Reflections of Fidel

Five days ago I read a press report stating that Ban Ki-moon would appoint Bill Clinton as his special envoy for Haiti.

According to the report, Clinton accompanied the Secretary General on a two-day official visit to Haiti on March last in order to support the development program that had been designed by the government of Port of Prince, aimed at awakening the lethargic Haitian economy.

The report stated that the ex-president had maintained a remarkable philanthropic commitment with the Caribbean nation through the Clinton Global Initiative.

It likewise stated that the ex-president had said he was honored to accept the Secretary General’s invitation to become the special envoy for Haiti.

Clinton reportedly stated that the people and the government of Haiti had the capacity to recover from the serious damages caused by the four tropical storms that devastated that country last year.

The day after, the same news agency reported that Mrs. Clinton, the Secretary of State, had said with joy that Bill was an outstanding envoy. The UN Secretary General was said to confirm Clinton’s appointment as his new special envoy for Haiti. He said they both had been together in that country and that Clinton’s presence had helped to raise awareness within the international community on the problems facing that Caribbean nation.

He added that the UN was afraid that, after a period of several years of a relative calm, propped up by the MINUSTAH, political instability could set in the country again.

The new press report repeats again the story of the four hurricanes and storms that caused 900 deadly casualties, left 800 000 victims, and destroyed the scarce civil infrastructure that existed in that country.

The history of Haiti and its tragedy is far more complex. Haiti was the second country of this hemisphere after the United States -which proclaimed its sovereignty in 1776- that conquered its independence in 1804. In the case of the US, the white descendants from the settlers who founded the Thirteen British Colonies, who were fervent, austere and cultured religious believers and owned land and slaves, shook off the British colonial yoke and enjoyed their national independence. But this was not the case for the autochthonous population, the African slaves or their descendants, who were denied every right, regardless of the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Philadelphia.

In Haiti, where more than 400 000 slaves worked for 30 000 white owners, the men and women submitted to that heinous system, for the first time in the history of humankind, were able to abolish slavery, maintain an independent State and defend it by struggling against soldiers who had brought the European monarchies to their knees.

That period coincided with the boom of capitalism and the emergence of powerful colonial empires that managed to dominate the lands and the seas of the planet for centuries.

Haitians are not to blame for their current status of poverty; they were rather the victims of a system that was imposed on the whole world. They did not invent colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, unequal exchange, neoliberalism or any of the forms of exploitation and plundering that have prevailed in this planet during the last 200 years.

Haiti has an area of 27,750 square kilometers and, according to some reliable estimates, in the year 2009 the population reached the figure of 9 million inhabitants. The number of inhabitants per square kilometer of arable land has increased to 885, one of the highest in the world, without the existence of any industrial development or resources that would allow it to acquire a minimum amount of material goods indispensable for life.

Fifty three per cent of the population lives in the countryside; firewood and charcoal are the only household fuels available to most Haitian families, which hinders reforestation. The absence of forests, where the soil gets spongy with the leaves, twigs and roots and helps to retain water, facilitates the human and economic damages that heavy rains cause to neighborhoods, roads and crops. Hurricanes, as is known, cause significant additional damage which will be ever greater if the climate keeps on changing so quickly. This is a secret to no one.

Our cooperation with the Haitian people began ten years ago, precisely when hurricanes George and Mitch battered the Caribbean and some Central American countries. Rene Preval was then the President of Haiti and Jean-Bertrand Aristide was the Head of Government. The first contingent of 100 Cuban doctors was sent on December 4, 1998. The figure of Cuban health collaborators in Haiti was later on increased to more than 600.

It was on that occasion when the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), where more than 12 000 youths are currently studying, was created. Ever since then, the Haitian youths have been granted hundreds of scholarships by the School of Medicine of Santiago de Cuba, one of the most experienced in the country.

The number of primary schools in Haiti had increased and progress was being made. Even the most humble families were eager to send their children to school, for that was the only hope that they could overcome poverty and work inside or outside their country. The Cuban medicine training program was very much welcomed. The youths who were selected to study in Cuba had a good basic training, an inheritance perhaps of the achievements attained by France in that field. They should spend one year taking a pre-medical course, which also included the Spanish language. That has become a good reserve of quality physicians.

Five hundred and thirty three Haitian youths have graduated from our medical schools as specialists in General Comprehensive Medicine; 52 of them are currently in Cuba, studying a second specialty that is required right now. Another group of 527 are filling the vacancies that were granted to the Republic of Haiti. Four hundred and thirteen Cuban health professionals are currently offering their services, free of charge, to the people of that sister nation. The Cuban doctors are present in all 10 departments of that country and in 127 of the 137 communities. More than 400 Haitian doctors who have been trained in Cuba, as well as the students from the last year of the career who are doing their practice in Haiti are also offering their services -side by side with our doctors- which make up a big total of 800 Haitian youths devoted to offer medical assistance in their homeland. That force will grow ever bigger with the new Haitian graduates.

