Valdés, an engineer by profession and coordinator of the Association of Cuban Residents in the Dominican Republic, will participate in the 4th Conference on Nation and Emigration, which will take place in Cuba on November 18 and 19.

Young people do not understand why Cuban companies cannot have bank accounts abroad, right here in the Dominican Republic, where it is also impossible to make bank transfers to and from Cuba.

They do not understand because it is simply difficult to assimilate that all this responds to the policy of pressure exerted by successive US administrations against international financial institutions, he said.

He considered that the Conference, which will bring together some 440 Cubans living in other countries, will be “an opportunity to unite us more and feel more proud of our roots.”

For the self-described” countryman with a soul from the Sierra Maestra”, Cubans, wherever they live, should proudly say “I’m part of a people who have lived for more than 60 years under a blockade that no one understands.”

Valdés pointed out that it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to understand Cuba’s reality, the causes of the crisis it is experiencing, “the positive aspects of our country,” because the penetration of Miami’s Channel 51 is very strong and broadcasts misleading information.

He indicated that this has caused him more than one dispute. Sometimes I simply ask those who refute a statement: Do you consider that I am good at my job, that I am a good specialist? And to the answer of Yes, I tell them, “I am the result of that Government and of that Revolution; I feel proud to be Cuban.”

Some 15 Cubans living in the Dominican Republic have already been accredited to participate in the 4th Conference on Nation and Emigration.

jg/jav/mpv