Thank God President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won

Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples Are Still Under attack

Thank God President Lula victory offers hope, as his administration has reduced Amazon deforestation and resumed recognizing Indigenous territories

By Dr Kevin Turnquest Alcena

Nassau, The Bahamas

An election victory can bring hope, but it cannot immediately silence hatred or end injustice.  Even after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s election victory, Indigenous communities in Brazil have reported threats and intimidation.

For readers here in The Caribbean, their struggle deserves our attention and solidarity.

Recent reports from Mato Grosso do Sul describe racist abuse and threats against Guarani Kaiowá and Terena communities.  Among the most disturbing allegations is a threat to poison water supplied to an Indigenous village. Authorities are 

investigating these reports.

The distinction matters: a reported threat of poisoning must be taken seriously, but it should not be presented as proof that poisoning has occurred.  No community should have to fear the water its children drink.

These threats form part of a wider struggle over land, political rights and economic power.  Human-rights organisations have documented how illegal cattle ranching, land grabbing and logging threaten traditional communities and destroy forests.  When profit becomes more important than human dignity, ancestral lands become targets and the people defending them face danger.  Greed, corruption and impunity must never be allowed to determine whose lives deserve protection.

The threats in Mato Grosso do Sul and the destruction of the Amazon occur in different places, but both demand respect for Indigenous rights.  Across the Amazon, gold mining has also spread mercury contamination, threatening rivers and communities that depend on them.  Protecting the rainforest requires protecting its people, their territories and their right to shape decisions about their future.

Brazilian forest defender Chico Mendes expressed the wider meaning of this struggle when he said, “Now I realize I am fighting for humanity.”  His words remind us that the consequences of destroying the Amazon reach beyond Brazil’s borders.

An older warning comes from Henry David Thoreau’s essay Walking, published in 1862: “In wildness is the preservation of the world.”  More than a century later, that message remains urgent.  Forests cannot defend themselves against every chainsaw, fire or illegal invasion.  People must choose to protect them.

In 2021, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned: “We must end our war on nature and nurse it back to health.”  That responsibility belongs to governments, businesses and ordinary citizens alike.

Here in The Caribbean, we can help by sharing verified information, bringing Indigenous voices into our schools and community discussions, and supporting credible organisations working alongside threatened communities.  As a group, we must speak against environmental destruction and demand accountability for violence.  Awareness should lead to sustained action.

Thank God President Lula won.  His victory offers hope, and his administration has reduced Amazon deforestation and resumed recognizing Indigenous territories.

Yet hope must be followed by protection, thorough investigations and respect for Indigenous decisions.  Even a government welcomed by environmental defenders must be held accountable for its promises. "  The Brazilian rainforest is literally the world oxygen" - quote from Dr Kevin Alcena; and during the Amazon fires in 2019, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said:  “We cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity.”

The rainforest is a living home.  Indigenous peoples deserve clean water, secure land, political freedom and the chance to live without fear.  Their survival must never be treated as the price of someone else’s wealth.

The destruction of the Amazon is also a Caribbean concern.  The rainforest stores enormous amounts of carbon and helps regulate the global climate.  Cutting and burning its trees releases carbon dioxide while weakening its ability to absorb further emissions.  This adds to global warming—the same crisis threatening our Caribbean islands.

For us, additional warming means greater risks to our homes, livelihoods and food supplies.  Rising seas threaten coastal communities, beaches and freshwater supplies, especially in low-lying countries such as The Bahamas.

Warmer oceans increase coral bleaching, damaging reefs that support fishing, tourism and coastal protection.  A warmer climate also increases the potential intensity and rainfall of hurricanes, making destructive storms an even greater concern.

Amazon destruction contributes to these dangers through additional warming; it does not cause every Caribbean storm or drought.  These environmental losses could mean fewer fish for our fishers, damaged hotels and beaches, disrupted farming, and greater costs for rebuilding after disasters.

Families could face lost income and growing difficulty securing food and clean water.  Protecting the Amazon therefore helps protect the conditions on which Caribbean life depends.  CARICOM leaders must speak out because our region has a direct stake in this struggle.

