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I hope I never have reason to be ashamed These words will be published tomorrow, on February 29. A great many tasks lie immediately ahead of us. The 10th International Conference of Economists on Globalization and the Problems of Development, a conference I have always attended and in which I have always expressed different points of view, will begin on Monday the 3rd. Judging by the international developments we’ve witnessed, this conference will doubtless be of great importance, owing to the presence of prestigious economists, some Nobel Prize laureates and two eminent heads of State.I wish to address a specific issue in this, today’s reflection. In the course of these days of voluntary rest, I have read numerous cables issued by the traditional press agencies or over the Internet. Among these, I found a dispatch, issued from Cuba and published on the BBC World web site, whose blatant personal attack is indeed repugnant. Published on February 25, one day following the election of the president of the Council of State, under the sub-headline of El Peso de las reflexiones ("The Importance of the Reflections"), it states: Fidel Castro appears to want to reassure the new government and promises "to be cautious" in expressing opinions in his editorials, which are divulged by all of the country’s media, including the radio and television. In his reflections, it adds, he essays a new gesture of modesty, not only asking to be addressed as "comrade Fidel" but also that his articles not appear on the front page of the official newspaper and that the other media divulge a mere summary of these pieces. According to the article, this is strictly formal for, even if his reflections appear on the sports page, their significance will not, as a result, be lessened: nationally and internationally, any comment made by "comrade Fidel" will have immense repercussions. In a sense, the note alleges, it is a sword of Damocles hovering over the heads of the country’s leaders, for all of them know it would be extremely difficult to pursue any policy that is publicly condemned by Castro. The relationship between the Castro brothers, we learn, is a mystery seasoned by the most varied rumours. It is said they locked themselves up in a room and argued for several hours, and that their yelling could be heard outside of Fidel’s office. None of this, the article tells us, can be confirmed, for there is no proof, only alleged witnesses. In Cuba, however, as in no other country, wherever there’s smoke, there’s fire, and the "grapevine", the oral transmission of information, is almost always in the right. Other important US newspapers, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, expressed their frustration but did not resort to such vulgar insults. Many picture our country as a steam cauldron that is about to burst. They are thrown off balance by how it has heroically held its ground for half a century. The wise and serene words Raúl spoke after the 609 members of the National Assembly in attendance unanimously elected him president of the Council of State, his sincere arguments, disentangled the tangle of illusions that had been woven around Cuba. Those who know me and Raúl well know that, out of a basic sense of dignity and respect, we could never hold such a meeting. More than a few people still harbor hopes of seeing the sudden collapse of a heroic revolution, which stood and continues to stand victorious in spite of half a century of imperialist aggression. Now, they are howling like wolves whose tails have been caught in traps. How particularly vexed they seem by the election, as First Vice President, of Machadito, the Organizational Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, to whom the Constitution entrusts the most important tasks as regards leading the people towards socialism. In the world of nebulous speculation and protocol, what counts is state leadership and the party organization is considered a meddlesome intruder, an internal principle. In the specific case of Cuba, it should suffice to know that Raúl has all the legal and constitutional faculties and prerogatives he needs to govern our country. As he himself explained, I was consulted during the process of putting together a list of candidates for the position of first vice president that he held, and of which no one was stripped. I did not demand to be consulted. It was Raúl and the country’s top leaders who decided to consult me. Similarly, it was my decision to ask the Candidacy Commission to include Leopoldo Cintra Frías and Alvaro López Miera, who joined the Rebel Army combatants when they were only 15, on the list of candidates for the Council of State. The two are much younger than McCain and have more experience as military leaders, as demonstrated by their victorious internationalist feats. Polito led the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, to the southeast, and the counteroffensive, southwest, with over 40,000 Cuban volunteer combatants and more than 30,000 Angolan soldiers under his command, troops that drove the last Apartheid army invaders out of Angola. The U.S. government created the conditions that would permit racist South Africa, in certain circumstances, to use a nuclear weapon against those troops. López Miera once bombed his own troops when, near Luanda, he ordered the multiple launch artillery to fire at his own positions, under attack and nearly occupied by the South African forces that invaded Angola for the first time in 1975. These were the moves the chess board itself decided. They were not the fruit of Raúl’s alleged militaristic tendencies, nor was it a question of different generations or factions rabidly fighting over a mundane slice of power. With respect to myself, I say again that I cling to no position, as I expressed in my message to the people of February 18, 2008. One person who was left speechless was the intellectual author of Kosovo’s "independence". In my reflection of February 21st, I described him as "an illustrious Spanish personality, once an impeccable socialist and minister of culture, who for some time now an advocate of war and the use of weapons" (In addition to this, at various points in time, he was a government spokesman, minister of education and science and minister of foreign affairs). What did he say? "Yesterday’s news could have been more open and better. I am not certain whether a transition has begun from the political point of view… Anything that could point to a political transition towards democracy is welcome." He spoke as though we lived in Franco’s Spain, a close ally of the United States, and not in Cuba, where they have invested more than 100 billion dollars, much more valuable than today’s dollars, to blockade and destroy the country. What a man! There’s no way to shut him up! What is his name? The Roundtable program already mentioned the sin and the sinner two or three days ago: Javier Solana. What party is he affiliated with? Spain’s Socialist Worker’s Party. He would not travel to our country because Cuba, in connection with the invasion of Serbia, urged the world to try him as a war criminal in an international court. As Spain’s Foreign Minister, he welcomed me at Madrid airport when the 2nd Latin American Summit was held in the Spanish capital. He seemed like an angel back then! Even Aznar, who advised Clinton to bomb the Serbian television station, an action which caused the deaths of dozens of people, understands that, right now, on the eve of elections, one cannot play with the issue of nationalities, as everyone realizes that, with such precedents, the Basque Country and Catalonia could invoke such a principle within the European Community, and we are talking about two of Spain’s most industrialized nations. The Scots and the Irish could proceed in similar fashion. With the fate of human species in such hands, it is as if we were dancing happily at the edge of a precipice, where the vanity of no few leaders of the globalized capitalist world reigns, putting all countries at risk. The humanitarian, educational and artistic values achieved with its own resources by the Cuban Revolution they seek to destroy means nothing to them, if it does not submit to the dictatorship of the free market. The latter and its blind laws are miring the human species in an unsustainable economic crisis and bringing about changes to the natural conditions of life that could prove irreversible. It is to fight against that that I write Reflections. Had I unlimited time, I would be willing to write to recall ideas that are today dispersed in speeches, interviews, conversations, declarations, meetings, reflections and things of that nature. I have invested tons of paper and tons of sound – symbolically speaking – but I have no reason to be ashamed of that. Fidel Castro Ruz
What I wrote on Tuesday 19 — February 21, 2008 That Tuesday, there was no fresh international news. My modest message to the people of Monday, February 18 had no problem being widely circulated. I began to receive news from 11:00 a.m. The previous night I slept like never before. My conscience was at rest and I had promised myself a vacation. The days of tension, with the proximity of February 24, left me exhausted. Today I shall not say anything about people in Cuba and the world who are close and who expressed their emotions in thousands of different ways. I also received a large number of comments collected from people on the street via confirmed methods who, almost without exception, and spontaneously, voiced their most profound sentiments of solidarity. One day I shall approach that subject. At this point I am dedicating myself to the adversaries. I enjoyed watching the embarrassing position of all the candidates for the United States presidency. One by one they were obliged to announce their immediate demands of Cuba in order not to risk losing a single voter. Not that I am a Pulitzer Prize winner interrogating them on CNN on the most delicate political and even personal matters from Las Vegas, where the logic of chance of the roulette rules and where one has to make ones humble presence if aspiring to be president. Half a century of blockade seemed little enough to the favorites. “Change, change, change!” they cried in unison. I am in agreement, change! but in the United States. Cuba changed a long while ago and will follow its dialectical route. “No return to the past ever!” exclaim our people. “Annexation, annexation, annexation!” responds