El colonialismo informativo contra Cuba se pone "txapela". Parte 2
http://www.cubainformacion.tv/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9573&Itemid=86,
El colonialismo informativo contra Cuba se pone "txapela". Parte 1 http://www.cubainformacion.tv/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9566&Itemid=86,
colonialismo informativo contra Cuba se pone "txapela". Parte 3 http://www.cubainformacion.tv/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9574&Itemid=86,
An Impressive Gesture
I confess that many times I have meditated on the dramatic story of John F. Kennedy. It was my fate to live through the era when he was the greatest and most dangerous adversary of the Revolution. It was something that didn’t play a part in his calculations. He saw himself as the representative of a new generation of Americans who were confronting the old-style, dirty politics of men of the sort of Nixon whom he had defeated with a tremendous display of political talent.
He had behind him his history as a combatant in the Pacific and of his adroit pen.Because he was over-confident, he was dragged into the Bay of Pigs adventure by his predecessors, since he had no doubts about the experience and professional capacity of all those men. His failure was bitter and unexpected, a scant three months after his inauguration. Even though he was on the point of attacking the Island with his country’s powerful and sophisticated weaponry, on that occasion he didn’t do what Nixon would have done: use the fighter-bombers and land the Marines. Rivers of blood would have flowed in our Homeland where hundreds of thousands of combatants were ready to die. He controlled himself and came up with a categorical phrase that is hard to forget: “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”His life continued to be dramatic, like a shadow that accompanied him at all times. On the strength of wounded pride, he again succumbed to the idea of invading us. This brought on the October [Missile] Crisis and the most serious risks of thermonuclear warfare that the world has ever known until the present day. He emerged from this test as an authority thanks to the mistakes of his chief adversary. He seriously wanted to talk with Cuba and that’s what he decided to do. He sent Jean Daniel to talk with me and return to Washington. His mission was being carried out at that moment when the news of President Kennedy’s assassination arrived. His death and the strange way in which it was orchestrated and carried out, was truly sad.Later I met close family members who visited Cuba. I never mentioned the unpleasant aspects of his policy against our country, nor did I refer at all to the attempts to eliminate me. I met his son when he was an adult, who had been a young child when his father had been the president of the United States. We got together as friends. His own brother Robert was also assassinated, multiplying the drama shadowing that family.At the distance of so many years, information arrived about a gesture that impressed me.
These days, while so much was being said about the lengthy and unfair blockade of Cuba in the upper echelons of the continent’s countries, I read a news item in Mexico’s La Jornada: “At the end of 1963, the then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy sought to overturn the ban on travel to Cuba and today his daughter, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, wrote that President Barack Obama ought to take this into account and support legislative initiatives that would allow all Americans to travel to the island. “In official documents declassified by the National Security Archive research centre it is recorded that on December 12, 1963, less than one month after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy sent a communication to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, urging the removal of regulations prohibiting Americans from traveling to Cuba…“Robert Kennedy claimed that the prohibition violated American freedoms. According to the document, he affirmed that the current restrictions on travel are inconsistent with traditional American freedoms.“…That position was unsuccessful inside the Lyndon B. Johnson administration and the State Department decided that to suspend the restrictions would be perceived as a softening of the Cuban policy and that they were part of the joint effort made by the United States and other American republics to isolate Cuba.
“In an editorial article by Kathleen Kennedy printed today in The Washington Post, Robert’s daughter expresses her wish that her father’s position be adopted by the Barack Obama government, and that this should be the position promoted by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. while the Obama government weighs the next step it will take with Cuba, one that should be pushing for allowing more than just Cuban-Americans to travel freely to the island and dealing with the rights of all Americans, most of whom are not free to go. “Kathleen Kennedy writes that just as Obama found out at the summit meeting last week-end, Latin American leaders have adopted a coordinated message on Cuba: the time is here to normalize relations with Havana…By keeping on trying to isolate Cuba, they essentially told Obama, Washington has only succeeded in isolating itself.“Thus, the niece of the president who attempted to invade and overthrow the Cuban Revolutionary government and impose the blockade, adds her voice now to the ever-growing chorus in favor of reversing these policies which were put in place half a century ago.”
A worthy article by Kathleen Kennedy!
Fidel Castro Ruz, April 24, 2009
sábado, 25 de abril de 2009
viernes, 24 de abril de 2009
A new start in the Americas
http://www.economist.com/opinion/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=13527669,
The United States and Latin AmericaThe charming neighbour
http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13528091,
ROBERT F. KENNEDY URGED LIFTING TRAVEL BAN TO CUBA IN '63
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB158/index.htm,
Fidel;
ATRAPADO POR LA HISTORIA,
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/esp/f230409e.html,
PONCIO PILATOS SE LAVÓ LAS MANOS, http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/esp/c230409e.html,
Cuban-Americans Ponder What U.S. Should Do Next http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124052279417849941.html?mod=googlenews_wsj,
How Obama Can Get Cuba Open for Business http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_18/b4129000261857.htm,
El Senado italiano pide el fin del bloqueo a Cuba
Ansa
El senado italiano aprobó hoy por unanimidad una moción que pide superar el bloqueo estadounidense a Cuba, vigente desde hace casi 50 años.La moción, firmada entre otros por el senador vitalicio Giulio Andreotti y el presidente de la comisión Exteriores del Senado Lamberto Dini, compromete al gobierno a "tomar nota que se realizaron las condiciones para que el voto de la ONU sobre el fin del embargo se aplique de modo efectivo".La asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas viene condenando el embargo a Cuba en forma ininterrumpida desde 1962.El 13 del corriente, el presidente de Estados Unidos Barack Obama ordeno revocar las restricciones a los viajes y al envió de dinero a Cuba por parte de los cubano-estadounidenses con parientes en la isla.La moción aprobada por el Senado italiano también compromete al gobierno italiano a "actuar en todas las instancias internacionales en apoyo de toda iniciativa para superar el embargo y a pedir al mismo tiempo a las autoridades cubanas que liberen a los numerosos presos políticos detenidos en las prisiones del país".Del mismo modo, la moción compromete al Gobierno a promover "una coordinación de la acción política de la Unión Europea orientada a poner fin al bloqueo y a instaurar una política de cooperación y amistad para le desarrollo de la democracia en Cuba".
http://www.economist.com/opinion/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=13527669,
The United States and Latin AmericaThe charming neighbour
http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13528091,
ROBERT F. KENNEDY URGED LIFTING TRAVEL BAN TO CUBA IN '63
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB158/index.htm,
Fidel;
ATRAPADO POR LA HISTORIA,
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/esp/f230409e.html,
PONCIO PILATOS SE LAVÓ LAS MANOS, http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/esp/c230409e.html,
Cuban-Americans Ponder What U.S. Should Do Next http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124052279417849941.html?mod=googlenews_wsj,
How Obama Can Get Cuba Open for Business http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_18/b4129000261857.htm,
El Senado italiano pide el fin del bloqueo a Cuba
Ansa
El senado italiano aprobó hoy por unanimidad una moción que pide superar el bloqueo estadounidense a Cuba, vigente desde hace casi 50 años.La moción, firmada entre otros por el senador vitalicio Giulio Andreotti y el presidente de la comisión Exteriores del Senado Lamberto Dini, compromete al gobierno a "tomar nota que se realizaron las condiciones para que el voto de la ONU sobre el fin del embargo se aplique de modo efectivo".La asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas viene condenando el embargo a Cuba en forma ininterrumpida desde 1962.El 13 del corriente, el presidente de Estados Unidos Barack Obama ordeno revocar las restricciones a los viajes y al envió de dinero a Cuba por parte de los cubano-estadounidenses con parientes en la isla.La moción aprobada por el Senado italiano también compromete al gobierno italiano a "actuar en todas las instancias internacionales en apoyo de toda iniciativa para superar el embargo y a pedir al mismo tiempo a las autoridades cubanas que liberen a los numerosos presos políticos detenidos en las prisiones del país".Del mismo modo, la moción compromete al Gobierno a promover "una coordinación de la acción política de la Unión Europea orientada a poner fin al bloqueo y a instaurar una política de cooperación y amistad para le desarrollo de la democracia en Cuba".
jueves, 23 de abril de 2009
Reflexiones de Fidel: LA CUMBRE Y LA MENTIRA
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/especiales.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14861, http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/esp/f220409e.html,
THE SUMMIT AND THE LIE http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/ing/f220409i.html,
LE SOMMET ET LE MENSONGE http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/fra/f220409f.html,
Daniel Ortega Denounced Censorship at Summit of the Americas http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2009/0422danielortegaenmesaredonda.htm,
El día en que a Air France se le prohibió sobrevolar Estados Unidos
Hernando Calvo Ospina ,
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/opiniones.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14863,
Cuba, fábula y fabuladores
Luis Sexto ,
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/opiniones.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14854,
Cuba Places Literacy Teaching Method at UNESCO's Disposal
HAVANA, Cuba, April 22 (acn) Cuba repeated its willingness to place itsliteracy teaching method, Yo Si Puedo, at UNESCO's disposal, whileexpressing concern about topics that should be further fostered by thatUnited Nations' organization.Cuban ambassador Maria de los Angeles Florez, president of the nationalcommission to UNESCO said the Yo sí puedo program, has allowed 3.5million people to learn how to read and write.In her statements during the 181st UNESCO Executive Council, Florezstressed that the plan is implemented on solidarity grounds, reportedPrensa Latina.The Cuban representative noted that the most recent experience of the useof the program is in Bolivia, where in December 2008, 99.5 percent of theilliterate population, mostly women, had learned to read and write withthe Quechua, Aymara and Spanish variants of the method.Our country, which has lived under a strict economic blockade for 50years imposed by a world military and economic power, knows the value ofinternational solidarity, she said.Meanwhile, the diplomat pointed to the fact that no actions have beenundertaken to resolve the growing gap between the North and the South inrelation to the universal access to information and communications.She emphasized that UNESCO should take into account that statistics showthat by the end of 2008, developed countries has 70 percent of internetaccess, while the South barely reached 22 percent.
Método de alfabetización cubano a disposición de la UNESCO
La Habana, 22 abr (AIN) Cuba puso una vez más a disposición de la UNESCO su método de alfabetización Yo sí puedo, y expresó preocupaciones sobre temas que debería impulsar con firmeza esa entidad de Naciones Unidas. La embajadora María de los Ángeles Florez, presidenta de la comisión nacional de Cuba ante la UNESCO, refirió los éxitos alcanzados por el programa Yo sí puedo, que abrió las puertas a 3,5 millones de personas que aprendieron a leer y escribir. En su discurso en el 181 Consejo Ejecutivo de la Organización de Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO), Florez recalcó que el plan se aplica sobre bases solidarias, destaca un despacho de Prensa Latina. La representante cubana subrayó que la experiencia más reciente se encuentra en Bolivia, país en el cual, en diciembre de 2008, fueron alfabetizados el 99,5 por ciento del total de analfabetos de ese país, la mayoría mujeres, en las variantes multilingües de quechua, aymara y español. Nuestro país, dijo, que ha vivido bajo los efectos de un férreo bloqueo durante 50 años, impuesto por la principal potencia militar y económica en el mundo, conoce el inmenso valor de la solidaridad internacional. En otro orden, la diplomática señaló que en el acceso universal como una de las prioridades del Sector de Información y Comunicación, no se prevén actividades en esa esfera con miras a resolver las crecientes desigualdades y asimetrías Norte-Sur. Recordó que las estadísticas indican que a finales de 2008 los países desarrollados tenían un 70 por ciento de acceso a Internet, mientras que el bloque del Sur apenas alcanzaba un 22 por ciento, algo que debería tener en cuenta la UNESCO.
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/especiales.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14861, http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/esp/f220409e.html,
THE SUMMIT AND THE LIE http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/ing/f220409i.html,
LE SOMMET ET LE MENSONGE http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/fra/f220409f.html,
Daniel Ortega Denounced Censorship at Summit of the Americas http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2009/0422danielortegaenmesaredonda.htm,
El día en que a Air France se le prohibió sobrevolar Estados Unidos
Hernando Calvo Ospina ,
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/opiniones.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14863,
Cuba, fábula y fabuladores
Luis Sexto ,
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/opiniones.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14854,
Cuba Places Literacy Teaching Method at UNESCO's Disposal
HAVANA, Cuba, April 22 (acn) Cuba repeated its willingness to place itsliteracy teaching method, Yo Si Puedo, at UNESCO's disposal, whileexpressing concern about topics that should be further fostered by thatUnited Nations' organization.Cuban ambassador Maria de los Angeles Florez, president of the nationalcommission to UNESCO said the Yo sí puedo program, has allowed 3.5million people to learn how to read and write.In her statements during the 181st UNESCO Executive Council, Florezstressed that the plan is implemented on solidarity grounds, reportedPrensa Latina.The Cuban representative noted that the most recent experience of the useof the program is in Bolivia, where in December 2008, 99.5 percent of theilliterate population, mostly women, had learned to read and write withthe Quechua, Aymara and Spanish variants of the method.Our country, which has lived under a strict economic blockade for 50years imposed by a world military and economic power, knows the value ofinternational solidarity, she said.Meanwhile, the diplomat pointed to the fact that no actions have beenundertaken to resolve the growing gap between the North and the South inrelation to the universal access to information and communications.She emphasized that UNESCO should take into account that statistics showthat by the end of 2008, developed countries has 70 percent of internetaccess, while the South barely reached 22 percent.
Método de alfabetización cubano a disposición de la UNESCO
La Habana, 22 abr (AIN) Cuba puso una vez más a disposición de la UNESCO su método de alfabetización Yo sí puedo, y expresó preocupaciones sobre temas que debería impulsar con firmeza esa entidad de Naciones Unidas. La embajadora María de los Ángeles Florez, presidenta de la comisión nacional de Cuba ante la UNESCO, refirió los éxitos alcanzados por el programa Yo sí puedo, que abrió las puertas a 3,5 millones de personas que aprendieron a leer y escribir. En su discurso en el 181 Consejo Ejecutivo de la Organización de Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO), Florez recalcó que el plan se aplica sobre bases solidarias, destaca un despacho de Prensa Latina. La representante cubana subrayó que la experiencia más reciente se encuentra en Bolivia, país en el cual, en diciembre de 2008, fueron alfabetizados el 99,5 por ciento del total de analfabetos de ese país, la mayoría mujeres, en las variantes multilingües de quechua, aymara y español. Nuestro país, dijo, que ha vivido bajo los efectos de un férreo bloqueo durante 50 años, impuesto por la principal potencia militar y económica en el mundo, conoce el inmenso valor de la solidaridad internacional. En otro orden, la diplomática señaló que en el acceso universal como una de las prioridades del Sector de Información y Comunicación, no se prevén actividades en esa esfera con miras a resolver las crecientes desigualdades y asimetrías Norte-Sur. Recordó que las estadísticas indican que a finales de 2008 los países desarrollados tenían un 70 por ciento de acceso a Internet, mientras que el bloque del Sur apenas alcanzaba un 22 por ciento, algo que debería tener en cuenta la UNESCO.
miércoles, 22 de abril de 2009
Piden a Michelle Obama ayudar a liberar a antiterroristas cubanos
SANTIAGO DE CHILE.— Numerosas mujeres chilenas pidieron hoy a Michelle Obama, Primera Dama de Estados Unidos, que intervenga a favor de la liberación de los cinco antiterroristas cubanos injustamente encarcelados desde hace 10 años en ese país.Prestigiosas luchadoras chilenas, como Mireya Baltra, colaboradora del Presidente Salvador Allende, firmaron y circularon una carta en ese sentido dirigida a Michelle Obama y también a la secretaria de Estado norteamericana, Hillary Clinton, y a la presidenta de la Cámara de Diputados de Estados Unidos, Nancy Pelosi.En la misiva se recaba la sensibilidad de las influyentes dirigentes norteamericanas para contribuir a solucionar un caso judicial y político que ha demostrado ser uno de los más controvertidos e injustos de los últimos años .Tras relatar el prolongado e injusto encarcelamiento de Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González y René González, también denunciaron el impedimento para que las esposas de dos de ellos reciban las visas para visitarlos.Esta petición señala la carta- está avalada por quienes desde 1973 y durante muchos años conocimos muy de cerca las negativas consecuencias que el terrorismo, las violaciones a los derechos humanos y la arbitrariedad judicial trajeron a nuestro país.Al recordar que los cinco cubanos alertaron a su país sobre acciones terroristas promovidas desde Estados Unidos, precisaron que nunca afectaron la soberanía de ese territorio y, más bien, contribuyeron a salvar vidas humanas en las dos naciones.Mencionaron asimismo que en marzo último 12 documentos de Amigos de la Corte (Amicus Curiae) solicitaron a la Corte Suprema de Justicia de Estados Unidos que acepte la demanda de la defensa de revisar el caso. Entre los firmantes figuran 10 Premios Nobel que han defendido los derechos humanos.La carta fue presentada en un acto anoche en la sede del Partido Comunista de Chile (PCCH), en el que la embajadora de Cuba, Ileana Díaz-Arguelles, llamó a las chilenas de distintas organizaciones sociales a continuar demandando la liberación de Los Cinco.También participó Guillermo Teillier, presidente del PCCH, quien planteó que es hora ya de levantar el bloqueo norteamericano a Cuba.Por su parte, Olga Fernández, consejera académica de la embajada de Cuba, dictó una conferencia sobre el recién concluido congreso de la Federación de Mujeres Cubanas, al que asistió como delegada, y recordó el ejemplo de su fundadora Vilma Espín. (PL)
Nicaragua's Ortega meets with Fidel Castro
Associated Press -Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has briefed Fidel Castro on last weekend's Summit of the Americas _ a gathering that the former Cuban president earlier ridiculed in an essay.Cuba state television offered no details about the Tuesday meeting between the two longtime friends and political allies. Ortega had met with Castro before the regional meeting, which Cuba was not invited to attend.President Barack Obama told the gathering that U.S. policy toward Cuba needs to be revised but said the embargo against the island will not be lifted until the communist government makes progress on human rights issues.In an essay published Tuesday in state media, Castro mocked what he called the "euphoria" of some participants at the summit and criticized the Organization of American States, a regional grouping that helped organize the gathering.
