Líderes del exilio responden a acusaciones sobre el uso de fondos federales destinados a la lucha por la libertad de Cuba.
Este 15 de enero se realizó una rueda de prensa en las oficinas del Directorio democrático cubano, con la participación de varios líderes del exilio que apoyaron a Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat.
Este 15 de enero se realizó una rueda de prensa en las oficinas del Directorio democrático cubano, con la participación de varios líderes del exilio que apoyaron a Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat.
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NewsTranscript
00:00As for the accusation of a traitor, those of us who have known him since he was very young,
00:20participating exemplarily in the fight for the freedom of Cuba, we affirm that it is a
00:26treacherous accusation against Dr. Gutiérrez Boronal, who has been named by the newspaper
00:32Granma as an acerbic enemy of Cuba on several occasions, and more recently declared a terrorist
00:40in the official Gazette of the Ministry of Justice of Cuba, published on December 7,
00:452023, for criminal activities against the Cuban regime.
00:50We also add to this statement a sample of several actions of Cuban tyranny against Dr.
00:58Orlando Gutiérrez Boronal for his international work and support of the internal opposition
01:03to achieve democratic change in Cuba.
01:06The Cuban Democratic Directory, like any other organization that receives economic resources
01:11from the federal government or from other institutions, continuously fulfills the obligation
01:17of demonstrating to those institutions how those resources are used.
01:22Neither federal officials nor any other institution performs inspections to verify that they
01:29comply with the established contracts.
01:31Angel de Fana, Orlando, me and some other leaders, the Cuban Resistance Assembly, a
01:38coalition of organizations represented by many here today, this morning, that we fight
01:45and that we have a precise path for the freedom of Cuba.
01:51We have not rested, we have not stopped fighting at any time, in any stand, on any stage.
01:59For us it has been an honor to work with Orlando Gutiérrez Boronal, whom we elected,
02:07not as a priority, but unanimously, to be the national secretary.
02:26I want to talk about the fundamental points of these accusations against me and against
02:32the Directorate.
02:34This is an organization of people committed to the freedom of Cuba, constant fighters
02:38for that freedom, and a Cuban organization that has gone out with great efficiency, great
02:42ethics and great responsibility to administer as many public funds as has been achieved
02:47in the fight for the freedom of Cuba.
02:49It must be understood that in the case of federal funds, the proposals that one makes
02:57to receive support for the strategy that one wants to implement for the freedom of Cuba
03:03in the American law, there is a codification that generates those funds of support for the
03:10freedom of Cuba.
03:11In order to reach those funds, you have to compete, you have to present proposals.
03:15Secondly, once one receives support of that type from the federal government, one is subject
03:23to the most rigorous monitoring and financial control.
03:28In the case of the Directorate, we easily have one or two audits per year.
03:33For people to understand, especially our people in Cuba, an audit is an extensive process
03:37of review of receipts, financial reports, bank statements, to be sure that what one
03:42commits in a support agreement, one fulfills with that, at the foot of the letter.
03:48That means that auditors come from outside the organization, review all the books, review
03:53all the receipts, ask all the questions they want, and then make an independent report
03:58to the organization.
03:59We are subject to at least two of those annually, apart from a permanent audit system that exists
04:04in the federal agencies that provide those resources.
04:08So we have the Directorate in the last more than 20 years, it has not failed in a single
04:15audit.
04:16We have fulfilled everything we have said and we have been responsible in the presentation
04:20of how those resources are spent.
04:23It is believed that the federal government tells you, take a grant, here you have $100,000
04:30and that you use it to your discretion, or to your whim, or to your opinion.
04:36That does not work like that.
04:38The federal government establishes the rules to grant an organization, and they do not give
04:44it to any organization, they give it to organizations that already have an experience or that have
04:50a history of compliance and respectability for the conditions that these grants establish.
04:58For example, there are many institutions in the United States, official institutions,
05:04independent institutions in the United States that grant grants.