the adversary; that is what they are really thinking deep down about when they talk of change. Breaking the secret of his silent struggle, Martí denounced the voracious and expansionist empire discovered and described by his brilliant intelligence more than one century after the revolutionary declaration of independence of the 13 colonies. The end of one stage is not the same as the beginning of the end of an unsustainable system. Immediately, the diminished European powers allied to that system, began to pronounce the same demands. In their judgment, the hour had come to dance to the music of the democracy and freedom that, since the times of Torquemada, they have never really known. The colonization and neo-colonization of entire continents, from which they extract energy, raw materials and a cheap workforce, morally disqualify them. An extremely illustrious Spanish figure, previously minister of culture and an impeccable socialist, today and for some time now a spokesman on arms and war, is the synthesis of pure wrong. Kosovo and the unilateral declaration of independence is hitting them at this time like an impertinent nightmare. People of flesh and blood with U.S. and NATO uniforms are still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. The memory of the USSR, disintegrated in part due to its interventionist adventure in the latter of the two countries, haunts the Europeans like a shadow. Bush Sr. is backing McCain as his candidate, while Bush Jr., in a country of Africa – yesterday the origin of humankind and a martyr continent today – and where nobody knows what he is doing, said that my message was the beginning of Cuba’s road to freedom; in other words, the annexation decreed by his government in a voluminous and enormous text. The day before, international television showed a group of latest-generation bombers executing spectacular maneuvers, with the complete guarantee that bombs of any type could be launched without radars detecting the aircraft carriers, and this is not even considered to be war crime. A protest was made by important countries in relation to the imperial idea of testing a weapon on the pretext of avoiding the possible fall over the territory of another country of a spy satellite – one of the many artifacts that, for military purposes, the United States has sent into orbit of the planet. I was thinking of not writing a reflection for at least 10 days, but I had no right to keep quiet for so long. I revised it yesterday and today, Thursday, will hand it over. I have insistently asked for my reflections to be published on Page 2 or any other page of our newspapers, never on the front page, and to give simple summaries in the other media if they are extensive. I am now absorbed in the effort of confirming my united vote for the President of the National Assembly and the new Council of State and how to do that. I thank my readers for your patient wait. Fidel Castro Ruz Dear compatriots: &mdash February 18, 2008 Last Friday, February 15, I promised you that in my next reflection I would deal with an issue of interest to many compatriots. Thus, this now is rather a message. The moment has come to nominate and elect the State Council, its President, its Vice-Presidents and Secretary. For many years I have occupied the honorable position of President. On February 15, 1976 the Socialist Constitution was approved with the free, direct and secret vote of over 95% of the people with the right to cast a vote. The first National Assembly was established on December 2nd that same year; this elected the State Council and its presidency. Before that, I had been a Prime Minister for almost 18 years. I always had the necessary prerogatives to carry forward the revolutionary work with the support of the overwhelming majority of the people. There were those overseas who, aware of my critical health condition, thought that my provisional resignation, on July 31, 2006, to the position of President of the State Council, which I left to First Vice-President Raul Castro Ruz, was final. But Raul, who is also minister of the Armed Forces on account of his own personal merits, and the other comrades of the Party and State leadership were unwilling to consider me out of public life despite my unstable health condition. It was an uncomfortable situation for me vis-à-vis an adversary which had done everything possible to get rid of me, and I felt reluctant to comply. Later, in my necessary retreat, I was able to recover the full command of my mind as well as the possibility for much reading and meditation. I had enough physical strength to write for many hours, which I shared with the corresponding rehabilitation and recovery programs. Basic common sense indicated that such activity was within my reach. On the other hand, when referring to my health I was extremely careful to avoid raising expectations since I felt that an adverse ending would bring traumatic news to our people in the midst of the battle. Thus, my first duty was to prepare our people both politically and psychologically for my absence after so many years of struggle. I kept saying that my recovery “was not without risks.” My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath. That’s all I can offer. To my dearest compatriots, who have recently honored me so much by electing me a member of the Parliament where so many agreements should be adopted of utmost importance to the destiny of our Revolution, I am saying that I will neither aspire to nor accept, I repeat, I will neither aspire to nor accept the positions of President of the State Council and Commander in Chief. In short letters addressed to Randy Alonso, Director of the Round Table National TV Program, — letters which at my request were made public — I discreetly introduced elements of this message I am writing today, when not even the addressee of such letters was aware of my intention. I trusted Randy, whom I knew very well from his days as a student of Journalism. In those days I met almost on a weekly basis with the main representatives of the University students from the provinces at the library of the large house in Kohly where they lived. Today, the entire country is an immense University. Following are some paragraphs chosen from the letter addressed to Randy on December 17, 2007: “I strongly believe that the answers to the current problems facing Cuban society, which has, as an average, a twelfth grade of education, almost a million university graduates, and a real possibility for all its citizens to become educated without their being in any way discriminated against, require more variables for each concrete problem than those contained in a chess game. We cannot ignore one single detail; this is not an easy path to take, if the intelligence of a human being in a revolutionary society is to prevail over instinct. Letter from January 8, 2008: “...I am a firm supporter of the united vote (a principle that preserves the unknown merits), which allowed us to avoid the tendency to copy what came to us from countries of the former socialist bloc, including the portrait of the one candidate, as singular as his solidarity towards Cuba. I deeply respect that first attempt at building socialism, thanks to which we were able to continue along the path we had chosen.” And I reiterated in that letter that “...I never forget that ‘all of the world’s glory fits in a kernel of corn.’” Therefore, it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer. This I say devoid of all drama. Fortunately, our Revolution can still count on cadres from the old guard and others who were very young in the early stages of the process. Some were very young, almost children, when they joined the fight on the mountains and later they have given glory to the country with their heroic performance and their internationalist missions. They have the authority and the experience to guarantee the replacement. There is also the intermediate generation which learned together with us the basics of the complex and almost unattainable art of organizing and leading a revolution. The path will always be difficult and require from everyone’s intelligent effort. I distrust the seemingly easy path of apologetics or its antithesis the self-flagellation. We should always be prepared for the worst variable. The principle of being as prudent in success as steady in adversity cannot be forgotten. The adversary to be defeated is extremely strong; however, we have been able to keep it at bay for half a century. This is not my farewell to you. My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas. I shall continue to write under the heading of ‘Reflections by comrade Fidel.’ It will be just another weapon you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard. I shall be careful. Thanks. Fidel Castro Ruz The Republican Candidate (Part Five and Last) — February 15, 2008 The articles introduced in yesterday’s reflection, on February 14, were written in the last two or three days. More than two weeks ago, on January 27, 2008, the digital publication Tom Dispatch reproduced an article translated for Rebelión by Germán Leyens: “Why the Debt Crisis is Now the Greatest Threat to the American Republic” by Chalmers Johnson. This American author has not been awarded the Nobel Prize, as has Joseph Stiglitz, the famous and well-known economist and writer, or even Milton Friedman himself, who inspired neoliberalism and led many countries down that disastrous path, including the United States. Friedman was the most intensive advocate of economic liberalism opposed to any government regulations. His ideas nurtured Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. An active member of the Republican Party, he advised Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Augusto Pinochet, that man with a sinister story. He died in November of 2006 at the age of 94. He wrote numerous works, among them Capitalism and Liberty. When I refer to Chalmers Johnson’s article, I am strictly abiding by the irrefutable arguments he used. I use the method of selecting essential paragraphs textually.
