SPEECH GIVEN BY Dr. FIDEL CASTRO RUZ, PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE AND COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, AT THE PLENARY SESSION OF THE 105TH CONFERENCE OF THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTER, HAVANA, APRIL 5, 2001
Madame President and other members of the chair; Distinguished Parliamentarians: When I spoke at the 68th Inter-Parliamentary Conference in 1981, after mentioning a number of figures and statistics that illustrated the growing gap separating the developed, wealthy world from the countries that were formerly its colonies and domains, victims of relentless plunder for centuries, I made a statement that might have seemed excessive: “If the present is tragic, the future looks dismal.” Let nobody try to fool or confuse us with the new terminology spawned by the hypocritical propaganda of specialists in deception and lies, working in the service of those who have subjected humanity to an increasingly unequal and unfair economic and political order, one that is completely devoid of solidarity or democracy or even an iota of respect for the minimum rights owed to human beings.
I was not exaggerating when I made that statement. The Third World’s foreign debt, which totaled some 500 billion dollars in 1981, had reached 2.1 trillion dollars in the year 2000. The share corresponding to Latin America was 255,188 million dollars in 1981; by 2000, it was 750,855 million. The servicing of the Third World debt, which amounted to 44.2 billion USD in 1981, had reached 341.4 billion USD annually in 2000. The per capita gross national product (GDP) in the developed countries –and please do not worry, I will not be boring you with statistics, only the minimum necessary- was 8,070 USD in 1978. Twenty years later, in 1998, per capita GDP in those countries had grown to 25,870 USD. In the meantime, the per capita GDP in the countries with the lowest incomes, which was 200 USD in 1978, had risen to only 530 USD by the year 1998. The abysmal gap had grown even wider. The number of undernourished people, almost all of whom live in Third World countries, rose from 570 million in 1981 to 800 million in 2000. The number of unemployed grew from 1,103 million in 1981 to 1.6 billion in 2000. Today, the wealthiest 20% of the world’s population accounts for 86% of all spending on private consumption, while the poorest 20% accounts for only 1.3%. In the wealthy countries, per capita electricity consumption is 10 times higher than in all the poor countries combined. According to United Nations figures, in 1960 the income of the 20% of the world population living in the wealthiest nations was 30 times that of the poorest nations; by 1997 it was 74 times greater.
Studies carried out by the FAO between 1987 and 1998 reveal that two out of every five children in the underdeveloped world suffer from growth retardation, while one out of every three is underweight for his or her age. There are 1.3 billion poor people in the Third World, that is, one out of every three lives in poverty. The World Bank, in its latest report on poverty, predicts that the number of people living in absolute poverty could reach 1.5 billion as the New Millennium begins. The wealthiest 25% of the world’s population consumes 45% of all meat and fish; the poorest 25% consumes only 5%. In other words, one-quarter of humanity consumes nine times more meat and fish than the poorest one-quarter. This is a “very fair” world, is it not? In sub-Saharan Africa, the infant mortality rate is 107 per 1000 live births during the first year of life, and 173 per thousand live births before the age of five. In South Asia, the rates are 76 and 114, respectively. In the case of Latin America, according to UNICEF, infant mortality before the age of five is 39 per 1000 live births, although everyone knows that there are significant differences between some countries and others.
In Haiti, for example, we know that 110 children died before the age of five for every 1000 live births. This is one of the reasons why we have offered that sister nation the cooperation of more than 450 doctors and health care workers, who now provide care for close to two-thirds of the population. More than 800 million adults remain illiterate. There are various categories in this regard, such as total literate and functional literate, but I believe it is a relative concept. In our country, where we have achieved an average educational level of ninth grade, having only a sixth-grade education is perceived as practically illiterate. And as we strive for an increasingly higher level of comprehensive general knowledge, in a few years even senior high school graduates will be considered illiterate, without a full grasp of the knowledge we are referring to. There are even university graduates who are functionally illiterate, because they only know about one specific subject and are ignorant of almost everything else. In our country, we have recently established what we call University for All, a regularly televised series of courses, and our goal is that within 10 years, our population will acquire four times the knowledge they have acquired throughout the 42 years since the triumph of the Revolution.
Well, I have strayed a bit from the speech I had prepared moved by that figure of 800 million illiterate people. But why be overly diplomatic? Even in the developed world there are many people who are functionally illiterate. Sadly enough, we could even say that with regard to many subjects there are perhaps as many as five billion people in the world who are illiterate, and you would have to calculate based on the total population. And this is probably a conservative estimate, because we see many people in the world who, unfortunately, due to the trillion dollars spent every year on commercial advertising, are totally unknowledgeable about countless subjects. And we do not need to look very far. Top leaders of a neighboring country, a very powerful and wealthy country, have arrived in the capital of a Latin American country and begun to speak thinking they were in a different country altogether. I do not want to name names, but many of you know very well what I am talking about. (Laughter) More than 130 million school-age children are growing up without access to basic education. And as for those who do have access to basic education, this is often simply a euphemism, because many only reach the second or third grade. They key question is not whether there are schools for everyone, but rather, how many children reach the sixth grade, and the actual figures are terrifying. The truth, which cannot be hidden, is that there are currently over 800 million people suffering chronic hunger while lacking access to health care services, which is why it is estimated that 507 million people living in the Third World today will not live past 40 years of age. South of the Sahara, almost 30% of the population will die before they are 40. In 1981, climate change was seldom mentioned, and very few people had ever even heard the word AIDS. Today these are two harrowing threats that have been added to the calamities already mentioned. This is such a difficult and painful issue that it can hardly be addressed. In 1981, the world population exceeded 4.5 billion; 75% of them were living in the Third World countries, in other words, the poorest.