It was a tough challenge; the Cuban doctors had to cope with difficult problems. Te infant mortality was above 80 per every one thousand live births; life expectancy was below 60 years of age; the prevalence of AIDS among adults in the year 2007 reached the figure of 120 000 citizens. Tens of thousands of children and adults of different ages still die every year from communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, diarrhea, dengue and malnutrition, just to mention some indicators. Even the HIV is already a disease doctors can combat, thus guaranteeing the life of patients. But this can not be achieved in a single year; it is indispensable to have a health culture, which the Haitian people are acquiring with greater interest. The progress observed shows that it is possible to improve health indicators in a significant way.

Thirty seven thousand one hundred and nine patients have undergone eye surgery in three ophthalmologic centers that were created in Haiti. Those complex cases that can not be operated on there are sent to Cuba, where they are assisted at absolutely no cost.

Thanks to the Venezuelan economic cooperation, 10 Comprehensive Diagnosis Centers are being built, which are equipped with state-of-the-art technology that has already been acquired.

Far more important than the resources that could be mobilized by the international community, are the human beings that make use of those resources.

Our modest support to the people of Haiti has been possible despite of the fact that the hurricanes mentioned by Clinton battered us as well. Solidarity is a good evidence of what the world has lacked.

We could likewise speak of Cuba’s contribution to the literacy programs and other projects, despite our limited economic resources. But I do not want to expand on this; nor is there any desire to do it just to speak about our contribution. I focused on health because it is an unavoidable topic. We are not afraid that others do what we are doing. The Haitian youths who are being trained in Cuba are becoming the priests of health required more and more by that sister nation.

What matters the most is the creation of new forms of cooperation, so much in need by this selfish world. The UN agencies can attest to the fact that Cuba is contributing what they describe as Health Comprehensive Programs.

Nothing can be improvised in Haiti, and nothing will result from the philanthropic spirit of any institution. The project of the Latin American School of Medicine was later joined by the new training program in Cuba for doctors coming from Venezuela, Bolivia, the Caribbean and other countries of the Third World, as long as their respective health programs required it urgently. Today, there are more than 24 000 youths from the Third World studying Medicine in our homeland. By helping others we have also developed ourselves in that field and we have become an important force. That, and not the brain drain, is what we practice! Could the rich and super-developed G-7 countries say the same? Others will follow our example! No one should ever doubt that!

Fidel Castro Ruz
May 24, 2009
4:17 p.m.

It could loose strength but it is already raining in most of the country. It’s raining on farming areas absolutely drenched by the recent rainfalls. The water reservoirs filled up to almost full capacity due to hurricanes Gustav and Ike will be releasing water on cultivated fields and valleys. This already happened at the end of August and early September. This hurricane has been given the misleading name of Paloma.

After countless hours of labor, many crops almost ready for harvesting as well as fuel, seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and the work of the equipment used to urgently grow food will again be lost.

In many places where the families awaited for and received materials to repair their homes, and where they excitedly applauded the workers who were reestablishing electricity so vital to many services, will again partly live through the same experience.

Once again destruction will revisit highways, roads and other works in various provinces of the country.

The latest report from the Meteorology Institute’s National Forecast Center has confirmed the inexorable development of the event. Nevertheless, we should not be discouraged by adversity. Paloma is not covering such an extensive area as Gustav.

Our people should learn from every such event about the consequences of climate change and the ecologic unbalance, which are some of the many problems humanity is facing.

The initial estimates of the economic damages caused by the two previous hurricanes were short of reality. The losses amounted to 8 billions instead of the 5 billions originally announced. This time there will be additional damages.

The cadres who are decidedly and restlessly coming to grips with the problems shall insist on demanding from their compatriots that they respond to these adverse circumstances with hard work in both production and services.

And, if the chief of the empire and leading promoter of the genocidal blockade on our country were to offer again his pious assistance, he would again receive a dignified response: it would certainly be rejected. Our people demand that the blockade is lifted, especially now that humanity has unanimously called for it amidst a financial crisis which is pounding on every developed and developing nation on the Earth.

There are still some who dream of submitting Cuba using the criminal blockade as an instrument of the U.S. foreign policy against our homeland. If that country made the same mistake again it could spend another century implementing that useless policy against Cuba; that is, if the empire could last that long.

