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July 2007 Reflections |
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In Spite of Everything The fifth reflection on the Pan American Games Do you think that you merely enjoy the Pan American Games? Think again, and you will realize that no matter your age, you run, jump, put the shots, throw javelins, discuses and hammers; soar above hurdles and tracks, relay batons, spike balls, score a basket, row, execute ippons, turn your rival over, follow strategies, splash water over yourself after running for two hours and even stop taking in the oxygen that your lungs are demanding. What a wonderful show the athletes put on for us! But you do not just enjoy; you participate, especially when athletes from your country are competing. In our case, there is hardly any event where there is not a Cuban team or athlete present. Besides, July and August are months filled with commemorative activities. This is also the warmest and most humid period of the year. Added to this there is a magic word: holidays! Your homes see millions of children, teenagers and young people getting together. People from all ages feel the obsessive need to relax in this stressful time in which we live. This is the time of mothers, especially of grandmothers. With great love and determination they look after their children’s children and even after their grandchildren’s children. They are the heroines of the marathon that goes on year after year. Commemorations would lack every sense if it were not for the advances achieved by our Revolution; these are the sum total of examples set forth and efforts carried out for a long time. Cuba is almost the only country offering free education, health and sports services. A special tribute should go to a comrade who exactly 50 years ago gave up his life fighting the tyranny: the young 22-year-old hero Frank País. Those who fought for these ideals made it possible for us to enjoy today’s levels of social justice, which includes full employment for all men and women in our country. The most important achievement of the Revolution has been the capacity to resist a blockade for almost half century as well as privations of every sort. Restrictions in the variety and quality of foodstuffs and future threats of unaffordable prices that may result from the imperialist constraint of using much of this scarce and vital raw material to produce fuel are not ruled out. We have come to the end of the Pan American Games; I am going to miss them. Cuba won the first place in track and field, with 12 gold medals. As a country, it ranked second at the XV Pan American Games with a total of 59 gold medals, preceded only by the United States which won 97; in other words, they won 1.64 gold medals for each one that was won by our country. But the United States has 26 times more inhabitants than Cuba. According to conservative figures, they won one medal per every 3.09 million inhabitants; we won one per every 195 thousand. On 59 occasions we heard the spirited notes of the Cuban National Anthem playing. In spite of everything! Fidel Castro Ruz July 30, 2007 The Revolting Commercialization of Athletes Fourth Reflection on the Pan-American Games What, from the technological and economic points of view, has been the worst problem faced by poor countries? The brain drain. What has been their worst problem in patriotic and educational terms? Talent theft. In poor countries, local newspapers and honest individuals who are interested in sports begin to ask themselves why they must endure the theft of their nation's talented athletes, after the many sacrifices and investments it took to train them. Cuba, whose successes and efforts in the field of amateur sports no one can put in question, suffers these kinds of piranha bites more than any other country. Just look at how the talent scouts react to Cuba's accusations. When I spoke of the German mafia and the millions of dollars it had at its disposal to bribe Cuban athletes, they immediately felt they had been alluded to and declared: "no, no, we're not a mafia!". They gave a detailed account of how the shameful business of purchasing and selling boxers works. I quote their statements below, in the order they reached me: Hamburg, July 24 (DPA) - The heads of Arena Box Promotions, a German company that scouts foreign amateur boxers to turn them into professionals, defended themselves today fromt criticisms by Cuban President Fidel Castro. Castro's accusations reached Muller-Michaelis through DPA, which, in an article today published by Cuban newspapers, confirmed the desertions of two-time world and Olympic champion Guillermo Rigondeaux and world champion Erislandy Lara, members of Cuba's delegation at the Pan-American Games held in Rio de Janeiro. "In Germany, there is a mafia devoted to selecting, buying and promoting Cuban boxers in international boxing matches", the Cuban leader affirmed. "It uses sophisticated psychological methods and many millions of dollars", he added. Hamburg, July 25 (DPA) - The two Cuban boxers who deserted during this year's Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara, turned to mediators to come into contact with the German promotional agency Arena Box Promotions, according to declarations for a Berlin newspaper made by Turkish German promoter Ahmet Oner, president of the company. In the brief declarations he offered the newspaper, Oner claims it was the boxers who separated themselves from their country's delegation and sought contact with his company, and not the other way around, as was insinuated in a number of Cuban media. In view of this, Oner, who is not currently in Germany but vacationing somewhere in Southern Europe, said that he decided to send emissaries to South America to try and contact Rigondeaux and Lara, offering no further details. Oner's declarations were confirmed in Hamburg today by Arena spokesman Malthe Muller-Michaelis, who reiterated that the initiative was the Cuban deserters', as he declared to the press agency DPA. In this case, the athletes in question are Odlanier Solís, Yuriokis Gamboa and Yan Barthelemy, who are currently not in Germany but vacationing abroad. In this connection, Peter Danckert, chairman of the Bundestag Sports Commission (Lower Chamber) of the German Parliament refused to make declarations on the Cuban boxers who deserted. I'll let the experts on the matter do that, he commented in response to a request from the agency DPA in Berlin. Hamburg,-July 26 (DPA) - The two Cuban boxers who "deserted" at the 2007 Pan-American Games in Rio, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara, are currently in Turkey, where they await a German visitor's permit, according to an article published by the newspaper Morgenpost today. We have hired Rigondeaux and Lara, the Turkish president of the Hamburg promotional agency Arena, Ahmet Oner, told the newspaper. Fidel, naturally, is angry, but he has no reason to be surprised. His boxers do not want to be amateurs their entire lives, they want to make money, Oner declared for the paper. Fidel wants to hide his formidable boxers from the world. I show them to the world, the young, 34-year-old promoter underscored. Twenty-six-year-old Rigondeaux is extraordinarily talented. Between 1999 and 2003, the two-time bantamweight Olympic champion won 142 consecutive fights. Oner told Morgenpost that, Castro's anger vis-à-vis the "German mafia" notwithstanding, he wants to do business with the Cuban president. I will suggest to him organizing a boxing evening in Havana shortly, he added. Hamburg, July 26 (DPA) - Cuban boxers Guillermo Rigondeaux, two-time bantamweight Olympic champion, and Erislandy Lara, world welterweight champion, signed contracts with the German Arena Box Promotions following their 'desertion' during the Pan-American Games of Rio de Janeiro. All speculations have come to an end: Rigondeaux and Lara have signed five-year contracts with Arena, a communiqué published by the Hamburg-based company headed by Turkish-German promoter Ahmet Oner confirmed today. According to the communiqué issued by Arena, the two boxers will shortly travel to Germany. Oner refused to reveal the current whereabouts of Rigondeaux and Lara, for understandable reasons, but he commented that the steps needed to secure visitor permits and German residencies were being taken. HAMBURG, July 26 (AP) - "Two Cuban boxers who defected during the Pan American Games in Brazil signed five-year contracts Thursday to fight on a cable television station. "Guillermo Rigondeaux, a bantamweight who won gold at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, and Erislandy Lara, an amateur welterweight world champion, signed with Arena TV. Arena TV is the company that other three first-class Cuban boxers, who deserted in December, signed with. "'Now the best up-and-coming professionals in the world fight for Arena',' company boss Ahmet Oner said." "The two fighters failed to appear for bouts after leaving the Pan Ams athletes' village Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. "Since the 2004 Olympics, the Cuban boxing program has been hit hard by defections, with several champions now fighting professionally in the United States and Europe". Arena wants to secure a place for itself in the world of televised sports and believes the Cubans are a great investment. Rio de Janeiro - July 26 (EFE) - In declarations for a Brazilian newspaper, German businessman Ahmet Omer, promoter of four Cuban boxers who have already sought asylum in Germany, admitted he organized the get-away of two Cuban boxers who deserted during the Pan-American Games of Rio de Janeiro. I organized the whole thing, the owner of the company Arena Box Promotions stated during declarations published today by the Folha de Sao Paolo newspaper, where he admitted having paid nearly half a million dollars to finance the operation. Twenty-six-year-old two-time bantamweight Olympic and world champion Rigondeaux was one of Cuba's main figures at the Rio de Janeiro Pan-American Games and was considered a sure medal for the country. The boxers' desertion was discovered this week when they failed to appear for weighting, to which they had to be submitted to fight in their respective categories, in which they were gold-medal candidates. A German company here with contacts in South America brought me Barthelemy, Gamboa and Solís in December. I paid good money for them. They later brought me Ridondeaux and Lara, the boxers' representative affirmed. I took good care of Solís, Gamboa and Barthelemy, who are friends of Rigondeaux and Lara's. I believe that helped, the businessman added upon commenting that the boxers' friendship