The Bahamas and Cuba are Family

Bahamians, Cubans are not just Our Neighbours - They are Our Family

CUBA IS OUR FAMILY

“Deo adjuvante, non timendum.”  “With God as My Helper, I have nothing to fear”

By Dr. Kevin J Turnquest-Alcena

Nassau, NP, The Bahamas

The dictionaries have many definitions of the term “to bastardize.”  I will quote one such definition which is particularly relevant to the present narrative.  To bastardize an entity is “to change something in such a way as to lower its quality or value, typically by adding new elements.”  The synonyms to bastardize include words like corrupt, contaminate, weaken, pollute, degrade, and depreciate.

Cuba, Karma will never allow a descendent of Cuba to obliterate Cuba and its steadfast principles.  In spite of the neo conservative propaganda against Cuba.

“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.”

— Voltaire

Cuba has experienced the harsh realities of the imperialist agenda and has made it clear: it wants no part of it again.

Imperialism is a policy or ideology in which a country extends its power and influence over other countries or territories, often through military force, political control, or economic dominance.  This type of expansionism has historically left a trail of exploitation, underdevelopment, and cultural erosion in its wake.

Cuba, geologically, originated from the Yucatán Mountains in Mexico.  Incredibly, so did The Bahamas.  In the early 1970s, fossils of the Cuban crocodile were discovered in the caves of Grand Bahama.  This provided evidence of a deep, ancient connection.  Both Cuba and The Bahamas are made primarily of limestone, a rare geological trait that binds us together in more than just proximity.

We are not just neighbors. We are family.

Cuba is surrounded by three major bodies of water: the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.  Geographically, The Bahamas is Cuba’s closest neighbor.  On clear nights, the lights of Santiago de Cuba can be seen from Inagua and Cay Sal Bank.

Even the fruits we eat, such as guavas and tamarinds, have strong roots in Cuba.  The cultural and botanical heritage is intertwined.  This article exists to highlight this closeness, the geographical, historical, and cultural bonds that make us more than neighbors.  We are kin.

In the realm of geopolitics, this kinship must not be forgotten.  The Bahamas may have emerged from Cuba thousands or even millions of years ago.  That ancestral bond matters.  It cannot be erased by modern politics, foreign agendas, or ideological manipulation.

To turn our backs on Cuba would be to turn our backs on ourselves.

The blockade against Cuba is not a matter of political ideology.  It is a criminal act.  The same nations that sanction Cuba trade openly with countries like Vietnam and China, which maintain similar political systems.

This exposes the truth.  The embargo is not about communism.  It is about control.  It is not about democracy.  It is about power.  And it is certainly not about principle.  It is rooted in bombastic jealousy of Cuba’s resilience, independence, and refusal to be dominated.

Despite immense hardship, Cuba stands strong.  It remains a beacon of solidarity, cultural pride, and endurance in the face of decades-long adversity.

“In politics, absurdity is not a handicap.”

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Indeed, the political absurdity of isolating one of our closest and oldest neighbors must be called out. We must stand on the right side of history, not with those who fear Cuba’s strength, but with those who recognize Cuba as family.

Source / Comment

U.S. Imperialism Keeps The Fire Burning

U.S. imperialism adds fuel to the fire, but from afar

Economic, commercial and financial sanctions, as a means to exert pressure on a country, do not solve the current crisis, but rather add fuel to the fire and aggravate the international economic situation

By Madeleine Sautié Rodríguez | informacion@granmai.cu

Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee First Secretary and President of the Republic cited three elements that are sustaining and aggravating the world’s current difficulties, during his closing remarks at the Ministry of Culture’s annual review for the year 2021, held at José Martí National Library.

The tightened United States’ economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba; the aggressiveness of the United States internationally; and the uncertainty created by covid-19 were the three issues impacting the current situation he emphasized.

With regard to the blockade, the President said that we are now experiencing a different moment, a particular feature of recent years, "Things began to get very complicated in the second half of 2019, when the Trump administration adopted more than 240 measures that cut off our sources of financing.  They placed us on their list of countries that allegedly support terrorism.  And all this has been maintained under Joe Biden's administration," he explained.

The blockade, he recalled, has caused shortages, financial persecution, persecution of fuel suppliers, in particular, and to this was added the even greater aggressiveness of the U.S. government against Cuba, with a broad media campaign demonizing our country, in an attempt to discredit all elements of the Cuban Revolution, seeking to construct the appearance of total failure, that everything is wrong and everything the country does to mitigate current conditions does nothing to solve the problems, he stated.

The President pointed out that this aggressiveness can be seen in the way the events of July 11 were addressed and the way a play was staged, announcing to the world that on November 15 the Cuban Revolution would collapse, and now they are attempting to distort Cuba's position with respect to the current events in Europe.  This imperialist hostility is not only directed toward Cuba; it is evident at a global level, he noted.

He called for reflection on the fact that we live in a world that needs peace more than ever, at a time when more than twenty countries have not yet been able to vaccinate even 10% of their populations and do not know when they will be able to do so, reminding those present that only 61% of the population worldwide has been fully vaccinated.  We know, he said, that until the planet’s population is immunized, the pandemic will continue.

It is never the time to be starting wars, the President said, adding, "They have mounted this aggressive media campaign, attempting to distort the essences.  I understand very well that our people are following the current military conflict in Europe and the regrettable loss of human lives, in addition to the material damage and the general threat to peace and regional and international security, but Cuba has expressed itself clearly, firmly and repeatedly, in strict adherence to our foreign policy that is based on the principles of the Revolution, with careful and rigorous analysis of the facts from all angles," he said.

And this is a serious matter, of extreme complexity, with historical roots, including those of recent history, which cannot be ignored, just as the conditions that have led to this situation cannot be ignored, he said.  "Cuba firmly and consistently defends international law, the United Nations Charter and the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace," he reaffirmed, assuring that, "We defend peace under all circumstances and unambiguously oppose the use of force against any state."

As a small country we understand this better than anyone, besieged for more than 60 years.  Under constant threat, we have suffered state terrorism, military aggression, biological warfare and a brutal blockade, and we are absolutely clear about the value of the principles of international law that serve as protection against unilateralism, imperialism, hegemonic policies and attempts to dominate developing countries.  These are principles and norms that we have defended firmly and consistently in all scenarios.  On this occasion, we have denounced political manipulation and double standards, and we have spoken the truth, he said.