Fidel Castro Ruz
November 7, 2008
8:24 p.m.

Three days ago, on Friday October 10, the world was shocked by the impact of the Wall Street financial crisis. There is no way to count the millions of dollars in paper money injected by the Federal Reserve into the world’s finances to keep up banking operations and to prevent depositors from losing their money.

The G-7 finance ministers’ meeting has agreed to implement the following measures:

• Take decisive measures and use every available instrument to back financial institutions of importance to the system and prevent their bankruptcy.
• Take all necessary steps to unfreeze the credit and monetary markets and to ensure that banks and other financial institutions have plenty of access to liquidity and funds.
• Ensure that banks and other major financial intermediaries, depending on their needs, can raise capital from both public and private sources in sufficient amounts to restore confidence and enable them to make loans to families and businesses.
• Ensure that each country’s respective national deposit insurance and guarantee programs are robust and consistent so that minor depositors continue to have confidence in the safety of their deposits.
• To act, when appropriate, to re-launch the secondary mortgage market.

That same day, the secretary of the US Treasury confirmed that the government would purchase bank shares, thus joining Britain’s initiative. Both the United States and Britain have indicated that they will purchase preferential shares which are the first to receive dividends but that will have no voting rights.

President Bush deemed his presence unnecessary at that finance ministers’ meeting. He will meet with them on Saturday. Where was he on Friday, October 10th? In Miami, no less. He was attending a fundraiser for Florida Republican candidates. Presently, with a 24% approval rating, he is the president with the least amount of support in the entire history of the United States. He was meeting with businesspeople and ringleaders of the Cuban scum in Miami. There he was, driven by his maniacal anti-Cuban obsession, at the end of his dismal two terms as leader of the empire. He could not even count on the support of the Cuban-American National Foundation set up by Reagan as part of his anti-Cuba crusade.

For purely demagogical reasons, that organization had publicly asked him to provisionally lift the ban on sending direct assistance to relatives and others affected by the devastating hurricanes which hit our people. Raul Martinez, a former mayor of Hialeah and a rival of Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, had criticized the current policies of the man who was elected president by fraudulent means with less national votes than his adversary, due to Florida’s weight in the electoral vote count, when he failed to win a majority even there.

On Sunday October 12, the European Union, chaired by France, agreed to request that the United States organize a summit to “reestablish the international financial system.” This was stated by President Sarkozy after a meeting in Paris of the Eurozone countries.

Sarkozy said Europe should now join the United States and other powers in attacking the root causes of the financial crisis in which the stock markets are immersed.

“We should persuade our American friends of the need for an international summit to reestablish the financial system,” said Sarkozy, current president of the EU. It will not be a gift to the banks, the French president emphasized.

The president of the United States, George Bush, today begins his final 100 days in power shadowed by his extreme unpopularity and one of the worst economic crises in recent decades.

On the other hand, Brazilian Treasury Minister Guido Mantega criticized the IMF today for describing the advanced nations as models to pursue, and said that the rules of those nations should not prevail in any future reform of the financial system.

“The world is watching in awe as the present crisis exposes weaknesses and serious errors in the policies of countries that were considered models and presented as points of reference for good government,” Mantega said in the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the IMF’s main leadership body.

With the global economy in tatters, the U.S. president, who was placed in that office in such an irregular and irresponsible way, has created a real predicament for all of the NATO allies and Japan, the most developed and wealthiest military, economic and technological partner of the United States in the Pacific.

Miami today is bedlam and Bush has become a ghost.

The stock markets have not fallen further because they were already on the floor. Today, they were breathing happily thanks to the enormous injections of money artificially inflating them at the expense of the future. However, this absurdity cannot last. Bretton Woods is in its death throes. The world will never be the same again.

Fidel Castro Ruz
October 13, 2008
5:20 p.m.

When the U.S. government hypocritically offered $100,000 as aid in the face of the disaster brought about by Hurricane Gustav, subject to an on-site inspection to confirm the damage, the response was that Cuba is unable to accept any donations from the country that is blockading us; that the damage had already been calculated and that what we were calling for was that it not prevent the export of essential materials and credits associated with commercial operations.

Certain people in the North starting screaming their heads off that Cuba’s rejection was inconceivable.

A few days later, when Ike lashed the country from Punto de Maisí to Cabo de San Antonio, the neighbors of the North were a bit more subtle. They sweetened their language. They talked of aircraft ready to leave with materials worth $5 million; that it wouldn’t be necessary to assess because they had already done so by their own means, which cannot be any other than spying on our country. This time they would put the Revolution in a predicament, so they believed; if they [the Cubans] dared to reject the offer, they would find themselves in problems with the population. Perhaps they thought that nobody had seen the images broadcast by U.S. television of the UN occupation forces in Haiti dispatching food to a hungry population who fought for it across barbed wire fencing, with the result of even children being injured.

