Reflections of Fidel

On April 25, 2009, El Universal from Mexico published that “Francis Plummer, a scientist with the Canadian government microbiology laboratory stated that the influenza virus attacking the Mexicans is new not only to humans but to the world. Just one week ago… he was asked to analyze some specimens from Mexico…”

“The tests that revealed this new virus were only conducted with the specimens sent by the Mexican authorities, he emphasized regarding the 16 positive cases out of the 50 specimens sent from Mexico…”

Two days later, La Jornada newspaper relates that on the 5th of the same month it had received an information from its reporter in Veracruz, Andres Timoteo, who literally said that “the Health Department had laid an epidemic cordon to La Gloria village, municipality of Perote, because the people there were being affected by a strange outbreak of acute respiratory infections… three children under two years of age had died and 60% of the three thousand population were suffering from respiratory disease.”

La Jornada then adds that “the reporter’s note states that the villagers relate the outbreak of infections to the contamination produced by the pig breeders of the transnational Carroll Farms.

“…dozens of families suddenly fell ill from respiratory diseases.

“Municipal agent Bertha Crisostomo appealed to the health authorities for help, since dozens of families suddenly fell ill from respiratory diseases,” says the reporter.

“The symptoms of the villagers there, according to witnesses, were high temperature, severe coughing and phlegm; they need to stay in bed as if stricken by one of the seasonal infections that appear in winter.”

Actually, the Canadian laboratory of Dr. Plummer was not the first to discover anything. The Atlanta CDC had already done it on April 17. The AH1N1 was a new and potentially very dangerous virus.

But, there is more. On the 11th of that month, the Pan American Health Organization Watch Group, based on the reports of the abovementioned Mexican press, asked the Health Department to check on an alleged outbreak of influenza at La Gloria community in Perote, Veracruz, arguing that it could pose an internationally significant health risk.

Faced with such information, any country would have considered it imperative to undertake an immediate and serious investigation into the matter.

I have always admired Mexico’s achievements in Social Security. It was the most advanced in this continent. After the victory, we found friends there who helped us in the first years of our Revolution.

It hurts to even say it, but actually four or five days would have sufficed to discover that the people were being affected by that virus; it was not necessary to send a specimen to that laboratory in Canada. How can it be explained that such a test was not made anywhere since the onset of the events leading to action by the PAHO Watch Group?

As of April 24, the first information is given to the international community on the epidemic; the news was disquieting. Let’s take a look at some of them:

May 2: 397 cases, 16 dead.

May 5: 866 cases, 26 dead.

May 9: 1626 cases, 48 dead.

May 12: 2282 cases, 58 dead.

Every day there were reports of other affected countries and almost without exception there was a connection with persons returning from Mexico.

Three days ago it was announced that China, a huge nation with a population of 1.3 billion, had reported a case positive to the AH1N1 virus; in this case it was a Chinese young man studying in the United States. This latter country and Mexico have become the world exporters of the epidemic. Perhaps that sudden and devastating spread of the disease could have been averted. It is not as if the Mexican government was doing a favor to the world as some would have us believe. Now we would have to thank the three partners of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The three were present in Port of Spain on April 18 and 19. Obama had visited Mexico on the 16th and 17th of the same month.

What does one of these epidemics mean to Cuba? Our country is prevented from purchasing any medication, raw material, equipment or components of diagnostic equipment manufactured by the U.S. transnationals on the basis of the extraterritorial laws that the U.S. administration has imposed to the world. Why were we accused of being enemies of the Mexican people when we adopted measures devised in advance to protect our people? Who is now telling China how to protect its population? Why all of this lying? Why talk about such alleged retaliatory measures as the suspension of an already suspended trip? Is it perhaps that money from tourism and the airlines is more important than the life of a compatriot? Why the threats? We are not accountable for the drastic measures that the epidemic forced the Mexican government to take.

When the United States launched its mercenaries through the Bay of Pigs escorted by the Marine Corps, General Lazaro Cardenas, who had won great glory by recovering the Mexican oil, did not threatened us; quite the opposite, he wanted to come to Cuba to fight alongside our people. That is the Mexico whose example we pay tribute to.

Is it possible that on April 16 and 17 nobody in Mexico knew anything about the gift the world would receive from that country six days later? Is it that not even the information experts of the U.S. Intelligence Agencies knew what was about to happen?

Nothing has changed in Mexico in the past eight years, except the virus. In 1918, the influenza killed more people than World War I.

It was news that shook the world! Let’s have confidence in science!

Fidel Castro Ruz
May 14, 2009
7:43 am.

The U.S. administration announced through CNN that Obama would be visiting Mexico this week, in the first part of a trip that will take him to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, where he will be within four days taking part in the Summit of the Americas. He has announced the relief of some hateful restrictions imposed by Bush on Cubans living in the United States regarding their visits to relatives in Cuba. When questions were raised on whether such prerogatives extended to other American citizens the response was that the latter were not authorized.

But not a word was said about the harshest of measures: the blockade. This is the way a truly genocidal measure is piously called, one whose damage cannot be calculated only on the basis of its economic effects, for it constantly takes human lives and brings painful suffering to our people.

