Fidel Castro: A
Silence Complicity
Cuban President Fidel
Castro states that the
world cannot afford to
let the tragedy of
NATO's war against
Yugoslavia be forgotten
due to the silence of
those who were actors
and accomplices of that
brutal genocide.
In his Thursday's
article entitled "A
Silence Complicity," the
Cuban Revolution leader
reveals new details of
that conflict, included
assessment of those
happenings.
Prensa Latina issues
below the text published
on reflections by the
Cuban president:
A SILENT COMPLICITY
The world cannot afford
to let the tragedy of
NATO's war against
Yugoslavia be forgotten
due to the silence of
those who were actors
and accomplices of that
brutal genocide.
President Clinton,
National Security
Advisor Sandy Berger,
Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright and
other close
collaborators of the
President, including the
person who was ordered
by Berger not to take
notes when Cuba was
discussed, were at the
meeting Clinton held
with Aznar in the White
House on April 13, 1999,
where the decision to
intensify the bombings
was made, and Aznar
suggested that Serbian
television, radio and
other facilities be
bombed, in actions that
would take the lives of
innumerable defenseless
civilians.
Some of them, through
press statements or in a
book or memoir, may have
individually written
about the adventure, but
none focused on the real
danger and suicidal wars
that the United States
is leading the world to.
The publication of the
existing secret
documents could be the
legacy of a President in
200 years from now,
when, judging by the
pace we're going at,
there will no longer be
any publicity or
readers.
Less than ten years have
since gone by.
In Europe and elsewhere
they have many
accomplices keeping
silence.
After my third message
was sent to Milosevic,
Italy's Minister of
Transportation visited
Cuba. I met with him on
March 30, 1999 and
directly discussed the
issue of the war against
Yugoslavia.
What follows is a
summary of what I said
to him, according to the
notes taken during our
conversation, in the
presence of my Office
staff and officials from
the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs:
"I began by asking why
they had invaded Serbia
and how they were going
to reach a settlement. I
told him that, in my
opinion, it had been a
great mistake and that,
were the Serbs to offer
resistance, they would
run into a cul-de-sac.
Why did Europe need to
dismantle Yugoslavia,
which had implemented
many reforms and which,
strictly speaking -the
Cold War having ended-
could not be labeled a
communist state and,
much less, an enemy of
Europe? I explained
that, in order to
satisfy the German
government's demand,
Europe had encouraged
and supported the
separation of Croatia,
where, during World War
II, Nazi Germany
organized the fearful
chetniks, groups which
perpetrated countless
crimes and massacres
against the Serbs and
the liberation movement
headed by Tito.
"Due to this complacency
and lack of political
foresight, in the
prevailing euphoria of
the days when the
socialist block and the
Soviet Union were in a
crisis, Europe
dismantled Yugoslavia.
This resulted in bloody
episodes and, specially,
in the long and violent
war in Bosnia and,
ultimately, in NATO's
current war against
Serbia. By then,
Macedonia's separation
had also taken place,
which meant the
mutilation of the
greater part of the
Yugoslav Federation.
Only Serbia, Montenegro
and Kosovo remained.
"As everyone knows, for
decades Kosovo's
population of Albanian
descent grew
uninterruptedly until it
became the broad
majority. In Tito's
lifetime, long before
his death, many Serbian
families left Kosovo
seeking safety faced
with the numerous acts
of violence that
extremist groups from
Kosovo committed against
them. At that time, in
Kosovo, the Serbs were
subjected to what today
is called ethnic
cleansing.
"Yugoslavia's
unnecessary and bloody
disintegration
encouraged and unleashed
the underlying conflicts
between the majority, of
Albanian descent, and
Kosovo's Serbian
minority, conflicts
which are at the root of
the current problem.
"The Serbian people are
the essential core of
what remains of the
former Yugoslavia. They
are a combative and
courageous people who
have been profoundly
humiliated. I was
convinced that, offered
ample autonomy, Serbia
would have accepted an
honorable and peaceful
settlement of the
conflicts in Kosovo.
"Kosovo's moderate
groups, acting in an
intelligent and
constructive fashion,
supported this
settlement, as the
presence of a broad
majority of Albanian
descent would, sooner or
later, make the peaceful
emergence of an
independent state
possible. Europe knows
perfectly well that
Kosovo's extremist
groups did not want this
settlement; they
demanded immediate
independence and,
because of this, wanted
the intervention of NATO
forces.
"It is unfair to lay all
of the responsibility on
Serbia. Serbia has not
invaded any sovereign
country. What it has
done, in essence, is
oppose the military
presence of foreign
troops in its territory.
For months, in recent
weeks particularly, it
has known nothing but
constant threats. Its
unconditional surrender
was urged. No country
can be treated like
that, let alone the
people who, in the days
of Europe's occupation,
fought most heroically
against the Nazis and
have ample experience in
irregular warfare.
"If the Serbs resist
-and I am convinced that
they will resist- NATO
will have no other
option but to commit
genocide, but such an
action would fail, for
two reasons:
"Firstly: they would be
unable to defeat the
Serbian people if the
latter applied all of
its experience and
irregular warfare
doctrine.
"Secondly: Public
opinion in NATO member
countries themselves
would not allow such an
action.