Hunger in that country is the fruit of the historic and ruthless plunder of nations. Right there, in Les Gonaïves, our doctors were risking their lives helping the population of that city as they are doing in almost 100 percent of that nation’s municipalities. That cooperation continues there, as in dozens of nations of the world, despite hurricanes. The categorical response to the new and astute Note was: “our country cannot accept a donation from the government that is blockading us, although it is disposed to buy indispensable materials that U.S. companies place on the export market, and requests authorization for supplies of the same, as well as the credits that are normal in all commercial operations.”

“If the government of the United States does not wish to do this on a permanent basis, the government of Cuba requests that it authorize this for the next six months, particularly taking into account the damage occasioned by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and that the most dangerous months of the cyclone season are yet to come.”

It was not made arrogantly, because that is not Cuba’s style. It can be appreciated in the Note that the idea was modestly expressed of how the prohibition being suspended for a limited time period would be sufficient for us.

Carlos Gutiérrez, the U.S. secretary of commerce, discounted any temporary lifting of the blockade on Friday the 12th.

It is obvious that the government of that powerful country cannot understand that the dignity of a people has no price. The wave of solidarity with Cuba, ranging from large to small countries with resources and even without resources, would disappear on the day that Cuba ceases to be honourable. Those in our country who are upset about that are totally mistaken. If it was $1 billion instead of $ 5 million, they would meet the same response. There is no way to pay for the harm to thousands of lives and the suffering, or the more than $200 billion that the blockade and Yankee aggressions have cost.

The partial official report explains to the people that, in less than 10 days, the country was affected by damages assessed at more than $5 billion. But it was also explained that those figures were based on historical and conventional prices that have nothing to do with reality. The very clear explanation that, “calculations on the loss of housing stock are based on historical and conventional prices, not the real value in international prices, should never be forgotten. Suffice it to note that in order to have an endurable housing stock that can resist the strongest winds, one element is required, which is in very short supply: a workforce. This is needed both for temporary repairs and for lasting construction. That workforce has to be divided among all the other centers of production and services, some of which were significantly damaged, hence the real value of homes in the world and recouping the corresponding investment is many times greater.”

The blow from Nature was severe, but it is also heartening to know that there will be no truce or respite in our battle.

The economic crisis that is hitting the United States and, as a consequence, the rest of the nations of the world, has no definitive response; but here, yes, there are responses to natural disasters and to any attempts to put a price on our dignity.

Fidel Castro Ruz
September 16, 2008

A letter from Fidel to Randy Alonso, director of the “Roundtable” program

Dear Randy,

Yesterday’s “Roundtable” program was particularly interesting and the information provided was extremely valuable. It is a pity that at that time the whole island was without electricity, from Punta de Maisí to Cabo de San Antonio. Just a few family homes in the Camilo Cienfuegos district that were able to resist the fierce winds had power. An underground cable connected to the generator at the Luis Díaz Soto Hospital reached that area.

When this energy, so necessary to our era, is absent, there are many shortages and nothing functions. We yearn for the day when all those homes capable of withstanding hurricanes, which I talked about some days ago, are able to receive electricity via underground cables. Unfortunately, this will take some time and will be a tremendous expense.

For a second, I imagined what would have become of the inhabitants of our island in the face of the natural disaster that has just occurred without the Civil Defense system and the population’s emergency services, such as hospitals, polyclinics, bakeries, information centers and other similar services, if these had not had available electrical energy.

The images of homes and other buildings destroyed, crops ruined, trees brought down, rivers bursting their banks, houses invaded by water in low-lying areas, people swept away by the force of rapid currents and saved thanks to the desperate efforts of others; these were devastating. I think that some of these images should be re-broadcast in the future so that those who had their televisions switched off will be able to witness them.

We must never forget the scenes of the men from the Armed Forces and their special troops carrying out missions to aid and support the population and the victims. The actions of the Firefighters Corps were very impressive, risking their lives, wading through dangerous currents to help their compatriots.

