>Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 17:57:12 +0100 > >Subject: Fwd: Fw: FIDEL: MAY 1 2002 Speech (English) > > > > > > >>Envelope-to: dashyaf@easynet.co.uk >>X-Originating-IP: [195.147.215.224] >>From: "Suz Sunflower" <sunflowersuz@hotmail.com> >>To: dashyaf@easynet.co.uk >>Subject: Fwd: Fw: FIDEL: MAY 1 2002 Speech (English) >>Date: Tue, 07 May 2002 12:31:27 +0000 >>X-OriginalArrivalTime: 07 May 2002 12:31:27.0934 (UTC) >>FILETIME=[1BF1BDE0:01C1F5C3] >>Delivered-To: dashyaf@easynet.co.uk >>Delivered-To: dashyaf@easynet.co.uk >> >>>SPEECH BY DR. FIDEL CASTRO RUZ PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, AT THE >>>INTERNATIONAL WORKERS' DAY CELEBRATION IN REVOLUTION SQUARE, HAVANA, MAY >>>1st 2002 >>> >>>Official Translation - May 3, 2002 >>> >>> >>>Distinguished guests; >>> >>>Dear countrymen: >>> >>>We were condemned in Geneva by those who believe that this sea of >>>people gathered here, which can be seen from every corner of the globe, >>>has been deprived of its human rights. I am certain that not one of >>>those Latin American countries that promoted, co-sponsored or supported >>>this project could gather even 5% of the number here in their >>>respective capitals. >>> >>>Are these fanatic, ignorant and uncultured individuals who lack any >>>historical or political knowledge? If we were to ask this mass of >>>people if there were any amongst them who could not read or write; or >>>if there were any functional illiterate people who had never studied >>>beyond grammar school, not one person could raise their hand. But if we >>>were to ask how many of this same mass have the education of a ninth >>>grader or above, more than 90%, would raise their hands. The only >>>ones who wouldn't raise their hands would be the students who haven't >>>yet reached their 15th birthdays. >>> >>>Our people's glorious tradition of rebellion and patriotic >>>struggle, to which we must today add a full and profound understanding >>>of freedom, equality and human dignity; their solidarity and >>>internationalist spirit; their self-confidence and heroic conduct; 43 >>>years of tenacious and unrelenting struggle against the powerful >>>empire; a broad and solid political culture and an extraordinary >>>humanism --all of these qualities cultivated by the Revolution-- have >>>made Cuba a unique country. >>> >>>Wretched indeed is the destiny of hundreds of millions of people in >>>this part of the world who, from a truly human perspective, have been >>>as yet unable to emerge from humanity's prehistory. And it will not be >>>possible for them to escape such condition while the pillage that >>>slaughtered tens of millions of their native ancestors, successively >>>turning their countries into colonies, neo-colonies and economically >>>dependant and underdeveloped countries, continues to govern their >>>destiny. >>> >>>Events prior to, during and after Geneva are barely distinguishable >>>from the shameful history with which our people have been more than >>>familiar since the very first days after the triumph of the Revolution >>>on January 1st, 1959. >>> >>>Cuba was the last Latin American country to free itself from >>>Spanish colonialism after a heroic and lone struggle. Yet, it was >>>unable to enjoy that victory, as it immediately fell in the hands of >>>the fledgling North American empire, from which it once again liberated >>>itself with the same determination and heroism 61 years later although >>>it would be disgracefully abandoned and betrayed by every other Latin >>>American government. >>> >>>No book by Marx or Lenin could illustrate the anti-national, >>>submissive and treacherous nature of the Latin American oligarchies and >>>the true significance of imperialism for the destiny of our people as >>>clearly as the last 43 years of our Revolution's history. Every >>>oligarchic and bourgeois government joined in the imperialist policy of >>>isolation, blockade and aggression against Cuba, the sole exception >>>being a country that had experienced its own great social revolution >>>some decades before, the same that brought justice and real progress to >>>the people of a nation mutilated by the insatiable expansionism of its >>>northern neighbor and made the martyr on numerous occasions throughout >>>its hazardous and painful history of foreign intervention and conquest. >>>Tragically, this time the exception has become rule. >>> >>>Cuba is no longer the illiterate, uncultured and inexperienced >>>country of those early days. Today, the Latin American population, that >>>numbered 208 millions at that time including the English-speaking >>>Caribbean nations, have swelled to 526 millions. They have also had the >>>opportunity to learn firsthand the meaning of imperialist domination, >>>exploitation, injustice and pillage. Despite the deluge of slander and >>>lies against our exemplary people and their admirable struggle, and in >>>the face of countless capitulations across the globe, there are ever >>>more people who realize that Cuba is a powerful moral force, that >>>defends the truth and shows its solidarity with other people of the >>>world. >>> >>>Our Latin American brothers have repeatedly been told stories as >>>fantastic as those in the "Arabian nights," in which they believe >>>less and less every day. For 50 years they have been told that the >>>hundreds of thousands of children that die every year due to neglect >>>and hunger; the millions that work for pitiful salaries cleaning car >>>windshields or shoes, or being traded or sexually exploited instead of >>>going to school, represent democracy and respect for human rights. That >>>the hundreds of millions of human beings living in poverty despite the >>>immense wealth and natural resources that surround them; the vast >>>number of unemployed and underemployed people and informal laborers who >>>survive without the slightest aid, social security or protection; the >>>medical neglect of mothers, children, old people and the poor >>>population in general; the marginalization, drugs, lack of security and >>>crime, are called democracy; are called respect for human rights. That >>>the death squads, summary executions, torture, and the vanishing and >>>murder of people; that the bribery, misappropriation, diversion and >>>bare-faced robbery of public funds while schools and hospitals are >>>closed, national assets and resources are privatized or often given >>>away to domestic and foreign friends and partners in crime and >>>corruption, constitute the fullest expression of democracy and human >>>rights. It doesn't occur to them that the economic, political and >>>social system that they defend is a total negation of all possibility >>>of equality, freedom, democracy, human dignity and justice. >>> >>>An illiterate person or one whose education barely surpasses 4th >>>grade, or one who lives in poverty or extreme poverty, or is unemployed >>>or lives in shanty towns where the most unimaginable conditions are >>>rife, or a person who wanders the streets exposed to the constant >>>poison of commercial advertising sowing the seeds of fantasies, >>>illusions and the desire for impossible consumption, a person such as >>>this, that indeed could include vast numbers of people in the desperate >>>daily fight for survival, could be the victim of every kind of abuse, >>>blackmail, pressure and deceit and could lack any representative >>>organization or see these crushed. It is certainly unlikely that such a >>>person could be in a position to understand the complex problems of the >>>world and the society in which they live. They are in no position to >>>exercise their democratic rights, nor decide which is the most honest >>>or demagogic or hypocritical candidate, this under a torrent of >>>propaganda and lies where those with the most resources spout the most >>>lies and deceit. >>> >>>No freedom of expression can exist where the principal and most >>>effective media are an exclusive monopoly in the hands of the richest >>>and most privileged sectors, sworn enemies of any economic, political >>>or social change. The enjoyment of wealth, education, knowledge and >>>culture are the preserve of those who, accounting for a tiny fraction >>>of the population, receive the larger part of the goods produced in >>>their countries. It is no coincidence that Latin America exhibits the >>>greatest differences between the richest and the poorest. >>> >>>What kind of democracy and human rights could exist in these >>>conditions? It would be like trying to grow flowers in the middle of >>>the Sahara desert. >>> >>>On the other hand, when the total stripping of natural resources and >>>the appropriation of human labor is presented as the ideal social and >>>development model and the FTAA, i.e. the annexation and absorption of >>>Latin America by the United States and dollarization are offered as the >>>only way, it is clear that the prevailing political and economic system >>>is approaching total crisis. >>> >>>Events in Argentina, that is today embroiled in an unbelievable >>>economic and political chaos that has