Sostienen encuentro Fidel y Daniel Ortega
El Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro conversó hoy durante casi cuatro horas con Daniel Ortega, presidente de Nicaragua, y su esposa, Rosario Murillo, sobre el desarrollo de la Cumbre de las Américas.De acuerdo con una nota divulgada por el Noticiero Nacional de Televisión, Ortega, su esposa y otros allegados, arribaron a Cuba hoy a las 0.32 horas, procedentes de Puerto España.En la capital de Trinidad y Tobago el mandatario nicaraguense pronunció el 17 de abril un profundo discurso y desempeñó después un destacado papel en la recién finalizada Cumbre de las Américas, indica la nota.Precisa finalmente que entre las 10 y 47 y las 14 y 40 horas de este martes Daniel y Rosario se reunieron con Fidel para conversar durante casi cuatro horas sobre el desarrollo, los incidentes y los resultados de la Cumbre de las Américas. (AIN)
Ortega y Fidel se reúnen en La Habana tras la Cumbre de las Américas
El ex mandatario cubano alaba en un artículo el papel del presidente de Nicaragua en la reunión de Trinidad y Tobago
AGENCIAS - La Habana - 22/04/2009 El ex presidente cubano, Fidel Castro, ha recibido esta madrugada (hora española) al presidente de Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, y a su esposa, Rosario Murillo, con los que ha mantenido una reunión de unas cuatro horas. En la entrevista han hablado, entre otros asuntos, de las conclusiones de la Cumbre de las Américas celebrada el pasado fin de semana en Trinidad y Tobago, ha informado la televisión estatal.Ortega y Murillo, que han llegado a Cuba desde Puerto Príncipe, han hablado con Fidel "sobre el desarrollo, los incidentes y los resultados de la cumbre", agrega la noticia. El ex presidente Fidel Castro, aún primer secretario del gobernante Partido Comunista de Cuba, alabó en un reciente artículo de sus Reflexiones la intervención del mandatario nicaragüense en la Cumbre de las Américas de Puerto España. Castro ha rechazado la declaración final de la reunión y el apoyo que le dieron otros mandatarios."Las frases de Daniel (Ortega) en la inauguración de la Cumbre parecían los tañidos de una campana doblando por una política de siglos, que hasta hace meses recientes se aplicó a los pueblos de América Latina y el Caribe", escribió Castro el domingo.Ortega y Murillo llegan a Cuba en momentos en que ésta se perfila como posible candidata presidencial del gobernante Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) en los comicios de 2011, si no son aprobadas las reformas constitucionales necesarias para que Ortega opte a la reelección.Es la segunda visita de Ortega y Murillo a La Habana en abril y la tercera desde que él asumió por segunda vez el poder en Nicaragua, en 2007.Antes de la Cumbre de Trinidad y Tobago, Ortega estuvo en La Habana del 2 al 4 de abril y se reunió con el presidente cubano, general Raúl Castro, y con su hermano mayor, Fidel, convaleciente de una enfermedad que le impide aparecer en público desde julio de 2006.
OBAMA AND THE BLOCKADE
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/ing/f210409i.html,
OBAMA Y EL BLOQUEO
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/especiales.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14849, http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/esp/f210409e.html, http://granma.co.cu/secciones/ref-fidel/art127.html,
Fidel Castro: Obama 'misinterpreted' Raul's words
HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro says that President Barack Obama "misinterpreted" his brother Raul's sentiments toward the United States.Raul Castro prompted widespread speculation last week that the U.S. and Cuba could be headed toward a thaw in nearly a half-century of chilly relations, when he said Cuban leaders would be willing to discuss "everything" with the U.S., including human rights, freedom of the press and speech, and political prisoners.Obama responded by saying Washington seeks a new beginning with Cuba but he also said that Cuba should release some political prisoners and reduce official taxes on remittances from the U.S. as a sign of goodwill.Fidel Castro wrote in an essay on Tuesday that Obama "without a doubt misinterpreted Raul's declarations."
Cuba to limit foreign companies' cash transactions http://uk.reuters.com/article/gc06/idUKTRE53L0H720090422,
La pelota sobre el tejado -Marta Carreras Rivery
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/opiniones.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14847,
Estar con Cuba es un deber
-Arnaldo Musa
Estar con Cuba es un deber, así se expresó Soumaila Cissé, presidente de la Comisión de la Unión Económica y Monetaria del África Occidental (UEMOA, por su sigla en francés) al firmar un acuerdo de colaboración con La Habana, que estuvo representada por Rodrigo Malmierca, ministro del Comercio Exterior y la Inversión Extranjera.Cissé destacó lo que representa la nación antillana para todos los pueblos africanos y señaló su convencimiento de que los países que representa impulsarán el convenio con la Isla, y destacó que se hace muy urgente el apoyo en el combate a la malaria y al analfabetismo.A su vez, Rodrigo Malmierca reiteró los lazos comunes que unen al pueblo cubano con África y su certeza de que el convenio se cumplirá exitosamente.El mencionado compromiso involucra a un grupo de organismos cubanos de la Salud, la Educación, la Educación Superior, la Energía y el Deporte, y está dirigido a desarrollar proyectos de colaboración en los países miembros de esta organización, mediante la asistencia técnica cubana y el apoyo de la UEMOA.Fundada el 10 de enero de 1994 en Dakar, la capital senegalesa, la UEMOA es un espacio de concertación y armonización política en el área económico-financiera. Está integrada por ocho países: Benin, Burkina Faso, Costa de Marfil, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal y Togo, naciones con las cuales mantenemos excelentes relaciones.Durante su estancia en Cuba —que finalizará este miércoles—, Soumaila Cissé se entrevistó con otros funcionarios del Estado y del Gobierno cubanos.
Poll: Cuban Americans back Obama's thaw in Cuba policy http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/1011174.html,
Miami Cuban-Americans muted on Obama policy shift
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ –MIAMI (AP) — Just a few years ago, any U.S. president who suggested restoring relations with Fidel Castro's Cuban government would have been loudly called a communist or worse on the streets and airwaves of Miami. Protests would have sprung up, and Cuban-Americans who offered their support would have feared being blacklisted.But when President Barack Obama last week made the most significant gesture in decades toward opening dialogue with the communist island, reaction from the nation's largest Cuban exile community and anti-Castro hub was barely a whisper.The muted response, from the heart of Little Havana to the elegant suburbs of Coral Gables, crystalized the generational and demographic shift in Cuban-American politics long coming to Miami and the nation, a shift that has in part fueled the president's ability to push U.S. policy in a new direction.There were no anti-Obama rallies, few protests. Even Armando Perez Roura, the hardline host of the Spanish-language exile broadcast Radio Mambi, began his drive-time morning show talking baseball.That there was no news in Miami following Obama's appearance at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad was the news. During the meeting last week of more than 30 heads of state, Obama said the U.S. is seeking a new beginning with Cuba but also called on the communist island to release political prisoners and embrace democratic freedoms.Cuba President Raul Castro responded that his government would be happy to discuss those issues as long as its sovereignty is respected.Many former critics say they now realize that the U.S. government's five-decade isolation of Cuba has produced few results — the Castros still have a lock on power — so maybe it's time for a new approach.In the past decade, Cuban-Americans have risen to unprecedented political heights, with two cabinet members, congressmen, senators and a key role in propelling George W. Bush to the White House in 2000, said Joe Garcia, a Miami Democrat and former head of the Cuban-American National Foundation, an exile group."But on the one issue that kept Cuban-Americans together, Cuba, nothing changed," he said.The frustration with the status quo, even after an ill Fidel Castro handed power over to his younger brother Raul two years ago, has only grown. That, coupled with Obama winning Florida and the presidency even though a majority of Cuban-Americans voted for John McCain, has tempered the rhetoric and politics of many local leaders.Add to the mix the desire of newer Cuban immigrants to retain ties to family on the island, and the ground was ripe for both Obama's gestures at the summit, and his earlier decision to lift Bush administration limits on remittances and travel to visit family in Cuba. Since 2004, Cuban-Americans could send only small amounts of money and travel there only once every three years. Now they can travel and send as much money as they want.Obama's gesture was hardly a surprise. He tested the waters in Miami during the 2007 presidential primaries by promising to lift the travel ban and seek dialogue with Raul Castro."He didn't go up in flames, and no one threw stones, so it was only a matter of time," said Garcia, whose parents fled Cuba in the 1960s.Since then, Obama has received political cover from some Cuban-American leaders like Bay of Pigs veteran Francisco J. Hernandez, current head of the foundation, who now supports contact with the island. And Obama has been careful not to alienate moderate Cuban-Americans by avoiding for now the broader trade embargo, in place for nearly five decades.The president, born after the 1950s Cuban Revolution, has also tapped a new generation of Cuban-Americans from Miami to help direct policy, including Frank Mora, who will oversee U.S. defense policy in the Americas.Asked by a caller about the 45-year-old Mora, who graduated from a Miami school founded by exiled Cuban Jesuits, Radio Mambi's Perez Roura was uncharacteristically stumped."I don't know him," he admitted, in another sign of the divide between generations.Nearby in Little Havana, Karelia Alsaro, 31, who arrived in Miami from Cuba six months ago, said she left her mother behind and is relieved she will be able to visit more frequently under new regulations. The former secretary hopes the conciliatory tone of the summit will lead to more action."If it's just words, they are saying them very well, because we are believing them," said Alsaro, as she pounded the pavement looking for work. "The next step has to be the Cuban government responding."Alsaro holds out little hope that change will come under the 77-year-old Raul Castro."But I believe that in a future not too far from now, it will happen," she said.Even those in the younger generation who opposed the president's policies were restrained."It's naive of him, and I think it's kind of insulting. It's 'You're a dictator, but I want to talk to you,'" said Maday Rodriguez, 33, a small business owner, who came to the U.S. from Cuba with her family in 1984."But to each his own. Everyone has their own opinion," she added — including her husband, who voted for Obama.Mauricio Claver-Carone, a young Cuban-American lobbyist with ties to Miami, supports tough sanctions against the island and is skeptical Havana is serious about change but was careful in his criticism."When Obama says Cuban-Americans are the best ambassadors to Cuba, he really thinks that. His intentions are good," he said.Just as Obama has tapped into support from a new generation of Cuban-Americans, Claver-Carone hopes the president will reach out to his contemporaries on the island there."Obama embodies the hopes and dreams of the Cuban people. And he's the face of Cubans," Claver-Carone said, noting that the majority of those on the island are biracial like the president."He campaigned on a bottom up approach and on change," Claver-Carone added. "What's more appropriate for Cubans?"
Obama: Summit of the Americas 'productive' http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/19/obama.latin.america/index.html,
CNN Student News Transcript: April 20, 2009 http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/studentnews/04/19/transcript.mon/index.html,
Presidente Daniel: “Cumbre deja pasos positivos para nuevas relaciones con EEUU” http://www.el19digital.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=2466,
Reflexiones del compañero Fidel
LA CUMBRE SECRETA
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/esp/f190409e.html, http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/especiales.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14830, http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/ref-fidel/art125.html,
The Secret Summit
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/ing/f190409i.html,
A Washington le toca ahora su turno de actuar
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/opiniones.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14818,
Obama reconoce valor político de médicos cubanos
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/noticias.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14826,
Chávez y Obama convierten en 'best seller' el libro de Galeano http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Chavez/Obama/convierten/best/seller/libro/Galeano/elpepuintlat/20090419elpepuint_3/Tes,
Descargue aqui el libro: “LAS VENAS ABIERTAS DE AMÉRICA LATINA” escrito por Eduardo Galeano
http://fidelernestovasquez.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/las-venas-abiertas-de-america-latina-por-eduardo-galeano/,
Después de la Cumbre de las Américas
http://www.rebelion.org/apartado.php?id=319,
Cuba, 18 de abril de 1967: Mensaje a los pueblos del mundo a través de la tricontinental-Ernesto Che Guevara
http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=84097,
FOXNews -Fidel Castro say US embargo against Cuba must go Reuters - HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Sunday the US trade embargo against Cuba must go, but he was mum on his brother Raul Castro's ...Video: Chance for frank Americas dialogue - 20 April 09 Al Jazeera The Melting Of US Policy Against Cuba CBS News Obama sees positive signs from Venezuela, Cuba The Associated Press Washington Post - MiamiHerald.com and another 4378 news articles
SANTIAGO DE CHILE.— Numerosas mujeres chilenas pidieron hoy a Michelle Obama, Primera Dama de Estados Unidos, que intervenga a favor de la liberación de los cinco antiterroristas cubanos injustamente encarcelados desde hace 10 años en ese país.Prestigiosas luchadoras chilenas, como Mireya Baltra, colaboradora del Presidente Salvador Allende, firmaron y circularon una carta en ese sentido dirigida a Michelle Obama y también a la secretaria de Estado norteamericana, Hillary Clinton, y a la presidenta de la Cámara de Diputados de Estados Unidos, Nancy Pelosi.En la misiva se recaba la sensibilidad de las influyentes dirigentes norteamericanas para contribuir a solucionar un caso judicial y político que ha demostrado ser uno de los más controvertidos e injustos de los últimos años .Tras relatar el prolongado e injusto encarcelamiento de Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González y René González, también denunciaron el impedimento para que las esposas de dos de ellos reciban las visas para visitarlos.Esta petición señala la carta- está avalada por quienes desde 1973 y durante muchos años conocimos muy de cerca las negativas consecuencias que el terrorismo, las violaciones a los derechos humanos y la arbitrariedad judicial trajeron a nuestro país.Al recordar que los cinco cubanos alertaron a su país sobre acciones terroristas promovidas desde Estados Unidos, precisaron que nunca afectaron la soberanía de ese territorio y, más bien, contribuyeron a salvar vidas humanas en las dos naciones.Mencionaron asimismo que en marzo último 12 documentos de Amigos de la Corte (Amicus Curiae) solicitaron a la Corte Suprema de Justicia de Estados Unidos que acepte la demanda de la defensa de revisar el caso. Entre los firmantes figuran 10 Premios Nobel que han defendido los derechos humanos.La carta fue presentada en un acto anoche en la sede del Partido Comunista de Chile (PCCH), en el que la embajadora de Cuba, Ileana Díaz-Arguelles, llamó a las chilenas de distintas organizaciones sociales a continuar demandando la liberación de Los Cinco.También participó Guillermo Teillier, presidente del PCCH, quien planteó que es hora ya de levantar el bloqueo norteamericano a Cuba.Por su parte, Olga Fernández, consejera académica de la embajada de Cuba, dictó una conferencia sobre el recién concluido congreso de la Federación de Mujeres Cubanas, al que asistió como delegada, y recordó el ejemplo de su fundadora Vilma Espín. (PL)
Nicaragua's Ortega meets with Fidel Castro
Associated Press -Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has briefed Fidel Castro on last weekend's Summit of the Americas _ a gathering that the former Cuban president earlier ridiculed in an essay.Cuba state television offered no details about the Tuesday meeting between the two longtime friends and political allies. Ortega had met with Castro before the regional meeting, which Cuba was not invited to attend.President Barack Obama told the gathering that U.S. policy toward Cuba needs to be revised but said the embargo against the island will not be lifted until the communist government makes progress on human rights issues.In an essay published Tuesday in state media, Castro mocked what he called the "euphoria" of some participants at the summit and criticized the Organization of American States, a regional grouping that helped organize the gathering.
