The Sixth Congress will be one of all the membership and of all the people

Granma, Havana, November 9, 2010

• To date, this Integral Cooperation Agreement between Cuba and Venezuela has constituted the fundamental basis for the consolidation of our links

• Speech given by General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the Councils of State and Ministers, in the event commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Cuba-Venezuela Integral Cooperation Agreement, at the International Conference Center, November 8, 2010, Year 52 of the Revolution

Dear compañero Hugo Chávez Frías, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela:

Compañeros ministers and members of the Venezuelan delegation:

Compañeras and compañeros:

Ten years have passed since the signing in Caracas, on October 30, 2000, of the Integral Cooperation Agreement between Cuba and Venezuela by Comandante Hugo Chávez Frías and Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz. Everything that we have achieved since then has been momentous.

To date, this Integral Cooperation Agreement between Cuba and Venezuela has constituted the fundamental basis for the consolidation of our links. Through its execution, we have carried out actions of significant economic and social benefit to both peoples.

The sectors which have most benefited from these programs include those of public health, education, culture, sport, agriculture, energy savings, mining, informatics, telecommunications and the comprehensive training of cadres, among others no less important.

The Social Missions that we are developing in conjunction with Venezuela, such as Barrio Adentro I and II; the Educational Missions, Barrio Adentro Deportivo; Operation Miracle; Mission Campo Adentro, and the Medical Training Program, with a significant improvement in the living conditions of the Venezuelan population, fundamentally for its most vulnerable members, have surpassed the limits of bilateral exchange and are extending, as an expression of our internationalism, through the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

We are directing our efforts to the economic union of Cuba and Venezuela within a new kind of relationship that will facilitate the greater ordering, rationality and efficiency of joint projects and which constitutes, at the same time, an important step toward the objective of achieving genuine economic complementariness, based on the optimum utilization of the infrastructures, knowledge and resources existing in both countries and, above all, on the political will of our governments.

This relationship has been strengthened in the last 10 years and should continue its ascent, taking into account the strategic planning of both countries in the Cuban 5-year Plan and the Venezuelan 3-year Plan, as stated in the documents approved in the Cuba-Venezuela 1st Presidential Summit, which took place this past July 26 in Villa Clara, always on the basis of the following principles; I quote:

• Solidarity, understood as a commitment to mutual support and shared efforts to attain sustainable development and opportune attention to their emerging needs, according to their possibilities and shared responsibilities.

• Cooperation, as the will to consolidate their relations, directed toward the development of joint projects and strategic alliances of mutual benefit.

• Complementariness, understood as a commitment to identify and develop joint projects that will permit the integration and synergy of their capacities in accordance with their potential and common interests.

• Reciprocity, as an obligation to establish a relationship based on just considerations, taking into account differences and the principles of equality and good faith.

• Sustainability, understood as a commitment to identify and develop cooperative projects, directed at attaining sustainable development from economic, social and environmental points of view.

• Technological sovereignty, recognized as the right of each state to decide its own technological development, through taking advantage of its potential, in order to change current patterns of dependence and consumerism, thus guaranteeing that the needs of the respective ALBA national markets and the countries of the region are met.

• Economic union, understood as the construction of a space within the political context of the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, which will allow it to present itself as a bloc facing organizations of other nations or spaces of the same nature. End of quote.

The effort that we have made to date commits us to continue working together to advance to the maximum in shared projects. We have to plan in the medium and long term, with a strategic vision between both countries and with a view to extending this cooperation to sister nations of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America and the rest of the region.

Given these proposals, we have decided to re-launch our Cuba-Venezuela Integral Cooperation Agreement for the next 10 years.

The development of our relations has not been exempt from obstacles. Together, we have imposed our will over adversities, many of them generated by external factors opposed to the advance of our revolutionary and emancipatory projects.

The development of these links has not been paralyzed by any difficulty, not even financial ones, because the basis of our actions is cooperation and solidarity to our mutual benefit. What is required now is the rigorous follow-up and assessment of everything agreed in order to guarantee the development of both economies and meet the needs of social development.

This is what our peoples are demanding and what constitutes a pillar for the strengthening of the ties of sisterhood between the two nations.

While confrontations in Latin America are intensifying among the reactionary and conservative sectors, which defend a dependent and exploitative political economic model, on the other hand the revolutionary and progressive forces committed to justice, equality and the independence of the peoples of the region are advancing.

In this context, the relationship between Cuba and Venezuela is becoming the finest example of how links between the peoples should be, and is acquiring a greater dimension, bearing in mind that it is developing in the midst of the current difficult international situation, in which political and economic instability is paramount, and in which the global economic, energy, food and environmental crises are being compounded by grave threats to world peace.

Compañero Chávez:

Compañeras and compañeros:

In addition to celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Integral Cooperation Agreement between Cuba and Venezuela and its re-launch for the next 10 years, our meeting this afternoon presents an opportunity to convene the Party and all our people to participate in the preparatory process for the 6th Congress of Cuban communists.

The Political Bureau has agreed to convene the 6th Congress for the second half of April next year, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs victory and the proclamation of the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution.

On August 1, in the 5th Session of the National Assembly of People's Power, I explained that we were making advances with respect to the studies under the responsibility of the Congress Economic Policy Commission and that the diverse working groups created were functioning uninterruptedly in drafting proposals to be discussed with both Party members and the population.

For all of these reasons, the 6th Congress will concentrate on the solution of problems within the economy and on the fundamental decisions involved in the updating of the Cuban economic model and will adopt the economic and social policy development project of the Party and the Revolution.

The Congress is not only the meeting of those elected as delegates, but also the previous discussion process on the part of the membership and of all the population on the alignments or decisions to be adopted at the Congress.

In that speech at the National Assembly I also said, "Unity among revolutionaries and among the leadership of the Revolution and the majority of our people is our most important strategic weapon, the one that has made it possible for us to reach this point and continue perfecting our socialism in the future," and that, "Unity is fomented and reaped in the broadest socialist democracy and in the open discussion of all matters, however sensitive they may be, with the people."

For that reason, the 6th Congress will be one of all the membership and of all the people, who will actively participate in the adoption of the fundamental decisions of the Revolution.

The Economic and Social Development Policy Project is to be published tomorrow and a national seminar of leaders and specialists will immediately begin in order to guide the process of the mass discussion of this document. Subsequently, from November 15 to 30, seminars will be organized in all municipalities to prepare the cadres who will take part in meetings with the nucleuses of the Party, workers and in all the communities. This mass process will take place over three months, from December 1 to February 28. From that date, there will be reserve of time, until March 11. At the same time, opinions and suggestions will be collected and analyzed to be taken into account for the adoption of the document by the Congress.