Numerous diagnostic equipment and crucial medicines –made in Europe, Japan or any other country– are not available to our patients if they carry U.S. components or software.

The U.S. companies producing goods or offering services anywhere in the world apply these restrictions to Cuba, since they are extraterritorial measures.

An influential Republican Senator, Richard Lugar, and some others from his same party in Congress, as well as a significant number of his Democratic peers, favor the removal of the blockade. The conditions exist for Obama to use his talents in a constructive policy that could put an end to the one that has failed for almost half a century.

On the other hand, our country, which has resisted and is willing to resist whatever it takes, neither blames Obama for the atrocities of other U.S. administrations nor doubts his sincerity and his wishes to change the United States policy and image. We understand that he waged a very difficult battle to be elected, despite centuries-old prejudices.

Taking note of this reality, the President of the State Council of Cuba has expressed his willingness to have a dialogue with Obama and to normalize relations with the United States, on the basis of the strictest respect for the sovereignty of our country.

At 2:30 p.m., the head of the Interests Section of Cuba in Washington, Jorge Bolaños, was summoned to the State Department by Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Shannon. He did not say anything different from what had been indicated by the CNN.

At 3:15 p.m. a lengthy press conference started. The substance of what was said there is reflected in the words of Dan Restrepo, Presidential Adviser for Latin America.

He said that today President Obama had instructed to take certain measures, certain steps, to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their wishes to live with respect for human rights and to determine their own destiny and that of the country.

He added that the president had instructed the secretaries of State, Commerce and Treasury to undertake the necessary actions to remove all restrictions preventing persons to visit their relatives in the Island and sending remittances. He also said that the president had issued instructions for steps to be taken allowing the free flow of information in Cuba, and between those living in Cuba and the rest of the world, and to facilitate delivering humanitarian resources directly to the Cuban people.

He also said that with these measures, aimed at closing the gap between divided Cuban families and promoting the free flow of information and humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people, President Obama was making an effort to fulfill the objectives he set out during his campaign and after taking on his position.

Finally, he indicated that all those who believe in the basic democratic values hope for a Cuba where the human, political, economic and basic rights of the entire people are respected. And he added that President Obama feels that these measures will help to make this objective a reality. The president, he said, encourages everyone who shares these wishes to continue to decidedly support the Cuban people.

At the end of the press conference, the adviser candidly confessed that ‘all of this is for Cuba’s freedom.’

Cuba does not applaud the ill-named Summits of the Americas, where our nations do not debate on equal footing. If they were of any use, it would be to make critical analyses of policies that divide our peoples, plunder our resources and hinder our development.

Now, the only thing left is for Obama to try to persuade all of the Latin American presidents attending the conference that the blockade is harmless.

Cuba has resisted and it will continue to resist; it will never beg for alms. It will go on forward holding its head up high and cooperating with the fraternal peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean; with or without Summits of the Americas; whether or not the president of the United States is Obama, a man or a woman, a black or a white citizen.

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 13, 2009
6:12 p.m.

Evo entered today his fourth day of rigorous hunger strike. He spoke yesterday evening and today at noon. His words were calm, persuasive and categorical. He offered a “biometric electoral register” that was still better than the one in force during the electoral processes held in his country, which had already been described by international institutions as reliable and of high quality.

He plays chess in his spare time.

He was interviewed by the television, and when asked by a journalist how he could guarantee that the electoral register is ready for the December elections, in the face of the tricks worked by the oligarchy, he answered: “I have confidence in the people.”

Nobody denies any longer that he is winning the battle without resorting to the use of force or abusing power.

The adversary can not cope with his volley. It is quite possible that, during the early hours of Monday, an agreement is announced — without having to resort to a Presidential Decree — by virtue of a Congress law, as Evo wanted. Every new hour without said agreement would multiply the strength of and the national and international support to Bolivia’s indigenous President.

The opposition parliamentarians are coming back and negotiations are under way. Those are good news.

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 12, 2009
9:35 p.m.

Sometimes I have thought that I would not have to write the following day and that I could rather use part of the time to read and study, as I have often done. But, the significant events of the past few weeks related to the world economy and politics, and the developments in Bolivia have prevented me from doing so.

At 10:41 hours, I communicated with Dausá. I wanted to have details on the health of Evo and the other Bolivian leaders who are today in the third day of a hunger strike. He woke up well although weaker from the lack of food. Those accompanying him in the hunger strike are also enduring the situation; they asked the ambassador for books on Marti, Che Guevara and the Revolution. Today, our ambassador worked on the request and sent them such books as ‘Marti’s Life and Work,’ ‘Socialism and Man in Cuba’ and other materials.

It is a known fact that the electoral register was recognized by various international organizations, the OAS and the European Union included, which have no sympathies for the left. These used their specialized services to make analysis and determine that the electoral register was one of the most serious in the continent.

Despite all that, authorities from the legislative assemblies in five of the nine departments of Bolivia –that is, in Beni, Pando, Potosi, La Paz and Tarija—challenged the electoral register in obvious complicity with the opposition.

