Nobody knew when he would arrive to Santiago de Chile and what a
president of the United States would do there when one of his
predecessors had committed the painful crime of promoting the
overthrow and physical death of their heroic president, horrible
tortures and the murders of thousands of Chileans.
I for one was trying to follow the news that was coming in about
the tragedy in Japan and the brutal war unleashed against Libya
while the illustrious visitor was proclaiming the “Partnership
of Equals” in the region of the world where wealth is
distributed in the worst way.
Among so many things, I lost track a bit and saw nothing of the
lavish banquet for hundreds of people being served the
delicacies nature offered from the sea. The banquet had been
served in a Tokyo restaurant , the city where one can pay up to
300,000 dollars for a fresh blue-fin tuna, they had collected up
to 10 million dollars.
That was too much work for a young man of my age. I wrote a
brief Reflection and then went to bed for a long sleep.
This morning I was refreshed. My friend wouldn’t be arriving to
El Salvador until after mid-day. I requested the cable
dispatches, Internet articles and other recently arrived
material.
I saw in the first place that, because of my reflections, the
cables had given importance to what I had said about my position
as First Party Secretary and I shall explain as briefly as
possible. Concentrating on Barack Obama’s “Partnership of
Equals” , a matter of so much historical importance – I say that
seriously – I didn’t even remember that next month the Party
Congress would be taking place.
My position on the subject was basically logical. Once I
understood the seriousness of my state of health, I did what I
thought, in my opinion, wasn’t necessary when I had that painful
accident in Santa Clara; after the fall, treatment was tough,
but my life was not in danger.
On the other hand, when I wrote the Proclamation on the 31st of
July it was clear to me that the state of my health was
extremely critical.
I immediately set aside all my public duties, adding to the
proclamation some instructions to provide security and
tranquility for the population.
It wasn’t necessary to specifically step down from each one of
my duties.
For me, my most important duty was that of First Party
Secretary. Because of ideology and on principle, in a
revolutionary stage, that political position carries the highest
authority. The other position I held was that of President of
the Council of State and Government, elected by the National
Assembly. Both posts had replacements, and not by virtue of some
family connection, something I have never considered to be the
source of right, but due to experience and merit.
The rank of Commander in Chief had been granted me by the
struggle itself, a matter of chance more than because of any
personal merit. The Revolution itself, in a subsequent stage,
correctly designated headship of all armed institutions to the
president, a function that in my opinion, ought to fall to the
First Party Secretary. I consider that that’s how a country such
as Cuba should be, having had to face an obstacle as
considerable as the empire created by the United States.
Almost 14 years went by since the previous Party Congress; it
coincided with the disappearance of the USSR, the socialist
bloc, the Special Period and my own illness.
When gradually and partially my health was recovered, the idea
didn’t even cross my mind about the need to proceed formally in
order to expressly resign from any position. At that time, I
accepted the honour of being elected as Deputy to the National
Assembly, something that did not demand my physical presence and
with which I might share my ideas.
Since I have more time than ever now to observe, to inform
myself and to lay out certain points of view, I shall modestly
fulfil my duty to fight for the ideas I have defended throughout
my modest life.
I beg readers to forgive the time I have spent in this
explanation that above-mentioned circumstances have forced me to
undertake.
The most important matter, which I cannot forget, is that rare
partnership between millionaires and starving people as proposed
by the illustrious President of the United States.
Those who are well-informed, those who know for example, the
history of this hemisphere, its battles, or even the history of
the Cuban people defending their Revolution against the empire
that, as Obama himself acknowledges, “now lasted for longer than
I’ve been alive”, will surely be amazed by his proposal.
It is well-known that the current president is a good wordsmith,
circumstances that, together with the economical crisis, growing
unemployment, losses of homes, and deaths of American soldiers
in the stupid wars of Bush, helped him to obtain his victory.