This plenary session will involve the Councils of State and Ministers, the presidency of the National Assembly, the Political Bureau, as well as hundreds of cadres and economists from all the provinces of the country who are preparing themselves to contribute to explaining to Party members and the people the content of the proposed decisions, as well as to listen and convey their opinions.

As I noted this past April 4 at the Congress of the Union of Young Communists, "today, more than ever before, the economic battle is the principal task and the focus of the cadres’ ideological work, because the sustainability and the preservation of our social system depend on it." For that reason, this constitutes the only theme of the Congress and later, within the same year, we shall hold the 1st National Conference of the Communist Party, to deal with other matters of an internal nature that are not discussed at Congress and which also need to be improved in the light of the experience of these last 50 years.

I should clarify that we had announced holding the Conference first and then the Congress, but given the advances in preparing the documents, we decided to invert the order and hold the Congress first in order to discuss the principal issue, which is the economy.

Dear Chávez:

Compañeros in the Venezuelan delegation:

Compañeras and compañeros:

Precisely, one of the directions of this project, states: "To give priority to participation in the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and to work swiftly and intensely on economic coordination, cooperation and complementation in the short, medium and long term, for the attainment and profundity of the economic, social and political objectives that it is promoting," which is closely related to the issues covered in the course of today between ministers of the two governments.

We have already presented to the leader of the Cuban Revolution, compañero Fidel Castro Ruz, the first copy of the Policy Development Project.

To you, compañero Hugo Chávez Frías, Comandante of the Bolivarian Revolution and President of that sister Republic, I am presenting the second copy.

Viva Our America!

Viva socialism!

Translated by Granma International 

FIDEL CASTRO on the G-20 meeting: "A Colossal Madhouse"

A Colossal Madhouse

Reflections by Comrade Fidel

This is what the G-20 meeting that started yesterday in Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, has been turned into.

Many readers, saturated with acronyms, may wonder: What is the G-20? This is one of the many miscreations concocted by the most powerful empire and its allies, who also created the G-7: the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada.  Later on they decided to admit Russia in a club that was then called the G-8.

Afterwards they condescended to admit 5 important emerging countries: China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Then the group membership increased after the inclusion of the member countries of the OECD ?another acronym-, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development: Australia, the Republic of Korea and Turkey. The group was also joined by Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Indonesia, and they all summed up 19.  The twentieth member of the G-20 was no other than the European Union.  As from this year, 2010, one country, Spain, holds the peculiar category of "permanent guest."

Another important international high level meeting is taking place almost simultaneously in Japan:  the APEC meeting.

If patient readers bother to add to the former group the following countries: Malaysia, Brunei, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Chinese province of Taiwan, Papua-New Guinea, Chile, Peru and Vietnam -all of them with a significant trade volume, with coasts washed by the Pacific Ocean waters- the result would be what is called the APEC: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, and with that the entire jigsaw puzzle is completed. They would only need a map, but a laptop could perfectly provide that.

At such international events crucial international economic and financial issues are discussed.  The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, with decision-making powers when it comes to financial matters, have their own master:  the United States.

It is important to remember that after the Second World War, the US industry and agriculture remained intact; those in Western Europe were totally destroyed, with the exceptions of Switzerland and Sweden.  The USSR had been materially devastated and scored huge material losses that surpassed the figure of 25 million persons.  Japan was defeated, in ruins and occupied.  Around 80 per cent of the world's gold reserves were sent to the United States.

In a remote, though spacious and comfortable hotel at Bretton Woods, a small community of the US north eastern state of New Hampshire, the Monetary and Financial Conference of the recently created United Nations Organization was held from July 1st to 22 of 1944.

The United States was granted the exceptional privilege of turning its paper money into an international hard currency pegged to a gold standard mechanism fixed at 35 US dollars per one Troy ounce of gold.

Since the overwhelming majority of countries keep their foreign exchange reserves in the US banks -which is the same as granting a significant loan to the richest country in the world-, the gold pattern mechanism established at least a ceiling for the unrestricted issuance of paper money.  This was at least some sort of guarantee on the value of the reserves that countries kept in US banks.

Based on that enormous privilege -and for as long as the issuance of paper money was limited by the gold standard mechanism- that powerful country continued to increase its control over the planet's wealth.

The military adventures of the United States in alliance with the former colonial powers, particularly the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and the recently created West Germany, led that country into other military adventures and wars that plunged the monetary system established at Bretton Woods into a crisis.

At the time of the genocidal war in Vietnam, a country against which the US was at the verge of using nuclear weapons, the US President took the shameless and unilateral decision of suspending the dollar's gold pattern.  Ever since then, there have been no limits to the issuance of paper money. That privilege was so much overused that the value of the Troy ounce of gold went from 35 dollars to figures way above 1 400 dollars, that is, no less than 40 times the value it kept for 27 years until 1971, when Richard Nixon took such nefarious decision.

The worst thing about the present economic crisis that affects the American society today is that former anti-crisis measures applied at different moments in the history of the US imperialist capitalist system have not helped it now to resume its usual pace.  The US is wracked by a national debt close to 14 billion dollars -that is, as much as the US GDP- and the fiscal deficit remains unchanged.  The sky-rocketing banks bailout loans and interest rates almost equal to zero have hardly decreased unemployment to figures below 10 per cent. The number of households whose houses are being closed out have barely decreased either. Its gigantic defense budgets which are much higher than those of the rest of the world - and what is worse, those devoted to the war- have continued to grow.

The US President, who was elected hardly two years ago by one of the traditional parties, has been dealt the biggest defeat ever remembered in the last three fourths of a century.  Such a reaction is a combination of frustration and racism.

The US economist and writer William K. Black wrote a memorable phrase: "The best way to rob a bank is to own one".  The most reactionary sectors in the United States are sharpening their teeth and have appropriated an idea that would be the antithesis of the one expressed by the Bolsheviks in October of 1917:  "All power to the US extreme right."

Seemingly, the US government, with its traditional anti-crisis measures, resorted to another desperate decision: the Federal Reserve announced it would buy 600 billion US dollars before the G-20 meeting.

On Wednesday November 10, one of the most important US news agencies reported that "President Obama had arrived in South Korea to attend meetings of the world's top 20 economic powers."

"Tensions over currencies and trade gaps have simmered ahead of the summit following a decision by the U.S. to flood its sluggish economy with $600 billion in cash that has alarmed leaders around the globe.

"Obama has defended the move by the U.S. Federal Reserve."

