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The Chinese Victory (Part I) — March 30, 2008 Without some basic historical knowledge, the subject I am dealing with could not be understood. In Europe, people had heard about China. In the autumn of 1298, Marco Polo told marvelous tales about an amazing country he called Cathay. Columbus, an intelligent and intrepid sailor, was aware of the Greeks’ knowledge about the roundness of the Earth. His own observations led him to agree with those theories. He came up with the plan of reaching the Far East sailing westward from Europe. But, he calculated the distance with far too much optimism, for it was several times greater. Unexpectedly, between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, this continent loomed up on his route. Magellan would make the journey conceived by him, even though he died before reaching Europe. Still, the value of the spices collected paid for the expedition initiated with a number of vessels – of which only one returned – a prelude of future colossal profits. From that point, the world began to change at an accelerated pace. Old forms of exploitation were repeated again, from slavery to feudal serfdom; ancient and new religious beliefs spread over the planet. From that fusion of cultures and events, accompanied by technical advances and scientific discoveries, today’s world was born, and it could not be understood without a minimum of real precedents. International trade, with its advantages and disadvantages, was imposed by the colonial powers, such as Spain, England and the other European powers. These, especially England, soon began to control southwest, south and southeast Asia, and Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, forcibly expanding its rule everywhere. The colonizers were not able to impose their authority over the gigantic country of China, which had an ancient culture and fabulous natural and human resources. Direct trade between Europe and China began in the sixteenth century, after the Portuguese established the commercial enclave in Goa in India and in Macao in southern China. Spanish control in the Philippines facilitated an accelerated exchange with the great Asian country. The Qin dynasty, which ruled China, tried to limit this kind of unfavorable commercial operation with foreign countries as much as possible. It was allowed only through the port of Canton, today called Guangzhou. Britain and Spain had great deficits because of the low demand of the enormous Asiatic country, related to English goods manufactured in the metropolis, or Spanish products coming from the New World that were not essential to China. Both of them had begun to sell opium. Large-scale opium trade was at first dominated by the Dutch through Jakarta, Indonesia. The English observed the profits that were close to 400 percent. Their opium exports which, in 1730, were 15 tons, grew to 75 in 1773, shipped in crates weighing 70 kilograms each; with this they bought porcelain, silk, spices and Chinese tea. Opium, not gold, was the currency Europe used to acquire Chinese goods. In the spring of 1830, faced with the unbridled abuse of the opium trade in China, Emperor Daoguang ordered Lin Hse Tsu, an imperial official, to fight the plague; he ordered the destruction of 20,000 crates of opium. Lin Hse Tsu sent a letter to Queen Victoria asking for respect for international regulations and not to allow trade with toxic drugs. The Opium Wars were the English response. The first lasted three years, from 1839 to 1842. The second, with France joining in, lasted four years, from 1856 to 1860. They are also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars. The United Kingdom forced China to sign unfair treaties committing this country to opening up several ports to foreign trade and handing over Hong Kong. Several countries, following England’s lead, imposed unequal terms of exchange. Such humiliation contributed to the Taiping Rebellion of 1850 to 1864, the Boxer Rebellion of 1899 to 1901 and, finally, the fall of the Qin Dynasty in 1911 which, for various reasons – including its weakness in the face of foreign powers – had become highly unpopular in China. What happened with Japan? This country with its ancient culture and very hard-working, like others in the region, resisted “Western civilization” and for more than 200 years – among other causes because of a chaotic domestic administration – remained hermetically sealed to foreign trade. In 1854, after an earlier exploratory voyage with four gunboats, a U.S. naval expedition commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry, threatening to bomb a Japanese town – defenseless before the modern technology of those vessels– obliged the shoguns to sign, on behalf of the Emperor, the Treaty of Kanagawa on March 31, 1854. Thus, the grafting of capitalist trade and Western technology was begun in Japan. At the time, Europeans were unaware of the Japanese capacity to develop in that field. On the heels of the Yankees, representatives of the Russian Empire arrived from the Far East, fearful that the U.S., to whom they later sold Alaska on October 18, 1867, would get a head-start in trading activities with Japan. Britain and the other European colonizing nations came quickly to the country with the same intentions. During the U.S. intervention in 1862, Perry occupied different parts of Mexico. At the end of the war, the country lost more than 50 percent of its territory, precisely those areas where the greatest oil and gas reserves were to be found, even though at that time, gold and land to expand into, not fuel, were the main goals of the conquerors. The first China-Japan War was officially declared on August 1, 1894. At the time Japan wanted Korea, a tributary state subordinated to China. With more developed weaponry and technology, it defeated Chinese forces in several battles near the cities of Seoul and Pyongyang. Later military victories opened its way toward Chinese territory. In the month of November that year, they took Port Arthur, today Lüshun. In the River Yalu estuary and at the Weihaiwei Naval Base, surprised by a land attack from the Liaodong Peninsula, heavy Japanese artillery destroyed the fleet of the attacked nation. The dynasty had to ask for peace. The Treaty of Shimonoseki, which put an end to the war, was signed in April of 1895. China was forced to cede Taiwan, the Liaodong Peninsula and the archipelago of the Pescadores Islands to Japan “in perpetuity;” China also had to pay a war indemnity of 200 million taels of silver and open up four ports to the exterior. Russia, France and Germany, defending their individual interests, obliged Japan to return the Liaodong Peninsula, paying in exchange another 30 million taels of silver. Before mentioning the second China-Japan War, I should include another armed episode with a double historical importance; it took place from 1904 to 1905 and it cannot be omitted. After being inserted into armed civilization and wars for the partitioning of the world as imposed by the West, Japan, which had already waged the first war against China as mentioned above, developed its naval power to such a degree that it was able to deal a harsh blow to the Russian Empire, which was at the point of prematurely inciting the revolution programmed by Lenin when he created in Minsk, 10 years earlier, the Party which would later unleash the October Revolution. On August 10, 1904, with no advance warning, Japan attacked and destroyed the Russian Pacific Fleet at Shandong. Czar Nicholas II of Russia, upset