Fidel Castro: The
Conversation with Chavez
Havana - (Prensa
Latina) Cuban President
Fidel Castro revealed
details of the
conversation with his
Venezuelan counterpart
Hugo Chavez during the
2002 coup d'etat and the
Ibero-American Summit
held in Chile.
"I remember exactly what
I told him that night
when I asked him not
sacrifice himself: that
Allende could not rely
on a single soldier to
fight back and that he,
on the other hand, could
rely on thousands,"
stated President Fidel
Castro in his Monday's
reflection.
Prensa Latina issues
below reflections by the
Cuban president:
REFLECTIONS BY THE
COMMANDER IN CHIEF:
THE CONVERSATION WITH
CHAVEZ
Last November 15, I
referred to a third
reflection on the Latin
American Summit which,
as I then wrote, "I have
yet to publish". It
strikes me as timely,
however, to do so before
the referendum of
December 2.
In this reflection,
written on the 13th, I
pointed out the
following:
Yesterday, the Cuban
people had the
opportunity to hear
Chavez speak on the
Round Table program. I
phoned him when he said
that Fidel was a man who
was out of this world,
that, on April 11, 2002,
he spoke with him, when
all official lines of
communication were
tapped, over a phone
located in his kitchen.
I was at a meeting with
the President of the
Basque Country the day
of the coup. Events
succeeded each other
restlessly. That fateful
afternoon, several of
the people there, who
were willing to die next
to Chavez, had used the
same phone to say
goodbye. I remember
exactly what I told him
that night when I asked
him not sacrifice
himself: that Allende
could not rely on a
single soldier to fight
back and that he, on the
other hand, could rely
on thousands.
In our telephone
conversation during the
Peoples' Summit
function, I tried to add
that to sacrifice
oneself so as not to
fall prisoner ?a choice
I once faced and
something I nearly
decided, again, before
reaching the mountains?
was a way of dying with
dignity. I had said the
same thing he had: that
Allende had died
fighting.
Calixto Garcia Iñiguez,
one of the most glorious
generals of our wars of
independence, survived a
gunshot to his chin,
aimed at his head. His
mother, who had refused
to believe her son had
been taken prisoner, on
finding out the whole
truth, exclaimed with
pride: that's my boy!
That was what I wanted
to convey to him over
the cell phone without
amplifier, held, this
time, by Lage, Secretary
of the Executive
Committee of Cuba's
Council of Ministers.
Chavez could barely hear
what I was saying, the
same as when the King of
Spain abruptly ordered
him to keep quiet.
It was at that moment
that Evo arrived at the
function. He is a
genuine Aymara native,
who also spoke there, as
Daniel did, and in whose
face Chavez wisely
discerned Maya features.
I agree with what he
said, that I am a
strange blend of races.
I have Taino, Canary
Island, Celtic and who
knows what other bloods
in me.
I was anxious to hear
the three of them speak
again. Before they
spoke, I said: "I salute
the thousands of
Chileans who died
fighting the
dictatorship imperialism
imposed on them!" And I
concluded my remarks
proclaiming, next to
Chavez, Bolivar's, Che
Guevara's and Cuba's
slogan of: "Homeland,
socialism or death! We
shall overcome!"
Yesterday, Monday the
12th, over a notorious
private Venezuelan
television station at
the empire's service, I
heard a declaration and
speech which had been
prepared, from beginning
to end, by the US
embassy. How empty and
ridiculous it all
sounded in comparison to
Chavez' vibrant speech
at the Summit debate!
Long live the courageous
people who cast off the
oppressor's yoke!
Long live Hugo Rafael
Chavez!
Fidel Castro Ruz
November 18, 2007
3:16 p.m. |
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