We don’t need the empire
to give us anything. Our efforts will be legal and peaceful, because our
commitment is to peace and fraternity among all human beings who live on this
planet.
March 28, 2016 12:03:14
The kings of Spain brought us the conquistadores and masters,
whose footprints remained in the circular land grants assigned to those
searching for gold in the sands of rivers, an abusive and shameful form of
exploitation, traces of which can be noted from the air in many places around
the country.
Tourism today, in large part, consists of viewing the delights
of our landscapes and tasting exquisite delicacies from our seas, and is always
shared with the private capital of large foreign corporations, whose earnings,
if they don’t reach billions of dollars, are not worthy of any attention
whatsoever.
Since I find myself obliged to mention the issue, I must add -
principally for the youth - that few people are aware of the importance of such
a condition, in this singular moment of human history. I would not say that
time has been lost, but I do not hesitate to affirm that we are not adequately
informed, not you, nor us, of the knowledge and conscience that we must have to
confront the realities which challenge us. The first to be taken into consideration
is that our lives are but a fraction of a historical second, which must also be
devoted in part to the vital necessities of every human being. One of the
characteristics of this condition is the tendency to overvalue its role, in
contrast, on the other hand, with the extraordinary number of persons who
embody the loftiest dreams.
Nevertheless, no one is good or bad entirely on their own. None
of us is designed for the role we must assume in a revolutionary society,
although Cubans had the privilege of José Martí’s example. I even ask myself if
he needed to die or not in Dos Ríos, when he said, “For me, it’s time,” and
charged the Spanish forces entrenched in a solid line of firepower. He did not
want to return to the United States, and there was no one who could make him.
Someone ripped some pages from his diary. Who bears this treacherous
responsibility, undoubtedly the work of an unscrupulous conspirator?
Differences between the leaders were well known, but never indiscipline.
“Whoever attempts to appropriate Cuba will reap only the dust of its soil
drenched in blood, if he does not perish in the struggle,” stated the glorious
Black leader Antonio Maceo. Máximo Gómez is likewise recognized as the most
disciplined and discreet military chief in our history.
Looking at it from another angle, how can we not admire the
indignation of Bonifacio Byrne when, from a distant boat returning him to Cuba,
he saw another flag alongside that of the single star and declared, “My flag is
that which has never been mercenary...” immediately adding one of the most
beautiful phrases I have ever heard, “If it is torn to shreds, it will be my
flag one day… our dead raising their arms will still be able to defend it!” Nor
will I forget the blistering words of Camilo Cienfuegos that night, when, just
some tens of meters away, bazookas and machine guns of U.S. origin in the hands
of counterrevolutionaries were pointed toward that terrace on which we stood.
Obama was born in August of 1961, as he himself explained. More
than half a century has transpired since that time.
Let us see, however, how our illustrious guest thinks today:
“I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in
the Americas. I have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban
people,” followed by a deluge of concepts entirely novel for the majority of
us:
“We both live in a new world, colonized by Europeans,” the U.S.
President continued, “Cuba, like the United States, was built in part by slaves
brought here from Africa. Like the United States, the Cuban people can trace
their heritage to both slaves and slave-owners.”
The native populations don’t exist at all in Obama’s mind. Nor
does he say that the Revolution swept away racial discrimination, or that
pensions and salaries for all Cubans were decreed by it before Mr. Barack Obama
was 10 years old. The hateful, racist bourgeois custom of hiring strongmen to
expel Black citizens from recreational centers was swept away by the Cuban
Revolution - that which would go down in history for the battle against
apartheid that liberated Angola, putting an end to the presence of nuclear
weapons on a continent of more than a billion inhabitants. This was not the
objective of our solidarity, but rather to help the peoples of Angola,
Mozambique, Guinea Bissau and others under the fascist colonial domination of
Portugal.
In 1961, just one year and three months after the triumph of the
Revolution, a mercenary force with armored artillery and infantry, backed by
aircraft, trained and accompanied by U.S. warships and aircraft carriers,
attacked our country by surprise. Nothing can justify that perfidious attack
which cost our country hundreds of losses, including deaths and injuries
As for the pro-yankee assault brigade, no evidence exists
anywhere that it was possible to evacuate a single mercenary. Yankee combat
planes were presented before the United Nations as the equipment of a Cuban
uprising.
The military experience and power of this country is very well
known. In Africa, they likewise believed that revolutionary Cuba would be
easily taken out of the fight. The invasion via southern Angola by racist South
African motorized brigades got close to Luanda, the capital in the eastern part
of the country. There a struggle began which went on for no less than 15 years.
I wouldn’t even talk about this, if I didn’t have the elemental duty to respond
to Obama’s speech in Havana’s Alicia Alonso Grand Theater.
Nor will I attempt to give details, only emphasize that an
honorable chapter in the struggle for human liberation was written there. In a
certain way, I hoped Obama’s behavior would be correct. His humble origin and
natural intelligence were evident. Mandela was imprisoned for life and had
become a giant in the struggle for human dignity. One day, a copy of a book
narrating part of Mandela’s life reached my hands, and - surprise! - the
prologue was by Barack Obama. I rapidly skimmed the pages. The miniscule size
of Mandela’s handwriting noting facts was incredible. Knowing men such as him
was worthwhile.
Regarding the episode in South Africa I must point out another
experience. I was really interested in learning more about how the South
Africans had acquired nuclear weapons. I only had very precise information that
there were no more than 10 or 12 bombs. A reliable source was the professor and
researcher Piero Gleijeses, who had written the text Conflicting Missions:
Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976, an excellent piece. I knew he
was the most reliable source on what had happened and I told him so; he responded
that he had not spoken more about the matter as in the text he had responded to
questions from compañero Jorge Risquet, who had been Cuban ambassador and
collaborator in Angola, a very good friend of his. I located Risquet; already
undertaking other important tasks he was finishing a course which would last
several weeks longer. That task coincided with a fairly recent visit by Piero
to our country; I had warned him that Risquet was getting on and his health was
not great. A few days later what I had feared occurred. Risquet deteriorated
and died. When Piero arrived there was nothing to do except make promises, but
I had already received information related to the weapons and the assistance
that racist South Africa had received from Reagan and Israel.
I do not know what Obama would have to say about this story now.
I am unaware as to what he did or did not know, although it is very unlikely
that he knew absolutely nothing. My modest suggestion is that he gives it
thought and does not attempt now to elaborate theories on Cuban policy.
There is an important issue:
Obama made a speech in which he uses the most sweetened words to
express: “It is time, now, to forget the past, leave the past behind, let us
look to the future together, a future of hope. And it won’t be easy, there will
be challenges and we must give it time; but my stay here gives me more hope in
what we can do together as friends, as family, as neighbors, together.”
I suppose all of us were at risk of a heart attack upon hearing
these words from the President of the United States. After a ruthless blockade
that has lasted almost 60 years, and what about those who have died in the
mercenary attacks on Cuban ships and ports, an airliner full of passengers
blown up in midair, mercenary invasions, multiple acts of violence and
coercion?
Nobody should be under the illusion that the people of this
dignified and selfless country will renounce the glory, the rights, or the
spiritual wealth they have gained with the development of education, science
and culture.
I also warn that we are capable of producing the food and
material riches we need with the efforts and intelligence of our people. We do
not need the empire to give us anything. Our efforts will be legal and
peaceful, as this is our commitment to peace and fraternity among all human
beings who live on this planet.
Fidel Castro Ruz
March 27, 2016
10:25 p.m.