by the attack, ordered the Baltic Fleet to be mobilized and to set sail for the Far East. Convoys of colliers were contracted to bring in the shipments needed by the fleet while it was sailing towards its distant destination. One of the operations to transfer coal had to be carried out on the high seas due to diplomatic pressure. The Russians, upon entering south China, sailed towards Vladivostok, the only available port for the fleet’s operations. In order to reach that point, there were three routes: the best choice was the Tsushima route; the other two required navigation to the east of Japan and increased the risks and the enormous wear and tear on the vessels and crews. The Japanese admiral had the same thought: for this option he made his plan and located his ships so that the Japanese fleet, after making a U-turn, would have all its vessels, mainly cruisers, passing about 6,000 meters away from the adversary’s ships, a large number of battleships. These would be at the reach of the Japanese cruisers, outfitted with personnel that were rigorously trained in the use of their cannon. As a result of the lengthy route, the Russian battleships were navigating at a speed of only 8 knots as compared with the 16-knot speed of the Japanese vessels. The military action is known by the name of Battle of Tsushima. It took place on May 27 and 28, 1905. On the side of the Russian Empire, 11 battleships and eight cruisers took part. Admiral of the Fleet: Zinovy Rozhdestvensky. Losses: 4,380 dead, 5,917 wounded, 21 ships sunk, 7 captured and 6 rendered useless. The admiral of the Russian fleet was wounded by a shell fragment that hit him in the skull. On the side of the Japanese Empire, 4 battleships and 27 cruisers took part. Admiral of the Fleet: Heichachiro Togo Losses: 117 dead, 583 wounded and 3 torpedo ships sunk. The Baltic fleet was destroyed. Napoleon would have termed it “Austerlitz at sea”. Anyone can imagine the deep wound caused by the dramatic event to traditional Russian pride and patriotism. After the battle, Japan became a much feared naval power, rivaling Britain and Germany and competing with the United States. Japan rehabilitated the concept of the battleship as the principal weapon in the years to come. They embroiled themselves in the task of empowering the Imperial Japanese Army. They requested and paid a British shipbuilder to construct a special cruiser, with the intent of later reproducing it in their Japanese shipbuilding yards. Later, they manufactured battleships that were far better than those of their contemporaries, both in armor and power. There was no other nation on the face of the earth that could come close to Japanese naval engineering in the 1930’s in the design of warships. That explains the bold action with which, one day, they attacked their master and rival, the United States which, through Commodore Perry, started them off on the road of war. I shall continue tomorrow. Fidel Castro Ruz The Detachment Returns, Undefeated — March 29, 2008 This past Wednesday, March 26, 20-year-old Lisandra Guerra became the 500-meter time-trial cycling world champion in the World Track Cycling Championship held in Manchester, Great Britain, following intense competition with athletes from 37 different countries. Fruit of our educational and sports system, of our talented youth and women, we can sincerely and legitimately feel proud of this victory. Credit where credit is due! Today, however, I shan’t write about sports. That same day, on the 26th, the Henry Reeve Contingent Detachment that had been involved in relief work in Peru returned to Cuba, undefeated. The earthquake took place on August 15, 2007. It measured 7.9 on the Richter scale. The detachment arrived in Cuzco on August 18. Their two-month relief work plan had been designed to address the most urgent needs. The real needs were to require more than double this time. They saw 153, 292 patients, 65,299 of whom were visited in their homes. They remained in Peru until March 25, 2008, seven months and seven days. Dr. Juan Carlos Dupuy Núñez, who has been in charge of the Henry Reeve Contingent since its creation in September 19, 2005 and was the head of the Cuban medical brigade in Pakistan, headed the detachment. Several members of the detachment had done relief work in Pakistan and Indonesia. Not one of these 77 men and women turned a deaf ear to the call of duty. The glorious pages in history they have written cannot be erased. Such dignity and conscience are a bulwark against the rusted armaments of imperialism. In view of the Peruvian people’s gratitude and acknowledgement, it was morally impossible for us to leave the country without having other members of the Contingent travel there to undertake relief work in their place. I shall be writing about China in coming days. The material has already been written and needs only some minor touches. I didn’t even try to write about the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Cuito Cuanavale battle, the loftiest example of our people’s internationalist conscience. I would prefer that those who witnessed the heroic events in person, during a time that was to last, not one day, but months, speak in honor of the glorious fallen. Yesterday, I watched the Round Table program on Cuba’s congress of intellectuals and artists, about to start. There is no doubt in my mind the debates will be extremely interesting. We shall be alert, following developments, as Bush gets up to his old tricks in Bucharest and the Black Sea the first days of April, as we have already denounced. And keep an eye on the Vice! This was a typical saying in the days Cuba was a neo-colony, meant to keep people on their guard. Fidel Castro Ruz Bush in Heaven (Part 1) — March 22, 2008 In this reflection I will go by news received from different sources, including international cable services, –without specifically recognizing any of them as the information source, but strictly abiding by the text of the news- books, documents, the Internet, and even questions asked to well-informed sources. There is a big hustle and bustle everywhere, as if we lived in a madhouse. Our very well-known characters continue on their hectic tour. After visiting Brazil and Chile, Condoleezza flew to Moscow to sound out the new President. She wants to know his mind. She traveled with the chief of the Pentagon. With a dislocated arm after a fall in February, he said: “With a broken arm, I won’t be nearly as difficult a negotiator.” A typically Yankee joke. You may figure out the effect this had on the proud ears of a Russian, whose people suffered the loss of so many millions of lives in their struggle against the Nazi hordes that were claiming vital space –what today would be called cheap oil, raw materials and guaranteed markets for surplus goods. We have known of the adventures of McCain and Cheney in Baghdad; one of them hopes to become head of government, and the other, being already deputy head of government, issues more orders than his boss. They met them with the most unexpected and violent predictions. They devoted no more than two days to that, but enough time to flood the world with sinister forecasts. Bush was delivering speeches in Washington while the prices of gold and oil were sky-rocketing. Cheney didn’t stop. He took off for the Sultanate of Oman -774,000 oil barrels per day in 2005 and 780,000 in 2004. Last year Oman revealed its plans to invest $10 billion during the next five years to increase its oil production to 900,000 barrels per day and reach the figure of 70 to 80 million