In Bolivia, the strongest Party in Parliament is the MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo) led by Evo Morales, with 72 seats of a total of 130 in the House of Representatives. It is, thus, the most powerful Party in Bolivia. The rest of the seats are divided among PODEMOS (Poder Democrático Social), the second stronger political force made up by the old loyalists of General Hugo Banzer, and the MNR (Movimiento Nacional Revolutionario). PODEMOS stands for the Bolivian oligarchy. Its leader, at the moment, is Jorge Quiroga who became a president of Bolivia shortly before the death of Banzer, since he had been the latter’s vicepresident.

The MNR is the third political force. It is headed by Representative Mirtha Quevedo. It has a smaller number of members in the parliament who oppose the MAS.

Unidad Nacional is the other opposing force in the Bolivian Parliament.

As far as Cuba is concerned, the main political organizations of the opposition are not characterized by their hostility.

Recently, after the constitutional referendum in January, a numerous Bolivian delegation visited our country in response to an invitation from our Party’s America Division. The delegation was made up by Carlos Both and Roberto Ruiz, both senators from PODEMOS; Cesar Navarro, a very positive man who follows Evo; Mario Justiniano, a representative from the MNR, who is critical of Evo; Hugo Moldiz, editor of the weekly La Época, an excellent writer and a very good friend of Cuba; and Guido Rivero, the executive secretary of the so-called Fundación Boliviana para la Democracia Multipartidista, which made the arrangements for the trip from March 11 through 15. They were looked after by the comrades from our Party’s International Relations Department.

It has been precisely to promote unity and cooperation among all of the political forces for the development of Bolivia that President Evo Morales has done everything within his power to foster collaboration while avoiding extremist positions that could damage the revolutionary process. How can anyone speak of extremism when the Bolivian leader consulted with the voters if the size of properties should be 10 or 5 thousand hectares? For the first time in the history of Bolivia, Evo has built a significant hard currency reserve which now allows him to face up to the grave international financial crisis; in less than three years he has eradicated illiteracy in Spanish, Aymara and Quechua; he has made it possible for the entire poor population to enjoy a safe minimum income; he is recovering the energy sources and conquering for Bolivia the admiration of the world.

Our people are contributing to his efforts with their experience in the areas of healthcare and education. Thousands of our compatriots are making their selfless contribution there.

Our physicians have offered 24,618,833 consultations and performed 35,390 general surgeries. They have saved 20,102 lives.

The number of patients who have had eye surgeries as part of Mission Miracle is 386,597; of these, 25,198 are Brazilian, 24,240 Argentinean, 17,008 Peruvians and 309 Paraguayan.

At the same time, close to 5 thousand Bolivian youths are pursuing a Medical career in Cuba.

That is our modest contribution to the fraternal Bolivian people, the poorest and most exploited in Latin America.

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 11, 2009
1:43 p.m.

Yesterday, Thursday 9, our attention was focused on the tense situation in Bolivia…

Today, Friday, there is one more event of great interest: after a successful trip to China, Hugo Chavez arrives in Cuba. If in Bolivia the oligarchy has clashed with a serious and strong leader like Evo Morales, in Venezuela the adversaries of the Bolivarian Revolution, who were pinning all their hopes on the blow that the international economic crisis would deal that country, will understand that Chavez’ struggle for socialism is capable of surmounting any obstacle. He promised that all the achievements and the significant social progress attained so far will be maintained, that the industrialization of the country will keep up with its pace, and that Venezuela will become a model industrialized country, with social justice, which will be an inspiration and an example to the Third World.

His trip to China and Japan in the midst of the crisis that affects all nations of the world is a true example of political strategy. Before going on that trip he attended the South American and Arab countries Summit. These countries altogether own huge natural resources. He saw in Japan –one of the most industrialized countries of the world with the greatest economic potential- an important market for Venezuelan commodities. He clearly deduced, over and above anything else, that China, with its accelerated development, will be the biggest economic power on Earth, an inescapable stronghold for international trade and a fulcrum for the Third World countries which have been discriminated against and exploited by he richest capitalist powers.

The cable news published on April 8 reported the agreements that had been signed after the conversations held between the presidents of Venezuela and the People’s Republic of China, Hugo Chavez and Hu Jintao.

The cable news issued yesterday 9 reported the activities that, at the request of the President of China, Hugo Chavez attended on that day before beginning his return trip.

Cable news agencies gave a wide coverage to all his activities in China.

They reported that the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, said he had reached an agreement today with his Chinese homologue, Hu Jintao, to increase cooperation so that China could receive one million barrels of oil per day by the year 2010.

“I suggested to him that, given the world situation –the crisis- we should analyze the possibility and agree on advancing the goal set under the strategic agreement for the year 2013”, said Chavez today to the one hundred local, provincial and national leaders of the Chinese Communist Party School who applauded him.

“Achieving that supply volume, the construction of a Venezuelan refinery on Chinese territory and the creation of a bi-national shipping company for the transportation of crude oil were the priority goals pursued by Chavez’s visit.

“The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, deemed today as ‘indispensable’ the construction of a platform of alliances between China, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, concluded today his visit to China with a meeting he held with the Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping, who is considered to be Hu Jintao’s successor as leader of China’s Communist Party at its next Congress to be held in 2012.