helped in making the other two Olympic champions opt for deserting to begin professional careers in Germany. The German promoter said that the operation undertaken last December to organize the desertion of three boxers and transport them to Germany cost him around 1.5 million dollars. The five will be world professional boxing champions. Today, I am the youngest boxing promoter in Europe. With them, I will be the greatest, he declared. Hamburg, July 26 (DPA) - The desertion had been planned months in advance, for a tournament in Ankara. But, on that occasion, Cuba participated with a B team, without Rigondeaux, which was the boxer Oner was most interested in. Following this, when Cuba decided not to take part in Germany's Halle tournament, where the Chemie Pokal tournament is traditionally held, Oner began to suspect Cuba had been tipped off that a boxer was considering desertion. The city of Halle and the Chemie Pokal tournament had been the stage, already over a decade ago, of the desertion of Cuban cruiserweight boxer Juan Carlos Gómez (one of the four boxers who had been bought in the past). That is why we set our sights on Rio and the Pan-American games, where we finally reached our objective, he said. Now, we are going through the red tape with the boys, and, once we have all of the documents, we'll travel to Germany, where we will give them a welcoming ceremony at the appropriate time, he pointed out. The two Cubans signed five-year contracts. For the other Cubans, all this took three months. With these two young men, we'll take half the time, that is to say, a month and a half. Just look at how they boast about their foul deed against our country. Everyone knew perfectly well that Cuba would obtain nearly all gold medals in boxing. They had to deal our country a blow, and they not only bought two athletes who were sure to win gold medals, they also attempted to deal a blow to the pristine morale of the other athletes who continued to defend their gold medals with valor. The low blow even had repercussions among the judges. But they would never have been able, not with all of the world's money, to buy men like Stevenson, Savón, or the deceased Roberto Balado, whose beautiful tradition bequeathed much glory to Cuban boxing. In spite of everything, we have already won 44 gold medals. Fidel Castro Ruz July 27, 2007 Is Brazil the United States' Substitute? The Third Reflection on the Pan American Games A short while ago I was saying about the brain drain that is disgusting. A bit later, a good offensive player on the Cuban handball team showed up wearing the uniform of a professional Sao Paulo team. Betrayal for money is one of the favorite weapons the United States uses to destroy Cuba's resistance. The athlete was a higher education student; he would be a graduate with a degree in Physical Education and Sport, an honorable job. His income is modest, but his professional training is highly appreciated; whatever the sport or specialty, if they attract a large audience and commercial publicity or none at all they are still useful for human growth. Those that applied for asylum in Brazil are doing it after the United States declared recently that it would not be fulfilling the exact quotas of the migratory agreements signed with our country. Suffice it to say that of the almost two hundred athletes and coaches who participated in the first week of Pan American competition, we went missing one handball player and one gymnastics coach. I am not going to say, for that reason, that the Cuban handball team was better than the excellent Brazilian team and its formidable athletes, but the Cuban delegation received a low moral blow in the Pan American Games with these pleas for political asylum. The Cuban team was thus knocked out even before the match for gold began. Last Sunday, July 22, around noon, the sad news was received that two of the most outstanding athletes in boxing, Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz and Erislandy Lara Santoya did not show up for the weigh-in. Very simply they were knocked out by a punch to the chin, paid with American bills. No countdown was needed. Watching those first matches in Rio, I exclaimed that our boxers were fighting with such elegance and technical mastery that they had transformed their rough sport into an art form. In Germany, there is a mafia devoted to selecting, buying and promoting Cuban boxers in international boxing matches. It uses sophisticated psychological methods and many millions of dollars. A mere three hours later, the victory of the Cuban Mariela González Torres in the marathon, a classic Olympic sport which took her on a course of more than 40 kilometers, more than compensated for the treasons and her feat was engraved with golden letters in the annals of sports history of her country. The Cuban people must pay tribute to the heroic example of Mariela, born in the eastern province of Granma, where the rates of infant and maternal mortality were, in 2006, 4.4 per each thousand live births and 11 per 100 thousand deliveries, better than the figures in the United States. In her municipality, Río Cauto, with a population of 47,918, the figure was zero on both counts. After all, Cuba has thousands of good coaches who work abroad with athletes who very often win gold medals in competitions against our own athletes. Another fact: there is an International School for Professors of Physical Education and Sport where more than 1300 students from the Third World are taking their higher education courses. A few days ago, 247 graduated. We do not encourage chauvinism or any superiority complex. We work with science and knowledge and on this basis we struggle to create the ethical values of a healthy mind in a healthy body. It is totally unjustified to seek political asylum. If Brazil is not the final marketplace, it makes little difference. There are wealthy countries in the First World who would pay much more. The Brazilian authorities have declared that whoever wishes to defect must prove the real necessity for seeking asylum. It is impossible to prove the opposite. Even beforehand, we know their final destination as mercenary athletes within a consumer society. I think that they have offended Brazil by using the Pan American Games as the pretext for their self-promotion. In any case, we consider the declarations of the authorities to be useful. We would like Brazil, a sister nation in Latin America and the Third World, to have the honor of hosting the Olympics. Fidel Castro Ruz July 23, 2007 Reflections on the Pan-American Games "Aren't you watching the Pan-American Games? I think I hear many Cubans asking. Of course I am! I answer; I can hardly get my eyes off the TV set," stated the Cuban Revolution leader in his article entitled "Reflections on the Pan-American Games." Aren't you watching the Pan-American Games? I think I hear many Cubans asking. Of course I am! I answer; I can hardly get my eyes off the TV set. Sometimes I forget about the time when I should take some meal or pill. And then I complain because no one dared to pull me away from a baseball inning when the game was quite even, Mayeta was batting, two men were on base, and there was one out. I, as much as you, have lived through the vicissitudes of such matches. It could be a women's volleyball match between Cuba and the United States, in which our team played a perfect game. Our women's and men's handball teams were amazing! What a speed! What a strength! I do not miss any of the sport events broadcast on TV: weight-lifting, tae-kwon-do, rowing, cycling, beach-volleyball. I have watched the women's rhythmic gymnastics singles. I realize that that beautiful sport has been promoted from the children' category to the Olympic category. The most outstanding winners in this sport are girls; no one older or heavier can beat them. Tomorrow will be a fateful day in many sports: the dispute among important collective sport teams will begin. Please consider that I am writing this on Tuesday afternoon. We have just won the third gold medal of the day with an injured athlete. That was a heroic feat. Right now the last qualification game in women's handball is still in progress. Brazil women's team is a hard nut to crack. I watch the game and I write some lines. Finally, at 4:25 pm, the Brazilian team won 32 to 28. Both teams will go to the finals: they will be competing to win either the gold, silver, or bronze medals. At 4:50 pm I saw the broadcast of the rowing match where our team won two gold medals. I watched some excerpts of the men's gymnastics singles. Athletes in this sport are in general very young, but they are no kids. At this time of the afternoon, 5:45pm, I have nothing more to add. Fidel Castro Ruz July 17, 2007 On Brain Drain It is not limited to the transfer of capital; it also entails the import of grey matter, which nips a country"s nascent intelligence and future at the bud," the Cuban leader affirmed in an article published by Granma daily today. I mentioned something and included a quotation on this topic for an example I used in my last reflection, titled "Bush, Health and Education", which I dedicated to children. In this reflection, aimed at the first class to graduate from the University of Information Sciences (UCI), I shall delve more deeply into this thorny issue. These graduates were the pioneers, from whom I learned much about the intelligence and the values our young people can cultivate when they study assiduously. I also learned much from the excellent staff of professors, a great many of whom had studied at the José Antonio Echevarría University Complex (CUJAE). Neither can I avoid to mention the example of the social workers, whose organizational skills and spirit of sacrifice enriched my knowledge and afforded me new experiences, nor the thousands of educators who graduated recently, who made the goal of having one teacher for every 15 students, in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades of our junior high schools a reality. All of them began their university studies almost simultaneously, infused with the ideas which were born and were applied in the battle to have a 6 year old child who had been kidnapped returned to his family and homeland, a child for whom we were willing to give our all. In two days, 1,334 computer sciences engineers from around the country, whose exemplary conduct and knowledge earned them university scholarships, shall graduate from UCI. Of these, 1,134 have been assigned to different ministries, which provide important services to our people, and to state agencies which manage crucial economic resources. A centralized reserve of 200 young and carefully selected graduates, which shall grow larger every year, awaits different assignments. This reserve is made up of graduates from all of the country"s provinces who shall stay lodged at UCI residences. A total of 56 percent are males and 44 percent females. UCI opens its doors to young people from Cuba"s 169 municipalities. It is not grounded in the model of exclusion and competition among human beings which developed capitalist countries advocate. Our world order appears to have been designed to foster the egoism, individualism and dehumanization of humanity. A Reuters press dispatch published on May 3, 2006, titled "African brain drain deprives Africa of vital talent", reports that, in Africa, "it is estimated that some 20,000 skilled professionals are leaving the continent every year, depriving Africa of the doctors, nurses, teachers and engineers it needs to break a cycle of poverty and under-development". Reuters adds that "the World Health Organization (WHO) says that Sub-Saharan Africa bears 24 percent of the world"s global burden of disease including HIV AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. To face that challenge, it has just 3 percent of the world"s health workers". "In Malawi, only 5 percent of physicians" posts and 65 percent of nursing vacancies are filled. In the country of 10 million, one doctor serves 50,000 people". Quoting a report from the World Bank, the dispatch reports that, "stymied by conflict, poverty, lethal diseases and corruption, much of Africa is in no position to compete with richer countries that promise higher salaries, better working conditions and political stability". "Brain drain deals a double blow to weak economies, which not only lose their best human resources and the money spent training them, but then have to pay an estimated $5.6 billion a year to employ expatriates". The phrase "brain drain" was coined in the 1960s, when the United States began to hoard UK doctors. In that case, one developed country dispossessed another; one emerged from the Second World War in 1944 with 80 percent of the world"s gold reserve in bullions, the other had been severely hit and deprived of its empire in the course of the war. A World Bank report titled "International migration, remittances and the brain drain", made public in October 2005, yielded the following results: In the last 40 years, more than 1.2 million professionals from Latin America and the Caribbean have emigrated to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. An average of 70 scientists a day has emigrated from Latin America in the course of 40 years. Of the 150 million people around the world involved in science and technology activities, 90 percent is concentrated in the seven most industrialized nations. A number of countries, particularly small nations in Africa, the Caribbean and Central America, have lost over 30 percent of their population with higher education as a result of migration. The Caribbean islands, where nearly all nations are English-speaking, report the world"s highest brain drain. In some of these islands, 8 of every 10 university graduates have left their native countries. More than 70 percent of software programmers employed by the US Company Microsoft Corporation are from India and Latin America. The intense migratory movements, from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union towards Western Europe and North America, which began following the collapse of the socialist block, are worthy of special mention. The International Labor Organization (ILO) points out that the number of scientists and engineers who abandon their native countries and emigrate to industrialized nations is about one third of the number of those who stay in their native countries, something which significantly depletes indispensable human resource reserves. The ILO report maintains that the migration of students is a precursor of the brain drain. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that, at the beginning of the new millennium, a bit more than 1.5 million foreign students pursued higher studies in member states and that, of these, more than half were from non-OECD countries. Of this total, nearly half a million studied in the United States, one quarter of a million in the United Kingdom and nearly 200 thousand in Germany. Between 1960 and 1990, the United States and Canada received more than one million professional immigrants and experts from Third World countries. These figures are but a pale reflection of the tragedy. In recent years, encouraging this type of emigration has become an official state policy in a number of North countries, which use incentives and procedures especially tailored to suit this end. The American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act -approved by the US Congress in 2000- increased the temporary work visa (H-1B) allotment, from 65 thousand to 115 thousand in the 2000 fiscal year and then to 195 thousand for fiscal years 2001 through 2003. The aim of this increase in the visa cap was to encourage the entry into the United States of highly qualified immigrants who could occupy positions in the high-technology sector. Though this figure was reduced to 65 thousand in the 2005 fiscal year, the flow of professionals towards this country has remained steady. Similar measures were promulgated by the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Australia. Since 1990, this last country prioritized the intake of highly qualified workers, primarily for sectors such as banking, insurance and the so-called knowledge economy. In nearly all cases, the selection criteria are based on the worker"s high qualifications, language proficiency, age, work experience and professional achievements. The UK program grants extra points to medical doctors. This relentless plundering of brains in South countries dismantles and weakens programs aimed at training human capital, a resource which is needed to rise from the depths of underdevelopment. It is not limited to the transfer of capital; it also entails the import of grey matter, which nips a country"s nascent intelligence and future at the bud. Between 1959 and 2004, Cuba has graduated 805,902 professionals, including medical doctors. The United States" unjust policy towards our country has deprived us of 5.16 percent of the professionals who graduated under the Revolution. However, not even the elite of immigrant workers enjoy work conditions and salaries like those of US nationals. In order to avoid the complicated paperwork which US labor legislation requires and reduce the costs of immigration procedures, the United States has gone as far as creating a software ship-factory which keeps highly-qualified slaves anchored in international waters, in a kind of assembly plant which produces all manner of digital devices. Project SeaCode consists of a ship, anchored more than three miles off the coast of California (international waters), with 600 Indian computer scientists on board, who work an uninterrupted 12 hour daily shift for four months out at sea. The trend towards the privatization of knowledge and the internalization of scientific research companies subordinated to big capital has been creating a kind of "scientific apartheid" which affects the vast majority of the world"s population. The United States, Japan and Germany combined have a percentage of the world"s population similar to that of Latin America, but their investment in research and development is of 52.9 percent, as opposed to 1.3 percent in the latter. Today"s economic gap foreshadows what tomorrow"s may be if these trends are not reversed. That future is already upon us. The so-called new economy mobilizes immense capital flows each year. According to a 2006 report published by Digital Planet, a World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) publication, the global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) market accounted for three trillion US dollars in 2006. More and more people have access to the Internet each day -in July 9, 2007, the figure was almost 1.4 billion users. However, in many countries, including numerous developed ones, the people with no access to this service continue to be the majority. The digital gap spells dramatic differences, whereby part of humanity, fortunate and connected, has more information at its disposal than any generation before it ever had. To have an idea of what this means, suffice it two compare two realities: while more than 70 percent of the population of the United States has access to the Internet, only 3 percent of Africa"s entire population has such access. Internet service providers are based in high-income countries, where a mere 16 percent of the world"s population lives. The underprivileged situation our group of countries faces within these global information networks, the Internet and all modern means used to transfer information and images must urgently be addressed. A society in which millions of human beings are considered superfluous, the brain drain of South countries constitutes a common practice and economic power and new technologies are wielded by only a handful of nations cannot be called human, not by a long shot. Overcoming this dilemma is as important for the destiny of humanity as mitigating the climate change crisis which scourges the planet, two problems which are completely interrelated. To conclude, I need only add: Whoever has a computer has all published knowledge at their disposal and the privileged memory of the machine belongs to them too. Ideas are born of knowledge and ethical values. An important part of the problem would be technologically solved, another must be cultivated restlessly. Otherwise, the most basic instincts shall prevail. The task ahead of UCI graduates is grandiose. I hope you are able to fulfil it. I am confident that you will. Fidel Castro Ruz July 17, 2007 Bush, Health and Education I will not refer to Bush's health and education, but to that of his neighbors. It was not an improvised declaration. The AP agency tells us what his opening words were: "Tenemos corazones grandes en este país" (We have big hearts in this country); he said this in Spanish in front of 250 representatives of private and religious groups, foundations and NGOs who had come to Washington with all expenses paid by his government. Of these, some 100 came from the United States. “The meeting, called the White House Conference on the Americas, is part of the ideas outlined by Bush as he began a tour of five Latin American countries at the beginning of March about what his government was hoping to do for the region in the short time still remaining of his term in office.” “Bush called the conference in order to discuss several subjects, especially education and health. ‘It’s … in the interests of the United States that our neighborhood be healthy and educated', he said in improvised declarations during a chat with six of the attendees, from Guatemala, the United States, Brazil, Haiti and Mexico, who sat at the table with him in a colloquium”, the press agency added. He said some incredible things, like “the hard work we’re doing in the neighborhood". Bush spoke, as did the Secretary of the Treasury, the Under Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and the Under Secretary of State for Public Affairs. Together with them, several members of the Cabinet chaired the working groups in which the meeting was arranged. They all talked until they were blue in the face. They mentioned that Bush had created a training center in Panama that graduated more than 100 doctors from six Central American countries. They very emphatically referred to the Comfort, “one of the best medical ships in the world that had just called on port in Panama after visiting Guatemala”. “Bush dedicated 55 minutes of his time to this activity which took place in a hotel in the city of Arlington, Virginia, on the outskirts of Washington D.C.” Then, as bold as you like, Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, joined the voices to speak about Cuba. According to another news agency, when our Council of State, complying with constitutional norms, had just called the elections, she declared that “the United States hopes that the Cubans themselves will decide their future”, and she added: “Washington will not tolerate the transition from one dictator to another”. In his opening speech, Bush addressed really unusual concepts for the head of a planetary global empire, very conscious of his power and of his personal role, reported in detail by the Spanish press agency EFE: “The President of the United States, George W. Bush, today urged the governments of Latin America to be honest, transparent and open.” (…) “The leader affirmed that societies which are open and transparent are those which will lead to hopeful tomorrows.” “We expect governments to be honest and transparent (…) We reject the notion that it’s okay for there to be corruption in government…” “It is also in our interest to help a neighbor in need. It renews our soul. It lifts our collective spirit. I believe to whom much is given, much is required. We’ve been given a lot as a nation, and therefore, I believe we’re required to help,” he insisted. Bush knows that he is lying and that his tall tales are hard to swallow, but he doesn’t care. He is confident that if he repeats it a thousand times, many will finally believe him. Why so much trickery? What essentially torments him? When did all this rushing come up? Bush is discovering that the economic and political system of his empire cannot compete with Cuba in vital services, such as healthcare and education, although this country has been attacked and blockaded for almost 50 years. Everyone knows that the United States’ specialty concerning education is the brain drain. The International Labor Organization has indicated that “47 percent of people born abroad that complete their Doctorate in the United States stay in that country.” Yet another example of the plunder: “There are more Ethiopian physicians in Chicago than in all of Ethiopia.” In Cuba, where healthcare is not a commodity, we can do things that Bush cannot even dream of. Third World countries do not have the resources to set up scientific research centers, while Cuba has created these even if her own professionals have often been enticed and encouraged to defect. Our Yes I Can method of teaching people to read and write is today available to all Latin American countries, free of charge, and the countries that choose to use the program receive support to adapt it to their own characteristics and to produce the printed materials and the corresponding videos. Countries such as Bolivia are implementing the program in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara. The numbers of those who have learned to read and write there in just one year exceed the number of those who have been taught to read and write by the empire in all of Latin America, if indeed there is anyone. And I am not speaking about other countries like Venezuela which has accomplished veritable heroic deeds in education in a very short time. Yes I Can is of benefit to other societies outside the Western Hemisphere. Suffice it to say that New Zealand is using the program to eradicate illiteracy in their Maori population. Instead of having one training center for medical professionals in Central America, which has trained about 100 –and we’re glad for this-- our country today has tens of thousands of students from Latin America and the Caribbean on full scholarships who spend six years training as doctors in Cuba, free of charge. Of course, we do not exclude any American youth who take their education very seriously. We cooperate with Venezuela in the education of more than 20,000 youths, who study medicine and train in clinics in the poor neighborhoods, tutored by Cuban specialists, so that they can get acquainted with their future and difficult job. The Comfort, with over 800 people on board, that is, medical staff and crew, will not be able to look after great numbers of people. It is impossible to carry out medical programs episodically. Physical therapy, for example, in many cases requires months of work. Cuba provides permanent services to people in polyclinics and well-equipped hospitals, and the patients can be cared for any time of day or night. We have also trained the necessary physical therapy specialists. The eye surgery also requires special skills. In our country ophthalmologic centers perform more than 50,000 eye surgeries on Cubans each year and look after 27 kinds of diseases. There are no waiting lists for cornea transplants which need special arrangements. Let an active investigation be done in the United States and you will see how many people really need to be operated on there; since they have never been examined by an ophthalmologist they will attribute their eye problems to other causes and run the risk of becoming blind or of having their vision seriously impaired. You would find out that there are millions. In the abovementioned figure I did not include the hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans and Caribbean people some of whom are operated on in Cuba, but most in their respective countries, by Cuban ophthalmologists. In Bolivia alone, they are more than 100,000 each year. In this instance, Bolivian doctors educated in the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) take part in the surgeries alongside our Cuban specialists. Let’s just see how the Comfort will make out in Haiti, providing health services for a week. There, in 123 of the country’s 134 communes there are Cuban doctors working alongside ELAM graduates, or Haitian students in the last year of medical school, fighting AIDS and various tropical diseases. The problem is that the United States cannot do what Cuba is doing. On the contrary, it brutally pressures the manufacturing companies of the excellent medical equipment that is supplied to our country to prevent them from replacing certain computer programs or some spare parts that are under United States patents. I could cite concrete cases and the names of the companies. It is disgusting, even though we have solutions that make us more invulnerable in this field. Less than six months ago Bush had not yet invented the idea of making fuel production universal, from foodstuff inside and outside the United States. Those of us who are aware of the value of fats and protein foods for human nutrition know what the consequences are for pregnant women, children, teenagers, adults and the elderly if they lack these. The brunt of the scarcity will fall on the shoulders of the least developed countries, in other words, on the largest part of humanity. It will surprise no one that this will be accompanied by increased prices for basic foodstuffs and social instability. Yesterday, Friday 13, the price of oil was 79.18 US dollars a barrel; another consequence of the money rush and the war in Iraq. Barely 48 hours ago, the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, said that “he had the gut feeling that a terrorist attack could happen in the country during the summer”. The Secretary of State, and subsequently the President of the United States himself, said something similar. But while they were giving information about a potential risk, they were also taking great pains to calm public opinion. The government of the United States sees and hears all, with or without legal authority. Furthermore, it possesses numerous intelligence and counterintelligence services that are provided with copious economic resources for espionage. It can obtain all the security information it needs without kidnapping, torturing or murdering persons in secret prisons. Everybody knows the real economic purposes pursued through world violence and force. They can prevent any attack on their people, unless there is some imperial need to deliver a bang so that they can carry on with and justify the brutal war which has been declared against the culture, religion, economy and independence of other peoples. I must conclude. Tomorrow, Sunday, is Children’s Day. I think of them as I write this reflection. I dedicate it to them. Fidel Castro Ruz July 14, 2007 Cuba’s Self-Criticism The National Directorate of the UJC (Communist Youth League) agreed to communicate the following measure as it was concluding its strategy: “Last Saturday, July 7, the National Bureau of the Communist Youth decided to tighten up the plan for the mobilization of forces of the Student Work Brigades (BET), guided by the principle of using students for tasks of a social and recreational nature, in numbers adjusted to a necessary minimum and within municipalities where they reside, in order to avoid relying on transportation. “That decision was discussed on the same day with the National General Staff of the BET, made up of student organizations and bodies belonging to the Central State Administration, and also with the directorates of the Communist Youth in all the provinces. “The idea of making a more rational use of the mobilized forces was emphasized; also, saving material resources, especially fuel, and the fact that the students should be using their time consolidating their knowledge, incorporating reading habits and discussing subjects of great importance. “As a result of the decisions adopted, only 200,000 of the originally planned 600,000 students will be mobilized in July and August. Mobilizations to the agricultural fields or schools in the countryside will not take place, since their locations imply the use of transportation and other logistical services. “This year the call will be made for only 7 days of work related to the tasks included in the Energy Revolution, together with the social workers, such as training the community to improve their energy saving habits, delivering the domestic appliances that have not been distributed, and visiting a number of families who, having received and taken on the pertinent obligations, have yet to complete their payments. “They will also be participating in the Anti-Mosquito Campaign in order to prevent a return of dengue fever, and in primary and secondary health care, supporting polyclinics and hospitals. “Promoting cultural, recreational and sports activities in the communities will be another of the tasks occupying the members of the Student Work Brigades. “The UJC will promote study and discussion among the mobilized young people and among the rest of the youth.” I can certainly congratulate the National Directorate of the Communist Youth League, and also the people in charge of the Organization and Ideology Departments of the Party who were consulted about this and who wholeheartedly supported this measure. Physical labor on its own does not generate conscience. Every worker is different. Their temperament, their physique, their spirit, the kind of work they do, the toughness of their work, the conditions under which they labor –under a scorching sun or in an air-conditioned room-, whether it is piecework or is salaried, whether the worker is disciplined or not, whether they have command of all their mental capacities or suffer from some disability, the schools they attended, teachers they had, whether the activity is a professional one or not, whether the worker is from the country or from the city. Something else very important: whether the worker handles or distributes goods or services of some kind, who the bosses are, what image they project, how they speak, the way they look at things. I could fill pages talking about the individual differences of every worker. Therefore, what the people in our country need most is knowledge, if what we want to do is create conscience. Martí’s precept about the importance of linking education and work in the formation of man, led us in the past to promote the participation of university students and even students from the middle level education in physical labor. At first, this was an inescapable necessity. We had to fill the vacuum left by those who abandoned the sugar cane fields en masse as soon as other work opportunities appeared. The average level of knowledge was very low, even after the literacy campaign, the massive surge in primary education and later at the junior high school level. Our youth understood this and contributed their efforts with discipline and enthusiasm. Nowadays we have taken higher education to the masses, beginning with the physicians and educators and continuing with the social workers, those in the field of computer science, the art instructors, in the universalization of university courses for a wide variety of degree courses. We have to make the brain cells work if we want to build consciences, so necessary in today’s complex world. The purpose of studying for one or two weeks, and this year it will only be for 7 days, with proper materials that will be supplied, will generate a feeling of satisfaction in time well spent and the conscience that our society urgently needs. Throughout the entire year we must keep ourselves informed about essential matters and about the details of what is happening in Cuba and in the rest of the world. On specific economic matters, I think that in every country, most people are unaware of everything. It is inescapable to know why the cost of oil is climbing; last Monday the price reached 77 dollars a barrel. Why the prices of foods are increasing, such as wheat and others which must be imported because of climate related problems; if the cause of their increase is permanent or short-lived. Not all workers receive the incentive of convertible pesos, a practice that became generalized in a large number of companies during the Special Period, without always fulfilling the minimum committed requirements. Not everybody receives convertible currency from abroad, something which is not illegal but which at times creates irritating inequalities and privileges in a country that does its utmost to supply vital services free of charge to the entire population. I do not mention the juicy profits being made by those who transport people clandestinely, nor the way they would fool us by changing the US bills into other currencies in order to avoid our response measures against the dollar. The real and visible lack of equality and the lack of pertinent information gives way to critical opinions, especially in the neediest sectors. In Cuba, without a doubt, those who some way or another receive convertible pesos –even though in these cases the sums are limited –or those receiving currency from abroad, also acquire free essential social services, food, medicines and other goods at extremely low subsidized prices. However we are strictly fulfilling our financial obligations precisely because we are not a consumer society. We need serious, brave and conscientious managers. Those using up gasoline all over the place with our current fleet of vehicles of all kinds; those who forget that the prices of food increase sharply and that raw materials for agriculture and industry, many of whose products are distributed to all at subsidized prices, must be acquired at market prices; those that forget that the country has the sacred duty to struggle until our last drop of blood and must spend money for raw materials and defensive measures faced with an enemy who is permanently on guard, they can compromise the independence and life of Cuba. We cannot fool around with that! I was horrified when a few days ago I heard a distinguished bureaucrat exclaim on TV that now that the Special Period was over, we would be sending more and more delegations each year to such and such activities. Where did this genius come from? I wondered. Perhaps it is a donation sent us by Sancho Panza from his Isle of Barataria. In Cuba, the Special Period has abated; but the world has fallen prey to a very special period, and we must wait to see how it will come out in the end. Billions of dollars are wasted in fuel. Not just as professional wastrels, that’s a natural tendency, but also out of necessity to exchange thousands of ancient Soviet motors, from a time when there was gasoline aplenty, for Chinese motors that are very thrifty and have reasonable credit facilities. This program has fallen behind. In the world economy, metals, just like oil, rise above their historical parameters, but they also plummet abruptly. Of course, no one can remedy, in a short time, the need for oil in personal and public transportation and for agricultural or construction equipment. In developed countries everything is mechanized. Travelers describe how they see building after building, of all kinds, rising up, and that the pace does not stop, day or night. Cities are becoming gigantic. There are constantly more millions of people who need drinking water, vegetables, fruits and protein foods that have had to be produced and supplied by others often after traversing great distances. Furthermore, they need highways with three or four lanes in both directions, bridges, expensive works of engineering. The least of accidents, a simple sideways brush between two vehicles, will paralyze everything. Public expenditures are greater every day and development assistance has decreased. Worst of all, for every thousand people there are more than 500 private automobiles. In the United States that number reaches almost a thousand. People live or work at great distances. Everybody has their own garage. Every workplace has its own parking lot. There are not enough oil refineries. Many of them need to be expanded and also new plants must be constructed. The raw material for a refinery is oil; the heavier it is the more we need and for a long time now there have been no great oilfields of light oil coming to light. A strike in Nigeria, the war in Iraq, the threats to Iran, the old political conflicts in Europe, a tidal wave, a hurricane, all of these send prices sky high. The old and the new big consumers are always demanding more millions of barrels per day. Of course, new nuclear plants are growing at the same time. I am not discussing now the environmental or climate effects or dangers, but the uncertainties that they unleash upon the real economy. After spending a mountain of gold to destroy Vietnam, Nixon replaced gold with paper bills, with hardly anyone noticing the consequences. The United States' technological development was such, as was its capacity to produce industrial and agricultural merchandise, especially its enormous military powerhouse, that the replacement of gold by paper did not constitute a tragedy. Inflation of more than 10 % was produced, and it was controlled. This was followed by the United States military build-up voted in with papers, at the end of the Cold War, and the victory of the consumer society which dazzles nations with its orgy of apparent wellbeing. The empire acquired a large part of the world’s wealth with paper, imposing their United States laws there, scorning the sovereignty of nations. The dollar went along progressively losing its value until it reached less than 6 percent of what its value had been in the 70’s. Experts are puzzled about the new phenomena. Nobody is sure about what is going to happen. Do we have reasons to delve more deeply into these subjects, or not? Fidel Castro Ruz July 10, 2007 World Tyranny The Basics of the Killing Machine THE founding fathers of the American nation could not imagine that what they were proclaiming at that time, as any other historical society, was carrying within it the seeds of its own transformation. The attractive Declaration of Independence of 1776, which celebrated its 231st birthday last Wednesday, stated something which in one way or another captivated many of us: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter it or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” It was the result of the influence of the best minds and philosophers of a Europe overwhelmed by feudalism, the privileges of the aristocracy and absolute monarchies. Jean-Jacques Rousseau stated in his famous Social