Fidel Castro: Marti´s
Immortal Ideas
John McCain and George
W. Bush's vulgar lies
constitute the only way
to get absolutely
nothing from the heroic
people who has managed
to resist imperial power
for nearly half a
century, said Fidel
Castro in his latest
reflection titled
"Marti's Immortal
Ideas."
The Cuban leader added
that McCain and Bush
"want impunity for
terrorists and
mercenaries. How far
they are from knowing
Cuba and its people!"
"We want to bring this
before history: the
immortal ideas which
Marti nurtured with his
own blood shall never be
betrayed!," Fidel Castro
concluded.
The full-length version
of the text:
THE IMMORTAL IDEAS OF
MARTI
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 |