On November 11, the same agency reported to the world's public opinion the following:

"A strong sense of pessimism shrouded the start of an economic summit of rich and emerging economies Thursday [?] with world leaders arriving in Seoul sharply divided over currency and trade policies.

"Established in 1999 and raised to summit level two years ago, the G-20 has? encompassing rich nations such as Germany and the U.S. as well as emerging giants such as China and Brazil ? has become the centerpiece of international efforts to revive the global economy and prevent future financial meltdowns..."

"Failure in Seoul could have severe consequences. The risk is that countries would try to keep their currencies artificially low to give their exporters a competitive edge in global markets. That could lead to a destructive trade war.

"Countries might throw up barriers to imports ? a repeat of policies that worsened the Great Depression.

There are countries, such as the United States, whose  top priority would be "to get China to allow its currency rise" against other currencies that would allow for a reduction of the huge trading surplus of the Asian giant with Washington, since it will make Chinese exports to be more expensive and  US imports cheaper.

"There are those which irate over U.S. Federal Reserve plans to pump $600 billion of new money into the sluggish American economy".  They see this measure as a selfish move to fill markets with dollars, thus devaluing that currency and giving US exporters and unfair price edge.

"The G-20 countries [?] are finding little common ground on the most vexing problem: What to do about a global economy that depends on huge U.S. trade deficits with China, Germany and Japan?"

"Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, warned that the world would go "bankrupt" if rich countries cut back on consumption and tried to export their way to prosperity."

"`If the rich countries are not consuming and want to grow its economy on exports, the world goes bankrupt because there would be no one to buy. Everybody would like to sell?'"

The summit started amid a rather pessimistic ambiance for Obama and the South Korean President Li Myung-bak, "whose negotiators failed to agree on a long-stalled free trade agreement that it was hoped could be reached this week."

"G-20 leaders gathered Thursday evening at Seoul's grand National Museum of Korea for the dinner that marked the official start of the two-day event."

"Outside, a few thousand protesters rallied against the G-20 and the South Korean government."

Today, Friday 12, the summit concluded with a declaration that contained 20 items and 32 paragraphs.

Presumably, the world is not made up only by the 32 countries that belong to the G-20 or only by those which belong to the APEC.  The 187 nations that voted in favor of lifting the blockade against Cuba, as opposed to the two that voted against and the two that abstained, make a total of 192. For 160 of them there is no forum whatsoever where they could express a single word about the imperial plundering of their resources or about their urgent economic needs.  In Seoul, the United Nations does not even exist. Won't that honorable institution say a single word about it?

In these days European news agencies have been publishing really tragic news about Haiti ? where, in only minutes, an earthquake killed around 250 000 persons in January this year.

According to reports, the Haitian authorities have warned about the speed with which the cholera epidemic is spreading throughout the city of Gonaives, in the northern part of the island.  The Major of that coastal village, Pierreleus Saint-Justin, asserts he has personally buried 31 corpses on Tuesday, and expected to bury another 15.

"Others could be dying as we speak", he added.  The report states that as from November 5, 70 corpses have been buried only in the urban area of Gonaives, but there are more people who have died in rural areas nearby the city.

According to the report, the situation is becoming catastrophic in Gonaives.  The floods caused by hurricane `Tomas' could make the situation to be even worse."

Last Wednesday, the health authorities in Haiti fixed at 643 the number of victims who had died until November 8 in the entire country as a result of the epidemic. The number of persons infected with the cholera virus during the same period amounts to 9 971.  Radio stations report that the figures to be released on Friday could include more than 700 deadly casualties.

The government asserts now that the disease is taking a serious toll on the population of Port- au-Prince and is threatening the capital outskirts, where more than one million people have been living in tents since the earthquake on January 12.

News are reporting today a figure of 796 deaths and a total of 12 303 persons infected.

More than 3 million inhabitants are now threatened; many of them live in tents and among the rubble left by the earthquake, without potable water.

The main US agency reported yesterday that the first part of the US Fund for the Reconstruction of Haiti was already on the way now, more than seven months after being committed to help rebuilding the country devastated by the earthquake in January.

Reportedly, in the next few days, the agency will transfer approximately 120 million dollars ? around one tenth of the amount promised- to the Fund for the Reconstruction of Haiti, managed by the World Bank, as was stated by P.J.Crowley, the State Department's speaker.

An assistant of the State Department stated that the money allocated to the Fund would be used to remove the rubble, build houses, grant credits, support and educational reform program to be implemented by the Inter-American Development Bank and support the Haitian government budget.

Not a single word has been said about the cholera epidemics, a disease that for years affected many countries in South America and could spread throughout the Caribbean and other parts of our hemisphere.

Fidel Castro Ruz

November 12, 2010

8:49 p.m.

The Cuban Government urges President Obama to abide with his commitment to fight terrorism

6 Octubre 2010 Haga un comentario

SPEECH DELIVERED BY ARMY GENERAL RAÚL CASTRO RUZ, PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCILS OF STATE AND OF MINISTERS AT THE CEREMONY COMMEMORATING THE VICTIMS OF STATE TERRORISM DAY AT THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES “UNIVERSAL” THEATER ON OCTOBER 6, 2010.

Relatives of the victims of State Terrorism against Cuba,

Comrades:

As set out in the Council of State Decree-Law published today, beginning this year, October 6 will be commemorated as “Victims of State Terrorism Day.”

Exactly 34 years ago, 73 innocent people were assassinated: 11 Guyanese, 5 citizens of the Democratic Popular Republic of Korea and 57 Cubans. They were killed in midair when a bomb exploded aboard a Cubana de Aviación passenger plane that had just taken off from Barbados. Among them were 24 young Cubans from the national youth fencing team who had just swept all the gold medals at the Fourth Central-American and Caribbean Championships held in Venezuela.

For the Cuban people, who have been the target of state terrorism since the very triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the painful losses suffered that day were added to the numerous other victims for whom we are still seeking justice today.

The phenomenon dates back to 1959 when the newly-formed Revolution passed the first of a series of measures to benefit the people.

As early as March 1960, President Eisenhower approved a program of covert actions against Cuba that were declassified a few years ago. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) took over the lead role in planning, logistics, and the recruiting and training of mercenaries to carry out terrorist actions under the protection of the U.S. Government.

Fires, bombings and all sorts of acts of sabotage were carried out; airplanes and boats were hijacked; Cuban citizens were kidnapped; there were attacks against our embassies and assassinations of diplomats; dozens of our facilities were machine-gunned; multiple assassination attempts were carried out against the main leaders of the Revolution; and in particular, hundreds of assassination plans and attempts were carried out against the life of the Commander in Chief.

