Cuba Will Not Betray Friends, Diaz-Canel Says

Cuba will not betray its friends, warned President Miguel Diaz-Canel Friday in a speech pronounced on National Rebellion Day in the eastern Granma province.

He affirmed it in the commemoration of the 66th anniversary of the attacks on Moncada barracks, in Santiago de Cuba, and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, in Bayamo, a feat led by Fidel Castro and which started the Cuban Revolution.

Diaz-Canel said that Washington intends to blackmail Havana for its unchanging position of principles and denounced the return of the Monroe doctrine and the aggressions against the constitutional government of Venezuela.

He also said Cuba intends to keep a civilized relationship with its northern neighbor but under the principle of reciprocal respect.

Any proposal apart from that does not interest us. Imperialist gentlemen, we don't understand each other,' the leader said.

That policy has left Cuba with losses of 4.343 billion dollars only between March 2018 and April in this year.

Not to mention the effects of Washington's latest measures that prohibit U.S. citizens, cruise ships and private planes from that country to travel to Cuba, he remarked.

He said that in the coming weeks the Cuban government will take 'new measures recommended by the people', to be added to the salary increase of the budgeted sector, which benefits more than 2,700,000 workers and pensioners.