An offensive military encirclement has been established around Russia, he said, condemning the fact that, for decades, the U.S. government has progressively expanded its hegemony and military presence in the region, with the continued expansion of NATO in Eastern European countries, ignoring commitments made by U.S., European and Soviet leaders in the 1990s, after the unification of Germany and the disintegration of the USSR, he recalled.

This conflict could have been avoided if the Russian Federation's well-founded demands for security guarantee had been seriously and respectfully addressed, he said.

Díaz-Canel noted, "To think that Russia should remain passive in the face of NATO's offensive military encirclement is irresponsible, to say the least.  They have taken that country to an extreme situation," he said, pointing out that the continued use of economic, commercial and financial sanctions as a means to exert pressure on a country, does not solve the current crisis, but rather adds fuel to the fire and aggravates the international economic situation, which has been severely affected by these two difficult years of pandemic, he added.

U.S. imperialism is adding fuel to the fire, he said, but from afar, using European countries as its backyard.  Cuba has made this point regularly in different international events, he stated, and recalled the speech delivered by Army General Raúl Castro, on February 22, 2014, in which he emphatically addressed this issue.

As we have reiterated, we will continue to advocate for a serious and constructive diplomatic solution to the current crisis in Europe, advocating peaceful means that guarantee the security and sovereignty of all, as well as regional and international peace, stability and security, he stated.  Cuba has been obliged to confront the pandemic under the brutal economic, commercial and financial U.S. blockade, which has been qualitatively escalated since 2019 to an even more damaging level, he noted.

We will have the opportunity to review these highly sensitive issues in greater depth and trust that the people will continue to keep an eye on these events and make the effort required to distinguish truth from manipulation, he stated.

Source

Venezuela without Chavez: A Possible Scenario

By Roberto Lopez – Marea Socialista:




This article is written by a member of the leftist Marea Socialista (Socialist Tide) current of Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).   It is the first of several voices from within the Bolivarian movement to be featured by Venezuelanalysis.com this week, each offering an interpretation of the current situation in relation to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s health and swearing-in, as well as the possible future political scenarios that Venezuela faces.


1) Chavez’s leaving power seems to be a certainty in the short term (from a few months to a year), either through death or because his health will prevent him from returning to active office.   If he returns and is sworn in on January 10 or at a later date, his precarious health condition will keep him almost permanently in Cuba and the real running of the country will fall on one or more other individuals.

2) This implies the beginning of a period of profound change in the political leadership of the Bolivarian Revolution.   This period could last several months or even several years.

3) The recent and resounding electoral defeats suffered by the opposition in October and December place the post-Chavez political dispute within Chavismo itself.   This will continue for at least several months and perhaps a year or two.   Currently, the right wing is not in a political position to act offensively to regain power within the country, but obviously that weakness can change as time goes on.

4) We can infer that the present pro-Chavez leadership headed by Maduro and Cabello will deteriorate as time passes.   Causes: none of them have the leadership qualities of Chavez and therefore none of them are able to generate the consensus that existed when Chavez was in office.   The deterioration of consensus implies a deterioration of governance over national, regional and local institutions.   Generally, one can say that the long-term continuation of the Bolivarian Revolution is not assured with the current leadership, which has constituted Chavez’s inner circle and his immediate environment for the past 14 years.   We will witness an on-going crisis of governance that will result in constant rearrangements whose actors and trends cannot be accurately predicted.

5) Several processes will occur simultaneously:

a) An internal struggle for a new distribution of power within chavismo (redistribution of control over state institutions and over effective control of the national budget). Although formally they might manage to reach agreements for slicing up the bureaucratic pie, strong shocks will in fact begin to be produced because the country is not a sum of its parts but an organic whole.   Those clashes will be concealed initially, but will progressively become more public.   This could even lead to violent scenarios, such as attacks against certain leaders of the various pro-Chavez fractions.

b) The deterioration of this leadership for Venezuelans who support the process.   This may occur due to the government’s inability to address popular demands around critical issues; for example, labor disputes and collective negotiations involving significant sections of the state (teachers, academics, Guyanese industries, etc.).   Chavez will no longer be there to appease people’s emotions with the refrain of “the president didn’t know” or “they’re not complying with the president’s directives.”   The errors of the bureaucracy will not be forgiven by the people, as occurred when Chavez firmly held the nation’s leadership.

c) A widespread conspiracy by the “empire” [the US primarily] to penetrate the various civilian and military pro-Chavezleadership circles to promote the reversal of the revolutionary process.   This could be supplemented with future scenarios in which pro-Chavez forces and opposition forces unite to achieve the goal of ending the revolution.   At the moment, however, those scenarios are not yet possible (thankfully), but they could be created in the short term.

d) In the internal struggle within Chavismo, imperialist forces and their local allies will constantly seek to exert their influence.   The empire is likely to attempt to carry out various actions on its own, even violent ones, which could then be blamed on the intra-Chavista struggle.   The goal of this would be to add more fuel to the fire and encourage the strengthening of internal tendencies that are more likely to compromise with imperialism.

6) The imperial forces will seek the right moment to end the Bolivarian Revolution.   In promoting their initiatives, they will not rule out Libyan or Syrian-type scenarios (i.e., fostering a civil war) to overthrow the Bolivarian government and restore imperial rule over Venezuela.
In conclusion, the removal of Chavez from power opens up a scenario of uncertainty and political crisis in Venezuela, which seriously threatens the continuity of the revolutionary process and opens the door for the international bourgeoisie and their allies to attempt to regain domestic political power.

Given this reality, it is essential that revolutionaries strengthen their organizational activities and joint actions based on broad and democratic debate over the political agenda being raised by popular organizations.

Ensuring the continuation of the revolutionary process will depend on the emergence of new forms of popular collective leadership, which will be born in the heat of the difficult political confrontation that will characterize the months and years ahead.

If this strengthening of alternative revolutionary leadership does not occur, it is likely that reformist trends will end up predominating within the Chavista bureaucracy, pushing for a general agreement with the local bourgeoisie and US imperialism as a way to “save and sustain” the Bolivarian process.