“Xi is the Rector of the school where all the Communist Party leaders have been trained since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, which was visited by Chavez today.

“China is a country with foresight. After a few months in government I traveled to this country and began to build a relationship with Jiang Zemin; and now, with Hu, we have decided to endow that relationship with a new strategic dynamism.

“Yesterday, in a meeting held at the Great People’s Palace, Chávez told Hu that China is the biggest engine that exists right now that could pull the world out of this crisis.

“He reaffirmed today at the Party School that if Washington was the capital city of the imperial world, Beijing is today one of the big capital cities of the multipolar world.

“We are in the process of founding our own Party School, which has been in place for hardly one year, and its founding nucleus should first attend this school, because we have started to shape up a great party with a clear ideology, which is socialism”, he reaffirmed.

Around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, President Chávez will do me the honor of visiting me. It will be extremely interesting for me to be able to know about the details of his trip abroad –more than 12 days, all in all- showing his unlimited confidence on the people, its increasing socialist awareness and the cadres that were left at the helm of the country.

Most certainly, during the day we will receive more news about Bolivia and the political battle that is being waged by Evo and his selfless people. I will continue to write, trying to be as concise as possible in view of so many news.

At 13:15 hours I phoned Dausá. The news was that Evo still had not had any rest at 7:00 a.m. At that time he was given a copy of the Reflection I wrote today. He felt happy about it and read it before the journalists. He felt pleased to know that I was following the events very closely. After that he slept for two or three hours.

Dausá gave me more accurate information about the Parliament sessions. Both in the House –with 130 deputies, where Evo’s party has an overwhelming majority– and in the Senate –with 27 Congress members, where the opposition is the majority– laws are approved by a simple majority.

The problem is that the Provisional Electoral Act must be approved by a majority in both the House and the Senate. Since the oligarchy has a higher number of deputies within the 27 members of the Senate, it blocks its approval and demands conditions which are unacceptable, namely, to create a new electoral register, to reduce to only a few the number of special constituencies for the indigenous populations created by the new Constitution of Bolivia, which was approved by the people in the recently held elections, and finally to impose considerable restrictions on the voting rights of Bolivians living abroad –most of whom support Evo.

Through those demands they intend to deprive the Bolivian President of the increasing popular support he enjoys.

While a solution is negotiated based on a possible reduction of the number of indigenous deputies from 14 –as proposed by Evo– to almost half, since the opposition accepted only three, they have started to create intrigues by saying that the indigenous President is betraying his own people. Thus, they intend to undermine Evo’s forces and challenge the electoral register, which will question the right to vote of 700 000 Bolivian voters. A similar goal is pursued by restricting and hindering the voting rights of Bolivians living abroad.

It is only logical that Evo does not resign himself to suspend the elections or deprive a considerable number of Bolivians from their right to vote by virtue of a challenge to an electoral register whose quality has been approved by international agencies as one of the best in Latin America. At 14:05 hours, I heard Evo speaking on television; he looked calm, eloquent and persuasive.

It is impossible not to recognize him or support him. The hunger strike does not affect in the least his intellectual capacity. “I am not looking for power for myself; I am looking for power for the social organizations” he stated and reiterated. His answers to the press are really eloquent.

Dausá reports that many of the opposition parliamentarians, mainly those from Santa Cruz, left for their respective Departments to spend there the Good Friday as well as the rest of the week, as if they were pious believers.

Evo, for one, does not give up in his attitude, and remains firm, together with a group of leaders who accompany him at the Palace of Government. But at the same time he has asked all his followers elsewhere in the country who are also on a hunger strike to interrupt it until Monday, so that they could be with their relatives during the weekend.

I heard another good news today at noon during the national television news show. Our friend Bouteflika was reelected yesterday for a third constitutional term with the support of 90 per cent of voters. That is good news for Cuba, which reminds us of the importance of solidarity with other peoples, which so much has enriched our history ever since the very first days of the Revolution.

Chávez arrived at 15:55. He came accompanied by Luis Reyes Reyes, Minister for the Presidency; Rafael Ramírez, Minister of Energy and Oil; Nicolás Maduro, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other cadres who went with him on his trip abroad. As soon as he sat down he began to tell me about his own impressions.

He felt very happy about his meeting with Hu Jintao, President of China. He told me about the extensive dialogue he had during his working visit, the last dinner hosted in his honor at the People’s Palace and the visit he paid to the historical Chinese Communist Party Cadre School at the suggestion of the Chinese President. He exchanged views with the Chinese Vice-President and Rector of that school, Xi JinPing, who left a deep impression in him. He had already met him in Venezuela, a country he visited as Vice President of that big nation.

Likewise he also met with his friend Chen Yuan, President of the Chinese Development Bank, who is son to the former President of that country during the first revolutionary stage. He also talked with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He highly praised the talent and the working methods of China’s top leadership, particularly Hu Jintao.

Meetings and visits took place with or without press coverage. He gave several interviews. Going through the reports published by the press agencies, he specified the words he had pronounced and those that resulted from the translation or the interpretation of what he had said; the press agencies broadly publicized all his activities.