05:07Let's use, for example, USAID, which goes for the whole world.
05:11For what?
05:12For the promotion of democracy, for different projects, which are they who decide it.
05:18They are not the Cuban exiles, nor are the organizations that decide a grant for this,
05:24a grant for the other.
05:25No, they are the ones who say a grant for human rights, a grant to help political prisoners
05:30or family members of political prisoners, a grant for the promotion of youth, for the
05:34independent education of young people in Cuba, or for the training of economic activities,
05:41etc.
05:42Businesses, an infinity of projects.
05:45So, when an organization applies for these grants, the one who grants the grant, the
05:53United States government or the government agency that grants the grant, sets the conditions,
05:58and when you make the request, you have to put what amount of resources you are asking
06:05for each of the categories that the grant will give you.
06:10Help political prisoners, family members of political prisoners, help for the promotion
06:14of democracy, help so that the opposition in Cuba can have resources to move, to meet
06:22or to carry out activities, because the regime persecutes them, accuses them, even votes
06:28them out of their jobs so that they do not have the economic resources to do this, so
06:32that it is understood exactly why the resources are needed.
06:37But the federal government, when it approves the grant, you have to meet all the requirements
06:44of that grant, that is, if the government gives you a grant that says you are going to receive
06:51funds for 100 dollars in funds for A, 100 funds to make B, and 100 funds to make C,
06:58you cannot use the funds from A to B, nor from B to C, nor from A to B. No, you have
07:03to use it according to how it is established.
07:05You also have to give evidence, verifiable evidence, of the use of the funds.
07:14If I am going to send, I said I sent 1,000 dollars to Cuba, I have to have 12 evidence,
07:21the evidence that I sent it through Western Union, and you have to have the receipt of
07:25Western Union, where Western Union says that you gave them 100 dollars to give it to so-and-so
07:32and so-and-so has to send you, that is the regulation, has to send you a, since there
07:38are no receipts in Cuba, it is a signed statement where it says, on such and such a date I received
07:44so much money from the organization that it is, and it signs it.
07:48And that evidence is the one that supports that money that they have given you.
07:53That is an example.
07:54I am documenting for you to know that all this is extremely reviewed and monitored.
08:01And at the end of the year, when the project is fulfilled, well, there are two audits,
08:09not one, there are two audits.
08:11That is, the one who questions the use of these funds, is simply that he does not know how
08:20this works.
08:21I am very at peace with my conscience, very proud of my organization, how the people
08:25of that organization work, and above all that these resources have allowed us to implement
08:30a consistent strategy of fighting for the freedom of Cuba.
08:33Why does the communist regime of Cuba physically attack us?
08:36Why does it threaten us?
08:37Why does it charge us with terrorism charges?
08:40Why does he spend so much time on his television, his radio, his newspaper attacking us?
08:45Because the work of the board of the Cuban Assembly of Resistance is and has been effective.
08:51And it is becoming more and more effective, be it in supporting our people within Cuba,
08:56be it in our international struggle.
08:58That regime feels the pressure of what the Cuban exile is doing.
09:01And I am very proud to say that the board of the Assembly of Resistance is the vanguard
09:06of this exile in this fight for the freedom of Cuba.
09:28The board of the Cuban Assembly of Resistance has been very effective in depriving them
09:48of resources for this dictatorship, in getting them to dry up sources of support and resources.
09:55Therefore, the regime's attack is open.
09:57The regime constantly attacks us, constantly threatens us.
10:01My family has been threatened, I have been attacked.
10:04We live in a state of siege by this regime.
10:07And it is due to the achievements.
10:09We have spoken before the European Parliament, before the Council of Europe.
10:11We have been received by the National Congress of Latin America.
10:14We have managed to begin to break the link that Europe has with that regime in terms of subsidies.
10:22We have managed to globalize the struggle for the freedom of Cuba
10:24in places where our message had never reached.
