Articles of Reflections by Fidel

Today I spoke frankly about the atrocities committed against the peoples of Latin America. The peoples of the Caribbean were not even independent when the Cuban Revolution triumphed. Exactly on April 19th, the day when the Summit of the America finishes, it will be 48 years since the Cuban victory at Bay of Pigs. I was cautious when referring to the OAS; I didn’t say a single word that might be interpreted as an offence to that very old institution even though everyone knows how repugnant it is to us.

Forty eight years ago mercenary troops in the service of a foreign power invaded their own homeland, escorted by a United States squadron, including an aircraft carrier and dozens of fighter planes. That date cannot be forgotten.

Cuba has resisted and it will continue to resist; it will never beg for alms. It will go on forward holding its head up high and cooperating with the fraternal peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean; with or without Summits of the Americas; whether or not the president of the United States is Obama, a man or a woman, a black or a white citizen.

Evo entered today his fourth day of rigorous hunger strike. He spoke yesterday evening and today at noon. His words were calm, persuasive and categorical. He offered a “biometric electoral register” that was still better than the one in force during the electoral processes held in his country, which had already been described by international institutions as reliable and of high quality.

Sometimes I have thought that I would not have to write the following day and that I could rather use part of the time to read and study, as I have often done. But, the significant events of the past few weeks related to the world economy and politics, and the developments in Bolivia have prevented me from doing so.

If in Bolivia the oligarchy has clashed with a serious and strong leader like Evo Morales, in Venezuela the adversaries of the Bolivarian Revolution, who were pinning all their hopes on the blow that the international economic crisis would deal that country, will understand that Chavez’ struggle for socialism is capable of surmounting any obstacle.

President Evo Morales, the National Coordination for Change (CNC) and the Bolivian Workers’ Union (COB) have declared a massive hunger strike from the Government Palace, demanding respect for the Constitution and the Provisional Electoral Law which has been postponed for months to sabotage the elections.

Even though he was a messenger with mixed signals, his obvious good health and agile mind operating like a working machine allowed the black president to carry out his first foreign visit with unquestionable political results. He certainly does not resemble his predecessor at all.

As a result, a new meeting with the Black Caucus would take on, for me personally, a special significance. I learned about their stay in Cuba from the comrades who looked after them during their visit, the basic ideas of the congressional organization and the opinions held by its members.   The long struggle for equality and justice was illuminated by the life and example of Martin Luther King whose thinking and work today enthrals millions of people in the world and who was the reason, in my view, why a black citizen, at a moment of deep crisis, reached the U.S. presidency.

When the Bush administration anti-Cuban pressures and actions against travels and the presence in Cuba of persons under the US jurisdiction became more severe, the Black Caucus legislators addressed Secretary of State Colin Powell and managed to secure a license that legally allowed American youths to continue their Medicine studies -which they had already started- in Cuba.