In an Internet conference about Johnson’s work, the answer is already designed by him. What does he say? Something which I shall explain in a very brief summary: Johnson is arguing that the United States is its own worst enemy. ‘Sooner rather than later, he assures us, the arrogance of the United States will result in its downfall’. Johnson’s book is largely made up by independent chapters on a number of vaguely related subjects. “The time to avoid financial and moral bankruptcy is short”. Later, he arrives at the following conclusion: “We are on the edge of losing democracy in the name of holding on to our empire”. Johnson’s work is described as “polemical”...While many of us have become insensitive to the White House’s atrocities, Johnson’s indignation with the Administration –its torture memoranda, its disdain for free public information, its mockery of established treaties– is vivid. This could be due to his conservative background: Marine lieutenant in the 50’s, CIA adviser from 1967 to 1973 and a long-time advocate of the Vietnam War. Johnson became horrified by militarism and American interventionism late in the game. Now he is writing as if he would like to make up for lost time. The most outstanding of Johnson’s contributions to the debate about the American empire is his documentation of the vast network of U.S. military bases overseas... “Many years ago we were able to trace the expansion of imperialism by tallying up the colonies', writes Chalmers Johnson in Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. ‘The American version of the colony is the military base...” Nemesis is a book about hard power. By comparing the far-flung U.S. bases with Roman garrisons, Johnson hypothesizes that things haven’t changed much since the days of Caesar and Octavius. But with nuclear weapons scattered among the great and the lesser powers, military might can only achieve mutual destruction...Our troops are besieged. Each one of Johnson’s erudite chapters teaches as much as it disturbs. But his underlying moaning about the death of democracy lacks analytic strength. Johnson looks incredulously at ‘those who believe that Washington’s governmental structure today is in any way similar to that which was sketched out by the Constitution of 1787. Such pessimism seems exaggerated. The Republic has survived Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover, and democracy, despite the blows it has received, will also survive Bush. The arguments for concretely answering the article signed by Johnson on January 27th require more than a declaration of faith in democracy and freedom. Johnson did not invent the arithmetic that even a sixth grade student knows; nor was it invented by the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, also a Nobel Prize Laureate. He was very close to not getting his university degree: his biographer tells us that he was constantly asking how much 8 times 5 were; he could never remember that it was 40. Several months ago, while carefully analyzing more than 400 pages of the translation of the memoirs of Alan Greenspan who for 16 years was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States, The Age of Turbulence –about which I promised to write some reflections and it is already water under the bridge– I learned about the secret of his enormous worries: what is beginning to happen today. In essence, I clearly understood the consequences, so terrible for the system, of printing paper bills and spending with no limits. I deliberately did not confront any of the candidates from both parties on the very delicate subject of climate change to avoid disturbing illusions and dreams. Publicity does not affect the laws of physics and biology. These are less understandable and more complicated. I expressed a few months ago the certainty that the most knowledgeable person on the subject of climate change and the most popular would not be running for president. He had already been a candidate and victory was snatched from him as the result of a scandalous fraud. He understood the risks of nature and politics. Obviously, I refer to Albert Gore. He is a good barometer. We have to ask him every day how he slept. His answers would doubtlessly be useful to the desperate scientific community which desires the survival of the species. In my next reflection I will deal with a subject of interest to many compatriots, but I won't give any hints. I apologize to the readers for the time and the space that I took for five days with the Republican Candidate. Fidel Castro Ruz The Republican Candidate (Part Four) — February 14, 2008 When in the previous reflection I asked McCain what he thought of the Five antiterrorist Cuban Heroes, I did so because I remembered what he had published on page 206 of his book Faith of My Fathers, co-written with his assistant Mark Salter: “It’s an awful thing, solitary. It crushes your spirit and weakens your resistance more effectively than any other form of mistreatment. Having no one else to rely on, to share confidences with, to seek counsel from, you begin to doubt your judgment and your courage. But you eventually adjust to solitary, as you can to almost any hardship, by devising various methods to keep your mind off your troubles and greedily grasping any opportunity for human contact.” “When in 1970 my period of solitary confinement was finally ended, I was overwhelmed by the compulsion to talk nonstop...” If this is a subject of interest to you, in the United States today there are five Cuban prisoners, separated one from the other by thousands of miles. They have no area that can be sarcastically called the “Hanoi Hilton”. Their suffering and the injustice of which they are victims will be known the world over; don't doubt it for a minute. I decided to revisit the subject remembering that, in one of your many declarations, you were trying to locate the spot turned into a prison for the pilots of the bombers brought down as they were attacking Vietnam. I was housed in the former residence of the French Governor of all Indochina when I visited Vietnam in 1973, a country where I arrived on September 12 after the agreement between the United States and Vietnam, to which you referred. There I was visited by Pham Van Dong, the Prime Minister at the time, who wept as he remembered the human and material sacrifices imposed on his country; from there I left to visit the South –not yet totally liberated– up to the McNamara Line, where the steel bunkers had been taken by the Vietnamese combatants, despite the bombings and the continued U.S. air attacks. All the bridges along the road, without exception, between Hanoi and the South visible from the air, were destroyed; the villages razed, and every day the cluster bomb grenades dropped for that purpose, were blowing up in the rice paddies where children, women and even very old people were working to produce food. A great number of craters could be seen in each one of the entrances to the bridges. At that time there were no laser guided bombs, much more precise. I had to insist on making that trip. The Vietnamese were afraid that I would be the victim of some Yankee plot if they learned of my presence in that area. Pham Van Dong accompanied me at all times. We flew over Nghe-An Province where Ho Chi Minh was born. In that province, as well as in Ha Tinh, two million Vietnamese starved to death in 1945, the last year of World War II. We landed in Dong Hoi. A million bombs were dropped over the province where that destroyed city lies. We crossed the Nhat Le on a raft. We visited an assistance center for the wounded of Quang Tri. We saw numerous captured M-48 tanks. We took wooden roads over what was once the National Highway that had been destroyed by bombs. We got together with young Vietnamese soldiers who covered themselves with glory at the Battle of Quang Tri. Calm, resolute, seasoned by the sun and the war, a slight tic quivered the eyelid of the battalion captain. No one knows how they could have stood up to so much bombing. They were worthy of praise. On that same afternoon on September 15, returning by a different route, we picked up three wounded children, two of which were in very serious condition; a 14 year old girl was in a state of shock with a metal fragment in her abdomen. The children were working in the fields when one of their tools accidentally touched a grenade. The Cuban doctors accompanying the delegation cared for them directly for hours and saved their lives. I was a witness, Mr. McCain, to the heroic deeds of the bombing raids on North Vietnam, the same ones you are so proud of. During those days in September, Allende had been overthrown; the Presidential palace was attacked and many Chileans were tortured and murdered. The coup was promoted and organized from Washington. All that unfortunately happened. The basic problem at this time is to know whether the Republican candidate McCain is aware of the economic crisis which, shortly or immediately, will beset the United States. Only from that point of view will it be possible to evaluate any candidate with the possibility of assuming the leadership of that powerful country. Two days ago on February 12, the international news agency IAR published an article signed by Manuel Freytas, a journalist, researcher and analyst, entitled “Why a recession in the United States can turn into a global crisis.” There is no need for many proofs to argue the case. “In the current bleak forecast of the U.S. economy –he writes– key institutions of today’s economic-financial system come together, such as the Federal Reserve and the United States Treasury, the World Bank, the WMF, the G-7 (the 7 wealthiest nations) and the central banks of Europe and Asia, seeing in the confluence of credit crisis-collapsing dollar-escalating oil prices, a potential central detonator in a recessive process in capitalism on a world scale. “The fear of a U.S. recession and its impact on the world economy...has negatively impacted on the confidence of the system’s economic and political elite. “The Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, said that his country could fall into a recessive process and that it faces the double challenge of a falling real estate market, and at the same time the necessity of making sure that inflation does not push up the prices of oil and foods. “In January, the United Nations Organization warned of the existence of an elevated risk of falling into a global economic recession...” “At the Davos Forum held in January in the Swiss Alps, the leaders of the richest and most powerful world powers have just warned of a recession in the United States with worldwide implications, predicting a bleak forecast for this year. “The Finance Ministers and the central banks of the seven wealthiest countries in the world (G-7) considered last Saturday that their economies are going to shortly suffer deceleration, according to the