If this latter trend prevails, the re-taking of power by imperialism would progressively occur and the reformist leaders and facilitators of Chavismo would gradually be displaced by more reliable traditional bourgeois leaders.   That process could take several years, possibly the entire current presidential term (2013-2019).

The means of avoiding this will always be through the strength of the popular movement led by a truly revolutionary program.   This cannot rely on small and tiny groups or tendencies that exist within or outside the PSUV.   It will depend on a massive confluence of revolutionary activists (including the military) and social organizations to confront the imperialist conspiracy and reformist reconciliation.

In this strategy — which I believe is the only alternative that exists to save the revolution — we must try out all means for exercising democracy and achieving the broadest possible consensus for allowing unity of action throughout the country.

This article originally appeared in Spanish on la.guarura.net and was translated into English by HavanaTimes.org.

January 07, 2013

Venezuelanalysis

Neocolonialism and economic imperialism in the Caribbean

By D. Markie Spring
Turks and Caicos Islands

When God created man, He did so in His own likeness!

Nowhere have I known that God breathed into a ‘black man,’ ‘white man,’ or an ‘Asian,’ or any other so-called races. Neither did He make any of these humans superior to the other. However, there are people of one kind that devote their chief energies to thinking that they are superior to another.

Often, I refuse to use the word ‘race’ as I do not believe in ‘races.’ Conversely, I believe that there are people that happened to look differently on the outside, but on the inside the human body, regardless of differences on the outer layout of the person, our hearts, lungs, intestines and other body parts are shaped the same, located at the same dimensions of the body and have the same functions. Our blood is the same colour and it operates in the same areas of the body, transported by endless veins and arteries.

God is an omniscient Being and knew that the world would be one boring place without differences. Imagine a world filled with blacks or whites, or Asians. Visualize a world with one culture or language, or for that matter one climate. When fast forwarded in time, the world would seem like an austere, monastic, rootless ‘out-of-shape’ ball wriggling on its axis while it dances around the blazing hot sun, tormented into a monotonous brutish environment.

These facts have rejuvenated and given rise to modern day imperialism and colonialism. One would think that imperialism and colonialism have aged and that the world has rid these economic and financial, nonetheless, political exploitations – think again!

West Indians look around! The facts are surfacing and are evident like the shining stars in the night sky. Henceforth, the big regional cooperation are dominated, controlled and directed by mega metropolitan centres headquartered in the outer sphere of the Caribbean; and nonetheless, establishing and expanding settlements within the Caribbean Basin.

Furthermore, the colonizers are hiring liked-figured people, giving the impression that the regional boys and girls cannot perform certain categories of jobs, especially at management levels. West Indians are given the duties of the dirty jobs and lower end jobs when they are more experienced and qualified that the colonizers and their liked creatures; and their only experience and qualifications stems from their pale outlook.

They set up a ‘New World Order’ that is constantly and consistently merchandizing their kind into the work force; dodging all legality of the requirements, regulations and policies that directs the system. And for those of us who have made it to certain level, we ended up being paid at twice as lower than the non-West Indians on the jobs.

However, it must be noted that not all are the same, but there are the legitimate few who tend to contribute meaningfully to the regional economies and aid in lifting the standards of living for citizens.

Along this path, we cannot solely blame the imperialist-colonizers for their actions, but the local authorities, including our government, business entrepreneurs and lawmakers for solely concentrating on holding back one another especially those from neighboring islands and their constant disregard to neo-colonizers that are secretly spreading their empires.

Astoundingly, this fascist doctrine defeats the lure of economicinfrastructure, such as the ironic fate of the ‘Education Revolution’ in SVG, the surge for independence in the Turks and Caicos, or does it subjugate the strife for political and economic stability within the region?

Already, we are witnessing the aftermath of these two phenomena; impacts that are both immense and pervasive – and effects that are both instant and protracted on our societies from inequality, exploitation, enslavement, trade expansion and the creation of new literature and cultural institutions.

Our fall is subsequent to our failure in accepting our own while the rest take advantage of the vacuum within our system!

Wake up!

June 27, 2012

Caribbeannewsnow

The Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA) Expands its Allies in the Caribbean

ALBA Expands its Allies in the Caribbean

 

By KEVIN EDMONDS - NACLA:

 

The weekend of February 4^th and 5^th saw the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA) convene their 11^th summit in Caracas, Venezuela.  ALBA began as an alternative vision to the reckless neoliberal agenda promoted by Washington throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

In 2004, Venezuela and Cuba sought to establish a regional alliance which would be committed to an agenda of poverty eradication, sustainable development and social justice founded upon the values of co-operation, equality, and solidarity.  The regional integration promoted by ALBA importantly stresses policy flexibility, fair trade, and recognition of the unique circumstances faced by the small Caribbean economies.

As many expected, the weekend summit contained the standard denunciations of American imperialism and the need for deeper economic integration – but surprisingly ended with St. Lucia and Suriname expressing their desire for full membership in the organization, with Haiti also joining ranks as a permanent observer.

While St. Lucia and Suriname cannot fully join the organization without following the necessary political processes in their respective countries, the two nations were admitted to the meeting as “special guest members”— a prior step to their full entry.  St. Lucia, Suriname, and Haiti would join their fellow CARICOM neighbours Dominica, who joined the regional organization in 2008, and St. Vincent and Antigua who became members in 2009.

Professor Norman Girvan of the University of the West Indies, a leading scholar in Caribbean political economy sees the recent regional shift towards ALBA as the result of the organization providing a more dynamic alternative to CARICOM, remarking that “(ALBA) poses the urgency of revitalising CARICOM and if CARICOM continues to be relatively moribund in its economic integration aspect then inevitably ALBA will become an attractive alternative for more and more CARICOM states.”

Furthermore, Petrocaribe— an alliance which allows Caribbean nations to purchase oil from Venezuela in a preferential agreement, has proved to be an attractive option for the cash strapped governments.  The oil can be paid for over a 25 year period, at a 1 percent interest rate.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in comparison to the traditional methods of purchasing oil in the region, Petrocaribe provides significant savings to the participating countries, providing an importance source of finance which respective governments can use to invest in social development programs.  David Jessop, the Director of the Caribbean Council stated that “If it were not for the energy lifeline that it [Venezuela] has provided to every Caribbean nation other than Trinidad and Barbados, much of the region would by now be in economic free fall.”