After observing him well, I wouldn’t be surprised that he was
the author of the ridiculous name with which the massacre in
Libya was baptized – “Odyssey Dawn” – that unsettled the dust of
the mortal remains of Homer and those who contributed to the
forging of the legend in the famous Greek poems, even though I
admit, perhaps, the name was created by the military chiefs who
are managing the thousands of nuclear weapons with which a mere
command from the Nobel Peace Prize laureate can determine the
end of our species.
His speech to whites, blacks, native peoples, mestizos and non-mestizos,
religious or non-religious peoples of the Americas delivered in
the Palacio de la Moneda Cultural Centre was distributed in a
true copy by United States embassies everywhere, and it was
translated and spread by Chile TV, CNN, and other broadcasting
stations in other languages as I would imagine.
It was in the style of the speech he gave in the first year of
his term in Cairo, the capital of his friend and ally Hosni
Mubarak, whose tens of billions of dollars taken from the people
were supposedly known to a president of the United States.
“…Chile shows that we need not be divided by race […] or ethnic
conflict”, he assures us, and thus the American problem was
erased from the map.
He obsessively insists almost immediately that “…our marvelous
surroundings today, just steps from where Chile lost its
democracy decades ago, …” Everything other than saying coup
d’état, the murder of the honourable General Schneider, or the
glorious name of Salvador Allende, as if the government of the
United States had absolutely nothing to do with it.
The great poet Pablo Neruda, whose death was prompted by the
treacherous coup, was quoted more than once, in this case to
affirm our beautifully poetic “guiding stars” which are
“struggle” and “hope”. Has Obama forgotten that Neruda was a
Communist, a friend of the Cuban Revolution, a great admirer of
Simon Bolivar who is reborn every hundred years, and inspiration
for the Heroic Guerrilla Ernesto Guevara?
I was admiring Barack Obama’s profound knowledge of history
almost from the very beginning of his message. Some
irresponsible advisor forgot to explain to him that Neruda was a
member of the Chilean Communist Party. After a few other
insignificant paragraphs, he recognizes that “Now, I know I’m
not the first president from the United States to pledge a new
spirit of partnership with our Latin American neighbors. Words
are easy, and I know that there have been times where perhaps
the United States took this region for granted.”
“…Latin America is not the old stereotype of a region - in
perpetual conflict or trapped in endless cycles of poverty.”
“In Colombia, great sacrifices by citizens and security forces
have restored a level of security not seen in decades.” Over
there, there was never any drug trafficking, paramilitary or
secret cemeteries.
In his speech, the working class does not exist, nor do landless
peasants, or the illiterate, or infant and maternal mortality,
people becoming blind, or victims of parasites such as Chaga or
bacterial diseases such as cholera.
“From Guadalajara to Santiago to Sao Paolo, a new MIDDLE CLASS
is demanding more of themselves and more of their governments”,
he states.
“When a coup in Honduras threatened democratic progress, the
nations of the hemisphere unanimously invoked the Inter-American
Democratic Charter, helping to lay the foundation for the return
to the rule of law.”
The real reason for Obama’s marvellous speech is explained in
inarguable fashion in the middle of his message and in his own
words: “Latin America is only going to become more important to
the United States, especially to our economy […] We buy more of
your products, more of your goods than any other country, and we
invest more in this region than any other country. […] we export
more than three times as much to Latin America as we do to
China. Our exports to this region -- which are growing faster
than our exports to the rest of the world -- …”. One can perhaps
assume from this that “when Latin America is more prosperous,
the United States is more prosperous.”
Further on, he dedicates insipid words to real facts:
“But if we’re honest, we’ll also admit that […] progress in the
Americas has not come fast enough. Not for the millions who
endure the injustice of extreme poverty. Not for the children in
shantytowns and the favelas who just want the same chance as
everybody else.”
“…political and economic power that is too often concentrated in
the hands of the few, instead of serving the many”, he said
verbatim.
“...we are not the first generation to face these challenges.
Fifty years ago this month, President John F. Kennedy proposed
an ambitious Alliance for Progress.”