10:26And that is a support for our people within Cuba.
10:28And the regime has responded to that.
10:30I have no comments about other people who are not part of the regime.
10:34I am not going to speculate on that.
10:37What I am, I am very convinced, I am very sure of our integrity
10:40and our total dedication to the cause of the freedom of Cuba.
10:43Orlando Gutiérrez, for God's sake.
10:45Orlando Gutiérrez is a boy who has been dedicated to the cause of Cuba since he was a child.
10:50But he is a prepared and educated person.
10:53Orlando has a master's degree in political science.
10:57And he has a PhD.
10:59In other words, he is a doctor.
11:01A doctor in political science.
11:04In other words, he is an extremely prepared person.
11:08A boy, a university professor.
11:11Orlando was a university professor.
11:14What can give Orlando a better result?
11:18Economically, for his personal benefit.
11:21He is working in an organization like the board
11:24that pays him a salary of misery, practically,
11:27and the evidence is his car,
11:30where he lives,
11:32and what level of life he has.
11:35Compared to a university professor.
11:38Where was he going to live better?
11:40How was he going to live better?
11:42Those who are involved in the cause of Cuba
11:45generally make personal sacrifices
11:48of not working in their profession
11:51to dedicate themselves to the cause of Cuba.
11:53Since the organization was founded,
11:55we have given priority to pay attention to the prisoners
11:58and support the prisoners.
11:59And during the last 35 years,
12:01the board has had as a fundamental point of all its struggle
12:04the support of political prisoners in Cuba.
12:06And we maintain that support,
12:08we continue with that support,
12:10and we have gone to as many international forums as we can.
12:13To go or to create,
12:15we have done it in support of political prisoners in Cuba.
12:17One of them has been the Cuban Justice Commission
12:19that we have supported,
12:20a commission of international experts
12:22that has been investigating and revealing
12:24the crimes of inhumanity of the Castro dictatorship
12:26against the people of Cuba.
12:27And one of the main crimes is political presidium.
12:29No libertarian revolution has been made
12:32without the support of democratic forces
12:35to the resistance of those countries.
12:38Starting with the American Revolution,
12:40which without the support of Spain and France
12:42would have been impossible to defeat the English.
12:44We have the right,
12:46we have the need
12:48that the free world supports us
12:50to be able to return the rights to the people of Cuba,
12:52so that the people of Cuba regain their sovereignty.
12:54That has been the case in all the libertarian struggles,
12:56it was the case in all the conflicts
12:58against totalitarianism,
13:00the free world has supported.
13:01So it is our right as Cuban belligerents,
13:03it is our right as Cuban fighters
13:05to receive that support.
13:06In the specific case of the United States,
13:08there is a law, the Cuban freedom law,
13:10that establishes those resources to support us.
13:12And they are minimal resources
13:14in front of a totalitarian state
13:16that what the people do not give them
13:18is enough to stay in power.
13:20With hundreds of embassies in the world,
13:22with the support of the international totalitarian left,
13:24of the worst elements worldwide,
13:26who promote an aggressive strategy
13:28to maintain that regime in power.
13:30Without a support of the free world,
13:32and in our case a fairly modicum support,
13:34as we are also very grateful
13:36for the generosity and the support
13:38and the seriousness that Cuban exile has had
13:40in supporting the Cuban Resistance Assembly
13:42and the Directorate.
13:43My message for my exile
13:45is that my trajectory is very clear,
13:47since I was a child I have been in the struggle
13:49for the freedom of Cuba and that makes me proud.
13:51The best people you can meet
13:53I have met in this struggle
13:55and that we will continue until we achieve
13:57the freedom of Cuba.
13:59And the rest, what may arise is noise,
14:01noise that has nothing to do with reality.
14:03It has nothing to do with objective reality,
14:05nor with our responsibility, nor with our ethics.
14:07And that is easily demonstrated.