Roa Always Present

41 years after his death, this July 6th we evoke Raúl Roa García, who, thanks to his political thought, left us an important legacy that is still valid today.

Trained as a lawyer, the intellectual work of Roa is broad with a solid foundation as a writer, teacher, and historian, and a special command of the speech. It was his work as diplomat that gave him much more prestige after 1959, since his performance in international forums such as the United Nations Organization was valuable in asserting the voice of Cuba.

When we talk about Cuban diplomacy we immediately think of Raúl Roa García, who was called Chancellor of Dignity for his extensive journey defending the Revolution, the just causes of the region, and for his deep social feeling, but, above all, for an episode that transcends all time: when he withdrew from the Organization of American States (OAS) after many attempts to demand, in vain, justice in the face of the oppression exercised by the United States government.

In 1960, already as Minister of Foreign Relations, Roa participated in a meeting of the OAS, in Costa Rica, and in a moment of tension he got up and said "I am leaving with my people and with my people follow the peoples of our America".

Beyond such act of courage and honor, his words are still an example and impulse not to put up with being trampled on and to demand dignified and fair treatment in any circumstance. This event, which occurred at the end of the first year of the Cuban Revolution, also marked the independence and anti-imperialist nature of our social process.

During his almost 20 years at the head of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Roa had to live, perhaps, the moments of greatest effervescence in the country due to the constant threats, the attempts at political isolation in the area, and the desire for intervention by the United States with events like the Invasion of Playa Girón, as well as others like the Missils Crisis.

In the convulsive present we live in, of insistent international confrontations, mediated by the arrogant manipulation of world powers and their allies, it’s more than ever necessary to review history and study Roa, to find in his work the answer for resistance. In the strength of his arguments, the reasons for Cuba's struggle to remain against all forms of interference are still evident.

Until the last of his days, on July 6th, 1982, Roa was an example of tenacity, a faithful combatant and iron militant, always remembered in whatever Cuban diplomatic and political environment exists.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff