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November 2007 Reflections |
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A People Under Fire Venezuela, whose people are heirs to Bolivar’s ideas which transcend his era, is today facing a world tyranny a thousand times more powerful than that of Spain’s colonial strength added to that of the recently born United States which, through Monroe, proclaimed their right to the natural wealth of the continent and to the sweat of its people. Marti denounced the brutal system and called it a monster, in whose entrails he had lived. His internationalist spirit shone as never before when, in a letter left unfinished due to his death in combat, he publicly revealed the objective of his restless struggle: “...I am now every day risking my life for my country, and for my duty -since I understand it and have the courage to do it- to timely prevent, with the independence of Cuba, that the United States expand over the Antilles and that they fall, with this additional force, over our lands in America...” It was not in vain that he stated in plain verse: “With the poor of this earth, my fate I wish to cast”. Later, he proclaimed categorically: “Humanity is homeland”. The Apostle of our independence wrote one day: “Let Venezuela call on me to serve her: I am her son”. The most sophisticated media developed by technology, employed to kill human beings and to subjugate or exterminate peoples; the massive sowing of conditioned reflexes of the mind; consumerism and all available resources; these are being used today against the Venezuelans, with the intent of ripping the ideas of Bolivar and Marti to shreds. The empire has created conditions conducive to violence and internecine conflicts. On Chavez’s recent visit last November 21, I seriously discussed with him the risks of assassination as he is constantly out in the open in convertible vehicles. I said this because of my experience as a combatant trained in the use of an automatic weapon and a telescopic sight. Likewise, after the triumph, I became the target of assassination plots directly or indirectly ordered by almost every United States administration since 1959. The irresponsible government of the empire does not stop for a minute to think that the assassination of Venezuela’s leader or a civil war in that country would blow up the globalized world economy, due to its huge reserves of hydrocarbons. Such circumstances are without precedent in the history of mankind. Cuba developed close ties with the Bolivarian government of Venezuela during the hardest days resulting from the demise of the USSR and the tightening of the United States economic blockade. The exchange of goods and services grew from practically zero level to more than 7 billion dollars annually, with great economic and social benefits for both our peoples. Today that is where we receive the fundamental supplies of fuel needed for our country’s consumption, something that would be very difficult to obtain from other sources due to the shortage of light crude oil, the insufficient refining capacity, the United States’ power and the wars its has unleashed to seize the world oil and gas reserves. Add to the high energy prices, the prices of foods destined by imperial policy to be transformed into fuel for the gas-guzzling cars of the United States and other industrial nations. A victory of the Yes vote on December 2 would not be enough. The weeks and months following that date may very well prove to be extremely tough for many countries, Cuba for one; although before that the empire’s adventures could lead the planet into an atomic war, as their own leaders have confessed. Our compatriots can rest assured that I have had time to think and to meditate at length on these problems. Fidel Castro Ruz The Conversation with Chavez Last November 15, I referred to a third reflection on the Latin American Summit which, as I then wrote, “I have yet to publish”. It strikes me as timely, however, to do so before the referendum of December 2. In this reflection, written on the 13th, I pointed out the following: Yesterday, the Cuban people had the opportunity to hear Chavez speak on the Round Table program. I phoned him when he said that Fidel was a man who was out of this world, that, on April 11, 2002, he spoke with him, when all official lines of communication were tapped, over a phone located in his kitchen. I was at a meeting with the President of the Basque Country the day of the coup. Events succeeded each other restlessly. That fateful afternoon, several of the people there, who were willing to die next to Chavez, had used the same phone to say goodbye. I remember exactly what I told him that night when I asked him not sacrifice himself: that Allende could not rely on a single soldier to fight back and that he, on the other hand, could rely on thousands. In our telephone conversation during the Peoples’ Summit function, I tried to add that to sacrifice oneself so as not to fall prisoner -- a choice I once faced and something I nearly decided, again, before reaching the mountains -- was a way of dying with dignity. I had said the same thing he had: that Allende had died fighting. Calixto Garcia Iñiguez, one of the most glorious generals of our wars of independence, survived a gunshot to his chin, aimed at his head. His mother, who had refused to believe her son had been taken prisoner, on finding out the whole truth, exclaimed with pride: that’s my boy! That was what I wanted to convey to him over the cell phone without amplifier, held, this time, by Lage, Secretary of the Executive Committee of Cuba’s Council of Ministers. Chavez could barely hear what I was saying, the same as when the King of Spain abruptly ordered him to keep quiet. It was at that moment that Evo arrived at the function. He is a genuine Aymara native, who also spoke there, as Daniel did, and in whose face Chavez wisely discerned Maya features. I agree with what he said, that I am a strange blend of races. I have Taino, Canary Island, Celtic and who knows what other bloods in me. I was anxious to hear