cubic meters of gas per day. This is what the Sultanate authorities reported on January 15, 2007. Cheney, accompanied by his family, went sailing on of the Sultan’s yacht “Kingfish I” to fish in the limits of the maritime boundaries between Oman and Iran. What temerity! Nobel prizes should also be given to those super-brave persons who run the risk of death or mutilation after a sumptuous private lunch with a fishbone stuck in their throat. The absence of the owner of the luxurious yacht spoiled the hero’s party. McCain isn’t stopping either. He jumped into a helicopter to tour the territory where the Israeli soldiers, while chasing Palestinian leaders, continue to kill women, children, adolescents and youth in the West Bank with their sophisticated technical means. The Republican candidate is an expert on that. He traveled to Jerusalem and there promised to be the first to recognize that whole city as the capital of Israel, which the United States and Europe has converted into a sophisticated nuclear power, whose satellite-guided missiles could fall in Moscow, more than 5,000 kilometers away, in a matter of minutes. There will be no oil- or gas-producing state left unvisited by Cheney before he returns to attest to the happiness of the world before the President of his country. Bush, for one, speaks on the 17th for one reason, on the 18th for another, and on the 19th to mark the beginning of his fantastic war. Cuba, as may be expected, continues to be a target of his insults. In the midst of the chaos created by the empire, wars become inseparable partners. The one in Iraq has now lasted for five years. Profound thinkers estimate that millions of people have been affected, and that its total cost is in the trillions. Four thousand regular soldiers have died, and for every one killed, 30 are injured in this type of war. White phosphorous and cluster bombs are the war’s daily bread. Anything goes, except for living. Cheney and McCain are competing with one another, one as the creature’s father, and the other as its stepfather. They both meet with heads of State and make demands: oil and gas production should be increased; Yankee technology, Yankee supplies, and Yankee weapons from the Yankee military-industrial complex should be used; Yankee military bases should be authorized. From Jerusalem, McCain hops over to London to talk with Gordon Brown. Before that, while speaking in Jordan, he makes a mistake and asserts that Iran, a Shiite country, is training Al Qaeda, a Sunni organization. It’s all the same to him; he doesn’t even apologize for his mistake. Cheney hops over to Afghanistan. The war waged by NATO and the Yankees has turned the country into the world’s largest opium exporter. The USSR wore itself out and collapsed in a similar war. Bush launched his first military blow there, along with NATO. They are doing all that needs to be done to convene two parallel meetings: one to discuss the fight on terrorism and a NATO meeting. One thing is certain: Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO’s top official, will meet with Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan on April 1, 2 and 3 in Bucharest to participate in the Trans-Atlantic Forum. At the same time, a conference convened by the GMF (German Marshall Fund, of the United States), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, and Chatham House will bring together a large number of strategists and politicians to address matters of vital interest for NATO. According to the GMF Chairman, the conference will be attended by nine Heads of State, 24 prime ministers and other ministers, and 40 presidents of research institutions from Europe and the Americas, comprising the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which dissolved Tito’s Yugoslavia and carried out the war in Kosovo. Anyone can understand that any similarity between its interests and those of Yankee imperialism is purely coincidental. The situation in the Balkans, the anti-missile defense system, the energy supply and weapons control are unavoidable issues. Given that Bush needs to perform his role as the main character, he has already drafted his own schedule: he will be in the city of Neptun, on the Black Sea, to attend a meeting with Traian Basescu, President of Romania, on the eve of the conference. The fate of humankind which contributes surplus value and blood, are in those hands. (To be continued tomorrow, in Part II) Fidel Castro Ruz Bush in Heaven (II) — March 22, 2008 Tuesday, March 18 marked the fifth anniversary of the arrest of more than 70 quislings, the capos of imperialism’s fifth column in Cuba who, paid by the U.S. government, violate the laws of the land and share the opinion that this dark corner of the world should be swept off the map. On that date, a Department of State spokesperson described the event as the “Black Spring”, a term with racist overtones. We could call it “White Spring.” Darkness does not exist in space, only in the mind. What a huge difference between the methods used by the government of the United States and those used by Cuba! Not one of the mercenaries was tortured or deprived of lawyers or trial, even if it was of a summary nature, provided by the law in cases of danger of aggression; they have the right to receive visits, access to family facilities as well as the other legal prerogatives of all prisoners; and if at any time their health seriously requires it, they are released, without the demands of imperialism and its allies having anything at all to do with it. We urge the United States to do with its prison population as we have done here in Cuba. The Revolution demands respect for sovereignty, not pardon. With Wednesday, March 19 being the fifth anniversary of the stupid war unleashed in Iraq, Bush is grabbing hold of any Bin Laden declaration, either fictitious or real, even though in the case of the latter no date is supplied as to when it was made, nor can they assure us that it is his voice. They will investigate it, so they promise. Nobody ever took so much advantage of such materials to shape the opinions of the citizens of the United States and of many other countries in the world with similar cultures and beliefs, in order to justify the brutal and genocidal wars that imperialism needs so much. Time and time again he formulates and repeats selected words and phrases. The people and institutions referred to, without exception, find themselves obliged to respond, whether the declarations are true or not. Just observe how, year after year, from day one, Bush keeps on milking the events of September 11. From the Bucharest conference, Bush will move on to that of NATO, and from there he will pole vault over to Croatia, which had disputes with Serbia, and whose president was tried and convicted by the International Criminal Court for the Kosovo affair. Did he really die a natural death in prison? What kind of peace will be attained from those strange twists and turns? Swedish Hans Blix, who headed the UN inspectors team that diligently searched for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and who shares many of the ideas and lies of the empire's sinister philosophy, wrote the following on the occasion of the fifth anniversary: “The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a tragedy for Iraq, for the United States, for the UN, for truth and human dignity. They could not succeed in eliminating WMDs because they did not exist. Nor could they succeed in the declared objective of aim eliminating al-Qaeda members, because they were not in Iraq. They came later, attracted by the attackers.” The Association of Muslim Ulemas, the supreme religious Sunni authority in Iraq, made the following statement on the occasion of the fifth anniversary: “The occupier has entered our lands by force and he is not going to leave unless we use force. Any call made by politicians who acquiesce to working under the umbrella of occupation should be considered an invitation to surrender and capitulation. The occupation forces have turned Iraq into the world’s most dangerous zone. The era of occupation will soon end.” Without giving himself a chance to recover from his exhausting meeting in Afghanistan with Karza, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney had talks yesterday, Friday, and today, Saturday, with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, in order to secure his cooperation and that of the OPEP over oil supplies and to pay with devaluated dollars. In truth, there can be no war without oil, nor oil without war. In the Latin American scenario, the Ecuadorian high command stated that the bombs used in the attack on Raúl Reyes’ camp were GBU-2/B Paveways, weighing more than 500 pounds, and with exact targeting precision thanks to advanced technology. There were 10 such bombs and they left craters 2.80 meters in diameter and 1.80 meters in depth. In Western Europe, Sarkozy, whose honeymoon with the French electorate ended a few days ago, was impatiently awaiting McCain and his entourage of pro-Israeli Republican senators. McCain urged him to join the NATO mechanisms, defended the Iraq war and forcefully lambasted China. Meanwhile, Hillary and Obama are bleeding from attacks from the right, the left and the center. There is nothing more resembling a lunatic asylum. The candidates for the presidency of the United States are discussing certain war vs. probable war. Today, Bush’s radio broadcast coincides with Easter. What is he thinking? A message that, although brief, needs quite a few paragraphs or phrases to catch his drift: “This is the most important holiday in the Christian faith. And during this special and holy time, every year millions of Americans pause to remember a sacrifice that transcended the grave and redeemed the world. “Easter beckons us homeward. This [...] is an occasion to reflect on the things that matter most in life: the love of family, the laughter of friends, and the peace that comes from being in the place you call home...” “America is blessed with the world’s greatest military, made up of men and women who fulfill their responsibilities...” “At Easter, we remember especially those who have given their lives for the cause of freedom. These [...] have lived out the words of the Gospel: ‘Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend’...” “Every year, millions of Americans take time to feed the hungry and clothe the needy and care for the widow and the orphan...millions across the world remember the gift that took away death’s sting and opened the door to eternal life...” “Thank you for listening.” Bush imagines that God will reward him for accelerating the day of the Apocalypse and the Final Judgment, after which he will seat him at His right, in a place of honor. Then perhaps he will abandon the odious gestures that accompany his speeches, so that he can dwell under the same roof as those souls of the human beings he exterminated in his war on terrorism, the great majority of them girls and boys, adolescents and young people, women and the elderly, those who have no reason whatsoever to be blamed. The Old Testament speaks of archangels who were transformed into the enemies of God by ambition and who were sent to Hell. It is difficult to put aside the idea that the genes of some of those archangels are lurking in Bush’s head. Today is Saturday. It is a slow day for political news. Reporters are resting. Fidel Castro Ruz Thirst For Blood (I) — March 17, 2008 The empire is not resigning itself to being the only loser at the Rio Group meeting held in Santo Domingo on March 7. It wants to set up the bloody mess once more. That is not difficult to demonstrate. On Tuesday March 11t, El Nuevo Herald, a paper that is extremely hostile to Cuba and destined to chart guidelines in Latin America, under the title of “Cuban is the alleged leader of the FARC in Mexico”, signed by one of its writers born in our country, states: “A Cuban engineer living in Mexico has been identified by intelligence authorities as the alleged leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) support group on Mexican territory. The stupid intention of mixing Cubans into the matter is very clear, besides the lie about the impossible presence of our medical students in that faraway Colombian jungle. Whenever a Cuban engineer or doctor abandons his country it is someone who is leaving with knowledge that our people have paid for with great sacrifice. Exactly on the 13th of this month, 177 members of the Medical Brigade and 35 teachers returned after fulfilling their sacred mission in East Timor for two years. I myself bade them farewell when they left. In East Timor, which prior to its independence, suffered genocide, internal conflicts arose supported by Australia, an ally of the United States, which took over the natural gas fields in the proximity of the Timor coastline. Under no circumstances did the Cuban doctors abandon their patients who were all inhabitants of that small nation. The personnel who replaced them have remained there. These are indeed Cuban doctors and graduates, of which there are thousands, the same ones that the empire is making unspeakable efforts to bribe away, but to very little effect. No other country in the Western hemisphere or in the world has such wealth. Today we are training hundreds of young people from East Timor in our medical schools. The doctors who have just returned set an example of what conscience can do. The quoted article from El Nuevo Herald is also a clear attempt to justify the fact that among the victims there were young Mexicans who were meeting with Reyes, out of curiosity or for whatever other reason, but who had not planted bombs and who did not deserve to be murdered by Yankee bombs while they were in their beds at dawn. El Mercurio of Chile, under the title “Deserter warns that the leader of the FARC could be assassinated”, states in the words of Pedro Pablo Montoya, former FARC guerrilla: “The guerrilla deserter who last week killed José Juvenal Velandia, a.k.a. ‘Iván Ríos’, member of the top FARC leadership, affirmed yesterday that rebels in the middle and lower ranks might assassinate their leaders, among them the top leader of the Colombian guerrilla group, Pedro Antonio Marín, alias ‘Manuel Marulanda Vélez’ or ‘Tirofijo’ (Sharpshot).” The rebel said that he is expecting to be paid a juicy bounty that was offered by the Colombian government, equivalent to 2.6 million dollars, in exchange for information about the insurgent commanders, while lawyers are debating whether or not he should receive the booty. Last night ‘Rojas’ received backing, since the Attorney General of Colombia, Mario Iguarán, indicated that “in principle, the Attorney General’s Office wouldn’t press charges for the murder of Iván Ríos, and thus the way would be cleared for him to receive the bounty”. For its part, last March 10 The Washington Post, a well-informed paper on the prevailing mood in Washington, published an article titled “The FARC’s Guardian Angel”, signed by Jackson Diehl, where he points out: “Latin American nations and the Bush administration are just beginning to