It is precisely because the Caribbean has been hit so hard by the forces of globalization that many CARICOM members are looking to establish deeper alliances with Caracas and Havana instead of Washington— and for good reason.

The forceful intervention by Washington on behalf of the financial interests of multinational fruit companies like Chiquita in the nearly 20 year long “banana war” at the World Trade Organization fundamentally changed the economies of St. Lucia, Dominica and St. Vincent for the worse.  Furthermore in Haiti, the reintroduction of a sweatshop model of development called HOPE II, is little more than a recycled version of Ronald Reagan’s failed Caribbean Basin Initiative of the 1980’s which perversely sees the country’s poverty as its greatest asset.  Based upon the poverty inducing actions of the United States in the region, it makes one wonder how the Caribbean did not explore this alternative alliance to neoliberal globalization earlier.

Speaking on the economic realities which sparked St. Lucia’s decision to explore membership in ALBA, Prime Minister Kenny Anthony stated that “It is going to be critical and crucial that St. Lucia look for new opportunities of support and in particular for governments who are willing to assist the development of the country…So we have to be busy, we have to search for new sources of funding and it is in that context that we have to look at organisations like ALBA as an option.”

According to Professor Girvan, this makes perfect sense as ALBA is “mobilising resources on a much more significant scale... The ALBA bank and Petrocaribe funding are much larger than those mobilized by the CARICOM Development Fund and ALBA is moving ahead.  They keep launching into new projects for example, food security and agriculture that CARICOM has been talking a lot but doing very little.”

Looking at the record of assistance ALBA has already provided to its three initial Caribbean members, it provides a strong incentive to other CARICOM nations looking to join the bloc pragmatic reasons.

• 
  In Dominica, the government reports total financial assistance of $119 million East Caribbean dollars for 26 projects in housing, infrastructure, security and agriculture; benefitting over 1,000 families and 34,000 individuals; the latter figure being approximately 45 percent of the national population.
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  In Antigua, ALBA provided a $7.5 million U.S. dollar grant to refurbish the V.C. Bird International Airport, and another US$8 million to finance a major water infrastructure project. During 2011 Antigua and Barbuda had 125 students on scholarship in Cuba.
• 
  In St. Vincent, $10.275 million U.S. dollars has been provided as a grant by the government of Venezuela to finance housing for low-income or no-income beneficiaries, and $1.85 million East Caribbean dollars has been given for rural development projects related to eco-tourism, sporting facilities and fishing. 

Figures taken from: Is ALBA a New Model of Integration? Reflections on the CARICOM Experience by Norman Girvan.

Despite the many successes of ALBA in the Caribbean so far, the future of the organization hangs in a precarious position, as the October elections in Venezuela will do a great deal to determine both its strength and durability.  Nevertheless, the expansion of the group’s membership in the Caribbean, in addition to the newly formed Community of Latin American and Caribbean States signals an important shift away from American hegemony in the region – that it is no longer Washington’s “backyard” anymore – but rather a region which has been taken for granted and is now looking to put their priorities first for a change.  It is a change which is long overdue.

Part 2: Haiti

When looking at the vast array of reconstruction plans and promises of aid to rebuild Haiti, the old cliché "actions speak louder than words" rings true.  Two years later, the failed reconstruction of Haiti has shown that a great deal of the international community’s optimism which emerged after the earthquake was simply that—talk.  While this may be a harsh criticism of seemingly well-intentioned efforts, when contrasted to the actions of a small but determined group of Latin American and Caribbean countries, the majority of international efforts in Haiti are shameful.

The countries which comprise the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA) have always regarded Haiti as an important sister nation and partner in the fight against imperialism and neoliberal globalization.  At the inauguration of President Michel Martelly last May, Héctor Rodríguez, vice-president of the Social Area Council of Venezuela wasted no time in renewing ALBA’s cooperation to Haiti, stating, “We have a historical debt to pay to our brothers and sisters in Haiti, because they helped us liberate our Latin America.”  Rodríguez’s remarks referred to the assistance of then-Haitian President Petion to Simón Bolívar during the independence wars against Spain, where newly liberated Haiti provided soldiers, financial aid, and political asylum to the Latin American revolutionary.

The first week of February saw the 11 summit of the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA) convene in Caracas, Venezuela.  With Haiti in attendance as a permanent observer, Martelly’s attendance at the summit was a surprise to many, due to his reactionary political program domestically, his close relationships with the Haitian elite, and his determination that Haiti will achieve real and sustainable development through neoliberal policy and the construction of low-wage sweatshops.

Despite Martelly’s political positions, the impact of ALBA’s assistance to Haiti (primarily via Cuba and Venezuela) is too powerful for him to ignore—doing so would discredit him in the eyes of the Haitian people.  At a regional summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, which was founded last December, Martelly confirmed the vital role Venezuelan aid is playing in Haiti, saying that "The cooperation with Venezuela is the most important in Haiti right now in terms of impact, direct impact... We are grateful to President Chávez for helping us from the bottom of his heart.”

The principal reason why Venezuela and Cuba have been so effective in delivering assistance to Haiti is their engagement in developing infrastructure and professional capacity prior to the earthquake.  These countries had spent tremendous time and resources developing networks, relationships and infrastructure which would prove critical to the relief effort, and they had a proven capacity to work constructively with the ministries of the Haitian government and organizations of civil society.

Perhaps the most important example of solidarity in Haiti has been the deployment of Cuban medical brigades.  Cuban medical assistance to Haiti began after Hurricane George in 1998.

An agreement to establish a sustainable model of public healthcare was initiated between Fidel Castro and President René Préval.  The model would focus on the immediate provision of services and the construction of medical clinics throughout the country, and the beginning of training of Haitian doctors, nurses and technicians, both domestically and at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba (ELAM).  Seventy Haitian students were enrolled per year at ELAM; the first year of graduation was 2005.

By 2007, eight years after the Cuban medical cooperation began in earnest, Cuba had become the primary healthcare provider for nearly 75% of the population which has access to healthcare services, with over 14 million medical consultations.  Statistics from the Pan American Health Organization in 2007 indicated that the presence of the Cuban doctors had led to several dramatic improvements in several key public health indicators.