They should condemn threats against Indigenous communities, call for investigations and accountability, and support cooperation with Brazil to protect the rainforest and Indigenous land rights.  We share an atmosphere, a climate and we Share a world .  What happens to the Amazon cannot be dismissed as Brazil’s problem alone.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said:  “Taking care of the Amazon means taking care of life.”

Source / Comment

What is Cubanism?

 

Cubanism is about solidarity

“DEO ADJUVANTE, NON TIMENDUM 

“WITH GOD AS MY HELPER, I HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR”

                                            "CUBA WILL RISE"        

By Dr Kevin Alcena

Because of the seemingly growing concept of rich /poor country relationship, concerns toward development countries and their policies have experienced a tremendous leap in international arenas in a relatively short period of time.

Much of this conversation was influenced by the teachings of the counter - revolution of the late - 1950s.  Clearly, it was a revolution emphasizing the importance of promoting markets whilst cautioning the hazard of government policies in negatively affecting the benefit; to promote human development policies rather than concentrating on the physical capital, and the unappealing effect of some government polices toward economic.

In the past, the underlying cause of inadequate development were thought to be found in the lack of the criminal embargo that was imposed by the USA against Cuba.  Now they do not want them to have oil.  Shame!  It took the arrival of the counter-revolution to divert the concentration elsewhere to a specific cause, which I feel will ultimately constitute a new trend for the like of 'Cubanism.

Today is a power trip; no empathy about how a person live off $20 pesos - this is crazy, especially a family with 5 little children.  Where is the outcry?  It is not even the superego judging the ego.  It's our own capacity for lack of empathy, increasing until it becomes a kind of compulsion -neurosis where reverence and destruction alternate, and we reverently destroy our Cuba land.  We deny The Cuban people their rights like little children.

Cubanism is about solidarity.  Mandate of the people’s matter.  This is Cubanism.  Cuba is crying, I can't breathe, I lost my job, I have no food, I can't pay my rent, and my family abroad cannot help me because of the US embargo and restrictions.

Many Mothers cannot find food, and now many brothers are begging for food.  Cuba cries, I can't breathe.  We need global solidarity.  Oh Lord.  There is no dignity in this battleground of shame by so called elite-class in United States that is attempting to choke Cuba - as simple new styles of compulsion corruption by the imperialistic agenda that has no shame.

Cubanism solidarity is a science that has crushed the neo-fascism and has put Machiavellianism deceptive and clandestine plan that is instigated by US.

The inexhaustible spirit of the Cubanism has overcome negative karma.

The Cuban so -called neo-traditional pro-quo fascist elements in the Cuba are back, and Morologists USA is benefits it is no business - where is outcry?  Trying to rewrite the Cuban history.  Shame!

Our western culture, self-toxified by the poisonous egocentric ideology of imperialism and neo-fascism and the neo-traditional anachronism, is the unhappy heir of the terminator attitude that has precipitated an era of relentless upheaval and intense political propaganda in the decade-long economic growth from the Cubanism outstanding achievement for Cubans.

Salvery, based upon greed control and racism.  We are witnessing in the Cuban type of economic slavery - ugly and diabolical form as in Cuba’s beautiful society.  They want to stop oil from coming to Cuba, is a criminal act of humanity.

Solidarity is the key in this battleground of the most recent pandemic crisis; respect the law say home we will all overcome.  I salute my beautiful Cuban people.  Cuba will rise out of this crisis.

Cubanism at its code is solidarity for all citizens.  2026 and beyond will be a great year for this beautiful Cuban republic.

18 February 2026

Source / Comment

The Neofascist Colonial Agenda

What's the Agenda of the Neofascists and Neocolonialists?

Deo Adjuvante, Non Timendum

“With God as My Helper, I Have Nothing to Fear”

Understanding the Neofascist Colonial Agenda: African Solidarity, Global Oppression, and the Struggle for Black Liberation

By Dr. Kevin J. Turnquest-Alcena
Nassau, NP, The Bahamas

Introduction

In today’s rapidly changing world, it is more important than ever for the people of Africa, the Caribbean, and the wider diaspora to understand the dangers of the neofascist colonial agenda.  Although classical colonialism officially ended in the twentieth century, its strategies have evolved into more subtle and sophisticated systems designed to control weaker nations through political marginalization, economic dependency, and cultural domination.