You need rigorous training and courage to fulfill these tasks. Only in very exceptional circumstances are we aware that these men exist and they prepare themselves in silence for critical moments. I confess that I thought the images of José Ramón Machado Ventura and Ramón Espinosa Martín, first vice president of the Council of State and chief of the Eastern Army, respectively, were very moving; weather-beaten by the struggle, together with much younger comrades, presidents of the Defense Councils, they tirelessly visited the places that had been worst hit and immediately indicated the measures that should be adopted. This also occurred with other high-ranking Party leaders, together with Joaquín Quinta Solá, former head of the Central Army and current deputy minister of the FAR, and Leopoldo Cintra Frías, chief of the Western Army, and the presidents of the Defense Councils in the provinces and municipalities they visited.

I saw with more clarity than ever before the value of symbols. The Cuban flags shone like never before on the shoulders of Party leaders, be they women or men, at this difficult and testing time. These are the subjective factors without which all would be lost and without which victory would not be possible.

The work carried out by the journalists, who did not sleep or rest, at times defying the rain and wind, has been excellent, informing the country of the events, transmitting truths, examples and experiences, which made us feel that we are part of a national community interlinked with all the inhabitants of the planet. The peoples of the world who have sent their messages of solidarity, even though a large part of them are suffering from poverty and attacks by nature, which the consumer societies with their sophisticated technologies are driving towards a point that is incompatible with human survival itself.

The time will come to analyze the objective factors, the rational and optimum use of material and human resources; what must be done in every concrete place, where we should or should not invest; what to do with every cent; respond to every question that has to be asked in situations of emergency. And under normal circumstances, when everything returns to its place and the normal lives of children, adolescents, and adults continuing moving forward, always prepared to fight and win without ever becoming disheartened in the face of the adversities of today or of tomorrow.

Our duty is to overcome!

Fidel Castro Ruz
September 10, 2008

We had hardly recovered from the emotional impact and material damage caused by the unexpectedly strong winds of Hurricane Gustav on the Isle of Youth and Pinar del Rio, when news were received of sea floods caused by Hanna. Then, the worst news of all: that the very intense Hurricane Ike, turning southwest under pressure from a strong anti-cyclone located north of its course, would strike over more than 1,000 kilometers throughout the national territory.

This means, in fact, that the entire country will be impacted by three hurricanes; and some places will be hit twice.

What will remain of the bananas, fruits and vegetables in the intensive-farming areas? Where will there be any beans and other grains? Where will there be a sugarcane or rice plantation? Where will there be a poultry, pork or dairy production center? The entire nation is now in what in military terms is defined as combat alert.

The problems posed in the reflection that defined Gustav as a nuclear strike have multiplied. The principles guiding our conduct are still the same, just that much greater efforts will be required.

The Civil Defense did not lose a second. Comrades in positions of responsibility in both the Party and the government have been moving everywhere. The cadres must demand discipline, withhold their emotions and exercise their authority. The television, radio and printed press are assuming a great responsibility in exercising their informative tasks.

The world has observed with admiration our people’s conduct in the face of the ravages of Gustav. As our enemies were cynically rubbing their hands with glee, our friends who – as has been made evident – are many, are determined to cooperate with our people. The seeds of solidarity planted for many years are growing everywhere. Aircraft from Russia and other countries have been flying in from thousands of kilometers away with products that cannot be measured by their volume or price, but by their significance. We have received donations from small states like Timor Leste, and messages from important and friendly nations like Russia, Vietnam, China and others, have expressed a readiness to cooperate as much as possible with the investment programs that we will have to immediately undertake to reestablish and develop production.

The sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and its President Hugo Chávez, have adopted measures that constitute the most generous gesture of solidarity that our homeland has known.

Despite the intensity of the blows received and those still to come, I think that our country is in a position to save the lives of its citizens, and families will receive material assistance and food for as long as they need, until they recover – in the shortest possible time – the capacity for food production. This assistance cannot be the same in every municipality since the damages are not the same, neither is the time period needed to get back on their feet.

At this moment we are besieged by hurricanes. We should be more rational than ever and fight wastage, parasitism and complacency. We have to act with absolute honesty, avoiding demagoguery or any concession whatsoever to weakness or opportunism. The revolutionary militants should set an example. They should give and receive confidence. They should give everything for the people, even their lives if that should be necessary.

Fidel Castro Ruz
September 7, 2008

It is not an overstatement. This is the general expression of many compatriots. It was the impression of the Revolutionary Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Alvaro Lopez Miera, an experienced soldier, when he saw the twisted steel towers, the shattered houses and the devastation everywhere in the Isle of Youth.

Footage of Hurricane Gustav (external link)

“It has been a hard blow; I couldn’t even imagine it,” Ana Isa Delgado, the Party secretary and president of the Defense Council in that important municipality, said in a voice that was hoarse but steady and resolute. “I’ve never seen anything like it in the almost 50 years I’ve lived here!” said an astounded resident. A young soldier getting out of an amphibious vehicle shouted, “Let’s demonstrate that we are ready to give our lives for the people!”