Improvements in Public Health in Haiti, 1999-2007

Health Indicator                                            1999        2007

Infant Mortality, per 1,000 live births                 80           33

Child Mortality Under 5 per 1,000                     135        59.4

Maternal Mortality per 100,000 live births          523         285

Life Expectancy (years)                                   54          61

**Figures taken from Emily J. Kirk and John M. Kirk’s One of the World’s Best Kept Secrets: Cuban Medical Aid to Haiti

On the eve of the earthquake, Cuba had trained 550 Haitian doctors at no cost, with another 567 medical students enrolled in Cuba.  These doctors, in addition to Cuban medical personnel, would provide the most widespread and successful medical campaign in post-earthquake Haiti.

In an incredibly important gesture at the United Nations Donor Conference in March 2010, Cuba pledged to rebuild a sustainable, public healthcare system in Haiti—over ten years and at a cost of $690.5 million.  Not wanting to be outdone by small, socialist Cuba, this ambitious and deeply needed plan for Haiti was virtually ignored by the international media.  Despite the rejection by the United Nations, Cuba’s medical efforts in Haiti continue, with collaborative assistance from Venezuela, Brazil and Norway.

Notwithstanding the cholera epidemic (introduced to Haiti due to the negligence of United Nations troops), many non-governmental organizations have left the country as their funds dried up.  Cuba is once again leading the charge to save lives.

Its medical brigades have established 44 cholera treatment units and 23 cholera treatment centers.  They have achieved a mortality rate of just 0.36% in the areas they serve, four times lower than thenational average.  Cuba’s medical assistance to Haiti was chosen by Project Censored as one of the top 25 underreported news stories in 2011.

With the signing of agreements with Venezuela in 2007 during President Hugo Chávez’s visit to the country, a series of significant projects were ushered in, including US$80 million for an oil refinery, US$56 million for three electricity plants, US$4 million for a liquid gas plant, and US$3 million for a waste collection program.

Venezuela has also provided significant financial assistance to Haiti through the terms of the Petrocaribe program.  Under the program, Haiti became a participant in a preferential trade agreement, where they could pay for Venezuelan oil over a 25-year period, with 1 % interest rate.

After the earthquake Venezuela once again stepped up to help Haiti, by pledging US$2.4 billion in reconstruction and relief aid, the largest financial contribution among 58 donors,according to the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti.  In another significant act of solidarity, in June 2010, the Venezuelan government also cancelled all of Haiti’s debt with Petrocaribe—amounting to the cancellation of almost US$400 million.

The February 2012 ALBA summit in Caracas produced a further roadmap to Haiti’s recovery, focusing on Haiti’s sustainable reconstruction, building infrastructure, and increasing independence in the areas of energy, agriculture, healthcare and education.

Due to decades of unfair trade and aid policies, Haiti currently imports nearly 80% of its main food staple, rice.  Venezuelan assistance is helping to restore the devastated rice industry in Haiti’s Artibonite Valley by providing technical assistance and financial aid to Haitian farmers.  According to President Martelly, the benefits of Petrocaribe include, “a deal where we repay the amount owed with rice, so this is good for us.  Because the main thing for us is to create jobs.”

Implementing assistance programs which develop rural linkages in Haiti and encourage domestic industrial growth is something that is unfortunately missing from many of the reconstruction plans of non-ALBA countries.  For example, despite many announcements of reform, current USAID food assistance policies prohibit the procurement of foodstuffs from local sources.

This means that US food aid (food grown and subsidized in the United States) is dumped into Haiti, destroying the agricultural industry.  By comparison, Venezuela is creating incentives for Haitian farmers to cultivate rice once again in an effort to develop food security and employment opportunities.

In contrast to the aid provided by the United States and other major donors, President Martelly has stated that Venezuela’s aid comes without excessive conditions and bureaucratic controls.  "Sometimes for a simple project, it might take too long for the project to happen," he remarked.  "If you're asking me which one flows better, which one is easier, I'll tell you Venezuela."

The foreign ministers of ALBA countries will meet at a summit to be held in Jacmel, Haiti in March.  It would be naive to assume that the United States will let Haiti join ALBA or establish deeper ties without a fight.

U.S. diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks have revealed that the United States government and the large oil companies fought to prevent Haiti from joining Petrocaribe under the administration of President Préval.  The United States and big oil exerted significant political pressure upon Préval, fearing the loss of traditional geopolitical dominance, not to speak of handsome profit margins from fuel delivery (Haiti received its first shipment of Petrocaribe fuel in March 2008.)

Haiti’s entry into full membership of ALBA would unleash untold pressure upon whatever Haitian government attempts to do so.  Whether President Martelly’s gestures are acts of political posturing or a signal of genuine intention to join ALBA, it is too early to tell.  What is clear is that ALBA has offered extensive and unconditional support to the Haitian people, in contrast to many hollow promises of the international community.  It has provided a model of solidarity and sustainability which should be emulated in the reconstruction of Haiti.

Source: NACLA

March 6th 2012

venezuelanalysis

The Caribbean: Where tyrants and terrorists prowl at ease!

By Rebecca Theodore

Like something from the planet Krypton, a blinding flare and surreal atmospheric light disguise the cerulean beauty of the Caribbean Sea. Fear revels in the image of a radioactive glow and mushroom clouds soar in swirling winds. Oceans can no longer separate sovereign nations from massive meltdowns. A despot prowls at ease in my backyard. He denounces American imperialism and calls for a new world order free of US leadership.

Behold the tyrant! Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

I watch the flaming lights blazing across the Caribbean skies and a thousand voices sound the dreadful happenings.

Iran is intensifying bilateral relations with ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America) in the Caribbean. Amidst escalating threats in the Strait of Homuz, a dispute between Teheran and the West over the manufacture of atomic weapons, Iran is feeding uranium into its first and only nuclear power plant and strengthening ties with Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Foreign terrorists have national identity cards that identify them as Venezuelan citizens.

“Lord have mercy,” they cry. There is a lethal, anti-Semitic, aspiring genocidist, loose in the Caribbean. Has President Obama failed in his efforts to get Iran to abandon its nuclear program? Why are we vulnerable after billions have been spent to fight insurgents and terrorist in the Middle East?

And they utter profanities against the ghost of Einstein.

American embassies, consulates, corporate headquarters, energy pipelines and Jewish-sponsored community centers and citizens are ready targets but American officials are asleep at the wheel.

“If countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us,” is their only pronouncement but, regrettably enough, that fist is tightly clenched.