While slavery and direct colonial rule may belong to the past, new forms of oppression have emerged under the labels of progress, globalization, and development.  History has shown us repeatedly that when societies fail to learn from the struggles of the past, they are destined to repeat them.  Our ancestors fought courageously against slavery, colonization, and systemic injustice, believing they were securing freedom for future generations.  Yet today, many of the same forces that once divided and exploited humanity are resurfacing in modern forms.

As Malcolm X warned, “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”  The manipulation of information has become one of the most powerful tools of modern domination.

African Solidarity and Pan-Africanism

Across Africa and the diaspora, the call for solidarity has always been central to the fight for liberation.  Pan-Africanism, pioneered by leaders such as Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, and W.E.B. Du Bois, taught that people of African descent across the globe share a common history and a shared destiny.  It called for unity between Africa, the Caribbean, and global Black communities as a strategy to resist oppression and reclaim sovereignty.

Modern institutions such as the African Union (AU) and CARICOM are building on this vision.  The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to increase intra-African trade, reduce dependency on foreign markets, and strengthen Africa’s bargaining power on the global stage.  At the same time, CARICOM has launched a Reparations Commission to demand accountability for centuries of exploitation.

In recent years, CARICOM and the AU have begun coordinating their diplomatic efforts at the United Nations to ensure that reparations, debt justice, and equitable development remain central to the global agenda.  Pan-African solidarity is not symbolic. It is a practical strategy for empowerment.  By pooling economic resources, harmonizing policies, and strengthening regional alliances, African and Caribbean nations can create collective bargaining power in a global system that is still stacked against them.

Neofascism and the Global Power Struggle

Neofascism represents a dangerous resurgence of authoritarianism, systemic control, and concentrated power.  It does not always resemble the fascism of the early twentieth century. Instead, it has adapted to modern contexts, embedding itself within global policies, financial systems, and cultural institutions.

Although many African and Caribbean countries are politically independent, their economies remain tied to powerful global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO).  These institutions promote policies that often deepen dependency rather than strengthen self-reliance.  Unequal trade agreements, restrictive loans, and one-sided investment deals are now tools of control designed to maintain global hierarchies.

As Kwame Nkrumah warned, “Neocolonialism is the last stage of imperialism.” Many nations appear politically free but remain economically constrained, unable to shape their destinies without external approval.

The Resurgence of Neo-Colonialism and Neo-Classism

In recent decades, there has been a clear resurgence of neo-colonialism.  While direct colonial rule has ended, new systems of control now operate through debt dependency, exploitative trade agreements, privatization policies, and resource extraction that benefit external powers far more than local populations.

At the same time, neo-classism has become a growing internal challenge. A small elite, often aligned with foreign interests, gains wealth and political influence while the majority face limited access to opportunities, poverty, and systemic inequality.

This resurgence is dangerous because it creates a double oppression. Nations are pressured externally by neo-colonial systems and internally by widening class divides. Those in power are sometimes co-opted into maintaining these global hierarchies, weakening resistance movements and fragmenting solidarity.

Neo-classism also deepens existing social divides, including elitism, privilege, and exclusionary access to education and economic advancement. Without addressing these structural inequalities, the vision of Pan-Africanism and Caribbean integration will remain incomplete.

Systemic Inequality and Global Dependence

Global economic systems continue to sustain dependency in developing regions.  International financial structures often favor large economies while limiting smaller nations’ ability to compete on equal terms.  Resource-rich regions still struggle with unfair contracts that undervalue exports, while illicit financial flows drain billions annually that could otherwise fund healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

As Marcus Garvey stated, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.”  Understanding the systemic nature of these challenges is the first step toward dismantling them.

The Caribbean Experience: Discrimination in Latin America

There is also a growing concern over how Caribbean citizens, especially Jamaicans, are treated when traveling to certain Latin American countries.  Many are initially welcomed through tourism campaigns and diplomatic agreements that appear friendly on the surface.  Yet, when they arrive, some face discrimination, hostility, or are even asked to leave despite following immigration rules.

