1. ARTICLE BY FIDEL
2. Brother Obama
3. We don’t need the empire to give us anything. Our efforts will be legal and
4. peaceful, because our commitment is to peace and fraternity among all
5. human beings who live on this planet.
6. Author: Fidel Castro Ruz (/archivo?a=482) | internet@granma.cu
7. (mailto:internet@granma.cu)
8. march 28, 2016 12:03:14
9. The kings of Spain brought us the conquistadores and masters, whose
10. footprints remained in the circular land grants assigned to those searching for
11. gold in the sands of rivers, an abusive and shameful form of exploitation,
12. traces of which can be noted from the air in many places around the country.
13. Tourism today, in large part, consists of viewing the delights of our
14. landscapes and tasting exquisite delicacies from our seas, and is always
15. shared with the private capital of large foreign corporations, whose earnings,
16. if they don’t reach billions of dollars, are not worthy of any attention
17. whatsoever.
18. Since I find myself obliged to mention the issue, I must add - principally for
19. the youth - that few people are aware of the importance of such a condition, in
20. this singular moment of human history. I would not say that time has been
21. lost, but I do not hesitate to affirm that we are not adequately informed, not
22. you, nor us, of the knowledge and conscience that we must have to confront
23. the realities which challenge us. The first to be taken into consideration is that
24. our lives are but a fraction of a historical second, which must also be devoted
25. in part to the vital necessities of every human being. One of the
26. characteristics of this condition is the tendency to overvalue its role, in
27. contrast, on the other hand, with the extraordinary number of persons who
28. embody the loftiest dreams.
29. Nevertheless, no one is good or bad entirely on their own. None of us is
30. designed for the role we must assume in a revolutionary society, although
31. Cubans had the privilege of José Martí’s example. I even ask myself if he
32. 3/28/2016 3:22 PM
33. needed to die or not in Dos Ríos, when he said, “For me, it’s time,” and
34. charged the Spanish forces entrenched in a solid line of firepower. He did not
35. want to return to the United States, and there was no one who could make
36. him. Someone ripped some pages from his diary. Who bears this treacherous
37. responsibility, undoubtedly the work of an unscrupulous conspirator?
38. Differences between the leaders were well known, but never indiscipline.
39. “Whoever attempts to appropriate Cuba will reap only the dust of its soil
40. drenched in blood, if he does not perish in the struggle,” stated the glorious
41. Black leader Antonio Maceo. Máximo Gómez is likewise recognized as the
42. most disciplined and discreet military chief in our history.
43. Looking at it from another angle, how can we not admire the indignation of
44. Bonifacio Byrne when, from a distant boat returning him to Cuba, he saw
45. another flag alongside that of the single star and declared, “My flag is that
46. which has never been mercenary...” immediately adding one of the most
47. beautiful phrases I have ever heard, “If it is torn to shreds, it will be my flag
48. one day… our dead raising their arms will still be able to defend it!” Nor will I
49. forget the blistering words of Camilo Cienfuegos that night, when, just some
50. tens of meters away, bazookas and machine guns of U.S. origin in the hands
51. of counterrevolutionaries were pointed toward that terrace on which we stood.
52. Obama was born in August of 1961, as he himself explained. More than half
53. a century has transpired since that time.
54. Let us see, however, how our illustrious guest thinks today:
55. “I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas. I
56. have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people,”
57. followed by a deluge of concepts entirely novel for the majority of us:
58. “We both live in a new world, colonized by Europeans,” the U.S. President
59. continued, “Cuba, like the United States, was built in part by slaves brought
60. here from Africa. Like the United States, the Cuban people can trace their
61. heritage to both slaves and slave-owners.”
62. The native populations don’t exist at all in Obama’s mind. Nor does he say
63. that the Revolution swept away racial discrimination, or that pensions and
64. salaries for all Cubans were decreed by it before Mr. Barrack Obama was 10
65. years old. The hateful, racist bourgeois custom of hiring strongmen to expel
66. Black citizens from recreational centers was swept away by the Cuban
67. Revolution - that which would go down in history for the battle against
68. apartheid that liberated Angola, putting an end to the presence of nuclear
69. weapons on a continent of more than a billion inhabitants. This was not the
70. objective of our solidarity, but rather to help the peoples of Angola,
71. Mozambique, Guinea Bissau and others under the fascist colonial domination
72. of Portugal.