There is no extended hand.

As yellow smoke whirls into light, Iran cajoles in its Hezbollah presence in Latin America, and ALBA nations are rapidly becoming aides in the acquisition of nuclear weapons of the apocalypse. Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda are conceding their freedoms in the political and economic domains and are no longer free negotiators within the assemblies of CARICOM.

But they don’t care.

Venezuela has at last ruptured CARICOM’s hymen from behind. The bandage of trust bleeds. The birth of a modern ‘Frankenstein monster’ yields into being.

A “doppelganger!” I learnt from the papers that Chavez and Ahmadinejad share joint paternity.

Out from the murky, quivering flames Ahmadinejad hastens the return of the Twelfth Imam in genocidal tempest right on America’s southern doorstep.

Will Islamic terrorist bombs rain in Atlanta, Washington and New York as well?

And in the midst of flames tossing against the firmament, I lay speechless. Nuclear energy was once the hope of humanity's future. The atom promised a boundless supply of power and possibly world peace but now faces are placed on stories of leukemia, breast cancer, stillbirths, and government deception.

I look out my window. It’s swampy, almost glaucous, and military advocates, peace activists and disillusioned scientists stare in amazement. The batteries of life are spent. Scientific discoveries of nuclear weapons are our own demise. Our pristine Caribbean home is now a nuclear waste dump.

Herein lies the harsh realities of the ideal.

January 9, 2012

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The assault of anti-Americanism in Latin America

By Rebecca Theodore


Amidst a surge of anti-American sentiment in Latin America, the US now begins to feel the billowing crest of the flood as it has reached a particularly high peak. Far from the backed up dams, tidal waves still break away in some kind of slaughter and just when it is thought that they have impounded it safe, let alone behind new barrier walls, China accompanies the EU in positioning itself to supply its ever growing oil thirst with Latin American oil at the expense of the United States. To state it simply, America has lost control of Latin America. The surge cannot be contained.

While French scholars imply that anti-Americanism is only fully justified if it implies systematic opposition, a sort of allergic reaction to America as a whole, US political scientists on the other hand view anti-Americanism as a term that cannot be isolated as a consistent phenomenon. Whatever the implication or the precise definition of what the sentiment entails, it is certain that Latin American states are presently demonstrating their inexorable critical impulses toward American social, economic, and political institutions, traditions, and values.

It is the contention of many that anti Americanism in Latin America stemmed from imperialism and globalization and from economic and social frustrations perpetrated by the US. However, it is not without its advantages as anti-Americanism serves the goals of opportunistic politicians and organizations as well.

While Americans remain focused on events in the Middle East, the EU has been working zealously to establish itself as the top trading partner and investor in Latin America, taking advantage of the region’s economic and political weakness. The role that the cessation of the Cold War played to rid the church in Latin America of the liberalism that had penetrated it under Communist influence is now uniting it in commerce and trade. Dominated by the single universal religion of Roman Catholicism, the EU and Latin America are more than just a trade duo. They are a religious, commercial and political partnership.

It cannot be disputed that the EU and China are creating a dominant cross-Atlantic power bloc in Latin America linked by trade, mutual economic interest, and social, political and religious affinity. With plans of building an oil refinery in Venezuela and implementation of ways to secure a way to economically ship Venezuelan oil across the Pacific to its own shores, China’s dream of building a 138-mile-long railway across Colombia from the Gulf of Uraba on the Atlantic coast to the port of Cupica on the Pacific coast will see large shipments of Venezuelan crude and Colombian coal to China.

This is the new technology that all eyes in America and the world should be focused on. The completion of this railroad already being hailed as a land-based Panama Canal could transform the oil politics of Latin America overnight, making China a prime recipient of this oil. Hence, America walks blindly into a situation where 10 percent of its oil imports are being redirected to Asia due to a lack of influence over the Panama Canal and Colombian railways.

Moreover, with silver from Mexico and Peru, tin from Bolivia and iron ore from Venezuela and Brazil, steady supplies of raw materials which Latin America readily provides in abundance, South and Latin America is an eye-catching mélange for resource-hungry Europeans and Chinese. Unfortunately, President Obama’s visit comes a little too late, for the waters keep rising and the rains continue in unrelenting fury.

According to recent published reports, European Union trade with Latin America is at an all -time high. With the Wiki Leaks disclosure that the United States now considers the Latin American Mercosur trade bloc an anti-American organization, Mercosur gradually transforms from an imperfect customs union to a more obstructive and anti-American organization. The EU is currently Mercosur’s main trading partner.

With German corporate giants such as Krupp, Siemens, Bayer, Volkswagen, I.G. Farben and Deutsche Bank steadily becoming household names across the Central American isthmus using the cheap labour force to create competition for the US, and with an established office in Cuba, right on the back doorstep of the US, the EU armed in its Machiavellian ambition phases its infiltration of Latin America as an economically unified, politically stable Latino bloc necessary to ensure constant delivery of goods and services.

It is clear that the United States is left out in the chilling cold waters of this torrential flood as Latin America merges with Europe and China and begins calling the shots in world commerce.

March 23, 2011

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Bahamas Blog International

What does the emergence of a unified, anti-American, Europe-oriented trade bloc mean?

Good morning Europe, Goodbye America, because when the people are starving democracy is just a word

It is clear that the new trend in Latin America is… Buenos dias Europe, Adios America, pero quando o povo esta morrendo de fome, a democracia e’ so uma palavra”.

By Rebecca Theodore


If argument persists that a state cannot be fully understood if it is isolated from its historical development, then the transition from democracy to authoritarianism for Latin American countries implies that there must be a constant rewriting of the social contract based on new social and economic relations that are continually emerging in Latin America. Paradoxically, the return of democracy from authoritarianism not only demonstrates that ‘a government is legitimate if and only if no better feasible policy exists’ but also exhibits the fact that it is possible for democracies to be authoritarian as well.

Opponents have argued that Latin American state formation is more closely aligned with European state patterns due to colonial influences from the fifteenth century and it is to Western Europe that one needs to turn in order to uncover the roots of the embryonic parallel. However, it must be remembered that the US has also been deeply ingrained in Latin American affairs since 1823, when President James Monroe created the Monroe Doctrine to keep European powers out of the New World. In light of this, America’s reputation as the great superpower of the Andes and the savior of protectionism and liberalism is now viewed in Latin America as a policy of imperialism and a sign of utter weakness.