This is not an isolated issue but part of a broader neocolonial pattern.  These nations create the appearance of openness and regional partnership, yet they engage in practices that exclude and marginalize Caribbean citizens.  It reflects deeper systemic biases disguised as immigration control.

CARICOM has a responsibility to act.  As a regional body, it must defend the dignity and rights of its citizens wherever they travel.  Stronger diplomatic negotiations, fairer travel agreements, and policies that ensure equal treatment across Latin America are necessary.

True Caribbean integration cannot exist if CARICOM members remain silent on these injustices.  Solidarity requires collective action to challenge discriminatory practices and ensure that Caribbean citizens are respected and protected.

External Destabilization and Regional Instability

African and Caribbean nations continue to face destabilization through geopolitical manipulation.  From economic sanctions and predatory loans to covert political interference, powerful actors often undermine independent leadership to secure strategic advantages. Conflicts are fueled, governments are destabilized, and economies are weakened in ways that make external intervention appear inevitable.

Modern strategies rarely rely on military invasion. Instead, influence spreads through financial dependency, trade manipulation, and security agreements. Achieving true sovereignty requires recognizing these patterns and creating regional strategies to resist them.

Self-Reflection: Internal Barriers to Progress

While external systems shape much of the struggle, internal challenges cannot be ignored.  Corruption, mismanagement, and weak governance in many African and Caribbean nations deepen poverty and inequality.  Transparency International’s 2024 data shows Sub-Saharan Africa scored lowest globally on the Corruption Perceptions Index, highlighting major accountability gaps in institutions.

Brain drain also weakens regional development.  Skilled professionals often leave in search of better wages and working conditions, depriving their home countries of vital talent.  While diaspora remittances are important, sustainable growth depends on creating conditions that encourage skilled workers to remain, return, and invest.

How Do We Fight Against These Things

The first step in fighting neocolonial and neofascist systems is awareness.  We must expose these structures and reveal the forces that continue to undermine sovereignty and development.  Many operate quietly, disguised behind trade policies, debt programs, and diplomatic partnerships.  By bringing these practices into the open, we weaken their influence and empower communities to act.

As Frederick Douglass said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.  It never did and it never will.”  Progress requires confronting systems directly rather than accepting the narratives we are given.

Education must be prioritized.  Schools and communities across Africa, the Caribbean, and the diaspora need to teach accurate histories of colonization, exploitation, and resistance.  Without knowledge of the past, we cannot defend our future.

Economic independence is equally critical.  Initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and CARICOM integration strategies must be accelerated to strengthen intra-regional trade and reduce dependency on external markets.

CARICOM also needs to defend Caribbean citizens more forcefully, especially in cases of discrimination when traveling within Latin America.  Stronger diplomatic representation and legal protections are essential.

Externally, reforms are needed in global financial institutions and trade systems to ensure fairness.  Exposing exploitative contracts, restructuring unfair debt, and closing channels of illicit financial flows are critical to breaking cycles of dependency.

Internally, greater transparency, strong governance, and community-driven development are necessary.  Corruption, neo-classism, and elite capture must be addressed so that resources benefit populations rather than narrow interests.

Finally, regional unity is our most powerful defense.  A united Africa, Caribbean, and diaspora can speak with one voice, resist manipulation, and negotiate equitable partnerships on the global stage.

Conclusion

The neofascist colonial agenda threatens to reverse decades of progress by replacing open conquest with systemic dependency, financial manipulation, and cultural domination.  However, the power to resist lies within collective action, informed leadership, and regional solidarity.

As Malcolm X stated, “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”  Through education, exposure, economic cooperation, and unity, African and Caribbean nations can reclaim sovereignty and chart their own path toward development and dignity.

The future depends on vigilance, collaboration, and a refusal to accept systems that exploit, divide, and silence us.

August 21, 2025

Source / Comment

What is Fidelism?