consider a far more serious and potentially explosive question: What to do about the revelation that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez forged a strategic alliance with the FARC against the democratic government of Colombia? The Washington Post starts from the premise that only Uribe could invent or deliver that document to the United States government and didn’t even consider any other possibility for the complicated situation. However, it is known that since Thursday 13th, Chávez has spoken to Uribe by phone and agreed with him an exchange of visits between the two presidents and the normalization of the trade relations that so much benefit both their peoples. Chavez, for his part, is not giving up on his search for peace between the sister peoples of Latin America. The most surprising thing is the very speech made by Bush on March 12 and the speedy dispatching of the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Brazil and Chile, a subject about which the wire agencies are writing reams and reams: “BRASILIA, March 13, 2008 (AFP) –U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Brazilian Racial Integration Minister, Edson Santos, signed an agreement this Thursday in Brasilia to launch a joint action plan ‘for the elimination of racial discrimination.’ I read and I re-read these words. I think it is the opposite of what is really happening in the United States, while I select dispatches and I write. It’s astounding! I shall continue tomorrow. Fidel Castro Ruz Thirst For Blood (II) — March 16, 2008 I promised I would continue the reflections today, using textual news and adding pertinent commentaries. “NEW YORK, March 13 (ANSA) – The absence of Argentina in the itinerary of the new trip by the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to South America is another sign of Washington’s annoyance with the authorities in Buenos Aires, according to The New York Times today. “The newspaper recalled that Rice is visiting Brazil and Chile this week but ‘notably absent from her itinerary’ is Argentina, where Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, wife of ex-President Néstor Kirchner, ‘became the first woman elected as the country’s president.’ “The omission underscores Washington’s disappointment with the new Kirchner government, which has continued to strengthen ties with the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, while ‘accusing the United States of political motives’ in the case of the $80,000 illegally brought into the country by Venezuelan officials. “The New York Times describes this money as ‘suspected to be a secret contribution from Venezuela to the Kirchner campaign’.” “BRASILIA, March 13 (EFE) –U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed her hope that Colombia’s neighbors would fulfill their commitment to prevent FARC guerrillas from using their territories ‘to continue killing innocent people.” “‘We are very concerned with the regional situation (in South America)’, said Rice at a press conference today in Brasilia accompanied by Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Amorim.” “‘Countries cannot be threatened from within or from outside. And we must avoid that the terrorists continue killing innocent people,’ the head of U.S. foreign policy said after meetings with both Amorim and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.” “BRASILIA, March 13 (ANSA) - [...] the official said that the U.S. government maintains good relations with left-wing leaders such as Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.” “After the press conference, Rice and Chancellor Celso Amorim had lunch together at the Itamaraty Palace.” “BRASILIA, March 13 (AP) - [...] Rice made these declarations one day after President George W. Bush said that the recent crisis between Colombia and Ecuador was ‘the most recent step of a worrisome pattern of provocative behavior on the part of the Caracas government.” “Washington is toughening its rhetoric against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, while at the same time praising its South American allies for firmly confronting terrorism.” In Brazil, after dealing with the subject of the future composition of the Security Council, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice clearly explained that the United States would not be opposed to Brazil’s entry into that Council, but noted that its support was committed to Japan, its strategic and economic partner. “SANTIAGO, March 13 (AFP) –U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will make a brief visit to Chile on Friday, where she will be meeting with President Michelle Bachelet to consolidate bilateral ties and review the regional situation.” “Rice will arrive in Santiago Friday afternoon, coming from Brazil, where she arrived this Thursday. The chief of U.S. diplomacy will be in the Chilean capital for almost six hours, and will return to Washington the same day, just before taking off on a trip to Moscow.” According to that same agency, the U.S. ambassador in Santiago, Paul Simons, stated: “The fact that she is coming to Chile in the middle of a very busy schedule shows the importance she is giving to conversations with her colleague, Chancellor Foxley, and with the president, about our positive agenda.” “Brazil and Chile ‘are countries that are friends and strategic regional partners of the United States,’ the diplomat added in a press conference.” “With the Chilean authorities, Rice will be discussing the state of bilateral relations, but also the regional situation following the serious crisis created by the Colombian military incursion into Ecuadorian territory, resulting in the death of the second-in-command of the FARC guerrillas, Raúl Reyes. “‘We shall be talking about the regional situation’, Simons disclosed.” “In Santiago, Rice will also give the go-ahead to her Chilean colleague for the so-called ‘Chile-California Plan for the 21st Century’, an agreement that attempts to take advantage of similarities in geography, climate and productivity between the South American country and that U.S. state.” “The agreement is unprecedented and came up following a personal conversation between Foxley and Rice, according to Ambassador Simons, who did not disclose any more details.” Unquestionably, the U.S. ambassador in Chile, as is his habit, let too much slip out, speaking of a plan that the Chilean government still hasn’t even publicly mentioned, nor has there been any decision made about something that appears to be a fantasy from the Arabian Nights. There is also much news on the Internet about the U.S. secretary of state’s tour. On March 13, the following headlines could be read: BBC World – London, UK. "Rice: Borders, not hiding places." Terra – News Portal, Spain. "Rice Ratifies in Brazil U.S. commitment to Colombia and against the FARC." Alarde – Brazilian newspaper. "U.S. Defends South American Security Plan." El Observador – Venezuelan newspaper. "Rice emphasizes that U.S. is to study information about alleged Venezuelan ties with the FARC." Ansalatine – Italian News Agency. "Rice proposes joint action against FARC." BBC World – London, UK. "Rice visits ‘strategic’ partners." El Nuevo Diario – Nicaraguan newspaper. "U.S. toughens rhetoric against Chávez on Rice tour" AFP – French News Agency. "Rice to visit Chile to consolidate ties and talk about the regional situation." EFE – Spanish News Agency. "Rice ratifies in Brazil U.S. commitment to Colombia and against the FARC." AFP – French News Agency. "Rice: U.S. examines ties between Chávez and FARC and will