity, legitimacy, and support, and start standing up for the victims. Thank you.

Thank you. And I hope everyone took note of some of those powerful statistics, some of the Cuban regime's own statistics, and we'll make that available to all of your missions. Just in the interest of time, Emilio, you've investigated and exposed Geiss's extraordinary financial holdings, the $18 billion in current assets. Obvious, you know, the struggles of the Cuban people to find food, electricity, and medicine is well known. But can you just take us inside? Who's Who's actually controlling that money? Who decides whether it goes towards luxury hotels or keeping the lights on in hospitals? And then finally, as Havana will come here and blame an American so-called blockade, which is a lie, there's a ring of Navy ships sitting around the island. It's just ridiculous. But while they blame us for their economic collapse, what does your research show?

Thank you very much for your invitation, Mr. Ambassador. In five minutes, I'd like to summarize what's happening and explain what's really happening in Cuba. Everybody who's present are intelligent and prepared people, educated people. And it's going to be easy to understand what Cuba is today. Cuba is no longer a communist or socialist republic, as it was called at one point. Cuba has its governance system turned into a mafia state, which is concentrated in a company called GAESA, which belongs to the Castro family. This company, GAESA, controls over 70% of the Cuban economy. and more than 95% of financial transactions, which are carried inside and outside the country in international trade and national trade, with an international bank that controls above the Central Bank of Cuba. It operates with impunity that has no limits. It's taken over telecommunications, the tourism industry, The money that's sent into the country, the export of minerals, the sale of oil. 50% of the oil coming from Venezuela was sold to the Asian market with their own ships. GAESA has its own tankers to carry out these operations. GAESA steals money. the way Maria explained, it steals the money from the medical missions. From 2008 to 2022, GAESA received $108 billion for salaries stolen from doctors because they keep between 80% and 90% of the salaries of the doctors who are working abroad. Of that money, 1% was invested during that whole period in the health system, when in principle, that money, when the medical brigades were created, was to invest it in the health system. But today, our hospitals are falling apart without medication. In a state of ruin, there's practically no medical services that work in Cuba because GAESA has stolen the resources that could have been used to solve those problems. In the same way, the energy system has collapsed in Cuba because there are plants that have not received service for over 40 years, and there's been no investment in new plants. 50% of the oil coming from Venezuela was sold to Asian markets. What happened with that money? $30 billion, where did it go? To fiscal paradises abroad and other bank accounts. between oil and medical services, it's $100 billion in 15 years. So the $18 billion that the Miami Herald reported is just the tip of the iceberg of all of the hidden money. So what we have is a mafia that controls the country, a mafia above the Communist Party and the National Assembly of the Party. I'll give you an example. A day before the Congress, a three-star general who was Leopoldo Frias had counterintelligence to study Gaita. And he didn't have enough resources. But one day before he carried that out, he was sent to prison. The regime doesn't talk about that. They were afraid of people finding out where the money was. Today, we have people who are dying of hunger, investments who have been in Cuba for over 30 years. They've all left now. Let's not think that they left because of Trump's sanctions. The truth is that they found an excuse in those sanctions to be able to leave the country. Over five years, the Cuban Administration didn't pay them. They were afraid of losing their investments in Cuba of hundreds of millions of dollars. At the same time, there's no opportunity of having the regime reform. All of those reforms that they're proposing are just idyllic. It's a fantasy because in practice, that's not the way it works. There's a constitution. where they don't recognize accumulation of wealth or private property. So they're talking about a fantasy private sector which doesn't exist. That's our Cuba today. And that is a Cuba that every year Bruno Rodriguez comes to have you vote for a resolution. So in Cuba, the financial situation which exists at present isn't due to the embargo, it's due to the internal blockade that the Cuban has vis-a-vis its own citizens to generate wealth. That internal blockade As the other speakers said here, which limit freedom and limit the possibility of developing as an entrepreneur, is what is blocking the Cuban people. I suggest that you understand what's happening in Cuba, and with your vote, you can save Cuba. Through your vote, we can make Cuba change its political system so that all Cubans are free and prosperous. Thank you.

Words and and you mentioned the foreign minister coming I would just ask all the ambassadors to to note the last time he came and asked for their vote while the people are starving and suffering he was wearing an Hermes tie so somehow they find time to go shopping here on Fifth Avenue while while people are suffering we've heard some extraordinary testimony In just a few days, the countries in this room and in this building will be asked once again to vote on this resolution that is used year after year to prop up the regime's oppression. I'd like to save a little bit of time for questions from member states. So if I could just quickly go to each one of you and ask if you could put I don't know, if you could show, you could expose, you could put one fact, one document, one name on the desk of every ambassador here, what would that be? Or what would be the single most important thing, I guess I'm asking you, that you want the international community to know as they move forward to that vote? So, Jose, Daniel.

