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Just a few days ago a friend sent me the text of
a statement made by Gallup, the famous U.S.
pollster. I started to leaf through the
material with the natural suspicion about the
untrue and hypocritical information that is
usually used against our homeland.
It was a poll about education and it included
Cuba which tends to be ignored. The situation
was being analyzed in four regions of the world:
Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. In some
aspects, several countries in the Caribbean were
included.
First question: Are the children in your
country treated with dignity and respect, or
not? Positive response: Asia 73%; Europe 67%;
Africa 60%; Latin America 41%. If the Caribbean
countries are included, Gallup states that in
Haiti only 13% of people responded affirmatively
to this question.
Second question: Do most children in your
country have the opportunity to learn and grow
every day, or not? In Asia, 75% answered yes;
in Europe, 74%; in Africa, 60%; in Latin
America, 56%. Many of the countries in the
region remained below 50%.
Third question: Is education in this country
accessible to anybody who wants to study,
regardless of their economic situation, or not?
The answers reveal a painful situation in many
of the nations of Latin America, and the best
answers are in the English-speaking Caribbean.
I mean no offense to any of the countries I have
mentioned, but it would be pointless to write
these lines without indicating the place
occupied in the poll by Cuba –a country so
slandered. It was in first place among all the
countries of the world. To the first question,
93% of those polled answered yes; to the second,
96%, and to the third, 98%. As it is well
known, Cubans usually answer any question with
absolute honesty.
Another particularly striking point is that in
Venezuela, the answer to the first and second
questions was yes, 70% and 80% respectively.
This is a country that is carrying forward a
great education program eradicating illiteracy
and promoting education at all levels; their
process began a few short years ago. For this
reason, it took the second place in the region.
To the third question, 82% answered yes, and
this corresponded to the third place in Latin
America and the Caribbean, bested by Trinidad
and Tobago which held the second place with 86%.
In major nations of Latin America such as
Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Chile, the answers
were yes to the question by 57%, 56%, 52% and
43% of the polled, respectively. Better results
than these were held by the Dominican Republic,
Panama, Uruguay, Belize and Bolivia with 76%,
73%, 70%, 66% and 65%. Paraguay and Haiti were
among the lowest, at 17%.
Cuba is cooperating free of charge with these
two and many other sister countries in the
hemisphere, both in education and healthcare,
placing special emphasis on the training of
medical personnel. Thus, Cuba modestly carries
out its Marti-inspired duty: “Homeland is
humanity!” as our National Hero proclaimed.
On May 19 we commemorated the 113rd anniversary
of his death which took place in Dos Rios in the
year 1895. As everyone knows, the military
intervention of the United States thwarted the
independence of our homeland. Countless
patriots had perished in the struggle during
almost 30 years.
The power to the north had always been hostile
to our struggle, since a long time before it had
targeted our country with the ‘Manifest Destiny’
to make it part of its territory in its quest
for expansion.
At a given point, the decline of the Spanish
Empire, over which the sun never set,
facilitated the blow to smash Cuba, Puerto Rico,
the Philippines and Guam given by the new
imperial power. It sought excuses, it used
deceit and lies, and recognized that to all
intents and purposes the Cuban people were free
and independent, and with this it sought the
backing of its valiant combatants to support the
interventionist war.
In that final struggle, the Spanish displayed
the customary bravery of their soldiers and the
stupidity of their government. Cervera’s
squadron was annihilated, ship by ship, by the
American warships in the mouth of the Bay of
Santiago de Cuba, as we have explained on other
occasions, practically without being able to
fire one shot. The great hoax occurred later
when once the people were unarmed, they forced
the Platt Amendment on Cuba accompanied with
one-sided economic contracts; the country,
destroyed and blood-drained, inexorably became
property of the United States.
That is the real story.
What has been happening in recent years? They
are going mad in the face of the staunch
resistance of our people and its modest advance
towards a fairer world despite the demise of the
socialist bloc and the USSR.
Radio Marti, Television Marti and other
sophisticated and aggressive media insult the
name of our Apostle of Independence. They are
trying with these to humiliate the Cuban people
and destroy its resistance.
A flood of speeches and lies are being waged
against Cuba. McCain, Bush’s candidate to the
presidency of the empire, speaks; Bush himself
speaks. Against whom? Against Marti. On whose
behalf? Marti’s.
They refer to atrocious tortures, something that
has never happened in our country, and even the
least informed Cuban knows that. And who is
speaking about torture? McCain, the candidate,
and George W. Bush, the President.
What is the declaration of the candidate?
“I would like to thank my two dear friends in
Congress, Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, who are
great defenders of the Cuban people’s liberty.
They are men of honor and integrity. I respect
and admire them a lot. They are the best
congressmen with whom I have been able to work
and whom I have known…”
“[ My friends,]
today, on Cuba's Independence Day, we have
occasion to celebrate the rich cultural heritage
and deep-rooted traditions of the Cuban people….”
“Those
inspired freedom fighters who secured Cuba's
independence over 100 years ago could hardly
know that their descendants would be engaged in
a struggle for freedom and democracy a century
later...”
“One
day, Cuba will be an important ally in advancing
democracy throughout our hemisphere…”
“Yet
tyranny will not forever endure, and as
President, I will not passively await the day
when the Cuban people enjoy the blessings of
freedom and democracy. I will not wait…”
“My administration will press the Cuban regime
to release all political prisoners
unconditionally and to schedule internationally
monitored elections…”
“The embargo must stay in place until these
basic elements of democratic society are met…”
“We will work to prevent Venezuela and
Bolivia from taking the same road to failure
Castro has paved for Cuba.”