Sostienen encuentro Fidel y Daniel Ortega
El Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro conversó hoy durante casi cuatro horas con Daniel Ortega, presidente de Nicaragua, y su esposa, Rosario Murillo, sobre el desarrollo de la Cumbre de las Américas.De acuerdo con una nota divulgada por el Noticiero Nacional de Televisión, Ortega, su esposa y otros allegados, arribaron a Cuba hoy a las 0.32 horas, procedentes de Puerto España.En la capital de Trinidad y Tobago el mandatario nicaraguense pronunció el 17 de abril un profundo discurso y desempeñó después un destacado papel en la recién finalizada Cumbre de las Américas, indica la nota.Precisa finalmente que entre las 10 y 47 y las 14 y 40 horas de este martes Daniel y Rosario se reunieron con Fidel para conversar durante casi cuatro horas sobre el desarrollo, los incidentes y los resultados de la Cumbre de las Américas. (AIN)
Ortega y Fidel se reúnen en La Habana tras la Cumbre de las Américas
El ex mandatario cubano alaba en un artículo el papel del presidente de Nicaragua en la reunión de Trinidad y Tobago
AGENCIAS - La Habana - 22/04/2009 El ex presidente cubano, Fidel Castro, ha recibido esta madrugada (hora española) al presidente de Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, y a su esposa, Rosario Murillo, con los que ha mantenido una reunión de unas cuatro horas. En la entrevista han hablado, entre otros asuntos, de las conclusiones de la Cumbre de las Américas celebrada el pasado fin de semana en Trinidad y Tobago, ha informado la televisión estatal.Ortega y Murillo, que han llegado a Cuba desde Puerto Príncipe, han hablado con Fidel "sobre el desarrollo, los incidentes y los resultados de la cumbre", agrega la noticia. El ex presidente Fidel Castro, aún primer secretario del gobernante Partido Comunista de Cuba, alabó en un reciente artículo de sus Reflexiones la intervención del mandatario nicaragüense en la Cumbre de las Américas de Puerto España. Castro ha rechazado la declaración final de la reunión y el apoyo que le dieron otros mandatarios."Las frases de Daniel (Ortega) en la inauguración de la Cumbre parecían los tañidos de una campana doblando por una política de siglos, que hasta hace meses recientes se aplicó a los pueblos de América Latina y el Caribe", escribió Castro el domingo.Ortega y Murillo llegan a Cuba en momentos en que ésta se perfila como posible candidata presidencial del gobernante Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) en los comicios de 2011, si no son aprobadas las reformas constitucionales necesarias para que Ortega opte a la reelección.Es la segunda visita de Ortega y Murillo a La Habana en abril y la tercera desde que él asumió por segunda vez el poder en Nicaragua, en 2007.Antes de la Cumbre de Trinidad y Tobago, Ortega estuvo en La Habana del 2 al 4 de abril y se reunió con el presidente cubano, general Raúl Castro, y con su hermano mayor, Fidel, convaleciente de una enfermedad que le impide aparecer en público desde julio de 2006.
OBAMA AND THE BLOCKADE
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/ing/f210409i.html,
OBAMA Y EL BLOQUEO
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/especiales.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14849, http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/esp/f210409e.html, http://granma.co.cu/secciones/ref-fidel/art127.html,
Fidel Castro: Obama 'misinterpreted' Raul's words
HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro says that President Barack Obama "misinterpreted" his brother Raul's sentiments toward the United States.Raul Castro prompted widespread speculation last week that the U.S. and Cuba could be headed toward a thaw in nearly a half-century of chilly relations, when he said Cuban leaders would be willing to discuss "everything" with the U.S., including human rights, freedom of the press and speech, and political prisoners.Obama responded by saying Washington seeks a new beginning with Cuba but he also said that Cuba should release some political prisoners and reduce official taxes on remittances from the U.S. as a sign of goodwill.Fidel Castro wrote in an essay on Tuesday that Obama "without a doubt misinterpreted Raul's declarations."
Cuba to limit foreign companies' cash transactions http://uk.reuters.com/article/gc06/idUKTRE53L0H720090422,
La pelota sobre el tejado -Marta Carreras Rivery
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/opiniones.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14847,
Estar con Cuba es un deber
-Arnaldo Musa
Estar con Cuba es un deber, así se expresó Soumaila Cissé, presidente de la Comisión de la Unión Económica y Monetaria del África Occidental (UEMOA, por su sigla en francés) al firmar un acuerdo de colaboración con La Habana, que estuvo representada por Rodrigo Malmierca, ministro del Comercio Exterior y la Inversión Extranjera.Cissé destacó lo que representa la nación antillana para todos los pueblos africanos y señaló su convencimiento de que los países que representa impulsarán el convenio con la Isla, y destacó que se hace muy urgente el apoyo en el combate a la malaria y al analfabetismo.A su vez, Rodrigo Malmierca reiteró los lazos comunes que unen al pueblo cubano con África y su certeza de que el convenio se cumplirá exitosamente.El mencionado compromiso involucra a un grupo de organismos cubanos de la Salud, la Educación, la Educación Superior, la Energía y el Deporte, y está dirigido a desarrollar proyectos de colaboración en los países miembros de esta organización, mediante la asistencia técnica cubana y el apoyo de la UEMOA.Fundada el 10 de enero de 1994 en Dakar, la capital senegalesa, la UEMOA es un espacio de concertación y armonización política en el área económico-financiera. Está integrada por ocho países: Benin, Burkina Faso, Costa de Marfil, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal y Togo, naciones con las cuales mantenemos excelentes relaciones.Durante su estancia en Cuba —que finalizará este miércoles—, Soumaila Cissé se entrevistó con otros funcionarios del Estado y del Gobierno cubanos.
Poll: Cuban Americans back Obama's thaw in Cuba policy http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/1011174.html,
Miami Cuban-Americans muted on Obama policy shift
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ –MIAMI (AP) — Just a few years ago, any U.S. president who suggested restoring relations with Fidel Castro's Cuban government would have been loudly called a communist or worse on the streets and airwaves of Miami. Protests would have sprung up, and Cuban-Americans who offered their support would have feared being blacklisted.But when President Barack Obama last week made the most significant gesture in decades toward opening dialogue with the communist island, reaction from the nation's largest Cuban exile community and anti-Castro hub was barely a whisper.The muted response, from the heart of Little Havana to the elegant suburbs of Coral Gables, crystalized the generational and demographic shift in Cuban-American politics long coming to Miami and the nation, a shift that has in part fueled the president's ability to push U.S. policy in a new direction.There were no anti-Obama rallies, few protests. Even Armando Perez Roura, the hardline host of the Spanish-language exile broadcast Radio Mambi, began his drive-time morning show talking baseball.That there was no news in Miami following Obama's appearance at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad was the news. During the meeting last week of more than 30 heads of state, Obama said the U.S. is seeking a new beginning with Cuba but also called on the communist island to release political prisoners and embrace democratic freedoms.Cuba President Raul Castro responded that his government would be happy to discuss those issues as long as its sovereignty is respected.Many former critics say they now realize that the U.S. government's five-decade isolation of Cuba has produced few results — the Castros still have a lock on power — so maybe it's time for a new approach.In the past decade, Cuban-Americans have risen to unprecedented political heights, with two cabinet members, congressmen, senators and a key role in propelling George W. Bush to the White House in 2000, said Joe Garcia, a Miami Democrat and former head of the Cuban-American National Foundation, an exile group."But on the one issue that kept Cuban-Americans together, Cuba, nothing changed," he said.The frustration with the status quo, even after an ill Fidel Castro handed power over to his younger brother Raul two years ago, has only grown. That, coupled with Obama winning Florida and the presidency even though a majority of Cuban-Americans voted for John McCain, has tempered the rhetoric and politics of many local leaders.Add to the mix the desire of newer Cuban immigrants to retain ties to family on the island, and the ground was ripe for both Obama's gestures at the summit, and his earlier decision to lift Bush administration limits on remittances and travel to visit family in Cuba. Since 2004, Cuban-Americans could send only small amounts of money and travel there only once every three years. Now they can travel and send as much money as they want.Obama's gesture was hardly a surprise. He tested the waters in Miami during the 2007 presidential primaries by promising to lift the travel ban and seek dialogue with Raul Castro."He didn't go up in flames, and no one threw stones, so it was only a matter of time," said Garcia, whose parents fled Cuba in the 1960s.Since then, Obama has received political cover from some Cuban-American leaders like Bay of Pigs veteran Francisco J. Hernandez, current head of the foundation, who now supports contact with the island. And Obama has been careful not to alienate moderate Cuban-Americans by avoiding for now the broader trade embargo, in place for nearly five decades.The president, born after the 1950s Cuban Revolution, has also tapped a new generation of Cuban-Americans from Miami to help direct policy, including Frank Mora, who will oversee U.S. defense policy in the Americas.Asked by a caller about the 45-year-old Mora, who graduated from a Miami school founded by exiled Cuban Jesuits, Radio Mambi's Perez Roura was uncharacteristically stumped."I don't know him," he admitted, in another sign of the divide between generations.Nearby in Little Havana, Karelia Alsaro, 31, who arrived in Miami from Cuba six months ago, said she left her mother behind and is relieved she will be able to visit more frequently under new regulations. The former secretary hopes the conciliatory tone of the summit will lead to more action."If it's just words, they are saying them very well, because we are believing them," said Alsaro, as she pounded the pavement looking for work. "The next step has to be the Cuban government responding."Alsaro holds out little hope that change will come under the 77-year-old Raul Castro."But I believe that in a future not too far from now, it will happen," she said.Even those in the younger generation who opposed the president's policies were restrained."It's naive of him, and I think it's kind of insulting. It's 'You're a dictator, but I want to talk to you,'" said Maday Rodriguez, 33, a small business owner, who came to the U.S. from Cuba with her family in 1984."But to each his own. Everyone has their own opinion," she added — including her husband, who voted for Obama.Mauricio Claver-Carone, a young Cuban-American lobbyist with ties to Miami, supports tough sanctions against the island and is skeptical Havana is serious about change but was careful in his criticism."When Obama says Cuban-Americans are the best ambassadors to Cuba, he really thinks that. His intentions are good," he said.Just as Obama has tapped into support from a new generation of Cuban-Americans, Claver-Carone hopes the president will reach out to his contemporaries on the island there."Obama embodies the hopes and dreams of the Cuban people. And he's the face of Cubans," Claver-Carone said, noting that the majority of those on the island are biracial like the president."He campaigned on a bottom up approach and on change," Claver-Carone added. "What's more appropriate for Cubans?"
Obama: Summit of the Americas 'productive' http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/19/obama.latin.america/index.html,
CNN Student News Transcript: April 20, 2009 http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/studentnews/04/19/transcript.mon/index.html,
Presidente Daniel: “Cumbre deja pasos positivos para nuevas relaciones con EEUU” http://www.el19digital.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=2466,
Reflexiones del compañero Fidel
LA CUMBRE SECRETA
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/esp/f190409e.html, http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/especiales.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14830, http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/ref-fidel/art125.html,
The Secret Summit
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/ing/f190409i.html,
A Washington le toca ahora su turno de actuar
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/opiniones.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14818,
Obama reconoce valor político de médicos cubanos
http://www.cubadebate.cu/index.php?tpl=design/noticias.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=14826,
Chávez y Obama convierten en 'best seller' el libro de Galeano http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Chavez/Obama/convierten/best/seller/libro/Galeano/elpepuintlat/20090419elpepuint_3/Tes,
Descargue aqui el libro: “LAS VENAS ABIERTAS DE AMÉRICA LATINA” escrito por Eduardo Galeano
http://fidelernestovasquez.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/las-venas-abiertas-de-america-latina-por-eduardo-galeano/,
Después de la Cumbre de las Américas
http://www.rebelion.org/apartado.php?id=319,
Cuba, 18 de abril de 1967: Mensaje a los pueblos del mundo a través de la tricontinental-Ernesto Che Guevara
http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=84097,
FOXNews -Fidel Castro say US embargo against Cuba must go Reuters - HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Sunday the US trade embargo against Cuba must go, but he was mum on his brother Raul Castro's ...Video: Chance for frank Americas dialogue - 20 April 09 Al Jazeera The Melting Of US Policy Against Cuba CBS News Obama sees positive signs from Venezuela, Cuba The Associated Press Washington Post - MiamiHerald.com and another 4378 news articles
domingo, 19 de abril de 2009
El primer gesto de Barack Obama hacia Cuba-Salim Lamrani http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=84026,
Barack Obama Tries to Clean US Image at Summit of the Americas
HAVANA, Cuba, April 18 (acn) US President Barack Obama asked participants at the Summit of the Americas not to keep blaming his country for all the problems facing the western hemisphere, in times when a current global economic crisis emerged in the North is threatening the nations of the region.Although Obama did not refer to the impact by neo-liberal policies imposed by the United States to the detriment of Latin American development, he did admit that the implementation of certain strategies should not exist, according to a report by PL news from Port of Spain. The US President said he was willing to admit the mistakes of the past in favor of "change" for the continent, a word that marked his presidential campaign. Although he affirmed that this is a critical moment due to the challenges posed by the current financial situation facing the planet, Obama mentioned the recent encounter of the 20 developed and emerging countries, where global strategies were put forth. The so-called G-20 group met in London in early April to take actions against the global crisis, but from the perspective of industrialized powers; only Mexico, Argentina and Brazil were the Latin American countries represented at the meeting.In Trinidad-Tobago, Obama promised to set up an alliance "under equal conditions" with the hemisphere. The idea to set up a Free Trade Area of The Americas (FTAA) was born in 1994, in the context of these summits, though the project died in 2005 in Mar del Plata Summit, Argentina, just when it was expected to be implemented. The FTAA was a Washington-designed project claiming free trade relations among nations which were totally unequal, in the US interest.During the current meeting, Obama announced his request of the US Congress to approve 448 million dollars to support those most affected out of US borders and a project to increase credit lines for companies and entrepreneurs from the countries represented at the Summit. As to the Cuba issue, Obama presented the lifting of travel restrictions to Cuban Americans as a sign of change in US policy, though he evaded the issue concerning the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of the Cuban people.In the face of the call by several nations urging Washington to change its policy towards Cuba, President Obama said that there is an even longer way to go in order to deal with decades of mistrust; however, he noted that there are critical steps to take.Participants at the Summit are scheduled to hold bilateral meetings on Saturday and attend three plenary sessions in which the heads of state and government will address many topics on the agenda, including the final declaration of the Summit.
