WEBVTT 0:00:03.661 --> 0:00:09.004 Visit Cuba is help to the Cuban people 0:00:12.168 --> 0:00:15.021 The disappearance of income from tourism in two years 0:00:15.046 --> 0:00:19.290 of the pandemic and the 200 previous sanctions imposed 0:00:19.315 --> 0:00:22.640 by the US Government are the direct cause 0:00:22.665 --> 0:00:26.534 of the extremely harsh economic situation that the Cuban people are experiencing today. 0:00:26.559 --> 0:00:30.756 It is not necessary to commune politically with the Government of Havana 0:00:30.781 --> 0:00:34.454 to understand that the recovery of tourism will help 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.986 sustain once again the now depressed public health or 0:00:39.011 --> 0:00:42.404 housing programs, due to lack of resources. 0:00:42.429 --> 0:00:47.360 And, in a much more direct way, to return to 73,000 families, 0:00:47.385 --> 0:00:51.336 whom work in hotels and restaurants, 0:00:51.361 --> 0:00:55.349 private and public, the level of income and quality of life 0:00:55.374 --> 0:00:58.315 that they lost when Covid-19 arrived. 0:00:58.340 --> 0:01:00.911 That is why those who 0:01:00.936 --> 0:01:05.278 try to boycott tourism to Cuba from abroad to –supposedly- 0:01:05.303 --> 0:01:09.134 damage the Cuban Government, in reality 0:01:09.159 --> 0:01:11.425 they are attacking to the Cuban people. 0:01:11.450 --> 0:01:14.829 A few days ago, five people protested 0:01:14.854 --> 0:01:17.769 in front of the headquarters of the Spanish newspaper "El País" in Madrid 0:01:17.794 --> 0:01:21.717 for a report that encouraged visiting Cuba 0:01:21.742 --> 0:01:25.922 which affirmed that "if no tourists arrive, 0:01:25.947 --> 0:01:31.918 the population will have an even worse time”, something obvious and with common sense. 0:01:31.943 --> 0:01:36.838 This is precisely the objective of the boycotters: 0:01:36.863 --> 0:01:41.336 that Cuba does not recover its tourist income and medicines, 0:01:41.361 --> 0:01:46.554 sutures and syringes continue to be lacking in hospitals; 0:01:46.579 --> 0:01:51.517 electricity blackouts and queues at gas stations continue; 0:01:51.542 --> 0:01:56.383 and wages continue without reaching the escalation of prices 0:01:56.408 --> 0:02:01.676 due to food shortages. May the people reach despair and, 0:02:01.701 --> 0:02:04.102 from there, an insurrection. 0:02:04.127 --> 0:02:07.547 The Florida Senator Marco Rubio designed for that each 0:02:07.572 --> 0:02:13.092 of the 243 measures added to the blockade, 0:02:13.117 --> 0:02:17.732 approved by Donald Trump and which are still in force for the most part. 0:02:17.757 --> 0:02:23.633 Sanctions that attacked remittances, trips and cruises from the US, 0:02:23.658 --> 0:02:28.687 medical agreements and investments, and that pulverized 0:02:28.712 --> 0:02:32.533 hundreds of millions of dollars for the Cuban economy. 0:02:32.558 --> 0:02:37.118 But calling for a boycott of tourism to Cuba, like openly supporting 0:02:37.143 --> 0:02:40.657 these sanctions, is cruel and indefensible. 0:02:40.682 --> 0:02:45.554 That is why they must invent messages that sweeten the crime. 0:02:45.579 --> 0:02:50.487 Thus, they assure us that the income from tourism goes to GAESA, 0:02:50.512 --> 0:02:56.275 "a military company -we read- that controls 70 percent of the economy" 0:02:56.300 --> 0:02:59.865 and "finances State Security operations 0:02:59.890 --> 0:03:05.701 to suppress peaceful protests in Cuba". This "sinister entity" 0:03:05.726 --> 0:03:09.103 would have as allies abroad - they assure us - 0:03:09.128 --> 0:03:13.318 "the Spanish companies Meliá and Iberoestar", 0:03:13.343 --> 0:03:17.599 against whom this boycott campaign is also directed. 0:03:17.624 --> 0:03:23.439 But what is GAESA? A holding of Cuban State companies 0:03:23.464 --> 0:03:28.009 whose benefits, as in any socialist planning economy, 0:03:28.034 --> 0:03:32.939 do not reach an elite shareholder, but rather the public budget, 0:03:32.964 --> 0:03:36.476 which supports education or the purchase of food 0:03:36.501 --> 0:03:41.480 for the basic subsidized basket. That is the crux of the matter: 0:03:41.505 --> 0:03:45.314 that a dollar does not reach that public budget. 0:03:45.339 --> 0:03:50.143 But what is striking is that from this fanatical faction 0:03:50.168 --> 0:03:53.750 of “anti-Castroism”, the newspaper “El País” is now being attacked 0:03:53.775 --> 0:03:58.028 for having a friendly “editorial policy” towards Havana. 0:03:58.053 --> 0:04:04.248 Gentle? “El País” is the largest media space for daily propaganda 0:04:04.273 --> 0:04:08.305 against the Cuban Revolution in Spanish territory 0:04:08.330 --> 0:04:12.542 and where iron censorship is applied to every voice 0:04:12.567 --> 0:04:15.092 that expresses sympathy towards it. 0:04:15.117 --> 0:04:19.052 Last March, among many other poisonous articles, 0:04:19.077 --> 0:04:23.194 this newspaper published one titled "Cuba is not an amusement park," 0:04:23.219 --> 0:04:27.208 with the same message as the boycotters in Madrid: 0:04:27.233 --> 0:04:30.849 "When tourists stay in hotels in Cuba" said, 0:04:30.874 --> 0:04:34.988 "they should know that all their expenses go to the coffers 0:04:35.013 --> 0:04:37.877 of the Revolutionary Armed Forces”. 0:04:37.902 --> 0:04:42.608 Inventions like this have a space of total impunity, 0:04:42.633 --> 0:04:46.317 without the right to a response, in media such as “El País”. 0:04:46.342 --> 0:04:49.503 In any case, there is something called common sense. 0:04:49.528 --> 0:04:53.849 Anyone who does not have a heart eaten by hatred 0:04:53.874 --> 0:04:58.906 knows that, today, visiting Cuba means helping its economy 0:04:58.931 --> 0:05:02.690 and, therefore, helping this unjustly punished people 0:05:02.715 --> 0:05:05.858 improve their living conditions. 0:05:05.883 --> 0:05:09.884 Translated & Subtituled by Laura V.Mor.