the three of them speak again. Before they spoke, I said: “I salute the thousands of Chileans who died fighting the dictatorship imperialism imposed on them!” And I concluded my remarks proclaiming, next to Chavez, Bolivar’s, Che Guevara’s and Cuba’s slogan of: “Homeland, socialism or death! We shall overcome!” Yesterday, Monday the 12th, over a notorious private Venezuelan television station at the empire’s service, I heard a declaration and speech which had been prepared, from beginning to end, by the US embassy. How empty and ridiculous it all sounded in comparison to Chavez’ vibrant speech at the Summit debate! Long live the courageous people who cast off the oppressor's yoke! Long live Hugo Rafael Chavez! Fidel Castro Ruz The Ideological Waterloo I have been working on the many reflections that I have promised. One of them deals with the main ideas of a book by Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, making use of his own words. His book clearly reveals how imperialism seeks to continue buying up the world’s natural and human resources with perfumed paper bills. Another idea I had consisted in compelling certain individuals to confess the truth about NATO’s war plans. I directly challenged Mr. Aznar and brought pressures to bear on US leaders to have them openly admit their responsibility in the empire’s wars. Some of the documented evidence I presented had not been published before. Then the Ibero-American Summit was held and hell broke loose there. Zapatero’s cowardly and untimely remarks, his defense of Aznar, the King of Spain’s abrupt interjection, and the dignified response of the President of Venezuela who, because of technical problems, was unable to hear precisely what the King had said, were an unambiguous display of the genocidal ways and methods of the empire, its accomplices and the anesthetized victims of the Third World. Chavez’ talents and debate skills came to the fore in this tense atmosphere. Aznar’s twisted soul is best captured by one of his pronouncements. When Chavez asked him what fate was in store, in the neoliberal world, for poor countries such as Haiti, he replied, verbatim: “Those guys are screwed”. I know the Bolivarian leader well: he never forgets the words he hears in direct conversation with others. I wrote a third reflection on the Ibero-American Summit which I have yet to publish. I am publishing this one, instead, on the eve of President Chavez’ trip to Riad, Saudi Arabia, tomorrow, where he will participate in the OPEC Summit. Fidel Castro Ruz The Summit Debate All physical, geographic and time barriers disappeared. It seemed unreal. Never before had a dialogue of this nature taken place between heads of State and government, most of whom represented nations that had been pillaged by colonial and imperialist powers for centuries. Nothing could have been more instructive. Saturday, November 10th, 2007, will go down in the history of our America as a day of truth. The ideological Waterloo took place when the King of Spain abruptly asked Chavez: “Why don’t you keep quiet?” All hearts in Latin America raced at that instant. The people of Venezuela, who will be called upon to vote “yes” or “no” next December 2nd, were shaken by the emotion of living the glorious days of Bolivar again. The betrayals and the low blows that our dear brother endures each day cannot change the way the Bolivarian people feel. When Chavez arrived from Chile at the Caracas airport and I heard him directly mention his plans to mingle with the crowds, as he has done so many times, I had the extremely vivid impression that, given the current circumstances and the highly significant ideological victory he has attained, a paid assassin of the empire’s, an oligarch corrupted by the reflexes that the empire’s propaganda machine has inculcated into people, or a mentally disturbed person could put an end to his life. It is impossible to avoid the impression that the empire and the oligarchy are doing everything in their power to lead Chavez to a cul-de-sac, that they can easily place him in the line of fire. Venezuela must ensure its victory is transformed, not into a terrible setback, but into a much greater victory, to prevent imperialism from leading our species to suicide. We must continue to struggle and to face risks, but we must not play Russian roulette or flip a coin every single day. No one escapes the logic of probability. In such circumstances, the modern means of communication through which the summit debates were aired live are preferable. Fidel Castro Ruz The Value of Ideas Che was a man of ideas. It would have caused him profound pain to hear the speeches that, expressing traditional leftist positions, were delivered at the Latin American Summit held in Santiago de Chile. The Right also assumed traditional stances and made intelligent concessions to the supposed Left. Che would have been proud of the statements made by several revolutionary and courageous leaders, regardless of the little or great deal of political experience any of them may have. Experience is the mother of science and of ideas. It was from the battles waged by a handful of Cuban combatants in an area of the Sierra Maestra, against forces that were vastly superior in number and weapons, that Che drew the ideas he later synthesized in his book Guerrilla Warfare. Chávez leveled devastating criticisms at Europe, the same Europe that pretended to offer lessons on good governance at this Latin American Summit. The voices of Sandino and of the millennium-old cultures of this hemisphere could be heard in the words of Daniel and Evo. The speech delivered by the President of El Salvador at this Summit is disgusting. Capitalism is a system governed by blind, destructive and tyrannical laws that have been imposed on the human species. Dedicating the next Summit to the young people of Latin America was an unpalatable mixture of hypocrisy and lies, aimed at inculcating the minds of peoples with conditioned reflexes. Fidel Castro Ruz |
Fidel Castro Ruz is the President of Cuba. |
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