The five Cuban agents who gathered last Wednesday in Havana after the release of the three who remained in the United States, attended this Saturday at a special plenary session of the Cuban parliament, chaired by president Raul Castro Ruz.
Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino and Antonio Guerrero were reunited in Cuba upon mutual release of prisoners agreed by the governments of Cuba and the United States and executed on December 17, when the presidents of the two countries announced the future restoration of diplomatic relations.
Personalities of science, culture, politics and the Cuban economy gathered Saturday at the Palace of Conventions, had an exchange with reporters about this historic event which marks a restart on the relations between the two countries.
For Dr. Agustín Lage, director of the Center for Molecular Immunology of Cuba, the announced agreements constitute “a victory of the Cuban people and as such it impacts on all aspects of national life and also impacts our ability to exchange with other countries not only with the United States. ”
For Cuban biotechnology and health this new scenario may enhance the interest that has always existed in the American scientific community to collaborate with Cuba, but we have to wait and see what will be the implementation of trade measures, Lage said.
“For many years we have had signs of much interest in American scientific community in collaboration with us. Americans have always been our scientific events, despite the enormous constraints, through third countries, “he added.
The Center for Molecular Immunology has numerous productions that could be marketed in the United States. More than ten patents have been granted by the Patent Office of the American nation and currently cannot be marketed. This is a contradiction, said Agustín Lage, because patenting is a non-commercial act, but the blockade does not allow the product to be used.
“It is a contradiction to the Americans themselves because on one hand the product is ours and they cannot copy it because they would be violating the copyright law, nor can they use us because the blockade prevents them. In that case are Cuban cancer vaccines and some monoclonal antibodies patented for us, “he said.
Meanwhile, Ricardo Cabrisas, vice president of the Council of Ministers and its Executive Committee, said that with regard to economic exchange and investment opportunities “will have to wait, it’s something that begins now, I can assure you is that we will not abandon our former partners. ”
The Cuban vice president also referred to the recently concluded meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade-Economic and Scientific-Technical Cuba-Russia and described it as very positive. “All working groups performed well. We agreed to hold the next meeting in April with more work developed by different groups and perspectives are very clear. We hope to advance implementation of the 2016-2020 works in different sectors, for example, prospecting and exploration for hydrocarbons, the modernization of the steel industry, the energy issue, aviation, railway, “he said.
José Luis Toledo Santander, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly, said that Cuba is prepared to make the necessary transformations from the restoration of relations between the two countries. “The Cuban people are very intelligent, with advanced political education and a high cultural level,” he said.
When asked if it is time to amend the Constitution, Toledo Santander said President Raul Castro announced and “has nothing to do with the recent measures. I do not think it is finished next year because amend a constitution takes time and work, leading analysis and referendum process, “he said.
He also reiterated that the blockade is not over: “For there to be a lifting of economic and financial blockade against Cuba there must be a process. As both Raul and Obama explained in their speeches, it was codified, is established in law, so that its total removal requires an analysis in the United States Congress. ”
In the words of Eusebio Leal, Historian of the City of Havana, Cuba is ready to welcome the Americans. “We have centuries of shared culture. In Cuba there is an anti-imperialist but not anti-American sentiment. That has always shown that there has been the possibility of dialogue. There is nothing to fear in the form; rather we must look to the bottom of things and to detail “.
“The blockade is now blown up in their base,” said the also key architect of the reconstruction of Old Havana, “the blockade collapses just because friendship is more powerful and it’s very important to remember all previous occasions. Fidel in the United States, Marti in the United States. Martí lived longer in the United States than in Cuba, “he recalled.
Leal revered Havana declared as one of the Seven Wonder Cities of the world and said that it is of paramount closely linked to the culture of every country in the world and also to American culture. “Havana is the city of his Nobel prize of Ernest Hemingway. In the heart of Old Havana is the place where he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, by the way, I have some bells on my own, the one from the Castle, that only was used in case of threats, the great bells of the Basilica, the bells of the University College, and on December 17 I said: five minutes after the end of the President´s speech, whatever it is, toll the bells. Someone asked me For Whom the Bell Tolls? and I answered they toll for everyone, they toll for you too, “said Eusebio Leal.
Could the US investment contribute to the reconstruction of Old Havana you have led?, he was asked.
“I do not think so, it is done, and essentially it is done; now we just have to admire it. It is a demonstration of what we could do. What matters now is to share “he replied.
“See this scene, he said, in the second or third century of our era, in circuses around the Empire, the gladiators came brought from different places to fight, went out to fight and when one finally managed to defeat his opponents, then was the people that determined, people shouted Life!, and the people of America and the world have shouted Life for Cuba!, the gladiator who was never defeated. The beginning of the solution found us standing, and that is very good for those of us with Latin and Spanish blood, we live standing, despite having been long with a bread under our arm and a heavy shield in the other hand, live standing. I am proud of that piece of the historic center has contributed to say who we are, what we were and what we can be. Now when people who come to Cuba, by millions they will come, that’s what matters, is not technically possible to control each person, nor there nor here, necessarily come an affective bond born of mutual respect, which is the most important , respect, that’s the crux of the matter, be respected. If therefore we fought for freedom, fight for diversity and respect the uniqueness. We are, we wanted to be unique, and here is the point “.