Thank you. This, I deal a lot with numbers, and we have a database of deaths and disappearances, and people ask me economic data. This is about human beings and the suffering that we have seen over almost seven decades is indescribable. And it amazes me and outrages me that Cuban doctors today are slaves in countries that partner with the Cuban regime, or that extrajudicial killings in Cuba don't seem to raise any attention, or that his imprisonment is sort of like no news for anyone. This is about Cubans. This is not about the Cuban regime that has 47 diplomats, probably more than most of your countries in New York, in one of the most expensive cities in the world, having probably the best parties and influencing your vote, hiding the truth. propagating myths. That's where they're spending the money. And that's why we don't have the garbage collected in Havana or an aspirin in the hospitals. So please think about the Cuban people and not about the Cuban regime that has hijacked the self-determination of a whole nation for almost seven decades.

Thank you. Luis Manuel, would you like to, any one thing that you want everyone to know as they go to this vote?

First of all, we talk about the embargo, and the Cuban government, once again, presents the suffering of Cuba. We're talking about the '70s and the '80s when they had money from the Soviet Union. The Cuban regime was more repressive We have something called a gray five-year period. The artists as human beings, not as an elite, but artists who walk the streets and who also suffer. So the problem in Cuba is, yes, there is no medication. People are dying of hunger or dying from lack of oxygen because the trash in the streets and people can't breathe, and people are dying, they don't have any medication. And they're grabbing onto this power when nobody is supporting them. No human being can support something that doesn't give them food. People really are being held hostage. Today, there are over 30 artists and 1,000 political prisoners. And there's a song called "Patria y Vida." What I wanted in Cuba was just having my country and my life. And you have a mother who can't feed her children and a father who's frustrated because after eight hours of working as a doctor, can't solve the problems of his daughter who goes to school. And so today, Michael Osoro has more than 30 political prisoners. And he was betting on his country and life. And when we're in that place, we're thinking about human beings who want to live. And each exercise, it might be this vote, it might be tomorrow with your family, or it might be transmitting the false statements of the leftist regime, which are lies. They're murderers, they're dictators, and dictators are bad people. Whether they're leftists or right from the right, they're bad people. So the people today are out in the street asking or their country and their life. And what they want is their country and not death.

The speaker is not using his microphone.

I was saying, that it's difficult for you to see this from so far away. But this is a man, and it looks like he just came out of a Nazi concentration camp from last century. This is somebody who spent 45 days in a temporary prison, and this is what the situation is for hundreds of prisoners of the regime. political prisons, prisoners, all types of prisoners. There's tuberculosis in the prisons. There's malnutrition. People die of malnutrition. And the political prisoners from July 11th, more than a dozen have died in prison or were released just before they died. Galion de Plugas, who was killed two years ago, He was beaten to death in prison. What I'm showing you here, these many prisoners are just covered in bedbug bites. And there is a product to, if you say you have to go in and fumigate so that you can get rid of them, they say, "Nope, we can't do that." What they want to do is make sure that prisons are as horrible as possible so that Cubans are terrified to end up there. So it's they don't allow for any rights, any civil rights, the freedom of expression, the freedom of association, anything. So more than 300 prisons are very similar to concentration camps from Nazi Germany or Soviet gulags. It is easy to corroborate this. You must demand that the regime let you visit the prisons. There is no drinking water, and they also do not allow families of the prisoners to bring them water to supplement the very little they actually get. There are days we see outbreaks of diarrhea constantly. And I repeat that the regime uses this, and this is, they want to use this to sow terror among a people who are already suffering from malnutrition, from oppression. So it's all about wanting to live free. What more can I say after having heard my colleagues speak? The only thing I can say is a dictatorship that's been there for 67 years is at its most vulnerable that it's ever been. I think we're getting closer than we've ever been before to the end. The economy is bankrupt, Cuba's debt is in the multiples of billions. They owe more now than what was forgiven during the Obama administration. They have no way of moving the economy forward at this point. It's dead. Cuba has to purchase sugar from the United States, the sugar that it used to produce, it used to be the number one producer of sugar in the world. And they're buying sugar from the US, even though they're buying from this, they buy luxury cars, they buy food for themselves, they buy solar panels for their own homes, they buy it all here in the US. So what embargo, the embargo is against the regime, not against the Cuban people. So I'm asking you to please understand that we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for this dictatorship. The way you can help, a vote against this resolution, would be your contribution to a free Cuba. Thank you very much.

Powerful. We have a few minutes any questions from any of the delegations from the audience is there anything any of you would like to ask the panelists point out be sure you highlight my friend good to see you new.

Thank you Michael and thank you and welcome to New York and thank you for having the courage and the resilience to come in explain your point of view to us member states I'm wondering to Two quick questions. Number one, what are the primary differences between the economic and living conditions in Havana versus the rural provinces, in your opinion? And then secondly, historically, Cuba's had what was considered decades ago a model preventative healthcare system. Now clearly, that does not translate from what has been explained and what you can see the visuals on. in terms of access to health care for the people itself. The integrity of the information coming out of Cuba, when you look at infant mortality rates, for example, at a WHO level, it is impressive. But it does not translate to the reality of delivery of services on the ground. Help me understand that dysfunctional gap, please.