reduced the country to hunger, >>>with more than 20% unemployment among the working population and where >>>the people's bank savings --especially those of the middle and lower >>>income classes- have been practically confiscated, point to nothing >>>less than the swan song of neoliberal globalization. Such a crisis >>>inevitably produces a complete lack of ethics and values. >>> >>>The behavior of many leaders as they watch their model economies >>>collapse like so many houses of cards is truly obnoxious. >>> >>>People's protests are crushed with amazing violence. Tear gas, people >>>dragged through the streets, brutality exercised against masses by the >>>police armed with shields and swathed in the strangest helmets and >>>outfits giving them the appearance of recent arrivals from a distant >>>planet, are the methods used to defend that democracy and their >>>citizen's human rights. >>> >>>Similar scenes have never been witnessed in our country. Never, >>>over more than four decades, has force been used against our people. >>>The revolutionary process grows out of the closest unity and >>>cooperation of all our people, under a consensus without precedent in >>>any other country in the world, unworkable and even unimaginable in a >>>society of exploiters and exploited. >>> >>>A cultured, rebellious, brave and heroic people such as the Cuban >>>could never be ruled by force, nor a force exist that would rule it >>>because the Cuban people is the force. Never would our people stir up >>>rebellion against themselves because they are the revolution, they are >>>the government, they are the power. It is with their courage, >>>intelligence and ideas that they have defended themselves from the most >>>powerful empire the world has ever known. >>> >>>Such a political phenomenon had never before occurred in our >>>hemisphere. >>> >>>Force has always been used by the oligarchs and the empire against >>>the people. >>> >>>Each and every one of the Latin American countries that condemned >>>us in Geneva or co-sponsored the draft resolution against Cuba are well >>>below achieving the educational, cultural and social rates that are >>>essential for a healthy, decent and just life of their citizens. Not >>>one can match Cuba in a single one of these rates. >>> >>>For the sake of time, I will outline just a few figures for Latin >>>America as a whole as compared to Cuba. >>> >>> - Illiteracy rate: Latin America, 11.7%; Cuba, 0.2% >>> >>> - Inhabitants per teacher: Latin America, 98.4; Cuba, 43, in other >>> words, 2.3 times as many teachers per capita >>> >>> - Primary education enrolment ratio: Latin America, 92%; Cuba, 100% >>> >>> - Secondary education enrolment ratio: Latin America, 52%; Cuba, 99.7% >>> >>> - Primary school students reaching Fifth Grade: Latin America, 76%; >>> Cuba, 100% >>> >>> - Infant mortality per thousand live births: Latin America, 32; >>> Cuba, 6.2 >>> >>> - Medical doctors per hundred thousand inhabitants: Latin America, >>> 160; Cuba, 590 >>> >>> - Dentists per hundred thousand inhabitants: Latin America, 63; >>> Cuba, 89 >>> >>> - Nurses per hundred thousand inhabitants: Latin America, 69; Cuba, 743 >>> >>> - Hospital beds per 100 thousand inhabitants: Latin America, 220; >>> Cuba, 631.6 >>> >>> - Medically attended births: Latin America, 86.5%; Cuba, 100% >>> >>> - Life expectancy at birth: Latin America, 70 years; Cuba, 76 years >>> >>> - Population between 15 and 49 years of age infected with HIV/AIDS: >>> Latin America, 0.5%; Cuba, 0.05% >>> >>> - Annual AIDS infection rate per million inhabitants, i.e. those who >>> develop the disease: Latin America, 65.25; Cuba, 15.6 >>> >>> - The first international study of the Latin American Laboratory of >>> Evaluation of educational quality, carried out in 12 Latin American >>> countries including Cuba, produced the following results. Although >>> these data have been already mentioned, I would like to briefly refer >>> to them in detail: >>> >>> - In Language, 3rd Grade: Cuba, 85.74 points; the remaining 11 >>> countries, 59.11 points >>> >>> - In Language, 4th Grade: Cuba, 87.25; the rest, 63.75 >>> >>> - In Mathematics, 3rd Grade: Cuba, 87.75; the rest, 58.31 >>> >>> - In Mathematics, 4th Grade: Cuba, 88.25; the rest, 62.04 >>> >>>What is or will be the future of those countries? >>> >>>According to these figures, of the seven Latin American countries that >>>voted against Cuba, four --Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay-- >>>that had boasted in the past of being the most advanced in the region, >>>fall