He traveled back via Vancouver. The flight, with one stopover, lasted exactly 16 hours. He spent half of that time flying over U.S. territory, which did not object the itinerary of the Cubana de Aviación IL-96 aircraft. He also gave some details about his visits and meetings in Qatar, Iran and Japan. He talked with a great number of leaders. He devoted some minutes to convey the greetings sent by some of his interlocutors. He is very strict on that. He did not want to forget any, specially the ones conveyed by the Chinese leaders.

Among the topics we discussed at our meeting, which lasted 2 hours and 50 minutes, we addressed several issues. I told him that China was paving the way for the use of the yuan as a hard currency, which was not artificially devalued to cope with competition, as was claimed by its adversaries. Its capacity to compete is progressively increasing.

Paul Krugman, the Nobel Laureate in Economics, claims that quite possibly, in the next IMF meeting –which is held within a given number of years to assign certain currencies the condition of convertible hard currency– the yuan will be included on a par with the dollar, the euro, the pound sterling and others. Those who control the world economy can no longer ignore it.

Evo could not be left out from our conversation. I explained to Chávez in detail all the information I got, his excellent state of mind and his readiness to continue on a hunger strike until the end. He called Evo on the phone and expressed to him his full solidarity. Finally, he spoke about his next visit to Argentina. He asked some information about the Trinidad and Tobago Summit and the position adopted by Daniel. He and Cristina will speak at the opening ceremony of the Summit. I told him everything I knew.

At 21:54 hours I called Dausá and asked for some news.

The Congress, which was going to convene at 19:00 hours, could not meet out of lack of quorum. It was said to convene at 20:30 hours, but there was no quorum either. The TV channels showed images of the opposition parliamentarians at their respective Departments. García Linares felt sorry about their absence and said that attitude was bordering on offense. He said he would call a meeting again tomorrow, Sunday, April 11, at 12:30 hours. He added that there would be no other activity in Congress until the Law is approved.

Evo is fine. He was checked by the physician who accompanies him. The hunger strike by the leaders of different Departments in the country has continued, in solidarity with the President, despite Evo’s appeal that they should interrupt it until Monday. Today, according to the Secretary General of the Workers Central of Bolivia there are 1,027 workers in 96 pickets.

In a press conference given by the leaders of Coordinadora Nacional por el Cambio and the Workers Central of Bolivia they stated that if the parliamentarians’ absence from Congress continues, they will implement legal actions against them. He told me that he would visit the President tonight. He would take forty minutes to go from the embassy to the Palace. I promised to call him to say hello to Evo.

At 22:20 hours I called him. He immediately handed over the cell phone to Evo. I had the pleasure to listen to his calm but firm voice, confident on the justice of his cause. I conveyed to him our happiness on his good health condition. I congratulated him on his firmness and his calm and eloquent words, which do not insult or hurt anyone. I told him about Chavez’s visit and his attitude of solidarity towards him and Bolivia. I conveyed to him a message of solidarity and our confidence in his victory.

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 10, 2009
11:02 p.m.

Early on Tuesday March 31st, I read a Notimex news cable dated the 30th; it stated, verbatim:

“Alan Garcia, the president of Peru, today described as ‘prudent’ the withdrawal of his country from the humanitarian project ‘Mission Miracle’ that is sponsored by the governments of Venezuela and Cuba to care for ophthalmologic patients.

“After emphasizing the efficiency with which the state-run Essalud runs cataract operations, the Peruvian president told journalists that ‘the Mission no longer had any justification for its being used’, staffed by foreign medical doctors.

“The head of state informed that ‘Mission Miracle’ saw to the operations of 1,500 people in two years, while Essalud cared for 25,000 patients in one year in Peru.”

Further along, the cable continued attributing Garcia other similar arguments.

In the first place, I didn’t know why Notimex was including Venezuela in that mission initiated by Cuba in July of 2004 after the sizeable earthquake that devastated the region of Pisco in Peru. Venezuela is Cuba’s tried and tested friend and has shown great solidarity with our people, but it has no connection with the actions of our country in Peru following a tradition of solidarity in the medical services field that was begun in Algeria in 1960 when that people was struggling for its independence from French colonialism. Chavez was born in 1954 and was not even 6 years old then. A similar action with Peru took place in 1970 when another earthquake took the lives of 70,000 Peruvians and there were not even any relations between the two countries. Our noble people provided 100,000 blood donations on that occasion.

Accustomed as I am to hearing false information about Cuba and amazed by this strange news cable, I asked for some information from our Cuban ambassador in Lima, regarding to the situation of our doctors:

“Since the year 2006, Operation Miracle has restored or improved the sight of 19,496 Peruvians, 16,907 at the Cuban Ophthalmologic Centre in Bolivia and 2,589 at the Cuban Ophthalmologic Centre in Cuzco which started its work on December 15, 2008.

“Neither in these or any other statements has the Head of State mentioned Cuba or our Operation Miracle Clinic in Cuzco.

“Coinciding with this statement, Yehude Simon, the president of the Council of Ministers, made statements to the Health Ministers of South America gathered together in Lima, praising the Cuban collaboration in the health sector. Simon expressed the appreciation of his government and of the Peruvian people to Cuba and sincerely hoped that these connections between our two countries would become more extensive.