Fidelism Defined

Deo Adjuvante, Non Timendum

“With God as My Helper, I Have Nothing to Fear”

Fidelism Honoured

FIDELISM

By Dr. Kevin J. Turnquest-Alcena

Nassau, NP, The Bahamas

Fidelism, an enduring ideological phenomenon, was born nearly a century ago, completely transforming the geopolitics of the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa.  It irrevocably altered Cuba’s trajectory: over 3,000 institutions originate from this legacy and stand today as monuments of resilience, progress, and visionary leadership.

Fidelism demands reverence, admiration, and a salutation gilded in gold, echoing across time like a clarion call to solidarity.  This is not merely political doctrine; it is a metaphysical brotherhood and an unbreakable solidarity, unparalleled anywhere else in the world.  It springs from love for humanity, fused with sterling wisdom and geopolitical sagacity, giving birth to an enduring ideology that strides alongside us even now.

Cuba evokes fascination, a nation shaped, as myth tells it, in the Yucatán Mountains of Mexico, a mystical crucible giving rise to an unmistakable creation: a pillar forged of Teflon-like strength, impervious to erosion, resonating with perpetual excellence.  The spirit of Fidelism persists in perpetual motion, immortal in ethos.

On August 13, 1926, Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born in Birán, Cuba.  On November 25, 2016, he departed this world, yet his presence remains undiminished.  On his birthday, the Commander in Chief salutes comrades past and present, his strategic insight forever priming us to defeat any adversary.  In the spiritual realm, he salutes those who stood with him, for true brotherhood transcends death itself.

Voices of Praise and Solidarity

From Africa came unwavering praise.  As Nelson Mandela profoundly expressed in 1991:

“What other country has such a history of selfless behavior as Cuba has shown for the people of Africa?… What country has ever needed help from Cuba and has not received it?”

This sentiment was echoed by Thomas Sankara, who saw Cuba and Fidelism as sources of inspiration, sending hundreds of Burkinabé youth to Cuba for education and professional training.

Fidel Castro himself declared:

“A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.”

Marcus Garvey reminded us:

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”

On brotherhood, we recall the timeless words of Henry van Dyke:

“A brother is a friend given by Nature.”

This is the essence of Fidelism, brotherhood not born of blood, but of shared struggle, sacrifice, and purpose.

Culminating Invocation

You must recognize that the enemy will relentlessly peddle propaganda against the great nation of Cuba, but the unwavering spirit of Fidel, grounded in stoic endurance, will never allow them to strangle or derail the indomitable Cuban spirit of success.  There is a mystical order guarding Cuba’s destiny, one forged in history, faith, and sacrifice.

We thank Fidelism for educating the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia; for training our engineers, teachers, and doctors; for advancing computer science, fostering global strategic partnerships, and leading in biological research.  Cuban brigades came to our aid during COVID, faithful even under the criminally cruel embargo.

Fidelism is not simply a movement; it is a living phenomenon.  Cuba can never be defeated, for the spiritual world protects her, and the blood of her people forever acknowledges the country’s sacrifices for the betterment of humankind.

Fidelism will never be defeated.  Solidarity will never perish.

Happy Birthday, Papi, your spirit still breathes among us.

09 August, 2025

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Havana: ...Capitalism is a fraud... ...• • • An Interview with Communist Party of Spain (PCE) General Secretary - José Luis Centella • • •

By Serigo Alejandro Gómez

THE Spanish political activist, José Luis Centella, is far from the stereotypical figure at the podium. He speaks deliberately, exemplifying the adage that there is no need to shout when speaking the truth.

The party he has led since 2009 has a 90-year history of struggle, beginning with the defense of the Republic against fascism through the difficult times around the fall of the Berlin Wall. Centella is aware that the party is facing a new challenge today, given the economic and social crisis which is gripping Europe and especially Spain.

"For a period of 15 or 20 years, capitalism appeared to provide answers to Spain’s problems. There was employment, economic growth and a certain level of general well-being. And the socialist camp had disappeared. Even then, we said that was all fraudulent and based on speculation," the leader said in an interview with Granma.

"In Spain today we have an unemployment rate of 24%, while one of every two youth is without work. In regions such as Andalusia, where I come from, the figures are even worse. All of this added to a level of poverty which has increased five times over, in just a few years.