Today, in 2001, there are already more than 6.1 billion of us on the planet. By the time I finish this speech, there will be quite a few more, and not because of the length of my speech, but due to the speed with which the population is growing. In just 20 years, the world population grew by 1.7 billion, more than it had grown since the emergence of the human species until the beginning of the 20th century. In short, the world income share of the countries that now constitute the Third World has shrunk so much that a century and a half ago, in 1850, it was 56%, while today it is only 15%. This is truly a peculiar way of expressing the real meaning, for the Third World and the immense majority of humanity, of colonialism, capitalism and imperialism, with their crises, chaos, economic anarchy and selfish and inhuman value system. After four centuries of Spanish colonial domination and 57 years as an American neo-colony, our country, a poor nation, has been subjected to a brutal economic blockade from the very moment that, for the first time in history, we achieved our double freedom, for we freed ourselves from both the tyranny and the empire. This small and blockaded Third World country, against which the United States has used all of its resources in terms of subversion, destabilization, sabotage, pirate attacks, hundreds of plots to assassinate the Revolution’s leaders, a dirty war, economic warfare, biological warfare, a military invasion using personnel recruited, paid, supplied, escorted by U.S. naval units and directed by the U.S. government, and ultimately the very real threat of nuclear extermination as early as 1962, has succeeded in honorably withstanding all of the blows dealt to it by the major superpower in history, a Rome multiplied by a thousand, given its political, economic, military and technological power. Nero did not have nuclear weapons, or intelligent missiles, or bombs that fall exactly on their targets, or huge bombers that take on supplies in the air while flying over oceans. What was Rome, I ask you? It seems almost unfair and slanderous to call it an empire. This merciless economic war and the blockade have now lasted 42 years –not 42 hours, or 42 days or months, but 42 years, almost half a century. In addition to this, we have endured ten years of a special period –and we are still enduring it, to a large extent-- after the collapse of the socialist camp and disintegration of the Soviet Union left us devoid of markets and sources of supplies. And it was under these circumstances that the United States even further tightened the blockade with the Torricelli and Helms-Burton Acts. No country has ever withstood such a trial. Many believed that we were but a simple satellite of a great power. The fall of the Revolution was expected within a matter of weeks, or months at the most. But the satellite proved that it had its own light, and its own extraordinary power, like a small sun of true freedom and sovereignty –yes, here there is still sovereignty, the sovereignty they want to destroy as part of the policy and the order they are trying to impose on the world, and have in fact imposed to a large extent– of patriotism, social justice, real equality of opportunities, solidarity within and beyond its borders, and unshakable ethical and human principles. Did this power, this enormous prestige, this strength and unity of the people, achieved through the Revolution, serve to satisfy personal vanity, or greed for power or material goods? No, it served to heroically withstand the assault launched by the empire at one of the most dangerous and difficult moments in the history of our country.
Let no one even try to give us lessons on history and politics, treating Cuba’s leaders like preschool children. It is even possible that Cuban preschool children know more about these matters than some well-known politicians. Under appalling circumstances, a social project has been carried out that is overwhelming, irrefutable, insurmountable. Illiteracy was eradicated in just one year, in a country where almost a third of the population between the ages of 15 and 60 could not read and write. At the same time, thousands of classrooms were created in isolated places and almost inaccessible regions. Medical services were also established in the countryside and the cities, despite the fact that the United States had taken away half the 6000 doctors in the country at the time –almost all of them, as is typical, in the capital and other large cities-- and over half of the medical school professors, with visas and promises of a better material life. Thousands of schools were built, and teachers and professors were trained for elementary school, junior and senior high school education, polytechnic institutes, training centers for teachers and professors of music, dance, art, physical education, sports, and other subjects. Dozens of higher education institutions were established throughout the country, where there had previously been only three. These included 21 medical schools --which now total 22, with the creation of the Latin American School of Medical Sciences-- and 15 higher pedagogical institutes. In less than 30 years, Cuba became the first country in Latin America and the Third World to reduce infant mortality to less than 10 per 1000 live births in the first year of life, achieving a rate of 6.4 in the very midst of the special period –this last year it went up a bit, to just over 7-- and life expectancy of 75. Cuba has brought free medical care to all its citizens; raised the average educational level to the ninth grade; graduated over 700,000 university-trained professionals; developed a powerful artistic and cultural movement; and placed among the top ten countries in the Olympics, winning more gold medals per capita than any other. In regional competitions and international events, Cuba has won thousands of medals –and quite a few thousands!-- taking second place in this hemisphere after the United States. Its children achieve top scores in mathematics and science competitions. According to a UNESCO study, our primary school students have almost twice as much knowledge as the average student in the rest of Latin America. Today our country is first among all countries in the world, both developed and underdeveloped, in the number of professors and teachers, doctors, and high-level physical education and sports instructors.
These are three decisive areas for the wellbeing and social and economic development of any nation. In all, we have 250,000 educators, 67,500 medical doctors, and 34,000 physical education and sports professors and technicians. Presently, we are sharing this immense human capital with our sister nations of the Third World, without charging a cent. (APPLAUSE) Our collaborators working overseas boast not only extensive technical and scientific capacity, but also the most important traits of all: extraordinary human solidarity and an unsurpassed spirit of sacrifice. Hundreds of thousands of our compatriots have discharged internationalist missions in many Third World countries, particularly in Africa, as technical personnel and especially as combatants against colonialism and the racist, fascist apartheid system. You may be wondering why I am elaborating so much on these facts.