73. 3/28/2016 3:22 PM
74. In 1961, just one year and three months after the triumph of the Revolution, a
75. mercenary force with armored artillery and infantry, backed by aircraft, trained
76. and accompanied by U.S. warships and aircraft carriers, attacked our country
77. by surprise. Nothing can justify that perfidious attack which cost our country
78. hundreds of losses, including deaths and injuries
79. As for the pro-yankee assault brigade, no evidence exists anywhere that it
80. was possible to evacuate a single mercenary. Yankee combat planes were
81. presented before the United Nations as the equipment of a Cuban uprising.
82. The military experience and power of this country is very well known. In
83. Africa, they likewise believed that revolutionary Cuba would be easily taken
84. out of the fight. The invasion via southern Angola by racist South African
85. motorized brigades got close to Luanda, the capital in the eastern part of the
86. country. There a struggle began which went on for no less than 15 years. I
87. wouldn’t even talk about this, if I didn’t have the elemental duty to respond to
88. Obama’s speech in Havana’s Alicia Alonso Grand Theater.
89. Nor will I attempt to give details, only emphasize that an honorable chapter in
90. the struggle for human liberation was written there. In a certain way, I hoped
91. Obama’s behavior would be correct. His humble origin and natural
92. intelligence were evident. Mandela was imprisoned for life and had become a
93. giant in the struggle for human dignity. One day, a copy of a book narrating
94. part of Mandela’s life reached my hands, and - surprise! - the prologue was
95. by Barack Obama. I rapidly skimmed the pages. The miniscule size of
96. Mandela’s handwriting noting facts was incredible. Knowing men such as him
97. was worthwhile.
98. Regarding the episode in South Africa I must point out another experience. I
99. was really interested in learning more about how the South Africans had
100. acquired nuclear weapons. I only had very precise information that there were
101. no more than 10 or 12 bombs. A reliable source was the professor and
102. researcher Piero Gleijeses, who had written the text Conflicting Missions:
103. Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976, an excellent piece. I knew he
104. was the most reliable source on what had happened and I told him so; he
105. responded that he had not spoken more about the matter as in the text he had
106. responded to questions from compañero Jorge Risquet, who had been
107. Cuban ambassador and collaborator in Angola, a very good friend of his. I
108. located Risquet; already undertaking other important tasks he was finishing a
109. course which would last several weeks longer. That task coincided with a
110. fairly recent visit by Piero to our country; I had warned him that Risquet was
111. getting on and his health was not great. A few days later what I had feared
112. occurred. Risquet deteriorated and died. When Piero arrived there was
113. nothing to do except make promises, but I had already received information
114. related to the weapons and the assistance that racist South Africa had
115. 3/28/2016 3:22 PM
116. received from Reagan and Israel.
117. I do not know what Obama would have to say about this story now. I am
118. unaware as to what he did or did not know, although it is very unlikely that he
119. knew absolutely nothing. My modest suggestion is that he gives it thought
120. and does not attempt now to elaborate theories on Cuban policy.
121. There is an important issue:
122. Obama made a speech in which he uses the most sweetened words to
123. express: “It is time, now, to forget the past, leave the past behind, let us look
124. to the future together, a future of hope. And it won’t be easy, there will be
125. challenges and we must give it time; but my stay here gives me more hope in
126. what we can do together as friends, as family, as neighbors, together.”
127. I suppose all of us were at risk of a heart attack upon hearing these words
128. from the President of the United States. After a ruthless blockade that has
129. lasted almost 60 years, and what about those who have died in the
130. mercenary attacks on Cuban ships and ports, an airliner full of passengers
131. blown up in midair, mercenary invasions, multiple acts of violence and
132. coercion?
133. Nobody should be under the illusion that the people of this dignified and
134. selfless country will renounce the glory, the rights, or the spiritual wealth they
135. have gained with the development of education, science and culture.
136. I also warn that we are capable of producing the food and material riches we
137. need with the efforts and intelligence of our people. We do not need the
138. empire to give us anything. Our efforts will be legal and peaceful, as this is
139. our commitment to peace and fraternity among all human beings who live on
140. this planet.
141. Fidel Castro Ruz
142. March 27, 2016
143. 10:25 p.m