"That other capitalism was, in reality, a fraud. And now people are in a state of uncertainty, leading to expressions of rebellion.

"Given this situation," Centella affirms, "the PCE (Communist Party of Spain) appears as an instrument which can organize those affected by the crisis, to give the workers an instrument of struggle.

"At this time we are recovering the party’s strength. One of the keys to this has been reinitiating a clearly anti-capitalist and revolutionary discourse. Previously we went through a very difficult stage during which we lost our social base and strength, but in the last two congresses we have committed ourselves to strengthening our organization, to the displeasure of those who were rubbing their hands in glee, thinking that we were going to disappear."

In the midst of a serious social and economic crisis, channeling discontent along a revolutionary path is crucial, since as Centella said, "The danger exists that this [discontent] could be used by fascists."

"What fascism attempts to do is to identify the immigrant, your neighbor, as the enemy, to leave capitalism unscathed. The role of our party is to show who the real enemy is: a system which has plundered Spain, as it has many other countries."

LEARNING MORE

The nature of the struggle in which they are immersed has obliged revolutionary movements in Europe to seek unity. Thus Centella spoke of the alliances the PCE has made within the United Left (IU).

"The party is participating in elections through this alliance, but maintaining its independence and structure in the rest of its work. The other groups within it are not all communists, but they are anti-capitalist, nationalist or environmentalist. The Spanish left, as is the case in the rest of Europe, faces the challenge of showing that there are alternatives to capitalism. Doing this requires learning from all previous historical processes, but not copying them.

Centella believes that today Latin America is leading the confrontation with capitalism, where Marxism is in the streets, and said, "What is at stake in the coming elections in Venezuela is not whether Chávez or Capriles will be President, but rather whether socialism will be constructed or the previous system returned.

"The European left must be conscious that at this time in history, Europe is in the rearguard in this confrontation with capitalism. Today we have to learn, as opposed to teach."

I FEEL AT HOME HERE

With respect to attempts by certain forces on the Spanish right to push a more aggressive anti-Cuban policy, Centella commented, "There is one fact which they have never been able to change. The Spanish people feel a great deal of solidarity for the Cuban people; despite many attempts, the right wing has never been capable of building anti-Cuba sentiment. They have never mobilized more than a couple of gusanos."

What is increasing every day is solidarity with Cuba. Centella said, "In Spain, the case of the Five is increasingly known, it is no longer taboo. This is an issue that must be made known; it shows the injustice of a country which boasts about democracy and combating terrorism."

"The movement in solidarity with the Five is very solid and many people have even been drawn closer to Cuba and its history after learning about these anti-terrorist fighters.

"The PCE has also waged a battle around the issue of the U.S. blockade of Cuba. Through an intervention in Congress, we were recently able to get the Spanish government to issue a statement condemning the blockade. It is very difficult to justify when faced with direct questions." 

Centella’s long-standing relationship with Cuba has even turned him into a baseball fan. His team? Industriales. But his affection for the country goes much farther and he doesn’t hesitate to say, "I feel very much at home here."


June 14, 2012

granma.cu 

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.
• 
  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

Health reform in the United States

Reflections of Fidel

(Taken from CubaDebate)

BARACK Obama is a fanatical believer in the imperialist capitalist system imposed by the United States on the world.  "God bless the United States," he ends his speeches.

Some of his acts wounded the sensibility of world opinion, which viewed with sympathy the African-American candidate’s victory over that country’s extreme right-wing candidate.  Basing himself on one of the worst economic crises that the world has ever seen, and the pain caused by young Americans who lost their lives or were injured or mutilated in his predecessor’s genocidal wars of conquest, he won the votes of the majority of 50% of Americans who deign to go to the polls in that democratic country.

Out of an elemental sense of ethics, Obama should have abstained from accepting the Nobel Peace Prize when he had already decided to send 40,000 soldiers to an absurd war in the heart of Asia.

The current administration’s militarist policies, its plunder of natural resources and unequal exchange with the poor countries of the Third World are in no way different from those of its predecessors, almost all of them extremely right-wing, with some exceptions, throughout the past century.