Firstly, because I wonder if this is why some try to condemn us every year in Geneva. Secondly, because I wonder if this is why we have been subjected to harassment, economic warfare and a blockade for 42 years now. You should not believe what they say about the blockade, that it has only been in effect since 1962. That is a lie; that was simply when it was made official. They started the economic warfare against our country right on January 1, 1959, first of all, by taking in war criminals and embezzlers who stole almost all of the funds from the country’s reserves, immediately canceling all credits, and beginning to take action against the Cuban economy. Step by step they took away our sugar quota, earned over the course of more than 100 years, and finally removed it altogether. They do a lot of things before they make them official, and that is why I say 42 years. Thirdly, because I wonder if this is why some want to destroy the Cuban Revolution. I should add something else. In 42 years of Revolution, not once has there been a case of tear gas used against the people, or the police dressed up in war gear resembling spacesuits as if they had come from Mars, horses or anti-riot vehicles suppressing the people, things that are seen very often in Europe and the United States. What happened in Seattle? Did anybody see those images on CNN and other networks, of protestors being knocked down, beaten, dragged along the streets? We would pay one million, two million, ten million dollars –I will not use currencies that depreciate too much– if somebody could show us a single similar image in this country. There have never been death squads in our country, nor a single missing person, nor a single political assassination, nor a single victim of torture –this I want to emphasize-- despite the thousands of brazen lies disseminated by a frustrated and unscrupulous empire that would like to wipe the image and example of Cuba off the face of Earth. You may travel around the country, ask the people, look for a single piece of evidence, try to find a single case where the Revolutionary government has ordered or tolerated such an action, and if you find them, then I will never speak in public again. Only a fool would believe that the Cuban people could be governed by force or in any way other than through the consensus that arises from the work achieved, the elevated political consciousness of our people and the enviable relationship between the masses and their leadership. In the elections for the Assemblies of People’s Power, over 95% of the country’s eligible voters willingly and enthusiastically cast their ballots. There has not been a single election throughout more than 20 years with a turnout lower than 95%, whether it be a municipal election or a county election, which take place every two and a half years, or a general election. I say 95% because I rather choose conservative estimates when I mention these statistics. The ethics and politics of imperialism are quite a different matter.
When Cuban troops were fighting in Angola, in 1988, at a time of the decisive battle against the South African troops was being waged in Cuito Cuanavale and 40,000 Cuban soldiers and 30,000 Angolans were marching on the Namibian border in southwest Angola, the racist South Africans had seven nuclear warheads similar to the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. NATO knew it, the United States knew it, but no one said a word about it, in the hopes that they would be used against the Cuban-Angolan forces. During the 15 long years we were in southern Africa, mounting the guard against the forces of apartheid or actively fighting them, the major capitalist countries had large investments in South Africa and their trade with this racist regime amounted to billions of USD every year. The U.S. investments in South Africa at that time totaled 3 billion USD and their annual trade 6 billion, while an additional 3 billion USD in bank credits were granted to that country. It is common knowledge that the United States was a military ally of South Africa –could this possibly be forgotten?-- and that through South Africa it supplied UNITA with copious sums in weapons, including portable anti-aircraft missiles and millions of anti-personnel mines, which it planted throughout Angolan territory. UNITA wiped out entire villages and killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, including women and children. I am not exaggerating in the slightest. Once Cuba’s internationalist mission had been concluded with honor, and an agreement had been reached that led to the implementation of UN resolution 435, and to Namibian independence, we rigorously complied with the commitments made by the parties involved and withdrew our forces. And when our forces left Africa, they took nothing with them but the remains of their comrades who had fallen in combat. We did not own a single square meter of land there –as I said a few days ago– or a single screw in a factory. No Western country had shed a single drop of blood there. Only one country had done this, a small and faraway country, located 10,000 kilometers from Africa: Cuba. (APPLAUSE)
And now, added to everything I said at the beginning of this speech about the dramatic economic and social situation currently facing the peoples of the Third World, there are the arrogant steps taken by the new U.S. administration in the international sphere. These could create serious complications at a moment when the international economy, and above all the U.S. economy, is facing a serious threat of stagnation, recession and crisis. The effects of this are already beginning to be felt around the world, in the form of drops in the volume of exports, falling prices for basic commodities, a fall in stock prices, massive layoffs and the announcement of further layoffs everywhere. The most serious events have taken place over the course of just a few weeks. First, the decision to create a nuclear missile defense, which would unilaterally break the commitments entered into under the ABM Treaty, and inexorably lead to an arms race. Second, the decision to veto the draft resolution proposing the establishment of an observer force for the protection of the Palestinian people (APPLAUSE), which was backed by China, Russia and seven other members of the Security Council, with four abstentions, including two other permanent members. Since May of 1990, the United States has exercised its right to veto on five occasions, four of them in relation to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The last time the United States applied its veto was on March 21, 1997, in support of Israeli interests and to the detriment of the Palestinians, against a resolution demanding that Israel stopped the building of a settlement in East Jerusalem. Since 1972, the United States has used its veto power on 23 occasions against resolutions aimed at solving the Palestinian issue. The complicated situation in the Middle East has been further aggravated by this latest U.S. veto, when an extreme right-wing government has just taken power in Israel. Third, the equally unilateral decision to break the commitments made at the third session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Kyoto in late 1997, when 34 industrialized countries agreed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% by the year 2012 –a goal that is crucial for humanity. The United States had committed itself to reducing those emissions by 7%. This was a real blow to world public opinion, especially to the European countries which had made the greatest contributions to this Convention for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Fourth, the issuing of official statements in typical cold war language that are insulting and humiliating for Russia and China, a reflection of the mentality clearly surfacing in many of the members of the team surrounding and advising the current president of the United States. Tensions like these in this era, that kind of language, and threats to disarm potential adversaries, undoubtedly make for a dangerous situation. Two or three days ago, while this conference was underway, a rather serious incident took place in China. You all know about it. At this point, no one knows the extent to which the situation could be aggravated, if the gentlemen of the North get carried away by bravado. What no one can doubt is that the Chinese will not be easily intimidated; anyone who thinks this clearly does not know them. The incident is still unresolved. With the cold war mentality currently afoot, and these aggressive plans aimed at total hegemonism, any incident, of the many that could occur in many places, could lead to an extremely serious crisis, or even war. There is no use even thinking about such war, although they are a reality for those who have some knowledge of military technology and of what has happened in quite a few places in recent years. There are still thousands of nuclear weapons in the world, and far from moving forward on the road to peace, NATO continues to expand more and more --we do not know how far-- at a time when the cold war is supposed to be over.