“President Kennedy’s challenge endures – ‘to build a hemisphere
where all people can hope for a sustainable, suitable standard
of living, and all can live out their lives in dignity and in
freedom.”
It is incredible that he now comes up with such an awkward
story, an insult to human intelligence.
He has nothing left other than to mention, among the great
calamities, a problem that originates in the colossal US market
of lethal weapons: “Criminal gangs and narco-traffickers are not
only a threat to the security of our citizens. They’re a threat
to development, because they scare away investment that
economies need to prosper. And they are a direct threat to
democracy, because they fuel the corruption that rots
institutions from within.”
Further on he reluctantly adds: “But we’ll never break the grip
of the cartels and the gangs unless we also address the social
and economic forces that fuel criminality. We need to reach
at-risk youth before they turn to drugs and crime.”
“...as President I’ve made it clear that the United States
shares and accepts our share of responsibility for drug
violence. After all, the demand for drugs, including in the
United States, drives this crisis. And that’s why we’ve
developed a new drug control strategy that focused on reducing
the demand for drugs through education and prevention and
treatment.”
What he doesn’t say is that in Honduras 76 per every 100,000
inhabitants are dying as a result of violence, 19 times higher
than in Cuba where practically, despite proximity to the United
States, that problem hardly exists.
After a bunch of similar bits of foolishness, about weapons
headed for Mexico that are being seized, a Trans-Pacific
Partnership, the Inter-American Development bank, with which he
says they are increasing the Microfinance Growth Fund for the
Americas and promises to create new “Pathways to Prosperity” and
other highfalutin terms that he pronounces in English and
Spanish, he returns to his outlandish promises of hemispheric
unity and he tries to impress his audience with the dangers of
climatic changes.
Obama adds: “And if anybody doubts the urgency of climate
change, they look -- they should look no further than the
Americas -- from the stronger storms in the Caribbean, to
glacier melt in the Andes, to the loss of forests and farmland
across the region.” Without the guts to acknowledge that his
country is the one most responsible for that tragedy.
He explains that he is proud to announce that “…the United
States will work with partners in this region, including the
private sector, to increase the number of U.S. students studying
in Latin America to 100,000, and the number of Latin America
students studying in the United States to 100,000.” We already
know how much it costs to study medicine or any other profession
in that country, and the shameless brain drain being practiced
in the United States.
All his empty words ends with praise for the OAS that Roa
described as the Ministry of Yankee Colonies when our Homeland
unforgettably made an accusation in the United Nations,
informing that the government of the United States had attacked
our territory on April 15th of 1961 with B-26s painted with
Cuban flags; a shameless event that in 23 days will be 50 years
old.
Thus he believed that everything was completely ready to
proclaim the right to subvert law and order in our country.
He openly confesses that they are “allowing Americans to send
remittances that bring some economic hope for people across
Cuba, as well as more independence from Cuban authorities.”
“…we’ll continue to seek ways to increase the independence of
the Cuban people, who I believe are entitled to the same freedom
and liberty as everyone else in this hemisphere.”
Later he recognizes that the blockade is damaging Cuba,
depriving the economy of resources. Why does he not recognize
the intentions of Eisenhower, and the declared United States aim
when he applied it was bringing the Cuban people to their knees
by hunger?
Why is it still in place? How many billions of dollars does the
compensation the US must pay our country come to? Why are they
keeping the 5 Cuban anti-terrorist heroes imprisoned? Why aren’t
they applying the Adjustment Law to all Latin Americans instead
of allowing thousands of them to die or get injured on the
border imposed on that country after having stolen more than
half of its territory?
I ask the President of the United States to pardon my frankness.
I harbour no hard feelings against him or his people.
I fulfill the duty of laying out all that I think about his
“Partnership of Equals”.
The United States will get nothing from creating and stimulating
the mercenary profession. I can assure him that the best and
most well-educated young people in our country, graduates from
the University of Informatics Sciences, know much more about the
Internet and computer science than the Nobel laureate and
President of the United States.
Fidel Castro Ruz
March 22, 2011
9:17 p.m.