take action". La Prensa – Argentine newspaper. "Borders cannot be a hide-out, U.S. warns." On March 14, O Estado de Sao Paulo, a Brazilian news site, successively sends three articles titled: "Untimely interference", "Rice discusses African tourism in Bahia" and "Amorim and ‘Condi’ make mistakes." O Globo on line – Digital site of the Brazilian TV channel. "Condoleezza: borders are not ‘hiding places.’" El Mercurio – Chilean newspaper. "Rice, arriving today in the country, will discuss a request to send peace forces to Kosovo with the Chilean Government." Crónica Digital – Chilean News site. "Policy: sticks and carrots: Condoleezza Rice’s Chilean agenda." Condoleezza Rice herself should have to answer some questions: How many Americans have been killed by bombs sent by Cuba? Has one single brick ever been broken on account of an explosive device coming from our country? Why are we being included on the grotesque list of terrorist countries, the same one on which Venezuela’s inclusion is being arbitrarily threatened? Who used terrorism against our homeland to blow up planes in mid-air, commit acts of sabotage and launch mercenary invasions and threats of bombings and wars, economic blockade and actions that have cost thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars? Who is going to believe you or Bush? Why are you insisting on provoking fratricidal wars between the peoples of Latin America? In Iraq, more than one million people have died. How many deaths is the United States of America offering Latin America, a region with over 500 million inhabitants, to defend its democracy and its empire? It is a real fact that Bush and his group are much more trapped in their foreign policy errors than even Nixon when he resigned in 1972. The bloody Iraqi war and its rejection by the U.S. people, the toll in human lives, the extremely high number of wounded and maimed for every death in the military adventure, all reveal a situation full of contradictions: the deteriorated image of the United States and the impossibility of giving up the wars of conquest for raw materials, the dollar and the price of gold, currency devaluations and inflation, consumerism and the inability to supply itself with consumer goods, the production of ethanol and the world shortage of food, fascist methods and democratic demagoguery, torture practices and secret prisons and human rights, maximum environmental pollution of the country and the species’ right to survival, the benefits of science for health and the use of the same to massively liquidate or invalidate human beings, the brain drain and underdevelopment of poor countries, the price of oil and the ever-greater wasting of energy, the November elections and increasing numbers of Latinos dying on the border. The list would be endless. It is, in essence, a contradiction between life and death. Today, on Sunday March 16, we can read the dispatches that correspondents were writing in Havana last night, Saturday, about the material published today in Juventud Rebelde, received by that newspaper in advance on the previous day. It is remarkable that none of the capitalist news agencies have published a single word on what was written about former guerrilla Pedro Pablo Montoya, who killed a leader of the FARC and cut off his hand in order to receive a bounty of 2.6 million dollars that was legalized by an attorney general of Colombia. He was probably an agent infiltrated by the Yankees. The issue has elicited much debate due to its ethical implications. Condoleezza is off to Moscow, Bush has announced a trip to the Ukraine and Bucharest for the first days of April and he will conclude the tour in Croatia, Serbia’s neighbor, from which imperialism ripped its vital province of Kosovo, site of its culture and source of essential material resources that formed the basis of its development. McCain has just arrived in Iraq for the eighth time, to offer his full support to Bush’s war, and to the 3 trillion dollars it has cost, to which millions of victims must be added, among the displaced and the dead, for the price of the fallen and mutilated Americans already mentioned. What can the world expect from such a policy? The imperialist leaders and officials are working feverishly, threatening everyone with their brutal strength, but the empire is unsustainable and it is not giving up. It is thirsty for blood. We must persistently denounce it! Fidel Castro Ruz Always upwards — March 9, 2008 The secondary school students met: their 11th Congress was taking place. Listening to them, I felt a healthy pride and understandable envy. What a privilege at their fruitful age! Along with the massive nature of university study today, so is a more important activity: the battle of ideas before enrolling in university. It would seem that Nature determined the evolution of human beings so that they are capable, from a very early age, of making consciousness prevail over instinct. My dear compañeros of the Federation of Students in Intermediate Education, that will be your battle. Today, the decadent and unsustainable empire’s greatest effort is to deprive us of the right to learn and think. Reflect for a moment on the petty attempts by the ringleader of that empire to prevent our people from having access to the Internet, which Rosa Miriam, a young and profound journalist, exposes in a commentary, adding information that The New York Times —in an opinion article, in fact— does not mention: “...the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control, of the U.S. Treasury Department) reports that 557 ‘accursed’ businesses from all over the world, and 3,719 .com domains have been blocked on the Web without their owners receiving any prior notification... The United States has blocked almost three times as many sites as the country has registered under the country’s generic domain.” “This is new evidence that the United States is not only controlling its own citizens’ access in cyberspace, but that of all Internet users worldwide.” She is referring to the policy followed by Bush during his mandate. Although her article was published in Juventud Rebelde, it was worth repeating the information she cites. What a response in the statements made by the secondary school students. Is there anything like it in the consumerist society of the United States? It is from there, unfortunately, that distressing news arrives about adolescents and young students in contact with deadly firearms, which are sold freely in a society where money and the market chart the course. The U.S. government is based on the National Rifle Association and fear of culture, but it cannot block Cuba’s. Onward, young Cuban students! Let us fight against egotism, vanity and the sterile ambition of glory, which are vipers that devour human souls; let us maintain our ideas and our consciousness, always upward, together with our glorious ancestors. Fidel Castro Ruz Chavez’ Visit — March 8, 2008 Raul had invited him. He replied he didn’t want to come see me so I wouldn’t catch the flu he had. That was nothing but a pretext to avoid the torture of my habitual questions. “What am I taking vitamin C for?” I told him in a message. Should we expect all the heads of State who attended the Rio Group’s warm and successful last meeting to get sick? He was content, euphoric about that battle for peace and his role in it - recognized by international cables - made him happy. He was serene, persuasive, thoughtful and with an excellent sense of humor. Even Bolivar, who was never wholly satisfied with anything, would have been