00:08In this dialogue that you held with the press today, we would like to speak particularly
00:15on an issue which is the role of co-national abroad and I believe that they have played
00:21an important part. What role recognizes the government, the Cuban government in this community
00:27from the economic support of their families and the defense of a more dialogue relationship
00:33with Cuba in the face of a campaign that seeks to isolate the country? Interesting question,
00:40I recall that in the previous press conference when we talked about the transformation which
00:45are necessary to promote now in our new economic social model, we propose this change also as
00:55one of the most important with Cubans residing abroad. Well we must say, we must explain
01:04this from the current times. The number of Cubans that live abroad or that stay long times abroad
01:16right now has grown. And therefore it is a responsibility as a government to welcome them, to listen
01:30them, to attend them, and to provide them a space to participate in the development of our country.
01:43Coming from their disposition, their will to do it, to participate and their possibilities.
01:52What distinguishes most part of that Cuban community that lives abroad or that for a time has lived abroad?
02:00Well many of them are professionals, many of them are a main component of the qualified workforce
02:08that our revolution has trained with our education system. There are people that keep their Cuban identity,
02:18their Cuban nationality, and their ties with our island. People that keep our relationship with the homeland
02:27in difficult moments like this that we are living. From them we have received solidarity, support.
02:35They have condemned the pressures and the coercive policies that try to suffocate our people.
02:50And the link with those Cubans living abroad is not new. We must recall that Commander-in-Chief Fidel
02:57in the year 1978 he began a process of dialogue with the Cuban community living abroad.
03:08In other occasions, I said it in the previous press conference. It was like over two years ago.
03:16I always keep in my memory as a young man, that encounter of Fidel with the unit Antonio Maceo,
03:28when they came to Cuba, which can be seen in a beautiful documentary.
03:33There are very different moments, people of revolution, met with them. But there is also that last encounter of Fidel
03:40with them,
03:41when they are about to go to get on the plane. And Fidel tells them, with you the homeland has
03:48grown.
03:51And we go back to that, our will for dialogue with that community that lives abroad.
04:00After that, there has been, in the passing of the years, there have been important moments.
04:05The first edition that that national conference nation and immigration has had.
04:11That we have proposed also to change the name because we don't see them as immigrants.
04:17We see them as part of the nation.
04:19We must say that the main leaders of the revolution in the work visits that they have made in the
04:25last times
04:27to different countries. We always seek a space to meet with Cubans residing in those countries to listen to them,
04:37to share with them what's been experienced, so that also they make their proposals and they state their concerns.
04:48In the last year, there was an intense activity, and through the direction of the Foreign Ministry,
04:56and through the Ministry of Foreign Commerce, that care for the Cuban living abroad, there has been a lot of
05:06links.
05:07We have seen a lot of encounters in different countries, in different regions,
05:12where they have made proposals and they have explained concerns, aspirations,
05:21and they have proposed what they consider obstacles to be able to provide more to the country.
05:27And with all that, we made a dossier of all those proposals and concerns.
05:35We must also say that we make sectorial meetings. For example, we make an event of teaching in the country,
05:46and they come here as part, and we make an encounter, a teaching encounter with Cubans residing abroad.
05:55There is an industrial event, and with Cubans of that sector, we do that as well, that encounter with Cubans
06:00living abroad.
06:01And that also provides more information. Recently, with the processing of the results of all those encounters,
06:12we have made an analysis in the political bureau, and the government of the country,
06:18and I believe that with the new measures, the new actions that are going to be made known,
06:24I believe that it resolves almost completely the statements, the concerns and proposals that Cubans living abroad have made.
06:33And it eases a lot their participation and presence in the development program of the country.
06:41Those measures, those actions, those reflections that we have made, and all that will be implemented,
06:46the Vice Minister Oscar, who is also as Minister of Foreign Commerce on Monday,
06:55I don't know if it's going to be in the round table or in another space,
06:59he will explain in detail everything that has been done in regards to what you were asking in relation to
07:09Cubans living abroad.
07:10But I believe that we have built a platform that will allow for a more active participation,
07:19less loaded with bureaucracy, and more flexible, and with new aspects that I will not say now,
07:28and I will let Oscar explain it on Monday.
07:34So, you must have this on your schedule because you're not going, you know,
07:37if you had another date, you must not do it on Monday.
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