Obama Extends Hands to Chavez, Ortega at Summit http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=7368440,
Cumbre de las Américas
Chávez anuncia que los países del ALBA no firmarán la declaración final http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=84052,
"Welcome, Mr. Obama. What about Cuba?" http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=84065,
V Cumbre de las Américas (sin Cuba y Puerto Rico)
América Latina con las venas abiertas en Puerto España http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/internacionales/2009-04-19/america-latina-con-las-venas-abiertas-en-puerto-espana/,
Americas Summit Ending on Hopeful Note for Obama http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=7372456,
Summit of the Americas notebook: A push for Cuba to host next summit http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/1006685.html,
Raul Castro's proposal isn't for classic spy swap http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/1005304.html,
White House says "struck" by Castro's comments on U.S.-Cuban ties http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/6639819.html,
White House tempers expectations on Cuba http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/International/White-House-tempers-expectations-on-Cuba-4099.html,
Obama Says U.S. Will Pursue Thaw With Cuba http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/world/americas/18prexy.html?bl&ex=1240286400&en=7319c46ce3a3177d&ei=5087%0A,
jueves, 9 de abril de 2009
Contradictions in U.S. Foreign Policy
After the G-20 Summit that took up the world’s attention, news continued to arrive through the press agencies about the feverish activity of the man who had been the star in London, Barack Obama, the new president of the United States; he has embarked on the first 100 days of his administration, under the scrutiny of those who closely follow international politics. As punctual as a digital watch, he travels from one place to the next, meeting with political leaders, commemorating anniversaries, receiving honors, visiting cities, holding press conferences, announcing plans, launching messages and making speeches. With the supersonic G-20 Summit barely concluded, he leaves for Strasbourg, France, on the German border. He meets there on the 3rd with Sarkozy who was happy about not having had to leave the G-20 table in London. They deal with numerous problems which concern Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, the Near East and they promise to work “hand in hand” to build a new world. “I am convinced that the United States, Russia and Europe are interested in preventing Iran from having atomic weapons. In many cases we have common interests with Russia, but we also have differences of opinion on key issues”, he states. It is announced that both Obama and Sarkozy will participate with 26 other countries in the NATO summit that would begin that afternoon in the German town of Baden-Baden and would conclude the following day in Strasbourg. Before leaving, he states that “Europe should not let the United States bear this burden alone because this is a problem concerning both and a joint effort is necessary”.“We do not seek to be chiefs in Europe; we are seeking to be partners with Europe”. He leaves Strasbourg en route to the town of Baden-Baden to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merckel before a dinner with the 26 NATO heads of states and governments, plus those of Croatia and Albania who are applying for admission. The summit will serve as the opening for the 60th anniversary of the military organization. There they intended to analyze relations with Russia that “reached their lowest point in the past month of August after the Russia-Georgia war”. Another objective was discussion to renew the Alliance’s strategic action concept dating back to 1999 to adjust it to the new threats. Discussion of the Afghanistan and Kosovo situation would follow. On the 3rd in Strasbourg, Obama meets with more than three thousand young French and Germans and he delivers a short speech which shall be talked about considerably in the future because of its audacity. “I have come to Europe this week to renew our alliance. The United States is changing but it cannot only be America that is changing”. Then he announces the contents of the speech he will be making in Prague about nuclear proliferation and he asserts that his aim is: “a world without nuclear weapons”.At another moment he added: “Even now, that the Cold War has ended, the expansion of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could bring destruction to any city on the planet”.The growing concern in the world about the enormous destructive and annihilating power of those weapons is unquestionable; it joins the concerns of other states, especially the American society itself, about the risks of nuclear sabotage. That is what Obama literally says with his phrase: “the theft of nuclear material could bring destruction to any city on the planet”.On April 4, giving a speech at the NATO Summit, he welcomed Croatia and Albania to the heart of that military entity thus bringing to 28 the number of members. The president of the United States stressed that 140 Albanian and 296 Croatian soldiers have served in Afghanistan. “I think that both will be steadfast contributors to the Alliance”.The contradictory forms with which the American president expresses his ideas are evident.“The doors of the Alliance will continue to be open for other countries who comply with NATO standards and who can make a significant contribution to the security of the Alliance.”The EFE news agency explains: “Russia reveals itself to be highly critical of NATO expansion towards the east, and in particular towards the former Soviet republics that it considers to be its natural sphere of influence”.“Last year at its April summit in Bucharest, the Alliance promised an eventual path to the admission of the Ukraine and Georgia supported by Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush”, the cable reminds us. Could it be that there is any doubt about NATO being a warlike and aggressive organization, one that threatens not only Russia but also other countries in any part of the world? Could the Guantanamo torture centre have been created and maintained without the cooperation of the numerous NATO countries? Yet again, the audacity and the contradictions are expressed at the first summit of the president of the United States with the European Union in Prague. He promised “to lead efforts for a world without nuclear weapons”. “We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it.”He specifically stated that he hoped to achieve a speedy end to nuclear testing and confirmed his hope of seeking Senate approval for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. “I also advocate a world summit meeting on nuclear security to be held next year”, the cables point out. There is also information that “Obama was woken up to be informed of the launching of a North Korean rocket that apparently flew over Japan. He requested that the UN Security Council respond firmly to the provocation in an emergency meeting held that very same Sunday.”On March 12, the Peoples’ Republic of Korea had announced that between April 4 and 8 it would be launching a communications satellite as part of a peaceful spatial program. That was known when Obama spoke in Strasbourg to the French and German young people.After he was informed in Prague, he drew up a statement which expressed: “Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something.” Launching a rocket that will orbit communications media, testing technology or taking a tourist on a trip are not crimes unless they are done by the Peoples’ Republic of Korea which does not belong to the club of the most powerful and those who have the resources to apply such sophisticated technology. Japan took advantage of the opportunity to adjust its anti-satellite missiles and to improve its defense without anybody questioning that right. I think it was an exaggeration to wake up Obama in the early morning hours. Before leaving Prague, at a gathering of 30,000 people, he said: “To say that nuclear weapons are inevitable is like saying that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable. Humanity must once again become master of its own destiny”. This is a very strong assertion. However, he later added that the space shield that the U.S. projects for European territory is a program that responds to the Iranian nuclear menace. Such a statement is not consistent with the truth and I do not understand his reiteration of it. Russia rejects that plan for the space shield and considers it to be expansionist; therefore, it demands its cancellation.During the night of Sunday the 5th, he arrived in Turkey.After meeting on Monday with Turkish leaders in Ankara, the capital of that Euro-Asian nation, and delivering a speech in parliament, he announced that he would be traveling to Istanbul to attend the Second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations.In Prague he had promised to support Turkey’s admittance into the European Union, something which is opposed by France, Germany and others. In Ankara, he again asked for Turkish admission to the European Union. He pointed out that, nevertheless, Turkey ought to make efforts to reinforce its democracy. The first thing he did upon arrival in that country was to pay tribute to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. “We shall be respectful even though we may not agree”, he stated before parliament; another profound phrase. “The United States is not, nor will it be, at war with Islam,” he said.Thousands of Turks had taken to the streets to protest U.S. policies.The president of the United States ended his visit on the 7th at 2:20 Istanbul time, Turkey’s main city, after a tiring 8-day tour.His last meeting was with the students. He made a plea to the young people to lay bridges between Islam and the West. As EFE reports it, he urged the Muslims to ignore the “caricatures” that depict the Americans as ignorant or insensitive and he assured them that “that is not the country he loves.”The events described reflect the complexity of the tasks Obama bears on his shoulders.He had frankly declared: “In four or eight years it can be said whether I have pursued the same policies or if things have changed”.Even though he was a messenger with mixed signals, his obvious good health and agile mind operating like a working machine allowed the black president to carry out his first foreign visit with unquestionable political results.He certainly does not resemble his predecessor at all.
Fidel Castro Ruz, April 8, 2009
After the G-20 Summit that took up the world’s attention, news continued to arrive through the press agencies about the feverish activity of the man who had been the star in London, Barack Obama, the new president of the United States; he has embarked on the first 100 days of his administration, under the scrutiny of those who closely follow international politics. As punctual as a digital watch, he travels from one place to the next, meeting with political leaders, commemorating anniversaries, receiving honors, visiting cities, holding press conferences, announcing plans, launching messages and making speeches. With the supersonic G-20 Summit barely concluded, he leaves for Strasbourg, France, on the German border. He meets there on the 3rd with Sarkozy who was happy about not having had to leave the G-20 table in London. They deal with numerous problems which concern Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, the Near East and they promise to work “hand in hand” to build a new world. “I am convinced that the United States, Russia and Europe are interested in preventing Iran from having atomic weapons. In many cases we have common interests with Russia, but we also have differences of opinion on key issues”, he states. It is announced that both Obama and Sarkozy will participate with 26 other countries in the NATO summit that would begin that afternoon in the German town of Baden-Baden and would conclude the following day in Strasbourg. Before leaving, he states that “Europe should not let the United States bear this burden alone because this is a problem concerning both and a joint effort is necessary”.“We do not seek to be chiefs in Europe; we are seeking to be partners with Europe”. He leaves Strasbourg en route to the town of Baden-Baden to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merckel before a dinner with the 26 NATO heads of states and governments, plus those of Croatia and Albania who are applying for admission. The summit will serve as the opening for the 60th anniversary of the military organization. There they intended to analyze relations with Russia that “reached their lowest point in the past month of August after the Russia-Georgia war”. Another objective was discussion to renew the Alliance’s strategic action concept dating back to 1999 to adjust it to the new threats. Discussion of the Afghanistan and Kosovo situation would follow. On the 3rd in Strasbourg, Obama meets with more than three thousand young French and Germans and he delivers a short speech which shall be talked about considerably in the future because of its audacity. “I have come to Europe this week to renew our alliance. The United States is changing but it cannot only be America that is changing”. Then he announces the contents of the speech he will be making in Prague about nuclear proliferation and he asserts that his aim is: “a world without nuclear weapons”.At another moment he added: “Even now, that the Cold War has ended, the expansion of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could bring destruction to any city on the planet”.The growing concern in the world about the enormous destructive and annihilating power of those weapons is unquestionable; it joins the concerns of other states, especially the American society itself, about the risks of nuclear sabotage. That is what Obama literally says with his phrase: “the theft of nuclear material could bring destruction to any city on the planet”.On April 4, giving a speech at the NATO Summit, he welcomed Croatia and Albania to the heart of that military entity thus bringing to 28 the number of members. The president of the United States stressed that 140 Albanian and 296 Croatian soldiers have served in Afghanistan. “I think that both will be steadfast contributors to the Alliance”.The contradictory forms with which the American president expresses his ideas are evident.“The doors of the Alliance will continue to be open for other countries who comply with NATO standards and who can make a significant contribution to the security of the Alliance.”The EFE news agency explains: “Russia reveals itself to be highly critical of NATO expansion towards the east, and in particular towards the former Soviet republics that it considers to be its natural sphere of influence”.“Last year at its April summit in Bucharest, the Alliance promised an eventual path to the admission of the Ukraine and Georgia supported by Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush”, the cable reminds us. Could it be that there is any doubt about NATO being a warlike and aggressive organization, one that threatens not only Russia but also other countries in any part of the world? Could the Guantanamo torture centre have been created and maintained without the cooperation of the numerous NATO countries? Yet again, the audacity and the contradictions are expressed at the first summit of the president of the United States with the European Union in Prague. He promised “to lead efforts for a world without nuclear weapons”. “We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it.”He specifically stated that he hoped to achieve a speedy end to nuclear testing and confirmed his hope of seeking Senate approval for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. “I also advocate a world summit meeting on nuclear security to be held next year”, the cables point out. There is also information that “Obama was woken up to be informed of the launching of a North Korean rocket that apparently flew over Japan. He requested that the UN Security Council respond firmly to the provocation in an emergency meeting held that very same Sunday.”On March 12, the Peoples’ Republic of Korea had announced that between April 4 and 8 it would be launching a communications satellite as part of a peaceful spatial program. That was known when Obama spoke in Strasbourg to the French and German young people.After he was informed in Prague, he drew up a statement which expressed: “Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something.” Launching a rocket that will orbit communications media, testing technology or taking a tourist on a trip are not crimes unless they are done by the Peoples’ Republic of Korea which does not belong to the club of the most powerful and those who have the resources to apply such sophisticated technology. Japan took advantage of the opportunity to adjust its anti-satellite missiles and to improve its defense without anybody questioning that right. I think it was an exaggeration to wake up Obama in the early morning hours. Before leaving Prague, at a gathering of 30,000 people, he said: “To say that nuclear weapons are inevitable is like saying that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable. Humanity must once again become master of its own destiny”. This is a very strong assertion. However, he later added that the space shield that the U.S. projects for European territory is a program that responds to the Iranian nuclear menace. Such a statement is not consistent with the truth and I do not understand his reiteration of it. Russia rejects that plan for the space shield and considers it to be expansionist; therefore, it demands its cancellation.During the night of Sunday the 5th, he arrived in Turkey.After meeting on Monday with Turkish leaders in Ankara, the capital of that Euro-Asian nation, and delivering a speech in parliament, he announced that he would be traveling to Istanbul to attend the Second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations.In Prague he had promised to support Turkey’s admittance into the European Union, something which is opposed by France, Germany and others. In Ankara, he again asked for Turkish admission to the European Union. He pointed out that, nevertheless, Turkey ought to make efforts to reinforce its democracy. The first thing he did upon arrival in that country was to pay tribute to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. “We shall be respectful even though we may not agree”, he stated before parliament; another profound phrase. “The United States is not, nor will it be, at war with Islam,” he said.Thousands of Turks had taken to the streets to protest U.S. policies.The president of the United States ended his visit on the 7th at 2:20 Istanbul time, Turkey’s main city, after a tiring 8-day tour.His last meeting was with the students. He made a plea to the young people to lay bridges between Islam and the West. As EFE reports it, he urged the Muslims to ignore the “caricatures” that depict the Americans as ignorant or insensitive and he assured them that “that is not the country he loves.”The events described reflect the complexity of the tasks Obama bears on his shoulders.He had frankly declared: “In four or eight years it can be said whether I have pursued the same policies or if things have changed”.Even though he was a messenger with mixed signals, his obvious good health and agile mind operating like a working machine allowed the black president to carry out his first foreign visit with unquestionable political results.He certainly does not resemble his predecessor at all.
Fidel Castro Ruz, April 8, 2009
miércoles, 8 de abril de 2009
THE MEETING WITH BARBARA LEE AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE BLACK CAUCUS
The morning was stormy, damp and cold. Strong winds were blowing and the sky was dark. This was no spring day, not warm.
Barbara wanted to visit the Latin American School of Medicine where 114 young Americans are dedicated to studying medicine.
The official plane that had brought them to Cuba had pushed forward their trip by 24 hours and it would be leaving at two in the afternoon of Tuesday, instead of on Wednesday.
I did not attempt to meet with all of them since I don’t have enough room for the seven of them, plus the translator and the minister accompanying them. I asked that she visit me with two other legislators, as assigned by the group. Thus I was able to meet with her again.
On this occasion, circumstances had changed considerably. The Legislative Black Caucus represents a sector that carries a lot of weight in the United States.
The long struggle for equality and justice was illuminated by the life and example of Martin Luther King whose thinking and work today enthrals millions of people in the world and who was the reason, in my view, why a black citizen, at a moment of deep crisis, reached the U.S. presidency.
As a result, a new meeting with the Black Caucus would take on, for me personally, a special significance. I learned about their stay in Cuba from the comrades who looked after them during their visit, the basic ideas of the congressional organization and the opinions held by its members.
Raul had also communicated to me the magnificent impression they had made on him during his meeting with them which had extended for almost four hours last night, on Monday.
When Barbara Lee arrived at the house, accompanied by Bobby Rush, Democratic Congressman for Illinois, and Laura Richardson, Congresswoman for California, together with José Miyar Barrueco, the Minister of CITMA, who for many years was secretary of the Council of State, it was 11:35 a.m.; the skies had cleared and radiant sunshine filled the courtyard. I was really happy to see Barbara once again and to have the possibility of personally greeting Bobby and Laura, two people whose names were by now familiar because of their words spoken at the meetings with Raul, Alarcón, Bruno, Miyar and the relatives of the Cuban Five.
Their meeting with me lasted 1 hour and forty-five minutes, by the clock; in reality, it took half a minute if I were to judge by the speed with which it took place and my desires to listen to them.
