00:00And also in Cuba the Patriarch Colloquium continues this Friday on its
00:04second day. Participants from various countries gather to discuss communication
00:07not only as a technology but also as a political, cultural and ethical field in
00:11the global debate from the Global South. For that let's go live with our
00:15correspondent in Havana, Belén de los Santos, who has all the details coming from the ground.
00:19Welcome Belén to From the South.
00:24Hello Luis, exactly such a pleasure to greet you from here from Havana. We
00:28continue sharing and talking to different experiences of everyone who has
00:33come down here for this fifth edition of the Patriarch Colloquium. I'm actually
00:37right here in the telesource set and what you see behind me is the wall dedicated
00:42to Fidel. We were saying that this Patriarch Colloquium on the year of the
00:46centenary is also dedicated to Fidel Castro and here is a wall in which people have
00:52been writing down their messages, their conversations with Fidel and also joining
00:57us now is international analyst Arnold August, really a friend of Telesur. Thank you so
01:02much for being here with us once again. Thank you for having me once again Belén. It's
01:08always a pleasure to collaborate with Telesur whether it's in English or Spanish. It's our
01:13pleasure really and I wanted to ask you why is it important to be here at this Patriarch
01:19Colloquium specifically in this context for Cuba? That's an interesting question. The last time I was here
01:25was in March 2025 at the last edition of Patria and this April 2026 arriving in Havana getting off
01:36the airplane and driving into the city in the context of all the false publicity that Cuba is a
01:45failed state waiting to be saved by Donald Trump. Watching myself going through those city streets,
01:52watching the people in the streets, I said what failed state is this? People are going above their
01:58lives normally even under very difficult conditions and I think one of the most important thing is the
02:05next day the first event of this activity in the morning to commemorate the declaration by Fidel Castro
02:14of the Cuban revolution having its biggest socialist characteristics. What failed state within the
02:21morning? There were so many people participating on their own you know no security everything was
02:27common all that and it was a very good speech by President Miguel Diaz-Canel. He left no doubt
02:35and I have photographs of that I think you saw it. If the United States dares to intervene military,
02:42watch out. We are ready to defend ourselves. He said he's ready to give his life
02:47for the sovereignty and the independence of the Cuban people. That's very important and that's what
02:52I did. I took a film of that and I put on social media every year. Yankees watch out. You
02:57better think
02:58twice before you invade Cuba. That was my first impression in the first event in the morning of this
03:05a very historical edition of Patria 2026. Exactly and such an important position when in the same corner
03:15in which in 1961 Fidel said the same thing this revolution would be defended by their own people
03:22and Arnold you are here also presenting a book a book that we have right now here Fidel Castro the
03:29vision
03:29of a Canadian man. How can you tell us about what is it like writing about Fidel from a Canadian
03:35perspective? Thank you very much. Yes, I was invited amongst others by Patria to have a make a presentation
03:41of my book. I was honored to be sitting to next to René Gonzalez Barrios who was the director of
03:49the
03:49Centro Fidel Castro and in fact the writing of this book goes back several years ago before five years ago
03:55when I discussed with him about the necessity to writing about Fidel Castro. I said I wanted to write
04:02my fifth book about Cuba but for the first time on Fidel Castro and he was the one who suggested
04:07why not
04:08write about the visit of Fidel Castro in April 1959 just four months after the revolution visit of Fidel Castro
04:18in Montreal my city I'm a proud Montreal a proud Quebecois so we just agreed together that would be
04:25the basis of the book so of course I studied and investigated that whole visit and hope the entire
04:31chapter one is dedicated to that visit but there are seven chapters in the books so I developed the
04:38whole issue of Canada Cuba relationship that also includes the pressures of the United States against
04:45countries such as Canada and also countries such as Mexico to join the United States in its blockade
04:52against Cuba but Canada like Mexico did not follow the American plan of action and they maintain peaceful
05:02diplomatic relations for all of these 80 years uninterrupted the only other country in the hemisphere
05:08to do that was Mexico that is so important to bring to the table and also this is a year
05:15about
05:15learning more about Fidel for everyone to continue reading and thinking what Fidel teaches us in this
05:23context thank you so much Arnold as usual for joining us thank you very much for having me that is
05:28a little
05:29bit of what is happening here we've been trying to share with you the discussions decide the ideas
05:35of everything that's being part of this Patriarch Colloquium that was Arnold August international
05:40analyst and we'll continue with more for now Luis I go back to you
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