final communiqué at a meeting in Tokyo...” “There are two key elements that explain why a recessive crisis in the United States would be immediately projected upon the entire world economy, both in the central countries as well as in the ‘emerging’ and ‘peripheral’ countries. “a) In the current world economy globalized model, the United States is the principal buyer and consumer of products and energy resources, and represents 22.5 percent of the world economy, according to the latest calculations of the World Bank. “b) The capitalist world economy is ‘dollarized’. The dollar is the standard currency for all commercial and financial transactions on a world scale. “These two central factors explain why any economic-financial oscillation or imbalance having the United States as its protagonist impacts and immediately spreads throughout the ‘system’. “A recessive crisis in the United States...would immediately impact on the stock exchanges and the globalized money markets...completing the cycle of the collapse of today’s model of capitalist economy on a world scale. “The collapse of the model would break the equilibrium of political ‘governability’ and would unleash a wave of social and trade union conflicts that would equally affect the United States and the central powers as well as the 'emerging' countries.” Yesterday, February 13, various articles by well-known American journalists were pointing in the same direction, even though they took up different arguments. I shall quote only two; of these I have selected paragraphs that reflect the topicality and importance of their contents, using concepts that are completely accessible for the educational levels of our people. Under the title of “The American Model is an Idea whose Time has Come”, Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, an international daily news show broadcast by 650 radio and television stations in the U.S. and the world, wrote: “Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., made it personal: “Would waterboarding be torture if it was done to you?” “I would feel that it was,” Mukasey responded. Though he deflected questions, before and after Kennedy’s, his personal answer rang true. “Our attorney general should not have to be waterboarded to know that it is torture. “Suharto ruled Indonesia for more than 30 years, shored up by the most powerful country on Earth, the United States. “Throughout Suharto’s reign, U.S. administrations—Democratic and Republican—armed, trained and financed the Indonesian military. In addition to the million Indonesians killed, hundreds of thousands were also killed during Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, a small country 300 miles above Australia. “On Nov. 12, 1991, when I was covering a peaceful Timorese procession in Timor’s capital, Dili, Suharto’s occupying army opened fired on the crowd, killing 270 Timorese. “The soldiers beat me with their boots and the butts of their U.S. M-16s. They fractured the skull of my colleague Allan Nairn, who was writing for The New Yorker magazine at the time. “Transparency International estimated Suharto’s fortune to be between $15 billion and $35 billion. The current U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Cameron Hume, praised Suharto’s memory this week, saying, “President Suharto led Indonesia for over 30 years, a period during which Indonesia achieved remarkable economic and social development. “Whether it’s waterboarding, waging an illegal war or holding hundreds of prisoners without charge for years at Guantanamo Bay or at CIA black sites around the world, I am reminded of Mahatma Gandhi, one of the world’s greatest nonviolent leaders. “What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless,” he asked, “whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?” “When asked what he thought of Western civilization, Gandhi responded, “I think it would be a good idea.” That same day, in CounterPunch, Robert Weissman wrote another article titled “The Shameful State of the Union”, translated for Rebelión by S. Seguí, where among other things he stated: “The United States is spending more than $700 billion a year on the military. The 2008 appropriations bills include $506.9 billion for the Department of Defense and the nuclear weapons activities of the Department of Energy, plus an additional $189.4 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Congress has approved nearly $700 billion to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is the appropriated amount. It doesn't include costs to society -- loss of life, injuries, etc. “Depending on how you count, more than half of all discretionary federal spending is now directed to the military. “Wealth is concentrating in the United States at a startling rate. “In 1976, the top 1 percent of the population received 8.83 percent of national income. In 2005, they grabbed 21.93 percent. “In the hyper-financialized economy, it's the finance guys who are getting truly rich...despite the huge losses being wracked up on Wall Street. “But even the traditional investment banks can't match the outrageous compensation captured by private equity and hedge fund managers, a few of whom manage to pull in more than $1 billion in a single year. Thanks to a tax loophole, these characters pay income tax at a rate less than half of what a dentist making $200,000 a year pays. “Corporations are capturing more of the nation's wealth. “The housing bubble and the subprime mortgage meltdown are driving millions of families from their homes. “The Center for Responsible Lending estimates that 2.2 million subprime home loans made in recent years have already failed or will end in foreclosure. Homeowners will lose $164 billion from these foreclosures, the Center projects. Overall losses from deflated housing values may top $2 trillion. “The racial wealth divide remains a chasm with little prospect of being bridged -- and is likely growing worse. “It would take 594 more years for African Americans to achieve parity with whites, according to United for a Fair Economy. But the subprime debacle is hitting minority communities disproportionately hard causing what United for a Fair Economy believes may be the worst deprivation of people of color's wealth in modern U.S. history. “More than one in six children lives in poverty. “More than 45 million people in the United States do not have health insurance. “The 2006 U.S. trade deficit totaled $763.6 billion. The trade deficit will eventually have to be balanced -- sooner than later, it now seems. As the dollar continues to swoon, expect to see inflation and higher interest rates over the medium term. The real standard of living, in economic terms, will decline as a result. “U.S. fuel efficiency is worse now than it was two decades ago. “The nation's infrastructure is crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that $1.6 trillion is needed over a five-year period to bring the nation's infrastructure to good condition. “Most of these conditions are worse now than at the start of the Bush administration, many dramatically worse. But they have their roots in a bipartisan policy approach over the last three decades, favoring deregulation, handover of government assets to corporations (privatization), corporate globalization, hyper-financialization, lunatic military expenditures, tax cuts for the rich and a slashed social safety net.” Robert Weissman, author of the article, is editor of the Washington D.C.-based Multinational Monitor and director of Essential Action. So as not to impose on my readers, all that remains is Part Five. Fidel Castro Ruz The Republican Candidate (Part Three) — February 12, 2008 Yesterday, I said that while Bush was speaking to Congress, McCain was being honored at the Versailles Restaurant of Little Havana. It was there that most of the fiercest enemies of the Cuban Revolution and their families took up residence, Batista’s followers, the big landowners, owners of apartment buildings and millionaires who tyrannized and plundered our people. The United States government has used them at will, to organize invaders and terrorists who have shed our people’s blood through almost 50 years. Later, illegal emigrants joined that stream, along with the Cuban Adjustment Act and the brutal blockade imposed on the people of Cuba. It is incredible that, in this day and age, the Republican candidate, honored as a hero, is turned into an instrument of that Mafia. Nobody having an ounce of self-esteem would commit such a serious lapse in ethics. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario and Lincoln Díaz-Balart, Senator Mel Martínez, also of Cuban descent, Governor Charles Christ and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman have become the candidate’s linchpins in the attempt to win Florida and his main advisors for Latin America policy. What can Latin Americans possibly hope for with such advisors? Ros-Lehtinen described McCain as being "strong on national defense" and "also understanding the threat posed by the Castro regime". McCain shone in his participation at a hearing on Cuba which he held on May 21, 2002, at the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Foreign Trade and Tourism of the Science and Transportation Committee; there he reiterated that our country poses a threat to the United States because of its capacity to produce biological weapons, something James Carter demonstrated to be ridiculous. As for the proposals to relax the travel to Cuba policy, in October of 2003 McCain introduced a motion to interrupt the debate on these topics. Particularly interesting was the introduction in March 2005 of a bill entitled "Advance Democracy Act of 2005", authorizing funds, reinforcing subversion, establishing new structures and proposing additional mechanisms to exert pressure on Cuba. Alluding to the light pirate planes downed on February 24, 1996, he declared: "If I were President of the United States, I would order an investigation on the downing of those brave men who were murdered under orders of Fidel and Raúl Castro, and I would indict them." In another one of his capricious declarations he stated that "when freedom comes to Cuba, he would like to meet the Cubans who tortured some of his comrades during the Vietnam War". The nerve of that obsessive candidate! Let’s move on to the crux of his thinking. What kind of political education did he get? None. He was trained as a war pilot based on his physical attributes for flying an attack plane. What was his predominant trait? Family traditions and his strong political motivation. In his memoirs, he writes: "My father rose to high command when communism had replaced fascism as the dominant threat to American security. He hated it fiercely and dedicated himself to its annihilation. He believed that we were locked on inescapably in a life-and-death struggle with the Soviets. One side or the other would ultimately win total victory, and sea power would prove critical to the outcome. He was outspoken on the subject." "In 1965, violent clashes between warring factions, one of which was believed to be a Communist front, had brought the Dominican Republic to the verge of civil war. President Johnson ordered my father to command the amphibious assault on Operation Steel Pike 1, the invasion and military occupation of the Caribbean nation. The operation was controversial. Critics judged it, with good reason, to be an unlawful intervention in the affairs of a sovereign nation. My father, typically, was undeterred by domestic opposition. "’Some people condemned this as an unwarranted intervention,’ he observed, ‘but the Communist were all set to move in and take over. People may not love you for being strong when you have to be, but they respect you for it and learn to behave themselves when you are.’ "His subsequent assignment at the United Nations, however, was regarded by the Navy as a dead end and was expected to be his last. He was a three-star admiral, and the prospects for a fourth star were remote. But two years later he was ordered to London to assume command of all U.S. naval forces in Europe. A fourth star came with the job... Within a year, he was given command of all U.S. forces in the Pacific, the largest operational military command in the world." When McCain was returning from his training flight as a cadet, he passed through the occupied territory of Guantánamo. "Guantánamo in those pre-Castro days was a wild place. Everyone went ashore and headed immediately for huge tents that had been set up on the base as temporary bars, where great quantities of strong Cuban beer and an even more potent rum punch were served to anyone who professed a thirst and could afford a nickel a drink." "I was proud to graduate from the Naval Academy. But at that moment, relief was the emotion I felt most keenly. I had already been accepted for flight training in Pensacola. In those days, all you had to do was pass the physical to qualify for flight training, and I was eager to embark on the life of a carefree naval aviator." "In October 1962, I was just returning to home port at Norfolk after completing a Mediterranean deployment aboard the Enterprise. My squadron had flown off the Enterprise and returned to Oceana Naval Air Station while the ship put in at Norfolk". "A few days after our return, we unexpectedly received orders to fly our planes back to the carrier. Our superiors explained the unusual order by informing us that a hurricane was headed our way." "We flew all our planes back to the carrier within 24 hours and headed out to sea. In addition to our A-1s, the Enterprise carried long-range attack planes, which typically had a hard time managing carrier takeoffs and landings. We embarked on our mysterious deployment without them." "Our air boss turned to a representative of the Marine squadron and said we didn’t have time to wait for all their planes to land; some of them would have to return to their base. "I was quite puzzled by the apparent urgency of our mission, we’d been hustled back in one day, leaving some of our planes behind; the Marine squadron has been ordered to join us with only enough fuel to land or ditch. The mystery was solved a short while later when all pilots were assembled in the Enterprise’s ready room to listen to a broadcast of President Kennedy informing the nation that the Soviets were basing nuclear missiles in Cuba." This time he was referring to the well-known October Missile Crisis of 1962, more than 45 years ago; it left him with the underlying desire to attack our country. "The Enterprise, sailing at full speed under nuclear power, was the first U.S. carrier to reach waters off Cuba. For about five days, the pilots on the Enterprise believed we were going into action. We have never been in combat before, and despite the global confrontation a strike on Cuba portended, we were prepared and anxious to fly our first mission. The atmosphere aboard ship was fairly tense, but not overly so. Pilots and crew men alike adopted a cool-headed business-as-usual attitude toward the mission. Inwardly, of course, we were excited as hell, but we kept our composure and aped the standard image of a laconic, reserved and fearless American at war." "After five days the tension eased, as it became apparent the crisis would be resolved peacefully. We weren’t disappointed to be denied our first combat experience, but our appetites were whetted and our imaginations fueled. We eagerly anticipated the occasion when we would have the chance to do what we were trained to do, and discover, at last, if we were brave enough for the job." Further on, he describes the accident on the nuclear aircraft carrier, the Forrestal, in the Gulf of Tonkin. One hundred and thirty-four young Americans, many of them 18 and 19 years old, died in a huge effort to save the vessel. The carrier, peppered with perforations from the exploded bombs, had to sail to the United States to be reconstructed. It would be necessary to check what was published at the time and the approach taken on the subject. McCain is then moved on to another conventional type of aircraft carrier in the same waters, with the same objective. Each one of the author’s self-definitions warrants close observation. "On September 30, 1967, I reported for duty to the Oriskany and joined VA-163 –an A-4 attack squadron nicknamed ‘the Saints’. During the three years of Operation Rolling Thunder, the bombing campaign of North Vietnam begun in 1965, no carrier’s pilots saw more action or suffered more losses than those on the Oriskany. When the Johnson administration halted Rolling Thunder in 1968, 38 pilots on the Oriskany had been either killed or captured. Sixty planes had been lost, including twenty-nine A-4s. The Saints suffered the highest casualty rate. In 1967, one-third of the squadron’s pilots were killed or captured. Every single one of the Saints’ original 15 A-4s had been destroyed. We had a reputation for aggressiveness, and for success. In the months before I joined the squadron, the Saints had destroyed all the bridges to the port city of Haiphong." "Like all combat pilots, we had a studied, almost macabre indifference to death that masked a great sadness in the squadron, a sadness that grew more pervasive as our casualty list lengthened. "We flew the next raid with greater determination to do as much damage as we could. "I was just about to release my bombs when the tone sounded. "I knew I was hit. My A-4, traveling at about 550 miles an hour, was violently spiraling to earth" "I reacted automatically the moment I took the hit and saw that my wing was gone. I radioed, "I’m hit," reached up, and pulled the ejection seat handle." "I struck part of the airplane, breaking my left arm, my right arm in three places, and my right knee, and I was briefly knocked unconscious by the force of the ejection. Witnesses said my chute had barely opened before I plunged into the shallow water of Truc Back Lake. I landed in the middle of the lake, in the middle of the city, in the middle of the day." "My father wasn’t much of a believer in fighting wars by half measures. He regarded self-restraint as an admirable human quality, but when fighting wars he believed in taking all necessary measures to bring the conflict to a swift and successful conclusion. The Vietnam War was fought neither swiftly nor successfully, and I know this frustrated him greatly." "In a speech he gave after he retired, he argued that "two deplorable decisions" had doomed the United States to failure in Vietnam: "The first was the public decision to forbid U.S. troops to enter North Vietnam and beat the enemy on his home ground...The second was...to forbid the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong until the last two weeks of the conflict..." "These two decisions combined to allow Hanoi to adopt whatever strategy they wished, knowing that there would be virtually no reprisal, no counterattack." "When the North Vietnamese launched a major offensive in December 1971, at a time when U.S. forces in Vietnam had been reduced to 69,000 men, President Nixon finally directed my father to mine Haiphong and other northern ports immediately. The Nixon administration had dispensed with much of the micromanaging of the war that had so ill served the Johnson administration, particularly the absurd target restrictions imposed on American bomber pilots." "Relations between military commanders and their civilian superiors improved when President Nixon and Defense Secretary Melvin Laird entered office. The new administration was clearly more interested in and supportive of the views of the generals and admirals who were prosecuting the war. My father had a good relationship with both Nixon and Laird, as well as with the President’s National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger." He does not hide his feelings when speaking of the bombing victims. His words ooze intense hatred. "Our situation improved even more in April 1972, when President Nixon resumed the bombing of North Vietnam and, on my father’s orders, the first bombs since March 1968 began falling on Hanoi. Operation Linebacker, as the campaign was called, brought B-52s, with their huge payload of bombs." "The misery we had endured prior to 1972 was made all the worse by our fear that the United States was unprepared to do what was necessary to bring the war to a reasonably swift conclusion. We could never see over the horizon to the day when the war would end. Whether you supported the war or opposed it –and I met a few POWs who argued the latter position –no one believed the war should be prosecuted in the manner in which the Johnson administration had fought it." "The B-52s terrorized Hanoi for eleven nights. Wave after wave they came. During the days, while the strategic bombers were refueled and rearmed, other aircraft took up the assault. The Vietnamese got the point." "Our senior officers, knowing that this moment was imminent, had warned us not to demonstrate our emotions when the agreement was