Contract: “The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.” (…) “Force is a physical power, and I fail to see what moral effect it can have. To yield to force is an act of necessity, not of will…” (…) “To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of Humanity and even its duties. For him who renounces everything no indemnity is possible.” In the Thirteen Colonies that obtained their independence, there were also forms of slavery as atrocious as those in ancient times. Men and women were sold at public auction. The new nation emerged with its own religion and culture. The Tea Tax was the spark that set off the rebellion. In those vast lands slavery continued for at least 100 years, and after two centuries, slave descendants are still feeling the consequences. There were native communities which were the legitimate natural inhabitants, as well as forests, water, lakes, herds of millions of bison, natural species of animals and plants, abundant and various foods. Hydrocarbons were unknown then, as was the enormous wasting of energy carried out by today’s society. Had the same declaration of principles been proclaimed in the countries crossed by the Sahara Desert, it would not have created a paradise for European immigrants. Today we must speak about immigrants coming from the poor countries that cross, or try to cross, the U.S. borders by the millions each year in the quest for jobs, and are not entitled even to parental custody over their children if they are born on U.S. soil. The Philadelphia Declaration was written at a time when there were only small printing presses and letters took years to get from one country to another. There were only a few people who could read and write. Today, images, words and ideas travel in a fraction of a second from one corner to another in a globalized planet. Conditioned reflexes are created in the minds of people. We cannot speak about the right to use, but rather about the overuse of free expression and mass alienation. Likewise, with modest electronic equipment, anybody, during peacetime, can send their ideas out into the world without any authorization from any Constitution. It would be a battle of ideas; in any case, a mass of truths versus a mass of lies. Truths do not need commercial advertisements. Nobody could disagree with the Philadelphia Declaration or with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Social Contract. Both documents support the right to struggle against the established world tyranny. Could we ignore the pillaging wars and the slaughters which are forced upon the poor peoples who make up three-quarters of the planet? No! Those are typical of today’s world and of a system that could not sustain itself otherwise. At an enormous political, economic and scientific cost, the human species is being pushed to the edge of an abyss. My aim is not to repeat concepts that I have mentioned in other reflections. Based on simple events, my purpose is to carry on demonstrating the immense hypocrisy and the total lack of ethics which characterize the actions, chaotic by nature, of the government of the United States. In "The Killing Machine”, published last Sunday, I said that it was through one of the declassified CIA documents that we found out about the attempt to poison me using an official of the Cuban government with access to my office. It dealt with a person about whom I should have sought out some information, since I didn't have the elements on hand to make the necessary judgement. In fact, I offered my apologies if I was hurting the feelings of any descendants, whether or not the concerned person were guilty. I later continued to analyze other important subjects in the CIA revelations. During the early days of the Revolution, I used to visit, almost on a daily basis, the recently created National Institute of Agrarian Reform, located where today we have the headquarters of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. We were not able to use the Palace of the Revolution yet, since that was the venue of the Palace of Justice at that time. Its construction resulted from juicy business deals made by the overthrown regime. The main profit came from the increased value of real estate lands, from which thousands of people had been evicted. As a recently graduated lawyer, I worked pro bono as the attorney for the defense of those people, months before Batista’s coup d'état. From the offices of INRA, on March 4, 1960, I heard an ear-splitting explosion of La Coubre and I watched a dark column of smoke rising above the port of Havana. What came to my mind immediately was the thought of a ship loaded with anti-tank and anti-personal grenades that could be used in the FAL rifles we had acquired from Belgium, a country far from being suspected of being Communist. Right away I went down to go to that location. On my way there, because of the noise and the vehicle’s vibrations, I could not hear the second explosion. More than 100 people died and dozens were maimed. At the funeral for the victims, the cry of “Homeland or Death” (Patria o Muerte) was spontaneously born. We know that everything was carefully planned by the Central Intelligence Agency right from the port where the ship was loaded. The ship had passed through the ports of Le Havre, Hamburg and Antwerp. The grenades were loaded at the last of these, in Belgium. The explosions on the ship also killed several of the French crew. Why, in the name of freedom of information, do they not declassify a single document that will tell us how the CIA, almost half a century ago, exploded the steamship La Coubre and cut off the supply of Belgian weapons which, as the CIA itself admitted on June 14, 1960, was a very important concern for the United States? What was I devoting my time to during the feverish days previous to the attack through Bay of Pigs? The first large-scale clean-up in the Escambray Mountains took place during the last months of 1960 up until early in 1961. More than 50 thousand men took part, almost all of them coming from the former provinces of Havana and Las Villas. A flood of weapons was arriving in ships from the USSR. These were not exploding in ports. It was useless to try to buy them elsewhere, and thus we avoided the pretext that the United States used to attack Guatemala, which eventually cost more than one hundred thousand Guatemalan people dead or missing. In Czechoslovakia we bought light weapons and a number of 20 mm and double-barrelled anti-aircraft guns. The tanks with 85 mm cannons, 100 mm armored artillery, 75 mm antitank cannon, mortars, howitzers and large caliber cannon up to 122 mm, and light and heavy anti-aircraft, all came directly from the USSR. It would have taken at least a year to train by traditional methods the personnel needed to use all that weaponry. We did it in a matter of weeks. We dedicated practically one hundred percent of our time to that task almost two years after the triumph of the Revolution. We were aware of an imminent attack, but didn’t know when or how it would come. All possible access points were being defended or guarded. The leaders all had their headquarters: Raúl in Oriente, Almeida in the center, and Che in Pinar del Río. I was headquartered in the capital: a former bourgeois residence had been adapted for that purpose on the highest right bank of the Almendares River, close to the point where the river flows into the sea. It was already daylight on April 15, 1961, and there I was, since the first early morning hours, receiving news from Oriente, when a ship had come from the southern United States, skippered by Nino Díaz, with a group of counterrevolutionaries on board dressed in olive green fatigues similar to the ones worn by our troops, ready to land in the Baracoa area. This was to create a diversion far from the exact site of the main attack, in order to create maximum confusion. The ship was already at the crosshairs of the antitank cannons, but in the end the landing did not take place. On the night of the 14th, we also got news that one of our three jet fighters, which were training craft ready for engagement, had blown up during a reconnaissance flight over the area of presumptive landing. This was undoubtedly a Yankee action perpetrated from the Guantánamo Naval Base or somewhere else in the sea or the air. There was no radar to exactly pinpoint the event. The outstanding revolutionary pilot, Orestes Acosta, died in that action. From the headquarters I mentioned, I could see the B-26s flying low over the spot and, a few seconds later, I heard the first missiles launched without warning against our young artillery, who for the most part were being trained at the Ciudad Libertad Air Base. The response of those brave men was practically instantaneous. Besides, I have no doubt whatsoever that Juan Orta was a traitor. The pertinent details about his life and conduct are where they ought to be: in the archives of the Department of State Security, born in those years under enemy fire. The most politically conscious men were the ones assigned that mission. Orta had received the poisoned pills which had been proposed to Maheu by Giancana. Maheu’s conversation with Roselli, who would play the part of mob contact, took place on September 14, 1960, months before Kennedy’s election and inauguration. The traitor, Orta, had no special merits. We kept writing each other when we were looking for the support of Cuban emigrants and exiles in the United States. He was appreciated for his apparent training and helpful attitude. That was where his special talent laid. After the triumph of the Revolution, he had frequent access to me during an important period. Based on his possibilities then, it was believed that he would be able to put the poison into a soft drink or a glass of orange juice. He had received money from the mob supposedly for helping to reopen the gambling casinos. He had nothing to do with this. We were the ones who had made that decision. Urrutia's unilateral order, issued without previous consultation, was creating chaos and promoting protests by thousands of workers in the tourist and business sectors, at a time when unemployment was running high. Some time later, the gambling casinos were shut down for good by the Revolution. When he was given the poison, contrary to what used to happen in the early days, Orta had very little possibilities to coincide with me. I was fully involved in the activities I previously described. Without saying a word to anybody about the enemy plans, on April 13th, 1961, two days before the attack on our air bases, Orta sought asylum at the Venezuelan Embassy which Rómulo Betancourt had placed at the unconditional service of