In Herradura, looking at the devastation all around him, Army Corps General Leopoldo Cintra Frías shared his admiration for and amazement at the people’s courage and said, “This is like seeing a nuclear explosion.” He came close to seeing one in Southwest Angola, if the South African racists had decided to drop one of the seven bombs supplied them by the U.S. government on the Cuban-Angolan forces. That was a calculated risk, however, and the most convenient tactics were adopted.

Polo was accompanied by Olga Lidia Tapia, Party first secretary and president of the Provincial Defense Council, who never doubted for a second the results of the efforts and determination of her compatriots.

In all honesty, I daresay that the photos and film footage shown on national television on Sunday reminded me of the desolation I saw when I visited Hiroshima, victim of the first nuclear strike in August 1945.

With good reason, it is said that hurricanes release an enormous amount of energy, equal, perhaps, to thousands of nuclear weapons like the ones used on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It would be worthwhile for a Cuban physicist or mathematician to do the relevant calculations and make a comprehensible presentation.

Now the battle lies in feeding the hurricane’s victims. The difficulty does not lie in reestablishing electricity as soon as possible. The problem in the Isle of Youth is that only two of 16 bakeries — all equipped with electric ovens and generators — were able to operate immediately; the buildings had been severely damaged. They needed to receive bread or crackers. The amount of roofing and other materials needed for housing at this time is enormous. And the Isle of Youth is separated from the main island by the sea. It’s not enough to fill up trucks with food and material to send there directly.

Our Armed Forces have sent airfield and land and air transport specialists. Day and night, with the help of generators, planes can land on the Isle of Youth’s airports. Their mission is to wage a battle for the people without wasting any resources. They will act with the same spirit in devastated areas of Pinar del Río (province). All agencies and institutions have their assigned tasks; they are all important. But goods do not come out of the blue. Sharing involves sacrifice. Let’s not give ourselves the luxury of forgetting this in a few days.

Adverse events should serve to make us work more efficiently every day and for rationally and fairly using every piece of material. We must fight against our own shallowness and selfishness. One hundred million dollars signifies just nine dollars per inhabitant, and we need much more. We need 30 times, 40 times that figure just to meet our most basic needs. That effort must come from the work of our people. Nobody can do it for us.

Obviously, our capacity to disseminate news has increased and our people, who know how to read and write, are also highly educated.

Kcho, the painter, went by plane to the Isle of Youth, his birthplace, and sent us a letter about the high morale of his compatriots. These are a few paragraphs:

“Dear Fidel:

“It seemed important to me, after arriving on the island and seeing with my own eyes and feeling with my body everything that was happening, to get in touch with Richard so that you could know about the terrible situation in this special municipality.

“I have no words to express the reality of what I saw yesterday in the Isle of Youth. In all my 38 years, I have never seen anything like it and the people I talked to in my province have never seen anything worse, but incredibly, their morale is still sky-high… Many have lost their homes and almost everyone’s belongings, beds, mattresses, TV sets, refrigerators, etc., are ruined. Most of the population is in this situation; it is estimated that of the 25,000 homes on the island — and this is not the final figure — some 20,000 have been affected to some extent, and half of those 20,000 have no roofs or are totally destroyed.

“…The brigade of 52 electrical line workers from Camagüey worked until 3 a.m. and started work again today at 6:30 a.m. with tremendous determination. They are expecting another group of 60-plus workers from Holguín…

“… There are still many unresolved problems, such as houses that were destroyed by Hurricane Michelle in 2001.

“There are serious problems with food… The island is like a prison right now, precisely because it is an island, even though flights have resumed… Money has no value because there is nothing to buy and nowhere to go to buy anything.

“Human solidarity is the most important thing right now. Morale is high but that will not last forever; it will be necessary to resolve some things in the coming days. As electric power is reestablished, (it would be good to) create information points where people can gather to learn about what is going on in the country and the municipality, or just to listen to music or spend some time together.

“Right now the province is ‘a theater of military operations during a truce,’ where people are happy because they’re still alive, and not thinking much about having lost their belongings. They are trying to save what’s left and adjusting to that new situation, but as the days go by their morale may fall and they could become depressed.

“…The conditions in the hospital are subhuman, and only the determination and convictions of revolutionary men and women are making it function.

“Pineros (the people of the Isle of Youth) are revolutionary and combative and everybody is working tirelessly (patients, relatives and medical personnel). The 32 patients requiring hemodialysis — each accompanied by a relative and nurses — arrived in the capital yesterday at approximately 4:00 p.m. They had spent 48 hours without treatment but they were doing fine.