“We also have direct information that Garcia himself has recently made both public and private respectful references to Cuba and expressed thanks for the decisive support made by our medical teams in Peru.”

I won’t charge a single penny for filling in for the news cable service Notimex for all it didn’t say. Lima’s general press services and the other public information media have echoed such assertions.

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 1, 2009
7:23 p.m.

Around 35,000 Cuban health specialists are providing free or paid services in the world. Furthermore, some young doctors from countries such as Haiti and others among the poorest of the Third World are working in their homelands thanks to the assistance provided by Cuba. In Latin America, our main contribution has been the ophthalmologic surgeries that will help to preserve the eyesight of millions of people. In addition, we are assisting in the training of tens of thousands of young medical students from other nations, both in and outside Cuba.

However, this is not something that is ruining our people, who were able to survive thanks to the internationalism that the USSR implemented with Cuba, and it helps us to pay our own debt to humanity.

After carefully meditating and analyzing in detail the history of the last few decades, I have come to the conclusion, without the least bit of chauvinism, that Cuba has the best medical care in the whole world, and it is important that we are aware of that, since it is the starting point for what I wish to state.

The basis of the aforementioned success lies in the network of polyclinics and family doctors’ offices set up throughout the country, which replaced the disastrous and precarious capitalist system of medical care based on the private practice of medicine, although the harsh reality of the times had imposed the necessity of creating a number of mutual-benefit healthcare centers. To the youngest ones amongst us, I should clarify that these were cooperative institutions where those services were offered for a monthly fee. Under that system, all the members of my family benefited from some of those services at a hospital located in the far-away capital of the former province of Oriente. However, I cannot remember one single sugarcane or sugar mill worker entitled to be a member of that institution, for they lacked the necessary resources and never traveled to that city. Wherever the principles of capitalism prevail, society moves backward. That is why we must be extremely careful every time we see that socialism is forced to resort to capitalist mechanisms. There are those who get intoxicated and alienated while dreaming about the effects of the drug of individual egoism as if it were the only incentive capable of mobilizing people.

The great need for medical specialists generated a bourgeois elitist spirit in that sector, which Cuba put an end to once and for all, as the Revolution, throughout these years, graduated growing numbers of doctors who rejected private medical practice and later became specialists through study and systematic practice, coming to constitute a mass of well-qualified professionals.

Under capitalism, the limited number of specialists whose work had to do with health and life became gods. We have no other alternative but to cultivate in these people, as well as in the high-level educators and other professionals who require great doses of knowledge, a profound revolutionary spirit. Experience has shown that is possible, especially in a profession that has so much to do with life and death.

Our network of polyclinics provides coverage to all cities and rural areas throughout Cuba; it was created as a result of a process aimed at developing health centers adapted to the most varied situations in our country and among its inhabitants.

In a city such as Havana, the largest in the country and an example of the complexities of urban life –which, on the other hand, are different from those in Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Camagüey, Villa Clara or Pinar del Río, just as much as they differ amongst themselves –each polyclinic is responsible for approximately 22,000 people.

After the triumph of the Revolution on January 1, 1959, the citizens of the capital used to flood the emergency rooms of hospitals that were generally many blocks away from their homes, seeking the assistance that the Revolution was providing there free of charge, with the equipment then available. They did not go to the recently-created polyclinics where, quite often, the least efficient doctors were assigned. Later on they learned to receive such assistance at the polyclinics which were gradually better equipped and staffed with doctors of increasing quality and professionalism. Finally, they opted for the best variant: going to the family doctor’s office, where they would be looked after by a young doctor who was trained after a six-year program of theoretical and practical courses skillfully designed by eminent professors. Afterwards these young doctors continued studying until becoming specialists in General Comprehensive Medicine. The polyclinic provided them support through its laboratories and equipment.

One day, when I visited one such center to check on its professionalism, I asked them, without any warning, to examine my vital signs. That was one of the best and fastest tests I had ever seen in my life.

Not for a single second has the Revolution waned in its efforts to repair, adapt or build new polyclinics and family doctors’ offices, while thousands of students were enrolled in and graduated from more than 20 medical schools. It has been a long and fascinating experience.

According to the current approach, polyclinics must always be ready to offer 10 basic services: diagnosis, emergency care, dental care, comprehensive rehabilitation, maternal and child health, nursing, clinical and surgical care, assistance to the elderly, mental health, hygiene and epidemiology. The system was designed to provide services in 32 specialties, including those that must be looked after at any time, day or night, ranging from an agonizing toothache to a heart attack. Polyclinics should have emergency rooms, thus placing emergency care closer to family households.

When I wrote “Vices and Virtues,” I pointed out that any attempt by those workers to appropriate goods passing through their hands, as some do, was something unworthy of the conduct of those workers, whatever their social status, skills, education or knowledge; whether they harvest potatoes, milk cows, cook in a restaurant, work in a factory or a school, a library or a museum, whether they are manual or intellectual workers, anywhere. Nobody wishes to establish slave or semi-slave labor in our world. We all believe that citizens are born to live a more dignified life.