I briefly told them about my experiences during two years and seven months of medical care and the activities to which I now dedicate myself. I explained to them all I have learned in this period of enforced confinement, especially my great interest in all that is happening in the world and especially in the United States, collecting news and concentrating on study. I recalled that I had invited them so I could listen to them and I began to forget what most interested me: to hear their opinions. Their interest and the depth with which they were expressing their points of view, the sincerity and warmth of their simple and profound words were comforting. The three of them were reflecting transparency, pride in their work, their organization, their struggle and their country. It is clear that they know Obama and they radiate confidence, certitude and sympathy with him.
Barbara is proud of presiding over the Black Caucus, of participating actively in her country’s politics with new verve and optimism, of her son who had not yet been born at the time of the Cuban revolution, and of her five grandchildren. She had cast her sole vote against Bush’s genocidal war in Iraq. It was unbeatable proof of political courage. She deserves every honor.
She particularly remembers Dellums who brought her to Cuba for the first time when she was his assistant and they spent many hours conversing with me on a cay. He is no longer a legislator, she tells me, but a mayor in Oakland, looking after a population of 400,000 inhabitants; she also tells me about the former congresswoman who visited Cuba with Dellums and who is now 98 years old and sends warm greetings.
Laura is California congresswoman for Long Beach and she speaks with special pride about the California port which, she says, “is the third in the world”. In truth I couldn’t hold back my desire to joke and bearing in mind that she is an active defender of the environment I told her: “Laura, if the Antarctic polar ice cap melts, your third port in the world will be underwater”. In the ambience created there, she wasn’t upset in the least and she continued telling me interesting things.
Rush spoke next; he is the oldest and most experienced of the legislators and he was a radical activist in his youth. His life has been a never-ending crescendo of political and human knowledge. He is member of the Trade and Energy Committee and of the Communications and Internet Sub-Committee. I listened to him without interrupting for a period of 15 or 20 minutes. He explained that in his youth he read the works of important modern revolutionary thinkers who were the starting point for his later political maturity through observation and meditation about what was happening in his country and in the world. He mentioned Mandela, Che and other extraordinary persons by name, people who sacrificed themselves for others. As a general characteristic among the leaders of the Black Caucus, he quotes verses from the Bible like Martin Luther King used to do, backing up his points of view. “The word justice is mentioned in the Bible two thousand times, almost as many times as the word love”, he tells me. He spoke of his health, the battles he has waged to preserve it and to survive from cancer.
He personally knows Obama, having dealt with him closely for years, at times even as an adversary; he expressed a high and sincere concept of him; he describes him as an honest and good person who wants to help the American people.
He expressed admiration for the health services provided in Cuba for the people and for the research centers that are dedicated to the war against disease.
I could listen to him for hours as a never-ending fountain of knowledge and maturity.
I asked him about the meaning of his statement: “Obama can improve relations with Cuba, but Cuba should help Obama”. We have never been aggressors nor do we threaten the United States. Cuba would not have the possibility to take the initiative. From the beginning we had had the certainty that his words were sincere and we said it publicly before and after his election. At the same time we expressed the opinion that, in the United States, the objective realities were more powerful than Obama’s sincere intentions.
Finally, I asked him about which of the books published in English in the U.S. about Martin Luther King were the best and whether they were translated into Spanish. The three of them spoke to me about Taylor Bretch’s trilogy, as the most interesting among them, and of: “Letters from Birmingham Jail”. They were not sure about their translation into Spanish and they promised to send me the pertinent material.
It was an excellent meeting.
Fidel Castro Ruz, April 7, 2009
The morning was stormy, damp and cold. Strong winds were blowing and the sky was dark. This was no spring day, not warm.
Barbara wanted to visit the Latin American School of Medicine where 114 young Americans are dedicated to studying medicine.
The official plane that had brought them to Cuba had pushed forward their trip by 24 hours and it would be leaving at two in the afternoon of Tuesday, instead of on Wednesday.
I did not attempt to meet with all of them since I don’t have enough room for the seven of them, plus the translator and the minister accompanying them. I asked that she visit me with two other legislators, as assigned by the group. Thus I was able to meet with her again.
On this occasion, circumstances had changed considerably. The Legislative Black Caucus represents a sector that carries a lot of weight in the United States.
The long struggle for equality and justice was illuminated by the life and example of Martin Luther King whose thinking and work today enthrals millions of people in the world and who was the reason, in my view, why a black citizen, at a moment of deep crisis, reached the U.S. presidency.
As a result, a new meeting with the Black Caucus would take on, for me personally, a special significance. I learned about their stay in Cuba from the comrades who looked after them during their visit, the basic ideas of the congressional organization and the opinions held by its members.
Raul had also communicated to me the magnificent impression they had made on him during his meeting with them which had extended for almost four hours last night, on Monday.
When Barbara Lee arrived at the house, accompanied by Bobby Rush, Democratic Congressman for Illinois, and Laura Richardson, Congresswoman for California, together with José Miyar Barrueco, the Minister of CITMA, who for many years was secretary of the Council of State, it was 11:35 a.m.; the skies had cleared and radiant sunshine filled the courtyard. I was really happy to see Barbara once again and to have the possibility of personally greeting Bobby and Laura, two people whose names were by now familiar because of their words spoken at the meetings with Raul, Alarcón, Bruno, Miyar and the relatives of the Cuban Five.
Their meeting with me lasted 1 hour and forty-five minutes, by the clock; in reality, it took half a minute if I were to judge by the speed with which it took place and my desires to listen to them.
I briefly told them about my experiences during two years and seven months of medical care and the activities to which I now dedicate myself. I explained to them all I have learned in this period of enforced confinement, especially my great interest in all that is happening in the world and especially in the United States, collecting news and concentrating on study. I recalled that I had invited them so I could listen to them and I began to forget what most interested me: to hear their opinions. Their interest and the depth with which they were expressing their points of view, the sincerity and warmth of their simple and profound words were comforting. The three of them were reflecting transparency, pride in their work, their organization, their struggle and their country. It is clear that they know Obama and they radiate confidence, certitude and sympathy with him.
Barbara is proud of presiding over the Black Caucus, of participating actively in her country’s politics with new verve and optimism, of her son who had not yet been born at the time of the Cuban revolution, and of her five grandchildren. She had cast her sole vote against Bush’s genocidal war in Iraq. It was unbeatable proof of political courage. She deserves every honor.
She particularly remembers Dellums who brought her to Cuba for the first time when she was his assistant and they spent many hours conversing with me on a cay. He is no longer a legislator, she tells me, but a mayor in Oakland, looking after a population of 400,000 inhabitants; she also tells me about the former congresswoman who visited Cuba with Dellums and who is now 98 years old and sends warm greetings.
Laura is California congresswoman for Long Beach and she speaks with special pride about the California port which, she says, “is the third in the world”. In truth I couldn’t hold back my desire to joke and bearing in mind that she is an active defender of the environment I told her: “Laura, if the Antarctic polar ice cap melts, your third port in the world will be underwater”. In the ambience created there, she wasn’t upset in the least and she continued telling me interesting things.
Rush spoke next; he is the oldest and most experienced of the legislators and he was a radical activist in his youth. His life has been a never-ending crescendo of political and human knowledge. He is member of the Trade and Energy Committee and of the Communications and Internet Sub-Committee. I listened to him without interrupting for a period of 15 or 20 minutes. He explained that in his youth he read the works of important modern revolutionary thinkers who were the starting point for his later political maturity through observation and meditation about what was happening in his country and in the world. He mentioned Mandela, Che and other extraordinary persons by name, people who sacrificed themselves for others. As a general characteristic among the leaders of the Black Caucus, he quotes verses from the Bible like Martin Luther King used to do, backing up his points of view. “The word justice is mentioned in the Bible two thousand times, almost as many times as the word love”, he tells me. He spoke of his health, the battles he has waged to preserve it and to survive from cancer.
He personally knows Obama, having dealt with him closely for years, at times even as an adversary; he expressed a high and sincere concept of him; he describes him as an honest and good person who wants to help the American people.
He expressed admiration for the health services provided in Cuba for the people and for the research centers that are dedicated to the war against disease.
I could listen to him for hours as a never-ending fountain of knowledge and maturity.
I asked him about the meaning of his statement: “Obama can improve relations with Cuba, but Cuba should help Obama”. We have never been aggressors nor do we threaten the United States. Cuba would not have the possibility to take the initiative. From the beginning we had had the certainty that his words were sincere and we said it publicly before and after his election. At the same time we expressed the opinion that, in the United States, the objective realities were more powerful than Obama’s sincere intentions.
Finally, I asked him about which of the books published in English in the U.S. about Martin Luther King were the best and whether they were translated into Spanish. The three of them spoke to me about Taylor Bretch’s trilogy, as the most interesting among them, and of: “Letters from Birmingham Jail”. They were not sure about their translation into Spanish and they promised to send me the pertinent material.
It was an excellent meeting.
Fidel Castro Ruz, April 7, 2009
lunes, 6 de abril de 2009
Walking on Solid Ground
On April 2nd, while the G-20 Summit Meeting was beginning and ending in London, the well-known journalist of the influential Washington Post, Karen De Young, wrote: “Senator Richard G.Lugar called on President Obama to appoint a special envoy to initiate direct talks with the island's communist government.
“The nearly 50-year-old economic embargo against Cuba, Lugar (R-Ind.) said…puts the United States at odds with the views of the rest of Latin America, the European Union and the United Nations, and ‘undermines our broader security and political interests in the Western Hemisphere.’
“The April 17-19 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago would present a ‘unique opportunity for you to build a more hospitable climate to advance U.S. interests in the region through a change in our posture regarding Cuba policy.’
“Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, -says Karen De Young- is in the forefront of a broad movement advocating a new policy that includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, a number of state governments and human rights groups. A bipartisan majority of Congress has repeatedly voted to ease restrictions on travel and other contact with Cuba, although the measures died after threatened presidential vetoes during the Bush administration.”
“Lugar is a co-sponsor of a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate this week that would end all restrictions on travel to Cuba except in cases of war or direct threats to health or safety”.
“Lugar said the appointment of an envoy and initiation of direct talks on subjects such as migration and drug interdiction would "serve vital U.S. security interests . . . and could ultimately create the conditions for meaningful discussion of more contentious subjects."
Karen’s article expresses no doubt that the Indiana Senator is walking on solid ground. His starting point is not a philanthropic position. As she states, he is working with “the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, a number of state governments and human rights groups”.
I am certain that Richard G. Lugar doesn’t fear the silliness of being described as soft or pro-socialist.
If President Barack Obama travels the world asserting, as he did in his very own country, that it is necessary to invest the sums needed to pull out of the financial crisis, to guarantee the homes where countless families live, to guarantee jobs for the American workers who are becoming unemployed by the millions, to install health services and quality education for all citizens, how can he reconcile that with blockade measures to impose his will over a country like Cuba?
Today drugs are one of the most serious problems in this hemisphere and in Europe. In the war against drug trafficking and organized crime, encouraged in the enormous U.S. market, the Latin American countries are now losing almost ten thousand men each year, more than twice the number lost by the United States in the Iraq war. The number grows and the problem is very far from being resolved.
That phenomenon does not exist in Cuba, a neighboring country close to the United States. On that thorny subject and in the war against illegal migration, the U.S. and Cuban coast guard services have been cooperating for many years. On the other hand, no American has ever died as the result of terrorist actions coming from our country, because such activities would not be tolerated.
The Cuban Revolution, which has not been destroyed either by the blockade or the dirty war, is based on ethical and political principles; that is the reason why it has been able to resist.
My aim is not to exhaust the subject. Far from it: in this reflection I am leaving out the damage inflicted on our country by the United States’ arrogant attitude towards Cuba.
Those who are capable of serenely analyzing the events, as is the case of the senator from Indiana, use an irrefutable argument: the United States’ measures against Cuba, over almost half a century, are a total failure.
There is no need to emphasize what Cuba has always said: we do not fear dialogue with the United States. Nor do we need the confrontation to exist as some foolish people think: we exist precisely because we believe in our ideas and we have never feared dialogue with the adversary. It is the only way to secure friendship and peace among peoples.
Fidel Castro Ruz, April 5, 2009
On April 2nd, while the G-20 Summit Meeting was beginning and ending in London, the well-known journalist of the influential Washington Post, Karen De Young, wrote: “Senator Richard G.Lugar called on President Obama to appoint a special envoy to initiate direct talks with the island's communist government.
“The nearly 50-year-old economic embargo against Cuba, Lugar (R-Ind.) said…puts the United States at odds with the views of the rest of Latin America, the European Union and the United Nations, and ‘undermines our broader security and political interests in the Western Hemisphere.’
“The April 17-19 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago would present a ‘unique opportunity for you to build a more hospitable climate to advance U.S. interests in the region through a change in our posture regarding Cuba policy.’
“Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, -says Karen De Young- is in the forefront of a broad movement advocating a new policy that includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, a number of state governments and human rights groups. A bipartisan majority of Congress has repeatedly voted to ease restrictions on travel and other contact with Cuba, although the measures died after threatened presidential vetoes during the Bush administration.”
“Lugar is a co-sponsor of a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate this week that would end all restrictions on travel to Cuba except in cases of war or direct threats to health or safety”.
“Lugar said the appointment of an envoy and initiation of direct talks on subjects such as migration and drug interdiction would "serve vital U.S. security interests . . . and could ultimately create the conditions for meaningful discussion of more contentious subjects."
Karen’s article expresses no doubt that the Indiana Senator is walking on solid ground. His starting point is not a philanthropic position. As she states, he is working with “the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, a number of state governments and human rights groups”.
I am certain that Richard G. Lugar doesn’t fear the silliness of being described as soft or pro-socialist.
If President Barack Obama travels the world asserting, as he did in his very own country, that it is necessary to invest the sums needed to pull out of the financial crisis, to guarantee the homes where countless families live, to guarantee jobs for the American workers who are becoming unemployed by the millions, to install health services and quality education for all citizens, how can he reconcile that with blockade measures to impose his will over a country like Cuba?
Today drugs are one of the most serious problems in this hemisphere and in Europe. In the war against drug trafficking and organized crime, encouraged in the enormous U.S. market, the Latin American countries are now losing almost ten thousand men each year, more than twice the number lost by the United States in the Iraq war. The number grows and the problem is very far from being resolved.
That phenomenon does not exist in Cuba, a neighboring country close to the United States. On that thorny subject and in the war against illegal migration, the U.S. and Cuban coast guard services have been cooperating for many years. On the other hand, no American has ever died as the result of terrorist actions coming from our country, because such activities would not be tolerated.
The Cuban Revolution, which has not been destroyed either by the blockade or the dirty war, is based on ethical and political principles; that is the reason why it has been able to resist.
My aim is not to exhaust the subject. Far from it: in this reflection I am leaving out the damage inflicted on our country by the United States’ arrogant attitude towards Cuba.
Those who are capable of serenely analyzing the events, as is the case of the senator from Indiana, use an irrefutable argument: the United States’ measures against Cuba, over almost half a century, are a total failure.
There is no need to emphasize what Cuba has always said: we do not fear dialogue with the United States. Nor do we need the confrontation to exist as some foolish people think: we exist precisely because we believe in our ideas and we have never feared dialogue with the adversary. It is the only way to secure friendship and peace among peoples.
Fidel Castro Ruz, April 5, 2009
domingo, 5 de abril de 2009
WHY IS CUBA BEING EXCLUDED?
Yesterday on Thursday April 3rd, at midday, I had an almost two-hour meeting with Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo.
As I explained to Daniel in the letter I sent to him in the afternoon, I was pleasantly impressed with the meeting. I thanked him for the opportunity I had in learning about the details of his struggle in Nicaragua.
I expressed my sadness to him about the cadres who deserted and I recalled Tomás Borge, Bayardo, Jaime Wheelock, Miguel D´Escoto and others who had remained faithful to Sandino’s dreams and to the revolutionary ideas brought to Nicaragua by the Sandinista Front.
I asked him to please send me news as often as possible in order to know about the ups and downs of a small Third World country in the face of the insatiable ambitions of the G-7.
I sent Rosario a copy of the book “The Geology of Cuba for All” that I received three days ago, a marvelous biography of nature on our island throughout hundreds of millions of years, illustrated with beautiful pictures and photographs, written by 12 Cuban scientists and constituting a literary jewel with its articles and analyses. I showed it to her and she had been very interested in it.