well behind Cuban figures. In some of these, they reach or scrape >>>past the half way mark in comparison to Cuba, but in others they are >>>very well below. This is the case of pre-school education for 0-5 year >>>olds, for example, that only reaches 15.8% of the children in that >>>age group in Chile as compared to Cuba's 99.2%. >>> >>>It requires a truly cynical person to join such a Mafia-style >>>adventure, in which they have been involved at the urge of the imperial >>>overlords. >>> >>>The response to the emergence of the Bolivarian Revolution in which >>>the people and the military joined together to unleash a revolutionary >>>and democratic process that is also unprecedented, was a fascist coup >>>d'état. >>> >>>The privileged oligarchy, that enjoys the bulk of the country's income >>>and owns the most powerful media, set its followers on the Bolivarian >>>people and the headquarters of the President himself under the >>>influence and support of imperialism. Their goal was a bloody encounter >>>that could be used to justify the coordinated actions of a small but >>>extremely well-placed military force. Miraculously a bloody civil war >>>was averted, thanks to the reasonable and sensible behavior of >>>President Chávez, the support of the Bolivarian people and the loyalty >>>of the vast majority of the officers and men of the Armed Forces in >>>that sister nation. A new page in America's complex and arduous history >>>has been turned by the very people that began the process of >>>independence from Spain in this hemisphere. >>> >>>The stripping of Cuba's right to representation in Monterrey, the >>>fascist coup in Venezuela and the disgraceful behavior in Geneva in the >>>order in which they occurred have exposed and offered evidence of the >>>dirty and hypocritical politics of the empire's lackeys. I must point >>>out that the Presidents of Brazil, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, >>>Haiti and the English-speaking Caribbean countries did not join the >>>celebrations of the coup. In the same way, Bolivia and Colombia joined >>>the above countries in rejecting the deplorable behavior in Geneva. >>> >>>As for the fascist coup, not one condemned it except for the >>>Argentinean President who was perhaps nervous considering his delicate >>>political situation in which even a police Sargent could easily >>>overthrow him. >>> >>>One month later, when the scandal broke out after the shameful >>>Monterrey episode, some leaders maintained a decent silence. Not so the >>>distinguished Secretary General of the discredited and repulsive OAS, >>>as if that organization really existed. He threw poison darts with his >>>support for the abuse sustained by Cuba. >>> >>>What trash are many of those who pretend to be sovereign governors! >>> >>>The honorable history of our Motherland, that once stood alone in >>>battle against practically every one of the predecessors to those >>>governments that voted against Cuba, who had allied themselves to the >>>United States at that time in support of the Bay of Pigs invasion; that >>>heroically resisted without a moment's weakness on the brink of being >>>wiped off the face of the Earth in the October Crisis of 1962; should >>>shame those conspiring with the United States in Geneva, if they still >>>have at least, the freedom to be ashamed of themselves. Neither will >>>they be able to deny without blushing that when the socialist camp >>>collapsed, the USSR disintegrated, the Yankee blockade was tightened to >>>include the sale of medicines and food, classified as a crime of >>>genocide by the 1948 and 1949 Conventions, and all believed that the >>>Cuban Revolution would be on its knees in just a few weeks, our people >>>endured with unprecedented heroism and resilience. >>> >>>Cuba, after withstanding the most unbelievable difficulties and >>>threats, terrorist attacks and risks of all kinds, has never and will >>>never lower its flags before the hegemonic superpower that today >>>hands out orders to its lackeys and bootlickers in this unfortunate >>>hemisphere through a terrorist made Assistant Secretary of State for >>>Latin America, showing an utter lack of respect by the United States >>>government and an utter lack of modesty by its lackeys. >>> >>>When Cuba's honor, morale and credibility were called into question by >>>the disagreement with the host country, it became very clear that >>>hypocrisy and lies are inseparable and almost unique tools of the >>>prevailing political and economic system in Latin America. >>> >>>My