This year we are commemorating five decades since the brutal sabotage against the French steamship La Coubre in the port of Havana. The attack was planned to set off a double detonation of explosive charges that would greatly increase the number of victims. This crime caused the death of 101 people and left hundreds injured, including members of the French crew.

Every new aggression strengthened the Revolution across all sectors and levels. The consolidation of the revolutionary process forced the CIA terrorists and their bosses -who with their actions intended to provoke panic and demoralize the Cuban people- to draw up a plan to invade Cuba and create, in Florida, the largest intelligence center outside of their main headquarters in Langley.

The attack against Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs) caused the death of 176 compatriots and left 50 others permanently disabled. The sacrifice of these citizens helped our impassioned combatants defeat the invasion in less than 72 hours, preventing the arrival of a puppet government that was being safeguarded by the CIA in a military base in Florida. After arriving in Cuba, their plan was to request the intervention of the United States with the complicity of the OAS.

The recently elected President Kennedy inherited the invasion plan from the previous government and approved its implementation. However, he refused to accept responsibility for its resounding failure and instead decided to carry out Operation Mongoose that consisted of 33 projects that included plans to assassinate leaders of the Revolution, terrorist actions against socioeconomic objectives, and the introduction of arms and agents to Cuba to be used in espionage and subversive activities.

From the approval of the Operation Mongoose until January 1963, some 5,780 terrorist actions against Cuba have been carried out: 716 of which were full-scale sabotages against industrial facilities.

In this context, US-based terrorist organizations that were financed and protected by the CIA were the precursors to the use of airplane hijackings and civilian aircraft for military actions against Cuba.

Such actions soon turned against them, leading to a world pandemic of airplane hijackings which encouraged international terrorists to employ these methods. The situation was only resolved once the Cuban government unilaterally decided to return the hijackers.

Following the assassination of Kennedy, the new US president, Lyndon Johnson, continued with terrorist plans against the island. Between 1959 and 1965, the CIA organized, financed and supplied, from US territory, an estimated 229 armed counter-revolutionary groups, and some 3,995 mercenaries. These terrorists killed 549 Cuban combatants, farmers and teachers working in the national literacy campaign; and left thousands wounded and hundreds permanently disabled.

Shortly after, terrorist actions against Cuban embassies, offices and diplomatic officials abroad increased drastically causing the deaths of several brave comrades and many material losses.

On September 11, 1980, the Cuban representative at the UN, Félix García Rodríguez, was murdered by Cuban-born terrorist Eduardo Arocena, a member of the terrorist group “Omega 7.”

On May 5 that year 570 children and 156 workers were trapped by a fire set by terrorists at the Le Van Tan daycare center. These peoples lives were saved thanks to the quick and heroic actions by specialized forces and the solidarity of the Cuban people.

At the same time, another form of State Terrorism employed against Cuba is biological warfare developed by successive U.S. administrations. These methods included introducing diseases into Cuba that significantly affected the health of the Cuban people. In 1981, agents under the service of the U.S. government disseminated the hemorragic dengue epidemic that killed 156 people, including 101 children.

Several plagues were also introduced into Cuban territory to destroy the agriculture and livestock sector, causing incalculable losses in food stocks destined for the population and significant losses of export commodities.

The U.S. intelligence services, particularly the CIA, were directly or indirectly involved in the majority of these actions, in large part under the umbrella of Cuban counterrevolutionary organizations. It would be impossible to mention the endless chain of terrorist plans, actions and attacks committed against our country in just one address.

However, the list of perpetrators is quite short, because they are always the same.

Today we are here to pay tribute to the 3,478 Cubans who have died and the 2,099 that have become permanently disabled due to terrorist acts carried out against our homeland during half a century that add up 5,577 victims. The Barbados martyrs are part of the long list of fallen comrades who we have not forgotten nor ever will forget.

Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, the authors of the Barbados crime and countless others against Cuba have lived and still live with impunity in Miami. Bosch, thanks to an executive pardon given by Bush Sr. the CIA director when Bosch´s agents committed sabotage against the Cuban plane; and Posada Carriles, thanks to the support of Bush Jr., walks freely while he awaits a trial for minor offences and not for the multiple charges of international terrorism that correspond to him.

Until very recently, these groups publicly proclaimed their crimes and cynically announced new acts of terror.

Had impunity not prevailed, 68 acts of terrorism against Cuba would have been prevented in the 1990s and we would not be regretting the death in Havana of Fabio di Celmo, a young Italian, who perished during the wave of terrorists attacks against tourism facilities in Havana in 1997.
The revealing declarations by self-confessed terrorist Chávez Abarca -broadcasted on Cuban television September 27 and 28– who was arrested by Venezuelan authorities as he planned to attack and undermine the stability of that brother country and other Latin American nations, confirm the existence of new methods of international terror and provide irrefutable proof about the guilt of Posada Carriles and his sponsors in the United States.

Despite all these crimes, Cuba has always been an example in the fight against terrorism and has ratified the condemnation of all such acts, in all its forms and manifestations.

Our country has signed all 13 existing international conventions on this issue and strictly abides by the commitments and obligations of the UN General Assembly resolutions and those of the Security Council. It does not possess nor intends to possess any type of weapons of mass destruction, and fully complies with its obligations under existing international instruments on nuclear, chemical , and biological weapons.

The Cuban territory has never been and never will be used to organize, finance or carry out terrorist acts against any other country, including the United States.

On several occasions the Cuban government has informed the U.S. Government about its willingness to exchange information regarding assassination plans and terrorist acts against objectives in both countries.

We have also provided ample information to the U.S. Government on terrorist acts against Cuba, particularly between 1997 and 1998 when we provided the FBI with abundant evidence on the bombings of several Cuban tourists resorts, and even gave them access to the perpetrators of these crimes, under arrest here, as well as to several witnesses.

In response, the FBI in Miami, closely linked to the Cuban-American extreme right that openly sponsors terrorism against Cuba, concentrated all of its efforts on chasing and prosecuting our fellow citizens Antonio, Fernando, Gerardo, Ramón, and Rene whom the US Government should have never arrested and imprisoned.

Today, thanks to international solidarity, the entire world knows about the unjust and inhumane treatment applied to the Five Cuban Heroes who fought in order to protect the Cuban people and even the American people from terrorism.

For how long will President Obama ignore international demands and allow injustice to prevail, something that is in his hands to eliminate? Until when will our Five Cuban Heroes remain in jail?

The current government of the United States of America, by their recent ratification of the arbitrary inclusion of our country in the State Department‘s annual list of “States Sponsors of Terrorism,” in addition to this infamous measure, has ignored once again the exemplary records of Cuba in this respect.