I chatted with Daniel at length about the “famous” Summit of the Americas which will be taking place on the 17th, 18th and 19th at Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.
Those summit meetings have a history which has certainly been rather dismal. The first took place in Miami, capital of the counterrevolution, the blockade and the dirty war against Cuba. That summit was held on the 10th and 11th of December in 1994. It had been convened by Bill Clinton, elected president of the United States in November of 1992.
The USSR had collapsed and our country was in the midst of the special period. The fall of socialism in our country as it had happened first in Eastern Europe and later in the Soviet Union was taken for granted.
The counterrevolutionaries were packing their bags for their victorious return to Cuba. Bush Sr. had lost the elections as a result of that warmongering venture in Iraq. Clinton was preparing for the post-revolutionary-Cuba era in Latin America. The Washington Consensus was in full swing.
The dirty war against Cuba was at the point of having a successful conclusion. The Cold War was ending with the victory of the West and a new era was dawning for the world.
The presidents of South and Central America enthusiastically attended the 1994 Miami Summit, heartened by Clinton’s invitation.
President Carlos Menem of Argentina topped the list of South American presidents who attended the meeting, followed by his right-wing neighbor Lacalle of Uruguay, Eduardo Frei of the Christian Democratic Party in Chile, the Bolivian Sánchez de Lozada, Fujimori of Peru and Rafael Caldera of Venezuela. There was nothing strange about the fact that they pulled along Itamar Franco and Fernando Enrique Cardoso, his successor in the presidency, Samper of Colombia and Sixto Duran of Ecuador.
The list of attendees from Central America in Miami was headed by Calderón Sol, of the ARENA Party in El Salvador and Violeta Chamorro who, by virtue of the anti-Sandinista dirty war, had been instated by Reagan and Bush Sr. in Nicaragua.
Ernesto Zedillo was representing Mexico at the Miami Summit.
A strategic objective lurked in the background of this meeting: the imperialist dream for a free trade agreement reaching from Canada all the way to Patagonia.
President Hugo Chavez of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela had not yet made his appearance at the summits until the year 2001 in Quebec; neither had George W. Bush with his sinister role on the international scene.
History decreed that José Martí, our National Hero and the champion of Cuban independence, would experience capitalism’s first great economic crisis in the United States, the one lasting until 1893. He understood that economic union with the United States would mean the end of the independence and culture of the peoples of Latin America.
In May of 1888, the president of the United States had sent the peoples of the Americas and the Kingdom of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean an invitation from the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives to an international conference in Washington to study, among other things, “the adoption of a common silver-based currency by each of the governments that would be enforced for the reciprocal trade transactions among the citizens of all the American states”.
Certainly, the members of Congress must have studied well the consequences such measures would have.
Nearly two years after the International American Conference, of which the United States was a party, an international monetary union was recommended and, as basis for this union, the minting of one or more currencies that might be used in the represented countries.
Finally, after a month’s delay, as Marti himself tells it, the United States delegation declared in the International Monetary Commission, in March 1891, that “it was a fascinating dream that could not be attempted without the agreement of all the other countries on the globe”. It also recommended that gold or silver be used in the currencies that would be minted.
It was a premonition of what would happen 55 years later in Bretton Woods where the U.S. was granted the privilege of issuing an international paper currency, using gold and silver.
However, that event led to Marti drawing up the most impressive political and economical analysis I have ever read in my life, published in the Illustrated Review of New York in the month of May of 1891 in which he resolutely opposed the idea.
During my meeting with Daniel, he gave me a large number of paragraphs that are being debated about the final declaration of the upcoming Port of Spain Summit.
The OAS as the permanent secretary for the Summit of the Americas is dictating guidelines: it is the role assigned to it by Bush. It contains 100 paragraphs; it seems that the institution likes round numbers to sweeten the pill and give more punch to the document; an epigraph for each one of the 100 best poems in the lovely language.
Surely there are a great number of inadmissible concepts. It will be a litmus test for the peoples of the Caribbean and Latin America. Could it be a step backwards? Blockade and also exclusion after 50 years of resistance?
Who will assume those responsibilities? Who now demands our extinction? Could it be that they do not understand that the days of treaties excluding our people are a thing of the past? There will be important reservations in that declaration signed by heads of state so that it can be understood that in spite of the changes attained through tough talks, there are ideas which are unacceptable to them.
Cuba has always shown its willingness, in new circumstances, to provide maximum cooperation with the diplomatic activities of the countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. Those who ought to, know this well but we cannot be asked to keep silent in the face of unnecessary and inadmissible concessions.
Even stones shall speak!
Fidel Castro Ruz, April 4, 2009
Yesterday on Thursday April 3rd, at midday, I had an almost two-hour meeting with Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo.
As I explained to Daniel in the letter I sent to him in the afternoon, I was pleasantly impressed with the meeting. I thanked him for the opportunity I had in learning about the details of his struggle in Nicaragua.
I expressed my sadness to him about the cadres who deserted and I recalled Tomás Borge, Bayardo, Jaime Wheelock, Miguel D´Escoto and others who had remained faithful to Sandino’s dreams and to the revolutionary ideas brought to Nicaragua by the Sandinista Front.
I asked him to please send me news as often as possible in order to know about the ups and downs of a small Third World country in the face of the insatiable ambitions of the G-7.
I sent Rosario a copy of the book “The Geology of Cuba for All” that I received three days ago, a marvelous biography of nature on our island throughout hundreds of millions of years, illustrated with beautiful pictures and photographs, written by 12 Cuban scientists and constituting a literary jewel with its articles and analyses. I showed it to her and she had been very interested in it.
I chatted with Daniel at length about the “famous” Summit of the Americas which will be taking place on the 17th, 18th and 19th at Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.
Those summit meetings have a history which has certainly been rather dismal. The first took place in Miami, capital of the counterrevolution, the blockade and the dirty war against Cuba. That summit was held on the 10th and 11th of December in 1994. It had been convened by Bill Clinton, elected president of the United States in November of 1992.
The USSR had collapsed and our country was in the midst of the special period. The fall of socialism in our country as it had happened first in Eastern Europe and later in the Soviet Union was taken for granted.
The counterrevolutionaries were packing their bags for their victorious return to Cuba. Bush Sr. had lost the elections as a result of that warmongering venture in Iraq. Clinton was preparing for the post-revolutionary-Cuba era in Latin America. The Washington Consensus was in full swing.
The dirty war against Cuba was at the point of having a successful conclusion. The Cold War was ending with the victory of the West and a new era was dawning for the world.
The presidents of South and Central America enthusiastically attended the 1994 Miami Summit, heartened by Clinton’s invitation.
President Carlos Menem of Argentina topped the list of South American presidents who attended the meeting, followed by his right-wing neighbor Lacalle of Uruguay, Eduardo Frei of the Christian Democratic Party in Chile, the Bolivian Sánchez de Lozada, Fujimori of Peru and Rafael Caldera of Venezuela. There was nothing strange about the fact that they pulled along Itamar Franco and Fernando Enrique Cardoso, his successor in the presidency, Samper of Colombia and Sixto Duran of Ecuador.
The list of attendees from Central America in Miami was headed by Calderón Sol, of the ARENA Party in El Salvador and Violeta Chamorro who, by virtue of the anti-Sandinista dirty war, had been instated by Reagan and Bush Sr. in Nicaragua.
Ernesto Zedillo was representing Mexico at the Miami Summit.
A strategic objective lurked in the background of this meeting: the imperialist dream for a free trade agreement reaching from Canada all the way to Patagonia.
President Hugo Chavez of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela had not yet made his appearance at the summits until the year 2001 in Quebec; neither had George W. Bush with his sinister role on the international scene.
History decreed that José Martí, our National Hero and the champion of Cuban independence, would experience capitalism’s first great economic crisis in the United States, the one lasting until 1893. He understood that economic union with the United States would mean the end of the independence and culture of the peoples of Latin America.
In May of 1888, the president of the United States had sent the peoples of the Americas and the Kingdom of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean an invitation from the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives to an international conference in Washington to study, among other things, “the adoption of a common silver-based currency by each of the governments that would be enforced for the reciprocal trade transactions among the citizens of all the American states”.
Certainly, the members of Congress must have studied well the consequences such measures would have.
Nearly two years after the International American Conference, of which the United States was a party, an international monetary union was recommended and, as basis for this union, the minting of one or more currencies that might be used in the represented countries.
Finally, after a month’s delay, as Marti himself tells it, the United States delegation declared in the International Monetary Commission, in March 1891, that “it was a fascinating dream that could not be attempted without the agreement of all the other countries on the globe”. It also recommended that gold or silver be used in the currencies that would be minted.
It was a premonition of what would happen 55 years later in Bretton Woods where the U.S. was granted the privilege of issuing an international paper currency, using gold and silver.
However, that event led to Marti drawing up the most impressive political and economical analysis I have ever read in my life, published in the Illustrated Review of New York in the month of May of 1891 in which he resolutely opposed the idea.
During my meeting with Daniel, he gave me a large number of paragraphs that are being debated about the final declaration of the upcoming Port of Spain Summit.
The OAS as the permanent secretary for the Summit of the Americas is dictating guidelines: it is the role assigned to it by Bush. It contains 100 paragraphs; it seems that the institution likes round numbers to sweeten the pill and give more punch to the document; an epigraph for each one of the 100 best poems in the lovely language.
Surely there are a great number of inadmissible concepts. It will be a litmus test for the peoples of the Caribbean and Latin America. Could it be a step backwards? Blockade and also exclusion after 50 years of resistance?
Who will assume those responsibilities? Who now demands our extinction? Could it be that they do not understand that the days of treaties excluding our people are a thing of the past? There will be important reservations in that declaration signed by heads of state so that it can be understood that in spite of the changes attained through tough talks, there are ideas which are unacceptable to them.
Cuba has always shown its willingness, in new circumstances, to provide maximum cooperation with the diplomatic activities of the countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. Those who ought to, know this well but we cannot be asked to keep silent in the face of unnecessary and inadmissible concessions.
Even stones shall speak!
Fidel Castro Ruz, April 4, 2009
miércoles, 1 de abril de 2009
EEUU, DE PRETENDIDO AISLADOR A AISLADO
Autor: Patricio Montesinos
Estados Unidos se convertirá en el único país del continente americano que no tendrá relaciones con Cuba, al tiempo que es hoy el único del mundo a cuyos ciudadanos se les impide viajar a esa nación caribeña, a causa del bloqueo que Washington le impone desde hace 50 años.
Con el inminente restablecimiento de los vínculos diplomáticos entre El Salvador y Cuba, tras la victoria del Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional (FMLN) en las recientes elecciones celebradas en ese estado centroamericano, se confirmará que es el gobierno norteamericano el que sufre el mal de la soledad, y no la mayor de las Antillas, que es cada vez más arropada internacionalmente.
Por su parte, Costa Rica, la otra nación latinoamericana que no tenía hasta ahora nexos con Cuba, anunció también hace pocos días en boca de su presidente Oscar Arias, que los restablecerá inmediatamente, decisión que fue aceptada por las autoridades de La Habana.
Las determinaciones de El Salvador y Costa Rica ratificarán nuevamente que Estados Unidos, cuyas sucesivas administraciones han pretendido mantener cercada a la isla caribeña durante más de cinco décadas, es al final el aislado y no el aislador.
Para decepción de Washington, al igual que para los cada menos y debilitados adversarios de Cuba, ese pequeño país se ha insertado definitivamente en América Latina, donde es reconocido su prestigio y autoridad moral, además de su larga lucha en defensa de su soberanía e independencia frente al bloqueo y a las continuas agresiones de su poderoso y agresivo vecino del norte.
En los últimos meses la mayor de las Antillas ha intensificado sus relaciones con casi la totalidad de los estados latinoamericanos, y fue acogida oficialmente como miembro efectivo del Grupo de Rio, el más importante organismo de integración de esa región, en una multicumbre celebrada en diciembre pasado en Brasil.
Precisamente, en esa cita se escuchó como nunca antes y de manera unánime en América Latina y el Caribe el reclamo a la Casa Blanca de que ponga fin de una vez por todas al ilegal cerco económico, financiero y comercial que le aplica a Cuba, desde el triunfo de su Revolución en 1959.
En la referida multicumbre de Brasil, los 33 países presentes al más alto nivel concordaron en subrayar que el bloqueo es injustificado y sin razón, y exhortaron al hoy mandatario norteamericano, Barack Obama, a sepultar para siempre esa frustrada conducta hostil.
Asimismo resaltaron que la admisión de Cuba en el Grupo de Rio fue un acto histórico y de justicia porque nunca la Isla debió intentarse aislar del continente americano, como siempre han deseado hacer las sucesivas administraciones estadounidenses.
Washington tiene ahora dos opciones, continuar en su encierro imperial derivado del mantenimiento de su política agresiva hacia Cuba, o escuchar el llamado de la comunidad internacional de acabar con el bloqueo y normalizar las relaciones con la mayor de las Antillas, respetando su soberanía e independencia.
La pelota está evidentemente en terreno norteamericano, y es su actual gobierno el que deberá escoger entre pasar a la historia por su aislamiento o su inserción en América Latina.
Autor: Patricio Montesinos
Estados Unidos se convertirá en el único país del continente americano que no tendrá relaciones con Cuba, al tiempo que es hoy el único del mundo a cuyos ciudadanos se les impide viajar a esa nación caribeña, a causa del bloqueo que Washington le impone desde hace 50 años.
Con el inminente restablecimiento de los vínculos diplomáticos entre El Salvador y Cuba, tras la victoria del Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional (FMLN) en las recientes elecciones celebradas en ese estado centroamericano, se confirmará que es el gobierno norteamericano el que sufre el mal de la soledad, y no la mayor de las Antillas, que es cada vez más arropada internacionalmente.
Por su parte, Costa Rica, la otra nación latinoamericana que no tenía hasta ahora nexos con Cuba, anunció también hace pocos días en boca de su presidente Oscar Arias, que los restablecerá inmediatamente, decisión que fue aceptada por las autoridades de La Habana.
Las determinaciones de El Salvador y Costa Rica ratificarán nuevamente que Estados Unidos, cuyas sucesivas administraciones han pretendido mantener cercada a la isla caribeña durante más de cinco décadas, es al final el aislado y no el aislador.
Para decepción de Washington, al igual que para los cada menos y debilitados adversarios de Cuba, ese pequeño país se ha insertado definitivamente en América Latina, donde es reconocido su prestigio y autoridad moral, además de su larga lucha en defensa de su soberanía e independencia frente al bloqueo y a las continuas agresiones de su poderoso y agresivo vecino del norte.
En los últimos meses la mayor de las Antillas ha intensificado sus relaciones con casi la totalidad de los estados latinoamericanos, y fue acogida oficialmente como miembro efectivo del Grupo de Rio, el más importante organismo de integración de esa región, en una multicumbre celebrada en diciembre pasado en Brasil.
Precisamente, en esa cita se escuchó como nunca antes y de manera unánime en América Latina y el Caribe el reclamo a la Casa Blanca de que ponga fin de una vez por todas al ilegal cerco económico, financiero y comercial que le aplica a Cuba, desde el triunfo de su Revolución en 1959.
En la referida multicumbre de Brasil, los 33 países presentes al más alto nivel concordaron en subrayar que el bloqueo es injustificado y sin razón, y exhortaron al hoy mandatario norteamericano, Barack Obama, a sepultar para siempre esa frustrada conducta hostil.
Asimismo resaltaron que la admisión de Cuba en el Grupo de Rio fue un acto histórico y de justicia porque nunca la Isla debió intentarse aislar del continente americano, como siempre han deseado hacer las sucesivas administraciones estadounidenses.
Washington tiene ahora dos opciones, continuar en su encierro imperial derivado del mantenimiento de su política agresiva hacia Cuba, o escuchar el llamado de la comunidad internacional de acabar con el bloqueo y normalizar las relaciones con la mayor de las Antillas, respetando su soberanía e independencia.
La pelota está evidentemente en terreno norteamericano, y es su actual gobierno el que deberá escoger entre pasar a la historia por su aislamiento o su inserción en América Latina.