pleased at that moment. At the end, he sang “Quisqueya.” The meeting had proven fruitful and, flu and all, his musical voice and ear could finally take the floor. He remarked that oil prices had gone up 5 dollars. He asked to be excused by Leonel who, in a reflex-reaction, overcome with joy, had begun to cough. Many of the countries who had gathered there export coffee and cocoa to the US market, in addition to all kinds of vegetables and fruits. I am not up to date as regards the latter’s prices, but the price of coffee and cocoa is about what it was 50 years ago, when the dollar had a few dozen times the purchasing power it has today. Simple trade, increasingly unequal, is crushing the economies of many Latin American countries. Some African countries are oil producers. Others produce coffee and cocoa. Some attract transnational capital like bees around a honey pot. Others attract debt and its steep interests. And all suffer the scourge of rising food prices. Today, Saturday, I had a long conversation with Chavez. We are like brothers. The decision to publish what we discussed is not mine to make, as it has never been and will never be. Venezuela is not Brazil. I will publish only what he authorizes in my memoirs. All I can say is that the meeting was excellent. And I have yet to feel any flu symptoms. Fidel Castro Ruz The One and Only Loser — March 7, 2008 The knock-out took place in the capital of the Dominican Republic. We followed every second of the match on Telesur. Nearly all of the Latin American presidents from the Rio Group were there. Ecuadorian President Correa had announced it the day before. I underscored the importance of this meeting in one of my reflections. It did not take place within the OAS. Most importantly, US diplomats were not in attendance. In one way or another, despite the profound ideological and tactical differences, everyone shone and showed the virtues that earned them important positions in office. In today’s crisis, these positions acquire a stark significance. The undeniable fact is that, on the brink of armed conflicts between sister nations stemming from Yankee intrigues, for now peace has been sealed, as has the awareness that we can avert wars between peoples united by solid bonds of brotherhood. While this was taking place in Santo Domingo, Bush was at a meeting in Washington to discuss the transition in Cuba. Though much still lies ahead, as the meeting on Globalization and Development Problems held in Havana has shown, ultimately, imperialism proved the one and only loser. Fidel Castro Ruz The International Criminal Court — March 6, 2008 “La Hojilla,” a program on the Venezolana de Televisión TV channel, took it upon itself to select, for months up to March 5, information and phrases that precisely reflect the imperialist plan to do with Chávez what was done with Milosevic after the genocidal war of Kosovo: to try him in the International Criminal Court. Yesterday after 12 midnight Cuban time —that is, today— after I heard an official statement to the press by a group of officials in charge of the pertinent legal paperwork in Colombia, I no longer had any doubts whatsoever. It is not a secret. It is a battle of prior opinion. I had “La Hojilla’s” excellent compilation very much in mind as I wrote these lines. What has been said about Chávez in very recent days? He was elected by majority vote of the population. Immediately it is added: just like Hitler. Of course, what is not explained is what is all too well-known: that Hitler was a genuine product of the capitalist system, which was expressed via the Treaty of Versailles and the imposition of sanctions —I mentioned this before in a “Reflection”— which exalted nationalism in the newly-born Republic of Germany. Fascism murdered countless numbers of people. Chávez never killed anyone; he has been elected several times, and the most incredible insults against him are published and broadcast on a daily basis by all the media. They will never achieve the submission of the president of Venezuela. When the government of the United States was sure that it could destroy missiles in full flight from California by using special satellites, it then spoke completely shamelessly of atomic wars, and is not concealing its intention of ruling the world with great violence. Millions of millions are being spent on weapons that do nothing to contribute to meeting the needs and well-being of human beings; on the contrary, they maintain the world economy in constant tension; they impose on other countries —like the adventurers of the U.S. West— the order of ‘your money or your life.’ Listening for hours to economists meeting in Havana discussing globalization and problems of development in a civilized manner, we can appreciate the tremendous clash of ideas and the contradictions that are emerging with growing force and complexity in our world today. In my mind, I preserve a good number of facts that were certainly addressed in that meeting. The solidarity with the people of Ecuador expressed at that conference is valuable in and of itself. The president of that nation, Rafael Correa, said today that if the Organization of American States “does not condemn the aggression against his country, it should be thrown into the dustbin of history.” He added, “We have to make decisions tomorrow in Santo Domingo to clearly condemn the aggression against Ecuador.” I heard these two statements not just in Correa’s interview on television; they also appear in various news agency reports. The seriousness of the problem created by the United States government cannot be underestimated. Yesterday, Bush gave his support to Republican candidate McCain, who is committed to the war in Iraq and enjoys dropping bombs on the civilian population; he is opposed to any negotiations and swears he will maintain the economic blockade of the Cuban nation. Two days ago, the news agencies reported new measures by Bush to further extend the blockade of Cuba onto the Internet. What can the peoples of Latin America who aspire to the safeguarding of their national sovereignty expect from the empire? Can such tyranny, which does so much damage to the planet’s population, be sustainable or not? Fidel Castro Ruz Rafael Correa — March 3, 2008 I remember when he visited us, months before the electoral campaign when he was thinking of running as a candidate for the Presidency of Ecuador. He had been the Minister of the Economy in the government of Alfredo Palacio, a surgeon with professional prestige who had also visited us as Vice President, before becoming the President in an unexpected situation that took place in Ecuador. He had been receptive to a program of ophthalmologic operations that we offered him as a form of cooperation. There were good relations between our two governments. A while earlier Correa had resigned from the Ministry of the Economy. He was unhappy with what he called administrative corruption instigated by Oxy, a foreign company that explored and invested important sums of money, but was holding on to four out of every five barrels of oil that it extracted. He didn’t talk about nationalization, but about taxing them heavily; these taxes would be assigned in advance to specific social investments. He had already approved the measures and a judge had declared them to be valid. Since the word “nationalize” had not been mentioned, I thought he felt apprehensive about the concept. It didn’t surprise me because he had graduated as an economist with much acclaim from a well-known U.S. university. I didn’t bother getting into much