The United States of America also has disregarded the cooperation received from Cuba. In three occasions (November and December 2001, and March 2002) our representatives proposed to the U.S. authorities a draft project for bilateral cooperation to fight against terrorism, and in July 2009 reiterated their willingness to cooperate in this area without ever receiving a response.

The Cuban Government urges President Obama to abide with his commitment to fight terrorism and to act with determination and without double standards against those who from U.S. territory have perpetrated and continue to perpetrate terrorist acts against Cuba. This would be an honorable response to the open letter published today and sent by the Committee of Relatives of the Victims of the Cubana airplane that was blown up midair over the coast of Barbados.

Not for a moment can we forget that, as a result of State terrorism, the toll of dead and missing people we have suffered is higher than those who died during the attempt against the Twin Towers and the Oklahoma bombing combined.

I would like to conclude our tribute by recalling the unforgettable memorial service given to the victims of the Barbado`s crime on October 15, 1976, when we all swore to remember and condemn with unrelenting outrage the vile assassination.

Let us repeat Comrade Fidel`s statement on that occasion:When an energetic and forceful people cry, injustice trembles!We shall always remain loyal to those who have fallen in battle!

Glory to our heroes and martyrs!

Piedad Córdoba and Her Fight for Peace

I Don’t Like Hedging My Words

By Fidel Castro

October 15, 2010 “Periodico” Sept, 30, 2010 - - -Three days ago, there was news printed that the Attorney General of Colombia, Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado had removed the prestigious Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba from her post and disqualified her from carrying out political office for 18 years, because of her alleged promoting and collaborating with the FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). Faced with such an unusual and drastic measure taken against an elected post in the highest legislative body of state, Piedad has no alternative other than appealing to the very Attorney General who produced the measures.

It was logical that such arbitrariness would cause a mighty rejection, expressed by a wide range of political personalities, among them former prisoners of the FARC and relatives of those who had been liberated, thanks to the senator, former presidential candidates, persons who had held that high office, others who were or still are senators or members of the legislative power.

Piedad Córdoba is an intelligent and brave person, a brilliant speaker, with well-articulated thoughts. A few weeks ago she visited us in the company of other distinguished personalities, among which was a remarkably honest Jesuit priest. They came spurred on by a profound desire to seek peace for their country and they were requesting Cuba’s collaboration, remembering that for years, and at the instance of the government of Colombia itself, we lent our territory and our collaboration for the meetings that took place in our capital between representatives of the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army.

However, I am not surprised by the decision taken by the Attorney General who obeys the official policy of that country which is virtually occupied by Yankee troops.

I don’t like hedging my words, and I shall say what I am thinking. Just one week ago, the general debate of the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly was about to begin. For three days they had been discussing the embarrassing Millennium Development Goals and on Thursday September 23rd the General Assembly was commencing with the participation of the heads of State or senior officials of each country. The first to take the podium would be, as is customary, the UN Secretary General and immediately afterwards, the President of the United States, host country of the Organization and the presumed master of the world. The session was beginning at 9 am. Logically, I was interested in hearing what the illustrious Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, would have to say as soon as Ban Ki-moon had concluded. I naively thought that CNN in Spanish or in English would be broadcasting Obama’s speech, generally a brief one. It was on that channel that I heard the presidential candidates debating in the city of Las Vegas two years earlier.

The time came, minutes went by and CNN was running the apparently spectacular news about the death of a Colombian guerrilla leader. That was important, but not particularly transcendental. I stayed interested in finding out what Obama would say about the extremely serious problems besetting the world.

Could it be that the state of the planet is such that both of them are fooling around and making the Assembly wait? I asked that the other TV be turned on to CNN in English and there too, not one word about the Assembly. So, what was CNN talking about? It was broadcasting news and I was waiting for the news from Colombia to end. But 10, 20, 30 minutes went by, and there was more of the same. They were talking about incidents in a huge combat that was taking place, or had taken place, in Colombia, that the fate of the continent would depend on that, as the words and broadcasting style of the reporter were having us believe. Photos and full-color film were being shown about the death of Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas, alias Jorge Briceño Suárez or “Mono Jojoy”. The reporter was saying that this was the most severe blow for the FARC, surpassing both the deaths of Manuel Marulanda and Raúl Reyes together. A devastating action, he was affirming. It was presumed to have been a spectacular battle, with 30 bombers, 27 helicopters and complete battalions of elite troops taking part in the fierce fighting.

Really, it was something greater than the battles of Carabobo, Pichincha and Ayacucho all rolled into one. With old experience about these conflicts, I couldn’t imagine such a battle in the wooded and remote region of Colombia. The mighty action was spiced up with pictures of all kinds, both old and new, showing the rebel commander. For the CNN news editor, Marulanda’s successor Alfonso Cano was a university intellectual who had no backing from his troops; the real chief had died. The FARC would have to surrender.

Let’s be frank. The news referring to the famous battle where the FARC commander died (the FARC is a Colombian revolutionary movement that came into being more than 50 years ago, after the death of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán who was assassinated by the oligarchy) and the removal of Piedad Córdoba are very far from bringing peace to Colombia; quite the opposite. They could accelerate the revolutionary changes in that country.

I would think that quite a few Colombian military are embarrassed by the grotesque versions of the supposed battle where Commander Jorge Briceño Suárez died. In the first place, there was no battle at all. It was a gross and embarrassing murder. Perhaps hampered by the part of the war with which the official authorities had released the news and other obscure versions, Admiral Edgar Cely stated that “Jorge Briceño, alias ‘Mono Jojoy’, died ‘squashed’ when [...] the building in which he was hiding in the jungle toppled over on him.” “’We know that he died crushed, his bunker falling down on top of him’, [...] ‘it’s not true that he had been shot in the head’.” So read the statement by Caracol Radio station according to the American AP news agency.

They baptized the operation with the Biblical name of Sodom, one of the cities punished for its sins, victim of a rain of hell-fire and sulphur.

What is more serious is what we haven’t said, which by now even the cat knows about, because the Yankees themselves have printed it.

The US government provided its ally with more than 30 smart bombs. There was a GPS installed inside the guerrilla chief’s boots. Guided by that device, the programmed bombs blew up in the encampment where Jorge Briceño was located.

Why not tell the world the truth? Why are they alluding to a battle that never took place?

I observed other embarrassing things on TV. The president of the United States warmly received Uribe in Washington and encouraged him to give classes on “democracy” at an American university.