That is why I am stressing this point. We read the press dispatches every day. I receive around 300 pages a day, usually the reports from the day before, although if they are very special or very important, I get them on the same day. I have been reading all of these statements, and I wonder why this is happening. Cold war nostalgia? Pressure from the military industrial complex? Insanity? Who knows! Fifth, tangible and undisguised contempt for Latin America, in proposing as the new administration’s assistant under-Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs a sinister individual, with a fascist mentality. He is notorious for his participation alongside Oliver North –perhaps you even remember him-- as a special public opinion advisor to the Secretary of State during the Reagan administration, at the time of the scandal involving the sale of weapons to raise funds for the dirty war against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. These arms sales were in fact banned at the time by agreements adopted by the U.S. Congress itself. He has published documents and statements that he signed with the names of Nicaraguan contra leaders, some of whom could neither read nor write; he has broken the law and shown a total lack of ethics. Quite a number of U.S. press agencies have harshly criticized this decision, and many Latin American leaders are not at all happy about it. There are probably some, though, who are extremely happy. In any event, these steps clearly reflect the traits and personality of the new occupant of the presidential throne in the United States of America. None of this comes as a surprise to Cuba. We are well aware of Mr. Bush’s close ties with and commitment to the Cuban-American National Foundation, a terrorist mob –and I repeat it, a terrorist mob-- that financed the setting of bombs in Havana hotels several of which went off, with the aim of destroying the Cuban tourism industry. That was several years ago, around 1997. We were forced to take exceptional measures. Some of the participants were detained. Everything was publicly denounced, and because of this and the measures I mentioned, it will be very difficult for them to try the same thing here again.
That same Foundation hatched the plot to assassinate yours truly at the Margarita Island Summit. The would-be perpetrators of the murder were accidentally seized by the U.S. Coast Guard –perhaps believing they carried drugs-- off the coast of Puerto Rico, on the way to fulfilling their mission. They themselves declared what they planned to do and who had concocted the plot. The organizers included one of the Foundation’s chairmen. But, no, he was not among the men arrested, he was the owner of the house where the boat left from, and of one of the two 50-caliber rifles with infrared telescopic sights seized in the arrest, but he was not even called on to testify during the trial. And despite all the irrefutable evidence, they were simply found innocent. Perhaps this was only right, because the Cuban-American National Foundation is officially a cultural and philanthropic organization. That is how it is registered; and that is their idea of philanthropy. In the United States terrorism is called philanthropy when the terrorists are their friends. The Foundation’s latest major misdeed was the assassination plot against my modest person organized on the occasion of the Ibero-American Summit in Panama last November. This time they used the most notorious terrorist in the hemisphere, the author of the blowing up of a Cuban plane in mid-flight on October 6, 1976. A total of 73 people were killed, including the entire Cuban youth fencing team, returning home from Venezuela after winning all the gold medals in the Central American and Caribbean Games. They were lost to the sea, thanks to this gentleman –there is no use naming him here, and sullying this meeting. He was trained by the CIA, of course, and linked to the terrorist mob, naturally. Recently, they have been forced to admit a few things because he had many passports, and moved freely in and out of the United States; there is irrefutable proof of this. But he got caught this time, thanks to the information that is always forwarded to us by our many friends. He made a small mistake by staying put; he usually gets everything organized and then leaves. This time, powerful explosives were brought from El Salvador, to be set off in the University of Panama where I was scheduled to meet 1000 students. That was the plan. Almost all of those university students would have been killed. The plot was exposed in time, leading to the arrest of the group’s leader and three other Cuban-born terrorists, members of the Miami mob with a long and bloody history in the service of the U.S. special agencies.