May I respond to the question on that, the second part of the question? We have a publication that details how the Pan American Health Organization has partnered with Cuba in promoting that propaganda. A lot of those statistics are fake. I'm not saying that Cuba didn't have good services in certain aspects, but a lot of that comes from a regime that is totalitarian and controls all the statistics. There's a lot of evidence, a lot of testimony of people who've worked in the system. And by the way, Cuba had one of the lowest infant mortality rates when Fidel Castro came to power, and few people know that. So all of that, I mean, we don't have a lot of time to get into it, but I've spoken to many health professionals, many people who've worked in the statistics, and a lot of that is propaganda. And the international organizations that are there to, that supposedly regulate and monitor that, oftentimes have people that are agents of the regime or by the regime, because you may not know, but all the embassies and all the foreign representations have to hire from a pool of workers provided and filtered by the regime.

Emilio, did you want to answer the first part of the ambassador's questions? Si, mira.

Yes. In Cuba, there's a big difference between the capital and the rest of the provinces, always. most public resources are invested in the capital and not in the rest of the country. Just to give you an example, if the blackout is 10 hours, it's 30 hours in the rest of the country. So imagine, that means they don't have water for 30 hours. They don't have anything for 30 hours. We don't even see differences anymore, though, because Havana is practically in the same situation. The situation has reached a point where Cubans are simply trying to survive day-to-day. And going to your question about the doctors, I spent eight years in the health ministry, and it was Fidel Castro's obsession. He was obsessed with statistics on infant mortality. But those statistics don't talk about postpartum deaths of mothers or miscarriages or children who die just a few days after they're born. For many years, they were covering that information up. Now we see high mortality rates, which are quite evident. But you also see low birth rates because nobody wants to have children in Cuba. And that's a major problem looking forward. We have a 30,000 doctor deficit. doctors, paramedics, nurses have been fleeing. So we're lacking healthcare personnel. So all of this preventive medicine, families that existed, that practically does not exist anymore. There's no way to maintain a system like that because it requires resources, it requires people.

I'd like to talk about the experience of human beings in Cuba years ago. The Cuban regime has always used this data as propaganda, not thinking about human beings themselves. And it's used propaganda to be able to present themselves in places like this and say that they're the saviors. And possibly, when you're walking through the streets and you have an uncle who works at a hospital, you find out that at that hospital, They can keep children alive till after December so that they'll enter in next year's statistics. So you have to realize that everything that happens at the statistical level in Cuba is propaganda for abroad, not thinking about human beings, not thinking about the quality of human beings' lives or their psychological well-being in life. It's always to export information to maintain themselves in power. That's what we have to take into account. And we can corroborate that, as Maria said. They don't let you go into the hospitals or the jails anyway. So we're able to corroborate that that's true, however. And it's all used as political propaganda for them and not for the Cuban people.

Even if it were true that Cuba were a medical power, which I believe it is not, so what? It's a dictatorship. And that's what we must remember, I think. That's what's important.

Very briefly, the political ideas that they have They're saying that they didn't have Cuban soldiers in Venezuela. Bruno Rodriguez Padilla says that in Cuba, nobody goes hungry. And it's a nation where the most hunger exists in the whole southern hemisphere. And there are no political prisoners in Cuba, according to the regime. That's what they're saying about health care or any other affair in Cuba.

There's no mic. The interpreters cannot hear the speaker through the mic. He must turn the mic on.

- been in touch with our panelists here so they could tell more of their story and what's actually happening. But I, in particular, want to thank Jose, Daniel, and Luis Manuel for your extraordinary courage. And to Emilio and Maria, thank you for your tireless work in exposing the corruption and exploitation. And as we titled it, this is the oppression that Havana wants to hide. So I look forward to the day when all of you, all of us, can look back and say, can you believe Cuba was once like this? When we are looking backwards on this oppression and looking forward to a brighter future. Just one final point, when, because we've talked some about this embargo, this blockade that that you hear from the regime every year. Our position is that if Cuba is cut off from the world, how did aid from Belize, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Uruguay, and the UN itself reach the island? If Cuba is cut off from the world, how did a Russian tanker deliver fuel? If Cuba is cut off from the world, how did American companies export more than half a billion dollars in agricultural products alone to Cuba just last year? I'm a native Floridian. I see the ships leaving the ports. How did another quarter billion dollars in American fuel reach the island just this year, just this month? The United States became America's largest fuel supplier. President Trump just committed 100 million in humanitarian assistance. You can see videos online of the planes leaving Miami. It's distributed through the Catholic Church. So no, aid, goods, and even fuel are getting in. Why isn't it reaching the Cuban people? Why is so much of it sold on the black market to once again fuel the regime? But instead of answering those questions, and I would hope every one of you would ask those questions, Havana comes to this assembly year after year, demanding that you lend your voice, as you've heard here today, to another propaganda victory that is used to oppress the Cuban people. So, colleagues, when Havana asks for your vote again, please remember what you've heard today. Please take these statistics that have been verified and independently provided. Do not give in to this lie. Please vote no. We understand times that's difficult because we're dealing with 70 years of propaganda that has seeped into your own political systems, but at least then abstain or walk away, but stand with the Cuban people and do not let them abuse your vote for their oppression. And thank you, thank you, thank you on behalf of everyone here for coming and hearing us today. Thank you so much, and we're adjourned.