McCain, in his book, Faith of My Fathers,
confessed that he was among the five worst
students in his West Point studies. He is just
proving this. At the end of his imprisonment he
showed weakness, and he also admits this. He
dropped countless bombs on the Vietnamese
people. How many lives and how much money did
that adventure cost? The value of gold then was
at 35 dollars and that war squandered 500
billion. The consequences are still being
paid. Today an ounce of gold costs a thousand
dollars and once again wars are squandering
billions each year. New and complex problems
are added to this. Where are the solutions?
What did President George W. Bush say?
"One
hundred and 13 years ago this week, Cuba lost
its great poet and patriot, José Martí. And 106
years ago this week, Cuba achieved the
independence for which Martí gave his life…..”
“Martí's warning proved truer than anyone could
have imagined...”
“The regime has not attempted even cosmetic
changes. For example, political dissidents
continue to be harassed, detained, and beaten…”
“The world is watching the Cuban regime. If it
follows its recent public gestures by opening up
access to information, respecting political
freedom and human rights, then it can credibly
say it has delivered the beginnings of change….”
“America refuses to be deceived, and so do the
Cuban people.
While the regime … isolates itself, the Cuban
people will continue to act with dignity and
honor and courage…”
“This is the first Day of Solidarity with the
Cuban People -- and the United States must keep
observing such days until Cuba's freedom…”
“We'll continue to support the Cubans who work
to make their nation democratic and prosperous
and just... “
“…the United States has dramatically stepped up
our efforts to promote freedom and democracy in
Cuba. This includes our increased efforts to get
uncensored information to the Cuban people,
primarily through Radio … Marti...”
“… I also repeat my offer to license U.S. NGOs
and faith-based groups to provide computers and
Internet to the Cuban people….”
“Through these measures, the United States is
reaching out to the Cuban people. Yet we know
that life will not fundamentally change for
Cubans until their form of government changes.
For those who've suffered for decades, such
change may seem impossible. But the truth is it
is inevitable…”
“The day will come when all political prisoners
are offered unconditional release. And these
developments will bring another great day -- the
day when Cubans choose their own leaders by
voting in free and fair elections."
“…113 years after José Martí left us, a new
poet-patriot expresses the hopes of the Cuban
people. Willy Chirino will perform a song that
is on the Cuban people's lips and in their
hearts: Nuestro día ya viene llegando.”
Not a word about the cordon of hunger and
blockade set around us for decades.
Martí was a profound thinker and a
straightforward anti-imperialist. In his times,
no one knew so precisely about the dire
consequences of the monetary agreements that the
United States was trying to force on the Latin
American countries, the prototype of a free
trade which today has been reborn in conditions
that are more unfair than ever.
“Whoever says economic union says political
union. The nation that buys, commands. The
nation that sells, serves. Trade must be
balanced to assure freedom…Let the country
desiring freedom be free in business affairs.”
These are principles proclaimed by Marti.
At that time, payments were made in silver or in
gold. Today paper is used.
In the unfinished letter to his friend Manuel
Mercado, on the eve of his death, he pointed
out:
"I am in daily danger of giving my life for my
country and duty, for I understand that duty and
have the courage to carry it out – the duty of
preventing the United States from spreading
through the Antilles as Cuba gains its
independence, and from overpowering with that
additional strength our lands of America. All I
have done so far, and all I will do, is for this
purpose…It had to be in silence and sort of
indirectly since the achievement of certain
goals demands concealment for, if proclaimed for
what they really are, obstacles so formidable
would rise as to prevent their attainment."
It is not important how many times we repeat
these intimate and revealing words, so
marvelously put forth.
With these categorical sentences in his mind, a
few hours later he took off to charge, alone, on
a Spanish column. Nobody could have held him
back. On the front line, on horseback, he was
hit by three deadly bullets, detaining his
impetuous advance.
On July 26, 2004, when Bush had already spent
almost three years bombing, torturing and
murdering in his absurd anti-terrorist war, with
the Iraq invasion already underway, I analyzed
his strange personality coming through from a
study in the interesting book by Dr. Justin A.
Frank, Bush on the Couch, which contains
one of the most revealing and fundamental
studies of George W. Bush’s personality:
“Confabulation is a common phenomenon among
drinkers, as is perseveration, which is evident
in Bush’s tendency to repeat key words and
phrases, as if the repetition helps him remain
calm and stay on track."
"…Even if we assume, moreover, that George W.
Bush’s drinking days are behind him, the
question remains how much lasting damage may
have been done before he stopped —beyond the
considerable impact on his personality that we
can trace to his untreated abstinence. Any
comprehensive psychological or psychoanalytical
study of President Bush would have to explore
how much the brain and its functions are changed
by more than twenty years of heavy drinking.”
Neither of the two speakers on the 20th
and 21st of May even mentioned the
Cuban Five anti-terrorist heroes, whose
information allowed to discover Posada Carriles’
plans and to prevent the blowing up of planes in
mid-air, with foreign visitors on board,
including Americans, aimed at striking a blow at
tourism. They pressured and bribed the
president of Panama thus helping to free him.
Santiago Alvarez moved him to Florida. I
publicly denounced this almost immediately.
Everything has been confirmed. Later, an
enormous cache of weapons was confiscated from
Santiago Alvarez himself.
They want impunity for terrorists and
mercenaries. Little do they know Cuba and its
people!
McCain’s and Bush’s crass lies are the only path
that will obtain absolutely nothing from the
heroic people which have resisted the power of
the empire for almost half a century.
We want to bring this before history: the
immortal ideas which Marti nurtured with his own
blood shall never be betrayed!
Fidel Castro Ruz
May 22, 2008
11:12 p.m. |
