• Affirms Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque at the opening of the Meeting of Cubans Resident Abroad against the Blockade and Terrorism

BY SUNDRED SUZARTE MEDINA —Granma International staff writer—

An event called the Meeting of Cubans Resident Abroad against the Blockade and Terrorism, convened by the Consular Affairs Office of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, opened today at the Hotel Nacional with the participation of 129 delegates from 34 countries.

In opening remarks, Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque gave those present a "cordial welcome" and noted that "they represent all those people who, for diverse reasons, have settled outside of Cuba and who have an unshakeable commitment to the defense of their homeland.

He emphasized that "many of you have traveled after overcoming multiple difficulties, especially those coming from the United States… to exchange experiences, propose new courses of action and improve mechanisms of coordination among us in order to combat the blockade, expose the impunity of terrorists, confront the lies spread about our country, and to demand, after 10 years of unjust and cruel imprisonment, that our five compatriots, heroes of the battle against terrorism, are returned to Cuba to be with their families and their people."

Pérez Roque emphasized that it was a fitting occasion to offer a modest tribute to the Antonio Maceo Brigade on the 30th anniversary of its founding, given that this Miami-based organization "has earned from its beginning an honorable place in confronting imperial aggression against Cuba, and laid the foundations for and inspired other organizations of compatriots in the United States and the rest of the world who have emerged in these years of hard struggle.

"Thirty years have gone by since that first moment, when a small group of compatriots committed to their homeland decided to change the confrontational relationship toward their country of origin imposed on them and take the first steps to stand up to that situation in an organized way. This situation has significantly changed and now we have patriotic organizations in 40 nations that are organizing to defend the country under attack. There are other countries where fraternal groups have not been formally organized, but where Cubans participate in support tasks and in joint activities organized with our diplomatic and consular representations abroad."

The minister reported that, to date, "more than 800,000 Cubans resident abroad have approached our consulates, and nearly 400,000 have normalized their status. Approximately 314,000 of those 400,000 are émigrés and 82,000 are temporarily residing abroad. In 2007, close to 193,000 Cubans, including from the United States, visited our country, which is a new historic record."

He stated that the process of normalizing relations is "a continuous and irreversible one" and that "the U.S. policy of aggression against Cuba is the greatest obstacle to full normalization between the nation and the émigrés. " The foreign minister criticized the U.S. government’s manipulation of the migration issue and of the Cuban Adjustment Act, and the trafficking of persons organized and financed with impunity from Miami.

Granma 19-03-2008