Fidel
Soldado de las Ideas
I was surprised that not one of my friends, those news wire agencies, would publish one single word on Saturday about how highly UNESCO rated education in Cuba which, in spite of the actions of the United States, surpasses the levels attained by the rest of the countries in the region, as if that had nothing to do with respect for human rights.
He was born one hundred years ago in Valparaiso, in southern Chile, on June 26, 1908. His father, a middle-class lawyer and notary, was a member of Chile’s Radical Party. When I was born, Allende was already 18 years old. He was pursuing secondary studies in high school in his native city.
While I was preparing a reflection about McCain's relationship with the anti-Cuban terrorist mafia in Miami and other related subjects of historical interest, fresh news was flowing about this character that is being projected by the empire’s hawks as Bush’s replacement: his visit to Colombia and Mexico which will begin tomorrow. It is not possible to avoid them since they confirm the opinions we have sustained.
I am indebted to him. Yesterday marked another anniversary of his physical death. There are over forty versions of how it occurred, but all concur on several details that are of great interest.
Cuba’s attitude, and its response to the empire’s provocations, will be entirely peaceful, but we shall strike back with all the strength of our moral fortitude and we shall persist in our determination to fight to the death, against whatever act of belligerence of the restless and brutal empire that threatens us. Let no one for a minute forget the oath of Maceo, our Bronze Titan, when he said that whosoever attempts to take possession of Cuba shall conquer but the blood-soaked ground beneath his feet, if he does not first perish in battle.
I will not intend to explain to you how life in Pinar del Río was once like. Peasants forced to pay a rent equivalent to more than 30 percent the value of their produce, large and privately owned estates, precarious social conditions, unemployment, the merciless exploitation of the people, illiteracy, high infant mortality rates, the almost complete absence of medical and educational services, the absence of drinking water and basic public services. Until the triumph of the Revolution, it was known as Cuba’s Cinderella.
In Geneva, I quoted an estimate that I think has been very much below the real amount, but I mentioned the figure of 30 million million dollars in military spending in the 50-year existence of the WHO. It's very possible that that spending is 35 or 40 million million. Go and see, if you use a computer and make a comparison of what was spent with the current value of the dollar, to know just how much has been invested in the military domain and in the capacity to create and use such sophisticated and powerful instruments of death, which only the superprivileged who had the possibility of developing themselves at the cost of the rest of the world could give themselves the luxury of possessing.
Economists of the people, and today to be economists of the people—I repeat—they must be political economists ; and politicians must be politicians with a minimum of economic knowledge and if it is possible with a maximum of knowledge in that field, that today is really the basis on which the fate of humanity depends, the basis on which our struggles are being carried out. And the politicians who do not understand, or do not want to understand, or who do not strive to know economics, are not worthy of exercising the duty they exercise as such politicians.
Santiago de Cuba has received more than the flag, which is the honor of having been chosen as the site to commemorate this 45th anniversary of the July 26 attack on the Moncada Garrison, and although it is true that Santiago de Cuba has been outstanding throughout the Revolution, before it was chosen every five years to host this ceremony, in its own right, out of tradition. But that tradition changed when the principle was established that a city had to earn the right to host the July 26 celebration.
They were working constantly for that recognition and got very close to it in the last few years; but this year, which was the 45th anniversary, they won it through their own efforts, courage and merits. (APPLAUSE)
I deeply appreciate the invitation extended to me by His Majesty Sultan Salehuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Aljah and by my dear friend Primer Minister Mahathir bin Mohammad for this official visit to Malaysia that will allow me to fulfill my old wishes to know this country and its people, its ancient culture, its long tradition of struggle, its beautiful nature and its fertile and creative work in the field of economic and social development.
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