While China’s ideological connection of communism and socialism weakens US power in Latin America, it is evident that the European trade bloc is now Latin America’s primary trade partner. Latin American trade group Mercosur is the only multinational continent in the world to be united by a common linguistic background, a common culture, and a common religion factor making South America’s path to assimilation a lot smoother into the congregation of the European States of Europe. The legal structure of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) not only unites South America’s two major trade blocs -- Mercosur and the Andean Community -- but has now launched a South American Defense Council, unlike a NATO alliance to mediate regional conflicts and defense from foreign intervention and excludes the US from military planning in the region.

Moreover, Latin America is far more important to Europe as an industrial base than as a simple trade partner. The giant storehouse of timber, natural gas, crude oil, minerals, precious metals, and iron in the region from the Rio Grande to Terra del Fuego are resources that Europe needs in its ascension to world supremacy. The completion of the largest steel-producing complex in Brazil by ThyssenKrupp means steel products will be actively churned out to be sold to Germany and South American countries, with Venezuela as the principal buyer. This also means that the US-backed Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas (FTAA) is dead. Estados de América Latina ha creado su propio barrio, y los Estados Unidos de América no es parte de ella. (Latin American states have created their own neighborhood and the US is not a part of it.)

It is clear that anti-Americanism is now the common premise across every political party in Latin and South America. While Evo Morales is rapidly following Chavez’s lead by nationalizing Bolivia’s oil and gas in a move that reverberates that of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe’s land for grab deals, the newly elected president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff is just a hand-chosen puppet of wildly popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s policies. With huge oil reserves recently discovered off Brazil’s coast, and with a rare earth debate gaining momentum between China and Germany that excludes American interest, Rousseff inherits an economy that is among the world's hottest emerging markets and this means that it will need more than a party shift in the US House of Representatives to advance bilateral relationship.

Hugo Chávez on the other hand has, without doubt, polarized Venezuela’s society and intellectual debate by undermining civil liberties, threatening the continuity of democratic governance, hence his accompaniment of a repulsive episode of an ALBA alliance that provided Honduran president Manuel Zelaya and Ecuadoran Rafael Correa with a foretaste of how to rewrite the constitution and establish authoritarian rule in Honduras, leaving a Honduran legislature buried in turmoil and controversy over US intelligence officials bribing Ecuadoran police, and recruiting informants among them. Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, and Chile are all offering radical transformation and presenting different alternatives to deal with the consequences of economic reforms.

Now that the US has lost Latin America to Europe and China as primary trade partners also means that the Republicans’ tsunami win in the House of Representatives will prove that Barack Obama is not suffering the blunders of a political double standard on the economy as has been so widely anticipated. As Republicans embrace their ambitious legislative agenda they will in time notice that the U.S. economy is starving to death and reducing the deficit or the current unemployment rate of 9.6% and fighting the Great Recession is no magic but a sign of the times.

Trade with Latin America, coupled with other economic factors, has already started reading the eulogy of the US dollar, thereby exposing the grave danger of the economic reverberations that are just now beginning to shake the nucleus of the world’s financial systems. Regardless of what anyone says, this is not an Obama problem, it is a global problem -- “blame it on the economy stupid”. The only self-sustaining economic bloc is the establishment of an EU-style government and for this reason EU status must be fortified in the UN because Latin and South American states, Caribbean states and even Africa have no option other than complete reliance on the economic ties of a German-led EU, or cling to the apron strings of a Russo-China alliance in their quest for economic reforms.

Whether it means that economic reformers in the US need to employ authoritarian tactics to defend democratic processes or risk total failure or that democratic governments in Latin America are not authoritarian enough to defend positive economic reforms; it is clear that the new trend in Latin America is… Buenos dias Europe, Adios America, pero quando o povo esta morrendo de fome, a democracia e’ so uma palavra.” Good morning Europe, Goodbye America, because when the people are starving democracy is just a word.

November 15, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

The odious tyranny imposed on the world

Reflections of Fidel

OUR era is characterized by an unprecedented fact: the threat to human survival imposed on the world by imperialism.

The painful reality should not come as a surprise to anybody. We have seen it coming at an accelerated pace in recent decades, at a rate difficult to imagine.

Does this mean that Obama is responsible for or the promoter of that threat? No! It simply demonstrates that he is ignoring reality and neither wants to or would to able to overcome it. Or rather, he is dreaming of the unreal in an unreal world. "Ideas without words, words without meaning," as a brilliant poet once stated.

Although the U.S. writer Gay Talese, considered to be one of the principal representatives of the new journalism, affirmed on May 5 – according to a European news agency – that Barack Obama embodies the finest history of the United States in the last century, an opinion that could be shared in certain aspects, in no way does that alter the objective reality of the human destiny.

Events are happening, like the ecological disaster that has just occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, which demonstrate how little governments can do against those who control capital; those who, in both the United States and Europe, via the economy of our globalized planet, are the ones who decide the destiny of the peoples. We could take as one example measures coming from the U.S. Congress itself, published in the most influential media of that country and Europe, just as they have been circulated on Internet, without altering one word.

"Radio and TV Martí blatantly lie while broadcasting unfounded information, states a report by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which recommends that both stations be permanently moved from Miami and relocated in Washington and be ‘fully’ integrated into the propaganda framework of Voice of America (VOA).

"Besides deceiving the public… both broadcasting stations use ‘offensive and incendiary language,’ which discredits them.

"After 18 years, Radio and TV Martí have failed to ‘make any discernable inroads into Cuban society or to influence the Cuban government…’

"The report, which was circulated this Monday [May 3], recommends that the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) become part of VOA, the official propaganda radio of the U.S. government.

"’Problems with adherence to traditional journalistic standards, miniscule audience size, Cuban government jamming, and allegations of cronyism have dogged the program since its creation,’" recognized the committee, headed by Democrat John Kerry."

"The committee recommends urgently removing both stations from Miami, highlighting the need to hire personnel in a more balanced way to produce a ‘depoliticized and professional product.’

"In the report, Kerry makes reference to Alberto Mascaró, the nephew of Pedro Roig’s wife—Roig is the general director of Radio and TV Marti—who was hired as the director of VOA Latin America thanks to his relative.