The U.S. authorities and government are fully aware of the truth of what I am saying, just as they were perfectly aware –as I said earlier– about the presence of seven nuclear warheads in South Africa. Of course, they remain silent while these people organize one assassination plot after another; one wonders why. This past January 3, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee by Representative Bob Barr. The aim of the bill is to overturn an executive order issued by the Ford Administration on February 18, 1976, concerning U.S. intelligence activities overseas. Section 5, paragraph g) of this executive order expressly states that no employee of the U.S. government is to participate or conspire to participate in political assassinations. You may remember the Senate committee that investigated and confirmed the plots organized in the early years of the Revolution to assassinate Cuban leaders, and particularly, to assassinate me. It was a limited investigation, but it made quite a fuss. This apparently led to the establishment of certain regulations, and these are the regulations that they suspiciously want to remove now. We will see what the mob does with this little bill; what the administration does with this little bill; what Helms does with this little bill. And we will see whether they go back to the old misdeeds in which they were actively involved for quite a while, and which led to the elimination of more than one individual. They have all of the technology and all of the means to eliminate people.
Now, you may be wondering: Who is this Mr. Bob Barr? It is a Republican representative for the state of Georgia. He worked with the CIA --in other words, officially he is not an agent, right?-- and in 1986 he was appointed by Reagan as U.S. district attorney for northern Georgia. He is a life member of the National Rifle Association and a member of its board of directors. He has been honored as the Congressional Leader of the Year by the U.S. Shooting Sports Council; Legislator of the Year by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (the same used by children to kill each other in school after receiving an abundant flow of violent messages through the mass media); and New Legislator of the Year by the Conservative Political Action Committee. He shows a good pedigree. The Miami terrorist mob and extreme right in the United States are feverishly at work drafting plans, bills and repressive measures against Cuba. These machinations openly include direct ties with the so-called Cuban opposition and the allocation of millions of dollars to finance subversion and destabilization in our country. Let no one be mistaken: Cuba will adopt the necessary measures to respond. The U.S. government’s dirty hands have kept busy doing everything possible to provoke conflict and to disrupt this conference. They have even tried to use it to serve their own treacherous purposes. The U.S. embassies around the world sent letters to an unspecified number of parliamentarians scheduled to participate in this conference. Friendly hands brought them to the attention of our authorities. One of them reads as follows: “Your visit to Cuba for the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting represents a unique opportunity for you to show solidarity with Cuban democracy and human rights activists. “As you know, your colleague, Czech MP Ivan Pilip, was arrested and held for three weeks by the Cuban secret police in February for the ‘crime’ of meeting with democratic activists. “After the intervention of IPU Syg Johnsson (sic) and IPU Human Rights Commission President Letelier,” –I think he is just over there– “the Cubans decided to release Pilip and his colleague, Jan Bubenik.” Now, note how they mention precisely those who know the most about what happened and who came here after the outbreak of the colossal scandal to find a solution to the problem; it was basically thanks to them that it was found. A politician from the Czech Republic, the president of the senate, also contributed in part. He sent a letter that was not couched in those arrogant and threatening terms, which, of course, do not get very far here, and never will, and he asked permission to visit the country. That permission was granted, and I spoke with him personally. He is a serious man, and thus spoke and acted in a constructive manner. Incidentally, there was an adversary of him around here --the kind you find everywhere, from the same party I think-- who declared that the results of his involvement were nil. But as the man was freed the next day, that person had to make public a self-criticism. This shows how far they get. Anyway, when the senator left, the problem had still not been resolved, far from it, and I must recognize that, sincerely, thanks to the serious and objective efforts of the two envoys from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an adequate solution was found. It does not matter what those individuals did later, it is really quite laughable. Now they are playing the heroes. They returned to Freedom House, and then went to Miami to receive all kinds of tributes. Well, we had no choice but to hold a round table discussion on the subject, which our people always follow with such interest. And it was explained there that this “hero” had simply been arrested for deportation, but his accomplices had already kicked up a huge scandal.
And he is not the only one, I mean, you should not believe for a second that he is the only one to have come here with such intentions. There have been many. The interesting thing about this is that the U.S. government, in order to carry out adventures of this kind, in which they openly come here to conspire, because you have to call a spade a spade, they come here to conspire with those who have made an industry out of being professional dissidents –but I do not want to get into that now. What I want to point out is that when this gentleman, this big “hero”, was here, he confessed everything. Of course, we knew he was telling the truth, because we knew quite a lot about the purposes of his visit and his plans, that he used counterintelligence methods and such things like that. It sounded like a novel, really; you could actually write a spy novel with that, because they came as tourists via Cancun. The fact is that he voluntarily gave the computer password with access to the names of the 11 people he had come to visit. What a hero! Of course, we already knew quite a few details, enough to confirm if he was lying or not, and he was rigorously precise. I am providing these details for the benefit of those who are on the verge of granting them the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor. They might get it; it is quite a joke. Helms does what he wants over there, and you all know it. But I do not want to hurt the feelings of any of his sympathizers.
