The Summit Debate
With the title "The
Summit Debate," Cuba's
Granma newspaper
published Tuesday
reflections by
Fidel Castro on the most
recent Ibero-American
meeting held in Santiago
de Chile.
"All physical,
geographic and time
barriers disappeared. It
seemed unreal. Never
before had a dialogue of
this nature taken place
between heads of State
and government, most of
whom represented nations
that had been pillaged
by colonial and
imperialist powers for
centuries. Nothing could
have been more
instructive.
Saturday, November 10th,
2007, will go down in
the history of our
America as a day of
truth.
The ideological Waterloo
took place when the King
of Spain abruptly asked
Chavez: "Why don"t you
keep quiet?" All hearts
in Latin America raced
at that instant. The
people of Venezuela, who
will be called upon to
vote "yes" or "no" next
December 2nd, were
shaken by the emotion of
living the glorious days
of Bolivar again. The
betrayals and the low
blows that our dear
brother endures each day
cannot change the way
the Bolivarian people
feel.
When Chavez arrived from
Chile at the Caracas
airport and I heard him
directly mention his
plans to mingle with the
crowds, as he has done
so many times, I had the
extremely vivid
impression that, given
the current
circumstances and the
highly significant
ideological victory he
has attained, a paid
assassin of the empire"s,
an oligarch corrupted by
the reflexes that the
empire"s propaganda
machine has inculcated
into people, or a
mentally disturbed
person could put an end
to his life. It is
impossible to avoid the
impression that the
empire and the oligarchy
are doing everything in
their power to lead
Chavez to a cul-de-sac,
that they can easily
place him in the line of
fire.
Venezuela must ensure
its victory is
transformed, not into a
terrible setback, but
into a much greater
victory, to prevent
imperialism from leading
our species to suicide.
We must continue to
struggle and to face
risks, but we must not
play Russian roulette or
flip a coin every single
day. No one escapes the
logic of probability.
In such circumstances,
the modern means of
communication through
which the summit debates
were aired live are
preferable."
Fidel Castro Ruz
November 12, 2007 4:45
p.m. |
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