"The document reports in detail how, in February 2007, the former director of the TV Marti programs, "along with a relative of a member of Congress" (who was not named), pleaded guilty in the Federal Court to receiving $112,000 in illegal kickbacks from an OCB contractor. "The former OCB employee was sentenced to 27 months in jail and fined $5,000 after being found guilty for taking as much as 50% of all monies paid by TV Martí for the production of television programming by vendor Perfect Image."

Up to here, the Jean Guy Allard article that appeared on the Telesur website.

Another article, by U.S. professors Paul Drain and Michele Barry, from Stanford University (California), translated on the Rebelión website, states:

"The US blockade on Cuba proclaimed after Fidel Castro’s revolution ousted Batista’s regime is 50 years old this 2010. Its stated objective has been to help the Cuban people to attain democracy but a U.S. Senate report from 2009 concluded that ‘the unilateral blockade on Cuba has failed.’

"…despite the blockade, Cuba has achieved better healthcare results than most Latin American countries and comparable with those of most of the developed nations. Cuba’s average life expectancy is the highest (78.6 years) and it also has the highest density of medical doctors per capita – 59 doctors to 10,000 people – and the lowest mortality rate for children under one year of age (5.0 per 1,000 life births) and infant mortality (7.0 per 1,000 live births) among the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

"In 2006, the Cuban government allocated about $355 per capita for healthcare" … "The annual healthcare cost assigned to an American citizen that same year was $6,714… Cuba also assigned less funds to healthcare than most of the European countries. But, the low costs of healthcare do not explain Cuba’s successes, which could be attributed to a greater emphasis on prevention and primary care that the island has been cultivating during the American commercial blockade.

"Cuba has one of the most advanced primary care systems of the world. The education of its population in disease prevention and healthcare promotion has made the Cubans less dependent on medical products to keep the population healthy. The opposite happens in the United States, which is highly dependent on medical provisions and technologies to keep its population healthy, but at a very high economic cost.
"Cuba has the highest rates of vaccination in the world as well as the highest number of births assisted by expert healthcare workers. The clinical care provided in doctors’ offices, policlinics and the largest regional and national hospitals are free of charge for patients…

"On March 2010, the U.S. Congress introduced a bill to strengthen healthcare systems and increase the number of healthcare experts sent to developing countries… "Cuba continues sending doctors to work in some of the poorest nations on the planet, something it started doing in 1961.

"Given the recent support for healthcare reform in the United States, the possibility exists of learning some good lessons from Cuba on how to develop a really universal healthcare system with an emphasis on primary care. The adoption of some of Cuba’s most successful healthcare policies could be a first step toward the normalization of relations. The U.S. Congress could instruct the Medicine Institute to study the successes of Cuba’s healthcare system and how to start a new era of cooperation between American and Cuban scientists."

For its part, the Tribuna Latina news website recently published an article on the new Immigration Law in Arizona:

"According to a survey published by the CBS network and The New York Times, 51% consider that the law is an appropriate focus in relation to immigration, while 9% consider that it should go even further on this matter. Opposing them, 36% think that Arizona has gone ‘too far.’"

"…two out of every three Republicans are backing the measure"… "while just 38% of Democrats say that they are in favor of the law…"

"On the other hand, one out of every two recognizes that, as a consequence of this regulation, it is ‘highly probable that persons from certain racial or ethnic groups will be detained more frequently than others,’ and 78% recognize that it will pose more burdens for the police.

"At the same time, 70% consider it probable, as a consequence of this measure, that the number of illegal residents and the arrival of new immigrants in the country will be reduced…’"

On Tuesday, May 6, 2010, under the headline "Arizona: a pretentious death from hunger," an article by journalist Vicky Peláez was published in Argenpress, which begins by recalling a phrase by Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Remember, always remember, that we are all descendants of immigrants and revolutionaries."

It is such a well-argued document that I do not wish to conclude this Reflection without including it.

"The huge marches of this May Day condemning the pernicious anti-immigration law passed in Arizona, have shaken all of the United States. At the same time, thousands of Americans, politicians, jurists, artists, organizations, civil organizations demanded that the federal government declare unconstitutional Law SB170, which resembles laws passed in Nazi Germany or South Africa in the apartheid period.

"However, despite fierce pressure against the pernicious law, neither their government nor 70% of the inhabitants of that state wish to accept the gravity of the situation that they have created in order to blame undocumented immigrants for the severe economic crisis that they are experiencing. Meanwhile, they are asking Barack Obama for money to pay 15,000 police; they are radicalizing their racist policies. Governor Jan Brewer stated that ‘illegal immigration implies rising crime and the emergence of terrorism in the state.’

"Placing undocumented immigrants on the same plane as terrorists authorizes the police to fire on people simply on the basis of the color of their skin, their clothing, what they are carrying in their hands or even their way of walking. Without any doubt, this will also affect the 280,000 Native Americans who live marginalized and in extreme poverty, as well as other minorities in addition to Hispanics, who have found refuge and work in this arid zone of the United States.

"Following the line of Republican Pat Buchanan, who says, ‘The United States must make a stronger crusade for America’s liberation from the barbarian hordes of hungry foreigners carrying exotic diseases,’ after hitting out at undocumented day laborers, construction workers, domestic employees, gardeners and cleaners, Governor Brewer has now directed her campaign against teachers of Hispanic origin.

"According to her new decree, teachers with a marked accent will not be able to teach in schools. But her crusade does not end there because, in all historical periods, ‘ethnic cleansing’ has always been accompanied by ideology. From now on, ‘ethnic studies and projects’ are abolished in schools. They are also banning the teaching of subjects that could promote resentment of a certain race or social class. This implies politicizing knowledge, converting myths created by the U.S. system into a reality. It also signifies exhuming the most respected thinkers in the United States such as Alexis de Tocqueville who, in 1835, said that ‘the place where an Anglo-American sets his boot is forever his. The province of Texas still belongs to Mexicans but soon there will not be one Mexican there. And that will happen anywhere.

"The sole consciousness of racists is hatred and the only weapon that can overcome it is the solidarity of human beings. This state was already defeated when it refused to make Martin Luther King Day a public holiday; the boycott was solid and overwhelming…"



Fidel Castro Ruz
May 7, 2010
6:15 p.m.

Translated by Granma International

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