"Armored divisions,
stealth bombers,
tomahawk, cruise
missiles or any other
so-called intelligent
weapon would not
suffice. A missile or
bomb would have to be
launched for every
person capable of
carrying a rifle, a
bazooka or a portable
anti-aircraft weapon.
All of NATO's power
would, in this case, be
useless. There are star
wars and there are
ground wars. All
high-tech equipment
notwithstanding,
individual combatants
would be the most
important element in
this type of war.
"Beyond Kosovo, a much
more serious problem is
emerging, to the
detriment of Europe's
and the world's
interests. Russia has
been humiliated
terribly. NATO has
already advanced to the
borders of what was once
the Soviet Union and it
is promising to include
other states of the
former socialist block,
and even Baltic
countries that were part
of the Soviet Union.
Russians have every
reason to think they
will not stop until they
reach the walls of the
Kremlin.
"Like the Serbs, the
Russians are a Slavic
people and this sense of
identity is very strong
among these peoples. The
attacks on Serbia are
profoundly humiliating
for them and, more than
any other action, they
have produced deep and
justified feelings of
insecurity, not only
among the Russians but
in India and China as
well, and these
countries will
undoubtedly attempt to
ally themselves to
Russia to guarantee
their security. I doubt
the Russians would cease
to do whatever is
necessary to retain a
response capability
which would be their
sole guarantee in this
situation.
"Neither Europe nor the
world, with their
current and overwhelming
economic problems, would
gain anything through
such a course of action.
"A few days ago, in the
early morning of March
26, while returning from
Colombia to Russia
before schedule, the
President of the Russian
Federation's State DUMA,
Guennadi Selezniov, made
a stopover at Havana's
airport. I took up these
issues with him of my
own initiative. I told
him no military solution
was possible, that,
without a doubt, any
effort to offer Serbia
military aid would
inevitably lead to a
general war, as the only
means available to wage
such a war today are not
conventional. I said
also that the battle was
of a political, not
military, nature.
"Selezniov publicly
expressed this point of
view I shared with him.
"Both, Europe and the
world are duty-bound to
find such a settlement,
which, though difficult
and complex, is
perfectly possible. If,
rather than devote all
their efforts to
threatening Serbia with
terrible bombings, they
had brought pressures to
bear on extremists in
Kosovo, such a
settlement could have
been reached. Only NATO
can contain extremists
in Kosovo through frank
and uncompromising
efforts. It is not a
question of using
weapons to achieve this,
but, rather, of warning
the extremists in such a
way that they will be
certain, beyond all
doubt, that they do not
have NATO's support.
There is no question
that the bombs that have
been dropped on Serbia
for a week now will
never contribute to
these dissuasive
efforts.
"In addition to this, I
believe it is a serious
political mistake that
the United States and
Europe should try to
keep Russia on the edge
of the precipice in
economic terms by
imposing it the
International Monetary
Fund's unviable
formulas.
"The West makes no
mention of the 300
billion dollars that
have been stolen from
Russia and relocated to
Portugal, Spain, France,
Italy, Austria and other
countries. This is
fifteen times the
miserable
20-billion-dollar loan
that the International
Monetary Fund has been
discussing for months
now. The West, which
recommended or imposed
these models and
policies on Russia,
shares in the
responsibility for this
ruthless plundering of
Russia's wealth.
"An internal explosion
in Russia would be
catastrophic. This is
coupled with NATO's
encroachment, which I've
already mentioned, the
proposal to cancel the
Strategic Anti-Missile
Defense Agreement and,
now, the incredible
humiliation surrounding
the attack launched by
NATO's powerful forces
against a small country
like Serbia.
"I told him I was
against all kinds of
genocide or slaughters,
regardless of the
perpetrator, and that
all ethnic groups and
religions, without
exception, are deserving
of the right to life,
culture and peace.
"If I have taken the
liberty of explaining
this, it is because I
feel it is my duty to
warn you of these
dangers and of the need
to solve them. To lay
these issues on the
table does no harm to
anyone and can, on the
contrary, benefit
everyone. I again
expressed my conviction
that the Serbs would
resist, and that a
peaceful settlement was,
in my opinion, feasible,
even though negotiating
with a country on which
thousands of bombs had
been dropped and whose
honor, dignity and
economy had been dealt a
harsh blow was by no
means easy.
"NATO has practically no
more military targets to
strike, perhaps only
concentrated or moving
troops remain, and the
easiest thing for these
troops would be to split
up to wage another type
of war in which they
cannot be destroyed by
air strikes.
"Europe knows that
ground combat would be
very costly in terms of
human lives and, what's
more, futile. I added
that, were the Serbs to
deploy the strategy we
would use in our country
in the event of an
invasion by the United
States, an area in which
they have already shown
extraordinary
experience, NATO's war
would be futile and
repulsive, an act of
genocide in the heart of
Europe destined to be
condemned everywhere".
Today is a glorious day
for our country, the day
in which Carlos Manuel
de Céspedes began Cuba's
war of independence
against the Spanish
metropolis.
He was a source of
inspiration for the
generations of Cubans
who came after him. What
he taught us was the
duty to reflect on and
confront the dangers
that menace the human
species today.
Fidel Castro Ruz
October 10, 2007
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