The anti-democratic document imposed at the Copenhagen Summit on the international community – which had given credit to his promise to cooperate in the fight against climate change – was another act that disappointed many people in the world.  The United States, the largest issuer of greenhouse gases, was not willing to make the necessary sacrifices, despite the sweet words of its president beforehand.

It would be interminable to list the contradictions between the ideas which the Cuban nation has defended at great sacrifice for half a century and the egotistic policies of that colossal empire.

In spite of that, we harbor no antagonism toward Obama, much less toward the U.S. people.  We believe that the health reform has been an important battle, and a success of his government.  It would seem, however, to be something truly unusual, 234 years after the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776, inspired by the ideas of the French encyclopedists, that the U.S. government has passed [a law for] medical attention for the vast majority of its citizens, something that Cuba achieved for its entire population half a century ago, despite the cruel and inhumane blockade imposed and still in effect by the most powerful country that ever existed.  Before that, after almost half a century of independence and after a bloody war, Abraham Lincoln was able to attain legal freedom for slaves.

On the other hand, I cannot stop thinking about a world in which more than one-third of the population lacks the medical attention and medicines essential to ensuring its health, a situation that will be aggravated as climate change and water and food scarcity become increasingly greater in a globalized world where the population is growing, forests are disappearing, agricultural land is diminishing, the air is becoming unbreathable, and in which the human species that inhabits it – which emerged less than 200,000 years ago; in other words, 3.5 million years after the first forms of life emerged on the planet – is running a real risk of disappearing as a species.

Accepting that health reform signifies a success for the Obama government, the current U.S. president cannot ignore that climate change is a threat to health, and even worse, to the very existence of all the world’s nations, when the increase in temperatures – beyond the critical limits that are in sight – is melting the frozen waters of the glaciers, and the tens of millions of cubic kilometers stored in the enormous ice caps accumulated in the Antarctic, Greenland and Siberia will have melted within a few dozen years, leaving underwater all of the world’s port facilities and the lands where a large part of the global population now lives, feeds itself and works.

Obama, the leaders of the free countries and their allies, their scientists and their sophisticated research centers know this; it is impossible for them not to know it.

I understand the satisfaction in the presidential speech expressing and recognizing the contributions of the congress members and administration who made possible the miracle of health reform, which strengthens the government’s position vis-à-vis the lobbyists and political mercenaries who are limiting the administration’s faculties. It would be worse if those who engaged in torture, assassinations for hire, and genocide should reoccupy the U.S. government.  As a person who is unquestionably intelligent and sufficiently well-informed, Obama knows that there is no exaggeration in my words.  I hope that the silly remarks he sometimes makes about Cuba are not clouding his intelligence.

In the wake of the success in this battle for the right to health of all Americans, 12 million immigrants, in their immense majority Latin American, Haitian and from other Caribbean countries, are demanding the legalization of their presence in the United States, where they do the jobs that are the hardest and with which U.S. society could not do without, in a country in which they are arrested, separated from their families and sent back to their countries.

The vast majority of them immigrated to Northern America as a consequence of the dictatorships imposed on the countries of the region by the United States, and the brutal policy to which they have been subjected as a result of the plunder of their resources and unequal trade.  Their family remittances constitute a large percentage of the GDP of their economies. They are now hoping for an act of elemental justice.  When an Adjustment Act was imposed on the Cuban people, promoting brain drain and the dispossession of its educated young people, why are such brutal methods used against illegal immigrants of Latin American and Caribbean countries?

The devastating earthquake that lashed Haiti – the poorest country in Latin America, which has just suffered an unprecedented natural disaster that involved the death of more than 200,000 people – and the terrible economic damage that a similar phenomenon has caused in Chile, are eloquent evidence of the dangers that threaten so-called civilization, and the need for drastic measures that can give the human species hope for survival.

The Cold War did not bring any benefits to the world population. The immense economic, technological and scientific power of the United States would not be able to survive the tragedy that is hovering over the planet. President Obama should look for the pertinent data on his computer and converse with his most eminent scientists; he will see how far his country is from being the model for humanity he extols.