LOS DAÑOS DEL BLOQUEO… PARA EL BLOQUEADOR
Autor: Manuel E. Yepe
Un insólito análisis que reafirma el carácter absurdo del bloqueo de los Estados Unidos contra Cuba ha hecho la educadora, escritora y periodista mexicana residente en Estados Unidos Margot Pepper, quien asegura que el bloqueo de Washington contra La Habana tiene para la superpotencia norteña un costo superior a los perjuicios que le impone a la isla caribeña.
El artículo, publicado inicialmente en la revista digital “Dollars & Sense” (“Dólares y Razones”), reproducido en la Internet por otras publicaciones, sostiene que, aunque el bloqueo constituye una enorme carga económica para el pueblo cubano, su costo para los Estados Unidos es mayor y la brecha sigue aumentando. Por eso, afirma, en las actuales condiciones de crisis económica, crece el coro de los que claman por que se ponga fin a tan costosa vendetta.
Recuerda la autora que el pretexto para el bloqueo que formulara la U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission (Comisión para la solución de reclamaciones en el exterior) fue que se trataba de una respuesta al acto de expropiación por parte del gobierno de Cuba de “propiedades de estadounidenses por valor de unos 1 800 millones de dólares”.
“Hoy la opinión pública estadounidense se vuelve contra el embargo y el 52% de los ciudadanos desean que sea levantado, en tanto que recientes encuestas revelan que incluso la mayoría de los cubanos de Miami apoya la suspensión del bloqueo” –advierte.
“Estos porcentajes pudieran ser más altos si el público en los EEUU conociera que el bloqueo les cuesta a ellos mismos más que a los cubanos, hecho que ha comenzado a afectar a la comunidad de los negocios estadounidense”, dice la articulista.
Refiere que “representantes de una docena de importantes entidades, incluida la Cámara de Comercio de EEUU, enviaron en diciembre una carta a Barack Obama en la que le pedían levantar el bloqueo. En la carta se estimaba el costo para la economía nacional de EEUU del bloqueo a Cuba en unos 1200 millones de dólares, cada año”.
La Cuban Policy Foundation (CPF), de Washington, por su parte, calcula en 4840 millones de dólares anuales las pérdidas por concepto de ventas y exportaciones frustradas por el “embargo”.
Estos números sobrepasan ampliamente los cálculos cubanos de afectación a la economía de la Isla, que son unos 685 millones anuales, según expone Margot Pepper.
Al margen del costo económico para quienes imponen el bloqueo, éste ha privado a los ciudadanos estadounidenses de los adelantos cubanos en el campo de la medicina. “Cuba ha desarrollado la primera vacuna contra la meningitis B; tratamientos contra la retinosis pigmentaria; un preservante para la conservación de la leche sin refrigeración; el PPG, un medicamento contra el colesterol de mucha aceptación en el extranjero por sus efectos colaterales, y CimaVax EDF, la primera vacuna terapéutica contra el cáncer pulmonar”, revela a los internautas norteamericanos el artículo.
Citando datos de investigaciones del Instituto John Hopkins de Estados Unidos y el Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Económicas de La Habana, sostiene que, aunque siempre el bloqueo ha costado más a EE.UU que a Cuba, la brecha ha crecido considerablemente y los esfuerzos de Cuba por la diversificación y aumento de su comercio con otras naciones tras la disolución de la Unión Soviética han incrementado la diferencia entre los costos del bloqueo para el bloqueador y el bloqueado.
Apunta que el impacto del bloqueo es más severo para la Isla a causa de su tamaño y recursos relativamente menores. Predice que, aunque el levantamiento del bloqueo inevitablemente elevaría el nivel de vida de los cubanos, la economía del país seguirá bajo los efectos del legado colonial y la condición de monoproductor. Los términos de intercambio desiguales dispuestos por los tratados y las organizaciones como la Organización Mundial de Comercio, el Banco Mundial, y el Fondo Monetario Internacional, presionan sobre la situación semicolonial de los países pobres. “Es necesario recordar este desigual escenario cuando se hagan comparaciones entre EE.UU y Cuba”, dice el artículo.
También señala que, “pese a todos estos obstáculos, la isla socialista ha podido proveer a sus habitantes de lo que Estados Unidos, uno de los más ricos países del mundo, no ha podido aún dar a los suyos: la mejor asistencia médica gratuita; estudios medios superiores y universitarios gratuitos, y alimentación y servicios básicos subsidiados”.
El artículo brinda así mismo datos acerca de varios aspectos en los que Cuba compara favorablemente con Estados Unidos pese a los efectos del bloqueo: vivienda (en Cuba el 85% de las familias son dueños y los alquileres no pueden exceder el 10% de los ingresos); empleo (según datos de la CIA estadounidense en Cuba hay 1.8% de desempleados cuando en EE.UU pasa del 7.6%; analfabetismo (en Cuba es 0.2% y en EE.UU 3.0%); mortalidad infantil (4.7 por mil nacidos vivos en Cuba y 8 por mil en EE.UU); y en prisiones (en Cuba, según datos del PNUD, hay la alta cifra de 487 por cada 100,000 habitantes, pero en Estados Unidos son 738 por cada 100,000 habitantes).
La autora concluye su artículo preguntando: ¿Si la única amenaza concreta que presenta la revolución cubana contra EE.UU es la de su ejemplo, no es hora ya de enterrar el bloqueo?
Marzo de 2009.
----SE VIENE LA V CUMBRE DE LAS AMÉRICAS
Autor: Fernando Ramón Bossi
¿Comenzará la anunciada política de la zanahoria y el garrote? ¿Será Puerto España el escenario donde Nuestra América reafirme su decisión de ser verdaderamente independiente? Estamos seguros que la dignidad de los latinoamericanos caribeños será defendida a capa y espada por muchos presidentes de la región, como también estamos seguros que Cuba estará presente a través de sus hermanos de la Patria Grande.
La diplomacia estadounidense de la "era Obama" en estas próximas semanas comenzará a desplegar su estrategia, en medio de las turbulencias acarreadas por la profunda crisis que transita el sistema capitalista mundial. El "involucramiento vigoroso", la "diplomacia directa" o el "poder inteligente", figuras a las que ha apelado la Secretaria de Estado Hillary Clinton al referirse a la nueva política exterior del Pentágono, se verán expuestas concretamente en dos eventos de importancia sustancial: la reunión del G-20, el 2 de abril próximo en Londres y la V Cumbre de las Américas, que se llevará a cabo entre el 17 y 19 de abril en Puerto España, capital de Trinidad y Tobago. En ambos eventos participará el presidente estadounidense Barak Obama.
La primera reunión, la del G-20, contará con la presencia de tres países latinoamericanos: Brasil, Argentina y México. Pero todas las expectativas, más allá de las conclusiones en que allí se arriben, teniendo en cuenta que la crisis avanza en forma galopante, están centradas en la bilateral que mantendrá Barack Obama con su par ruso Dimitri Medvedev. El presidente estadounidense llega a esta reunión con un fuerte as en la manga: la incorporación de Francia al Comando Militar de la OTAN, que se concretará formalmente en la no menos importante reunión de la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte que se realizará un día después de la del G-20 en la frontera franco-alemana.
Las últimas declaraciones del presidente francés Nicolás Sarkozy y la canciller germana Angela Merkel, manifiestan su disposición a trabajar conjuntamente con los Estados Unidos para salir de la crisis. Los gobiernos representantes del gran capital se unen para enfrentar la crisis, cerrando el paso a las llamadas "economías emergentes", trasladar los costos al Tercer Mundo y "poner en caja" a los gobiernos "díscolos". La fuerza militar también cuenta en el debate inter-imperialista. "Europa necesita una alianza con Estados Unidos para crear su propia fuerza militar autónoma y compartir con los estadounidenses las tareas de velar por la seguridad mundial en momentos de crisis", señaló el político francés Alain Lamassoure.
¿Cuál será el papel que cumplirán los presidentes de los países latinoamericanos en la reunión del G-20? ¿Avalarán las políticas dictadas por las grandes potencias capitalistas? La postura que asuman los presidentes de Brasil y Argentina repercutirá sin duda en la reunión de Puerto España.
Ahora, enfocándonos puntualmente en la Cumbre de las Américas, observamos que en las últimas semanas Washington ha lanzado una marcada ofensiva diplomática en la región. El vicepresidente estadounidense, Joe Biden visitará Chile, donde se reunirá con la presidenta Michelle Bachelet; el presidente de Brasil, Ignacio Lula da Silva; el presidente de Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez; la presidenta argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner; el primer ministro de Noruega Joe Stoltenberg y el primer ministro británico George Brown. El cónclave se realizará bajo el lema "Una Respuesta Progresista a la Crisis Global" y la prensa la identifica como Cumbre de Líderes Progresistas.
Inmediatamente después del encuentro en Viña del Mar, Chile, Joe Biden partirá hacia Costa Rica para mantener una reunión con el presidente Óscar Arias, a la que asistirán diferentes mandatarios centroamericanos. Por otra parte, la secretaria de Estado Hillary Clinton confirmó un viaje a México para reunirse con su homóloga Patricia Espinoza. También hay que tener presente que el Primer Ministro de Trinidad y Tobago, Patrick Manning, aliado de los Estados Unidos, culminó una gira que incluyó reuniones con los presidentes de México, Nicaragua, Brasil, Paraguay, Venezuela y Ecuador. El despliegue de la diplomacia estadounidense parece tener como finalidad preparar la presentación de Obama ante los mandatarios latinoamericanos de la mejor manera, para no repetir la derrota sufrida en la cumbre anterior realizada en Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Recordemos que la Primera Cumbre de las Américas se realizó en Miami, Estados Unidos, en diciembre de 1994, cuando toda la América Latina Caribeña con la excepción de Cuba, era gobernada por presidentes adeptos al modelo neoliberal. Allí fue cuando se decidió avanzar en una agenda común, impulsando la creación del ALCA. En la Tercera Cumbre de las Américas, en Québec, Canadá, que fue en abril de 2001, surgió la famosa Carta Democrática Interamericana. Y en todas estas cumbres se acordaron una serie de objetivos relacionados con el fortalecimiento de la democracia, la justicia y los derechos humanos; la promoción de integración y libre comercio; la erradicación de la pobreza y el crecimiento económico. Meras declaraciones que en nada han incidido positivamente en las políticas regionales, más bien, con la actitud siempre imperialista del Pentágono, han ayudado a agravar la situación de cada uno de nuestros países.
Sin duda que la más importante de estas Cumbres fue la IV, donde con actitud valiente y digna, varios presidentes latinoamericanos hicieron dar marcha atrás al proyecto recolonizador del ALCA. En esa reunión, Bush y el imperialismo yanqui fueron derrotados categóricamente. Quienes lo derrotaron fueron un grupo de presidentes decididos a defender las soberanías mancilladas por la acción criminal del Consenso Washington. Este grupo, hoy, está aún más fortalecido. Obama lo sabe y no querrá seguir la suerte de su antecesor.
Jeff Davidow, diplomático estadounidense encargado de la V Cumbre, indicó que Obama llegará a la reunión con un "espíritu de igualdad" y que percibe el encuentro como "una oportunidad para reunirse con los líderes, intercambiar ideas y escuchar", a partir de una posición respetuosa hacia todos sus pares. Obama, cuando entre sus primeros anuncios referenciados a América Latina, incluyó cerrar la prisión de Guantánamo y eliminar restricciones comerciales a Cuba, ganó la simpatía de una importante franja de la población latinoamericana. La actitud del nuevo presidente norteamericano es tomar distancia de aquella que caracterizó al gobierno de Bush. Dan Restrepo, Director de Asuntos Hemisféricos en el Consejo Nacional de Seguridad, trata de demostrar en todas sus declaraciones que en la región no hay antinorteamericanismo, sino que lo que hubo fue antibushismo. Obama intentará seducir, esgrimiendo la primera instancia- como lo anunció en su campaña electoral.
Pero el rostro afable que pretende presentar el nuevo gobierno de la Casa Blanca, ya comienza a mostrarse en su verdadera dimensión. En visita a Guatemala el Secretario de Estado adjunto para Latinoamérica, Thomas Shannon señaló: "No hay mucho que podamos hacer para evitar la reducción de las remesas y las exportaciones. Antes nosotros tenemos que resolver nuestra crisis económica", y agregó que reducirán las importaciones de América Central, Washington poco puede hacer para ayudar a la región. Asimismo Jeff Davidow, ante las expectativas de algunos mandatarios de la región de contar con la ayuda de Estados Unidos para enfrentar los efectos de la crisis, declaró groseramente: "Obama no es Papá Noel". Este alto funcionario, ex embajador en Venezuela y México, es el autor de un modesto pero interesante libro titulado "El oso y el puerco espín", en referencia a las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y México.
Ahora, esta V Cumbre de las Américas que se llevará a cabo bajo el rimbombante lema de "Asegurar el futuro de nuestros ciudadanos promoviendo la prosperidad humana, la seguridad energética y la sostenibilidad ambiental", contiene un proyecto de declaración de compromiso que, en lo sustancial, no se diferencia de las anteriores, poniendo su eje en las inversiones y las políticas de mercado. Una declaración anodina cuando no peligrosamente neoliberal.
Pero el tema central de la Cumbre será el tema Cuba. La nueva correlación de fuerzas en el hemisferio indica que una resolución positiva para Cuba debe surgir de este evento. El presidente Daniel Ortega lo ha planteado con firmeza: "Cuba no nos está pidiendo participar en esa Cumbre, pero por dignidad estamos pidiendo se suspenda el bloqueo (de Estados Unidos) a ese hermano país, para poder decir que la reunión es una Cumbre de las Américas, y es un tema a abordar con la debida claridad". Asimismo el diplomático nicaragüense Orlando Gómez afirmó: "Centroamérica no es más el patio trasero de los Estados Unidos pero se puede empezar un nuevo ciclo histórico de las relaciones en un plano de igualdad soberana y respeto entre los países que integran nuestra región y la gran nación del norte".
A este reclamo se sumó el mandatario venezolano Hugo Chávez al afirmar que presionará a Estados Unidos para que levante el embargo comercial de más de cuatro décadas impuesto a Cuba y agregó: "El presidente estadounidense Barak Obama está en la obligación moral de suspender el bloqueo a Cuba. Por nuestra parte, nosotros sólo pedimos respeto para Venezuela. No nos arrodillamos ante nadie". Chávez también manifestó que si el nuevo gobierno norteamericano "verdaderamente quiere sostener otro tipo de relaciones con América Latina, debe tratar a todos los gobiernos con respeto".
El asesor de Lula en política internacional Marco Aurelio García fue claro al respecto: "El tema de Cuba va a aparecer porque hay un sentimiento muy generalizado en América Latina de que el embargo no tiene más sentido, de que forma parte de la agenda superada de la Guerra Fría". En su opinión, "la normalización de las relaciones con Cuba tendría un efecto extraordinario en la imagen de Estados Unidos. Pienso que, en un primer momento, las iniciativas estadounidenses tienen que ser unilaterales, sin ningún condicionamiento", apuntó el político brasileño.En Caracas, un día antes de la V Cumbre, se reunirán los presidentes de la Alternativa Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América, ALBA, a fin de diseñar una estrategia conjunta para la reunión en Trinidad y Tobago. Nada más correcto.
¿Comenzará la anunciada política de la zanahoria y el garrote? ¿Será Puerto España el escenario donde Nuestra América reafirme su decisión de ser verdaderamente independiente? Estamos seguros que la dignidad de los latinoamericanos caribeños será defendida a capa y espada por muchos presidentes de la región, como también estamos seguros que Cuba estará presente a través de sus hermanos de la Patria Grande.
"Poner vino nuevo en odres viejos no es conveniente", dijo Jesús de Nazaret hace casi 2000 años. Difícil será que la nueva política que se está creando en la América Latina Caribeña, con países realmente soberanos y gobiernos antiimperialistas y revolucionarios, puedan incluirse en estructuras caducas creadas en los tiempos de plena hegemonía del imperio estadounidense. La idea maestra del general Sandino en su "Plan de Realización del Supremo Sueño de Bolívar vale decir, la conformación de la Alianza Latinoamericana, sí es el camino.
Fernando Ramón Bossi es Director de la Escuela de Formación Política Emancipación.