decency and ethics were under question when, placed in the >>>dilemma of being loyal to a lie or loyal to the truth; loyal to deceit >>>and slandering manipulation of the facts, or loyal to our people and >>>all peoples of the world, I was loyal to the truth and to the people. >>>The vestal virgins of the temple of hypocrisy tore their clothes in the >>>name of privacy. Even honest men who had been outraged witnesses in the >>>past to electoral incidents and dishonest traps of political >>>adversaries were led to believe that my behavior was inappropriate. >>> >>>I did not invent anything, I called no-one nor laid any trap for >>>anyone. I gave as much warning as I could to those who had challenged >>>me for more than a month with their demands for evidence, evidence and >>>more evidence. Although by no means did I feel bound by what was later >>>proved, in the course of events, to be a deceitful trick to force me >>>into silence and confidentiality over such a significant issue, I >>>clearly demanded the cessation of all offences. Then, when the lies, >>>slander and demands for proof continued over several weeks, I fulfilled >>>the warning I had made. >>> >>>I was also accused of being vengeful because of the unfulfilled >>>promise related to Geneva. All my life I have been a gentleman to my >>>adversaries, even in war situations surrounded by death. I've never >>>humiliated, offended nor wreaked revenge on a single prisoner, not even >>>in the case of the Bay of Pigs while my comrades lay mortally wounded >>>or dead around me. But I do know how to distinguish the ethical from >>>the unethical. I delayed presentation of the evidence demanded from me >>>only out of the desire to cause no harm to a sister country I admire >>>and respect. Representatives from some friendly governments that >>>participated in the Summit chastised me for not having presented the >>>evidence in the conference itself. >>> >>>Lying is and will always be unjustifiable from a political, ethical >>>and religious perspective. From what I remember of the catechism >>>lessons I received in 1st Grade in a catholic school, it violates the >>>eighth commandment of God's law. One must be honorable. >>> >>>I did not seek any pretexts, and I did not hesitate in expressing the >>>need and duty to leave a historical record of that conversation which >>>they asked me to keep private only once it had already begun. My >>>personal letter to the President was also private, however, it was >>>published without consulting me 48 hours later, on the very same day I >>>left Monterrey. >>> >>>I truly regret having to include this issue in my speech, but I >>>felt it was my duty to do so. High raking officials from that country >>>continue to attack us on a daily basis over this subject, which is >>>still too fresh to consign it to the wastebasket of forgetfulness. >>> >>>To those who so foolishly speak and repeat the imperialists slogan >>>that no democracy and no respect for human rights exist in Cuba, let me >>>repeat: no-one can question the fact that, despite being very small, >>>our country today is the freest, fairest and most supportive country on >>>the planet. It is also by far the most democratic. There is only one >>>Party, but this neither nominates nor elects candidates. This is >>>completely forbidden: it is the citizens from the grassroots level who >>>propose, nominate and elect candidates. Our country enjoys an enviable >>>and ever more solid and indestructible unity. The media is public and >>>does not and cannot belong to private individuals. It carries no >>>commercial advertisements and it does not promote consumerism; it >>>entertains and informs, educates and never alienates. >>> >>>Cuba already occupies world-wide outstanding and hard-to-surpass >>>positions in a growing number of fields essential to guarantee life and >>>the most fundamental political, civil, social, and human rights to >>>ensure the well-being and future of our people. The mass political >>>knowledge of the Cuban people is unrivalled in any other country. Its >>>cultural and social programs and achievements advance at an >>>unprecedented pace. >>> >>>Our dreams become reality. A more humane society is possible, lies and >>>slander notwithstanding. History will bear this out. >>> >>>Long live Socialism! >>>Motherland or Death! >>>We shall overcome! >> >> >> >> >>_________________________________________________________________ >>Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
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