announced." He oozes hatred of the Vietnamese. He was ready to exterminate them all. "By the time the end did come, with the signing in Paris of the peace accords, my father had retired from active duty. No longer restrained by his role as a subordinate to civilian superiors, he dismissed the agreement. ‘In our anxiety to get out of the war, we signed a very bad deal.’" These paragraphs reflect McCain’s most intimate thoughts. The worst comes when he yields to the idea of making a declaration against the war being waged by his country. He cannot help but mention that in his book. How does he do this? "He (his father) had received a report that a heavily edited propaganda broadcast, purported to have been made by me, had been analyzed, and the voice compared to my taped interview with the French journalist. The two voices were judged to be the same. In the anguished days right after my confession, I had dreaded just such a discovery by my father. "After I came home, he never mentioned to me that he had learned about my confession, and, although I told him about it, I never discussed it at length. I only recently learned that the tape I dreamed I heard playing over the loudspeaker in my cell had been real; it had been broadcast outside the prison and had come to the attention of my father. "If I had known at the time my father had heard about my confession, I would have been distressed beyond imagination, and might not have recovered from the experience as quickly as I did. But in the years that have passed since the event, my regard for my father and for myself has matured. I understand better the nature of strong character. "My father was a strong enough man not to judge too harshly the character of a son who had reached his limits and found that they were well short of the standards of the idealized heroes who had inspired us as boys." I don’t criticize him for this. It would be heartless and inhuman. That’s not my aim. What we need to do now is to unmask a policy which is not an individual one, but one that is shared by many, since the objective truth will always be difficult to understand. Has McCain ever thought about the anti-terrorist Five Cuban Heroes who were imprisoned in solitary cells just like the ones he says he hates, forced to appear before a jury from Little Havana for crimes they never committed, with three of them sentenced to one and even two life sentences, and the others to 19 and 15 years in prison? Does he know that the United States authorities received information that could prevent death by terrorism of U.S. citizens? Is he aware of the activities of Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, the men responsible for blowing up a Cuban airliner in mid-flight, killing its 73 occupants? Why doesn’t he talk about that to the cadets at Annapolis? The Cuban heroes are about to complete 10 years in prison. They have never murdered or tortured anyone. Don’t accuse them now of being in Vietnam torturing American pilots. I know about your declarations at the school where you graduated as a cadet. I appreciate your noble wish to not answer me so as not to dignify me. The only sad mix-up –and it was not the intent of some news agencies that ran my first reflection on the subject– is that I asked for proof. You can’t prove something that didn’t happen. I asked for ethics. I shall continue. Fidel Castro Ruz The Republican Candidate (Part Two) — February 11, 2008 One of the most hostile U.S. newspapers when it comes to Cuba, headquartered in Florida, offers the following report: “Taking advantage of the negotiations to free the Bay of Pigs’ prisoners, the CIA tried to use a key person in the talks, American lawyer James B. Donovan, to deliver a lethal gift to Fidel Castro: a wetsuit contaminated with a fungus that lacerates the skin and an underwater breathing device infected with tuberculosis...the gear in fact was given to the Cuban leader in November 1962. “The revelation is one of many anecdotes in After the Bay of Pigs, a book on the negotiations held between the Committee of Relatives for the Liberation of Prisoners and Havana from April to December 1962. “The 238-page book, published late last year, was written by Cuban exile Pablo Pérez-Cisneros with businessman John B. Donovan, son of the late negotiator, and Jeff Koenreich, a veteran member of the Red Cross who has promoted humanitarian missions between the United States and Cuba. “Pérez-Cisneros is the son of Berta Barreto de los Heros, who was coordinator in Cuba of the Families Committee and interceded with Castro to trade off the 1,113 prisoners from the failed April 1961 invasion. “Barreto de los Heros started the book but died in March of 1993. Her son, who spent eight years researching and finishing the book, was the person who bought the wetsuit and scuba gear at the end of 1962, not knowing that both were destined for Castro. “In June 1962, Pérez-Cisneros visited James B. Donovan's office in Brooklyn for the first time to request his intervention in the negotiations with Cuba. The meeting was arranged by Robert W. Kean, son of a former congressman and brother-in-law of Joaquín Silverio, a jailed member of Brigade 2506. Donovan agreed to work for the Families Committee at no charge. “Two months later, Donovan made the first of 11 trips to Havana for mediation with the Cuban government. When Donovan returns to Cuba in October 1962, Castro tells him he wants to have an aqualung (scuba gear) and wetsuit for diving, Pérez-Cisneros told El Nuevo Herald in an interview to expand on the case. “So, Donovan tells me he wants to get quality equipment for a person, but without telling me they are for Castro. “Pérez-Cisneros, who had been a champion underwater spearfisherman in Cuba, bought a $130 wetsuit and scuba equipment for $215 in a well-known store in Times Square, New York. “Castro received them in November 1962, and some weeks later, on another one of Donovan's trips, the Cuban President told the lawyer that he had used them. “Only months after the negotiations had concluded did Pérez-Cisneros learn all the details about the real story. “During World War II, James Donovan had worked for the Office of Strategic Services, which preceded the CIA. He was later named one of the prosecutors in the Nazi war-crimes trials in Nuremberg. In February 1962, he was the chief mediator in the most spectacular spy trade of the Cold War: the trade of Russian Col. Rudolf Abel for Americans Frederick Prior and captured U-2 pilot Gary F. Powers. “When Donovan informed the CIA that Castro had requested diving equipment, the U.S. agency said it would take care of it. But the lawyer rejected any involvement in the proposal to contaminate the wetsuit and scuba equipment and preferred to give Castro the equipment bought in Times Square. “In May of 1963, Castro invited Donovan and lawyer John E. Nolan, who represented then-Justice Secretary Robert Kennedy, to a day of diving in the Bay of Pigs area and again used the U.S. equipment. “In late 1963, “Donovan told me that the idea of an attempt against Castro gave him goose bumps, and he refused to take the equipment from the CIA, thinking that if Cuba detected the operation, all the negotiations could be ruined and that he could be executed,” ... “The book, sprinkled with curious and unexpected events, is a tense story of how love, determination and cleverness made possible the exchange of the Brigade 2506 prisoners for $53 million in food, medicine and medical equipment. “The efforts of Donovan and the Families Committee came at a moment of uncertainty over the prisoners' fates... “The committee's first meeting with Castro took place in Barreto de los Heros' house in Miramar on April 10, 1962. Four days later, 60 wounded Brigade members were flown to Miami. “Donovan's entry into the negotiations accelerated the release process. “Knowing that Barreto de los Heros' telephone was tapped, Donovan arranged a secret code for communications. “In mid-December, Castro agreed to an exchange and handed over a 29-page list of food and medicine that was to be sent to Cuba by the American Red Cross. The last 10 days of negotiations were very intense because Donovan brought in a group of 60 lawyers in order to ensure all of the donations promised by 157 American companies. “On Dec. 23, 1962, the first five planes left for Miami, carrying 484 members of the brigade. A day later, the 719 prisoners that remained flew in nine more flights.” I have literally transcribed the article’s words. I wasn’t aware of some of the specific information. Nothing that I remember is far from the truth. My relationship with the Cienaga de Zapata (wetland) began very early. I learned about the place thanks to some American visitors who would talk to me about the “black fish”, a very dark trout that was very abundant in the Laguna del Tesoro, at the heart of the marsh, at a maximum depth of 6 meters. In those days we were considering the development of tourism and possibly ‘polders’ like the land reclaimed from the sea by the Dutch. The spot was famous from my days as a high school student, when the marsh was populated by tens of thousands of crocodiles. Indiscriminate catch had almost exterminated the species. It was necessary to protect it. We were impelled above all by the desire to do something for the charcoal burners of the marsh. That was how my relationship with the Bay of Pigs began, a bay that is so deep it reaches almost a thousand meters. There I met old Finalé and his son Quique, who were my teachers in underwater fishing. I used to go all over those keys. I came to know that area like the back of my hand. When the invaders landed there, three roads crossed the marsh, some facilities had already been built and others were being built for tourism, even an airport in the vicinity of Giron Beach, the last stronghold of the enemy forces which our combatants took by assault on the evening of April 19, 1961. I have told that story before. We were at the point of recovering it in less than 30 hours. Diversion maneuvers by the U.S. Marines delayed our crushing tank attack in the early morning of the 18th. In order to deal with the issue of captured prisoners, I met Donovan, who seemed to me –and I am pleased to confirm it with his son’s testimony– to be an honorable man; I indeed once invited him to go fishing, and without a doubt I talked to him about a wetsuit and diving equipment. I cannot remember the other details too clearly; I would have to make some inquiries. I was never concerned with writing my