Mexico City, Mexico-. johana tabladadeputy director general of the United States Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) assured that the hotels in Cuba belong to the people.
The official expressed this controversial statement in front of 150 leaders of North American social movements and organizations in the gardens of the 1830 restaurant in Havana.
“It is totally opposite to what the United States says, that the money goes to the military and all that bullshit that they talk all the time. In the case of Cuba, the owner of the hotels is the Cuban people, the money that you spend in the hotel goes to public services, to health, to education, ”he assured.
? The US blockade against Cuba is CRIMINAL!!
2️⃣ We kicked off day two of our brigade in Cuba with a riveting presentation from Johana Tablada de la Torre (@JohanaTablada) deputy director-general in the Cuban Foreign Ministry in charge of US affairs (@CubaMINREX) #MayDayCuba2023 pic.twitter.com/vvt8WUIZS3
— The People’s Forum (@PeoplesForumNYC) April 26, 2023
Tablada launched such statements at a time when the infrastructural conditions of hospitals and schools are more than precarious, while they continue to build luxurious hotels. On the other hand she forgot to mention that until 2008 the Cubans could not enter a hotel; and that today, even if it is allowed, they cannot afford it due to the poverty conditions in which they live.
The diplomat made up the Cuban reality and ruled that there are no children in a state of indigence, when the complaints in networks and knowing the poorest neighborhoods in Cuba give signs to the contrary.
“We don’t have Trump Tower, and that’s why you don’t see, at a time when our economy is under tremendous stress, you won’t see children begging on the streets,” he said.
“That is not the image of our hemisphere, where countries richer than Cuba will have children asking for it. In Cuba, if you get up early, you will see one of the most beautiful scenes on the entire planet. It doesn’t matter if they are rich or poor, if their father is a nurse, a worker or even an officer, they will all go to school dressed the same at 7:30, because none of them have to work to survive”, he affirmed to applause.
As was to be expected, Tablada resorted to the justification that the Cuban regime has historically outlined and blamed everything on the US embargo, including the mass exodus. According to the official’s words, the ineffective policies of the government that she represents did not contribute to the worsening of the crisis.
“The logic of the policy is to apply the maxims and extremes of economic war against Cuba, and at the same time, make a monumental effort with a disinformation operation so that the Cuban people and the world believe that Cuba is responsible for the impact of the US sanctions and the coercive measures they impose on us,” he said.
The visitors Johana addressed are part of a solidarity brigade with the regime and will participate in the May Day celebrations.
The North American delegation arrived in Cuba on April 24, with the aim of “renewing the historic ties of solidarity between the peoples of the two countries,” according to release of the MINREX.
The lies of Tablada
On July 21, 2021, journalist Juan Carlos López from CNN interviewed Johana Tablada about the protests on the island. In the conversation, the reporter asked the diplomat about various topics such as Internet outages, journalists under siege, and reports of people being tortured and disappeared in Cuba.
If she had responded closely to the facts, Tablada would not have left the regime she represents in a good light. So she took two alternatives to answer: divert the subject or lie outright. It is usual for diplomats at the service of the dictatorship to do what Tablada did: wash face with the regime and lie.
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