Fidel Castro speaks: He supports
'peace with principle' – if the United
States will have it.
Fidel Castro:
'I do not Trust the Policy of the United States' (Cuba Debate, Cuba)
At long last,
after months of speculation about whether he is dead or alive, Cuba's former
dictator and the target of hundreds of CIA assassination attempts has opined on
the U.S.-Cuba rapprochement. In a letter to students on the 70th anniversary of
his admission to Havana University, Castro writes that while there is every
reason to suspect the U.S., he supports 'any peaceful negotiated solution' as
long as it 'doesn't imply force or the use of force' and is 'in accordance with
international principles and norms.'
The leader of the
Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, sent this message to the Federation of
University Students at the Univerity of Havana in the context of the 70th anniversary of his admission to
the institution.
Dear colleagues,
Since 2006, as a result of health issues incompatible with
the time and effort required to fulfill a duty I imposed on myself when I
entered this University on September 4, 1945, 70 years ago, I resigned from my office.
I was not a worker's son or lacking in material and social
resources, and had a relatively comfortable existence. I could say that I
miraculously escaped wealth. Many years later, a richer and undoubtedly very
capable U.S. citizen, with nearly $100 billion, reportedly told a news agency
on January 22 – that the predominant system of production and distribution of
wealth would, from generation to generation, make the poor rich.
Since the day of ancient Greece, for almost 3,000 years, the
Greeks, without going too far into it, were brilliant in almost all activities:
physics, mathematics, philosophy, architecture, art, science, politics,
astronomy and other branches of human knowledge. Greece, however, was a land in
which slaves performed the most difficult tasks in fields and cities, while the
oligarchy devoted itself to writing and philosophizing. The first utopia was impressed
precisely for them.
Observe carefully the realities of this well-known,
globalized and very poorly-shared planet earth, on which we know every vital
resource is distributed in accordance with historical factors: some with far
less than they need, others with so much they don’t know what to do with it all.
Now amidst major threats and dangers of war, chaos reigns in the distribution
of financial resources and social production. The global population, between
1800 and 2015, has grown from one to seven billion people. Can this growth in population,
in this way, be accommodated over the next 100 years, and the food, health,
water and housing needs be met - whatever the scientific advances?
Setting aside these challenging problems, it is astonishing
to recall that the University of Havana, in the days I entered this beloved,
prestigious institution almost three quarters of a century ago, was the only
one in Cuba.
Of course, fellow students and professors, we must remember
that today it is but one of over 50 institutions of higher learning distributed
across the entire country.
When you invited me to participate in the launch of commemorations
of the 70th anniversary of my admission, which I was startled to realize, and
in the days when I was very busy with various issues on which I could perhaps
still be relatively useful, I decided to take a break and devote several hours
to recalling those years.
I am overwhelmed to recall that 70 years have passed. In
reality, compañeros and compañeras
[male and female colleagues], if I were to enroll again as I did at that age as
some have asked me, I would answer without hesitation that it would be to
pursue a scientific career. I would say, like Guayasamín:
Leave a little light shine on me.
In those years, already influenced by Marx, I was able to
understand more, and better, the strange and complex world in which it has
befallen us to live. I may have harbored a few bourgeois illusions, the
tentacles of which managed to entangle many students who possessed more passion
than experience. To discuss this topic, however, would be long and
interminable.
Another genius of revolutionary action was Lenin, the founder
of the Communist Party. So I didn't hesitate a second when during the [1953] Moncada
Trial, where I was permitted to attend, I stated just once before the
judges and dozens of senior officials of the Batista regime that we were
readers of Lenin.
We didn’t talk about Mao Zedong because the socialist
revolution in China, which was inspired by the same principles, had not yet
ended.
I insist, however, that as humanity expands its knowledge,
revolutionary ideas must always be on guard.
Nature teaches us that tens of billions of light years may
have passed, and life in all of its manifestations has always been subjected to
an incredible combination of matter and radiation.
A personal greeting between the presidents of Cuba and the
United States took place at the funeral of
Nelson Mandela, a distinguished and exemplary combatant against apartheid
who had become friendly with Obama.
Suffice it to say that at that time, several years had
passed since Cuban troops had decisively defeated the racist South African army
led by the wealthy bourgeoisie, which had vast economic resources at its
disposal. This is a story of a conflict that has yet to be written. South
Africa, a government with the most financial resources on the continent, possessed
nuclear weapons supplied by the racist state of Israel under an agreement
between this party and President Ronald Reagan, who authorized Israel to deliver
the devices for use against Cuban and
Angolan forces defending the Popular Republic of Angola against racist
troops attempting to occupy the country.
Thus peace negotiations were excluded while Angola was
attacked by apartheid forces, with the best trained and equipped army on the
African continent.
In such a situation there was no possibility whatsoever for
a peaceful solution. Continued efforts to liquidate the People's Republic of
Angola, in order to systematically bleed the country with the power of that
well-equipped and well-trained army, was what led to Cuba's determination to
deliver a resounding blow against the racists at CuitoCuanavale, a former
NATO base that South Africa was attempting to occupy at all costs.
That arrogant country [South Africa] was obliged to
negotiate a peace agreement that put an end to the military occupation of
Angola and an end to apartheid in Africa.
The African continent was left free of nuclear weapons, but Cuba
had to face, for a second time, the threat of nuclear attack.
Cuban internationalist troops withdrew from Africa with
honor. Then came the peace time Special Period that has lasted
now for more than 20 years without us raising the white flag, something we never
did, and never will do.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Many friends of Cuba know of the exemplary conduct of our
people, and for them, I will explain my essential position in brief.
I do not trust the policy of the United States, nor have I
exchanged a single word with them, though this in no way signifies rejection of
a peaceful solution to conflicts or the threat of war. Defending peace is the
duty of all. Any peaceful negotiated solution to the problems between the
United States and our people, or any of the peoples of Latin America, that
doesn't imply force or the use of force, must be treated in accordance with
international principles and norms. We will always defend cooperation and
friendship with all peoples of the world, including those of our political
adversaries. This is what we demand for all.
The president of Cuba has taken the appropriate steps in
accordance with his prerogatives and powers granted by the National Assembly
and the Communist Party of Cuba.
The grave dangers that today threaten humanity must give way
to rules that are consistent with human dignity. From such rights no country can
be excluded.
In this spirit I have struggled and will continue to
struggle until my last breath.