Those who steal forget that everybody wants tranquility and respect for themselves and their relatives, a variety of quality foods, decent housing, electricity without outages, running water, roads without potholes, comfortable and safe transportation, good hospitals, well-equipped polyclinics, first-class schools, shops and groceries that work properly, movie theatres, radio, television, the Internet and many other nice things that can only be the result of methodical, efficient and well organized work by highly productive workers.

The production of consumer goods and services requires modern equipment in construction, agriculture, transportation, high-voltage electric power, chemical or flammable products; working conditions that encompass risks in terms of heights, depths and many other unavoidable variants. The tiniest negligence causes mutilation and death, and so we are forced to always observe measures to prevent them or minimize them as much as possible, even though, unfortunately, we have been unable to avoid the occurrence of a painful number of such cases every year. Added to this there are occupational illnesses and the suffering and damages they cause. Those goods and services everybody longs for do not come out of mere chance. Heavy investment, state-of-the-art technology, costly raw materials, abundant energy, and, especially, human labor are indispensable if we do not want to remain stuck in prehistory.

Just recently, I requested data from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security about the number of workers involved in health and education programs in the country; they accounted for almost 20% of the active labor force involved in economic production and services.

The data I received, which I carefully analyzed, justifies the steps we have taken to increase the retirement age. In the draft law, this is associated with real improvements in household income and, in my opinion, it is also related to the pressing need to avoid an excess of money in circulation and the duty we have to swiftly recover from the ravages of the hurricanes in a way that nobody feels they have been abandoned to their own fate.

The question I am posing is whether or not human beings are able to rationally organize the society in which they are obliged to live.

The efforts being made by musicians with their instruments are probably just as powerful as those of the welders at the Antillana de Acero steel plant. Sometimes there are no differences between the first and the latter in terms of their mental and physical efforts, although there might be some differences in their way of thinking, because the first are well-known and constantly applauded, and the latter are not. However, the first can make use of their influence to combat the old vices of past societies, as many others do, not only musicians, but also prestigious writers and painters who have been trained by the Revolution.

There are professionals who specialize in the economic sciences, labor organization, psychology and other branches, who are aware of these realities, dealing with subjects associated with them in some way or another. We read or hear about interesting concepts seeking answers which will no doubt end up pointing in the same direction as the national and international debate opens up.

Nobel Laureates in Economics are stunned by a crisis of developed capitalism never seen before, and which at this moment requires an additional $700 billion that will have to be paid by the children of American families. Apparently, the experts of imperialism just can’t get it right, while heads of state, prime ministers and high-ranking officials attending the United Nations General Assembly are racking their brains trying to find solutions. It is curious to see that many of the United States’ allies in NATO are no longer speaking in their own national language, but in English — visibly broken English — the Esperanto of our era.

I think that there is no alternative but to re-evaluate everything, looking for more productivity and less waste of human resources in all vital sectors, including health and education – as well as in all others in the productive economy and the services – without strictly abiding by figures that were issued years ago, trying to enhance – rather than allowing a decrease of – the quality of everything that is being done in our country, without neglecting our internationalist duty, the fruits of which have started to be clearly noticed. Those are many more than one could imagine and considerably less than those needed. We have to contribute the rest without any hesitation whatsoever.

Fidel Castro Ruz
September 24, 2008
8:37 p.m.

The first report I saw came from the Italian news agency ANSA on April 22.

“La Paz, April 22.— A commission of deputies are to investigate the case of Bolivian scholarship student who died in Cuba, and whose body was repatriated without several vital organs, including the brain.

“Guillermo Mendoza, president of the Chamber’s Social Policy Commission, announced that he would ask the Foreign Ministry for all facts on the case, according to the Catholic news agency Fides.

“The family of Beatriz Porco Calle, who was studying in Cuba on a scholarship, claimed that Cuban Embassy officials delivered her body without her eyes, tongue, teeth or other vital organs, including her brain, without any explanation whatsoever.

“Deputy Mendoza said he would carry out ‘a thorough review’ of Cuban legislation on organ transplants and of the agreements signed by Bolivian scholarship students when they travel to Cuba.”

The Spanish news agency EFE has a similar article, but which adds,

“…the family of the young woman demanded compensation from the Cuban Embassy in Bolivia, and when it was denied, ‘threatened to go to the press.’”

“I think the families have gone too far in asking for ‘compensation,’ said the (Bolivian) foreign minister, who affirmed that his government had done ‘humanitarian work’ in this case,”

the article said.

For any observer of reality, not much more was needed. Everything could be deduced about what had happened.

Despite that, I inquired about the formal paperwork, I asked for details and clarification in order to respond to this alleged and inhuman plunder of a corpse. I asked in addition for specific information, with exact figures, on our medical cooperation with Bolivia, a country of our America that the empire would like to destroy.

Since the election of Evo Morales, an Indian through-and-through, in long-suffering Bolivia, we have offered support in public health and education. I remember that afternoon very well. We were convinced that we could save many thousands of lives every year and restore the vision and full health to countless people, at no cost whatsoever to that nation. An intensive, proven comprehensive literacy program was to be implemented immediately in several languages, including the one most spoken: Spanish.