Uribe was one of the principal creators of the paramilitary, whose members are responsible for the boom in drug trafficking and the deaths of tens of thousands of people. It was Barack Obama with whom Uribe signed the handing over of seven military bases and virtually of any part of Colombian territory, for the installation of Yankee armed forces men and equipment. The country is full of clandestine cemeteries. Through Ban Ki-moon, Obama granted Uribe immunity, appointing him, no less, as deputy chairman of the commission investigating the attack of the fleet taking aid to Palestinians besieged in Gaza.

In the final days of his presidency, Uribe had already organized the operation using the GPS in the new boots needed by the Colombian guerrilla leader.

When the new Colombian president traveled to the US to speak at the General Assembly, he knew that the operation was underway, and when Obama learned of the news of the murder of the guerrilla, he warmly hugged Santos.

I wonder whether on that occasion they said anything at all about respecting the decision made by the Colombian Senate declaring Uribe’s authorization to establish Yankee military bases to be illegal. The crude murder was backed up by these bases.

I have criticized the FARC. In a Reflection I publicly expressed my disagreement with the holding of prisoners of war and the sacrifices meant for them by the tough conditions of life in the jungle. I explained the reasons and the experience we acquired in our struggle.

I was critical of the strategic concepts of the Colombian guerrilla movement. But I never denied the revolutionary nature of the FARC.

I believed, and I believe, that Marulanda was one of the most distinguished of the Colombian and Latin American guerrilla fighters. When many of the names of the mediocre politicians are forgotten, Marulanda will be acknowledged as one of the most honorable and firm fighters for the well-being of peasants, workers and the poor of Latin America.

The prestige and moral authority of Piedad Córdoba has multiplied.

Fidel Castro Ruz

We are living through an exceptional moment in human history: FIDEL CASTRO

Fidel’s message at the launch of La contraofensiva estratégica in Havana

The deadlines established by the United Nations Security Council for Iran to yield to the demands imposed by the United States regarding nuclear research and uranium enrichment for medical purposes and to generate electricity will be expiring in these days.

This is the only nuclear use that has been documented in Iran.

The fear that Iran is looking forward to producing nuclear weapons is only based on an assumption.

With regard to this delicate issue, the United States and its western allies, among them two of the five nuclear powers with veto power -France and the United Kingdom- supported by the richest and most developed capitalist powers of the world, have promoted an increasing number of sanctions against Iran, a rich, oil-producing Muslim country. Today, the measures adopted include the inspection of Iran's merchant vessels and severe economic sanctions aimed at suffocating its economy.

I have been following very closely the grave dangers that may result from that situation, because if a war breaks out in that region, it could very quickly go nuclear, and this will have lethal consequences for the rest of the planet.

In referring to such danger I was not looking for publicity or sensationalism. I just wanted to warn the world public opinion hoping that, being advised of such grave danger it could contribute to avoid it.

At least we have managed to draw attention to a problem that was hardly mentioned by the big world media.

This has made me use part of the time scheduled for the launching of this book, on which we worked diligently. I did not want this to coincide with the dates of September 7 and 9. September 7 marks the end of the 90 days term established by the Security Council to know whether Iran complied or not with the requirement of authorizing the inspection of its merchant vessels. September 9 marks the expiration of the three months term fixed by the Resolution adopted on June 9. Quite possibly the establishment of this last term was what the Security Council intended to do originally.

So far we have only had the weird statement made by the Director General of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), the Japanese Yukiya Amano, a man who serves the interests of the Yankees. He added all the fuel to the flames and then, like Pontius Pilate, he washed his hands of the issue.

A spokesperson from the Foreign Ministry of Iran commented his statements with a well earned contempt. According to a news report published by EFE, Amano's assertion that "'our friends should not worry, because we don't believe our region is in the position to engage in new military adventures' and that 'Iran was fully prepared to respond to any military invasion' was an obvious reference to the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, 'who warned about a possible Israeli nuclear attack against Iran with the support of the United States'".

News on this topic are pouring and get mixed with others of remarkable repercussion.

The journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine, already known by our people, has been publishing some excerpts of the long interview he made me. He has been discussing some interesting aspects of it before he finally writes a future and long article.

"There were many odd things about my recent Havana stopover, [...]", he wrote, but one of the most unusual was Fidel Castro's level of self-reflection [...] but it seemed truly striking that Castro was willing to admit that he misplayed his hand at a crucial moment in the Cuban Missile Crisis [...] that he regrets asking Khrushchev to nuke the U.S." It is true that he addressed the topic and he asked me that question. Literally, as he wrote in the first part of his report, his words were the following: "I asked him: At a certain point it seemed logical for you to recommend that the Soviets bomb the U.S. Does what you recommended still seem logical now?" He answered: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it all."

I had thoroughly explained to him -and there is written evidence of that- the content of that message: ".if the United States invades Cuba, a country with Russian nuclear weapons, under such circumstances Russia should not allow to be dealt the first strike, as the one dealt against the USSR on June 22, 1941, when the German army and all European forces attacked the USSR."

As can be observed from that brief reference to the issue, from the second part of his report to the audience on that news, readers could not realize that "if the United States invaded Cuba, a country with Russian nuclear weapons", under such circumstances, my recommendation was to prevent the enemy from launching the first strike; nor the profound irony embedded in my response - ".and knowing what I know now.", which was an obvious reference to the betrayal by one Russian President who saturated himself with some ethylic substance and revealed to the United States the most important military secrets of that country.

Further on Goldberg wrote about another moment of our conversation: "I asked him if he believed the Cuban model was still something worth exporting." Obviously, that question implicitly suggested the theory that Cuba exported the Revolution. So I responded: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore". I said this to him without any bitterness or concern. And now I laugh at the way he literally interpreted what I said and how, according to him, he consulted it with Julia Sweig, a CFR analyst who accompanied him and worked out the theory he described. But the truth is that the meaning of my response was exactly the opposite of the interpretation made by both American journalists of the Cuban model.

My idea, as everybody knows, is that the capitalist system does not work anymore either for the United States or the world, which jumps from one crisis into the next, and these are ever more serious, global and frequent and there is no way the world could escape from them. How could such a system work for a socialist country like Cuba?

Many Arab friends worried when they knew I had met with Goldberg, and sent some messages describing him as "the staunchest advocate of Zionism."

From all of these we can infer the big confusion that exists in the world. Therefore I hope that what I am telling you about my thoughts could be useful.

The ideas I expressed are contained in 333 Reflections -see what a coincidence. The last 26 refer exclusively to the problems affecting the environment and the imminent danger of a nuclear war.

And now I should very briefly add something.

I have always condemned the Holocaust. I my Reflections entitled "Obama's Speech in Cairo", "A Swipe Waiting to Happen", and "The Opinion of an Expert" I expressed this very clearly.