Washington. The numerous counterrevolutionaries seeking asylum there were not granted exit permits until the brutal armed aggression by the United States against Cuba let up. We already had to put up with the betrayal of Rafael del Pino Siero in Mexico. After deserting a few days before our departure for Cuba, a date he wasn’t aware of, he sold to Batista for 30 thousand dollars some important secrets dealing with part of the weapons and the boat which would take us to Cuba. With elegant cunning he divided up the information in order to gain confidence and to guarantee compliance with each part. First, he would receive some thousands of dollars for delivering two weapons deposits that he knew about. A week later, he would deliver the most important information: the boat that was bringing us to Cuba and the landing site. They would be able to capture us all along with the other weapons, but before that, they had to give him all of the money. Some Yankee expert surely had advised him. Despite this betrayal, we left Mexico in the “Granma” on the set date. Some of our supporters thought that Pino would never betray us, that his desertion was due to his dislike of discipline and the training I demanded of him. I won’t say how I learned of the operation that had been hatched between him and Batista, but I learned about it with full precision, so we were able to take appropriate measures in order to protect personnel and weapons that were en route to Tuxpan, the launch site. That valuable information didn’t cost a penny. When the final offensive by the tyranny in the Sierra Maestra had finished, we had to also fight against the bold tricks of Evaristo Venereo, an agent of the regime who, disguised as a revolutionary, tried to infiltrate the Movement in Mexico. He was the liaison with the secret police in that country, a very repressive body which he advised for the interrogation of Cándido González; this heroic militant was blindfolded during his interrogation and was assassinated after the landing. He was one of the few comrades who drove the car I moved around in. Evaristo returned to Cuba later. He was assigned the mission of assassinating me when our forces were advancing towards Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Las Villas and the western part of Cuba. We learned of the details when we took over the archives of the Military Intelligence Service. These events are documented. I have survived numerous assassination plots. Only luck and the habit of carefully observing every detail allowed all of us, Camilo, Che, Raúl, Almeida, Guillermo, who were later known as the leaders of a triumphant Revolution, to survive the trickery of Eutimio Guerra during the early and most dramatic days in the Sierra Maestra. We might have possibly died when we were at the verge of being eliminated with a ridiculous siege laid on our camp by surprise under the traitor’s guidance. During the brief clash that ensued, we suffered a sad loss: a wonderful, black sugar worker and active combatant, Julio Zenón Acosta, who moved ahead of me and fell at my side. Others survived the deadly danger, and fell in combat afterwards, as was the case of Ciro Frías, an excellent comrade and promising leader, who died in Imías, in the Second Front; Ciro Redondo, who fiercely fought the enemy with the troops of Che’s column, and was killed in Marverde; and Julito Díaz, who was relentlessly shooting his caliber 30 machine gun and died a few steps from our Command Post at El Uvero battle. We set up the ambush at a very well chosen spot, waiting for the enemy, because we were aware of the moves they intended to make that day. Our attention slackened for a few minutes when two men from the group, who had been sent out as scouts before deciding to move, returned without news. Eutimio was guiding the enemy dressed in a white ‘guayabera’ shirt, the only thing visible in the Alto de Espinosa woods, where we were waiting for him. Batista had the headlines ready about the elimination of the whole group, which was for him a sure thing, and had notified the press. Out of excessive confidence, we had in fact underestimated the enemy which was taking advantage of human weaknesses. At that time, we were a group of about 22 well-seasoned and selected men. Ramiro, wounded in one leg, was recovering at some distance from us. The column of more than 300 soldiers, who were advancing one abreast through the sheer and wooded landscape, was spared a storming blow, thanks to a last-minute move that we made. How did that machine work in the face of the Cuban Revolution? As early as April of 1959, I visited the United States as a guest of the Washington Press Club. Nixon deigned to have me visit him in his private office. Later he said that I was inexperienced in the subject of economics. I was so aware of this inexperience, that I enrolled in three university degree courses in order to qualify for a scholarship that would allow me to study Economics at Harvard. I had already finished and had written the exams for all the Law, Diplomatic Law and Social Science courses. I only had two subjects to be examined on: History of Social Doctrines and History of Political Doctrines. I had been studying them carefully. That year, no other student was making the effort. The path had been cleared, but events were on the fast track in Cuba and I understood that this was not the time to take a scholarship to go study Economics. I went to Harvard on a visit at the end of 1948. As I returned to New York, I bought a copy of The Capital in English in order to study Marx’s most notable work and at the same time improve my command of that language. I was not “an underground Communist Party member” as Nixon, with his crafty and penetrating gaze, happened to think. If there is something I can be sure of, and I discovered it at the University, is that I was first a Utopian Communist and then a radical Socialist by virtue of my own analysis and studies, and was ready to fight with the proper strategies and tactics. My only qualm about speaking with Nixon was the distaste I had in frankly explaining my philosophy to a Vice-president and a likely future President of the United States, an expert in imperialist economic concepts and governing methods, which I had ceased to believe in long ago. What was the gist of that meeting which took hours, according to the author of the declassified memo that refers to it? I only have my own memories of what happened. I have selected the paragraphs from this memo which, in my opinion, best explain Nixon’s ideas. “He (Castro) was particularly concerned about whether he might have irritated Senator Smathers for the comments he made with regard to him. I reassured him at the beginning of the conversation that 'Meet the Press’ was one of the most difficult programs a public official could go to and that he had done extremely well – particularly having in mind the fact that he had the courage to go on in English rather than to speak through a translator.” “It was also apparent that as far as his visit to the United States was concerned that his primary interest was ‘not to get a change in the sugar quota or to get a government loan but to win support for his policies from American public opinion.” “It was this almost slavish subservience to prevailing majority opinion –the voice of the mob– rather than his naïve attitude towards Communism and his obvious lack of understanding of even the most elementary economic principles which concerned me most in evaluating what kind of a leader he might eventually turn out to be. That is the reason why I spent as much time as I could trying to emphasize that he had the great gift of leadership, but that it was the responsibility of a leader not always to follow public opinion (but to help to direct it in the proper channels,) not to give the people what they think they want at a time of emotional stress but to make them want what they ought to have.” “I in my turn, tried to impress upon him the fact that while we believe in majority rule that even a majority can be tyrannous and that there are certain individual rights which a majority should never have the power to destroy.” “I frankly doubt that I made too much of an impression upon him but he did listen and appeared to be somewhat receptive. I tried to cast my appeal to him primarily in terms of how his place in history would be affected by the courage and statesmanship he displayed at this time. I emphasized that the easy thing to do was to follow the mob, but that the right thing in the long run would be better for the people and, of course, better for him as well. As I have already indicated he was incredibly naïve with regard to the Communist threat and appeared to have no fear whatever that the Communists might eventually come to power in Cuba.” “In our discussions of Communism I again tried to cast the arguments in terms of his own self-interest and to point out that the revolution which he had led might be turned against him and the Cuban people unless he kept control of the situation and made sure that the Communists did not get into positions of power and influence. On this score I feel I made very little impression, if any.” “I put as much emphasis as possible on the need for him to delegate responsibility, but again whether I got across was doubtful.” “It was apparent that while he paid lip service to such institutions as freedom of speech, press and religion that his primary concern was with developing programs for economic progress. He said over and over that a man who worked in the sugar cane fields for three months a year and starved the rest of the year wanted a job, something to eat, a house and some clothing.” “He indicated that it was very foolish for the United States to furnish arms to Cuba or any other Caribbean country. He said ‘anybody knows that our countries are not going to be able to play any part in the defense of this hemisphere in the event a world war breaks out. The arms governments get in this hemisphere are only used to suppress people as Batista used his arms to fight the revolution. It would be far better if the money that you give to Latin American countries for arms be provided for capital investment.’ I will have to admit that as far as his basic argument was concerned here I found little that I could disagree with!” “We had a rather extended discussion of how Cuba could get this investment capital it needed for economic progress. He insisted that what Cuba primarily needed and what he wanted was not private capital but government capital.” I was referring to the capital owned by the Cuban government. Nixon himself acknowledged that I never asked for any resources from the U.S. government. He got a little mixed up and said: “… that government capital was limited because of the many demands upon it and the budget problems we presently confronted.” It was evident I clarified him on that because right afterwards he pointed out in his memo: “… that there was competition for capital throughout the Americas and the world and that it would not go to a country where there was any considerable fear that policies might be adopted which would discriminate against private enterprise.” “Here again on this point I doubt if I made too much of an impression.” “I tried tactfully to suggest to Castro that Muñoz Marín had done a remarkable job in Puerto Rico in attracting private capital and in generally raising the standard of living of his people and that Castro might well send one of his top economic advisors to Puerto Rico to have a conference with Muñoz Marín. He took a very dim view of this suggestion, pointing out that the Cuban people were ‘very nationalistic’ and would look with suspicion on any programs initiated in what they would consider to be a ‘colony’ of the United States.” “I am inclined to think that the real reason for his attitude is simply that he disagreed with Muñoz firm position as an advocate of private enterprise and does not want to get any advice which might divert him from his course of leading Cuba toward more socialism of its economy.” “You in America should not be talking so much about your fear of what the Communists may do in Cuba or in some other country in Latin America, Asia or Africa…” “I also tried to put our attitude toward communism in context by pointing out that Communism was something more than just an idea but that its agents were dangerously effective in their ability to grasp power and to set up dictatorships.” “Significantly enough he did not raise any questions about the sugar quota nor did he engage in any specific discussions with regard to economic assistance.” “My own appraisal of him as a man is somewhat mixed. The one fact we can be sure of is that he has those indefinable qualities which make him a leader of men. Whatever we may think of him he is going to be a great factor in the development of Cuba and very possibly in Latin American affairs generally. He seems to be sincere, he is either incredibly naïve about Communism or under Communist discipline…” “But because he has the power to lead to which I have referred we have no choice but at least to try to orient him in the right direction.” That was the end of his confidential memo to the White House. When Nixon started to talk, nothing could stop him. He was used to preaching Latin American presidents. He did not prepare any drafts of what he intended to say or took notes of what he actually said. He responded to questions that were never asked. He dealt with subjects based only on the opinions he had about his interlocutor. Not even an elementary school student would hope to receive so many lessons altogether on democracy, anti-Communism and other matters related to the art of governing. He was fond of developed capitalism and its domain of the world out of its own natural right. He idealized the system. He didn’t conceive otherwise, nor was there the slightest possibility of getting through to him. The killings began under the Eisenhower and Nixon governments. There is no other way to explain why Kissinger exclaimed, and I quote, that “blood would flow if we knew, for example, that Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General, had personally directed the assassination of Fidel Castro”. Some blood had flown before. What the former administrations did, with few exceptions, was to follow the same policy. In a memorandum dated on December 11, 1959, the head of the CIA’s Western Hemisphere Division, J.C. King, said, and I quote: “We must give thorough consideration to the elimination of Fidel Castro. […] Many informed people believe that the disappearance of Fidel would greatly accelerate the fall of the government…” As it was recognized by the CIA and the Church Senate Committee in 1975, the assassination plans sprang up in 1960, when the purpose of destroying the Cuban Revolution was included in the president’s agenda dated March that year. The J.C. King memo was sent to Allen Dulles, the CIA Director, with a note that expressly requested approval for those and other measures. They were all accepted and gladly welcomed, specially the proposal of assassination, as reflected by the following annotation in the document signed by Allen Dulles and dated one day after, on December 12: “The recommendation contained in Paragraph 3 is approved.” In a draft of a book that would contain a detailed analysis of declassified documents, written by Pedro Álvarez-Tabío, Director of the Historical Affairs Office of the Council of State, it is stated that: "Up to 1993, the Cuban State Security had discovered and neutralized a total of 627 conspiracies against the life of the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro. This figure includes both the plans that reached some phase of concrete execution and those which were neutralized at an early stage, as well as other attempts that by various ways and for different reasons have been publicly revealed in the United States itself. It does not include a number of cases that could not be verified, since the only available information was the testimony of some of the participants. This of course did not include any of the plans plotted after 1993.” Previously, we were able to learn from the report by Colonel Jack Hawkins, CIA paramilitary chief during the preparations for the Bay of Pigs invasion, that “the paramilitary General Staff studied the possibility of organizing an assault force of greater magnitude than the small contingency force planned earlier.” “It was thought that this force would be landed in Cuba after effective resistance activity, including active guerrilla forces had been developed. It should be noted that guerrilla forces were operating successfully in the Escambray mountains during this period. It was visualized that the landing of the assault force, after widespread resistance activity had been created, would precipitate general uprisings and widespread defection among Castro's armed forces which could contribute materially to his overthrow." “The concept for employment of the force in the amphibious/airlift assault was discussed at meetings of the Special Group during November and December 1960. The group took no definite position on ultimate employment of such a force but did not oppose its continued development for possible employment. President Eisenhower was briefed on the concept in late November of that year by CIA representatives. He indicated that he desired vigorous continuation of all activities then in progress by all Departments concerned.” What did Hawkins report about the results of the covert operations program against Cuba from September 1960 to April 1961? Nothing less than the following: “a. Introduction of Paramilitary Agents. Seventy trained paramilitary agents, including nineteen radio operators, were introduced into the target country. Seventeen radio operators succeeded in establishing communication circuits with CIA headquarters, although a number were later captured or lost their equipment.” “b. Air Supply Operations. These operations were not successful. Of 27 missions attempted, only four achieved desired results. The Cuban pilots demonstrated early that they didn't have the required capabilities for this kind of operation. A request for authority to use American contract pilots for these missions was denied by the Special Group, although authority to hire pilots for possible eventual use was granted." “c. Sea Supply Operations. These operations achieved considerable success. Boats plying between Miami and Cuba delivered over 40 tons of military arms, explosives and equipment, and infiltrated/exfiltrated a large number of personnel. Some of the arms delivered were used for partially equipping a 400 man guerrilla force which operated for a considerable time in the Escambray, Las Villas Province. Most of the acts of sabotage carried out in Havana and other sites used materials provided in this fashion." “d. Development of Guerrilla Activity. Agents introduced into Cuba succeeded in developing a widespread underground organization extending from Havana into all of the provinces. However, there was no truly effective guerrilla activity anywhere in Cuba except in the Escambray Mountains, where an estimated 600 to one thousand ill-equipped guerrilla troops, organized in bands of 50 to 200 men, operated successfully for over six months […]. A CIA trained coordinator for action in the Escambray entered Cuba clandestinely and succeeded in reaching the guerrilla area, but he was promptly captured and executed. Other small guerrilla units operated at times in the provinces of Pinar del Río and Oriente, but they achieved no significant results. Agents reported large numbers of unarmed men in all provinces who were wiling to participate in guerrilla activity if armed.” “e. Sabotage. 1) From October 1960 through April 15 1961 sabotage activity included the following: “(a) Approximately 300 thousand tons of sugar cane destroyed in 800 separate fires.” “(b) Approximately other 150 fires were set in 42 tobacco warehouses, two paper plants, a sugar refinery, two dairies, four stores, 21 Communist homes.” “(c) Approximately 110 bombings, including Communist Party offices, Havana power station, two stores, railroad terminal, bus terminal, militia barracks, railroad train.” “(d) Approximately 200 nuisance bombs in Havana Province.” “(e) Derailment of 6 trains, destruction of a microwave cable and station, and destruction of numerous power transformers.” “(f) A commando-type raid launched from the sea against Santiago, which put the refinery out of work for about one week.” So much for what we have known thanks to the Hawkins’ report. Anyone could understand that 200 bombs planted in the main province of an underdeveloped country which lived on the single crop farming of sugar cane, which is a semi-slave form of production, and on the sugar quota that had been earned for almost two centuries for being a guaranteed supplier, and whose major productive lands and sugar refineries belonged to large United States companies, constituted a brutal act of tyranny against the Cuban people. Add to this all the other actions that were carried out. I will say no more. It is enough for today. Fidel Castro Ruz July 7, 2007
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Fidel Castro Ruz is the President of Cuba. |
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