“The morale of the pineros is high, and they are happy with the work being done by the corresponding institutions, and by the fact that not one human life was lost in Pinar del Rio, the Isle of Youth or Matanzas.

“I think that for the Isle to return to what it was will take a lot of time with work and a lot of resources, as if it were a province, because now, everything is devastated.”

With his letter, he (Kcho) sent eloquent photos of the devastation. On the envelope, he drew an outline of the Isle of Youth with a Cuban flag flying.

The excellent painters who have always accompanied our battles of ideas might leave a record of this episode and encourage our people in their epic struggle.

Orfilio Pelaez in the Granma (newspaper) told us about a hurricane that hit in 1846 with a record minimum pressure of 916 hPa registered by a machine. That happened 162 years ago, when there was no radio, television, movies, Internet or many other means of communication that sometimes clash, creating chaos in our minds.

The Cuban population at that time was at least 12 times smaller. Using slave and semi-slave labor, the country exported the largest amount of sugar and coffee for a considerable part of that century. Retirement did not exist, life expectancy was much lower, and the illnesses of old age were almost unknown, as was mass education, which is so much needed for the development of so many brains and brawn. Natural resources were abundant. Hurricanes had a big impact but did not signify a national disaster. Climate change, quite far-off, was not even a subject of discussion.

In the Granma (newspaper) of today, Tuesday, the same journalist tells us about the heroic feats of our people in their battle for recuperation, and the fruits of efforts made in recent years. For his part, Rubiera, the scientist, made a detailed observation of the ruins of the Meteorology Institute facilities in Paso Real de San Diego during his tour of Pinar del Rio; he saw how the wind-measuring equipment registered 340 kilometers (per hour) when it was destroyed by strong gusts of wind. It was been announced that he will speak as part of the “Roundtable” (TV/radio program) today. He has theories about what happened.

Juan Varela, for his part, has reported on damage to the largest agricultural farm in Güira de Melena, Habana province. This farm should have produced about 140,000 tons of root vegetables, grains and green vegetables this year. As I see it, losses in work time, food products, farming and irrigation equipment, fuel and other costs, at international prices, total millions just at that enterprise.

However, the most impressive event, because of the human drama portrayed, was reported by journalist Alfonso Nacianceno and photographer Juvenal Balan: the odyssey of the five crew members of the Langostero 100 (lobster boat) from Batabanó in Habana province. These workers had been ordered back to port like all the other fishing boats, in due time. By pure chance, they were delayed. On Saturday, as the hurricane was quickly advancing, communication with them was lost. I had said in two previous reflections: “We’re lucky to have a Revolution! No citizen will be abandoned to his fate.”

I found out the lobster boat was incommunicado on Saturday, almost at midnight. Raúl had given me news of the situation; he was confident in the fishermen’s experience in dealing with storms and hurricanes. He told me that at dawn, he would send the necessary resources to find them. As soon as the weather improved, the search started; it eventually involved 36 boats, three helicopters and two planes for almost two days. There was no trace of the (lobster) boat, but they found the shipwrecked men. What they describe is incredible; whoever is familiar with the sea knows what it means to spend endless hours hanging on to an oar and then a buoy.

The revolutionary miracle happened and the fishermen were rescued.

But let’s not get carried away by illusions. This hurricane has left behind 100,000 homes hit to a lesser or greater extent and the almost total loss of things needed after a tragedy, as Kcho explains in his letter.

How many safe, hurricane-proof homes does Cuba need? No less that 1.5 million houses for a total of 3.5 million families. Let’s estimate what it would cost internationally for such an investment according to figures used worldwide.

A family in Europe has to pay at least $100,000, plus interest, for which they contribute $700 per month of their income for l5 years. Ten billion dollars is the approximate cost of 100,000 homes for average-size families in the developed countries, which are the ones that determine the prices of industrial and food products in the world. To this, we must add the cost of social facilities that were affected and must be rebuilt, economic facilities and those required for development.

It is only from our work, I repeat, that the resources will come. While the new generations are carrying out this task, the men and women of this country need the solidarity, courage and combativeness shown by the people of Pinar del Río and the Isle of Youth.

The empire is going through a difficult test at this time, in the second half of the year, involving its ability to deal with the difficulties brought about by its lifestyle at the expense of other peoples. Now they need a change at the wheel.

Bush and Cheney have almost been left out of the Republican campaign for being warmongers and undesirables. There is no debate about changing the system; it is about how to preserve it at a lesser cost.