The American letter goes on to read: “The IPU is thus directly linked to the human rights situation on the island, and has a chance now to send a principled and clear message of the IPU support and that of your parliament for human rights and Cuba by meeting with said activists.” They are capable of demanding that the IPU members and distinguished leaders be sent to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to be condemned as war criminals, judging by what you see in this letter, the way they express themselves; the style is particularly interesting. Now listen to this: “During the 1999 Ibero-American Summit in Havana, a number of Latin American leaders” –as if nobody knew who they were– “similarly reached out to the Cuban activists. This effort sent a clear signal” –we are still shaking nervously– “and was a boost to the activists. “We know that first-class, internationally respected activists” –that depends on their market price– “are eager to meet with foreign parliamentarians to express their views on the prospects for democratic and economic opening.” Another letter includes the following statements: “While many hoped that Cuba’s human rights situation would improve after the January 1998 Pope visit, it has actually deteriorated.” They should accede to the petitions made by the Pope when they are taking someone to the electric chair, especially in the state of Texas, where the new President comes from, when they execute people who have been sentenced without proof, and are often innocent, through the application of the greatest justice that has ever existed in the world: the justice of apartheid. Why? Because as everyone knows, the vast majority of those executed –and the whole list is known— are African Americans. So, now they are invoking the Pope. “This deterioration has increased over the past six months; hundreds of activists have been detained since December alone.” Really! If we had applied the law, which we have every right to apply, to this activity that would never be tolerated in the United States, that is, working in the service of a foreign power against the country, none of these individuals would have been available to meet with anyone for quite a while now. They have had dozens, hundreds of meetings, that is all they do, they do not need to work. But what many of them want, perhaps like that hero from the Czech Republic, is publicity, propaganda fodder, the chance to play the victim. However, the Revolution is well aware of the little games they play, and it is only when they go to extremes and there is no other alternative that the law is applied to them. I will not go into details. You cannot imagine the slander, the lies that they spread by any means, by telephone and countless other ways.
Our people are very, very, very well-informed about all of this. You can also ask our people, who are very much aware of what goes on in this country, and know a great deal about international political affairs. I am certain that they know more than the Americans do about what happened in Miami with the most “democratic and honest” elections ever held in that country. This has taught our people such a great lesson that they are truly “anxious” to adopt the U.S. Constitution, and request annexation. What we are witnessing there truly is a sense of desperation. They have spent 42 years inventing things, from the crimes and invasions I already mentioned to some really ridiculous stunts. But when it comes to these matters, although many think that we get upset, we are actually enjoying ourselves because this is where we hear the voice of the people. Every 24 hours we gather the opinions of thousands and thousands of people, so in a way it is as if we were really cheating. Do you know why? Because we know our opponents hand of cards. It is like having a little crystal ball, an ultrasound machine that exposes everything. You cannot imagine! If I could make up a list of these opinions, that are truly spontaneous, not surveys; no, no, they are spontaneous opinions in a country where the people express themselves with total spontaneity. Those who know what Cubans are like know this is true, and we, at least, know the Cubans very well.
A few days ago, for the upcoming 40th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, where they suffered a major defeat –and now, as the years go by, the magnitude of that defeat can be better measured– a number of U.S. academics were here, along with former CIA officers, the ones who prepared plots to assassinate me. But could I hold a grudge against them? It would not make any sense. One of them, who I believe was on a TV replay yesterday –I was at an event and could not see him, I had seen him during the conference and I would have liked to see him again– said some things that really should go down in history, in addition to the declassified papers, those they have declassified and we have as well. The only thing is that in our case it was somewhat embarrassing, because there were a few words, those that are normally used in emergency situations, and I must confess that although some of them were crossed out, others had to be left, because there was no other way to explain what was happening and how it was happening. Well, you cannot imagine the ridiculous theory they had, which was a lie, as well. The theory was that there would be a popular uprising, and what actually took place was an uprising of people asking for weapons everywhere. They can be wrong sometimes, and it could be unfortunate for many, including us, if they are wrong. We have studied all the little wars that have been made, and we know where our strength lies. We are not afraid of danger. We Cubans can attest to what it says in the old Spanish poem: “If I die/ what is life/ for I gave it up for lost/ when I bravely shook off/ the yoke of the slave”. Forgive me, those of you who speak another language, because I imagine that translating a Spanish poem into Russian or German or some other languages should not be very easy, and into Chinese, even less so; I think it would take some time. So, please, excuse me.
I had to talk about the gentleman. Now that I have publicized his merits, I should also talk a bit about his faults, right? And the letter goes on: “Hundreds remain incarcerated, most for innocuous acts, like passing out copies of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.” Listen, we really should be sent to hell for we are incarcerating people for passing out copies of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights; although we could publish 10 million declarations. Human rights, really, properly analyzed and conceived, are the exact opposite of what has been done by a country that trained 80,000 police officers and people from other public forces with the torture manual used until recently at the School of the Americas. In Vietnam they had acquired a great deal of experience locking the Vietnamese in cages. Yesterday, at that conference I said that they were barbarians, and trained other barbarians with official manuals. These are the same who vanished 10,000 or 20,000 or 30,000 people in Argentina. Officially they have admitted to 10,000, but we know about many of the things they did. They took a mother’s baby and held him out a 10th floor window, and told her, “Speak, or else!” Just think of the things they did! And what they did with mice, it is unspeakable. But we know a lot about all the different kinds of torture they used, we have many, many friends from Argentina, a great many, and fortunately we have more all the time.