Because he is an African American, there he suffered the affronts of discrimination, as he relates in his book, The Dreams of My Father; there he knew about the poverty in which tens of millions of Americans live; there he was educated, but there he also enjoyed, as a successful professional, the privileges of the rich middle class, and he ended up idealizing the social system where the economic crisis, the uselessly sacrificed lives of Americans and his unquestionable political talent gave him the electoral victory.

Despite that, the most recalcitrant right-wing forces see Obama as an extremist, and are threatening him by continuing to do battle in the Senate to neutralize the effects of the health reform, and openly sabotaging him in various states of the Union, declaring the new law unconstitutional.

The problems of our era are far more serious still.

The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other international credit agencies, under the strict control of the United States, are allowing the large U.S. banks – the creators of fiscal paradises and responsible for the financial chaos on the planet – to be kept afloat by the government of that country in each one of the system’s frequent and growing crises.

The U.S. Federal Reserve issues at its whim the convertible currency that pays for the wars of conquest, the profits of the military industrial complex, the military bases distributed throughout the world and the large investments with which transnationals control the economy in many countries in the world. Nixon unilaterally suspended the conversion of the dollar into gold, while the vaults of the banks in New York hold seven thousand tons of gold, something more than 25% of the world’s reserves of this metal, a figure which at the end of World War II stood at more than 80%. It is argued that the [U.S.] public debt exceeds $10 trillion, more than 70% of its GDP, like a burden that will be passed on to the new generations.  That is affirmed when, in reality, it is the world economy which is paying for that debt with the huge spending on goods and services that it provides to acquire U.S. dollars, with which the large transnationals of that country have taken over a considerable part of the world’s wealth, and which sustain that nation’s consumer society.

Anyone can understand that such a system is unsustainable and why the wealthiest sectors in the United States and its allies in the world defend a system sustained only on ignorance, lies and conditioned reflexes sown in world public opinion via a monopoly of the mass media, including the principal Internet networks.

Today, the structure is collapsing in the face of the accelerated advance of climate change and its disastrous consequences, which are placing humanity in an exceptional dilemma.

Wars among the powers no longer seem to be the possible solution to major contradictions, as they were until the second half of the 20th century; but, in their turn, they have impinged on the factors that make human survival possible to the extent that they could bring the existence of the current intelligent species inhabiting our planet to a premature end.

A few days ago, I expressed my conviction, in the light of dominant scientific knowledge today, that human beings have to solve their problems on planet Earth, given that they will never be able to cover the distance that separates the Sun from the closest star, located four light years distant, a speed that is equivalent to 300,000 kilometers per second – if there should be a planet similar to our beautiful Earth in the vicinity of that sun.

The United States is investing fabulous sums to discover if there is water on the planet Mars, and whether some elemental form of life existed or exists there. Nobody knows why, unless it is out of pure scientific curiosity. Millions of species are disappearing at an increasing rate on our planet and its fabulous volumes of water are constantly being poisoned.

The new laws of science – based on Einstein’s theories on energy and matter and the Big Boom theory as the origin of the millions of constellations and infinite stars or other hypotheses – have given way to profound changes in fundamental concepts such as space and time, which are occupying theologians’ attention and analyses. One of them, our Brazilian friend Frei Betto, approaches the issue in his book La obra del artista: una vision holística del Universe (The Artist’s Work: a Holistic View of the Universe), launched at the last International Book Fair in Havana.

Scientific advances in the last 100 years have impacted on traditional approaches that prevailed for thousands of years in the social sciences and even in philosophy and theology.

The interest that the most honest thinkers are taking in that new knowledge is notable, but we know absolutely nothing of President Obama’s thinking on the compatibility of consumer societies with science.

Meanwhile, it is worthwhile, now and then, to devote time to meditating on those issues.  Certainly human beings will not cease to dream and take things with the due serenity and nerves of steel on that account.  It is a duty – at least for those who chose the political profession and the noble and essential resolve of a human society of solidarity and justice.



Fidel Castro Ruz
March 24, 2010
6:40 p.m.

Translated by Granma International

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