Developed imperialism will end up killing everyone trying to enter its territory to become wage slaves and have something to eat. It is already doing so. The chauvinism and egotism generated by that system is huge.

We know that and we will continue developing solidarity, our greatest resource within and outside of our country.

Fidel Castro Ruz
September 2, 2008

In my last reflection of Tuesday afternoon, August 29, when Hurricane Gustav unexpectedly formed and started to threaten our country on the same day when our Olympic delegation returned, I wrote: “We are lucky to have a Revolution! It is a fact that nobody will be neglected…Our strong, forceful and farsighted Civil Defense protects our people…The growing frequency and intensity of these natural phenomena show that the climate is changing due to the actions of human beings. The current times demand ever increasing dedication, steadfastness and conscience. It doesn’t matter if the opportunists and traitors also benefit without contributing anything to the safety and well-being of our people.”

I know the colossal efforts that the Revolution has to make after the national territory is hit by a hurricane. I could add that Cuba counts with keen and persevering scientists such as José Rubiera.

Hundreds of millions of working hours are lost in a brief period of time when the wind gusts beat directly on economic and social centers in broad areas of national territory. Interminable rains accompany these natural phenomena. Rivers overflow, sweep away anything they find in their path and flood extensive areas. Thousands of facilities that produce vegetables, milk, eggs, poultry meat and pork, as well as sophisticated irrigation systems, are seriously damaged; tens of thousands of hectares of sugar cane, grains, cereals and fruit trees ready for harvesting are lost; schools, polyclinics, entertainment and cultural centers, houses, roofs, factories, warehouses, highways and bridges are all damaged by the winds and the rain. This time those winds and rains affected all provinces to a greater or lesser degree, since the hurricane made its way via the sea in the vicinity of the southern part of the country and moved across it via the westernmost province, with a radius of 30 kilometers in its eye gale-force winds with a diameter of more than 450 kilometers.

Nothing is as devastating as the damage and destruction left behind by a hurricane. Hundreds of thousands of compatriots mobilize and work very hard during the passing of the hurricane and afterwards during the recovery stage. Reserves are reduced or depleted. Today, more than ever, the blow to food supplies is costly and significant. But this is our country; this is our rightful place in this planet, and we have to develop and defend it.

The task we have ahead requires time and expertise. The true Cuba and its noble people, which have been ready to share with others its knowledge and even part of its resources including its own blood, were not built overnight. That is why it has been an invincible adversary in confronting the powerful empire that has tested all of its weapons against our country.

But there is hardly any information to the world about Cuba’s merits and its extraordinary struggle.

Two days ago, on Friday 29th, not one of the 11 cables published by the international press on Cuba referred to the hurricane that was approaching our island or the intensive efforts being made by our Civil Defense, with the generous support of millions of Cuban families led by a courageous political vanguard.

One of the cables published by the German DPA news agency read:

Popular Cuban Actor Arrives in Miami: “I left because I got tired.”

It immediately adds that a well-known Cuban television actor, Yamil Jaled, had left Cuba for Miami to join his Cuban-American wife, according to a local newspaper.

It notes that Jaled featured in some very popular TV series, the theater and movies, including some blockbusters produced in France and Italy. Jaled graduated as an actor from the Higher Institute of Arts (ISA) in 1997 and started work as a professional actor in the Rita Montaner theater group, moving into television one year later he started to work in television.

The cable goes on to explain that he is 31 years old and profusely describes his artistic qualities and his triumphant journey through television, thus echoing a Yankee newspaper directed at media warfare and campaigns against Cuba. We Cubans could add: What a patriot! What a democrat! What a brilliant example is this man whom they are presenting as a prototype! This is how information is disseminated throughout the world information about a guy far less known and important than Hurricane Gustav.

They want to turn him into a sacred cow. Deepest convictions, which have successfully resisted the trials of time and the upheavals of life, cannot be acquired in a day. Before that, it is necessary to surmount many tendencies that we carry within us.

I do not hate other human beings, but I do hate vanity, egocentricity, selfishness, arrogance, smugness, the absence of ethics and other tendencies that human beings are born with. Only education and the example set by those who excel in their battle to be better, will triumph and influence all of us. A minimum of philosophy on the need for modesty is needed here.

There are sacred cows who attempt to put our five heroes, brutally separated from their homeland and their closest relatives, on the same level with the mercenaries justly sanctioned as traitors and never subjected to personal and inhuman outrage.

What I am stating in this reflection reaffirms the conviction that I would like to convey to my compatriots, is that only just ideas defended with courage, dignity and firmness, will prevail.

Fidel Castro Ruz
August 31, 2008