memoirs, and today I understand that was a mistake. For example, I was not able to remember the exact number of wounded so precisely. What stayed in my mind was the memory of those hundreds of our wounded; quite a few died because of a shortage of equipment, medicines, specialists and the lack of suitable facilities in those days. The wounded men who were sent earlier surely required rehab or better care, but that was not available to us. From our first victorious battle, on January 17, 1957, it became our tradition to look after the enemy’s wounded. The history of our Revolution records that fact. In the book of memoirs called Faith of my Fathers, written by McCain with the omnipresent help of Mark Salter, technically very well written, the main author states: “I was often accused of being an indifferent student, and given some of my grades, I can appreciate the charity in that remark. But I was not so much indifferent as selective. I liked English and history, and I usually did well in those classes. I was less interested and less successful in math and science.” Further along, he assures us: “A few months prior to graduation, I had taken the Naval Academy entrance exams...did surprisingly well, even on the math exam. “My reputation as a rowdy and impetuous young man was not, I’m embarrassed to confess, confined to Academy circles. Many upstanding residents of lovely Annapolis, witnesses to some of our more extravagant acts of insubordination, disapproved of me as did many Academy officials.” Earlier, upon describing some of the events of his childhood, he tells us that: “At the smallest provocation, I would go off in a mad frenzy, and then, suddenly, crash to the floor unconscious. “The doctor prescribed a treatment that seems a little severe by modern standards of child care. He instructed my parents to fill a bathtub with cold water whenever I commenced a tantrum, and when I appeared to be holding my breath to drop me, fully clothed, into it. Upon reading this, one has the impression that the methods that were applied to us in those days –both in my case, living in that pre-war era, just as in his –were not exactly the most fitting to deal with children. In my case, there was no doctor advising the family; they were ordinary people, some were illiterate, and many of them only applied traditional treatments. Other episodes narrated by McCain relate to his adventures as a cadet on training trips. I am not mentioning them because they stray from the contents of my analysis and they have nothing to do with personal matters. Naturally, McCain was not in the Congress hall on the night of Bush’s speech last January 28th, because some things in this man’s policies are compromising to him. He was in Little Havana, at the Versailles Restaurant, where he received the tribute of the Cuban community. It is just as well that we don’t look too closely into the background of several people who were there. McCain supports the war in Iraq. He believes that the threat of Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea and the growth of Russia and China oblige the United States to strengthen its attack force. He would work together with other countries to protect the nation from Islamic extremism and continue in Iraq until victory. He recognizes the importance of keeping strong relations with Mexico and the other Latin American countries. He is in favor of continuing the current aggressive Cuba policy. He would reinforce security on United States borders, not just for the entry and exit of people, but also for the products that enter the country. He thinks that immigrants ought to learn English and the history and culture of the United States. He wants the Latino vote, unfortunately most of these don’t vote or do it exceptionally; they are always fearful of deportation, of their children being taken away or of losing their jobs. On the Texas wall, more than 500 continue to die each year. He is not promising an ‘adjustment act’ to those who go after the “American dream”. He supports Bush’s “The No Child Left Behind Act.” He supports the allocation of more federal funding for low interest scholarships and university grants. In Cuba we offer everyone solid knowledge, an artistic education and the right to graduate from university without paying any tuition. More than 50 thousand children with learning disabilities receive special education. Computer science is extensively taught. Hundreds of thousands of well qualified people are employed in these tasks. But Cuba must be blockaded to free it from such a terrible tyranny. Like any other candidate, he has his little government platform. He promises to reduce dependence on foreign energy. It is easy to say, but these days it is difficult to do. He opposes subsidized ethanol production. Fantastic: I suggested just that to Brazilian President Lula Da Silva, that he demand the United States to suspend the hefty agricultural subsidies for corn and other cereals destined for the production of ethanol from foods. But that is not what is being proposed, on the contrary, it’s to export U.S. ethanol to compete with Brazil. Only he and his advisors know it, because ethanol from corn can never compete in cost with that of Brazil which comes from sugarcane as the raw material, at the expense of the tremendous efforts of its workers who in any case improve their lot without the U.S. tariff barriers and subsidies. Many other Latin American nations were set on the path of producing ethanol from sugarcane by the United States. What would they do with the new decisions coming down from the North? And we can’t miss the promises ensuring quality of air and water, the suitable use of green areas, the protection of the national parks that would become just a memory of what once used to be the nation’s natural splendor, victim of the unrelenting dictates of the market laws. The Kyoto Protocol, nevertheless, would not be signed. These sound like the dreams of a castaway in the middle of a storm. He would reduce taxes for middle class families, keeping the Bush policy of cutting back the permanent taxes and leaving rates at their current level. He wants greater control over the costs of Medicare and Medicaid. He thinks that families should be in charge of their healthcare dollars. He would carry out health and prevention campaigns. He supports the plan of the current President allowing workers to move money from social security taxes to private retirement funds. Social security would suffer the same fate as the stock market. He is in favor of the death penalty, the growth and build-up of the armed forces, and the expansion of the FTAs. Some McCain maxims: “Things are tough now, but we're better off than in 2000.” (Jan 2008) “I'm well-versed in economics; I was at the Reagan Revolution.” (Jan 2008) “To avoid recession, stop unchecked spending.” (Jan 2008) “Loss of economic strength leads to losing military strength.” (Dec 2007) “Republicans have forgotten how to control spending.” (Nov 2007) “Certify border is secure; only then allow guest workers.” (Jan 2008) “2003 "amnesty" didn't mean rewarding illegal behavior.” (Jan 2008) “Round up and deport two million aliens who committed crimes.” (Jan 2008) “Do everything I can to help all immigrants learn English.” (Dec 2007) “No official English; Native Americans use own languages.” (Jan 2007) “Immigration reform needed for national security.” (Jun 2007) “Bipartisanship shows preparedness for presidency.” (May 2007) “Maintain Cuban embargo; indict Castro.” (Dec 2007) “Cuba: No diplomatic and trade relations.” (Jul 1998) “Naive to exclude nukes; naive to exclude attacking Pakistan.” (Aug 2007) “War in Iraq ‘we have diverted attention from our hemisphere and we have paid a price for that’.”(Mar 2007) He promises to visit his properties on the continent. He said that after being elected to the White House in 2008, his first trip would be to Mexico, Canada and Latin America to “reaffirm my commitment to our hemisphere and the importance of relations within our hemisphere." In his entire book, an obligatory reference in my Reflections, he states that he was good in history. There is not one single reference to any political philosopher, not even to one of those who inspired the Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies on July 4, 1776; in 4 months and 23 days it will celebrate its 232nd birthday. More than 2400 years ago, Socrates, the famous Athenian wise man, celebrated for his method and martyr to his ideas, conscious of human limitations, said: “One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.” Today, McCain, the Republican candidate, proclaims before his fellow citizens: “One thing only I know, and that is that I know everything.” I shall continue. Fidel Castro Ruz The Republican candidate (Part One) — February 10, 2008 These reflections are self-explanatory. On the now well-known Super Tuesday, a day of the week when many U.S. states selected the candidate of their choice from among a pool of aspirants to the presidency of the United States, one of the possible candidates to substitute George W. Bush was John McCain. Because of his pre-designed image as a hero and his alliance with strong contenders like the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, other hopefuls had already gladly given their support. The heavy propaganda of weighty social, economic and political factors in his country and his style of conduct had made him the candidate with the best possibilities. Only the Republican extreme right, represented by Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, dissatisfied with certain insignificant concessions made by McCain, were still putting up resistance to him on February 5. Afterward, Romney also abandoned his candidacy, ceding to McCain’s. Huckabee is still a candidate. The struggle for a candidate is, in contrast, very close in the Democratic Party. Although, as usual, an active part of the U.S. population with the right to vote tends to be a minority, all types of opinions and speculations are being heard about the consequences for the country and the world of this election contest, if humanity escapes Bush’s military adventures. It is not my place to talk about the history of a candidate for the presidency of the United States. I never have. Maybe I never would have. Why this time? McCain claimed that some of his comrades were tortured by Cuban agents in Vietnam. His apologists and publicity experts are emphasizing that McCain himself suffered such torture at the hands of