I have never been an enemy of the Jewish people, which I admire for having resisted dispersion and persecution during two thousand years. Many of the most brilliant talents, such as Karl Marx and Albert Einstein, were Jews, because that was a nation where the most intelligent managed to survive by virtue of a natural law. In our country and in the whole world they were persecuted and slandered. But this is just pat of the ideas I defend.

They were not the only one who were persecuted and slandered for their beliefs. Muslims were attacked and persecuted for their beliefs by the European Christians for much more than 12 centuries, just as the first Christians were in ancient Rome before Christianity became an official religion of that empire. History should be accepted and remembered just the way it happened, with all its tragic realities and its fierce wars. I have spoken about that and that is why I have all the more reason to explain the dangers jeopardizing humankind today, when wars have become the biggest suicide risk for our fragile species.

If we add to this a war against Iran, even if it were of a conventional nature, the United States would rather turn off the light and say goodbye. How could the US put up with a war against 1.5 million Muslims?

For any true revolutionary, defending peace does not mean to renounce to the principles of justice, without which human life and society would be meaningless.

I still believe that Goldberg is an excellent journalist who is able to set out, in an enjoyable way and masterly way, his views, which promotes debate. He does not invent phrases; he transfers them and interprets them.

I will not refer to the content of many others aspects of our conversation. I will respect the secrecy of the issues we discussed and I eagerly await his future long article.

The current news that have started to pour from all sources make me to complement his presentation with these words whose essence is contained in the book "La contraofensiva estrat?gica" (The Strategic Counteroffensive), which I have just presented.

I believe that all peoples have the right to peace and enjoy all the goods and natural resources of the planet. What is currently going on with peoples in many countries of Africa, where there are millions of emaciated children, women and men out of lack of food, water and medicines is a shame. We feel astonished by the images we see from the Middle East, where Palestinians are deprived from their lands, their homes are demolished by gigantic equipment, and men, women and children are bombed with white phosphorus and other extermination means; the Dantesque scenes of families exterminated by the bombs dropped over Afghan and Pakistani towns by drones; the Iraqis who are dying after years of war; and the more than one million lives lost in that conflict imposed by a US President.

The last we could expect to see were the news about the expulsion of the French gypsies, who are victims of a new sort of racial Holocaust. The strong protest by the French is only logical. At the same time, the millionaires restrict French citizens' rights to retirement while reducing the possibilities to get a job.

From the US we have heard the news of a pastor in Florida that intends to burn the Holy Book of the Quran in its own church. Even the Yankee and military chiefs engaged in punitive war missions were disturbed by the news which they believed would put their soldiers in jeopardy.

Walter Martinez, the prestigious journalist who conducts the Venezuelan TV program Dossier, was amazed at such madness.

Yesterday, Thursday 9th in the evening, some news asserted that the pastor had relinquished his idea. It might be necessary to know what the FBI agents who visited him told him to "persuade him". That was a colossal media show, a chaos. Those are things proper of an empire that is sinking.

I thank all of you for your attention.

------------------------------Havana. September 13, 2010

Castro says he was misinterpreted on Cuban economy

By WILL WEISSERT
updated 9/10/2010 4:47:02 PM ET

HAVANA — Fidel Castro said Friday his comments about the Cuban economic model no longer working were misinterpreted by a visiting American journalist — taking back an admission that caused a stir around the globe.

The 84-year-old ex-president said he was not misquoted but meant "the opposite" of what he was reported as having said by The Atlantic magazine reporter Jeffrey Goldberg.

Goldberg wrote Wednesday that during three days of interviews with Castro in Havana last month, he asked the former leader over lunch and wine if Cuba's communist system was still worth exporting to other countries. He said Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore."

Castro read from Goldberg's blog during an event at the University of Havana and said he was misunderstood.

"I expressed it to him without bitterness or worry. It's funny to me now how he interpreted it, word for word, and how he consulted with Julia Sweig, who accompanied him and gave a theory," Castro told those assembled. "The reality is, my answer meant the opposite of what both American journalists interpreted about the Cuban model."

Sweig, a Cuba expert at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations who came to Cuba with Goldberg, confirmed Castro's comment earlier this week, telling The Associated Press it was in line with calls by Raul Castro, Fidel's brother and successor as president, for gradual but widespread economic and labor reform on the island.

Goldberg blogged that Sweig told him Raul Castro "is already loosening the state's hold on the economy."

Since July 2006, when serious intestinal illness nearly killed Fidel Castro and forced him to cede power to Raul, Cuba has implemented reforms such as allowing the unrestricted sale of cell phones, privatizing some state-run barbershops, licensing more private taxis and distributing fallow government land to private farmers in hopes they could put it to better use.

Still, Cuba's former "Maximum Leader" maintained Friday that wasn't what he meant at all.

"My idea, as the whole world knows, is that the capitalist system no long works — neither for the United States nor the world, which it steers from crisis to crisis, which are ever more serious, global and repetitive, and from which there is no escape," Castro said. "How could such a system work for a socialist country like Cuba?"

The comments came during an unveiling at the university of "The Strategic Counter-Offensive," Castro's second book on his revolution that toppled Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 that he has written and released in less than a month.

His tone was not angry, more baffled and even a bit bemused. At one point Castro said, "I continue to think that Goldberg is a great journalist. He doesn't invent phrases, he transmits them and interprets them."

Castro had invited Goldberg to Cuba to discuss Iran — not domestic island politics — and he apparently did not elaborate on his comment about the economy, making it difficult to decipher the meaning.

Still, it made headlines globally: The Guardian newspaper of Britain called it "an aside heard around the world."

Castro said Goldberg missed the irony in his quip and took issue for the same reason with a a Goldberg blog entry from Tuesday, when he wrote that during another conversation, Castro questioned his own actions during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis — including his recommendation to Soviet leaders that they use nuclear weapons against the United States.

Goldberg wrote that with Castro, he revisited the Missile Crisis, asking: "At a certain point it seemed logical for you to recommend that the Soviets bomb the U.S. Does what you recommended still seem logical now?"

He said Castro's answer surprised him: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it all."

"It's true that I broached the subject as (Goldberg) relates," Castro said Friday. But he added that if he had known the true nature of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, he would have pushed for another course of action.

Castro said his remark to Goldberg came in "obvious reference to the treachery of the Russian president who, saturated with alcoholic substances, gave the United States all his country's most important military secrets."

Castro did not take issue with other aspects of Goldberg's reporting, such as his revelation that the gray-bearded revolutionary criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and for what he called anti-Semitic attitudes.