We know the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the grandmothers of the Plaza Plaza de Mayo, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Pérez Esquivel, and many people who have a great deal of information. Who trained these people? The barbarians of the North. Who organized the coup d’état in Chile? The barbarians of the North. They tried to overthrow Allende even before he assumed power, and there were assassinations and all kinds of little plots, the pot banging and protests, that made things increasingly difficult for President Allende. It all came from the North, like these letters, with this kind of propaganda. I will say something more: To be a friend of those who are responsible for so many misdeeds throughout history is truly disgraceful, because everyone chooses their friends, everyone chooses them for one reason or another, because they have filled their souls with poison, or they have been misinformed, or because they feel the same way as those people. They made the coup d’état happen and they backed it, throughout all those many, many, years, and many of them are right there in the government again, and others have been before them. Oh! But no one ever suggested a blockade during all those many, many years, against the perpetrators of genocide in Argentina or Chile. And if they had suggested it we would have opposed it, because it is a cowardly, despicable strategy, based on the belief that if the people are squeezed tightly enough they will rise up against the government. Well, many times the peoples rise up without them having to take any measures. The key lies in whether or not the government is honest, whether or not it has the support of the people, whether or not the people have a culture and a political conscience. They really do not know anything about politics. There, everything is about money, even campaigning. That whole electoral campaign, all that publicity, the Democratic and Republican conventions, all of them were analyzed in round table discussions broadcast on television here. I believe they spent around three billion dollars, officially, although they do not count the money that comes in under the table, which is just as much as or more than what is given over the table. What is more, even Abraham Lincoln’s bedroom has been used to provide the pleasure of spending a night in that historic place in the White House. This is a violation of the human rights of the dead. I do not think anyone would like it if people were taken to their homes, to the place where they slept. They should show a bit more respect. I think Lincoln deserved better than that. Lincoln’s name is there in the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Square, along with the names of dozens of other outstanding Americans, but very few of those are presidents, not even the first one, because, with all due respect, we have all read –I do not know if they still do these days– but when I was studying, and as a revolutionary, I read the Declaration of Independence of 1776, where it reads that all men are born free and equal, and that the Creator has granted certain rights to all of them, and so on. That was in 1776. And when did they free the slaves? After a bloody civil war. And were they really freed? Who believes that lie? Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and many others had to die later, fighting against segregation. There was apartheid there, and there still is apartheid, as a result of poverty, social exclusion, and the way that justice is applied. And so when the slaves were freed –the same thing happened here, in 1886– they stayed in the same places, doing the same work, and they did not even have anyone concerned about their health. Before that the slave owners, who viewed their slaves as property, considered the death of a slave a lost of capital, but later they did not care about anything. We know about this stage in the history of Cuba, and about when the American companies established big sugar cane plantations and brought tens of thousands of immigrants from the Caribbean, mainly from Haiti.
Well, you are probably starting to get impatient, so I will finish now. Do not worry, I will not use this material much more. No, I do not want to wear out or offend anyone. “Cuba recently cancelled a visit by German Deputy Foreign Minister Volmer” –the Yankee material continues– “because he dared suggest that he would raise human rights issues on his trip.” That is a lie. We simply asked him not to come, because he made certain statements that were totally unacceptable to us. There are many people who start to say things from over there, before they come here, or who come to Cuba to tell the Cuban government what to do and to get involved in that little game. And we do not go along with that kind of nonsense. Actually, this was a decision made following a statement that was unacceptable to our country, because we are not going to put up with anything from anyone. No, you should not believe for a minute that for any reason, due to any power or influence we would go along with such behavior. We have never traded our dignity and honor for any material advantages. That is our philosophy. That is the truth, and now if they want to they can send a telegram to Volmer. (APPLAUSE) I can already see what the wire service will report: “Castro insults Volmer.” I already told you I was an expert in wire service reports. Do you think the international press has reported what has happened here? No, do not fool yourselves. I read the wire service reports, and all I ever see are little bits of nonsense. I hope the journalists here will forgive me. I do not want to fight with them. They have been fighting with me for quite a while (LAUGHTER) but we get along well in spite of everything. We are sincere. They write what they want, and I say what I think. (LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE) But how many years has it been since a journalist was expelled from here? (APPLAUSE)
Now listen to this: “Cuba lashed out against Argentina in February after an Argentine newspaper claimed that Argentina would support a United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) resolution on Cuba.” Almost everything they say is a lie. That is not the way it was. Everyone knows the story, and I do not want to repeat it here at this meeting. But they should not get too confident, because we have proof of the things that happened. Nobody is going to pull one over on us. Luckily, we have many friends in many places. I will not say any more, I am simply pointing out the way they manipulate things. It says that this is why we lashed out against Argentina. They are liars, because it all started with some things I said at a meeting of economists, or a meeting with a large Mexican delegation from the state of Zacatecas. I do not remember now exactly where it was. No, it was not there, it was in another one of the many meetings we have had. The most we could have done was to counterattack, being absolutely certain of what was going to happen, and it is better to denounce these things before they happen than to talk about them afterwards. Our country has its own tactics, and has accumulated a great deal of experience. We know how to address each and every problem. “Earlier this year, a Czech member of parliament, Ivan Pilip,” –here is the hero once again– “and former member of parliament Jan Bubenik, were detained for over three weeks in January, simply for meeting with Cuban activists and independent journalists.” “No U.S. member of Congress” –listen to this, it may be of interest to you, and I will not charge you anything for the information– “has participated in an IPU event in a decade. “In 1998, the U.S. Congress determined to terminate its IPU membership unless the U.S. contribution to the organization were reduced. “The contribution was not reduced, so in October 2000, the IPU secretary general was informed formally of U.S. intention to terminate its membership effective immediately.”
