Address by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, at the commemorative event for the 20th anniversary of the People’s Summit and the rejection of the FTAA, from the Palace of the Revolution, November 4, 2025, “Year 67 of the Revolution.”
Dear friends and comrades in struggle:
Today we gather to commemorate a defeat: the defeat of the imperialist plan to swallow, in one gulp, the peoples from the Rio Grande to Patagonia.
Today we celebrate a feat of unity, a triumph of Our America, which twenty years ago said No to the neoliberal integration project; No to the plundering of resources; No to the privatization of essential services; No to the increase in poverty and inequality on the continent.
November 4, 2005, was inscribed in the history of the continent with a cry of independence and rebellion. On that day, Latin America shouted with one voice: No to the FTAA!
Twenty years have passed since then, since that burial in Mar del Plata, where the peoples of the Americas laid to rest an imperialist plan disguised as integration that sought to subjugate our economies, our cultures, and our lives to transnational capital.
It wasn’t about free trade, but about free exploitation. It wasn’t about integration, but about absolute subordination.
This is confirmed by the trajectory of the small FTAAs that were signed, the overbearing, contemptuous treatment—like that of master to servant—that the empire has bestowed upon the nations whose governments at the time signed agreements that are now dead letters when the emperor of the day decides to impose coercive measures and high tariffs.
In reflecting on these events, twenty years later, it is impossible not to recall the actions of two giants of Latin American and world history, who opposed this initiative from its inception. Two leaders whose dignified and unifying legacy accompanies us and will accompany us forever: Commanders Fidel Castro Ruz and Hugo Chávez Frías.
Fidel, with his profound revolutionary and anti-imperialist vision, publicly criticized globalized transnational capitalism, challenging what seemed to be the “common sense of the time.”
The events on Globalization and Development Problems and the Hemispheric Meetings of Struggle against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which he created; The Continental Campaign against the FTAA, and its speeches and interventions during those years, were solid pillars for dismantling the imperialist project.
And alongside it, Chávez, who presented the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) as a counterpoint to the FTAA. An integration based on cooperation, not competition; on brotherhood, not profit. These giants showed us the way. They taught us that integration is not a pipe dream, but a historical necessity that cannot be built on the ruins of our sovereignty.
Principles are non-negotiable, and the dignity and courage of our peoples are stronger than all the weapons of the most powerful empire in history.
Along this path, we have experienced advances and also setbacks that at times seem painfully definitive, but the struggle continues. The historic victory we celebrate today is a fundamental incentive in the face of the enormous challenges we must confront today, with unity as our shield and bulwark.
The persistent threat of military intervention in Venezuela is increasingly alarming. The genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip and the attempts to annex the West Bank persist, despite the agreements. And the United States’ blockade against Cuba intensifies in both words and deeds, even amidst the devastation we are currently facing in the east of the country as a result of a major hurricane.
Today remains the moment for unity, and that moment is essential and cannot be postponed. And that jolt to the continental conscience from the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution remains relevant, and I quote:
“How long will we remain in this lethargy? How long will we be defenseless pawns of a continent whose liberator conceived it as more worthy, greater? […] How long will we remain divided? How long will we be victims of powerful interests that prey on each of our peoples? When will we launch the great call for unity? The call for unity is launched within nations, so why not also the call for unity among nations?”
Let us fight for a Latin America and the Caribbean truly and definitively free from the imperialist yoke. Let us fight for equitable and dignified societies where fundamental rights are not privileges for a few, but benefits for all. Let us fight tirelessly for the Bolivarian Greater Homeland, free and sovereign, which was the dream and commitment of our founding fathers.
Let us say it again: No to the FTAA! Yes to Latin American and Caribbean integration!
Long live Fidel and Chávez!
A better world is possible, necessary, and urgent!
Hasta la victoria siempre, compañeros! Ever onward to victory, comrades!
IMAGE CREDIT: Photo: Estudios Revolución
[ SOURCE: CUBA DEBATE ]