depth; I bombarded him with questions from the arsenal accumulated in the struggle against the Latin American foreign debt in 1985 and from Cuba’s own experience. There are high-risk investments that use sophisticated technology and that no small nation like Cuba or Ecuador could take on. Since this was already in 2006 and we were determined to promote the energy revolution — ours was the first country on the planet to proclaim this as a vital issue for humankind — I had dealt with the subject particularly emphatically. But I halted, as I understood one of his reasons. I related to him the conversation I had had a while ago with the president of REPSOL, a Spanish company. This company, associated with other international companies, would undertake an expensive operation to drill the ocean floor, more than 2000 meters down, using sophisticated technology, in Cuba’s jurisdictional waters. I asked the head of the Spanish company: How much is an exploratory well worth? I ask you this because we would like to participate, even if it is for one percent of the total cost and we would like to know what you want to do with our oil. Correa, for his part, had told me that for every one hundred dollars taken out by the companies, only twenty remained in the country; it didn’t even get into the budget, he said; it was left in a separate fund for just about anything other than improving the living conditions of the people. I abolished the fund, he told me, and directed 40 percent towards education and health, technological and highway development, and the rest towards buying back the debt if the price was favorable, and if not, investing it in something more useful. Before, every year we had to buy a portion of that debt which was becoming more expensive. In the case of Ecuador –he added– oil policies verged on treason against the country. Why do they do it? I asked him. Is it because they are afraid of the Yankees or due to unbearable pressure? He answered: If they have a Minister of the Economy who tells them privatization would improve efficiency, you can just imagine. I didn’t do that. I encourage him to go on and he calmly explains. The foreign company Oxy is one that has broken its contract and according to Ecuadorian law it requires an expiration date. It means that the oil field operated by this company must go over to the State, but because of Yankee pressure the government does not dare to occupy it; a situation is created which is not contemplated by the legislation. The law just states that an expiration date must be set, and nothing more. The judge at the court of first instance at that moment was the president of PETROECUADOR and he made it happen. I was a member of PETROECUADOR and they called an emergency meeting to expel him from his position. I didn’t attend and they couldn’t fire him. The judge declared the expiration date. What did the Yankees want? I asked him. They wanted a fine, he quickly replied. Listening to him I realized that I had underestimated him. I was in a hurry because of a great number of commitments. I invited him to sit in on a meeting with a large group of highly qualified Cuban professionals who were leaving for Bolivia to be part of the Medical Brigade; it had staff for more than 30 hospitals including 19 surgical positions that could do more than 130 thousand ophthalmologic operations per year; all in the manner of free cooperation. Ecuador possesses three similar centers with six ophthalmologic positions. Dinner with the Ecuadorian economist took place into the morning hours of February 9, 2006. There were scarcely any view points that I didn’t cover. I even spoke to him about the very harmful mercury that modern industry scatters throughout the planet’s oceans. Consumerism was of course a subject that I emphasized; the high cost of the kilowatt/hour in the thermoelectric plants; the differences between socialist and communist forms of distribution, the role of money, the trillions spent on advertising which people had no choice but to pay for in the prices of goods, and the studies made by university social brigades who discovered, among the 500 thousand families in the capital, the number of elderly folk lived alone. I explained the stage of university courses for all that we were involved in. We became friends even though he perhaps received the impression that I was self-sufficient. If that happened, it was truly not my intention. Since that time I have observed his every step: the electoral process, focusing on the concrete problems of Ecuadorians and the people’s victory over the oligarchy. In the history of our peoples there are many things that bring us together. Sucre was always a highly admired figure, along with The Liberator Bolivar; as Martí said, what he hasn’t done in America remains to be done, and as Neruda exclaimed, Bolivar awakens every hundred years. Imperialism has just committed a monstrous crime in Ecuador. Deadly bombs were dropped in the early morning hours on a group of men and women who, almost without exception, were asleep. That has been deduced by all the official reports right from the beginning. Any concrete accusations against that group of human beings do not justify that action. They were Yankee bombs, guided by Yankee satellites. Absolutely no one has the right to kill in cold blood. If we accept that imperial method of warfare and barbarism, Yankee bombs directed by satellites could fall on any group of Latin American men and women, in the territory of any country, war or no war. The fact that this happened on undisputed Ecuadorian territory is an aggravating circumstance. We are not an enemy of Colombia. Previous reflections and exchanges demonstrate how much of an effort we have made, both the current President of the Council of State of Cuba and I, to abide by a declared policy of principles and peace, proclaimed years ago in our relations with the rest of the Latin American states. Today, with everything at risk, we have not been transformed into belligerent people. We are determined supporters of that unity among peoples which Martí named Our America. If we keep quiet we shall become accomplices. Today they would like to have our friend, the economist and President of Ecuador Rafael Correa, seated in the dock; this is something we couldn’t even conceive that morning of February 9, 2006. At that time it seemed that my imagination was capable of embracing all kinds of dreams and risks, but never anything like what has occurred in the early morning of Saturday March 1, 2008. Correa has in his hands the few survivors and the rest of the bodies. The two which are missing prove that Ecuadorian territory was occupied by troops that crossed the border. Now he can cry out like Emile Zola: J’accuse! Fidel Castro Ruz
A premature departure — March 1, 2008 Sergio has left us. I heard the news of his cremation on television a little while ago. He was much younger than I. If we had more knowledge about health, perhaps he would not have gone so soon. I learned from him when I visited the beautiful mountains in the central part of the island. I admired his principles. I am sure that he would not have liked his ashes to remain in the cemetery in the capital. I hope his relatives, or whoever has that right, decide to place his ashes in a forest in the Escambray, where a tree can grow together with his memory. I will accept any decision in sincere honesty. Fidel Castro Ruz
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Fidel Castro Ruz is the President of Cuba. |
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