In Bolivia, 119 Cuban teachers worked with the goal of transmitting their experience and knowledge, in order to declare it a territory free of illiteracy in just two-and-a-half years. From the start, our country provided the equipment and educational materials necessary to meet this challenge: 30,000 21-inch televisions imported from China; an equal number of VCRs, with 16,459 transformers and 2,000 photovoltaic systems, which comprised a whole network for the subsequent educational courses throughout the day; 1.359 million flashcards for teaching people to read and write in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara; reading booklets and other materials that I will leave out so that this list will not be an endless one. Some solar panels from our reserves for war were sent to Bolivia. The likewise free transport of those materials was officially guaranteed by Cuba to Evo during a visit to our country a few weeks after his victory.

For its part, Venezuela, which had just been declared a territory free of illiteracy using the “Yes, I Can Do It” method, joined the program.

In Bolivia, 23,727 literacy stations were created, with 76.6% of illiterate people joining up, and 62% of those who did not learn to read and write in elementary school are now able to do so; they were not charged a single centavo.

It was, however, in the healthcare field where the greatest cooperation efforts with that nation were made, there where Che and other Cuban and Latin American comrades and a young German internationalist died. In that sphere, no country can compete with Cuba today and perhaps not for quite some time. It is a form of free collaboration with the poorest, and at the same time a source for exporting services to other countries in the world that have many more resources available. In Latin America especially, and in the Caribbean, we have provided free cooperation in that field to the neediest.

There are 1,852 compatriots working ardently in Bolivia; of those, 1,226 are doctors; 250 are specialized nurses; 119 are health technicians; nine are dentists; and 86 are professionals and technicians in other fields; plus 102 selected people, dedicated to the vital services of all types needed by Cuban brigades abroad and patients admitted.

The Cuban Medical Brigade is working in 215 municipalities in Bolivia’s nine departments, attending to modest people and those who ask for their services. They have optimal equipment, donated by our country. In 18 ophthalmological surgical posts, 186,508 patients have received eye surgery. Their capacity easily exceeds 130,000 annually.

Our doctors have now provided almost 12 million consultations since the first ones arrived in Bolivia. Just by calculating, the number of lives saved may be estimated, given that, generally, their patients were not receiving any attention at all.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of our medical cooperation lies in the education of 5,291 young Bolivians who are studying medicine in Cuba, including 621 at the Latin American School of Medicine, where three classes have graduated with excellent results, and 4,670 from the new program. I am not exaggerating when I say that the firmest and most combative friends of Cuba in Latin America, and of course in Bolivia, include the families whose sons and daughters are studying that specialty in our country.

The number of the passport carried by the young student Beatriz Porco Calle, 22 years old, to whom the news article refers, was 5968246; she was from the department of Oruro, Samara province, municipality of Curahuara de Carangas, rural community of Toypicollana, of indigenous descent and Christian Adventist religion. She was doing well in her second year of medical school, at the Miguel Sandarán Corzo Faculty in Matanzas.

She suddenly fainted on March 6 in the bathroom of her dorm. Doctors and professors decided to take her immediately to the provincial hospital. The physical exam did not reveal anything that could explain the reason, nor did the laboratory analysis and other tests, including a CT scan. She recovered well and was released. She presented migraines and dizziness shortly afterwards. Further medical investigation. She felt stressed. The appropriate medications for such situations were applied. On March 23, at 7:30 p.m., loss of consciousness again. Once again to the emergency room, accompanied by a professor; intensive care, where she was diagnosed before dying with what is known as brain death.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bolivian ambassador were notified, and they prepared travel documentation in case of death, which is what occurred almost one week later, on the 28th.

She was sent to the National Institute of Legal Medicine, which was obliged to do an autopsy to establish the cause of death. The pertinent paperwork was strictly followed. The student’s boyfriend and other classmates collected her belongings and sealed the baggage. In the Faculty, a mass on March 31. The Institute’s literal diagnosis: “death by endocraneal hypertension, hemorrhagic cerebrovascular disease due to congenital cerebral vascular malformation within the meninges.” In that case, the extraction of the visceral block and the taking of relevant samples were inevitable.

A professor from her Faculty accompanied the body to Bolivia until it was given to her relatives. The Cuban Medical Mission paid for the cost of shipping the body to her hometown and for the funeral.

It is hard to write about this. Even harder to read the cables that are transmitting throughout the world the idea of a body stripped of its organs, obliging Cuba to provide these explanations.

What happened is quite clear. The empire needs to counteract truths about Cuba that it cannot bear. It schemes and encourages relatives to demand compensation; it assigns the task, as may be seen in one of the cables, and sends a repugnant lie around the world via a parliamentary deputy and the Fides news agency. From there, the demolition machine of its media and media techniques.

In our own country — I do not hesitate to say this — there are insensitive people, with scarce knowledge of certain realities, who will quickly and unthinkingly respond by saying, “we shouldn’t be helping Bolivia.” They will never understand that both in politics and in revolution, the alternative to an erroneous or mistaken strategy is defeat.

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 24, 2008