Blogging about his trip to Cuba — which included a visit with Castro to the dolphin show at Havana's aquarium — Goldberg said he would post further items and write a longer piece for The Atlantic.

"He didn't mention many other aspects of our conversations," Castro said Friday. "I will respect the confidentiality of the matters we discussed while waiting with great interest his extensive article."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Fidel: 'Cuban Model Doesn't Even Work For Us Anymore'

By Jeffrey Goldberg
THE ATLANTIC

There were many odd things about my recent Havana stopover (apart from the dolphin show, which I'll get to shortly), but one of the most unusual was Fidel Castro's level of self-reflection. I only have limited experience with Communist autocrats (I have more experience with non-Communist autocrats) but it seemed truly striking that Castro was willing to admit that he misplayed his hand at a crucial moment in the Cuban Missile Crisis (you can read about what he said toward the end of my previous post - but he said, in so many words, that he regrets asking Khruschev to nuke the U.S.).

Even more striking was something he said at lunch on the day of our first meeting. We were seated around a smallish table; Castro, his wife, Dalia, his son; Antonio; Randy Alonso, a major figure in the government-run media; and Julia Sweig, the friend I brought with me to make sure, among other things, that I didn't say anything too stupid (Julia is a leading Latin American scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations). I initially was mainly interested in watching Fidel eat - it was a combination of digestive problems that conspired to nearly kill him, and so I thought I would do a bit of gastrointestinal Kremlinology and keep a careful eye on what he took in (for the record, he ingested small amounts of fish and salad, and quite a bit of bread dipped in olive oil, as well as a glass of red wine). But during the generally lighthearted conversation (we had just spent three hours talking about Iran and the Middle East), I asked him if he believed the Cuban model was still something worth exporting.

"The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," he said.

This struck me as the mother of all Emily Litella moments. Did the leader of the Revolution just say, in essence, "Never mind"?

I asked Julia to interpret this stunning statement for me. She said, "He wasn't rejecting the ideas of the Revolution. I took it to be an acknowledgment that under 'the Cuban model' the state has much too big a role in the economic life of the country."

Julia pointed out that one effect of such a sentiment might be to create space for his brother, Raul, who is now president, to enact the necessary reforms in the face of what will surely be push-back from orthodox communists within the Party and the bureaucracy. Raul Castro is already loosening the state's hold on the economy. He recently announced, in fact, that small businesses can now operate and that foreign investors could now buy Cuban real estate. (The joke of this new announcement, of course, is that Americans are not allowed to invest in Cuba, not because of Cuban policy, but because of American policy. In other words, Cuba is beginning to adopt the sort of economic ideas that America has long-demanded it adopt, but Americans are not allowed to participate in this free-market experiment because of our government's hypocritical and stupidly self-defeating embargo policy. We'll regret this, of course, when Cubans partner with Europeans and Brazilians to buy up all the best hotels).

But I digress. Toward the end of this long, relaxed lunch, Fidel proved to us that he was truly semi-retired. The next day was Monday, when maximum leaders are expected to be busy single-handedly managing their economies, throwing dissidents into prison, and the like. But Fidel's calendar was open. He asked us, "Would you like to go the aquarium with me to see the dolphin show?"

I wasn't sure I heard him correctly. (This happened a number of times during my visit). "The dolphin show?"

"The dolphins are very intelligent animals," Castro said.

I noted that we had a meeting scheduled for the next morning, with Adela Dworin, the president of Cuba's Jewish community."Bring her," Fidel said.Someone at the table mentioned that the aquarium was closed on Mondays. Fidel said, "It will be open tomorrow."

And so it was.

Late the next morning, after collecting Adela at the synagogue, we met Fidel on the steps of the dolphin house. He kissed Dworin, not incidentally in front of the cameras (another message for Ahmadinejad, perhaps). We went together into a large, blue-lit room that faces a massive, glass-enclosed dolphin tank. Fidel explained, at length, that the Havana Aquarium's dolphin show was the best dolphin show in the world, "completely unique," in fact, because it is an underwater show. Three human divers enter the water, without breathing equipment, and perform intricate acrobatics with the dolphins.

"Do you like dolphins?" Fidel asked me.

"I like dolphins a lot," I said.

Fidel called over Guillermo Garcia, the director of the aquarium (every employee of the aquarium, of course, showed up for work -- "voluntarily," I was told) and told him to sit with us."Goldberg," Fidel said, "ask him questions about dolphins."

"What kind of questions?" I asked

"You're a journalist, ask good questions," he said, and then interrupted himself. "He doesn't know much about dolphins anyway," he said, pointing to Garcia. He's actually a nuclear physicist."

"You are?" I asked.

"Yes," Garcia said, somewhat apologetically.

"Why are you running the aquarium?" I asked

"We put him here to keep him from building nuclear bombs!" Fidel said, and then cracked-up laughing.

"In Cuba, we would only use nuclear power for peaceful means," Garcia said, earnestly.

"I didn't think I was in Iran," I answered.

Fidel pointed to the small rug under the special swivel chair his bodyguards bring along for him. "It's Persian!" he said, and laughed again.

Then he said, "Goldberg, ask your questions about dolphins."

Now on the spot, I turned to Garcia and asked, "How much do the dolphins weigh?"

"They weigh between 100 and 150 kilograms," he said

"How do you train the dolphins to do what they do?" I asked.

"That's a good question," Fidel said.

Garcia called over one of the aquarium's veterinarians to help answer the question. Her name was Celia. A few minutes later, Antonio Castro told me her last name: Guevara

"You're Che's daughter?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

"And you're a dolphin veterinarian?"

"I take care of all the inhabitants of the aquarium," she said.

"Che liked animals very much," Antonio Castro said.

It was time for the show to start. The lights dimmed, and the divers entered the water. Without describing it overly much, I will say that once again, and to my surprise, I found myself agreeing with Fidel: The aquarium in Havana puts on a fantastic dolphin show, the best I've ever seen, and as the father of three children, I've seen a lot of dolphin shows. I will also say this: I've never seen someone enjoy a dolphin show as much as Fidel Castro enjoyed the dolphin show.

In the next installment, I will deal with such issues as the American embargo, the status of religion in Cuba, the plight of political dissidents, and economic reform. For now, I leave you with this image from our day at the aquarium (I'm in the low chair; Che's daughter is behind me, with the short, blondish hair; Fidel is the guy who looks like Fidel if Fidel shopped at L.L. Bean):

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fidel-cuban-model-doesnt-even-work-for-us-anymore/62602/
A Copyright © 2010 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All Rights Reserved.