Reflections of Fidel

The fanatics were upset due to the hard setback on Sunday. But the word says it all: fa-nat-ics!

They forget that our team is now in South Korea, a country where we do not even have an embassy. There, our athletes continue to train.

Anyway, they are not the ones who deserve the strongest criticisms. They will be taking part in the Olympic Games that will be held on the other side of the world, where sleeping hours and life pace are different. They have an intense program of physical training with a view to the last presentation of this sport at the Olympics, as determined by the rich and powerful masters of such games. They have not been defeated. Let’s not discourage them. Let’s send them a message of encouragement.

Why don’t we wait until the conclusion of the Olympiads to engage in a full and truly democratic discussion on the responsibility of everyone involved in Cuban sports?

We dazzle our people with descriptions of sport successes and promises but then we don’t even dare publish the names of those who betray their homeland and sell off to the enemy. Our bureaucratic style in the education of our sportspeople seems to run high on science and low on conscience, even though sports are socially vital and our objective should not be glory or gold medals but our people’s physical and mental health. How it hurts when some of them sustain injuries related to sport drills or accidents, as in the case of Pedro Pablo Perez! The painful accident that keeps him on the verge of death is also impacting on a great Olympic promise, his companion Yoanka Gonzalez.

Let’s not forget Ana Fidelia’s exploits.

Despite adverse circumstances, our athletes shine for their human and patriotic virtues. Not even one out of ten moraly yields to the torrent of offers they receive from a world full of greediness, vices, drugs, doping and consumerism, one where our homeland shines as an example hard to imitate.

We should never allow the traitors to come visit the country showing off the luxury obtained through infamy. Let’s blame ourselves for that.

Fidel Castro Ruz
July 16, 2008

This past Wednesday, March 26, 20-year-old Lisandra Guerra became the 500-meter time-trial cycling world champion in the World Track Cycling Championship held in Manchester, Great Britain, following intense competition with athletes from 37 different countries. Fruit of our educational and sports system, of our talented youth and women, we can sincerely and legitimately feel proud of this victory. Credit where credit is due! Today, however, I shan’t write about sports. That same day, on the 26th, the Henry Reeve Contingent Detachment that had been involved in relief work in Peru returned to Cuba, undefeated.

The earthquake took place on August 15, 2007. It measured 7.9 on the Richter scale. The detachment arrived in Cuzco on August 18. Their two-month relief work plan had been designed to address the most urgent needs.

The real needs were to require more than double this time. They saw 153, 292 patients, 65,299 of whom were visited in their homes. They remained in Peru until March 25, 2008, seven months and seven days.

Dr. Juan Carlos Dupuy Núñez, who has been in charge of the Henry Reeve Contingent since its creation in September 19, 2005 and was the head of the Cuban medical brigade in Pakistan, headed the detachment. Several members of the detachment had done relief work in Pakistan and Indonesia. Not one of these 77 men and women turned a deaf ear to the call of duty.

The glorious pages in history they have written cannot be erased. Such dignity and conscience are a bulwark against the rusted armaments of imperialism.

In view of the Peruvian people’s gratitude and acknowledgement, it was morally impossible for us to leave the country without having other members of the Contingent travel there to undertake relief work in their place.

I shall be writing about China in coming days. The material has already been written and needs only some minor touches.

I didn’t even try to write about the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Cuito Cuanavale battle, the loftiest example of our people’s internationalist conscience. I would prefer that those who witnessed the heroic events in person, during a time that was to last, not one day, but months, speak in honor of the glorious fallen.

Yesterday, I watched the Round Table program on Cuba’s congress of intellectuals and artists, about to start. There is no doubt in my mind the debates will be extremely interesting.

We shall be alert, following developments, as Bush gets up to his old tricks in Bucharest and the Black Sea the first days of April, as we have already denounced. And keep an eye on the Vice! This was a typical saying in the days Cuba was a neo-colony, meant to keep people on their guard.

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 29, 2008

The knock-out took place in the capital of the Dominican Republic. We followed every second of the match on Telesur. Nearly all of the Latin American presidents from the Rio Group were there. Ecuadorian President Correa had announced it the day before. I underscored the importance of this meeting in one of my reflections. It did not take place within the OAS. Most importantly, US diplomats were not in attendance. In one way or another, despite the profound ideological and tactical differences, everyone shone and showed the virtues that earned them important positions in office.

In today’s crisis, these positions acquire a stark significance. The undeniable fact is that, on the brink of armed conflicts between sister nations stemming from Yankee intrigues, for now peace has been sealed, as has the awareness that we can avert wars between peoples united by solid bonds of brotherhood.

While this was taking place in Santo Domingo, Bush was at a meeting in Washington to discuss the transition in Cuba.

Though much still lies ahead, as the meeting on Globalization and Development Problems held in Havana has shown, ultimately, imperialism proved the one and only loser.

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 7, 2008