the Cubans. I hope that the citizens of the United States understand that I see myself obliged to give a detailed analysis of this Republican candidate and respond to him. I will do so based on ethical considerations. McCain’s file shows that he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam from October 26, 1967. As he himself tells it, he was 31 years old at the time and carrying out the mission of attack No. 23. His plane, an A4 Skyhawk, was intercepted over Hanoi by an anti-air missile. Due to the impact, he lost control and catapulted, falling over Lake Truc Bach, in the middle of the city, with fractures in both arms and a knee. A patriotic multitude, seeing an aggressor fall, received him with hostility. McCain himself expressed his relief at that moment on seeing an Army squad arrive. The bombing of Vietnam, begun in 1965, was something that moved international opinion, made very much aware of the superpower’s air attacks on a small Third World Country, which had been converted into a French colony thousands of miles away from distant Europe. The people of Vietnam fought against the Japanese occupiers during World War II and once it was over, France took control again. Ho Chi Minh, the modest leader beloved by all, and Nguyen Giap, his military chief, were internationally admired figures. The famous French Legion was defeated. In order to try to prevent it, the aggressor powers were on the verge of using a nuclear weapon in Diên Biên Phu. The noble "anamitas," as José Martí affectionately called them, with their ancient culture and values, were to be presented to U.S. public opinion as a barbaric people that did not deserve to exist. When it comes to suspense and commercial publicity, nobody can beat the U.S. experts. That specialty was used boundlessly to extol prisoner-of-war cases, especially McCain’s. Following that current, McCain later claimed that the fact that his father was an admiral and commander-in-chief of the U.S. forces in the Pacific led the Vietnamese resistance forces to offer him early release if he admitted to having committed war crimes, which he refused to do, alleging that according to military code, prisoners are freed in the order in which they were captured, and that this meant five years in prison, beatings and torture in an area of the prison identified by the U.S. soldiers as the "Hanoi Hilton." The final withdrawal from Vietnam was disastrous. An army of half a million men, trained and armed to the teeth, could not resist the determination of the Vietnamese patriots. Saigon, the colonial capital, now called Ho Chi Minh city, was abandoned in shame by the occupiers and their accomplices, some of them dangling from helicopters. The United States lost more than 50,000 valuable sons and daughters, without counting the mutilated. They had spent $50 billion on that war without taxes, always disagreeable in and of themselves. Nixon unilaterally renounced the Bretton Woods agreements and created the foundations of the current financial crisis. The only thing they achieved was a candidate for the Republican Party, 41 years later. McCain, one of the many U.S. pilots shot down and wounded in his country’s declared and undeclared wars, was decorated with the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals. A made-for-TV film based on his memoirs as a prisoner of war was broadcast on Memorial Day 2005, and he became famous for his videos and speeches on the subject. The worst affirmation that he made with respect to our country was that Cuban interrogators had systematically tortured U.S. prisoners. Given McCain’s crazy words, I became interested in this matter. I wanted to know where such a strange legend came from. I asked for a search of the history of this accusation. I was told of a book that had been very much promoted, based on which the film was made, written by McCain and his administrative advisor in the Senate, Mark Salter, who continues to work and write with him. I asked for it to be translated verbatim. As other occasions, that was done quickly by qualified personnel. The title of the book: Faith of My Fathers, 349 pages, published in 1999. His accusation against the Cuban revolutionary internationalists, utilizing the nickname of "Fidel" to identify one of them as capable of "torturing a prisoner to death," is completely unethical. Allow me to remind you, Mr. McCain: The commandments of the religion that you practice forbid lying. The years of prison and the injuries that you received as a consequence of your attacks on Hanoi do not excuse you from your moral duty to the truth. There are facts that we should inform you of. In Cuba, there was a rebellion against a despot imposed on the Cuban people by the government of the United States on March 10, 1952, when you were approaching your 16th birthday, and the Republican government of a eminent military man, Dwight D. Eisenhower — certainly the first to talk of an military-industrial complex — acknowledged and immediately supported that government. I was a bit older than you, and would turn 26 in August, the month in which you, too, were born. Eisenhower had not yet completed his presidential term, begun in the 1950s, a number of years after the fame he acquired in the Allied landing in northern France, with the support of 10,000 aircraft and the most powerful naval forces known up to that point. That was a war, formally declared by the powers that were confronting Hitler, initiated by surprise by the Nazis, who attacked without warning or a prior declaration of war. A new style of provoking mass killings was imposed on humanity. In 1945, two atomic bombs of some 20 kilotons each were utilized against the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I once visited the first of those cities. During the 1950s, the U.S. government was constructing nuclear weapons to the extent that one of them, the MR17, weighed 19.05 tons and measured 7.49 meters, and could be transported in bombers and trigger an explosion of 20 megatons, equivalent to 1,000 bombs of the kind that it dropped on those two cities on August 6, 1945. That is a piece of information that would drive Einstein insane, given that in the midst of his contradictions, he expressed remorse on a number of occasions for the weapon that, without intending, he helped to construct with his scientific theories and discoveries. When the Revolution in Cuba triumphed on January 1, 1959, almost 15 years after the explosion of the first nuclear weapons, and a Agrarian Reform Act was proclaimed on the basis of national sovereignty, consecrated by the blood of millions of combatants who died in that war, the response of the United States was a program of illegal acts and terrorist attacks on the Cuban people, undersigned by the president of the United States himself, Dwight. D. Eisenhower. The attack via the Bay of Pigs came about following the precise instructions of the president of the United States and the invaders were escorted by naval units, including an aircraft carrier. The first assault with U.S. government B-26 bombers that flew out of underground bases came in a surprise form, with the use of Cuban insignia to present it to world opinion as an uprising by our national Air Force. You are accusing Cuban revolutionaries of being torturers. I seriously urge you to present just one of the 1,000-plus prisoners captured in the combats of Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs) combat who was tortured. I was there, unprotected in a distant general command post. With some aides, I personally captured a large number of prisoners; I passed in front of armed squadrons still hidden in the forest vegetation, who were brought to a halt by the presence there of the Commander of the Revolution. I regret having to mention this, which could seem to be self-praise, which I sincerely detest. The prisoners were citizens born in Cuba and organized by a powerful foreign power to fight against their own people. You profess yourself to be in favor of capital punishment for very serious crimes. What attitude would you have assumed in response to such acts? How many would you have punished for that treason? A number of the invaders, who had previously committed horrendous crimes under Batista’s orders against Cuban revolutionaries, were tried in Cuba. I visited the mass of prisoners from the Bay of Pigs, which is what you call the Girón invasion, more than once, and talked with them. I like to know people’s motives. They were very surprised and acknowledged the personal respect with which they were treated. You should be aware that, while their release was being negotiated via compensation in food for children and medicines, the U.S. government was organizing assassination plots against my person. That is confirmed in the writings of people who participated in the negotiations. I shall not refer in detail to the long list of hundreds of assassination attempts against my person. These are not inventions. It is what is stated in official documents released by the U.S. government. What kind of ethics underlie those acts vehemently defended by you as a matter of principle? I will try to go more profoundly into those issues. Fidel Castro Ruz Volodia’s passing — February 2, 2008 Some days ago I mentioned his name as an example of a militant communist, whose struggle gave his life meaning. For eight years he held the highest posts within his Party. He shared Allende’s faith in Chile and the beautiful vision that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues would again be opened "down which free humans could march toward the construction of a better society". Neruda’s biography and several other interesting and courageous books were his intellectual and political contribution to the new generations. I talked to him at length the last time we met, early in 2005. He came to Cuba as a guest of honor of the Casa de las Américas Literature Prizes, and also to launch a new book at the International Book Fair. Two days ago, on Thursday evening, we received news of his death at 7:30 p.m. On that same evening and almost at the same time the Literature Prize winners were announced. Volodia was so modest and so decent that he seemed to be awaiting that news before going. I will not say he has died. He has gone on to live in ideas. He has joined the ranks of those who are fighting and will continue fighting for those dreams. Fidel Castro Ruz |
Fidel Castro Ruz is the President of Cuba. |
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