Autor: Manuel E. Yepe
Un insólito análisis que reafirma el carácter absurdo del bloqueo de los Estados Unidos contra Cuba ha hecho la educadora, escritora y periodista mexicana residente en Estados Unidos Margot Pepper, quien asegura que el bloqueo de Washington contra La Habana tiene para la superpotencia norteña un costo superior a los perjuicios que le impone a la isla caribeña.
El artículo, publicado inicialmente en la revista digital “Dollars & Sense” (“Dólares y Razones”), reproducido en la Internet por otras publicaciones, sostiene que, aunque el bloqueo constituye una enorme carga económica para el pueblo cubano, su costo para los Estados Unidos es mayor y la brecha sigue aumentando. Por eso, afirma, en las actuales condiciones de crisis económica, crece el coro de los que claman por que se ponga fin a tan costosa vendetta.
Recuerda la autora que el pretexto para el bloqueo que formulara la U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission (Comisión para la solución de reclamaciones en el exterior) fue que se trataba de una respuesta al acto de expropiación por parte del gobierno de Cuba de “propiedades de estadounidenses por valor de unos 1 800 millones de dólares”.
“Hoy la opinión pública estadounidense se vuelve contra el embargo y el 52% de los ciudadanos desean que sea levantado, en tanto que recientes encuestas revelan que incluso la mayoría de los cubanos de Miami apoya la suspensión del bloqueo” –advierte.
“Estos porcentajes pudieran ser más altos si el público en los EEUU conociera que el bloqueo les cuesta a ellos mismos más que a los cubanos, hecho que ha comenzado a afectar a la comunidad de los negocios estadounidense”, dice la articulista.
Refiere que “representantes de una docena de importantes entidades, incluida la Cámara de Comercio de EEUU, enviaron en diciembre una carta a Barack Obama en la que le pedían levantar el bloqueo. En la carta se estimaba el costo para la economía nacional de EEUU del bloqueo a Cuba en unos 1200 millones de dólares, cada año”.
La Cuban Policy Foundation (CPF), de Washington, por su parte, calcula en 4840 millones de dólares anuales las pérdidas por concepto de ventas y exportaciones frustradas por el “embargo”.
Estos números sobrepasan ampliamente los cálculos cubanos de afectación a la economía de la Isla, que son unos 685 millones anuales, según expone Margot Pepper.
Al margen del costo económico para quienes imponen el bloqueo, éste ha privado a los ciudadanos estadounidenses de los adelantos cubanos en el campo de la medicina. “Cuba ha desarrollado la primera vacuna contra la meningitis B; tratamientos contra la retinosis pigmentaria; un preservante para la conservación de la leche sin refrigeración; el PPG, un medicamento contra el colesterol de mucha aceptación en el extranjero por sus efectos colaterales, y CimaVax EDF, la primera vacuna terapéutica contra el cáncer pulmonar”, revela a los internautas norteamericanos el artículo.
Citando datos de investigaciones del Instituto John Hopkins de Estados Unidos y el Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Económicas de La Habana, sostiene que, aunque siempre el bloqueo ha costado más a EE.UU que a Cuba, la brecha ha crecido considerablemente y los esfuerzos de Cuba por la diversificación y aumento de su comercio con otras naciones tras la disolución de la Unión Soviética han incrementado la diferencia entre los costos del bloqueo para el bloqueador y el bloqueado.
Apunta que el impacto del bloqueo es más severo para la Isla a causa de su tamaño y recursos relativamente menores. Predice que, aunque el levantamiento del bloqueo inevitablemente elevaría el nivel de vida de los cubanos, la economía del país seguirá bajo los efectos del legado colonial y la condición de monoproductor. Los términos de intercambio desiguales dispuestos por los tratados y las organizaciones como la Organización Mundial de Comercio, el Banco Mundial, y el Fondo Monetario Internacional, presionan sobre la situación semicolonial de los países pobres. “Es necesario recordar este desigual escenario cuando se hagan comparaciones entre EE.UU y Cuba”, dice el artículo.
También señala que, “pese a todos estos obstáculos, la isla socialista ha podido proveer a sus habitantes de lo que Estados Unidos, uno de los más ricos países del mundo, no ha podido aún dar a los suyos: la mejor asistencia médica gratuita; estudios medios superiores y universitarios gratuitos, y alimentación y servicios básicos subsidiados”.
El artículo brinda así mismo datos acerca de varios aspectos en los que Cuba compara favorablemente con Estados Unidos pese a los efectos del bloqueo: vivienda (en Cuba el 85% de las familias son dueños y los alquileres no pueden exceder el 10% de los ingresos); empleo (según datos de la CIA estadounidense en Cuba hay 1.8% de desempleados cuando en EE.UU pasa del 7.6%; analfabetismo (en Cuba es 0.2% y en EE.UU 3.0%); mortalidad infantil (4.7 por mil nacidos vivos en Cuba y 8 por mil en EE.UU); y en prisiones (en Cuba, según datos del PNUD, hay la alta cifra de 487 por cada 100,000 habitantes, pero en Estados Unidos son 738 por cada 100,000 habitantes).
La autora concluye su artículo preguntando: ¿Si la única amenaza concreta que presenta la revolución cubana contra EE.UU es la de su ejemplo, no es hora ya de enterrar el bloqueo?
Marzo de 2009.
----SE VIENE LA V CUMBRE DE LAS AMÉRICAS
Autor: Fernando Ramón Bossi
¿Comenzará la anunciada política de la zanahoria y el garrote? ¿Será Puerto España el escenario donde Nuestra América reafirme su decisión de ser verdaderamente independiente? Estamos seguros que la dignidad de los latinoamericanos caribeños será defendida a capa y espada por muchos presidentes de la región, como también estamos seguros que Cuba estará presente a través de sus hermanos de la Patria Grande.
La diplomacia estadounidense de la "era Obama" en estas próximas semanas comenzará a desplegar su estrategia, en medio de las turbulencias acarreadas por la profunda crisis que transita el sistema capitalista mundial. El "involucramiento vigoroso", la "diplomacia directa" o el "poder inteligente", figuras a las que ha apelado la Secretaria de Estado Hillary Clinton al referirse a la nueva política exterior del Pentágono, se verán expuestas concretamente en dos eventos de importancia sustancial: la reunión del G-20, el 2 de abril próximo en Londres y la V Cumbre de las Américas, que se llevará a cabo entre el 17 y 19 de abril en Puerto España, capital de Trinidad y Tobago. En ambos eventos participará el presidente estadounidense Barak Obama.
La primera reunión, la del G-20, contará con la presencia de tres países latinoamericanos: Brasil, Argentina y México. Pero todas las expectativas, más allá de las conclusiones en que allí se arriben, teniendo en cuenta que la crisis avanza en forma galopante, están centradas en la bilateral que mantendrá Barack Obama con su par ruso Dimitri Medvedev. El presidente estadounidense llega a esta reunión con un fuerte as en la manga: la incorporación de Francia al Comando Militar de la OTAN, que se concretará formalmente en la no menos importante reunión de la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte que se realizará un día después de la del G-20 en la frontera franco-alemana.
Las últimas declaraciones del presidente francés Nicolás Sarkozy y la canciller germana Angela Merkel, manifiestan su disposición a trabajar conjuntamente con los Estados Unidos para salir de la crisis. Los gobiernos representantes del gran capital se unen para enfrentar la crisis, cerrando el paso a las llamadas "economías emergentes", trasladar los costos al Tercer Mundo y "poner en caja" a los gobiernos "díscolos". La fuerza militar también cuenta en el debate inter-imperialista. "Europa necesita una alianza con Estados Unidos para crear su propia fuerza militar autónoma y compartir con los estadounidenses las tareas de velar por la seguridad mundial en momentos de crisis", señaló el político francés Alain Lamassoure.
¿Cuál será el papel que cumplirán los presidentes de los países latinoamericanos en la reunión del G-20? ¿Avalarán las políticas dictadas por las grandes potencias capitalistas? La postura que asuman los presidentes de Brasil y Argentina repercutirá sin duda en la reunión de Puerto España.
Ahora, enfocándonos puntualmente en la Cumbre de las Américas, observamos que en las últimas semanas Washington ha lanzado una marcada ofensiva diplomática en la región. El vicepresidente estadounidense, Joe Biden visitará Chile, donde se reunirá con la presidenta Michelle Bachelet; el presidente de Brasil, Ignacio Lula da Silva; el presidente de Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez; la presidenta argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner; el primer ministro de Noruega Joe Stoltenberg y el primer ministro británico George Brown. El cónclave se realizará bajo el lema "Una Respuesta Progresista a la Crisis Global" y la prensa la identifica como Cumbre de Líderes Progresistas.
Inmediatamente después del encuentro en Viña del Mar, Chile, Joe Biden partirá hacia Costa Rica para mantener una reunión con el presidente Óscar Arias, a la que asistirán diferentes mandatarios centroamericanos. Por otra parte, la secretaria de Estado Hillary Clinton confirmó un viaje a México para reunirse con su homóloga Patricia Espinoza. También hay que tener presente que el Primer Ministro de Trinidad y Tobago, Patrick Manning, aliado de los Estados Unidos, culminó una gira que incluyó reuniones con los presidentes de México, Nicaragua, Brasil, Paraguay, Venezuela y Ecuador. El despliegue de la diplomacia estadounidense parece tener como finalidad preparar la presentación de Obama ante los mandatarios latinoamericanos de la mejor manera, para no repetir la derrota sufrida en la cumbre anterior realizada en Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Recordemos que la Primera Cumbre de las Américas se realizó en Miami, Estados Unidos, en diciembre de 1994, cuando toda la América Latina Caribeña con la excepción de Cuba, era gobernada por presidentes adeptos al modelo neoliberal. Allí fue cuando se decidió avanzar en una agenda común, impulsando la creación del ALCA. En la Tercera Cumbre de las Américas, en Québec, Canadá, que fue en abril de 2001, surgió la famosa Carta Democrática Interamericana. Y en todas estas cumbres se acordaron una serie de objetivos relacionados con el fortalecimiento de la democracia, la justicia y los derechos humanos; la promoción de integración y libre comercio; la erradicación de la pobreza y el crecimiento económico. Meras declaraciones que en nada han incidido positivamente en las políticas regionales, más bien, con la actitud siempre imperialista del Pentágono, han ayudado a agravar la situación de cada uno de nuestros países.
Sin duda que la más importante de estas Cumbres fue la IV, donde con actitud valiente y digna, varios presidentes latinoamericanos hicieron dar marcha atrás al proyecto recolonizador del ALCA. En esa reunión, Bush y el imperialismo yanqui fueron derrotados categóricamente. Quienes lo derrotaron fueron un grupo de presidentes decididos a defender las soberanías mancilladas por la acción criminal del Consenso Washington. Este grupo, hoy, está aún más fortalecido. Obama lo sabe y no querrá seguir la suerte de su antecesor.
Jeff Davidow, diplomático estadounidense encargado de la V Cumbre, indicó que Obama llegará a la reunión con un "espíritu de igualdad" y que percibe el encuentro como "una oportunidad para reunirse con los líderes, intercambiar ideas y escuchar", a partir de una posición respetuosa hacia todos sus pares. Obama, cuando entre sus primeros anuncios referenciados a América Latina, incluyó cerrar la prisión de Guantánamo y eliminar restricciones comerciales a Cuba, ganó la simpatía de una importante franja de la población latinoamericana. La actitud del nuevo presidente norteamericano es tomar distancia de aquella que caracterizó al gobierno de Bush. Dan Restrepo, Director de Asuntos Hemisféricos en el Consejo Nacional de Seguridad, trata de demostrar en todas sus declaraciones que en la región no hay antinorteamericanismo, sino que lo que hubo fue antibushismo. Obama intentará seducir, esgrimiendo la primera instancia- como lo anunció en su campaña electoral.
Pero el rostro afable que pretende presentar el nuevo gobierno de la Casa Blanca, ya comienza a mostrarse en su verdadera dimensión. En visita a Guatemala el Secretario de Estado adjunto para Latinoamérica, Thomas Shannon señaló: "No hay mucho que podamos hacer para evitar la reducción de las remesas y las exportaciones. Antes nosotros tenemos que resolver nuestra crisis económica", y agregó que reducirán las importaciones de América Central, Washington poco puede hacer para ayudar a la región. Asimismo Jeff Davidow, ante las expectativas de algunos mandatarios de la región de contar con la ayuda de Estados Unidos para enfrentar los efectos de la crisis, declaró groseramente: "Obama no es Papá Noel". Este alto funcionario, ex embajador en Venezuela y México, es el autor de un modesto pero interesante libro titulado "El oso y el puerco espín", en referencia a las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y México.
Ahora, esta V Cumbre de las Américas que se llevará a cabo bajo el rimbombante lema de "Asegurar el futuro de nuestros ciudadanos promoviendo la prosperidad humana, la seguridad energética y la sostenibilidad ambiental", contiene un proyecto de declaración de compromiso que, en lo sustancial, no se diferencia de las anteriores, poniendo su eje en las inversiones y las políticas de mercado. Una declaración anodina cuando no peligrosamente neoliberal.
Pero el tema central de la Cumbre será el tema Cuba. La nueva correlación de fuerzas en el hemisferio indica que una resolución positiva para Cuba debe surgir de este evento. El presidente Daniel Ortega lo ha planteado con firmeza: "Cuba no nos está pidiendo participar en esa Cumbre, pero por dignidad estamos pidiendo se suspenda el bloqueo (de Estados Unidos) a ese hermano país, para poder decir que la reunión es una Cumbre de las Américas, y es un tema a abordar con la debida claridad". Asimismo el diplomático nicaragüense Orlando Gómez afirmó: "Centroamérica no es más el patio trasero de los Estados Unidos pero se puede empezar un nuevo ciclo histórico de las relaciones en un plano de igualdad soberana y respeto entre los países que integran nuestra región y la gran nación del norte".
A este reclamo se sumó el mandatario venezolano Hugo Chávez al afirmar que presionará a Estados Unidos para que levante el embargo comercial de más de cuatro décadas impuesto a Cuba y agregó: "El presidente estadounidense Barak Obama está en la obligación moral de suspender el bloqueo a Cuba. Por nuestra parte, nosotros sólo pedimos respeto para Venezuela. No nos arrodillamos ante nadie". Chávez también manifestó que si el nuevo gobierno norteamericano "verdaderamente quiere sostener otro tipo de relaciones con América Latina, debe tratar a todos los gobiernos con respeto".
El asesor de Lula en política internacional Marco Aurelio García fue claro al respecto: "El tema de Cuba va a aparecer porque hay un sentimiento muy generalizado en América Latina de que el embargo no tiene más sentido, de que forma parte de la agenda superada de la Guerra Fría". En su opinión, "la normalización de las relaciones con Cuba tendría un efecto extraordinario en la imagen de Estados Unidos. Pienso que, en un primer momento, las iniciativas estadounidenses tienen que ser unilaterales, sin ningún condicionamiento", apuntó el político brasileño.En Caracas, un día antes de la V Cumbre, se reunirán los presidentes de la Alternativa Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América, ALBA, a fin de diseñar una estrategia conjunta para la reunión en Trinidad y Tobago. Nada más correcto.
¿Comenzará la anunciada política de la zanahoria y el garrote? ¿Será Puerto España el escenario donde Nuestra América reafirme su decisión de ser verdaderamente independiente? Estamos seguros que la dignidad de los latinoamericanos caribeños será defendida a capa y espada por muchos presidentes de la región, como también estamos seguros que Cuba estará presente a través de sus hermanos de la Patria Grande.
"Poner vino nuevo en odres viejos no es conveniente", dijo Jesús de Nazaret hace casi 2000 años. Difícil será que la nueva política que se está creando en la América Latina Caribeña, con países realmente soberanos y gobiernos antiimperialistas y revolucionarios, puedan incluirse en estructuras caducas creadas en los tiempos de plena hegemonía del imperio estadounidense. La idea maestra del general Sandino en su "Plan de Realización del Supremo Sueño de Bolívar vale decir, la conformación de la Alianza Latinoamericana, sí es el camino.
Fernando Ramón Bossi es Director de la Escuela de Formación Política Emancipación.
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