Look at this, they do not want to pay their contribution, but they do want to try to use the IPU for their plots and schemes, and it does not cost them a penny. That is the technique they are using for all these activities, which are illegal, and which no country would accept. If you want to come here, come; many, many people have come here legally. No one is prevented from meeting with anyone; what we are fighting against is clandestine activities, illegal activities, lies, disguises. People who act normally and correctly do not invent these kinds of things. But, as deceitful as they are, they do not want to send U.S. citizens here to do this work, so they get other people messed up in it. What do they do? They send Czechs, Poles, sometimes a Romanian or an Estonian, there have been people from various places. They seek out citizens of former socialist countries in Europe and send them here to create conflict between those countries and Cuba. They do not want U.S. citizens involved in these activities; they have others do them. And lately they have gone quite far, trying to recruit deputies, members of European parliaments, to send them. Oh! We know them well, and some of our friends who are here know them too. They have passed through, and left their trace. It is always best not to arrest them; I already explained what happened with the individual in question. But there are limits, because we have the right to say: Enough of that nonsense! In these cases, I hope they will not say that they did not know they were breaking the law, which is what this gentleman said. But what they do is really treacherous. It would be better, since they are the bosses, and they are behind it all, if they sent U.S. citizens, instead of getting citizens of other countries involved.
Just look at the way things are. Our country receives far more than 100,000 Cuban Americans; very few restrictions have been established, and over 100,000 of them come to visit. A number of other U.S. citizens come, too, and there are quite a few of them, in spite of the sanctions. Just look at that! They talk about how we get upset and take measures if they do something as innocent and innocuous as sending professors to teach about human rights in Cuba while their laws can punish Americans with thousands of dollars in fines or many years in prison for traveling to Cuba, that is, for “trading with the enemy.” I thought the world war had ended a long time ago, but such fiction as “trading with the enemy”... And so something as normal and truly innocent as visiting Cuba, because the U.S. Constitution gives them that right which cannot be ignored with the lie that there is a war, because they are at war with us, but we are not at war with them. Sometimes we have had to fight them, like when they attacked Grenada, and there was a group of Cuban construction workers there building an airport as our donation to the country. And much to the satisfaction of all of us, it became a very important source of support for the development of tourism in Grenada. Are you going to be meeting in the United States at some point? Oh no, of course not, they have pulled out of this organization. Well, I just wanted to know so we could send you a short letter asking you to defend the right of Americans to travel to Cuba. We should demand respect for the right of Americans to travel to Cuba. Well, I do not know what they are going to do; they have around two million prisoners already, so I do not know how they will manage to imprison all the people they say they will. The Cubans, yes, because demagogy supports that. And yes, because they always have elections in mind. It was just Bush running for president, and now here comes Bush for governor. From one election to another, from demagogy to demagogy.
Sometimes people come and ask, “Do you think that relations will improve?” The United States is in no positions to improve relations with anyone, and that is the truth. An ideological battle, yes, that is a battle we are waging, and we will continue to wage it as long as the imperialist system exists. We have said this more than once. Well, that is the end of the document at last. Now, I do not want to make any more comments, or respond to anyone who has spoken here; that is not my purpose. I came here to talk to you, not to spark controversies or offend anyone. We are pleased that you could all come, that everyone has been able to speak, everyone has received, or not, a reply, and these discussions have been broadcast to the whole country. Millions of people have watched these discussions, and they have their opinions on them. I know what their opinions are, because they have expressed them very well, and they have expressed a great deal of appreciation and gratitude. The people are well informed. We have nothing to hide from them, except in the case of defensive operations, matters related to security; but all those who have spoken here have not only spoken to this assembly, but all of them and all those who have criticized us have spoken to the whole people. This much I can say. I am going to wrap up quickly. Let me check my watch; I am just two minutes short of two hours, but I hope you will forgive me. I know you have to leave, it is 7:00 and I believe you have other things to do... I was advised of this. But, well, I spoke at length because I felt like I was among family, and I wanted to be candid with you. (APPLAUSE)
After reading these documents, there can be no doubt as to who is conspiring, who is organizing, who is lying, who is plotting, who is paying, and who is calling the shots. (APPLAUSE) It takes no great effort to understand the extent to which the arrogance, frustration and endless failures of the U.S. government have led it to disrespect international institutions, provoke conflict and interfere with international organizations and the domestic affairs of other countries. They have been recruiting mercenaries for four decades now. Today our people are more united and the Revolution is stronger than ever. All of the conspiracies, plots and crimes aimed against our country will simply crash up against this strength. We will continue to expose their maneuvers and denounce their treachery and lies, and we will not hesitate to accuse and expose their accomplices. No one will be exempt from the most fair and appalling censure, no matter how high-placed; no economic interest or threat of reprisal will override our people’s dignity and courage. Thus, we do not hesitate to describe as disgustingly hypocritical the behavior of those who resort to the naïve and ridiculous maneuver of using their condemnation of the blockade as a fig leaf to cover the infamy of accusing Cuba of alleged violations of human rights. Nothing can ever justify cowardice and lies. Cuba scorns those who behave this way. We are not interested in the votes against the blockade of those who hypocritically support the arguments with which the empire attempts to justify its crimes. Nothing ever has or ever will succeed in defeating the dignity, ethics and heroism of a people who have written an indelible page in the history of this era. (APPLAUSE) I am deeply grateful for the noble company of the many highly worthy parliamentarians who have honored us with their presence and inspired us with their solidarity. I hope you will forgive me for all the time I have taken –and I was referring here to the time I planned to speak. So, now I doubly ask for your forgiveness. I shall be forever grateful to you. I wish this excellent conference all of the success it deserves. Ever onward to victory! Thank you very much. (OVATION)
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